Author: Trafficblast

Nintendo has detailed its financial performance for the nine-month period ended December 2019 and, as part of this, revealed that Pokemon Sword & Shield have sold over 16 million units. This incredibly strong performance has propelled the two games into the list of top five best-selling Nintendo Switch titles, where they sit behind The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

The company also revealed that Luigi’s Mansion 3 and Super Mario Maker 2 both sold over five million units. The nine-month period detailed in the report also covers the launch of the Nintendo Switch Lite and, as a result, “Nintendo Switch performed well without losing momentum, resulting in significant sales growth for the entire Nintendo Switch family that surpassed the same period in the last fiscal year.” As it stands, total Nintendo Switch sales–combining both the standard Switch model and the Lite–has reached 52.48 units.

Overall, the financial report shows Nintendo had a very healthy nine-month period, with increases in sales and profit. Digital revenue also showed growth, rising by 48 percent year-on-year, while revenue generated from mobile games such as Mario Kart Tour grew by 10 percent compared to the same period in 2018.

Looking ahead in 2020, Nintendo’s major release is set to be Animal Crossing: New Horizons. However, the company has a number of new games in major franchises in development, including The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2, Bayonetta 3, and Metroid Prime 4. As of yet, these games do not have release dates.

In our Pokemon Sword & Shield review, Kallie Plagge awarded the game a 9/10. “In collecting, battling, and exploring, Sword and Shield cut out the bloat and focus on what makes these pillars of the Pokemon games so captivating in the first place,” she said. “You’re not held back by overly complicated back-end systems or hoops to jump through; from the outset, you can start wandering the Galar region, seeing its new Pokemon, and trying out its new battle strategies with very little in your way. This leaves you free to enjoy what Pokemon is all about, and that makes for an incredibly strong showing for the series’ proper debut on Switch.”

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive first released in 2012, but work is still ongoing on the popular competitive shooter. The latest patch notes show what has changed in this new update, which includes the removal of a glitch that was preventing detonations from doing damage and some tweaks to a few maps.

The map that’s seeing the most substantial changes is Mirage, which is shifting and adding a few features to open up new tactical options. If you know these maps like the back of your hand, there might be some changes that will catch you by surprise. Here’s the full list of changes introduced by this update.

[ MAPS ]

Cache:

• Various visibility improvements
• Optimizations
• Various minor bug fixes
• Updated radar

Studio:

• Fixed players not taking damage from bomb detonation
• Clipping improvements
• Improved visuals of CT / T streets
• Various minor bug fixes

Train:

• Opened up skybox over building separating Ivy/A site
• Various visibility improvements
• Various minor bug fixes

Dust2:

• Opened up skybox from B halls towards site

Mirage:

• Added AWP wallbang spot from palace to scaffolding close corner, A site
• Added bench in mid allowing jump up to window boost spot/peek towards cat
• Widened T entrance to mid
• Lowered trim around B site balcony
• Blocked a jump-peek from middle of B site towards cat

[ MISC ]

• Increased the size of HLTV broadcast server info message, controlled by a new setting “tv_broadcast_server_info_message_size_kb”.
• Added a setting spec_xray_dropped_defusers to show xray outlines on dropped defuse kits.
• Added a setting spec_xray_dropped_unoccluded to always xray dropped C4 and defuse kits.
• Game state integration now allows to control precision of reported floating point values using an additional configuration section:

“output”

{

“precision_time” “1”

“precision_position” “2”

“precision_vector” “2”

}

Counter-Strike: GO went free-to-play on Steam back in 2018, so it’s easy to jump in. In late 2019, the game was updated with new Halo-themed sounds and stickers to promote Halo: Reach.

Blizzard has canceled multiple professional Overwatch League events in China following the Coronavirus outbreak that has claimed the lives of close to 200 people so far.

In a statement, Blizzard said it’s canceling the tournaments scheduled for February and March, adding that it expects to go forward with the remaining matches in China later this year.

“We have decided to cancel our February and March matches in China in order to protect the health and safety of our players, fans, and staff,” Blizzard said. “We hope fans have a safe and happy Lunar New Year, and we remain incredibly excited to play Overwatch League matches in China later this season.”

The Overwatch League events were not the only professional gaming tournaments to be canceled or delayed after the virus outbreak. The League of Legends Pro League announced it is postponing its Spring event because of the Coronavirus.

The Coronavirus has been traced back to the city of Wuhan, reportedly originating at the end of 2019. The death toll has surpassed 170, while cases of the virus have been reported in countries around the world, including the United States, Japan, Australia, and Thailand.

Warcraft III: Reforged is out now, and players who delve into the user agreement they must agree to before playing the game are finding that the terms and conditions have changed compared to the original release. Now, anything you create in Custom Games is immediately owned by Blizzard.

Warcraft III has had a substantial modding scene, and custom games are an important part of the game’s infrastructure. Now, Blizzard is looking to retain rights to anything created within Warcraft III: Reforged. USGamer picked up on the new wording in the game’s user agreement, which states:

“Custom Games are and shall remain the sole and exclusive property of Blizzard. Without limiting the foregoing, you hereby assign to Blizzard all of your rights, title, and interest in and to all Custom Games, including but not limited to any copyrights in the content of any Custom Games. If for any reason you are prevented or restricted from assigning any rights in the Custom Games to Blizzard, you grant to Blizzard an exclusive, perpetual, worldwide, unconditional, royalty free, irrevocable license enabling Blizzard to fully exploit the Custom Games (or any component thereof) for any purpose and in any manner whatsoever.”

This is likely sparked by the success of Defense of the Ancients (Dota), which started as a community-made mod of Warcraft III and eventually spawned a Valve-developed sequel, Dota 2, as well as the whole MOBA genre. Blizzard seemingly wants to ensure that if anyone invents a new genre, or creates a breakout title in Warcraft III, they are not left out of potential profits.

However, players are also now welcome to take donations for the creation of their work, allowing top Warcraft III modders to theoretically directly profit from their work.

For more on Warcraft III: Reforged, check out our huge interview with lead producer Pete Stilwell. He talks about why Warcraft III was chosen for an overhaul, what design challenges the team faced, and what players can expect from custom games and maps.

Best Deals This Week

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has a bevy of additional content available to download on Nintendo Switch following the release of Byleth and Update 7.0. This includes more Mii fighter costumes, a new Spirit Board Challenge Pack, and the pre-orderable Fighters Pass Vol. 2.

Your Mii fighter can now have five more outfits to do battle in. Altaïr’s signature white cloak and hood from 2007’s Assassin’s Creed can be added to your Mii fighter’s wardrobe, in addition to a Cuphead outfit (based on the titular character), a Rabbids hat from Ubisoft’s Raving Rabbids franchise, and getups from both Mega Man X and Mega Man Battle Network. Each of the five outfits retail for $0.75 USD.

A new Spirit Board Challenge Pack is available as a free download for active Nintendo Switch Online members. The package comes with items that will help bolster your spirits in Spirit Mode, such as more spirit points and additional snacks. You can download the challenge pack from the Nintendo Eshop.

The Fire Emblem: Three Houses protagonist, Byleth, is not Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s final DLC fighter, as game director Masahiro Sakurai confirmed six more characters are in the works. Sakurai has not specified who these six characters are, but he has announced that each one has already been selected. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s Fighters Pass Vol. 2 is available to pre-order now for $30 USD and the characters are expected to arrive by December 31, 2021. Those who purchase the second Fighters Pass will receive the Ancient Soldier costume from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild as a free download. It includes a helmet and outfit for your Mii fighter.

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