With Final Fantasy X and X-2 HD both headed to the Nintendo Switch (and Xbox One) in April, Square Enix has shared more information on what we can expect from these releases. Apparently, on the Switch, only Final Fantasy X HD will be available on cartridge, at least in Europe. Final Fantasy X-2 HD will be available only digitally, and will be included as a digital code with the purchase of the package, should you get it at retail, based on their listing on Square Enix’s store for the Switch version of the game

This is actually not that different to how Square handled the release of Final Fantasy X and X-2 HD on the PS Vita. There, too, X HD came on a cartridge, and X-2 was a digital-only release. The difference, of course, is that on the PS Vita, cartridge capacity topped out at 4GB, while on the Switch, that’s the smallest a cartridge can be. Presumably, Square Enix Europe wanted to save costs.

It is unclear whether or not this will also be the case for North America. The North American website does not seem to display this message as of right now, but it might just be a case of it getting updated later, for all we know.

Final Fantasy X and X-2 HD launch on April 16 for Switch and Xbox One. They are available right now for PC, PS3, PS4, and PS Vita.

A 20 year embargo on modern Final Fantasy games appearing on a Nintendo platform is about to be broken this April, when Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy X-2, and Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age all hit the Nintendo Switch. This marks the first time that any mainline Final Fantasy game past Final Fantasy VI has shown up on a Nintendo system, so it’s symbolically a pretty big deal (since Nintendo’s loss of Final Fantasy VII was a precursor to their loss of third party dominance).

When these games hit the Switch, they will be handled by Virtuous, the development house that also handled the Switch ports of LA Noire and Dark Souls Remastered. They have a history with the Switch, and they also have a history with Final Fantasy X, X-2, and XII, since they handled the (respective) PS3, PS4, and PS Vita ports of all those games as well.

Final Fantasy X and X-2 HD launches on the Switch (and on Xbox One) on April 16; XII will launch on April 30.

While Panic Button and Iron Galaxy have made a name for themselves as being the go to porthouses for third parties looking to put their games on the Nintendo Switch, China-based Virtuous is a dark horse contender in this race, too. The studio has been responsible for the Switch ports of Rockstar’s L.A. Noire Remastered, as well as the just released Dark Souls Remastered.

Both ports have been well received, and it seems like the company’s work has gotten noticed. Speaking to Nintendo Life, Dark Souls: Remastered executive producer Lukas Codr said that the company has several more high profile Switch projects in the works, that it hopes will be coming out soon.

“For obvious reasons, we cannot say what exactly we’re working on, but we will definitely have some exciting high-profile Switch games coming out very soon,” Codr said. “By porting Dark Souls we have proven that we can take on any Switch project, so we are confident we will get more projects in the future. As you might have seen in the last few weeks, we’ve also worked on Ubisoft’s Starlink: Battle for Atlas, which has received critical acclaim.”

It remains to be seen what these upcoming games are, but for Switch owners, the news that they have received more work is great overall—it implies more third party projects and games will be coming to the console, which honestly, we can never have enough of.

Dark Souls Remastered and L.A. Noire Remastered are both out on Switch now, as well as PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

Dark Souls Remastered’s Switch version may have been delayed, but it is finally here— well, almost. Assuming there are no further postponements, Switch owners can finally dig deep into the world of Lordran next month, and to prepare them for the eldritch horrors and unrelenting death that awaits them, Nintendo and Bandai Namco have shared a brand new, humorous trailer for the game.

The trailer shows off just how difficult the game is, humorously asking players to keep calm as they face against the incessant challenges thrown their way. We get a lot of footage of the Switch version (which lacks the controversial lighting changes that fans railed against for the other versions earlier this year), and we get to see it running in portable mode as well. Of course, this is cherrypicked footage, but what we see here looks great, which helps allay my fears about how the game, notorious for its bad performance, might translate to Nintendo’s hybrid.

Dark Souls Remastered launches on the Switch on October 19, and is out now for PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

https://youtu.be/9sjv8es_gv0

Nintendo has managed to get some surprising third parties on board with the Switch, but the most surprising of these are probably The Elder Scrolls publishers Bethesda, and GTA parent company Take Two. Take Two has actually been a surprising proponent of the platform, putting out NBA 2K18 and WWE 2K18 on it last year, and also putting out LA Noire, plus NBA 2K19 being announced for it too (and Carnival Games…).

But it is entirely possible that future support for the Switch might not be as rosy, depending on how those games did. Nintendo fans are all too familiar, after all, with third parties bailing on their platform after citing less than satisfactory sales, right?

However, they don’t need to worry about that. Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Take-Two CEO Straus Zelnick said, “What we’ve put out so far [on the Switch] has been successful”, also explicitly promising that more games from the publishing giant are coming to Nintendo’s hybrid.

You know what would be great, Take Two? No, I’m not going to ask for GTA 5 like everyone else does, I don’t actually care as much for that. But put out XCOM on Switch. Or Civilization. One or the other. Or both. I’d really like that. They’re already on iPad, so it can’t be that hard.

Dark Souls is coming to a Nintendo platform at last with the upcoming Dark Souls Remastered, which revitalizes From Software’s classic, generation defining action RPG for an all new generation. Dark Souls Remastered will also be coming to the PS4, Xbox One, and PC, but it’s the Nintendo Switch version many are waiting for- after all, this also marks the first time we will be able to play the game on the go.

