The Classic Is Making A Comeback

New Retro HD 1 NES classic

 

Well Hyperkin has done it again by delivering us with a way to experience our childhoods by way of bringing back the NES. That’s right with Nintendo teasing us with the limited release of the NES classic. It left a lot of us mourning over the lost chance that only a select few would be able to get. With only 1 million units that were manufactured in two bursts of 500,000 in each shipment out, it left a lot of people who wanted to get one out in the cold. I just want to note that you can still get one from Amazon if you’re willing to pay $235. Yeah, you read that right.

But what makes this product stand out is its full cartridge support feature. What does that mean? It means if you have a NES cartridge from any point of the NES life span, you can play it.

Now don’t get this confused with the other consoles that Hyperkin makes like the Retrons 3-5. These consoles also play NES games but are limited to what games will work due to limited software capacity due to other console software (Super NES, Sega Genesis, and Game Boy). With the sole focus of this Retron going to the original NES; leaves room to include the software to read all cartridge’s from the start to finish of the NES lifespan. This allows inclusion of all those great early games like Pitfall and Excitebike and more.

The price point of the Retron 1 will be $40, which will include one “Cadet” controller, one 3ft HDMI cord, 6ft micro USB cord with AC Adapter. The Retron 1 HD will also feature AV ports and cables. The Console will come in grey/red and black/red. The Retron 1 HD will release on June 2 2017 which is pretty soon but it comes at great timing with the last shipment of Nintendo Classics slotted for June-July. It’s a great alternative for those of us on a budget and just happen to have our NES game collection. Are you excited for this cheaper and more accessible option for your NES gaming? Let us know with a comment or on social media.

5/5 Greyskulls

Written by

Luis #FallLuis Benavides. Jr

VP of Gaming for The Nerdery Podcast

 

Welcome Back Guardians

By: Luis Benavides Jr.

The day has finally come!!!! All of the rumors and misinformation gets set straight. Today Bungie revealed some much needed gameplay and new features that will change the game that some of us love and others have hated with a passion. There’s no denying that if you played from day one like I have, we have seen the good, bad, and downright unbearable. With raid’s being broken, the crucible being unfair, trials being brutal for solo players like myself, and other modes just unpleasant to play Destiny really didn’t last for some players. But let’s get into some of the great things that Bungie revealed that has me ready to go preorder and get back into the world of Destiny.

First of all, let’s start with the campaign. With the cinematic trailer for the campaign we get a better understanding of which direction we will be mainly exploring. With that let me tell you some of the key points showed. The city is taken, the speaker dead, the connection to the light gone and last all the vaults are lost. That’s right, ALL VAULTS LOST!!! The campaign trailer did an excellent job with diving a little more into the newest threat that has come to earth.

 

Next the team at Bungie revealed some of the new tools and features that will make Destiny 2 standout and really shine. One of these new features is better clan tools and support through the console. Items like custom banners and content will be unlockable while in a clan. They really didn’t give too much away with exactly what kind of content will be unlocked, but one can assume that will include weapons, armor, and shaders. One new feature that I’m really excited for is a mode/tool called Guided Games. Now here’s how this works, let’s say you get all of your clan members on at the same time for a raid. Just put the raid or event in this option and you’ll be able to find that missing person or persons so you can still enjoy the raid. This will benefit solo players like me in a way to connect and be a part of content like raid and trials. Which, I played very little of the raids and trails, and it’s very rare when I had other people to play with.

 

Now, some of the even bigger news is Destiny is going to PC. We did get some more intel on what will be new to the PC port. Destiny 2 will be available through the battle.net exclusively. So don’t be surprised if we see some Blizzard and Bungie crossed products at some point. But the news that Bungie and Blizzard have joined together for this is truly groundbreaking. I can’t wait to see the content and server performance that comes with such a partnership

 

To find out more of the little details that was covered on the live stream on

twitch.tv/bungie.

With everything that was discussed and shown with the reveal I can’t wait to get back into the fight. Don’t forget to go preorder your copy to get access to the beta this summer.

 

5/5 Greyskulls

Written by

Luis #Fallluis Benavides.Jr

VP of gaming for the Nerdery Podcast

The Switch has a Glitch

By: Luis Benavides Jr.

