So, after thirteen months of dev time, the latest build of Student Transfer has been released, and going through it has become my first priority. I should have a review of the game up around the 14th, but more importantly, I have to work on another flowchart for the game. While I do enjoy mapping out a complicated series of choices in a visually appealing manner, this build seems particularly… nasty in the sheer spectrum of its choices. I mean, I honestly had to go into the game’s files just to figure out how the heck it all works.
One of the more interesting stories I stumbled upon this week game from a two part Polygon article that brought up how, according to sources close to Microsoft, the company is looking to acquire a major game studio, or studios, in order to increase the Xbox One’s portfolio, after the company wound up cancelling a lot of their major exclusives. According to this source, some of the names thrown around have been Electronic Arts, Valve, and PUBG Corp. As the follow-up article speculates, PUBG Corp is a hot demand item that may be incredibly tough to acquire, and the other two companies, along with every major AAA game publisher, would not be an ideal acquisition for Microsoft, or even all that probable. However, the existence of these discussions make an acquisition very likely, and the company may begin looking into acquiring developers who are not also publishers, though there really aren’t too many of those after the seventh generation…
CyberConnect2, developers of some incredibly stylish and lavish action games, have had an odd couple of years, being brought in and then removed from the Final Fantasy VII remake, opening up a new Montreal studio despite being a Japanese company, and ending their lengthy tenure of Naruto games back in 2016. Being in such an odd spot, it’s really not surprising to hear that they plan on shaking things up in the future. I would actually recommend reading the article for yourself, as there is a lot of small things discussed here, such as their plans for mass recruitment, how Project Venom was shelved, they are working on an anime, and most notably, the company’s plans to begin self-publishing titles with what they are calling the Trilogy of Vengeance! 
The Trilogy of Vengeance is a collection of three games that all focus on revenge, and span quite a variety of concepts. Including Fugue of the Battlefield, an SRPG set in the same universe as the lovely DS title Solatorobo that involves 11 dog and cat children piloting a tank to rescue their parents from a warring army. Tokyo Ogre Gate, a a steampunk side-scrolling action game set after WWI that centers around a schoolgirl fighting monsters from hell with high speeds slashing action. Along with Cecile, a 2.5D action game about four gothic lolita sisters battling each other in a ceremony to become a witch. All of which sound wild, edgy, and exactly like the sort of thing I would like!
With Nintendo’s financial results for 2017 having recently been released, it is no surprise that a few bits of news about the company have surfaced. For one, Nintendo plans on releasing a mobile version of Mario Kart, entitled Mario Kart Tour sometime before the end of the next fiscal year. The Switch’s paid online services are expected to launch in September, though no further details were provided. While the Switch itself sold a whopping 14.86 million units worldwide in 2017, and combined with how Nintendo intends on keeping the system around for longer than the typical 5-6 year lifecycle, it may just manage to hit the elusive 100 million unit goal that few systems have ever met.
It’s all fairly minor stuff, but I am quite interested in everything that came out of this briefing. From how Mario Kart will transition to a mobile platform. To what exactly this online service will be, though I do not expect to hear a peep about it until after E3, because Nintendo. To how much these very impressive sales will persuade developers to start making games for the Switch. It’s not much definitive, but I guess Nintendo saves that sort of news for Nintendo Directs these days.