The Nintendo Minute crew plays Dread:

That's why I said, "That probably also means we'll get NSO + Expansion Pack news (final pricing etc.) sometime shortly after that date, since they said 'late October.' Maybe the following week (the week of the 18th.)"

Meaning not on the date of the AC Direct. Basically I was just saying that they gave us a list of things to look forward to in October, and after the AC Direct, all that's left that won't have happened yet is the final details on NSO + EP. And since I doubt they want to wait until the actual day it launches to just drop it on everyone (they want to sell people on the new pricing,) and since they said it's coming in late October, a week or two before the end of the month makes sense imo. The week of the 18th would also allow it to fall after the final fighter pack release (which is on the 18th) and would give a nice cadence to all of the October stuff that's been rolling out.

Sakurai Presents October 5th, Metroid Dread October 7th/8th along with the Switch OLED, AC Direct October 15th (after giving people a week to digest Dread,) final Smash DLC October 18th, NSO details sometime (hypothetically) that week (between the 18th to the 24th,) Mario Party Superstars for those wanting a fun party game experience rounding things out on the 29th, then concluding with the release of NSO + EP in the final week of the month somewhere in there too. Just feels like a good cadence.

This is just speculation of course, they could really just drop it into everyone's laps and say "Here ya go, here's the price!" on Twitter or something one day. But I think they'd prefer to have it be more well orchestrated than that.

 

Nintendo nearly gave me a heart attack with "007" in the thumbnail for this. They revealed N64 games, proved they can accomplish the impossible in terms of jumping through legal and licensing hoops with Sora, then had the gall to put "007" in a video thumbnail, when it wasn't Goldeneye.   But for Rocket League fans of Bond this is pretty neat:

Also, Rune Factory 5 is getting a special edition that comes with a bunch of physical goodies, and 13 in-game outfits. The outfits will also be available in the digital deluxe version of the game for non-physical purchasers. Rune Factory 5 ‘Earthmate Edition’ announced for North America - Gematsu

 

Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy: The Definitive Edition officially announced. https://twitter.com/RockstarGames/status/1446490576896073728 Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition and More Coming Soon - Rockstar Games "The Definitive Edition will feature across-the-board upgrades including graphical improvements and modern gameplay enhancements for all three titles, while still maintaining the classic look and feel of the originals." Coming this year (later this or next month from the sound of it,) and coming to Switch as well. Original versions of GTA III, Vice City, and San Andreas will be removed from retailers starting next week in anticipation of this release.

Corpse Party's enhanced edition previously released in Japan is coming west on October 20th, just in time for Halloween.
Enhanced Corpse Party coming west on October 20 for PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC - Gematsu

Tetris Effect Connected is out today (the closest thing to "just plain Tetris" we are likely to get  )

And of course, happy Metroid day!   I hope everyone who gets it enjoys Dread. In a kind of fun/interesting step for launch day, Digital Foundry has a tech analysis of the game up. Some great small details many might miss:

 

I was able to grab a set of the Metroid amiibos this morning at my local target, which was unexpected considering it took that store over a month from release day to get the Skyward Sword Loftwing figure.

 

So GTA Trilogy...all on one card? Digital only? Mixed, one on card, rest is DLC? Physical with no actual card?

Hmmm....

 

Just praying for "not cloud based."  

 

Oh hey, finally getting mainline GTA games on the Switch. It's not GTAV but fuck it I'll take it

 

Ditto.

 

I had some people I knew in the store I got mine that I asked about a week before it came out and they were in the back, target is weird in that some games are sitting there for like a month. But others you would think would be a given take forever to come. Or the people in electronics are lazy and don't wanna put them out.

This is why I never trust sites like popfinder and likeminded sites, I can go to an app for an official store and they will say they have none in stock but I can walk in ask someone who works there or even just find it sitting on the shelf. nine times I take the chance it seems to go in my favor.

 

Knowing Rockstar, it'll either be GTA 3 on the card with download codes for Vice City and San Andreas, or it'll be digital only.

Also, I'm probably betting that the "remasters" are just the garbage iOS ports.

