Here’s our round-up of the most important stories in video games from Thumbsticks and elsewhere on the ‘World Wide Web’.
This week a game was scored six out of ten, Bioware vowed to finish making Mass Effect Andromeda, and the tech-specs for Project Scorpio were finally revealed.
More Mass Effect fixes incoming
Mass Effect Andromeda might be selling quite nicely – it’s still at number one in the UK charts – but if you’ve just bought the game, it might be worth waiting a while before diving in. After releasing the 1.05 patch this week, Bioware’s Aaryn Flynn posted a blog update promising a number of future technical and content improvements.
Polygon’s Ben Kuchera argues that this effectively means Mass Effect Andromeda is an Early Access title. It’s hard to disagree.
Holy platform exclusivity!
Rocksteady Games have announced that Batman Arkham VR is no longer a PlayStation VR exclusive, and will be released on HTC Vive and Oculus Rift later this month.
6 out of 10 of the week
The review embargo lifted for Yooka-Laylee last week and, well, it’s not the triumph we hoped for. In his review, Jim Sterling says that it’s “a game out of time”, and Marty Sliva in his, more positive, IGN appraisal, says the game “lacks the heart and polish” of the titles that inspired it.
Nintendo open to more open-worlds
Having mastered the open-world formula at the first attempt – and by evidently learning a few lessons from the best video games of the past decade – it appears that we can look forward to more expansive adventures from the Japanese game maker. Zelda series producer, Eiji Anouma, said in an interview with Famitsu – and covered by Polygon – that “in the future, open air games will be the standard for Zelda.”
A vapour chamber heat sink! What took you so long, Microsoft?
We know this wasn’t supposed to be a console unveiling in the traditional sense, but has there ever been a more sleep-inducing curtain-raiser for a piece of gaming hardware? Digital Foundry’s exclusive Project Scorpio analysis goes deep on the technical detail, but we all know that it will be the games that matter. Microsoft has a lot to prove at E3.
And the BAFTA goes to…
The great and the good of the video games industry arrived in London this week to duke it out at the prestigious BAFTA Game Awards. There was a real sense that the awards mattered this year, with plenty of in-depth – and serious – coverage to be found on TV and in the mainstream press. Here’s the full list of BAFTA nominees and winners.
PSA for GameStop.com customers
Kotaku reports on analysis from KrebsOnSecurity indicating that GameStop.com may have been subjected to a data breach. If you used the website between September and February, it’s possible your credit card information has been compromised, including the CVV2 number. Make sure you take all the usual precautions.
Need more Nintendo Switch news?
If you’re still hungry for more nuggets of information on the Switch, check out this in-depth Famitsu interview with Nintendo’s Shinya Takahashi and Yoshiaki Koizumi, translated by the fine folks at Nintendo Everything.
