In the Nintendo Direct presentation for Pokemon Sword and Shield, Nintendo introduced a new mechanic called Dynamax. This makes your Pokemon huge and boosts their abilities, but it also plays into another brand-new feature: cooperative raid battles.

The Wild Area is all of the territory between towns where you can encounter Pokemon, and some special areas in the Wild have nodes where you can join up with other trainers to fight in Max Raid Battles. While your own Pokemon can only go Dynamax for three turns and can only be triggered once, these Max Raid Battles will have you face off against a mega-sized Pokemon for the entire encounter. You’ll need to coordinate with other players to bring them down, and only one of the trainers will be permitted to use a Dynamax of their own. If you manage to beat them, you can catch them.

These Max Raid Battles will vary by area and weather, and some Pokemon can only be caught by participating in a Max Raid Battle. You can team up with three other players, but if three humans aren’t available, AI support trainers will be automatically added to your team. It all seems inspired by the Raid battles in Pokemon Go, albeit with a super-sized twist.

Dynamax Pokemon swap their abilities for Max abilities, and during the presentation we saw several Dynamax battles taking place in specialized Pokemon arenas full of fans. Other details from the Nintendo Direct include new character and story details, and our first look at the two new Legendary Pokemon that represent the Sword and Shield.

Pokemon Sword and Shield is coming on November 15.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/pokemon-sword-and-shield-introduces-raid-battles-a/1100-6467393/

Pokemon Sword and Shield are two of the most highly-anticipated games for the Nintendo Switch. Thanks to a new Nintendo Direct, we now know the games’ global release date has been set for November 15.

In addition, developer Game Freak shared more details on the gameplay innovations seen in Sword and Shield. A new battle mechanic named Dynamax turns Pokemon far bigger than they’ve been seen before. Like Sun and Moon‘s Z-Moves, Dynamax can be triggered once per battle. It boosts your Pokemon’s power and turns all their moves into Max Moves. The creature returns to normal after three turns.

Additionally, Sword and Shield will feature Max Raids, a new battle type seemingly inspired by the raids seen in Pokemon Go. There are sections of the game world in which you can team up with up to three other human players and battle a Pokemon which is permanently in Dynamax form, and hence is very powerful. You’ll need to work together to bring down the wild Pokemon and then catch them for yourself. The creatures seen in these wild Dynamax battles vary by area and weather, Game Freak said.

Finally, the developer revealed the box art for Sword and Shield, which features two new legendary creatures, Zamazenta and Zacian. Alongside the two separate games, a dual pack will be available. This includes both titles and an exclusive golden dual game card steelbook. The standard editions will cost $60 / £50 each, with pricing yet to be announced for the dual pack.

Sword and Shield mark the eighth generation of Pokemon games and are set in an entirely new region with all-new Pokemon. That region is named Galar, and it’s primarily made up of picturesque countryside inspired by the UK.

Not only will players encounter an assortment of returning Pokemon here–including fan-favorites like Tyranitar, Lucario, and, of course, Pikachu–the region will also be home to many new kinds of Pokemon. We’ve already gotten a look at the three new starters, and the latest Pokemon Direct presentation gave us a glimpse at a handful of other Gen 8 monsters, with many more undoubtedly still waiting to be revealed.

For more on the new games, check out our roundup of all the Pokemon confirmed for Sword and Shield. There is a chance we might learn even more about the two Switch games during Nintendo’s E3 press conference, along with all these Nintendo games confirmed for E3 2019.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/pokemon-sword-and-shield-release-date-confirmed/1100-6467388/

Two of Bethesda’s major upcoming games, The Elder Scroll VI and Starfield, are not coming to E3 2019, but that doesn’t mean the company is keeping quiet about the projects. Bethesda boss Todd Howard spoke briefly about both projects in an in-depth interview with IGN this week.

Starting with The Elder Scrolls VI, Howard said Bethesda is designing the game to be played for a decade “at least.” He wants the game to have longevity in the way that Skyrim has. That game was released in 2011 and it remains popular and sells well on every platform Bethesda brings it to, Howard said.