 

Rockstar confirmed that they aren’t the IOS ports plus those ports are being delisted on app stores for this new edition.

 

Honestly, I just want more immediately intuitive/contemporary controls for San Andreas. Very innovative game at its release with tons of great concepts, but is really hard to pick up and play today. The others are clunky too, but that one in particular, due to how progression works, is really unwieldy initially. And even after progressing quite a bit it's not ideal for newcomers today imo. I'm also not expecting miracles visually, but at the very least something simple like upscaling, increased draw distance, and rescaled or reconstructed UIs would be welcome.

It's also going to be hard for me to accept this release as "definitive," at least as I use that term, if they have gutted the soundtracks. I know licensing is a nightmare and costly, but the great 80s Vice City radio stations in particular are such a quintessential part of the game's character and charm that them being absent will definitely make me consider it far less than "definitive." I know they've updated the older releases on PC several times to remove songs. But I'm hoping with them actually spending the money to remaster these, that they will have also sprung for at least some of the original soundtracks to be restored. Probably not, but it will be a bitter pill to swallow if they haven't.

In other news, some Atelier Sophie 2 gameplay (Japanese with translator. Not running on Switch presumably, but should give a decent idea of what to expect):

Sophie was how I finally got into these somewhat quirky games a while back, so I'm lowkey excited for the followup. I've been really getting into more laid back JRPGs lately (Atelier, Story of Seasons, Rune Factory, etc.) and I have to say, I used to play these kinds of more leisurely games when I was younger and then kind of stopped, and now I remember what I loved about them. Very chill experiences.

Plus some decent sales on smaller games at the moment:

 

I’ll probably try it out. I’ve liked the last few Atelier games I’ve played(Lulula and both Ryza games)

 

While I am thankful theg aren't mobile ports, I don't have much confidence in them putting all 3 games on one cartridge. Especially since they charged an extra $10 for LA Noire and STILL had the audacity to not put the whole game on a larger cartridge.

 

I don't have much confidence in Rockstar period. I'm reserving judgment until the games come out, and since this is modern Rockstar and not the Rockstar of the early 2000s, I doubt these remasters will do well.

 

I'll be satisfied as long as they aren't cloud based and are remotely playable compared to the originals. And if they don't cost an arm and a leg lol.

The cloud trend is driving me slowly mad because everyone seems fine with it and I'm sitting here with my occasionally 900+ ms ping and periodic drops to 15 Mbps because my city refuses to upgrade its old copper despite companies claiming "glass to the curb" because they don't want to admit their last few miles (or yards) are crap, thinking, "This is not okay if it's going to be the new normal."  

I tried out Hitman cloud and while decent (even surprisingly stable at times,) the fact that drops and input delays happen at all is really jarring compared to a native experience. Which is why I'm kind of conflicted about Kingdom Hearts on Switch, too. I have no other means of playing them so... it's better than nothing. I'll play them. But the experience will not be ideal at all. And that's for someone with (most of the time, when the aforementioned drops don't happen) decent broadband. I shudder to think of those with worse internet trying to play it.

In other news:

 

New dock can be upgraded to 4k.

You don't say.

 

Might be. May be. Given the endless rambling about how a Switch Pro is totally coming, and Nintendo themselves plus devs refuting the 4k dev kits nonsense, I'll believe it the day it actually happens and not a moment sooner regardless of what rumor mongers keep claiming endlessly.

 

Many think it was going to be 4k but that pesky chip shortage changed that.

 

The most pertinent parts of that video are at 0:46 and 1:26.

I still lean towards if/when they release a Switch successor, if 4K is involved at all, it'll use some sort of upscaling (possibly the DLSS-like AI upscaling they were experimenting with according to patents, or just the scaler chip/converter in question) but won't drive native 4K gaming because at the end of the day it will still be a comparatively low power handheld device. But if they plan to advertise it as "4K," then future proofing the dock for a new SKU coming sometime later makes sense. Especially if they want to sell the dock separately. All I feel relatively confident about is that it will likely not be a native 4K device. (I keep going back to their statement about the dev kits mentioning investors, and how falsely denying something in the form of public investor guidance like that would be a huge no-no in terms of legal regulations.)