Author: Trafficblast

Shadow of the Colossus’s PS4 remake was a critical success when it launched last week, and now it appears it’s also performed well at retail. The game has finished top of the UK physical sales chart for its debut week (ending February 10).

Sales monitor Chart-Track says the PS2 original also finished at No.1 when it was released in 2006, but the remake’s first week sales were up 73% over its ancestor. Elsewhere, EA Sports UFC 3 maintains its position at No.2, although Monster Hunter World slips to No.3. The rest of the top five remains the same, with FIFA 18 staying at No.4 and Grand Theft Auto V at No.5.

Retailer-led price promotions mean The Evil Within 2 and Overwatch: Game of the Year Edition re-enter the chart this week at No.10 and No.13, respectively. In addition to Shadow of the Colossus, the only other new game in the chart is the Nintendo Switch exclusive Dragon Quest Builders, which debuts at No.31.

In our Shadow of the Colossus PS4 remake review, critic Edmond Tran said the game is a “tremendous journey, and one well worth taking and retaking.” He continued: “The visual overhaul is stunning, thoroughly enhancing every facet of Wander and Agro’s excellent adventure. Galloping through the tranquil world is always breathtaking; felling a monumental colossus is always humbling. Shadow of the Colossus is a beautiful reconstruction of an already exceptional title. It continues to be a modern classic and is an extraordinary game that everyone must experience.”

If you prefer to make your own mind up, check out some 4K Shadow of the Colossus gameplay, or see us mess with the game’s visuals using a bunch of filters. You can also watch the remake’s reveal trailer or watch us take down its first five bosses.

You can read the full top 10 sales chart below, courtesy of UKIE and Chart-Track. Note this table does not include digital sales data, and so should not be considered representative of all UK game sales.

1. Shadow of the Colossus
2. EA Sports UFC 3
3. Monster Hunter World
4. FIFA 18
5. Grand Theft Auto V
6. Call of Duty: WWII
7. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
8. Super Mario Odyssey
9. Assassin’s Creed Origins
10. The Evil Within 2

Nintendo is making an animated Mario movie with Minions and Despicable Me company Illumination Entertainment. This was finally confirmed in January. Now, Nintendo has shared some further details about the much-anticipated movie, including the fact that Nintendo is not afraid to back away from the project if the idea is not compelling enough.

In the English translation of a recent investor Q&A, Shigeru Miyamoto, who is producing the film, started off by saying he has been thinking about an animated movie for “many years now.” He said some wondered why Nintendo didn’t do this faster, as some believe “making a game is like making a movie.” But that’s not necessarily the case.

“Interactive experiences are completely different from non-interactive media, and to make a movie I want a film expert to do the work,” Miyamoto said about Illumination.

Miyamoto went on to say that he began discussions with Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri (who picked up an Oscar nomination for Despicable Me 2) more than two years ago. “Chris is extremely cost-conscious and time-conscious in his quest to make successful movies,” Miyamoto said. Meledandri is also producing the untitled Mario movie.

Perhaps more notably, Miyamoto added that Nintendo and Illumination might decide to back away from making a Mario movie if the script doesn’t live up to their standards. Right now, the screenplay is “progressing,” Miyamoto said, though it remains to be seen who the writers are. In Hollywood, just because a movie has been announced, doesn’t mean it will ever happen.

“We’ve talked together and share the feeling that if we can’t make something interesting we’ll just call it quits,” Miyamoto said. “But we’ve already met a number of times to hash out the screenplay, our talks together are progressing, and I hope to make an announcement once we’ve ironed out some things like the schedule.”

As previously reported, the plan is for the movie to be in theatres before the Tokyo Olympics in 2020; that’s also when Nintendo hopes to have the Super Nintendo Land theme park open at Universal in Japan.

Miyamoto has previously experimented with film, even releasing a series of Pikmin shorts. Last year, Nintendo made it clear it was interested in expanding to films but that it would like to do “more than just license something.”

1993’s live-action Super Mario Bros. movie was a critical and commercial failure, with star Bob Hoskins–who played Mario–said it was the worst movie he’s ever been a part of.

Over the years, Nintendo has been very hesitant to bring its franchises–which with Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong, and others are among the biggest names in all of entertainment–to movies and TV. Given their prominence in the entertainment world, Hollywood has surely come knocking for adapatations, and now it appears Nintendo is finally moving ahead. Netflix was reportedly interested in making a Zelda TV show, though this never happened.

As for why Nintendo is looking at more licensing deals, Kimishima said in 2016 that fewer and fewer young people are finding out about Nintendo games through…games.Instead, they’re discovering Nintendo and its characters through things like officially licensed Mario toothbrushes. So you can expect these kinds of licensing deals to continue and possibly increase, Kimishima said at the time.

For more on Nintendo’s latest investor Q&A, check out the stories linked below.

Typically, console generations run for around 5-6 years. With some amount of deviation, this has generally been true for consoles from the big three: Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo.

But Nintendo believes its new system, the Switch, could potentially run for a longer period of time. Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto said during a recent investor Q&A that he believes the Switch stands to be successful for a long time to come due to its unique hybrid nature and Nintendo’s efforts to create compelling content that leverages the system’s unique attributes.

“When you think about what can be done with the Nintendo Switch as a device that can be taken on the go and that every person has in their hands to play, you realise it has many features not available on any other hardware to date,” Miyamoto said. “Nintendo also has a system in place whereby the software developers focus on these hardware features in their development efforts for the continuation of the Nintendo Switch business.”

He added: “Up until now, the hardware lifecycle has trended at around five or six years, but it would be very interesting if we could prolong that life cycle, and I think you should be looking forward to that.”

Nintendo director Shinya Takahashi went on to say that the company is working with “junior” developers inside the company to continue to “create interesting products” that are both fun to play and reach a wide audience.

“Behind the unceasing stream of Nintendo Switch software releases to date is an approach to development that concentrates on development, itself the fruit of efforts several years ago to integrate the software development teams, which has made it easier to organise teams.”

By comparison, the Wii U was released in 2012, with production ending globally in January 2017. The Switch launched in March 2017, going on surpass the lifetime sales of the Wii U after just 10 months. If Nintendo’s prediction comes true and the Switch has a lifecycle longer than 5-6 years, we could see it still in the market into 2023 and potentially beyond depending on how things go.

Some of Nintendo’s biggest franchises have already been released on the Switch (Super Mario, Mario Kart, and Zelda are among them) but fans are still waiting for a Super Smash Bros. game. Given that it is one of Nintendo’s biggest and best-known franchises, we can expect it to eventually come to Switch, though it remains to be seen when that may happen.

For more on Nintendo’s latest investor Q&A, check out the stories linked below.