Dragalia Lost, one of Nintendo’s less popular mobile titles, is shutting down as of today, November 30th.
The game first launched back in 2019 and was heavily criticized for its gacha mechanics. Nintendo announced Dragalia Lost would shut down back in March 2022. The game’s campaign ended earlier this year, and after November 30th, it will no longer be accessible on Android or iOS.
Rather than being developed directly by Nintendo, Cygames, best known for Granblue Fantasy, is behind the title. It’s unclear how much money Dragalia Lost earned during its lifespan, but given it’s being shut down, it’s unlikely the game has come anywhere near earning as much as Fire Emblem Heroes, which made $1 billion USD (about $1.36 billion CAD) in revenue as of June 2022, according to Sensor Tower.
Like Fire Emblem Heroes, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp and Super Mario Run, Dragalia Lost is free to play, unlike Super Mario Run’s outright cost of $13.99. Nintendo also shut down Dr. Mario World, another one of its mobile games, in 2021.
Back in 2017, rumours circulated that Nintendo was working on a mobile version of The Legend of Zelda, but the game has yet to be officially announced.
For better and worse, A Memoir Blue feels like a creator’s first short film — it’s got some interesting ideas and artistic flourishes, but it’s also a little rough around the edges.
First released on consoles and PC in March, the Cloisters Interactive-developed game has just made its way to mobile. To say this is a “game,” though, is a bit misleading, and I don’t even mean that in a pejorative sense. Instead, A Memoir Blue is considered more an “interactive poem,” a sort of adventure game that’s extremely light on actual gameplay.
In A Memoir Blue, you follow Olympic swimmer Miriam who, despite her successes, finds herself solemnly reflecting on her late mother. These are conveyed through colourful, aquatic dreamlike sequences in which you use a pointer to interact with objects. In this way, there are “puzzles” — though I use that in the loosest sense of the term — to clear, but they’re not intended to present actual challenges.
Instead, the idea is for you to gently guide Miriam through her fantastical memories and learn a bit more about her upbringing. Admittedly, though, this sort of “childhood reflection” experience is something we’ve seen a lot in recent games, especially in other titles from publisher Annapurna Interactive, like What Remains of Edith Finchand this year’s Hindsight. As a result, A Memoir Blue‘s one-hour experience is arguably too short and understated to make much of a lasting impression.
But for what it is — a clearly personal tale for the developers — A Memoir Blue is fine. Its greatest strength is its minimalist presentation. Telling the story completely dialogue-free is refreshingly different for a game, relying instead on the lovely visuals for storytelling. Cloisters Interactive also does a neat thing of using cute doodle-esque character models for scenes with Miriam and her mother to neatly contrast the gloomier present-day.
The biggest frustration, though, came in the gameplay itself. I’m fine with mechanically-lite games, especially in service of more atmospheric narrative experiences such as this, but it doesn’t translate that well to mobile. Maybe it was my fat thumbs, but I found myself struggling at times to interact with the correct objects on my iPhone 13 Pro because they were just too tiny. At times, the game requires a more precise touch, like swiping to unlock Miriam’s phone in a purse, but I had difficulty actually doing that. This likely wouldn’t be an issue on iPad, but it proved frustrating on iPhone.
In the end, A Memoir Blue is a decidedly niche game. A lot of people will be put off by its teensy bits of gameplay, while others may not find the story much more than serviceable yet familiar. I don’t mind either of that, but some clunky touch mechanics were certainly troublesome. With all of that said, an engaging aesthetic and a sincere story make it worth checking out if sweet little experiences like this are your cup of tea.
It’s 2am, I’ve just finished God of War Ragnarök and can’t get to sleep. (My full review on that game is coming November 3rd.)
Lying in bed, I figure “why not go play a bit more of Marvel Snap?” I had played a bit of the recently released free-to-play card game but got sidetracked by FallReviewSeason™. Well, fast forward an hour-and-a-half and I find myself still playing Marvel Snap.
I was shocked. While I’m a diehard Marvel fan, I don’t generally enjoy playing games on a phone, especially since, more often than not, they’re littered with unsavoury microtransactions. But for many reasons, Marvel Snap has gotten its hooks into me, and I’m eager to keep playing.
Central to the game’s success is its approachable nature. Developer Second Dinner (a team consisting of several Hearthstone veterans) has designed matches to be around three-to-four minutes long with a clean, mobile-optimized interface and small, 12-card decks. This is particularly welcome as many AAA games nowadays are bloated and extremely long.
