It's been a while for one of the leads.

A veteran of the Japanese horror RPG genre is making his first appearance in a quarter century for a new RPG that NIS America has already confirmed for Western release.

Known as Monark, the new RPG from developer Lancarse (previous works including programming on Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth... Read more...

Five years after launch (and nearly two years after the Switch release), Overwatch is joining all of its players together.

With the game's fifth anniversary event recently concluding and a sequel on the horizon, Overwatch will be receiving cross-play support soon.

In a developer update released on the official Overwatch YouTube Channel, game director Aaron Keller announced today that they will soon be allowing players... Read more...

In which Nintendo finally says "You think making this is easy? You do it, then".

We wouldn't have known this as recently as a few weeks ago, but Nintendo dropped a pre-summer bomb with this week's major release, Game Builder Garage. The game creator lacks ways to get at creations without the screenshot functions of the Switch, but looks to give us all a lesson in how to make the simple stuff.

A few were known, but a lot of debuts to the wide world.

The day's second independent game show was the first day of the Guerrilla Collective featured another round of confirmed Switch games.

While North America slept, the games started flowing.

The Switch was well represented at a summer independent game festival that just wrapped in Japan.

Although not all of the games have Western release planned, they will be available in Japan:

One game lets you tame demons, one gods... I'm hardcore, I'll take 'em both on.

An update to the Japanese website for Shin Megami Tensei V has potentially revealed some unintended information.

The update was spotted by Persona Central and was originally showing without graphics, though the change was reverted overnight NA time. Most notably, if the update is accurate SMTV... Read more...

Whether the one that already exists or otherwise, who knows. UPDATE: It's not just Brain Age.

Nintendo of America appears to be gauging interest in a "brain training" release on Switch.

A member of the Nintendo World Report staff received a survey from Nintendo that included the below question as its own page in the survey:

"At a price of $39.99, how interested are you in buying a brain training game that you can play with friends and family?"

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Splatoon 2 will have official High School Leagues this Fall; Mario Kart 8 Deluxe will join them next Spring.

Nintendo and PlayVS have officially announced a partnership that brings Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Splatoon 2 to high school varsity sports. Nintendo will be providing the Nintendo Switch System to thousands of select qualifiying schools, as well as games and online subscriptions, while PlayVS will provide the league tournament structure as well as exclusive partnerships with state and national high school athletics organizations.

Finally, the news we all wanted.

It's the rare Direct with a two week lead time.

Nintendo have announced their first Direct since February will air on Tuesday, June 15 at noon ET / 9 am PT. The presentation will be 40 minutes long and will be "exclusively focused on Switch software, mostly releasing in 2021". Following the presentation will be a three-hour edition of Treehouse Live.

Justin is already looking at flights for 2023.

Nintendo fans will soon have a new place to make a pilgrimage to.

The company has announced the conversion of a production plant near Kyoto to a "new gallery to showcase the many products Nintendo has launched over its history". Located south of Kyoto in the suburb Uji, the gallery is currently targeting an opening in Nintendo's 2023 fiscal year (April 1, 2023 - March 31, 2024).

In the duel between Marvel and DC, your humble News Editor roots for the meteor.

This is actually the middle of a very busy period for Nintendo first party releases - this week is the fourth of five in a row in which they have a major release (with the Age of Calamity expansion pass counting for some definition of "major"), and they end up with six out of seven with Mario Golf at the end of June. This week's release is DC Super Hero Girls, based on the short lived comic cartoon.

The Switch's screenshot feature is going to be getting a workout.

Codes will be the only method for sharing Game Builder Garage creations at launch.

IGN confirmed in a preview that there would be no other methods supported for viewing other's games aside from the codes.

"In my hands-off preview of the game, the Nintendo representative on the call told me that... Read more...

Blissfully 100% werehog free.

Sega announced a pair of new takes on classic Sonic in their 30th anniversary stream today, as well as showing off a brand new game for 2022.

Sonic Colors Ultimate is a remastered version of the 2010 Wii platformer that mixed 2D and 3D platforming. It will launch on Switch September 7, with a "Digital Deluxe" version offering early access and other content.

...this is kind of late, not gonna lie.

Photography ruled the Nintendo roost in April and the Switch continued to dominate hardware sales in the NPD Group's sales survey.

All data is based on revenue from April 4 - May 1, unless noted, and eShop sales count for some publishers though notably not Nintendo or Sega/Atlus.

The Switch's... Read more...

And yes, you still get the updates.

One of the most serene games of 2020 is finally getting immortalized in cartridge.

Spiritfarer, the afterlife management simulation from Thunder Lotus Games, will receive a physical edition on July 27. After a listing appeared on Amazon Germany overnight, iam8bit confirmed they would be distributing the release.

The latest in the series promises to change the battle system and come out worldwide at the same time.

Dragon Quest XII: The Flames of Fate was the headlining reveal during Square Enix’s Dragon Quest 35th Anniversary stream, though specific details and platforms for the upcoming game and the rest of the announcements were scarce, especially for Western fans.

No release window or platforms were... Read more...

Ew, who dunked my Valstrax in a fruit bowl?

The "Monster Hunter May" event has wrapped with details on both the update for version 3 of Monster Hunter Rise, and the upcoming Monster Hunter Stories 2.

Stories 2

Players will be able to locate eggs in the world that hunt new monsties, and a form of skill inheritance with "genes" can be used... Read more...

Twenty-five years (and two months) after the original.

One of the major holiday games for the Switch will be a pair of remakes.

Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl will launch in the "Friday before Black Friday" slot of November 19, with Pokemon Legends: Arceus following on January 28, 2022. A double pack of BD/SP will also be available.

Both titles were announced on February 27 with targeted release dates of "fall" and "early 2022" at the time.

This could be good, or Sonic '06. There's not really much in between.

A year after his 90's rival hit a milestone, the bluest of blurs is throwing an anniversary party.

Sega have announced a stream will air Thursday at noon ET / 9 am PT on Thursday (May 27) to announce "products, partnerships, and events" for the 30th anniversary of Sonic the Hedgehog. The original Genesis / Mega Drive Sonic game originally launched on June 23, 1991 in North America.

Since there's about 9001 different shows this summer, here's the list of the ones we're keeping an eye on.

It's the most insane time of the year...

Yes, the second summer of Too Many Game Shows is about to kick off this week, and it's time for the news desk to become busier than a one-armed paper hanger over the next... couple of months. This will be updated as new events are announced - there's at least one annual event that hasn't been revealed yet, and the specter of Nintendo dropping a Direct on us is still hanging overhead.