Nintendo World Championship coming to you! Super Mario Odyssey and Metroid Demos

Nintendo is hosting a World Tournament this October in an ultimate test of Nintendo Gaming Skill. There will be eight qualifying events across the United States at certain Best Buy Stores. Qualifiers will be from August 19th to September 10th. The game is Mario Kart 7 for the Nintendo 3DS. If you think you’re the best driver in the United States, try and see if you’ll qualify for the Nintendo World Tournament.

Game Mode

For 12 and under, you’ll play DS Luigi Mansion Track with a standard kart, as Mario. 13 and over, you’ll play as Bowser in GBA Bowser’s Castle with a standard kart. Both modes are Time Trial and you’ll have two tries. Those who have the best time will qualify for the final competition in Manhattan.

Locations

Select cities have certain dates so check the link to see if there is a city nearby where you can participate. There are 8 cities in total: San Jose (Bay Area), Bronx (New York), Evanstone (Chicago), Torrance (Los Angeles), Richfield (Minneapolis), Dallas, Tukwila (Seattle), and Hialeah (Miami).

Free Stuff

While you’re there, you can play Mario Odyssey and Metroid: Samus Returns demos and possibly earn a My Nintendo Pin if you’re one of the first 200 people to check in. If you bring your My Nintendo QR code, you’ll also earn 100 Platinum points.

The final competition will be in Manhattan, New York in the Manhattan Center’s Grand Ballroom. I will update later on as more details are released.

Sources: Nintendo

E3 Wrap Up

E3 2017 is officially over. With so many trailers and gameplay videos out there already, I am only going to write about games that I am looking forward to. I will post an article soon about all the games coming out in 2017 so come back soon!

Assassin’s Creed Origins: After taking a year off to create a full game, Origins is the new title in the Assassin’s Creed series. It will take place in Egypt and you can see through the skies with a hawk! There is a big emphasis on the new weapon: a bow. Melee combat looks more interesting than the previous series. It will be released October 27, 2017. If you pre-order it, you get a bonus DLC.

Anthem: A new Space RPG from Bioware. It looks amazing and it is a 3rd person shooter with customization mech suits. There seems to be an emphasis on Co-Op and is meant to be a rival to Destiny. There’s plenty of space animals and exploration. Visual impressive and something to look forward to.

Dragon Ball Z Fighter: Capcom take notes! This is how a fighting game should look! Dragon Ball Z Fighter is made by Arc System Games who makes the Guilty Gear and Blazblue fighting game series. They are specialist in anime fighters and using 2D – 3D animation look amazing. A 3v3 fighter. So far, the only characters are Goku, Vegeta, Teen Gohan, Buu, Cell, and Frieza. Environments are destructive based on certain moves and deflections similar to the anime itself.

The Evil Within 2: Another game with an American environment. Not much was shown about the game but the Main Character will need to go back into his insane mind to find his daughter.

Kirby: The new Kirby will have a bigger focus on multiplayer. You can create allies by absorbing your enemies and using them to combine your absorbed abilities. You can also play with 4 Kirbys at once!

Metro Exodus: The 3rd entry in the Post-Apocolpytic first person shooter. This will be an open world game. There are a ton of rats and dark environments. Resources are rare and survival is 1st priority.

A Way Out: A Co-Op focused game regarding two guys trying to break out of prison. This game has cut scenes where the players have to agree on certain choices. The story revolves around them breaking out of prison and accepting their past.

Mario Odyssey: Mario’s hat possesses people? It does and the environment looks beautiful. Plenty of 3D platforming and fun based on what I see in trailers. Some of the environments are realistic which is a strange twist. There are still fun worlds that are very Mario-y if that’s a word.

E3 Schedule Guide!

Are you excited for E3? If you want to know the upcoming schedule for the event and games being announced, check out teh article.

If you are excited for E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) like myself, I’ll put the whole schedule below so you can plan your day. If you don’t know about E3, it is a huge convention expo dedicated to Video Games and shows off upcoming games from different companies. You can watch the trailers, play demos that won’t be released for months, and see amazing new games in Los Angeles, California. If you can’t go but want to see the event, you can watch it online on Twitch.

I’ll only be posting the time it starts in America. The time is PDT.

EA (Electronic Arts) 12PM – Saturday, June 10th

If you like Fifa, there will be FIFA 18. Most likely they will announce all their yearly sports series. More importantly, Star Wars Battlefront 2 will have more trailers. Hopefully more news about the story and new game modes will bring people interest after how poorly the first one reviewed. The story is set to be canon and part of the Star Wars story after Return of the Jedi.

