John’s been playing Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth – Hacker’s Memory and visiting local visual novel developers! Lilith tried out Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[cl-r] and demos of Sword Hero and Quartet! Rose explores the world of action with Silksong, Lost Soul Aside, and The Rogue Prince of Persia! Crystal decided to install Linux Mint, and the first game she played on it was Unreal!

Plus, we discuss news items such as Qiddiya acquiring Evo, Diablo developers unionizing, the almost-redemption of the cancelled Perfect Dark, layoffs at Firaxis, and the reveals of Mega Hawlucha and Mega Malamar!

Finally, we discuss a thoughtful listener question: With a Wii U and a 3DO placed before you, which would you gravitate towards?

You can support us on our Patreon, and follow us on Social Media @gamesline.net, John, Rose, Crystal, and Lily.

Also, don’t forget to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, and tell a friend about the show!

If you want to send in questions, send them to our email podcast@gamesline.net!

You can also join our Discord channel at thegamezone.zone!

Our theme song is “Crush” by Melt Channel, from the album Magic is Real.

Edited by Lorelai and Produced by John

The post The Gamesline Podcast Episode 66: Now in Mint Flavor appeared first on Gamesline.

Content Warning: This Bulletin features a news item that discusses allegations of harassment and sexual assault.

E3 2023 is canceled. Following a trickling of waves in which numerous major developers have announced their intentions to pull out of the show, one by one, the Entertainment Software Association concluded that this year’s E3 “did not garner the sustained interest necessary to execute it in a way that would showcase the size, strength, and impact of our industry.” Some figures are happily reaping this opportunity. E3 was folded under ReedPop in 2022 last year.

That is not the only thing that is getting the plug pulled, as Player First Games has decided to take MultiVersus offline, anticipating to relaunch it next year. This has understandably met the ire of many, paired with the confusing messages of whether or not the game was in “beta” this whole time—despite the fact that MultiVersus had readily purchasable microtransactions upon release and a “Founder’s Pack” billed at about 100 USD.

MVPs, thank you for the support during Open Beta! The feedback and inspiration has been amazing. Open Beta will close on June 25 as we prepare for full launch in early 2024. #MultiVersus will be back better than ever with new content, features, modes & more when we return. pic.twitter.com/6NOCMRDBrp

— MultiVersus (@multiversus) March 27, 2023

The Wii U and Nintendo 3DS eShops have officially shuttered. As of today, any previous purchases made in the eShops are still re-downloadable, but no new purchases can be made. There are many digital-only titles still currently not legally accessible outside of these venues, and Nintendo has yet to provide any intentions to bring them elsewhere.

Electronic Arts has laid off about 6 percent of his staff. This is estimated to be about 800 employees affected.

Pokémon GO is facing criticism and call for boycott by its playerbase due to new changes to the Remote Raids mechanic, accompanied by pricing increases. Remote Raids were introduced in the midst of the total COVID-19 lockdown measures that were taken when the pandemic first started, meant to accommodate gameplay to ensure players do not have to be at a physical location to participate. In the game’s next update, Remote Raids will be nerfed, and prices to participate will be raised among other features. As of now, Niantic has no plans to revert these changes.

The Game Developers Conference 2023 has closed out about last week and is followed up by a disturbing series of reports that allege incidents of sexual assault and harassment that have occurred at off-site events. The event saw an attendance of about 28,000 people. Guy Blomberg, vice-president of video game PR agency Stride, notes that he has been informed of one such grouping of instances occurred at karaoke even his company hosted. As of this date, the San Francisco Police Department has issued a statement stating that no reports have been filed.

Every year, there are stories about groping, drugging, harassment, and even more stories of countless attempts to create opportunities for assault at games industry events like #GDC23. It's heartbreaking and infuriating that this feels so normalized…

Text SUPPORT to 23368. pic.twitter.com/XGpwcO8nvt

— Games and Online Harassment Hotline (@GamesHotline) March 25, 2023

President Biden is invoking the Defense Production Act for circuit board production. Although the move is primarily motivated by mobilizing the technological sector of national defense, it may possibly impact the supply chain and boost domestic production of effects that would benefit various electronics and technologies as a whole.