Now, we also know who will be bringing the game to Nintendo’s platform, thanks to a rating for the game on the Australian ratings board website- it will be Chinese outfit Virtuous, who most recently were behind the PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch versions of LA Noire Remastered– that one was a well done remaster, too, so we know they’re capable of good work under the right watchful eye.

Dark Souls Remastered is due out for PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC this May.

DARK SOULS: REMASTERED,
Computer Games, Multi Platform, Rating: MA 15+, Author: VIRTUOS, Publisher: NINTENDO CO., LTD., Consumer AdviceStrong fantasy themes and violence, online interactivity

— AusVGClassifications (@AusVGClass) February 15, 2018

(via ResetEra)

Batman Arkham Asylum and Arkham City on the PS4 and Xbox One are both running on the Unreal Engine 4 compared to the Unreal Engine 3 implementation on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. This immediately results into better post processing effects such as improved screen space reflections, enhanced lighting and detailed draw distances. In short, few of the technologies that were used in Batman Arkham Knight have been used in this remaster although the latest game ran on a highly modified Unreal Engine 3.

For the purpose of this analysis we will be taking an in-depth look at the PlayStation 4 version of Batman: Return To Arkham and compare it against the PS3 and PC versions of the originals. Let’s begin with Batman Arkham Asylum. Released more than seven years ago, Arkham Asylum has surprisingly aged quite well. Arkham Asylum runs at a native 1080p resolution which immediately puts it ahead of the sub-HD resolution found on last gen consoles. Taking a look at the PC version and it’s clear that the PS4 version gains the upper hand with better lighting, shadow effects, ambient occlusion and parallax occlusion on brick walls.

Further improvements include better rain effects, volumetric and alpha effects along with better texture filtering and improved foliage density in some places. The remaster also improves on LOD over longer draw distances and improved texture resolutions across several levels. In many places, the shadows are missing in the original; however this is no longer the case in the remaster resulting into better atmospheric setting compared to the original. Overall, we are quite pleased with the graphical improvements but we have three major complaints with Arkham Asylum’s remaster. There is a sort of yellow filter and for this reason we prefer the cinematics of the original and Joker looks less detailed in the remaster. Of course, these two are points are quite subjective and may differ from player to player but we prefer the older color pallet.

However, unfortunately, one of the biggest cons of this remaster is the locked 30fps cap on the PS4. It’s quite disappointing that a seven year old title is unable to run at a fluid 60fps in 2016. Granted there might be engine deficiencies and difficulties faced while porting stuff over to current gen hardware, the lack of 60fps is still a bit surprising. Furthermore, there seems to be frame pacing issues with the PS4 version although v-sync remains engaged throughout to prevent any sort of screen tearing.

On the other hand we have Batman Arkham City and unlike Arkham Asylum, it runs with a dynamic horizontal resolution. However the vertical is locked at 1080p which is once again a surprise since this game is half a decade old. On the graphical front the level of improvements are quite similar to what we observed in Arkham Asylum. Arkham City for its time was a fairly modern title so most of the improvements are subtle. Better water effects and character models, improved volumetric and alpha effects are quite prevalent compared to the original.

 However, just like Arkham Asylum on the PS4,  Arkham City has performance issues as well. The game clearly runs at an unlocked frame rate resulting into an inconsistent gameplay experience at times. In all honesty, unlocked frame rate isn’t ideal and we would prefer it be locked at 30 fps…although we are still bamboozled by the lack of 60fps support. Furthermore, Arkham City also seems to struggle in outdoor areas, especially when Batman is gliding over the wide open world.

Overall, we are pretty pleased with the visual updates that Virtuous Games have implemented in both the games although we remain disappointed with the game’s performance issues. Both remasters should have run at 60 fps right out of the box and if that weren’t an option they should have at least made it to run at a locked 30fps. In the end Batman Return To Arkham is a decent remastering effort. The number of technical improvements is vast and if frame pacing and the lack of 60 fps support aren’t a bother for you then it’s very well worth visiting Arkham all over again.

Arguably one of the most ambitious remasters announced this generation so far have been the Batman: Arkham remasters- announced as Batman: Return to Arkham, the remasters redo Batman: Arkham Asylum and Arkham City in Unreal Engine 4, and then package them together neatly into one bundle.

It’s a good collection, and the chance to play two excellent games again would have been greatly appreciated- but the problem was that Return to Arkham had been abruptly delayed earlier this year, with no new release date given. Warner Bros. insisted that the delay was because developer Virtuous needed more time to polish their work and deliver a polished Batman experience, but the abrupt nature, and the lack of any new release window, made people wonder if we were ever actually going to see the collection again.

Well, we are. It’s launching in just over a month. And we have a new comparison trailer showing us just how extensively the games have been redone for you to see below, too. It’s just a pity that they forewent the inclusion of Arkham Origins still.

Warner Bros. has announced that the PS4 and Xbox One will be receiving remasters of Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City on July 26th. They will be packaged together as the Batman: Return to Arkham bundle and retail for $50. Just in time for Arkham Knight! Oh wait.

The remasters are being handled by Virtuous, which has been responsible for the PS4 version of Heavy Rain and also worked on Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. It also created assets for Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

You can check out the trailer for the bundle below which showcases the upgraded visuals. This isn’t a simple resolution and frame rate bump though – the remasters will be using Unreal Engine 4 as opposed to Unreal Engine 3. It’s a first for the series (Arkham Knight ran on Unreal Engine 3 when it released last year).

What are your thoughts on the Batman: Return to Arkham bundle? Could it come to PC? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.