Sony’s PS5 Showcase

The latest PlayStation Showcase is one of the most impressive showings I’ve seen from a console manufacturer. There was hardly any talking. It was game, game, game, game – and not just CG cut-scenes. Every title they featured had gameplay in it. At $400, Sony has positioned themselves well against Microsoft. Flawless execution, Sony.

Demon’s Souls was originally stated to be coming to PC, but Sony later retracted it – although it will probably still make its way to PC.

Microsoft Buys Bethesda For $7.5 Billion

Now we know why Microsoft showed so much confidence after Sony’s PS5 showcase. Buying a major studio like Bethesda is significant and a massive power-grab for Microsoft in their ongoing war against Sony.

It will be interesting to see if this will preclude Bethesda’s games from appearing on the Switch given how cozy Nintendo’s relationship with Microsoft has become. While we might still see Bethesda-published titles on the Switch, PlayStation 5 owners can likely wave bye-bye to all of them. This includes the Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Doom, Dishonored, Prey, Wolfenstein, The Evil Within, Rage, and others.

https://www.polygon.com/2020/9/21/21448884/microsoft-buys-bethesda-zenimax-xbox-game-studios-starfield-fallout-doom

New Monster Hunter Games Coming To The Switch

There are two new Monster Hunter games coming to the Switch in  2021: Monster Hunter Rise and Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin.

Monster Hunter Rise looks like an open-world Monster Hunter game with some Zelda-like mechanics. Zelda: Breath of the Wild was influenced by Monster Hunter with its cooking and resource-gathering, which has been in Monster Hunter since its beginning, but was new to the Zelda series. Now it looks like Monster Hunter Rise is drawing on the Zelda series by using a more open world as opposed to the segmented regions the series has traditionally used.

Monster Hunter Stories 2 looks more like a standard J-RPG with more of an emphasis on narrative. The original Monster Hunter Stories is on 3DS, but I don’t know much about it. We’ll be getting a lot of Monster Hunter next year.

Nintendo Discontinues Production Of The 3DS

The 3DS had a good nine-year run, and one of the best game libraries ever. Nintendo also stated that they have no plans to shut down online services for the 3DS eShop anytime soon.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-09-17-nintendo-3ds-discontinued