It’s Starfield week

If you are searching your favorite games websites, it’s likely they are overrun with Starfield articles. One in our feed had 17 articles back-to-back on the game. While this is mostly for SEO purposes, there is also some news buried in there. We’ll look at that, the latest from Nintendo and more this week.

To the moon, and beyond

Starfield is one of the most anticipated games of the year. The review embargo lifted last week, and the game seems pretty popular with critics.

Players who purchased the deluxe edition were granted early access to the game, but for those waiting for the base version, it comes out Sept. 6. Still, many people upgraded to play the game early, and over the weekend the game had over 230,000 concurrent players on Steam. Many of those who played early agreed the game starts slow, but quickly becomes fun. Some other interesting articles and notes about the launch:

• Bethesda head Todd Howard said he thought they ‘had certainly bitten off far more than we could chew' in a note sent to reviewers.
• Some planets in the game are meant to be empty by design.
• There are already over 100 mods for Starfield on PC, including one for NVIDIA graphic card players. 
• If you are debating whether to play the main quest or side quests first, a lot of players have similar opinions.
• Starfield apparently does not play the best on the Steam Deck, but here are recommendations on how to get it to work better.

Will you be playing Starfield? Drop your thoughts on the game in the comments. 

A Wonder full Nintendo Direct

Nintendo held a Direct last week to discuss their upcoming game, Super Mario Bros. Wonder. The press conference featured nearly 15 minutes of gameplay and information about the new Mario title. You can watch the entire video press conference above. Some of the highlights include:

• The game takes place in the Flower Kingdom, and features seven explorable areas.
• Wonder will have a number of playable characters, including Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, and Toad. All will play the same.
• Power ups include elephant (which allow you to smack enemies with your trunk), bubbles (which can capture enemies) and drill (burrow underneath enemies). 

You can watch the full Direct at the link above. IGN has an interview with the lead designers of the game discussing its origin story. 

Nintendo also revealed a new version of the Switch, the Mario Red Edition Switch OLED. This all red Switch includes silhouettes of Mario, and coins hidden beneath the cover on the back. The Mario Edition Switch is available on Oct. 6.

Side quests (more stories worth reading)

🎮 Check out our list of 10 new games to play in September. 

🐭 Disney will reprint their Lorcana launch card set due to high demand. 

😟 Developers of the game STALKER 2 have dealt with the war in Ukraine, Russian hackers and death threats. Still, they keep going. 

💰 Sony is raising the price of their PlayStation Plus subscriptions by up to $40 per year. 

🃏 The $300,000 worth of Magic cards stolen at Gen Con have been recovered, and police expect to file charges against the thieves soon. 

🥀 Volition studio, creators of the Saints Row franchise, was shut down last week without warning by its parent company Embracer Group.

🎙️ SAG-AFTRA plans to vote on a potential strike for video game actors.

😱 Like horror games? Check out Fear Fest Sept. 6-7 online. Details at the link.

💸 A new report shows that mobile game spending is projected to hit $108 billion in 2023.

🔫 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 will launch with in-game voice chat moderation powered by AI to combat toxic behavior.

🌼 Pokemon Go creator Niantic and Nintendo created a mobile AR browser game called 'Pikmin Finder.'

❗ Over 320,000 people attended Gamescom 2023 in Germany, up about 55,000 from 2022. 

🌲 Former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden says Google and Amazon are the biggest threats to the games industry.

🏆 Despite winning the Ascension tournament, The Guard, a Valorant esports team, has disbanded and its roster has been dissolved. 

🤖 CD Projekt Red explains why Cyberpunk 2077 will only have one expansion. Also, find out what is included in the free Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 update, and what changes only come with the expansion. 

🐉 A speedrun of Baldur's Gate 3 can be done in under five minutes by using a method called ‘shadowboxing.’

📅 Suikoden I & II remasters have been delayed until 2024.

👼🏻 We recently kicked off our 2023 Extra Life campaign to raise money for Children’s Hospital Of Wisconsin. Support a good cause if you are willing and able. 

New Releases this week:

9/5: Chants of Sennaar (PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and PC)
9/6: Starfield (Xbox and PC)
9/7: Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis (iPhone and Android)
9/8: Fae Farm (Switch and PC)
9/8: NBA 2K24 (PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and PC)

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