Marvel Snap‘s rules are also quite simple. The playing field has three locations containing spots for four cards each on either player’s side. Each card has a Power level that adds to that specific location, and the player who has the highest Power in two of the three locations will win. (Ties are broken by who has the most Power overall.) In this way, Marvel Snap is, like the best of card games, really easy to pick up and play, but also hiding a lot of depth.
That’s because cards all have their own unique effects which shake up the flow of a match. This is important to consider for many reasons, but chief among them is the fact that cards have different Energy levels. Cards with higher Power levels will cost more Energy, and you only get a set amount (which increases each turn). Therefore, it becomes a tricky balancing act about which cards to put in your deck and, while in a match, whether to play low- or high-level ones and where they should even go. For example, opening a match by playing a Hawkeye (who costs only one Energy) sets you up nicely for a follow-up move, as he gains 2 Power the following turn if you place a card in the same location. Meanwhile, Iron Man costs 5 Energy with 0 Power but makes up for it with the ability to double your total Power in a given location.
Locations themselves can also greatly affect the outcome of a match. Based on iconic Marvel locations like Stark Tower, the Triskelion and Wakanda, these randomized areas each have a unique benefits — or even hindrances — on players. Take Xandar, which adds 1 Power to each card placed there. That’s certainly handy, but you might also get Subterranea, which shuffles five ‘Rocks’ into each player’s deck. Rocks have 1 Energy/0 Power, so they’re effectively duds. I say “effectively,” though, because some cards can actually leverage them, like Carnage (2 Energy/2 Power), who can destroy your other cards to gain 2 Power for each. You may even get Ego the Living Planet, who with seize control of player’s turns himself. The ebb and flow of the ways in which Marvel Snap‘s cards and locations intersect and affect one another never cease to amaze me, and it creates a deeply compelling gameplay loop.
Before too long, you’ll also unlock the titular ‘Snap’ mechanic, which adds a layer of tension to the proceedings. At any point during the match, you or your opponent can double down (‘Snap’) to win more Cosmic Cubes, the currency used to increase your competitive rank. Naturally, losing will decrease your rank, so the decision to Snap is centred around a smart risk/reward system. You might even opt to Snap as a bluff to throw off the other player. At the same time, you can retreat from a match to minimize your Cube loss if things are looking rough.
Best of all, the monetization is… actually decent? New cards are unlocked entirely through gameplay, and in-app purchases are only spent on buying currency to upgrade a card’s rarity. Doing this will give it a fancy variant artwork (like pixellated or 3D) that also raises your ‘Collection Level,’ which opens up other rewards. While this helps speed along your progression, you can’t actually buy or craft specific cards outright, making the game refreshingly not pay-to-win. There’s also a $10 premium season pass to get resources more quickly, but you get these at such a steady pace from matches and the associated daily missions, anyway, so it thankfully feels optional.
Everything about Marvel Snap would work well regardless of the licence attached, but the Marvel premise just adds that much more personality. On a base level, there’s just an undeniable appeal to collecting cards based on Marvel characters. And to Second Dinner’s credit, Marvel Snap isn’t just focused on big names like Spider-Man, Iron Man, Captain America, Wolverine, The Hulk or The Punisher. There are some appreciably deep cuts here, too, like Squirrel Girl, Blue Marvel, Kazar, Wolfsbane and White Tiger. Characters also have little voiceovers and animations to elevate the presentation, like Hawkeye’s card shooting arrows when played or Star-Lord calling out to Groot when both are on the field. Second Dinner clearly had a lot of fun coming up with the card abilities themselves. In an absolutely brilliant bit of dark comedy, there’s a card for Uncle Ben whose only use is to be destroyed so you can draw Spider-Man.
If I had any gripe with Marvel Snap, it’s that there isn’t any sort of campaign at all. I wasn’t expecting some sort of Marvel’s Spider-Man-level narrative, but some sort of single-player mode with even a loose story could have been cool. But really, that’s not needed when the core card game mechanics are so sound. Inviting design choices, a robust and varied lineup of cards, constantly rewarding gameplay loop and fun Marvel theme make Marvel Snap a joy to play. Against all odds, it’s one of my favourite games of 2022, and I absolutely intend to stick with it.
You can download Marvel Snap on iOS, Android and Steam (early access).
Earlier this year, Apple brought support for Nintendo’s Joy-Cons and Switch Pro Controller to iPhone, iPad, Apple TV and Mac. Now, the company has extended that to older Nintendo gamepads.
On Twitter, developer Steve Troughton-Smith shared that as of iOS 16.1, the Nintendo Switch Online Super Famicom controller is working with his Apple TV.
