I hope everyone had a great week and has an even better weekend. It’s that time of week again when we take a fond look back at the top five news stories from the week. Welcome to the Weekly Wrap-Up. Below you’ll find a brief summary of the stories, but for the full articles, click on the hyperlink. Feel free to let us know if you agree or disagree with our choices; if you have suggestions for future entries, feel free to email me at jeremy.tyler@bagogames.com.
Enjoy!
Number 5
ASDA No Longer Stocking Wii U Games Or System
UK Retailer, Asda (part of the Wal-Mart family) has confirmed that it will no longer be stocking Wii U games or the console itself in its stores although the online branch of the company, Asda Direct, will continue to do so on a title by title merit basis.
This is another blow to Nintendo as we get ever closer to the release of the Xbox One and the PS4, leaving the Wii U facing a similar fate as the Nintendo Gamecube many years ago.
Number 4
Black 3DS XL Coming to North America on August 11th
Nintendo has announced a new 3DS XL color for North America that will be joining the three previous colors: blue, red and pink. Come August 11th, you’ll finally be able to pick up a black 3DS XL, as well as a copy of Mario & Luigi: Dream Team. See, because they timed it like that.
Reads the press release: “The Nintendo 3DS XL system is about to get a little more formal. Aug. 11 will be a classy day to become a new Nintendo 3DS owner. Just make sure there is room in your tuxedo pocket or fancy purse!”
Number 3
PS4 Will Be Playable At Eurogamer Expo
Eurogamer have confirmed that the PS4 will be playable at their event next month, which is running from September 26th through September 29th. This will be the first time that UK gamers can get their hands on the new controller and games from Sony’s next generation console.
You can order tickets by clicking here, although both super passes and weekend tickets have completely sold out so you will only be able to purchase tickets for either the Thursday or Friday dates.
For a list of playable games, view the full story.
Number 2
PlayStation 4 Supports Party Chat, Friends Limit Set to 2,000
Some new details have been released about the PlayStation 4, thanks to a new Q&A video from PlayStation Access.
To start, the PlayStation 4 will support party chat at launch, and the PSN friends list now caps out at 2,000. 2,000 sounds like too many people to know at any one time but, sure, okay. Remind me to turn off whatever sound plays when people sign-in. Also, for those of you that didn’t know, your PSN ID does carry over, should you desire to keep it.
In addition, it was confirmed that – even though you need PlayStation Plus to play online – it is not required to access apps like Netflix, the aforementioned party chat, or play free-to-play games.
Number 1
Xbox 360 Headset Adapter Coming for Xbox One
The Xbox One headset news continues, as we now know that Microsoft is making an adapter that will allow current, Xbox 360 headsets to work with the Xbox One. This comes not too long after finding out that Microsoft was ‘looking into’ including a headset with the system.
Albert Penello, once again in response to a question on Twitter, confirmed the news, in addition to stating that the adapter would be sold as a separate accessory. Unsurprisingly, pricing or what the device looks like were not revealed.
Honorable Mentions
This week had a lot of big news and the news staff and I found it hard to narrow it down to the usual five stories:
- PS4 Pre-Orders Alive and Kicking Again at GameStop
- Including a Headset with Xbox One is Being Looked Into
- Tomb Raider Sequel Confirmed for Next-Gen
If you missed out on the big news items this week, you can check out our weekly podcast and get an audio update of this week’s madness from our podcasting team. Listen to us as we talk about some things seriously and a few other things not so much. We guarantee this episode will make you shake your fist at times and nod your head at others.