Gaming

Nintendo to charge for Switch 2 game upgrades.

While the Nintendo Switch 2 is backwards compatible with most Nintendo Switch games, old games won't necessarily run or look any better on the new console.

Instead Nintendo today announced "Nintendo Switch 2 Edition" versions of games, which will be sold at full price, but also with upgrade paths for existing customers. Upgrade pricing was not yet announced.

For The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild and The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom, a Switch 2 Edition upgrade will bump up resolutions and framerates. A 60FPS target wasn't specified, so the games might still wobble around that level.

Both titles previously targeted 30FPS, but on the original Switch console the games could definitely struggle, especially Tears Of The Kingdom.

To sweeten the deal additional content and features were also announced for a few of these upgraded editions. But it still would have been nice to see Nintendo give this to customers for free. Hopefully the upgrade pricing is a reasonable $10-$15 and not anything ridiculous.

Anticipated Australian game Hollow Knight: Silksong hidden in Switch 2 sizzle reel.

Nintendo put the highly anticipated follow up to Hollow Knight in a sizzle reel during its Nintendo Switch 2 Direct.

The Australian game from Team Cherry was expected to come out in 2022/2023. A the time, as a title launching on Xbox Game Pass, the game was shown at an Xbox Showcase in June 2022. Since then it's been almost radio silence from Team Cherry, apart from a few hints here and there.

So it was funny to see a new 2025 release window hidden in a sizzle reel for the Switch 2 announcement livestream. The game was always expected to come to Nintendo platforms, but it's been a very long time since we've seen the game.

Fingers crossed it doesn't slip into 2026...

FromSoftware launching new game only on Nintendo Switch 2, leaving Sony behind.

From Nintendo:

The moontears will flow for one and one alone in The Duskbloods, a brand-new multiplayer title from the creators of DARK SOULS and ELDEN RING, FromSoftware. Available exclusively for Nintendo Switch 2, The Duskbloods launches next year. Read more in our upcoming developer diary series, Creator's Voice, with the game’s director Hidetaka Miyazaki, coming on April 4th.

GameCube collection coming to Nintendo Switch 2 Online service.

Nintendo is bringing GameCube games to Nintendo Switch 2 on launch day. Starting June 5 2025 subscribers who have the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscription will be able to play a few GameCube games.

At launch you can play The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, F-ZERO GX, and SOULCALIBUR II. More games will be added in the same inconsistent way as with previous Switch Online offerings. And a wireless GameCube replica controller will also be available for subscribers to buy separately.

You can get a real skateboard deck with your copy of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3+4.

Not only is Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3+4 now official, there's also a pretty wild physical Collector's Edition that comes with a real skateboard deck.

If we do the math, the physical Collector's Edition is $124 more expensive than the digital version, meaning you're paying a pretty penny for the included deck.

But if that's not enough to dissuade, JB Hi-Fi has it for $229 and EB Games has it for $229.95.

The normal game is available for $84 physically or around $75 on digital storefronts and launches July 11 on PlayStation 4 + 5, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Steam and Nintendo Switch.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 Collector’s Edition
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 Collector’s Edition
JB Hi-Fi

itch.io is back after Funko domain pop.

itch.io is back after being "taken down" by Brand Shield, which was being used by Funko for "AI" brand protection.

Brand Shield's website says the software "delivers cutting-edge online brand protection using AI-powered technology to proactively monitor digital landscapes for trademark infringements, phishing attempts, brand abuse, and counterfeit activity. Our dedicated team responds swiftly to mitigate these threats, safeguarding your brand’s reputation, revenue, and customer trust."

I kid you not, @itch.io has been taken down by Funko of "Funko Pop" because they use some trash "AI Powered" Brand Protection Software called Brand Shield that created some bogus Phishing report to our registrar, iwantmyname, who ignored our response and just disabled the domain

— itch.io (@itch.io) December 9, 2024 at 6:13 PM

Funko pops... never again 🥴We're back if you haven't noticed!

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— itch.io (@itch.io) December 10, 2024 at 7:06 AM

Put Vib-Ribbon on PlayStation 5 you cowards.

Billy Basso, creator of the sublime and inspiring one-person indie game Animal Well, was on the My Perfect Console podcast this week.

I won't totally spoil his 5 classic game picks for a desert-island console, but he did put obscure PlayStation 1 classic Vib-Ribbon on his list. The episode will be released to non-Patreon subscribers later today:

A rhythm-game pioneer, Vib-Ribbon could run entirely from the PlayStation 1's 2MB of RAM. You could remove the games disc from your console and replace it with any audio CD. The game would then dynamically create custom levels that would sync up with any audio CD, meaning you could pop in a Limp Bizkit CD and play along.

Or just play along with the included soundtrack, which I still play on Spotify from time to time.

Back when Sony genuinely cared about legacy, the company re-released Vib-Ribbon on the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita in 2014. At the time it promised to look into releasing the game for PlayStation 4, though that never eventuated, likely due to the lack of CD support on modern PlayStation consoles. This didn't stop the game coming to the PlayStation Vita though, or my Steam Deck.

(I promise I own multiple copies of Vib-Ribbon, physically and digitally.)

Anti-skill-based Ubisoft shooter XDefiant to shut down.

Ubisoft's Call Of Duty-competitor XDefiant, which hoped to throwback the online FPS genre to its Xbox 360 days, is shutting down. The game has been pulled from online stores today and new players won't be able to join the game. Multiplayer servers will be available until June 3, 2025.

Ubisoft also says it will coincide with "the closing of our San Francisco and Osaka production studios and to the ramp down of our Sydney production site, with 143 people departing in San Francisco and 134 people likely to depart in Osaka and Sydney."

XDefiant's key difference was a rejection of skill-based matchmaking, where players would be paired with other players of comparable skill. Ubisoft instead opted to put all players together, leading to more match variety but possibly less player engagement.

The game also lacked its own identity, introducing skins from other Ubisoft franchises and having a general free-to-play bright, vibrant but simple visual style.

Around its launch, Activision published a research paper basically rejecting the perceived downsides of skill-based matchmaking. "When skill is utilized in matchmaking, 80-90% of players experience better end-of-match placement, stick with the game longer and quit matches less frequently," the paper claimed. It's hard to argue with that.

Limited edition white Steam Deck launching next week in Australia.
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Australia really is finally part of Valve's hardware plan. The company's not only launching a normal lineup of Steam Deck models on November 19, but also a Limited Edition White model with 1TB of storage. Via Valve:

Steam Deck OLED: Limited Edition White has all the same specs as the Steam Deck OLED 1TB model, but in white and grey (and it comes with an exclusive white carrying case).

In a move that'll surely put Valve's servers to the test, the model will be launching at the same time as the Steam Deck's general Australian availability, Tuesday November 19 at 10am AEDT (Sydney time). And it's apparently a one-time option, so when models sell out for the extra $50 compared to the normal Black model, they're gone for good.

Steam Deck™
Steam Deck™ is the most powerful, full-featured gaming handheld in the world.
STEAM

PlayStation 30th Anniversary limited editions immediately sell out in Australia.

The best bet going forward is JB Hi-Fi, which are offering a ballot approach to pre-orders.

PlayStation 30th Anniversary Collection Pre-Order Ballot
JB Hi-Fi is Australia’s largest home entertainment retailer with top products, great quality + value. Learn more about our product range online.
JB Hi-Fi

Otherwise Ebay has scalpers re-selling preorders with huge markups already.

Celebrating 30 years of PlayStation with a nostalgic look
Limited Edition console design takes PS5 back to the early days of PlayStation.
PlayStation.BlogHideaki Nishino
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