Don’t Miss These Hidden Gems on Switch – NVC 486
Welcome to Nintendo Voice Chat! It’s December, and this year’s release schedule is starting to calm down. So, the NVC crew is here to add even more games to your backlog with their discussion on the best hidden gems on Switch that you shouldn’t miss. After that, the panel talks about Link joining Super Mario Maker 2 and the one year anniversary of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Finally, your listener questions are answered yet again on Question Block.
Timecodes!
- 00:00:00 Welcome!
- 00:01:40 The best Switch games you may have missed
Pathfinder: Kingmaker Dev Announces New Game In Series
Developer Owlcat Games has announced a new entry in the Pathfinder series that isn’t quite a sequel to Pathfinder: Kingmaker.
Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous is set to be a classic styled CRPG like Kingmaker. It won’t be a direct sequel, but is still based on the tabletop RPG and the developers hope to further explore elements of the previous titles.
The new Pathfinder will feature new systems like mythic progression, which in the tabletop games allows characters to become powerful enough to change the fate of entire regions by following a mythic path and gaining mythic abilities. It’s also adding more classes such as witch and oracle character customisation options, and a new setting in the Age of Lost Omens.
No Time To Die: Everything We Know About The New James Bond Movie
By the time the next Bond movie, No Time To Die, hits theaters, fans will have had the longest wait between 007 movies since Daniel Craig took over the role in 2006. Spectre was released in 2015, and since then, the follow-up has gone through the uncertainty of who will play Bond, a change of directors, multiple writers, and a delayed release date. But finally the movie arrives in April next year.
No Time To Die is the 25th movie in the long-running series which kicked off in 1962 with Dr. No. It’s the fifth time that Craig has played the iconic British superspy, and for many younger fans, he IS James Bond, as it’s now 17 years since previous Bond star Pierce Brosnan departed the role. While the more recent films in the series have followed much of the formula, they’ve also departed from it in numerous ways too. Craig’s movies are more personal, with Bond’s family history and tortured romantic life playing a bigger part in the storylines. There’s more of a consistent narrative between the films than there was with previous Bonds, and much of the action is more grounded, with the Jason Bourne movies a clear influence on them. No invisible cars or jetpacks here!
But they’re still Bond movies, with the girls, gadgets, and insane villains that fans have come to expect, and there’s no reason to think that No Time To Die won’t deliver on that front. When Danny Boyle was initially hired to direct, there were rumors that he would take the series in a more surprising direction. But his departure and the hiring of regular series writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade (who have worked on every Bond movie since 1999’s The World Is Not Enough), suggests that it’ll be business as usual. Nevertheless, with an exciting director in Cary Joji Fukunaga, additional script work from Killing Eve’s Phoebe Waller-Bridge, and the first female 00 agent, there’s much to be hopeful for. So while we wait for Bond’s next mission, here’s everything we know to date about No Time To Die…
Destiny 2’s Eververse Store Gets Much Better Next Season
Destiny 2‘s Eververse store has always been a contentious thing among fans, as is to be expected from a microtransaction-based store. With the launch of the upcoming Season of the Dawn update, Bungie is making some welcome changes based on player feedback.
In the latest This Week at Bungie blog post, a number of changes to Eververse are outlined. It starts out by acknowledging that certain items will still remain only purchasable with Silver–a premium currency acquired only with real-world money–as opposed to Bright Dust, which is obtainable by simply playing the game. “Offering some amount of Eververse content for Silver only is part of ensuring we are able to fund our ability to keep creating and maintaining Destiny and supporting the team that makes Destiny,” it explained.
However, Bungie is shifting the proportion of content that is Silver-exclusive. Whereas it says the current season has about 50% of its content also sold for Bright Dust, Season of the Dawn will see that figure increase to 80%. That means that only around a fifth of what’s sold on Eververse will require you to plunk down real-world money to acquire it.
In another improvement, Bungie is also going to be clearer about which items you’ll be able to purchase with Bright Dust. In the past, players have been left to guess whether they would eventually be able to purchase a given Eververse item using Bright Dust as part of the weekly inventory rotation. Going forward, it will announce on social media which items in the weekly refresh will only be sold for Silver. That way, you can confidently purchase something you’re interested in right away without having to worry about buyer’s remorse later in the season.
Additionally, Eververse will no longer allow you to buy anything you already own. In the past, you’d have to either remember or consult your in-game Collection menu to verify if you owned, say, a given shader being sold on the store.
The blog post also notes some changes to how Bright Dust is awarded. Completing Dawning weekly (200 Bright Dust) and repeatable (10) bounties will grant you just as much as Strike, Crucible, and Gambit bounties. The same will be true for Crimson Days once the Valentine’s Day-themed event arrives.
“We’re committed to continually and thoughtfully adjusting the Eververse store to ensure it’s a balanced and optional part of the Destiny player experience while also ensuring that we can support the team creating and evolving Destiny,” Bungie said. “Please keep the feedback coming, and thanks for all you do to support the team.”
These are just some of the many changes outlined the blog post, which previews the patch notes that are to come with next week’s Season of the Dawn update. That patch will bring not just a variety of new playable content (and sparrows on Mercury!), but changes to each of the three playable classes, some nice changes to Gunsmith and Crucible bounties, and much more.
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Marvel’s Hogwarts-like School to Debut in Strange Academy
Marvel has announced Strange Academy, a new comic book series that will be released early in 2020. Strange Academy will tell the coming of age story of a group of young sorcerers who are learning to control and utilize their powers from none other than Doctor Steven Strange.