Nintendo’s new console has made several innovations in the world of video games. But not without its own share of problems. Let’s cover some of the issues that have been found with the new Nintendo Switch. First, I would like to acknowledge that this console is groundbreaking in its own right. However, with all the flaws in design coming to light just over the first 30 days, things don’t well at all for Nintendo. With the base of the gaming industry being pc or console, the developers naturally stick to a package and just upgrade the models and hardware. This is great because it works, however, it doesn’t really leave a lot of room for innovation. One thing to keep in mind; with innovation comes hiccups. So with that said, always remember the road to making a great product is full of bumps and holes. So let’s look at what problems come with the Switch.

Nintendo Switch Announcement Review/Reaction

By: Luis Benavides Jr.

First I would to say that Nintendo doing a live announcement like this is really different. The ability of live broadcasting over Twitch and YouTube has really changed the way that companies and developers can bring new content and news directly from the source. With this ability it gives companies breathing room to not be so constricted by the schedules of cons or game shows. They can really make their own events or announcements which allows the news to flow all year around.

So on to the meat and potatoes. Let’s talk about online services for a minute. First, online services/play will be free for a trail period upon launch but will be a pay to play later in the fall…Yeah, you read that right. The ability to region lock your online matchmaking will be gone, so now you can enjoy gaming with people around the world. But, keep in mind when you play with an open matchmaking, you run the risk of connection issues, frame-drops, and lag. This leads to elevated blood pressure, broken controllers, and heart attacks from the price of replacement. You will also be able to manage chat rooms and lobbies from a mobile app that is easily manageable instead of breaking from the game and returning to the main menu screen. Now the big question LAN gaming. With the tabletop and mobile modes of the switch allowing players to connect to each other’s consoles. Now here’s the awesome part, local connection through the wireless function allows up to eight Switchs to play multiplayer at a time. That’s awesomeness any way you slice it. Think about back in the day when we would have halo parties. All the stuff you had to make sure to take, let’s walk down memory lane real quick. TV, Xbox, 4 controllers (if not everyone brought their own), cords, game, and link cable. That was before flat screens were around, so TV’s were heavy as hell and it was only a 19”-24” TV that took up the whole backseat of your car. I can just see your reaction….F*** THAT!!!! Yup, the glory days of bro night. So reducing all of that equipment into a tablet and wireless network is AMAZING!!!! Now we can just meet up anywhere and beat the snot out each other on Smash Brothers or Mario Kart and have a blast. With all these different ways to game, we still have no answer on the net code. However, I still stand with my initial thought and they may be incorporating both net codes, which one code for the dock and one code for on the go. But again that’s just my thoughts, NOT FACT, at least for now.

On to the controller dubbed the Joy Con. This controller features a lot of neat and innovative technology like precision rumble allowing the controller to detail the feel of every motion and reactive feel. For instance, on the game ice was going into a glass, you can feel each ice cube. As you shake the controller you can feel each piece shake around the glass, as well as the water filling the glass up. Now a controller with that kind of precision will make for some interesting changes to the way we experience games.

They only covered 6 games during this announcement, so I’ll put these in a nutshell as best as I can. First was something a little similar to Wii play, called 1-2 Switch. This is a combo of mini games that are multiplayer like ping pong, gun shooter, sword fighting, boxing, and wide range of other mini games which will be available on launch. The next game is a fighting style game that will showcase the motion capabilities, called Arms. Now this one looks pretty interesting as it relies on you to throw punches to attack. Your character has the ability to stretch his/her arms to make attacks on enemies at a distance or in the air. What’s different is while you’re throwing your punches, you can twist your wrist and the punch will start veering towards the direction of your wrist’s rotation. This game will release spring 2017. Next was Super Mario Odyssey which showcases some pretty cool changes to our favorite plumber with whole new environments, tricks, and a new companion. Mario’s world is about to get that much bigger. Odyssey is set to release Holiday 2017. Elder Scrolls: Skyrim will also be ported and tweaked for the Switch. Which is a good starting point for a big third party developer like Bethesda to hopefully give us some cool and innovative games later down the road. Throughout the announcement we saw trailers for the upcoming new Xenoblade Chronicles, Fire Emblem, Dragon Quest Remasters, EA Sports, and new Splatoon game. The biggest piece of news came at the end of night. LEGEND OF ZELDA!!!!! We got a new story trailer as well as a release date. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will release AT LAUNCH (Yes, you read that right). Zelda is the big launch title to push the release on Nintendo’s new contender on the console wars. But will Zelda be enough to make this console stand out? With all that information we are still left with one very big question…WHERE ARE THE OTHER GAMES AND THEIR RELEASE DATES!!!!!

