Playing Super Mario Party Across 2 Switch Tablets Feels Like Magic

Nintendo is at its best when it’s trying something new. With touch and motion and even portability, keeping things weird and unique is always what leads to Nintendo’s most memorable hits. Mario Party isn’t usually a franchise I associate with that level of innovation, but on Switch that may finally have changed.

With Super Mario Party, Nintendo has added one of Switch’s most unexpected and unique features: screen sharing. By removing the Joy-Cons and lining up two Switch tablets, you can connect two screens with a simple swipe that allows gameplay to move seamlessly from one system to the other in any configuration and with any portion of the screens lined up.

Seeing that transition in trailers is impressive, but seeing it in person feels like magic. Playing a demo at Gamescom, I tried out two mini games in Toad’s Rec Room, the new mode that includes mini games utilizing two systems if both players own a copy of Super Mario Party.

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Fortnite 5.30 Update Adds Portable Rifts, Here Are The Patch Notes

Following a round of server maintenance, a new update is now available for Fortnite. Patch 5.30 has arrived on all platforms–PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and mobile–and it introduces new items to both Battle Royale and Save the World modes, along with an assortment of bug fixes and other improvements.

On the Battle Royale side, Epic has introduced the previously teased Rift-to-Go. As its name suggests, this Epic rarity item is a portable rift that you can use to warp into the air and skydive back down. The rifts will last for 10 seconds once they’ve been activated, so other players will also have a brief window of time to jump into them.

Epic has also tweaked a handful of other weapons in Battle Royale. Now, Clingers will only detonate once their timer is up, while the Double Barrel Shotgun’s spread has been reduced by 15% when crouching. Epic has also slightly decreased the equip time of the Pump Shotgun and increased the max stack size of Impulse Grenades by one.

Beyond that, the latest update marks the start of a new limited-time mode called Score Royale. This mode has players scrambling to be the first to surpass the designated high score, and they’ll earn points by collecting coins, acquiring loot, and eliminating other players. The storm circle at the start of the match is also larger than normal, while the late-game circles close in more rapidly.

On the Save the World side, Epic has added the Bundlebuss Assault Rifle to the Weekly Store. This powerful new gun with a large magazine will only be available from August 23-29. A new Horde Weekly Challenge is also now available to take on.

You can find the full patch notes for update 5.30 on the Fortnite website. This week’s batch of challenges will arrive a little later than usual, rolling out on Friday, August 24, instead of on Thursday like they normally do. In the meantime, you can find guides for all the missions that are currently available in our complete Season 5 challenge guide.

Nintendo Switch Nindies Showcase Announced for Next Week

Nintendo has revealed the date of the next Nindies Showcase and promises that it will be “highlighting multiple unannounced indie games coming to #NintendoSwitch!”

Announced via Twitter, on Tuesday, August 28, the Nindies Showcase Summer 2018 will be streamed live at 9 am PT/12 pm ET.

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This announcement comes only a few days after Nintendo UK released their Indie Highlights video in which 16 games were revealed/discussed, including Windjammers 2, Monster Boy & The Cursed Kingdom, and Moonlighter.

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Yakuza Kiwami 2 Review

By the time the credits had rolled on Yakuza Kiwami 2 I’d uncovered a plot to detonate a series of explosives around Tokyo, climbed my way through the ranks of an underground fight club buried in the bowels of a construction site, and partnered with a number of businesses in Osaka in an effort to boost my burgeoning cabaret club management career. I’d also beaten up a baby nursery full of full grown men clad in diapers, struck flirtatious poses for a snap-happy photographer who was wearing nothing but a Speedo and a smile, and drank can after can of vending machine coffee in order to make my bladder full enough to beat the high score in the interactive urinal-based minigame.

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How Much Time, Money and Practice Does It Take to Make It to the Pokemon World Championships?

Tomorrow kicks off the start of the 2018 Pokemon World Championships where hundreds of players will descend on Nashville, TN for the annual competition to find who is the very best, like no one ever was. But what does it take to get a shot at taking home a cool first place Pikachu trophy and a chunk of the $500,000 prize pool? To find out, we talked to Carly Clements, a Pokemon Trading Card Game (TCG) player who just qualified to play in the big event for the first time. Every player’s journey is different, but Carly’s story offers a good look at how much time, money, and effort it takes to go all the way.

(Need a refresher? Check out our primer on how competitive Pokemon works.)

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What Did You Think of This Week’s Comics?

It was another big week for the comic book industry, with Marvel’s excellent Venom relaunch continuing onward and DC debuting a new Batman comic from fan-favorite artist Kelley Jones.

Scroll down to check out our new reviews and thinkpieces, and be sure to let us know your favorite books of the week in the comments below.

Batman: Kings of Fear #1 Review

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Written by Scott Peterson | Drawn by Kelley Jones

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Lara Croft Is Awkward

Throughout the Tomb Raider reboot series, Lara Croft has been building to a transformation. She struggled to find her survival instinct footing in Tomb Raider and began to learn how to adapt to it in Rise of the Tomb Raider. But in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, she’s taken on the titular mantle. She’ll still get brutally impaled on a mission failure screen, of course, but she has no doubts about who she is or what she’s capable of.

Some people would even call her a narcissist. She’s so overly confident, Alanah argued in an earlier hands-on session we had with the game, that she’ll ignore even her allies in favor of pursuing her adventures. She has a hero complex: Lara believes no one knows better, and no one can do better. No one can save the world but Lara Croft.

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Preorder These Games Before Amazon Ditches Its Prime Preorder Discount

If you buy something through this post, IGN may get a share of the sale. For more, read our Terms of Use.

If you haven’t heard, Amazon is replacing its 20-percent off preorder deal with $10 credit “on select games.” That’s bad news for those of us who preordered primarily for the discount. With Gamers Club Unlocked winding down, and Amazon’s preorder pricing coming to a close on August 28, deals on preorders are going to be harder to come by.

However, if you preorder games now, and you’re a Prime member, you can still lock in the discount on a tremendous selection of upcoming titles. We’re about to turn the corner into the busiest release window of the year, so if you want to ensure your 20% savings on upcoming games through Amazon, here’s a list of the most notable eligible upcoming games and links to buy them.

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Yet Another Video Game Is Becoming A Movie

Video game movies are rarely any good, but Hollywood keeps making them. The latest video game to be spun into is a movie is the indie hit, M.C. Escher-inspired Monument Valley.

Paramount, which is producing the live-action Sonic the Hedgehog movie featuring Jim Carrey, is developing the Monument Valley film. Patrick Osborne, who won an Oscar for his 2014 animated short film Feast, is set to direct it. According to Deadline, the Monument Valley film will “send contemporary live-action characters into the game’s extraordinary, mend-bending world.”

A search is currently underway to find a writer who will work with Osborne on the project.

Monument Valley launched in 2014, with a sequel debuting in 2017. The series is developed by Ustwo Games, and studio head Dan Gray told Deadline, “We’re incredibly happy that we’ve found the perfect creative partners in Paramount, Weed Road, and Patrick Osborne to champion this concept forward into another medium.”

According to Deadline, Monument Valley has been downloaded an incredible 160 million times, generating millions and millions in revenue.

Monument Valley was featured in Season 3 of Netflix’s political drama House of Cards, an appearance that helped raise the game’s profile and revenue. The studio has said that part of its missions is to reach people who have never played games before, so appearing on House of Cards and now getting its own movie is definitely pushing the game into new markets.

There is no word as of yet regarding who will star in the Monument Valley movie or when it will release. Keep checking back with GameSpot for more.