Vampire Survivors wins Best Game at the BAFTA Game Awards. God of War Ragnarök ended up becoming the most awarded game title in the show’s history, taking home six awards.

Creator of the Bubsy series, Mike Berlyn, has passed away.

Shattered to hear that game designer, programmer and writer Mike Berlyn has passed away. Suspended, Cutthroats, Infidel (Infocom) as well as games like Bubsy, and Busy 3D. Oo-topos, Tass Times in Tonetown, and many more games. RIP. pic.twitter.com/vAIJlQPe4D

— Mike Mika (@MikeJMika) March 29, 2023

The post The Bulletin: E3 2023 Is Not Meant to Be appeared first on Gamesline.

As always you can support us on our patreon, and follow us on twitter @VGChooChoo, @john_michonski, @horngal, @lvmaeparian, and @PunkParfait

Also, don’t forget to rate and review us on iTunes, and tell a friend about the show! If you want to send in questions send them to podcast@videogamechoochoo.com, via Twitter with the hashtag #AskVGCC or into our ask box at videogamechoochoo.tumblr.com/ask.

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Our theme song is “Crush” by Melt Channel, from the album Magic is Real.

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The post VGCC Episode 147: Dracman & Wolfula appeared first on Gamesline.

While some might consider it strange that Nintendo is ending Wii U production before the Switch has even hit the market, a look at sales numbers reveals the comparatively dismal performance of the Wii U. At the most recent count on September 30th, Nintendo has shipped 13.36 million units of the console. This is behind the Wii, which sold 101 million, the N64 at 32 million, and even the Gamecube at 21 million. According to Nintendo, they expected to sell only 800,000 Wii U consoles between March 31st 2016 and 2017. 560,000 of that number had been sold by September 30th, so the math implies about 240,000 other units will have been produced when the console gets put to bed this Friday.

It’s always a little sad to see a console finally exit production, but it seems Nintendo would rather pull the plug on Wii U sooner than later. Considering the console’s sales and the hype surrounding the Switch, it’s probably the right move. Perhaps history and the “retro gamers” of 2030 will be kinder to the Wii U than we have, but for now, the console is getting a send-off with little fanfare. The world is ready for the Switch (even if we still don’t know much about it), so the Wii U is being left in a shallow grave. See you, space cowboy.

The post Nintendo Ceasing Wii U Production appeared first on Gamesline.

Indeed, TMS#FE is exactly as ludicrous as the name would imply. Not content to settle for an SMT sundae with FE sauce, Nintendo and Atlus decided that throwing in a healthy dose of Japanese idol culture would be the perfect cherry on top. The result is a remarkably stylish, completely absurd JRPG about ghosts who sustain themselves on the soul-energy of those in the entertainment industry. Also those ghosts are Fire Emblem characters. Sure, I’m on board so far.

Our hero – a dense teen boy named Itsuki Aoi – finds himself almost immediately haunted by a Mirage, which he quickly purifies with his Performa and then uses as a Carnage to kill some other, more wicked Mirages. Or in layman’s terms: Itsuki uses his latent performative abilities as means to turn a spectral Chrom (of Fire Emblem: Awakening fame) into a cool sword, and then kill ghosts with it. Before long, Itsuki finds himself surrounded by other Mirage Masters – that is to say, teens who can turn FE characters into weapons – and tasked with saving Tokyo from the besieging Mirages. Oh, and rising to idol stardom in the process, because that makes you better at fighting of course!

Even if you don’t find the ridiculous premise as charming as I do, there’s a remarkably deep game behind it all. The turn-based battles, set in packed arenas pumping with kickin’ tunes, differentiate themselves from the pack through a mechanic known as Session Attacks. Essentially, any skill that hits a foe’s weakness will trigger other members of your party to press the advantage with their own attacks, completely free of charge. After a certain point in the game, this includes even characters outside the active battle party. As if that wasn’t enough, you can eventually extend these Sessions even further through overpowered-but-infrequent Duo Arts. The further you progress, the more combat starts to look like a complete bed of chaos. However, there is order here, and the game makes absolutely sure you know it. TMS#FE employs a slow, steady drip of battle mechanics; every time you feel like you’re starting to reach the limits of what’s possible, some new game-changer is introduced. For instance, I didn’t obtain my first Duo Art until over thirty hours in. Every JRPG worth its salt gives consideration to the progression of power – the player should not only become stronger over time, but feel that increase intrinsically. TMS#FE not only displays a sound grasp of this concept, but executes on it flawlessly.