Launch date for The Switch will be March 3 2017 WORLDWIDE!!!!! Retail Price will be $299.99. The Starter bundle will include the console (tablet), dock, HDMI cord, AC adaptor, 2 Joy con’s (left and right), joy con charger, and 2 joy con straps. Each individual piece will also be sold separately for replacements. The pro controller will be sold separately at a price of $70. (I’ll address the price of each piece in a moment, just hold that thought it gets better.)

Now, we can answer some of the questions and issues that came from the initial announcement. First, there was no set price point for replacement or single pieces which had me really scratching my head. But as the announcement was going on, I did some research to see what the price tags were and check this stuff out. The pro controller $69.99, Joy Cons(left and right) with strips $79.99, A Single Joy Con (left or right) with strip $49.99, Joy Con charging grip $29.99, Switch dock(includes HDMI cable & AC adaptor) $89.99, Joy Con Wheel (Set of 2) $14.99.

With all that, I had one response ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND!!!! $90 just for the dock, Hell no!!! And $50 just for the left or the right joy con’s. You expect people to pay $50 for an 8”x3” piece of hardware? And a low battery life of 2-6 hours. All I have to say is someone was higher than a kite when they priced this. This console is looking up to be the most expense launch, as far as extra’s go, in over a decade. For example, Console $300 + pro controller $70 + Joy Con’s $70 + Joy Con charger grip $30 + Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild Master edition $130 (regular edition is $60). So that comes out to $600 without taxes….I think would rather lick a piece of 60 grit sandpaper. That’s only with one game…ONE GAME!!!! All that just for a glorified gaming tablet. When put in terms like that Nintendo really put their collective head up their “you know what”. And another major issue is no games. The only games that were slated for launch are Legend of Zelda and 1 2 Switch. One bonafide game and a new version of Wii Play is absolutely ridiculous and somewhat underwhelming. With a high price tag, a need for added accessories, no games, a low battery life once taken off the dock. This really was kind of a waste of a press conference. They should’ve pushed dates and schedules back until more content was solidified for launch. With the promise of 80 titles being in development by first and third party publishers, most of the games are being slated within the first 6 months of launch. It’s hard to have any kind of enthusiasm towards the system. In all honesty we pretty much saw Nintendo show us their new pet. Its looks great, has great potential, but just finds a corner lies down and starts licking it’s nuts. So you’re left with an empty feeling like “I was excited for this?”

 

Cons:

No titles at launch.

Have to wait 6 months after launch to get legit titles

High Price tags on accessories

Low battery life

Remastered & Ported games

Dropped frames & resolution when off of dock.

Won’t run 1080p

 

Pros:

Offers 2 bundles, one with grey joys, another one will have colored joy cons (left blue & right red) with no price change

Precision Motion controllers that’s very innovative

Mobile and tabletop modes give the ultimate experience for on the go gaming

Wireless network connection allows up to 8 switch’s for LAN gaming at anytime

Cartridge’s make a return for easier game swapping while on the go

 

With everything as a whole, this release is going to be really rough for Nintendo. Only 5 million units will be shipped out worldwide, and that isn’t going to help its case. Do I believe that the Switch is worth getting at launch? Hell no. I think we will see some amazing games for this console, but not yet. I’ll give it till the holiday season of this year, or beginning of next year till we see some better titles to support the console. But the one question that’s on everyone’s mind is what was Nintendo thinking putting a console out with so few games and very little to push people to preorder at launch.

 

2.5/5 Greyskulls

 

Written by.

Luis #fallluis Benavides. JR

VP of Gaming for The Nerdery Podcast

Nintendo Hits The Switch!

We normally only have one person write an article. When I caught wind of this, I handed to two. I kinda figured it would put two diverse opinions into one publication. Let’s see how well Ricky and Luis can switch it up and see what they think about Nintendo’s latest unveiling!

-JD

Luis:

First impressions of the newest console/portable release today from Nintendo…..

HOLY F*#@&!? SHIT!!!!!

The first true console/portable is something that has been a big topic in the gaming world since PS2/XBOX. Nintendo is taking a big risk with this recent console release due to the mild sucess of the WiiU, but the 3DS is destroying the portable console wars. With 3DS out selling Vita 3 to 1 in the holiday seasons, it only go to show that Nintendo could give up on home consoles and stick to portable and mobile licensing (cough*pokemon go*cough) and still remain a very profitable company. This annoucement comes a little on the late side, with no word of this at the E3 panel earlier this year. Nintendo was also quiet at the Tokyo Game Show, which was also surprising due to it being one of companies bigger shows. Leaving a lot of fans wondering if the new console rumor were  in fact only rumors. Well not anymore.