Marvel’s Strange Academy comic will be set in New Orleans — a city filled with a rich history of magic folklore. The comic will provide a healthy mix of Marvel favorites, like Doctor Strange and Scarlet Witch, but will also debut a handful of new characters.
The project will be headed up by Skottie Young and Humberto Ramos, two Marvel comic veterans. Speaking about the project, Young told the Associated Press that Strange Academy would likely appeal to fans of the Harry Potter franchise, as the Academy will be very similar to that of Hogwarts.
The Witcher 3 DLC Released for Daemon X Machina on Nintendo Switch
Geralt of Rivia and Ciri from The Witcher 3 are joining the mech battle action game Daemon X Machina thanks to a new free DLC pack. There’s also no need to wait as the DLC pack is available today.
Daemon X Machina is a third-person mech action game developed by Armored Core producer Kenichiro Tsukuda. Players can customize their mech pilots in the game however they want, but with the new DLC, they’ll be able to make their characters look like the two heroes from CD Projekt Red’s The Witcher.
YouTube’s Top 5 Most-Watched Games Of 2019 Revealed
As the new year is on the horizon, YouTube has chronicled its best of 2019 in a video highlighting what the community has liked the most. The roundup includes the most-liked music videos, most-viewed creators, and, of course, the most-watched video games.
YouTube’s most-watched games of 2019 list has a big surprise: the biggest battle royale title, Fortnite, isn’t in the number one spot. Counting backward, Roblox is the fifth most-watched video game of 2019 on YouTube with 29.6 billion views, while mobile battle royale game Garena Free Fire took number four with 29.9 billion views. At number three is Grand Theft Auto V with 36.9 billion views, Fortnite at number two with 60.9 billion views, and taking the number one spot is Minecraft with 100.2 billion views.
Most-Watched Video Games of 2019
- Minecraft
- Fortnite
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Garena Free Fire
- Roblox
YouTube also compiled the most-viewed creators of the year. The list includes big-name creators like PewDiePie and Azzyland, massive channels like Dude Perfect and MrBeast, and more.
Most-Viewed Creators of 2019
- PewDiePie, 4 billion views
- Felipe Neto, 2.8 billion views
- Pencilmation, 2.8 billion views
- Jelly, 2.5 billion views
- David Dobrik, 2.4 billion views
- Dude Perfect, 2.3 billion views
- MrBeast, 2.2 billion views
- LazarBeam, 2 billion views
- Fischer’s, 1.9 billion views
- Azzyland, 1.9 billion views
Check the video below to see YouTube’s full year-end roundup.
YouTube isn’t the only company announcing and gearing up for the end-of-the-year lists. Apple has revealed its best games and apps of 2019, with thatgamecompany’s Sky: Children of the Light taking the iPhone Game of the Year award. The 2019 Game Awards, streaming live on December 12 at 5:30 PM PT, also released its full list of nominees and the competition looks tough.
Apex Legends’ Best Gun Is Still OP, But Respawn Plans On Fixing It
Respawn has announced that it plans on further tweaking Apex Legends‘ Peacekeeper shotgun, arguably the best firearm in the battle royale game. The Peacekeeper has been nerfed in the past–even as recently as November 2019–but the shotgun continues to remain a dominant force.
In the patch notes for Update 3.2, Respawn writes, “We’ve heard feedback loud and clear that the Peacekeeper is still feeling too powerful after latest changes. We are working to push out more tweaks to address it ASAP and will post details on timing and what those changes will be soon.”
These “latest changes” increased the rechamber time of the Peacekeeper by a tenth of a second and decreased its headshot multiplier from 1.5 to 1.25. The changes are so minor, however, that they’re almost indiscernible in the heat of combat. The Peacekeeper continues to deal out immense amounts of damage in a relatively short amount of time.
If anything, the most significant problem with the Peacekeeper is the size of the shotgun’s spread. The pellets are large enough that it’s relatively simple to land headshots even if your aim isn’t exactly lined up with a target’s head. In close quarters, consistently landing headshots can usually make a major difference in a firefight.
The Peacekeeper is also one of the guns in Apex Legends that supports the precision choke attachment, which allows you to focus its large shells into a more precise shot. This makes it easier to hit a target at mid- to long-range with the Peacekeeper–something no other shotgun can do. And since it is a shotgun, the Peacekeeper’s overall damage output from a single shot can match a few seconds of sustained fire from most submachine guns, assault rifles, and LMGs.
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Deals: Mario Red Switch Bundle, Persona 5 Royal, Baby Yoda, and More
Today’s spotlight deal is a new Nintendo Switch bundle from Walmart. In my opinion, it’s better than any console we saw on Black Friday, and it’s available for immediate shipping right now. Considering the fact that the Switch is one of the hottest sellers during the holiday season, this might not be the case for long.
Nintendo Switch V2 Mario Red Bundle for $299
Good things come to those who wait. For those of you who passed on the Switch deals during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, you’re patience has been rewarded. Walmart’s exclusive holiday bundle, which includes the Switch console with the coveted Mario Red Joy-cons, $20 in eShop credit, and a red hard shell carrying case, is now available. There’s no better looking Switch available right now. Unlike the infamous Mario Kart bundle from Black Friday, this is the newer Switch model with the extra 2 hours of battery life compared to the original.