In keeping with that slow-drip methodology, character abilities are learned quite gradually as well. Each weapon (sorry, Carnage), forged with enemy loot, has four skills to offer. These are learned one at a time by accruing Mastery points through battle. At least, this is true until you gain the ability to reforge mastered weapons, adding a fifth learnable skill to each one. Character stats are increased through standard leveling, but each Mirage Master also has a Stage Rank that will increase via combat, unlocking both passive Radiant Skills and sidequests that offer powerful combat techniques as rewards. TMS#FE bears the sign of any good JRPG: it has almost as much content as it does proper nouns.

Be warned though: this is a Shin Megami Tensei game at heart, which means you should expect some resistance. Although far more forgiving than most SMT games, you will still absolutely get wrecked if you just try to mash the Attack command. Don’t expect to shoot through the Idolasphere dungeons in one go, either – you’ll likely find yourself warping out regularly, whether to heal or forge new Carnages. Personally, I don’t mind this structure; each area has its own puzzle gimmicks to keep things from getting stale, as well as convenient teleporters interspersed throughout. Still, it runs counter to most modern RPG design, so your mileage may vary.

Of course, TMS#FE shares another trait with its demonic cousin series: it’s stylish as all get-out. Barring some occasional odd-looking facial animation, the entire game is absolutely gorgeous. Color and vibrancy is the order of the day in Atlus’ vision of Tokyo. From Shibuya streets to Idolasphere depths, submenu screens to battle arenas, everything pops. Heck, the loading screen when entering combat is a Jumbotron-esque display of your party, all suited up for scufflin’. The music keeps pace with the visuals, offering up plenty of catchy numbers, and of course a few J-pop performances as well. I do wish they’d gone a bit wackier with the soundtrack, as it feels almost tame for a game like this, but what’s there doesn’t fail to impress.

Unfortunately, the plot and its characters never manage to be quite as interesting as the bizarro pop-idol window dressing. What’s here instead is a pretty standard “plucky teens save the world” situation, only this time the teens are making pop hits and TV shows on the side. The cast comprises pretty one-dimensional anime archetypes, running the gamut from “creepy otaku,” to “bull-headed hero wannabe,” to “rich boy with empathy problems.” Their personal sidequests attempt to shake out a little personality, but the dialogue (voiced only in Japanese) rarely manages to offer more than some dumb laughs. I don’t think that’s necessarily bad – in fact, one quest in which Itsuki offers friendly advice on doing food reviews had me quite amused – but it is a little disappointing. After all, these are characters you’ll be spending fifty-odd hours with.

Regardless, with its hyper-colorful quasi-Persona aesthetic and gratuitous Fire Emblem fanservice (it does the little fanfare for level ups!), Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE seems like a perfect entry point to Shin Megami Tensei – a franchise often talked up as being impenetrable. But its greatest accomplishment is that, even for a veteran of both SMT and FE such as myself, what’s here is so much more than just fanservice. It is uniquely its own game, and a master class at that.

The post Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Review appeared first on Gamesline.

Either this means Nintendo is really ready to put the Wii U firmly in the past, or perhaps there are just so many left in stock that halting production won’t hurt future sales. If true, it does mean the Wii U is, essentially, dead. The Nikkei article does say they believe the NX will be announced this year, but don’t go so far to confirm it will be released in 2016.

In the wake of possible upgrades from Microsoft and Sony, Nintendo should really strike while they have the chance. While consumers wonder about upgrade paths and trade-ins, Nintendo could push out a console and take hold of a shaky marketplace.

The post Report: Nintendo Ending Wii U Production appeared first on Gamesline.

I’ve never suffered from motion sickness in my entire life, but FAST Racing NEO pushed it. It was a pretty rare occasion that I could sit down and play for longer than twenty minutes without developing some kind of headache or nauseated feeling in my stomach. FAST Racing NEO certainly lives up to its name – and even at lower levels, it may just be faster than any other racing game I’ve ever played.

