The Reticule

It was all set to be a fairly quiet week in the gaming world, but then further leaks about an enhanced version of the Nintendo Swich emerged. A larger, better quality screen (still at 720p) and support for 4K output are some of the headlines. An improved version of Nintendo’s all conquering handheld is undoubtedly good news as fans expect news of Breath of the Wild 2 to emerge at some point this year. Many key questions are outstanding though, namely how will devs support both flavours of the Switch moving forward, and will any older releases (especially the third-party ports) be updated to make use of the new console. More details are essential, but Nintendo will share news of this in their own way.

Back in Week 128 we touched on an excellent Eurogamer deep-dive into Xbox Game Pass. This week, Rob Fahey on GI.biz wrote a fine opinion piece which explores how Microsoft are continuing to establish Game Pass as the leading selling point of the Xbox family of consoles. It then highlight the many deficiencies of the PlayStation Plus offering, ranging from the limited number of games available and the foibles of having to download them each month to add them to your account. If you’re thinking about purchasing one of the new consoles at some point this year, it’s an article that might influence your buying decisions.

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Pokemon to the left of me,
Pokemon to the right of me,
Here I am stuck in the middle of Pikachu

With that, our ode to the news that there will be remakes of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl is complete. The more impressive news from this week was Sony announcing that a next-generation VR headset will be coming, presumably next year. There’s an article on GI.biz which explores the need for Sony to ensure PSVR2 comes with a great range of software, as just providing a shiny piece of new tech is unlikely to lead PSVR2 to breaking beyond the 5-million units sold barrier of the original tech.

It’s an announcement that confirms there is plenty of life left in this console cycle. While you ponder that though, hit the break to check out Our Week in Games.

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What a week it has been in the land of video games. Nintendo snuck out with a Direct, the first full length on since the closing months of 2019. With Covid-19 impacting on Nintendo as much as any company, their 2020 range of Directs were of the Mini variety. The full 50-minute Direct led to much expectation of Bayonetta or Metroid news, but most principally people were expecting news of the next Breath of the Wild. All we got was an acknolwedgement that we’d hear more about Link’s next adventure later this year, and confirmation of an HD release of Skyward Sword. Safe to say fans were left disappointed, but for me I was more than happy to see a new Splatoon announced.

The other big news came from BlizzCononline at the end of the week, with more details of Dibalo 4 unveileved with the confirmation that The Rogue class will be returning to the series. That wasn’t all as Blizzard also revealed their HD remaster of Diablo II, an announcement sure to send fans wild.

If you’ve kept on top of the news, then you might want to satisfy your Sunday reading by taking a look at this deep-dive into Xbox Game Pass. It’s a brilliant piece from Chris Tapsell that debunks some of the myths that exist around Game Pass with plenty of developers chipping in with their own thoughts. If you have any interest in the industry as a whole, not just in playing games, it’s a worthwhile read.

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