He gave no indication as to when The Elder Scrolls VI will release, but he says you will understand why it’s taking so long once Bethesda finally shows it off.

“On one hand, I think it’s good to miss things. I think that makes people come to it with really really fresh eyes,” he said about the gap between Skyrim and The Elder Scrolls VI. “When you eventually, eventually see the game and what we have in mind [you’ll] understand the gap more in terms of technology and what we want it to do.”

The only piece of media for The Elder Scrolls VI released so far is the briefest of teaser trailers from E3 2018. The game will likely release on next-generation platforms, Howard has said in the past and mentioned again in the IGN interview.

As for Starfield, Howard talked about how it’s important for the game to have its own tone to help it stand apart from the numerous other sci-fi games on the market.

“[Starfield will have its] own tone in terms of there is so much science-fiction in the same way that Fallout has its own tone in post-apocalyptic,” he said. “Elder Scrolls has found its own tone, but originally didn’t. It was very generic fantasy.”

Howard wants Starfield to be the “be all, end all science fiction game that everyone’s always wanted to play.” He clarified that it is his own personal be all, end all sci-fi game, and not necessarily yours.

Whatever the case, it’s a bold ambition for Starfield, but Howard thinks he has put the pieces in place to make it happen. “We could be the ones to pull this off,” he said. “We have enough talent and experience and technology; we need to write a whole bunch of new technology that we’re doing [for Starfield]. But we think that we can pull it off.”

A scene from Starfield’s announcement trailer

Also in the interview, Howard said Bethesda knew it wanted Starfield to be its next game after Fallout 4 and that development is now underway across the developer’s North American studios.

But when will we see more of Starfield? “Everyone should be very patient,” Howard said.

Like Fallout 4, which was announced in June just five months before its release in November 2015, Howard said he wants to have a short announce-to-release window for Starfield. The five month window for Fallout 4 was the quickest turnaround the Bethesda’s sales team would allow, he said. Howard acknowledged there are complexities related to announcing and releasing quickly, due in part to allowing retail partners to prepare for release.

In terms of a release schedule, Starfield is coming first and then The Elder Scrolls VI, at least according to the current plan.

While Starfield and The Elder Scrolls VI will not appear at E3 this year, Bethesda is still holding a briefing where it will announce other games and make additional announcements.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/how-elder-scrolls-6-and-starfield-are-shaping-up/1100-6467387/

Apart from being remembered as an amazing open-world RPG, Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is also known for being one of the first console games with microtransactions. Specifically, horse armor. Bethesda boss Todd Howard has now reflected on the horse armor controversy.

Speaking to IGN, Howard said, “People will buy anything.” He added: “That doesn’t mean you should do it. [But] they will buy anything. That sounds terrible.”

Howard went on to say that there is nothing wrong in practice with horse armor, but the issue with it is how pricey it was. He said someone at Microsoft–he wouldn’t say who–told the team at Bethesda to charge more, so they did.

At the time, themes–or wallpaper for your Xbox 360–were a big deal. The price point Bethesda proposed for horse armor was below the price of a theme. So Microsoft asked Bethesda to increase the price; it was sold at the time for $2.50 USD.

“Horse armor is not bad. I think horse armor is fine. The price point, at the time, was the issue. We felt, it’s probably worth this,” he said. “I won’t say who at Microsoft said, ‘Well, that’s less than we sell a theme for; a wallpaper is more than that. You should charge this; you can always lower it.’ We were like, ‘Okay!’ It’s a price-to-value proposition at the time, not do I want armor for my horse. And looking back now, it’s quite cheap.”

In the ensuring years, Bethesda sold Oblivion’s horse armor for twice the normal price as an April Fool’s joke, and it sold well because people were in on the joke and wanted to participate, Howard said.

The next mainline Elder Scrolls game is The Elder Scrolls VI, which is still a long ways off. The game will not be at E3 2019 this month, and it might not release until the next-generation of consoles.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/todd-howard-on-elder-scrolls-horse-armor-people-wi/1100-6467386/