Lets take a look at the obvious features of the new console, The Switch. The gaming controller button and joystick section remove, and connect to a tablet like screen. The gaming tablet/screen can be removed from the dock and can play on the go. Now from here you’ll say to yourself “Sony has a simular function with the PS4 and Vita” and for all purposes your right. However, you’re also very wrong. The detachable controller
ensures that the button scheme doesn’t change going from sitting in the living room or sitting in the DMV office waiting for rapture. Which also incorporates one of the best things from the WiiU, the game pad. Playing Nintendo classics on the game pad was a absolute joy and pretty awesome. Next you’ll see that the game is no longer on a disc but an SD card like the 3DS. The introduction of 1TB and 2TB SD cards have made it possible for bigger titles and games to be put on the SD cards. At first you may think NO MORE LOADING SCREENS. However, you would be wrong again. When I had my 3DS I still got loading screens, so we’re not out of the woods on that one yet. Lets get to the nunchucku function. When playing a game on the go you can detach the controller and use it like the traditional Wii controller. The innovation of this feature allows the user to turn the game tablet back into a console. In the announcement trailer we see the potential for couch co-op and LAN gaming. The display of having two pads back to back, and playing 4 player co-op or vs matches is insane. We also get a look at the new pro controller which looked amazing with the best of the Gamecube ergonomic handling and WiiU’s button layout. The announcement video and the introduction to the new console pretty much shows that the gaming parties can go anywhere and anytime. But with all these advancements true gamers begin asking a lot of questions.

One of the biggest questions I got out of the announcement was “Whats the battery life looking like once it’s off the dock? What netcode are running here? Are going to continue with the WiiU or will they incorporate the 3DS netcode? With both doing very well on the online gaming, they really have options. How will the controllers sell, will they sell just the joystick and buttons separately from the frame? Will they sell the game pad as a console bundle?

Honestly at this point it’s all in the air. But one thing is for sure, Nintendo is definitely setting the bar getting praised for console innovation. All this makes me believe that this will be a real game changer that Sony and Microsoft can’t ignore.

Luis #failluis Benavides Jr
VP of Gaming for The Nerdery Podcast

Ricky:

Today Nintendo officially unveiled the Nintendo Switch, a new gaming console with dual capabilities between your living room, and mobile on the go entertainment. Switch is comprised of a 6” tablet you can insert into a dock that allows it to connect and be played on your TV! When detached, the tablet sports a controller that can split in half, each individual piece can connect to each side of the tablet. The Switch also allows controls with an adapter to connect the controller pieces leaving the tablet independent. Nintendo is known for pushing the boundaries of creativity and using methods not commonly used by its competitors. The GameCube was the system Nintendo utilized a smaller DVD disc system, allowing the console to be ridiculously small. Nintendo shocked the world again, when the Wii released and opened the world of active gaming. Users were bowling, by actually standing up, and using bowling motions of their bodies. With the success of the Wii. Nintendo decided to create a High Definition Wii. The Wii U, was not well received by developers, and most claimed the system was under powered and lacked the hardware needed to display cutting edge graphics. This resulted in low sales and underwhelming quarterly reports. Nintendo vowed to up their game with the next console, and the Nintendo Switch could very well be the answer needed. The system uses a custom Nvidia Tegra processor. Honestly, the name worried me considering Tegra processors were typically aimed at mobile gaming in android tablets. Nvidia made it clear that the Tegra inside the Switch is capable of keeping up with the GeForce line of processors, and if this holds true, developers will have no problem with the console. Nintendo made a point to announce both partnerships with a large number of developers, and a list of games to be on the console including the new Zelda, and Mario games everyone is waiting for! The system will be available March 2017, and March can’t get here soon enough!

 

Where’s My Fight Money!!!!

By: Luis Benavides Jr.

At long last here is my review of the newest installment of this fighting game legacy. After the initial release back on Feb 16th of this year, it’s received both positive and negative reviews. Here is my review from release to now with the newest update.

Blackwidows, DVAs, and Tracers Oh My!!!!

By: Luis Benavides Jr

Initial release date: May 24, 2016
Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
Genre: First-person shooter
Mode: Multiplayer video game
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows
Designers: Scott Mercer, Michael Elliott, Jeremy Craig

 

Now that Overwatch has been out since its release on May 24, we as a gaming community have had time to generate our own opinion on the game and its content. Without further ado, here is my review on the highest played multiplayer game on the market.