The Switch has been Nintendo's star platform for more than three years at this point, which means that other machines like the 3DS and the Wii U have been largely put to the side. In the case of the Wii U, that comes as little shock - under-performing in every sense of the phrase, Nintendo discontinued the Wii U at more or less the same time it launched the Switch.
At this point, Minecraft seems like one of those evergreen games that isn't going anywhere, but today the journey is coming to an end for some folks playing on older consoles. 4J Studios, which has handled porting and maintenance duties on Minecraft for a variety of platforms, has announced that work has wrapped on the Xbox 360, PS Vita, Wii U, and PlayStation 3 versions of the game.
Nintendo has detailed a new batch of games heading to the eShop over the next week, and it seems we've got a fairly packed release schedule on our hands. This week, however, the big releases aren't all reserved for the Switch. Though it's been mostly silent on the 3DS front over the past few weeks, this week the little handheld is arguably getting the biggest release.
Minecraft is available on a truly impressive number of platforms, but it won't be long now before Mojang and Microsoft drop some of them from their update schedule. Though there was some question as to whether or not Minecraft's incoming Update Aquatic would make it to legacy consoles, Microsoft has confirmed that it will. Unfortunately, this will be the last significant update we'll see for many of those older platforms, so those playing on them should prepare for the end.
Throughout 2017, Nintendo bolstered its first-party offerings on the Switch with ports of Mario Kart 8 and Pokken Tournament, two games that originally appeared on the Wii U. The thought process behind this is pretty clear, as it allows Nintendo to keep up a steady string of releases for a new console without as much effort as developing new games from the ground up. It also gives the large number of us who missed out on the Wii U a chance to play these games, which is nice because Nintendo released some excellent titles for its ultimately doomed console.
Japanese-made RPGs are often fluid in terms of their settings. Fantasy isn’t always fantasy and you’re likely to see some automatons mixed with wands and potions. So when Link starts a motorbike across mountains and rustic terrain, it all feels natural. In fact, it feels fantastic! That is practically the general reaction to the last few seconds of the trailer that introduced The Champions’ Ballad, the second and newest expansion to the breath-taking The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Nintendo already discussed the hardware deals it has in store for Black Friday, but aside from mention of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Explorer's Edition, it didn't really delve into any software deals. That all changed today, as Nintendo revealed a rather long list of eShop discounts that are going live today. The list includes discounts for Switch, 3DS, and Wii U games, so you can probably find something regardless of the device you own.
Nintendo revealed today that Miiverse - a social network of sorts for Wii U and 3DS - will be shutting down soon. Given Nintendo's eagerness to stop producing the Wii U once the launch of the Switch was imminent, we probably should have seen this coming next. The disappointing part for many players will be the fact that the Switch doesn't really have a Miiverse of its own, and may not ever have one.
While portable gaming devices have long been in existence, the Nintendo Switch sparked the imagination of many makers and modders. While some of those have resorted to replicating the experience using a Raspberry Pi as the base, modder Banjo Kazooie went down a road less trodden. What he did was to basically stuff an Intel Compute Stick inside the shell of a Wii U handheld to create a gaming PC you can take with you and play on almost anywhere.
If you read our review of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, you'd know that even though it's one of the best video games ever made, it isn't without its problems. The biggest problems come in the form of occasional frame drops, which happen more frequently when the Nintendo Switch is docked. The Wii U versions isn't safe from this either, so if you've played Breath of the Wild, there's a good chance you've experienced this problem.
The Nintendo Switch may be receiving mixed, though still mostly positive, reviews, its launch title, the Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, has mostly been earning accolades all around. Praised for its vast, open world, BotW allows gamers to solve a problem in the style they see fit. Sometimes preferring not to solve the problem at all, just speeding through the game from start to finish as fast as possible. Yes, it’s speedrun time and speedrunners are now boasting of being able to finish the game in little less than an hour.
This is it: after years of waiting, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild finally releases tomorrow. As expected, many of the reviews coming in today are positive, but that's par for the course for the Zelda series. The bigger question is whether or not Breath of the Wild can hold its own in a series that's home to such greats as A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, and A Link Between Worlds.