Neat, iOS/tvOS 16.1 support the official BT/USB-C Super Nintendo controller for the Switch 😄 I don’t have the N64 or NES versions to test with, but I believe they are supported now too 🎮 pic.twitter.com/mfkTIHpXun
Separately, MacStories confirmed that Switch Online’s Nintendo 64 controller is also now compatible with Apple devices. As Troughton-Smith noted, these are the Bluetooth/USB-C versions of the retro controllers, so the NES controller should work as well.
Meanwhile, it looks like iOS 16.1 brought support for several other new game controllers beyond the Nintendo catalogue. Digging into the iOS 16 code, 9to5Mac says it also found listings 8Bitdo, the Logitech F710 Gamepad and Bada Moga XP5-X Plus.
Another indie game from Annapurna Interactive is heading to iOS.
The boutique publisher has announced that A Memoir Blue, an interactive poem from New York-based Cloisters Interactive, will hit iOS on November 3rd. The game debuted on PlayStation 4/5, Xbox consoles (including Game Pass), Nintendo Switch and PC in February.
In A Memoir Blue, a superstar athlete reconnects with her inner child to deepen her love for her late mother. Notably, the game incorporates hand-drawn and 3D art to bring her memories to life in a unique magical-realist way.
The most recent Annapurna game to come to iOS was Hindsightin August — interestingly, another narrative-driven experience about a woman and her late mother. The publisher also made waves earlier this year with the cat game Stray.
Apple has published a new document offering more information on its Clean Energy Charging feature for iOS 16.1.
The feature, which is currently only confirmed for the U.S., requires Location Services, System Customization, and Significant Locations to all be enabled. From there, go to Settings > Battery > Battery Health & Charging > Clean Energy Charging.
When enabled on an iPhone that’s connected to a charger, Clean Energy Charging gives your smartphone a forecast of the carbon emissions in your local energy grid. It will then charge your iPhone during times of cleaner energy production.
The feature leverages Apple’s Optimized Battery Charging to learn a user’s habits over long periods of time, like at home or work. On the flip side, it won’t engage should you be travelling or moving between locations regularly.
You can read more on Clean Energy Charging here. It’s unclear if and when Apple plans to release it in Canada or other countries.
Prominent app analytics firm Data.ai (formerly App Annie) has published a new Q3 2022 report on the mobile gaming industry, and there are quite a few interesting findings.
To start, it found that each week, consumers are spending $1.54 billion USD (about $2.2 billion CAD) in mobile games as well as downloading more than 1.1 billion new titles. Data.ai notes that even though this is a slight drop from last year, it’s still 25 percent higher than Q3 2019, showing how gaming has only continued to grow amid the pandemic.
To that point, Data.ai reiterated that of the project $222 billion USD (about $305 billion CAD) that it expects the gaming industry to generate overall this year, mobile gaming will account for about 60 percent.
Speaking of percentages, the firm also acknowledged that gaming is more impactful on Google Play than iOS. To be sure, the App Store generated $21 billion USD (about $28.9 billion CAD) in mobile gaming revenue in Q3, which was well above the $11.4 billion USD (about $15.7 billion CAD).
But on the App Store, only about half of revenue comes from game, versus roughly two-thirds of revenue on the Play Store. Put another way, nearly half of the 30 billion apps downloaded on Google Play in Q3 were games, versus only a quarter on iOS. Therefore, mobile gaming plays a comparatively bigger role for Android than its does for iOS.
In terms of specific games, Data.ai says Subway Surfers was the most downloaded game across both platforms in Q3, while Honor of Kings saw the largest consumer spend. Data.ai also singled out Blizzard’sDiablo Immortal, which launched in June to much criticism over its monetization. Despite that controversy, the game still placed seventh in total consumer spend, edging out Pokémon Go and coming in a few spots behind Roblox and Genshin Impact.
Xbox is hoping to build its own mobile gaming marketplace independent from Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store.
The company detailed these plans in a filing to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) regarding its pending acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Xbox says it would leverage Activision Blizzard’s extensive catalogue to help develop an ‘Xbox Mobile Platform,’ a market in which it “currently has no meaningful presence.” For that reason, Microsoft says it aims to tap Activision Blizzard’s “much needed expertise” in mobile, particularly through massively popular titles like Call of Duty Mobile and Clash of Clans.
