Come on in, get yourself a nice cup of coffee or tea and pull up a chair.
Although the pandemic is pretty much a thing of the past, I still work a lot from home, as our company promotes that. Which is great, but I did notice, after a full day at the office yesterday including the commute, that it’s pretty tiring. Guess I’ll have to make myself get used to that again! Anyway, let me give you the news that caught my eye this week. I hope you enjoy it!
Spring Sale on Steam
It’s Spring Sale on Steam from March 16 till March 23 at 10 am PT/6 pm CET. So if your wallet can’t take the stress, better stay away from it! There are some good title on sale, like Potion Craft: Alchemist Simulator, Disney Dreamlight Valley, Dorfromantik, Victoria 3, Hokko Life, Season: a Letter to the Future and many more!
Melody for the Masses for Victoria 3
Paradox Interactive released a new music pack called Melody for the Masses for their Grand Strategy game Victoria 3. (The game is currently on sale in the Steam shop at € 39,99 instead of € 49,99, ending on March 23 at 10 am PT/6 pm CET. (check Steam for your currency)
The music pack is inspired by the simple but hardworking lives of workers and farmers before the cities and factories called them to a new kind of labour. The songs tell the story of the evolution of peasant and farm life in the 19th century.
The release of an hour-long collection of original music composed for Victoria 3 is simultaneously released along with the much-awaited 1.2 update for the game. The 1.2 update includes significant changes to the trade interface, new military and diplomatic options and features, a brand new music player, and other general improvements.
Paula enjoyed Victoria 3 very much (read her review here) and Victoria 3: Melodies of the Masses is available now for the suggested retail price of $4.99/£4.99/€4.99.
Update and Patches for Hokko Life
This is the update a lot of players have been waiting for: storage capacity is increased, so we can download more creations other players have made! For now, it’s an update for the Switch, Xbox and PS4. Oh, and while we are talking about Hokko Life: It’s now on sale through 23 March at 10 am PT/6 pm CET for € 9,99 instead of € 19,99 (check Steam for your currency)
For now, please find all the patch notes below!
Nintendo Switch, Xbox en PS4 Patch Notes:
- Increased Storage capacity to allow players to download more User Generated content
- Fix for item disappearing when you upload it to your store
- Fix for infinite loading screen on stores that have empty slots
- Fix for creator code not being shown on downloaded creations in backpack and placement mode
- Fix for placeholder text being shown sometimes when accepting a challenge from Derris
- Cursor speed when designing has been improved!
The PC version on Steam will get an update too. The notes for this are below:
PC Patch Notes:
- Fix for item disappearing when you upload it to your store
- Fix for infinite loading screen on stores that have empty slots
- Fix for creator code not being shown on downloaded creations in backpack and placement mode
- Fix for placeholder text being shown sometimes when accepting a challenge from Derris
Passpartout 2: The Lost Artist Coming
Five years ago I was able to review Passpartout: the Starving Artist on Switch, I think it was one of my first reviews, and it was such a quirky game that it stayed with me. Nice news that Flamebait Games revealed the sequel of the struggling artist adventure, Passpartout 2: The Lost Artist, is coming to Steam on 4th April 2023 (on Windows and Mac, price TBA)
In this struggling artist adventure, you must reclaim your lost art career by earning a place in the Museum of the Masters. Explore the endearing art-starved town of Phénix and show them you’re a true artist! The townsfolk can be as charming as the town itself but if you don’t hit their sweet spots they can turn into a bunch of ruthless critics. Help them out with commissions, earn fancy new tools, progress the story or just take it easy, find your niche and paint for as long as you like.
Want to Playtest the Garden In! Update?
A while back I really enjoyed Garden In! on Steam. Sadly, not playable on the SteamDeck, but I did feel that this was finally a game that scratched my gardening itch. As things are going well for the developer Dramatic Iceberg, there is an update coming, for which you can be a play tester!
What does it mean?
- If you already have the game, they will send you special secret instructions to enable the new version on your account.
- If you do not have the game yet, they will send you a key and secret instructions for the preview (the key will be revoked after the test).
- You can freely test out the new version.
- You can give us ideas, feedback, comments, or any other form of thought. Or not. It’s up to you.
If you want to do this, you can join the playtest here: Playtest Garden In! Better be quick though!
Miss StreetPass?
CJ, who used to be a writer in our team, alerted us to this news: a real StreetPass weekend is coming from March 31-April 2! We miss our blinking green light, showing that someone is at our gate, so this is a good opportunity to get some more StreetPass hits. Going to their Twitter page brings you to a Discord you can join. So, if you want to work with others to make sure your StreetPass weekend is succesful, check in there to see where people will be. Take your 3DS/2DS, and go to a local popular location and find others with the same hobby!
https://twitter.com/streetpasslove/status/1635674987599208448?s=61&t=E2aMXvzWEohoDcmtAzyjXw
Grand Theft Audio Live in Ireland
Music concerts are getting more and more popular. The band Grand Theft Audio is bringing the iconic soundtrack of the video game Vice City to life. It will be a full audio and visual experience with the full story of Tommy’s rise to the top on the big screen in HD along with snippets from commercials, radio hosts and game audio in between songs. It promises to be a visual spectacle!
We invite attendees to dress up in their best 80’s outfits and sing/dance along to all their favourite hits from Flash FM, V-Rock, Fever 103.8, Emotion 98.3, and Wave 105, all performed by a 9-piece band.
So if you live in Ireland, here are the upcoming event dates:
- 6th of May – Belfast, Limelight 2
- 27th of May – Dublin, The Grand Social
- 10th of June – Limerick, Dolan’s
See the bands socials below to find where you can get tickets:
VIDEOS(YOUTUBE)
Instagram
Content Creator Packs and Radio Stations in Cities
Paradox Interactive and Colossal Order announced this week what the roadmap is for the last content packs and Radio Stations coming to Cities: Skylines as the team prepares for its highly-anticipated sequel.
The final countdown starts with three Content Creator Packs and Radio Stations releasing on March 22, followed by a second set of content packs and a mini-expansion from Colossal Order in May. While the final expansion, Content Creator Packs, and Radio Stations are on their way, Colossal Order intends to continue general support for Cities: Skylines through the rest of the year! And of course, you can expect our coverage for the new additions as well!
Winter’s Wish: Spirits of Edo Cards
Aksys Games revealed the exclusive set of seven full-colour character cards that will be included in all first-run copies of the upcoming, historically-set, mystical otome title Winter’s Wish: Spirits of Edo, launching for Nintendo Switch™ on May 18th.
We are looking forward to this game, taking place in the first year of the Kyoho era. The land is ruled by the eighth shogun Yoshimune Tokugawa. Repeated incidents caused by monsters in the town of Edo upset and frighten the people, so the Tokugawa shogunate establishes the “Oniwaban” to maintain public order and secure the town.
Eleven years later, a girl born with special powers in a village far from Edo has been driven out into the snowy mountains by the terrified townspeople. The reason? Without fail, the girl sees “black Threads” whenever a disaster will occur, her unsettling ability to predict calamities with absolute certainty.
One day, men claiming to be members of the mysterious Oniwaban appear before her, saying she is needed in Edo. Soon, the girl’s power, which previously only brought her misfortune, will become an invaluable asset to the Oniwaban and their efforts against the monsters…
That’s it for this week! Thanks for reading, and join me again for a cup of coffee or tea next week!
So excited! Just wanted to mention that if you go to the StreetPassLove twitter page there’s a discord to join where streetpass meetups are organized. So, if you want to work with others to make sure your Streetpass weekend is successful, come on over and see where people will be!
Good addition, CJ, thanks!