Handheld gaming news with coffee, week 48

At the moment I’m looking at very grey weather, characteristic for the days before Christmas here in the Netherlands. But then, that’s how it supposed to be leading up to the Holidays. I wonder how it feels to celebrate Christmas in the Summer, like people in Australia and New Zealand do? Let’s take the opportunity to sit down comfortably with a nice cup of coffee and share handheld gaming news!

First though, news that’s unrelated to gaming. We were shocked to see the news about the devastation the fires have caused in Gatlinburg and Pigeonforge. As you may remember we visited their this summer during our road-trip. Such a beautiful area with the Great Smokey Mountains as a backdrop. We googled and found that most of the hotel where we had stayed has gone up in smoke. So sad, my thoughts are with all the people who lost so much.

Stardew Valley not on WiiU

Remember when we got news that the famous Stardew Valley would find its way to the WiiU too, eventually? For now, that game that is clearly inspired by Harvest Moon classics is only playable on Steam. Which means you can play it on a PC and a Mac. It was a big deal that the game would exploit its unexpected fame and come to a dedicated gaming console.

Instead, the WiiU version got cancelled and ConcernedApe’s development team is now re-focussing attention to bringing the game to the Switch, eventually. I do feel as if it’s a pity: mid December the game will be available both on Xbox and the PS4. I’m afraid the release on a Nintendo device will really be too late.

Stardewvalley, Barrone, steam, indie

Big Pokémon Go update with trading?

First of all, Pokémon Go has won the award for Best Mobile/Handheld Game in the 2016 Game Awards. It beat nominees Fire Emblem Fates and Monster Hunter Generations.

Rumours are flying about a big update coming for Pokémon Go. We saw the new “nearby” feature introduced recently, but the new update could well have something I’ve been waiting for since the beginning: trading and battling together. Nothing has been confirmed on Niantics part, but it would make reason.

They really have to get players back into the fold. And adding an entire new range of Pokémon would be nice, but are people really going outside to catch them all in winter? I don’t think so, but they would have fun trading doubles and fighting with friends! We can only hope that the rumours are true!

Pokemon Go

Deutsche Post is selling Mario Stamps

Now how’s this for a stamp to send your Christmas cards to family and friends? In Germany people are lucky, The Deutsche Post is selling stamps based on Super Mario. When you order your stamps online you can choose which characters you want on your stamp. In this picture you see the promotional image with Mario and Luigi, but people can choose between red and green backdrops for the setting and Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad images set against red, green, or white backgrounds. Nice!

Deutsche Post, stamps, Mario

Pokémon Sun and Moon for new gamers

Are you enjoying the game? I am, and my daughter started playing too, which will double the fun. NintendoLife gave the Pokémon Moon and Sun a 10 out of 10 in their review, and that’s saying something! What I noticed is that there are more guides on the internet for absolute novices to Pokémon games. I guess there are a lot of new players, drawn in by the fun of Pokémon Go! If you are a newbie, you will find a great guide here.

By the way, don’t forget to get you mystery gift too, as Munchlax is a pretty cool Pokémon! munchlax

Puyo Puyo Chronicle Demo

In Japan, Puyo Puyo Chronicle will find it’s way into the shops. Sega’s action puzzle RPG was already available as a demo on the Japanese 3DS, so I gave it a spin.

On the photo you can see Arle and Carbuncle. They were playing together in Primp Town when suddenly, a mysterious picture book appears. Picking up the book causes them to disappear into it, and they land in strange surroundings. They meet a mysterious girl named Allie, who for some reason refers to Arle as a hero. This starts their adventure to return to their own world.

The battles are a combination of puzzles which reminded me of Tetris, and making moves that are enough to vanquish the monster that is attacking you. It plays smoothly, the puzzling is nice, I was reminded of other games that have the same kind of gameplay. Which might not be surprising, but as this game series is 25 years old, I might as well have been looking at the original!

Dementia Game does research

This news article on the BBC caught my eye: did you know there’s a mobile game called Sea Hero Quest that researches while you play? The game is in fact the worlds largest dementia research experiment, designed to research what a players age, background and gender does when it comes to sense of direction. Getting lost is one of the first symptoms of Alzheimers, and this study helps researchers to diagnose dementia and Alzheimers in their earliest stages, something they can’t do at the moment.

Using their smartphones, players sail a boat around desert islands and icy oceans. The game anonymously records the player’s sense of direction and navigational ability as they work their way through the levels. Some require them to weave through waterways and fire a flare back home, while others challenge them to memorise a sequence of buoys and then sail round them.

The data from the flare levels is the first that has been analysed by scientists at University College London.

dementia, sea hero quest

This turned into a long article, didn’t it? Well, I hope you enjoyed it, see you next week. Happy gaming!

6 comments

  1. I am looking forward to Stardew Valley on PS4. Shame that it got cancelled on Wii U, but understandable. Developers will start to ditch the system now that Switch is on the horizon.

    1. True, but by then the big hype for Stardew Valley on a Nintendo platform will fall a bit flat as you’ll be able to play it on the other two much sooner.

  2. I was so bummed about Stardew Valley being cancelled for Wii U! I held off buying it on Steam because I thought the Wii U would be perfect for it, especially if it made good use of the Game Pad. Now I think I will just buy it on Steam!

  3. Pokemon Sun and Moon is awesome! I have a couple of complaints about it, but I am having a blast.

    I did not know about Sea Hero Quest. That’s a pretty cool way to research those diseases and diagnose them.

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