Welcome to the Weekly Knockout, our weekly round-up of the biggest gaming news for the week ending 3rd September. This week Nintendo hosted a 3DS-centric Direct, Grand Turismo Sport was delayed, and collections for Metal Gear Solid V, and Hitman were announced.
A Quick Look at Last Week
The release date for Batman: The Telltale Series’ second episode (on PC, PS4 and Xbox One) has been announced as Tuesday 20th September. Before the second episode – titled Children of Arkham – releases, be sure to check out Liam’s review of the first episode, Realm of Shadows
The Steam version of Quantum Break has been delayed by two weeks to 29th September. A physical Collector’s Edition for PC will also be released on the 29th, and will include a making of Blu-Ray, a copy of the soundtrack, a double-sided poster, and a quick-start guide.
Metal Gear Solid V: The Definitive Experience has been announced by Konami, and will release 11th October in the US/13th October in the UK for PS4, Xbox One, and Steam. The Definitive Experience will include Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeros, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, and all respective single-player DLC’s for both. Metal Gear Solid Online will also be included with the package retailing for $49.99/€39.99/£34.99.
Titan Comics have announced a partnership with the developer of upcoming Microsoft exclusive, Scalebound, to release comics based on the game. The comics will centre on the game’s main character Drew and his dragon Thuban and will begin releasing in 2017. Additionally, Titan Books is penning a book titled; The Book of Sages – also releasing in 2017 – an illustrated, in-universe book that is both written and annotated by the main characters.
Campo Santo’s Firewatch has been announced for release on Xbox One on 21st September. Additionally, a free update will release for all version of the game around the same time, featuring developer commentaries hidden throughout the world as kiosks and tapes – which can be tracked using the in-game map.
This Week’s 5 Biggest Stories
1) September Nintendo Direct’s Major Announcements
On 1st September Nintendo hosted a Direct which focused on the what 3DS can expect over the next remainder of 2016 and into 2017. Announcements included Super Mario Maker releasing on 3DS and a new Mario Sports game.
Super Mario Maker Announced for 3DS
2015’s Super Mario Maker – originally released on the Wii U – is headed to the 3DS on 2nd December 2016. The 3DS version will include all 100 Nintendo-made levels include with the Wii U version of the game, and all user levels made on the Wii U will be playable on the 3DS version of the game.
Poochy and Yoshi’s Woolly World Announced for 3DS
Poochy and Yoshi’s Woolly World has been announced as a 3DS version of 2015’s Yoshi’s Woolly World which released on the Wii U. The game will include every stage from Yoshi’s Woolly World, in addition to a new set of Poochy stages and a series of stop motion animated shorts. Poochy and Yoshi’s Woolly World will release 3rd February 2017.
Mario Sports Superstars Announced for 3DS
During the Direct, Nintendo announced a new Mario Sports game; Mario Sports Superstars. Some brief footage (which can be seen below) showcases the five included sports; soccer, baseball, tennis, golf, and horse racing. Sports Superstars will feature single-player tournaments, in addition to local and online multiplayer.
Pikmin Announced for 3DS
Finally, the acclaimed Pikmin series is heading to a handheld console for the first time in the franchise’s history. The currently untitled Pikmin game will feature side-scrolling gameplay as opposed to the normal open 3D world, and will release at some point during 2017.
2) Grand Turismo Sport Delayed
Grand Turismo Sport, originally set for release this November, has been delayed with no new release date announced. Writing on the PlayStation Blog, the founder of Polyphony Digital – Kazunori Yamauchhad – the following to say“Hello GT Community — I am sharing some news today that we have made the difficult decision to delay the release of Gran Turismo Sport to 2017. … as we approach our planned release date in November, we realize we need more time to perfect GT Sport, which we’ve already dedicated so much effort towards since announcing the title. We do not want to compromise the experience in any way. While we cannot confirm a new release date at this time, we are more committed than ever to making GT Sport the best Gran Turismo game to date.”
3) Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare Multiplayer Beta Announced
The multiplayer beta for Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare will be available for a limited time staring 14th October on PS4. Access is restricted to those who pre-order the game, with no details as of yet on the length of the beta. The Xbox One version of the beta will release later in October, although how much later is as of yet unknown. The beta will not be available on PC. Finally, the first multiplayer footage has been debuted in a trailer which you can watch below.
4) Hitman: The Complete First Season Release Date Announced
Io Interactive has revealed the release date for the physical edition of Hitman as 31st January 2017. The physical edition – which will release under the title Hitman: The Complete First Season – will cost $60 / £50 / €60 on console, and $50 / £40 / €50 on PC, and will feature the seven missions from the game’s first season; Prologue, France, Italy, Morocco, Thailand, USA, and Japan. Those who either purchase the upcoming physical edition, or who already own the Full Experience digital version of the game, will receive bonus content including; a new mission pack, the upcoming Landslide mission, the original soundtrack, a making of documentary, and the Hitman Requiem pack. Finally, the PlayStation 4 version of the game will include the platform exclusive Sarajevo Six missions.
5) Dues Ex: Mankind Divided’s First DLC Detailed
System Rift, the first story DLC for the recently released Dues Ex: Mankind Divided, has been announced. System Rift will see the return of Human Revolution’s Frank Pritchard, with Adam Jensen teaming up with Pritchard to discover more about the Santeau Group; “Desperate to get more information, Pritchard targets one of the most secure data banks ever created – the Palisade Blade. In agreeing to help, Adam may also be able to uncover hints as to who the Illuminati really are.”
System Rift will release 23rd September and will cost $12 by itself, or is included with the season pass.
This Week’s Spotlight
This Week’s Spotlight is where I shine the spotlight on my favourite article published on Ground Punch over the past week. For this week’s spotlight, I’m being selfish and deciding to showcase one of my own articles; 7 Updates The Taken King Needs to Bring to Destiny. The article details the 7 changes that twelve-months ago I felt Bungie needed to make to Destiny in-order to keep players invested, and we’ve reposted the article now as on Monday (5th September) I will be posting a new article titled Did The Taken King Save Destiny? where I assess if Bungie made the aforementioned changes. Finally, we will have Destiny articles posting ever Monday and Friday in the run up to Rise of Iron’s release.
7 Updates The Taken King Needs to Bring to Destiny
And that’s a wrap on this weeks’ news, be sure to come back next week for another news round-up.
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