Much excitement this week as Nintendo of America announced a couple of new Joy-Con colours: Neon Purple/Neon Orange and Blue/Neon Yellow. Excitement particularly because – and surely this can’t be accidental – they’re a bit Wario-y: the orange and purple obviously, but you could argue that the blue and yellow recalls the W symbol on his hat too.
As such the news was greeted with mild amusement and delight. But it perhaps wasn’t the most fortuitous timing for Nintendo, because also this week a class action lawsuit was filed against them for “drifting” issues with Joy-Con joysticks – so inevitably that’s what most of the replies to NoA’s tweet were about. Ho hum!
Next: buttons! The Summer of Buttons is quite the best named museum programme I’ve heard in some time. It’s taking place at the National Videogame Museum in Sheffield between 24th July and 1st September, and sounds pretty excellent: there’s the opportunity to make and use your own button, as well as exhibits including two-player Canabalt, four-player Pac-Man, a range of button-bashing athletics games, and accessible controllers for FIFA 19 and Forza Motorsport from SpecialEffect.
From the sublime to the ridiculous. Not only is there a “dedicated gaming lotion” called Gamer Goo, but there are now a total of six scents: Vanilla Sugar, Teakwood and Cherry Blossom have been newly added to Orange, Peppermint and Cinnamon. “We’re excited to bring three new scents to our product portfolio, further enhancing choice and allowing gamers to express themselves further while adding a very real competitive advantage during play,” said co-founder Justin Clark. Fair enough.
Finally, a week in pictures favourite: new offices. This is Zynga‘s new, expanded office in Bengaluru, India.
Very nice. Not sure what that blue room is for, mind: one-to-one meetings when there’s a risk that you might want to suddenly have a bit of a dance?