Bundle for Ukraine

March 11, 2022

Hi all!

I hope you are well

There's a good chance that your gaming time this week has been filled with either Elden Ring, Gran Turismo 7, or Horizon: Forbidden West - three HUGE games that rather unfairly all arrived within a couple of weeks of each other and offer their own individual takes on epic single-player campaigns.

Forbidden West is predictably the most traditional of the three, with an endless list of NPC-given main and side quests all doled out across its gradually unlocking open world in typical modern-day fashion. It's a spectacular world though, and said NPCs are at least a hell of a lot more engaging than the cardboard cut-outs of the first game.

GT 7 thankfully brings back the fully-featured campaign mode that was sorely missing from GT Sport, and also introduces Café Mode - an excellent new addition that leads you in and out of different events and scenarios as you check off its list of 'menu items'. It's a successful new feature that is brilliantly integrated into the game's structure, and something that will hopefully be expanded upon in the game's promised updates.

Then there's Elden Ring, which stretches out the spectacular semi-open level design FromSoftware are famous for into a fully open world for the first time. Progression is slower and far less guided than many players will be used to (there are no quest-trackers or mission-markers here), but the result is a game that actually feels like an adventure. Its stories are your own, and when you stumble across places and people organically rather than being led hand-in-hand directly to them, the sense of discovery is unmatched.

All three are worth your time, and it's interesting to see such different approaches and such commitment made to lengthy single-player campaigns, something many feared was in danger of disappearing altogether just a few short years ago.

Whether you're playing one of these games, or something else entirely, I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Until next time!

Oh, and keep an eye on your inboxes this Sunday for the first Special Edition issue of The Week in Games! 100 cool points for anybody who can guess what it's about.

NEWS

For Ukraine

The itch.io bundle for Ukraine is now live. Available for a minimum pledge of $10 (less than £8), the bundle features a whopping 991 items, consisting of games, tabletop RPGs and e-books. All proceeds will be split between the International Medical Corps and Voices of Children charities.

The bundle includes a large number of games you'll never have heard of, but it also features a few genuine classics such as Celeste, Towerfall Ascension, A Short Hike, Wandersong, Superhot and Baba is You. A worthy cause regardless, I'm sure you'll agree.

A Real Mouthful

Kirby and the Forgotten Land has looked great since its first unveiling - a Super Mario 3D World style platformer taking place in a setting that looks ripped straight from The Last of Us. But when Nintendo revealed Mouthful Mode last week, the internet - as the kids say - blew up. The mode allows everybody's favourite pink whatever-he-is to inhale and inherit the abilities of enemies and objects in the game. In typical Nintendo style, these abilities range from the obvious, to the genius, to the downright weird. A car for faster movement, a light bulb to find his way through dark areas, a vending machine to, um, spit drinks cans at enemies.

This prompted fans to respond with some of their own ideas of what Kirby could consume. And even Nintendo Japan weighed in with their own limited edition Switch OLED package. Which unfortunately looks unlikely to see a release outside of Japan.

OTHER NEWS:

  • The Nintendo Switch OLED has survived a five-month long, 3,600-hour burn-in test. Great news for Switch owners and OLED tech in general.

  • SteamDB chart reveals Elden Ring is Steam's sixth biggest game ever.

  • Nintendo delay the release of Advance Wars 1+2 Re-Boot Camp indefinitely "due to recent world events."

  • 343 Industries have confirmed that Halo Infinite's co-op campaign won't hit its May release date, as originally planned.

  • Valve announce that there are now more than 1000 verified games to play on Steam Deck.

  • The GTA V next-gen remaster becomes the latest game to offer needlessly convoluted purchase options. But £8.75 on PS5 for GTA Online and Story Mode is tough to resist.

  • Amazon are reportedly in negotiation to create a live-action TV show based on Sony's God of War series. BOY!

  • Super Nintendo World to open at Universal Studios in LA in 2023.

  • Microsoft launch a women's mentorship programme to connect industry leaders with aspiring talent.

  • Sony's latest State of Play was a bit of a washout, but 2D samurai-em-up Trek to Yumi continues to look fantastic with each showing, and The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Cowabunga Collection will make a lot of people very happy.

  • The new Lost in Cult website and online shop have gone live, where you can pre-order the [lock-on] Volume 003 journal and a number of lovely art prints from the issue. Sign up for a free Members account and you may even find a couple of articles from yours truly.