Rumors: A new 3rd person shooter from Respawn, developers of Titanfall and a potential rival to “Destiny” from Bioware.

Microsoft 2PM, Sunday, June 11th

Most exciting news from Microsoft will be their new project Scorpio. Not a new console, but an upgraded version of the Xbox One. It will have 4K resolution, better CPU, GPU, and more memory than the PS4 Pro. Overall, it’ll just be a better version of the Xbox One. If you haven’t gotten one yet, perhaps save your money for this one.

For games, a new Crackdown game although Crackdown 2 reviewed poorly and a Sea of Thieves are confirmed for the show. No rumored big IP (Intellectual Property) but it could still be hidden until the show which is pretty exciting.

Bethesda 9PM, Sunday, June 11th

Rumors: A sequel to the Wolfenstein story based first person shooter and The Evil Within from the same designer for Resident Evil 4.

Don’t be looking for any news on an upcoming Elder Scrolls or Fallout game. Most likely there will be news regarding Skyrim for the Nintendo Switch and Quake Championship.

PC Gaming 10AM, Monday, June 12th

Usually the PC Gaming show is pretty dull. It’s mostly about new technology coming to PC. They are generally dragged out and most of their trailers are already shown before hand.

Ubisoft 1PM. Monday, June 12th

Ubisoft has a pretty good schedule this E3. A new Assassin’s Creed that may be a series reboot called “Assassin’s Creed: Origin.” Of course, Far Cry 5 will have some upcoming trailers and The Crew 2. No Beyond Good and Evil 2 unfortunately.

Rumor: Mario Rabbids which had a potential leak a week ago. A collaboration between Nintendo and Ubisoft.

Sony 6PM, Monday, June 12th

So far, Sony has been pretty good with hosting a good show and having plenty of games to be excited for. Final Fantasy 7, Kingdom Hearts 3, Death Stranded and Shenmue 3 will not be released this year but there may be a trailer. Last year, God of War and Spider-Man had trailers but hopefully they receive an announcement date.

Of course, The Last of Us 2 is on everyone’s mind. After the teaser trailer at Playstation Expo 2016, avid Playstation fans are hoping for a gameplay trailer. Hopefully there will be a more VR games. As of right now, the PSVR needs more solid games such as Resident Evil 6.

Nintendo 9AM, June 13th

Nintendo will not be having a conference but will have another Nintendo Direct that mostly focuses on Splatoon 2 and ARMS which I mentioned in previous articles. They will also include a Nintendo Treehouse which is an extended direct which will go more in-depth for the new games. Last year, it was a bit long and felt repetitive after it only showed The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Rumors: Super Nintendo Classic Edition.

NINTENDO’s Online Service Date Announced!

Nintendo’s Upcoming Network Plan

If you own a Nintendo Switch and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, you’ve been appreciating the free online multiplayer. Well, a countdown to the end has begun. Nintendo will release its premium online service: Nintendo Switch Online by 2018. Similar to Playstation Network and Xbox Live, this will be a paid monthly service.

Pricing^*

1-Month Membership

$3.99 (USD)

3-Month Membership

$7.99 (USD)

12-Month Membership

$19.99 (USD)

Enjoy online services for free until the paid service’s official launch in 2018.

Features:

An Online lobby and voice chat through a dedicated phone app. You can invite friends to play online, set play appointments and chat with your friends. The phone app will be released during summer 2017 for free in a limited form.

You will also gain access to “Classic Game Selections” that will include online play for certain games. Whether these last as long as you have the subscription or you have to pay for them, remains to be seen. You’ll also have more deals for eShop. This will not be replacing the Virtual Console.

Opinion

In the end, it is cheaper than PSN and Xbox Live currently but the Switch still has limitations. There is no Netflix or common apps that most modern consoles have and only a few games for the Switch warrant the online service. Whether or not Splatoon 2 or Mario Kart 8 Deluxe holds your attention online will dictate how valuable the service will be. While popular online franchises like Call of Duty or Battlefield may release on the Switch in the near future, Nintendo doesn’t have the back catalogue for most gamers to invest in the service. We’ll see how popular the Nintendo Online Service will be. I think it’ll do well depending on the “Classic Game Selection,” especially if they offer the games fans have been asking for. This includes the Super Nintendo, N64, and GameCube titles.

Sources:

Nintendo

IGN