At E3 2017, Nintendo revealed a brand-new adventure starring Kirby for the Nintendo Switch. While only a couple of minutes of footage were broadcast, we did learn quite a bit about what to expect from the plucky pink protagonist’s upcoming escapade.
Kirby is one of Nintendo’s oldest franchises, and the character has starred in some classic games over the past 25 years. Here’s hoping that the new Switch game can stand up to the very best of the series so far.
While there’s been no official confirmation either way, it seems reasonable to expect that the game won’t simply be called Kirby when it’s ready for release. Despite being referred to in this manner during the reveal trailer, it seems that the project is simply too early in the development process for its final title to be made public.
A similar strategy was employed with regards to the new Yoshi game that was also announced this week, which will likely have a less simplistic title come launch. Since neither of these releases are set to be available before the end of 2017, Nintendo is clearly in no rush to give too much information away.
One of Kirby’s abilities showcased in the trailer sees the living vacuum throw a heart at an enemy, which forces them to change their allegiance. It seems that up to three characters can be added to Kirby’s squad at any given time.
However, we can see from UI elements at the bottom of the screen that these characters can either be controlled by the computer, or by another human player. It seems that this mechanic ties into some kind of drop-in, drop-out co-op multiplayer — which is obviously a perfect fit for the Switch hardware.
Co-op gameplay seems to offer up some intense, frenetic action, whether players are racing through a platforming section or working together to take down a boss.
Plenty of classic Kirby enemies make an appearance in the trailer, from Sir Kibble, to Poppy Bros. Jr., to the ever-present Waddle Dee. We also see a few seconds of a boss fight with franchise veteran Whispy Woods.
In fact, we see plenty of series staples, not least the range of powers that Kirby can acquire by inhaling enemies. The trailer is backed by a new version of the traditional theme, which should have fans looking forward to another excellent soundtrack from developer HAL Laboratory’s audio wizards.
Unfortunately, the new Kirby game for the Switch won’t arrive in time to celebrate the character’s 25th anniversary, which is this year. In April, Nintendo announced three new titles that would land in 2017 to mark the milestone, so at least fans have something to tide them over.
Kirby’s Switch debut is scheduled to drop sometime in 2018, although no specifics have been given at this time.
The Call of Duty franchise has held a special place in my heart ever since I played my first Black Ops game back in 2010. That game's campaign was something else, with twists and turns that culminated in a mind-blowing finale. We can all admit that compared to those older campaigns, the recent CODs have been lackluster at best, and a complete and utter disappointment at worst. The reboot of Modern Warfare did give me some hope, as the first two installments were actually quite good, but the third game left such a bad taste in my mouth that I wasn’t exactly expecting much from Modern Warfare 4.
After recently finishing the campaign, I can say that this installment is nothing like the recent releases and instead feels closer to the franchise’s roots. For the first time in a long while, the campaign comes across as well-crafted rather than rushed to hit a release date. It arrives three years after MW3, and you can see exactly where all that time went. It seems the studio finally made listening to player feedback a priority.
Epic Games has just announced the 2026 Epic AI MegaJam, which is looking to see how much game development can be squeezed into a very short window. This is running from November 12 through November 15.
Participants can work alone or in teams of up to five people, build in Unreal Engine or Unreal Editor for Fortnite, and bring along “as many AI agents as you want.” Epic explicitly encourages coding agents, AI-generated assets, audio tools, writing tools, and other AI systems. The official event page literally says "Vibe your way to $50k.”
It’s turning into a pretty good time to be a Monster Hunter fan who plays on a phone. Capcom has confirmed that Monster Hunter Outlanders will launch on Android and iOS on October 29, giving the series a new mobile-first game just as Monster Hunter Rise is also preparing to make the jump to smartphones through Netflix.
Outlanders is being developed by Tencent subsidiary TiMi Studio Group under license and supervision from Capcom. Unlike Rise, which appears to be the full console and PC game adapted for mobile, Outlanders is a free-to-play survival hunting game made specifically for phones.