The natural response to looking at a game like FRN, is to compare it to F-Zero, a long-dormant futuristic racing franchise that is also exclusive to Nintendo. Despite this, I wouldn’t go so far as to call FRN a straight-up F-Zero clone, in reality, it’s more like a meeting between F-Zero and Sony’s Wipeout series. Visually, certainly, it’s more reminiscent of the latter, but from a gameplay standpoint, it’s clearly taking pointers from both.

Perhaps the most key distinction between Wipeout and F-Zero is Wipeout’s use of weaponry, and while FRN doesn’t explicitly have weapons, it does have it’s own methods for going on the offensive. Levels are dotted with little pickups that give you speed boosts. While on the surface these are purely for gaining extra speed, there’s a deeper tactical implementation for them too. Boost into another racer, and you force them to spin-out, or crash. Boost just as an opponent is trying to knock you off course, and your boost will double as a shield. It’s a cool addition to the game, and it makes FRN feel unique.

There’s also a mechanic by which you can switch what “phase” your machine is racing in. Throughout each course you’ll find F-Zero style boost strips, which’ll be coloured either blue or orange. Hitting the L button will trigger a change in your “phase” from blue to orange, and passing over a boost strip while in the wrong phase will actually slow you down. It’s a neat idea, and it certainly adds to the already frantic atmosphere of the game.

Of course, being a racing game, control is imperative, and again, FRN feels more like Wipeout than F-Zero in terms of it’s handling. Vehicles do feel different, however the only stats the game surfaces are your craft’s top speed and acceleration. It’s a weird oversight, but it’s one emblematic of probably FRN’s biggest flaw – it’s lack of content.

Sure, there’s a decent number of tracks, most of which are fairly varied – not that you’ll see much scenery, given the speed the game runs – and a handful of crafts to pilot, but the game is frighteningly barebones in terms of available game modes and presentation. There’s no local multiplayer here – inexcusable for a racing game – and in my experience, the online multiplayer wasn’t terribly stable (although my internet connection is, admittedly, not wonderful). As far as single player goes, you’ve got a smattering of cups at different difficulties, which unlock tracks for use in Time Attack mode. There’s also Hero Mode – unlocked after beating the game – where tracks are even faster, mirrored, and where you must finish first to advance. While there’s not a lot of modes on offer, at least there’s a handful, considering that the game has literally zero options outside of the default settings.

The controls aren’t great, they’re mapped in the style of a PS1 racing game, with accelerate on A and brake on B, and it just doesn’t feel good, especially if you’re playing on the Wii U GamePad. You can’t change the controls either, so you’re gonna have to get used to ‘em if you’re planning on getting seriously invested.

FRN is a pretty decent game – especially given its cheap price point – but there’s also just not a ton of depth to the experience, and at times, the sheer speed of the game is physically draining. I like it, really I do, but I can’t see myself playing it much longer. It’s the kind of game I might reach for for twenty minutes while on a Skype call, or during a podcast recording break. In bite-sized chunks, FAST Racing NEO’s a great experience, but if you’re looking for a long term replacement to F-Zero, you may be waiting a while longer.

The post FAST Racing NEO Review appeared first on Gamesline.

Despite generally positive reviews, the initial exclusive launch of ZombiU was considered a failure and was unable to garner enough profit to justify a sequel. With the game now reaching a much wider audience, a sequel seems more likely, depending on the re-release’s performance.

The post Zombi Officially Announced For 2015 appeared first on Gamesline.

After a blog update by creator Edmund McMillen confirmed the game for an Xbox One release, developer Nicalis tweeted a screenshot of the game in action on the 3DS, along with confirmation that it will also be coming to the Wii U. Although information that Rebirth would be released on these consoles has been circulating for a couple months, no date has been confirmed until now.

The wider release coincides with the upcoming launch of the DLC content Afterbirth, which according to another blog post, is meant to be released sometime this summer.

After a history of difficulty getting Isaac approved by Nintendo, it’s nice that the game is finally seeing a release on their consoles. At this point however, those of us with hundreds of hours logged in the game are probably content with the PC version.

The post Binding of Isaac: Rebirth Officially Coming For More Consoles appeared first on Gamesline.