NEW RELEASES:

This week saw Final Fantasy go all Mario Kart with the release of Chocobo GP on Switch. It's a shameless copy of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, of course, but perhaps that isn't such a bad thing when Nintendo's game is as good as kart racing gets. Reviews have been thin on the ground however, so proceed with caution.

Nintendo also brought the N64's excellent F-Zero X to its Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack service this week. It was only announced two days beforehand, so be sure to check that one out if you missed the news!

(Xbox, PC) - March 9

(Switch) - March 10

(Switch) - March 10

(PS4 ,PS5, Xbox, Switch, PC) - March 10

(PS4 ,PS5, Xbox, PC) - March 10

(PS4 ,PS5, Xbox, PC) - March 10

(PS4 ,PS5, Xbox, Switch, PC) - March 10

(PS4 ,PS5, Xbox, PC) - March 11

UPCOMING RELEASES:

(PS5, Xbox X/S) - March 15

(PS4, PS5, Xbox, Switch, PC) - March 15

(PS4, PS5, Switch) - March 15

(PS4, PS5, Xbox, Switch, PC) - March 15

(Xbox, PC) - March 16

(PS4, PS5, PC) - March 17

(PS4, PS5, Xbox, Switch, PC) - March 17

(PS4, PS5, Switch, PC) - March 17

(Xbox, PC) - March 17

(PS4, PS5, Xbox, PC) - March 18

GAME OF THE WEEK

A randomly selected game each week! Any and all games are eligible for selection regardless of age, platform, popularity, or otherwise.

This week, the honour goes to…

1080 Snowboarding (1997)

Nintendo turned its hand to something a little more realistic than usual with 1080° Snowboarding, but predictably enough served up another genre classic. A slight lack of content can’t spoil what is a visually stunning, mechanically deep, and beautifully designed extreme sports title.

A wonderful land-based companion to the equally brilliant Wave Race 64.

GAMING ANNIVERSARIES

Another round of video game anniversaries to make you feel old... Sorry!

Click through the links to see what people had to say about them...

ChuChu Rocket! was released in the US 22 years ago!

Super Mario RPG celebrated its 26th birthday!

Chrono Trigger was first released 27 years ago!

RECOMMENDED READS

This week’s recommended articles see a GamesIndustryBiz look at Playground Games' incredible efforts to make Forza Horizon more accessible, and a great Eurogamer feature on YouTube speedrunners.

Marie Dealessandri - GamesIndustrybiz

Playground Games discusses how it's made the latest entry in its racing franchise more accessible than ever.

Jay Castello - Eurogamer

SummoningSalt and MKarma talk to Eurogamer about the incredible stories behind speedruns.

CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGNS

Precision Game Storage Boxes

By Book4Games - campaign ends March 13

High Quality storage boxes for your Game Boy, Nintendo 64, Famicom, Game&Watch, Mega Drive/Genesis, Zelda and Metroid collection!

Ninty Fresh Magazine Issue 6

By Ninty Media - campaign ends March 25

The sixth Issue of NFM is on the way, and is celebrating 40 years of Donkey Kong!

Tank Mouse

By Lukas Remis - campaign ends March 26

A wireless Amiga-inspired optical mouse. Classic look with a touch of 21st century. Works with classic Amiga and modern computers.

Shenmue World: Issue 2

By James Brown - campaign ends March 29

An Unofficial Shenmue fan magazine, including Blu-ray disc, Corey Marshall Signed Print, A3 Poster and more!

Handheld Heroes Enamel Pins

By Jessica Waddington - campaign ends March 31

Handheld Heroes Enamel Pins Part 3; A collection of Enamel Pins inspired by handheld games

Sons of Valhalla

By Pixel Chest - campaign ends March 31

Sons of Valhalla is "a 2D base building strategy game with great pixel art, a fast combat system and incredible atmosphere."

NOW PLAYING

Horizon: Forbidden West (PS5)

After never really clicking with the first Horizon, I decided to pick it back up again before the sequel arrived and for some reason completely fell for it at the second time of asking. This sequel really is more of the same, albeit with some pretty staggering graphics and a very welcome new glider that means bouncing awkwardly down the sides of cliffs is now replaced by the far more enjoyable act of leaping carelessly from the top of them.

Next up: Finding time for more Forbidden West, GT7, and Elden Ring...

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...and that's it for this week!

I hope you enjoyed this issue of The Week in Games!

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Thanks again, and I hope to see you next week!