TGO Daily | October 27 | Switch Online is Criticised
✏️ From the Author
Hola!
The first ever piece of physical merch for TGO has just come in. It’s the postcards that were promised to Patreon backers :)
Super surreal to have these in my hands. Never would have imagined I would get to this point. Thank you all for the support <3
Until tomorrow,
Adrian
📰 In The News
1. Switch Expansion Pack taking heat
The “Expansion Pack” addition to the Nintendo Switch Online service is now live, which brings a number of N64 & Genesis ports, as well as the Animal Crossing DLC. Unfortunately, it hasn’t gotten off to a great start.
Players have reported a number of issues with the N64 titles in particular, citing audio lag, low frame rates, issues with button mapping, and even visual bugs in games like Ocarina of Time:
Why it matters: While the issues themselves may be fixable, and perhaps aren’t super game-impeding, people were already pretty upset with the price tag. Expansion Pack is more than double the base price of the service ($50 USD vs. $20), and if there are issues with the games provided, then it is hard to justify the cost.
Of course, it’s still cheaper than both Xbox and PlayStation, who provide their own goodies. Ultimately, the main purpose of an online service is to facilitate online play, which is already not a super important factor for most Nintendo games.
2. Returnal gets a save feature
PlayStation 5 exclusive Returnal released last April to critical acclaim. It’s a third person shooter with heavy rouge-like elements (even the story is all about a time loop). It had one key missing feature, however: no ability to save a ‘cycle’ (the term for an in-game run). In some roguelikes this wouldn’t be a problem, but Returnal cycles are often multiple hours long, with many people losing tons of progress because they had to step away from the console.
Today, developer Housemarque rectified that issue. In a “2.0” patch, they have added the “Suspend Cycle” feature, which allows players to pause a cycle and return to it later. The console can be fully powered down without losing progress.
The PlayStation Blog mentions that this isn’t a typical save system. You can’t create multiple saves and return to them at any point:
…by suspending the cycle, Returnal will simply create a single use suspend point, and once you resume playing the suspend point is deleted and cannot be used again. Your game will continue directly from the moment you left it, and if you want to suspend the cycle again, your progress will be captured from that new point onwards.
Bonus: They’re also adding a new photo mode, which can be enabled at any point in the pause menu. As usual, it lets players mess around with various settings and filters.
🔎 A New Perspective
Kotaku recently interviewed the producer of Pokemon Unite to talk about why their MOBA hides the scoreboard until the very end of a match.
“Despite being like a sport where the team with the most points wins, Unite never actually tallies the points either side has until one the match is over. The game does drop hints about who’s ahead and who’s behind via audio clips, but they’re vague.”
The producer answered their question:
“‘The matches last 10 minutes and players have the possibility of making a comeback, so we wanted people to play without giving up to the very end,’ Masaaki Hoshino [said]”
Essentially, it’s to prevent rage-quitting in a game that isn’t all that long to begin with. Pretty neat!
💡 Worth A Look
📅 Game Releases!
October 28: Age of Empires IV • Riders Republic • Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars
October 29: Mario Party Superstars
November 1: Unpacking
November 4: Just Dance 2022
November 5: Call of Duty: Vanguard • Let’s Build A Zoo • Animal Crossing: Happy Home Paradise
🔥 Thank You!
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