Daily Briefing: Thursday 1st July

Blizzard show off more Diablo IV details

A new blog post published earlier this week sees the game's art director, lead character artist, and associate art director go into some much-requested detail on the game's classes and enemies. The content on display is reportedly "pretty polished" and "a good representation" of the final product - which makes it the best look we've had at the game so far.

• The team showed off some new armour and items,  and also outlined some of the classic enemy types that are returning for this new game. Enemies like the Succubus are coming back as well as "nature family" threats like wasps and bears. There are new enemies too, of course, like the Spider Host - a giant bundle of grossness that's set to fill the classic Diablo "exploding enemy" role.

Nintendo haven't ruled out more Mini consoles

The suggestion comes from president Shuntaro Furukawa who, speaking during a recent shareholder meeting, outlined that the company will "continue to examine the possibility of offering classic content" in a way that includes Classic Mini consoles and existing online services. Furukawa's statement was a response to a shareholder who asked whether further Classic Mini consoles could be a good way for adults who no longer play games to reconnect with classic Nintendo IP.

• More Classic Mini consoles would make a great deal of sense for Nintendo from a business perspective, as both the NES and SNES iterations quickly sold out across the world. The NES Classic Mini was so sought after that it actually received a second-chance reissue in 2018 - a full year after it was first discontinued. The SNES Classic Mini was similarly popular and, if Furukawa's statements suggest that an N64 Classic Mini could be on the horizon, then Nintendo's license to print money doesn't look like expiring any time soon.

Nintendo still won't comment on Switch Pro rumours

During that same shareholder meeting, a different question was asked regarding the long-standing (and kind of tiresome at this point) rumours of an upgraded Switch model. Furukawa wasn't for giving anything away, though, saying only that the company are "constantly developing hardware, software, and dedicated peripherals." That's about it as far as details went.

• Furukawa's response was cryptic at best and will surely do nothing to assuage the ongoing rumblings of a Nintendo Switch Pro. It of course makes sense that Nintendo are always experimenting with something or other because it's not like any products in this industry are turned around inside a couple of weeks, but Furukawa's assertion that the company "will refrain from commenting on specific products under development" means that Nintendo will likely keep a lid on their plans until the very end.

Bluepoint reaffirm their independent status amidst Sony acquisition rumours

The studio's official Twitter account was recently updated to state that it's a "full independent self-funded studio." Job listings at the Demon's Souls Remake developer also appear to have been updated to include the same wording.

• Provided these updates are in fact as new as they seem, they're likely a response to PlayStation Japan accidentally releasing an image welcoming Bluepoint to the PlayStation Studios family instead of the recently-acquired Housemarque. The image in question already included Returnal art which suggested that a Bluepoint acquisition announcement was set to shortly follow the Housemarque one. Neither Sony nor Bluepoint have commented on the matter just yet.