Telltale Games Lays Off Its Staff Except 25, Cancels Most Projects

Telltale's CEO Pete Hawley released a statement on Thursday that Telltale Games began a majority studio closure, keeping a staff of 25 on to fulfill the company's contractual obligations to its board and partners.

Today Telltale Games made the difficult decision to begin a majority studio closure following a year marked by insurmountable challenges. A majority of the company's employees were dismissed earlier this morning, with a small group of 25 employees staying on to fulfill the company's contractual obligations to its board and partners. CEO Pete Hawley released the following statement: 

"It's been an extremely difficult year for Telltale as we worked to set the company on a new course. Unfortunately, we ran out of time trying to get there. We released some of our best content this year and received a tremendous amount of positive feedback, but ultimately, that did not translate to sales. With a heavy heart, we watch our friends leave today to spread our brand of storytelling across the games industry." 

Telltale will issue further comments regarding its product portfolio in the coming weeks.

Mr. Hawley also responded to a question about the future of the remaining staff, stating, "to be clear, we're not shutting down. As odd as that may sound, 25 of us will continue, foreseeable. I'll make further comment in the coming weeks."

Telltale Games Announces Poker Night 2 Is No Longer For Sale

Telltale Games has announced that Poker Night 2 is no longer available for sale. The game was a crossover poker game from 2013, sequel to the 2010 poker crossover game Poker Night at the Inventory, and spiritual successor to Telltale's first game Telltale Texas Hold'em Poker. It was a single player game that allowed either Texas Hold'em and Omaha Hold'em rules of play that pit the unseen player character against several characters from pop culture, including Max from Steve Purcell's Sam & Max, Ash Williams from Army of Darkness, Brock Samson from The Venture Bros., and Claptrap from Borderlands, with GLaDOS from Portal as the dealer.
Telltale released a statement explaining the reason that the game is no longer available for sale.

Poker Night 2 has been withdrawn from sale on digital platforms due to the expiration of our digital distribution agreement. We currently do not have any plans to renew this agreement.

If you already purchased the game, you can still redownload it from the platform on which you bought it. Telltale has posted a support article explaining the process.

This doesn't affect Telltale's other poker games, as Telltale Texas Hold'em and Poker Night at the Inventory remain available for sale.

Double Fine's Broken Age Is Out Now On the Switch

Broken Age, the successfully crowdfunded adventure game by genre veteran Tim Schafer and his Double Fine Productions game studio is out now on the switch through the Nintendo eShop.
It was originally released in 2015 for Windows, Mac, Linux, Ouya, Android, iOS, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation Vita.

Broken Age is a point-and-click adventure game that follows two young people, a girl named Vella and a boy named Shay. Shay lives in a spaceship and is kept overly protected from harm, while Vella is chosen by her village to be sacrificed to an alien monster. The difficulty in puzzles begins easy enough, but it ramps up as the game goes on.

In related Double Fine news, another Double Fine adventure game is slated to be released on the Nintendo Switch. Grim Fandango Remastered is an updated version of a game Tim Schafer made in 1998 while he was employed at LucasArts, following a grim reaper named Manuel Calavera as he discovers a conspiracy of crime and corruption in the land of the dead. No release date has yet been announced for this title, although it was announced with the Switch port of Broken Age, so the wait shouldn't be too long.

Nintendo Announces New Games and Ports for Switch and 3DS on Nintendo Direct

Last week Japan was hit hard by natural disasters. The first was Typhoon Jebi, the biggest typhoon in 25 years, hitting western Japan, followed by a 6.7-magnitude earthquake in Hokkaido. Due to this, the Nintendo Direct was postponed from its planned Tuesday release. After a short wait, Nintendo has released the Nintendo Direct and there are a lot of announcements for both the Nintendo 3DS and the Switch.

Luigi's Mansion 3 for Nintendo Switch

The Luigi spin-off action-adventure game that has the more easily frightened of the two brothers become a ghostbuster arrives on the Nintendo Switch in a brand new installment. This will be the third entry in the series, after the 2001 GameCube original and 2003's Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon on the Nintendo 3DS. The latter was also translated into an arcade game by Capcom in 2015.

Katamari Damacy Reroll - Katamari Damacy Remake for Switch

Katamari Damacy, the original game in the surreal action game in which the goal is to roll up everything in sight, is being remastered for the Nintendo Switch.
'
Nintendo Switch Online

Nintendo Switch's online service is finally coming on September 18, for $3.99 a month, $7.99 for 3 months, or $19.99 for a year. It will also be available in a family membership for eight Nintendo account holders for $34.99 for a year. The service will allow you to play online in games such as Splatoon 2, ARMS, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Mario Tennis Aces, and Mario Tennis Ultimate. Voice chat will only be available through the smartphone app. Some games, such as Fortnite, won't require the Nintendo Switch Online service to play. Nintendo Switch Online membership will also give you access to save game progress to the cloud. It will also give you access to twenty Nintendo Entertainment System games enhanced with online multiplayer at launch:

• Soccer
• Tennis
• Donkey Kong™
• Mario Bros.™
• Super Mario Bros.™
• Balloon Fight™
• Ice Climber™
• Dr. Mario™
• The Legend of Zelda™
• Super Mario Bros.™ 3
• Double Dragon
• River City Ransom
• Ghosts 'n Goblins™
• Tecmo Bowl
• Gradius
• Pro Wrestling
• Excitebike™
• Yoshi™
• Ice Hockey
• Baseball

More NES games will be added to the service in the upcoming months. Two wireless NES controllers for Switch will also be available for Nintendo Switch Online subscribers for $59.99.

New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe for Nintendo Switch

Another Wii U game is getting the deluxe treatment on Switch. This will include the entire New Super Mario Bros. U game, plus all of the courses from New Super Luigi Bros. U. It will also include two new characters. The first, Nabbit, is not affected by enemies, while the second, Toadette can transform into Peachette with a crown, allowing her to float like her namesake and double jump. She will also jump out of pits when she falls into them.

Town for Switch

'Town' is a 3D RPG for Switch about monsters that invade a small town. Not much else is known about it, aside from the fact that it is being developed by Game Freak, the creators of the Pokemon franchise.

Cities: Skylines for Nintendo Switch

The city-building game, Cities: Skylines, is available to purchase now for Nintendo Switch. both the After Dark and Snowfall DLC packs are included with your purchase.

Kirby's Epic Yarn for 3DS

The Wii platformer Kirby's Epic Yarn is being remade for the Nintendo 3DS.

Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story + Bowser Jr.’s Journey for 3DS

The Nintendo DS 'Mario and Luigi' RPG is getting a remake on the Nintendo 3DS, with a new sidequest starring Bowser Jr.

Luigi’s Mansion for 3DS

Just in time for the third installment's arrival on the Switch, the 2001 GameCube original is being remade for the Nintendo 3DS.