“Building on Activision Blizzard’s existing communities of gamers, Xbox will seek to scale the Xbox Store to mobile, attracting gamers to a new Xbox Mobile Platform,” wrote Microsoft in the filing. “Shifting consumers away from the Google Play Store and App Store on mobile devices will, however, require a major shift in consumer behavior. Microsoft hopes that by offering well-known and popular content, gamers will be more inclined to try something new.”
Part of that, Microsoft says, involves laying out a set of principles that would allow developers to run their own app stores within the Xbox Mobile Platform and offer their own payment systems for in-app purchases. This is a significant departure from the App Store, whose strict policies against third-party payment methods are the centre of the major ongoing legal dispute between Apple and Fortnite maker Epic.
Not having to fork over a significant cut of in-app purchases to Apple would certainly be enticing to developers, although it’s unclear exactly how this system would work. For now, though, Microsoft says it hopes to bring these principles to the Xbox Store on consoles.
Microsoft is making these arguments as it seeks to get the deal acquisition in the UK. So far, Sony has been actively attempting to prevent it, arguing that Microsoft owning major franchises like Call of Duty would be anti-competitive and take many players away from PlayStation. Microsoft, in turn, is making the case that it would still release games like Call of Duty on PlayStation for a number of years while also offering them through streaming platforms that require neither an Xbox nor PlayStation console. Now, it’s also trying to argue that it would use Activision Blizzard to create a new mobile marketplace that would increase competition, not reduce it.
It remains to be seen if and when the acquisition will be approved by all of the necessary regulators around the world.
Marvel Snap, a new collectible card game based on the mega popular Marvel Universe, is now officially available on mobile and in early access on PC.
Notably, Marvel Snap was developed by Second Dinner, a new studio made up of many ex-Blizzard developers, including former Hearthstone director Ben Brode.
In Marvel Snap, you’ll assemble a deck of cards featuring hundreds of Marvel heroes and villains, including big names like Spider-Man, Wolverine, Iron Man, Doctor Doom, Star-Lord, Daredevil and Deadpool, to lesser-known characters like Squirrel Girl, The Hood, Medusa and Sunspot.
Matches, meanwhile, have been designed to be mobile-friendly and bite-sized at about three minutes each. They play out in a grid containing 50-plus Marvel locations, including Wakanda, Asgard, the Baxter Building, Stark Tower and the Triskelion.
In the grid, you’ll place your character cards, each of which has an associated ‘Power,’ and the player with the highest Power level wins. Most cards and locations also have special effects that either give you a boost or set your opponent back. You can play against the computer or other players online.
As with any free-to-play game, there are microtransactions in Marvel Snap, although they work a little differently than you’d expect. Thankfully, you can’t actually buy cards to pay-to-win, which levels the playing field a bit. Instead, you can spend real money on variants of cards you already own that feature different artwork but are functionally the same.
That said, you can also fork over cash on credits to upgrade the rarity of cards, which increases your collection level and, in turn, lets you unlock more cards. Therefore, there is certainly a gameplay advantage from using real money, although it’s not as direct as buying cards outright.
Otherwise, the response to Marvel Snap has been quite positive during the early access period. You can download the game for yourself on iOS, Android and Steam.
It’s also worth noting that a fun ad for the launch was also released, featuring none other than Samuel L. Jackson reprising his long-running Marvel role of Nick Fury:
Want to replace Nick Fury? The Marvel Universe is in your hands when you play MARVEL SNAP. Congratulations!
Second Dinner also has released a content update roadmap, promising regular new cards, locations, cosmetics, challenges and more. You can read more on that here.
Warner Bros. has revealed Mortal Kombat: Onslaught, a “collection RPG” that it’s calling the first “mobile-exclusive cinematic story experience” in the series.
Developed and co-published by Mortal Kombat studio NetherRealm, Onslaught tasks players with building a team of fighters from a “vast” roster of Mortal Kombat characters and face off in real-time group battles to stop a deadly threat.
Specific characters weren’t mentioned, but the official poster for the game does show a handful, including mainstays Sub-Zero, Scorpion and Raiden. However, no screenshots or footage from the game was shown, so it’s unclear exactly how you’ll “collect” fighters or how battles will actually play out.
Notably, this is the first mobile game in the long-running fighting game series since 2015’s Mortal Kombat Mobile. The latest entry, meanwhile, is 2019’s Mortal Kombat 11, which most recently got an enhanced port on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S in 2020.
It’s unclear what NetherRealm’s next console/PC game will be. Earlier this month, Mortal Kombat creator Ed Boon said the studio is currently focusing on celebrating the series’ 30th anniversary, and a separate announcement regarding its next game will come after that.
For now, though, those interested in Onslaught can register for updates here.
