Category Updates

The NL Inklings return to Splatoon 2!

NL Inklings Community: Our September 2018 Tournament Schedule!

Sean Alexander

It’s a new month which means new a new tournament! Well…three!

First up, last month was excellent with participation in our Splatoon 2 Tournament, but we had some issues regarding length and missing players. The October season is currently up in the air, or ARMS (HA!), so stay tuned for that info in September. But for now…

The structure of two tournaments per month remains, but with one more due to how the calendar worked out. The first will always be Splatoon 2, and two weeks later we will hold a tournament for a different game.

In this case, we have the returning Splatoon 2 tournament…and a popular eSports title…AND a classic party favourite!

 

Splatoon 2 – NL Inklings: Special Showdown! (September 1st 2018)!

The NL Inklings return to Splatoon 2!

The Special Showdown Tourney!

Organised by Golden, NinjaAceTrainer and newcomer to the team Agent Quinkling, we have the Special Showdown!

This tournament will see teams limited to one special weapon per team. That’s right, your whole crew only gets to use weapons with a specific special! The teams are Inkjet, Splashdown, Bomb Launcher and Baller!

This will be a standard Round-Robin tournament with one match played per mode, duking it out across all 5 modes. How teams are decided however…is a little different.

The highest ranked players who sign up will be assigned as team captains, and then get to enter a bidding war for other entrants to join their team! Each additional entrant will get a chance to make themselves seem appealing beforehand, so don’t worry if you feel you won’t be picked!

These teams can then synergise and work out what weapons and gear they wish to use, while keeping to their special restriction!

 

This tournament takes place on September 1st at 5pm BST sharp!

Sign ups open TODAY, August 20th!

Rules will be published TODAY!

Sign ups will be live until Wednesday August 29th!

The Auction will be held on August 30th!

 

Rocket League – NL Inklings: Rocket League of Legends! (September 15 2018)!

Another special tournament from the NL Inklings!

Rocket League of Legends!

Thanks to Shani and Nick for organising this one! A game we are quite fond of! This popular game is going to be the subject of our second tournament!

Full details will be worked out leading to the event, regarding modes and team sizes as well as format, but this will all be revealed once the Special Showdown tournament has concluded!

A VERY IMPORTANT NOTE IS THAT DUE TO SONY’S CROSS PLATFORM PLAY POLICIES IN EFFECT AT THIS TIME, PS4 USERS WILL NOT BE ABLE TO PARTICIPATE! Xbox One, PC and Nintendo Switch users will be fine.

 

This tournament takes place on September 15th at 5pm sharp!

Sign Ups will go live on September 5th!

Rules will be published on September 8th!

Sign Ups will close on September 12th!

 

 

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U – NL Inklings: Fall Brawl! (September 29 2018)!

We will give Smash 4 a true send off!

The Smash Bros. Fall Brawl!

Organised by Haruki and Nicolai, we are bringing Super Smash Bros. for Wii U to the forefront one final time before Ultimate releases this holiday!

What better way to ring in the Fall season than by smacking around the entire Fire Emblem cast? Oh, and some other guys are here too!

Full details will be worked out closer to the event, and the full reveal will be right after the Rocket League tournament!

This tournament takes place on September 29th at 5pm sharp!

Sign Ups will go live on September 19th!

Rules will be published on September 22nd!

Sign Ups will close on September 26th!

 

 

That’s all for now. See you on the Splattlefield, the pitch, or in battle! NL Inklings out, Happy Gaming!

Brand Finale is the latest NLI Tournament!

NL Inklings Community: Our August 2018 Tournament Schedule!

Sean Alexander

It’s a new month which means new a new tournament! Well…two!

First up, last month was excellent with participation in our Splatoon 2 Tournament, but we are streamlining the process for making tournaments going forward. We are already working on establishing the September season, but first comes August, and some summer sports, like Tennis!

The structure of two tournaments per month remains. The first will always be Splatoon 2, and two weeks later we will hold a tournament for a different game.

In this case, we have the returning Splatoon 2 tournament…and a tournament for a popular but somewhat divisive title…

 

Splatoon 2 – NL Inklings: Brand Finale! (August 4 2018)!

Brand Finale is the latest NLI Tournament!

The NL Inklings: Brand Finale!

Organised by Shani and TheXReturns, we have the Brand Finale!

This tournament will see 4 teams sponsored by a brand from the game. You don’t need to use that brand exclusively, but you can always try!

This will be a standard tournament with teams of 4, assigned based on their ranks in the name of fairness, duking it out across all 5 modes. Bring your best weapons and gear for all 5 modes and rep your team sponsor!

This tournament takes place on August 4th at 5pm BST sharp!

Sign ups open on July 28th!

Rules will be published on July 30th!

Sign ups will be live until Wednesday August 1st!

 

Mario Tennis Aces – NL Inklings: Grand Slam! (August 18 2018)

The NLI Tournament for the end of August is Mario Tennis!

Mario Tennis Aces: Grand Slam!

Thanks to Golden for organising this one! In the works for a while, it’s Mario Tennis Aces for Nintendo Switch! This latest entry in a long running sporting spin-off series is the subject of our next tournament!

Full details will be worked out leading to the event, regarding modes and character selection, but this will all be revealed once the Brand Finale tournament has concluded!

This tournament takes place on August 18th at 5pm sharp!

Sign Ups will go live on August 6th!

Rules will be published on August 13th!

Sign Ups will close on August 15th!

 

The September Season?

 

The September tournament season will be a little different. Within the staff and organisers we will be deciding on the Splatoon 2 tournament as usual, and again, one other game. However, due to the scheduling there will be a whopping THREE tournaments!

So to help out, the Community will be deciding the two tournaments instead!

We want to start the planning phases on August 5th so get your votes in quick!

Simply vote below for your favourite!

 

That’s all for now. See you on the Splattlefield or on the court! NL Inklings out, Happy Gaming!

This is a standard NL Inklings Tournament for Splatoon 2!

NL Inklings Community: Our July 2018 Tournament Schedule!

Sean Alexander

It’s a new month which means new a new tournament! Well…two!

First up, last month was excellent with participation in our Splatoon 2 Tournament. The next one is already planned and sign ups are underway on Discord right now!

Of course, we want to keep going and creating bigger and better events. The structure of two tournaments per month remains. The first will always be Splatoon 2, and two weeks later we will hold a tournament for a different game.

In this case, we have the returning Splatoon 2 tournament…and a tournament for a title by popular demand!

 

Splatoon 2 – NL Inklings: Splashdown! (July 7 2018)!

This is a standard NL Inklings Tournament for Splatoon 2!

The NL Inklings July 2018 Splashdown!

Like the name? I just made it up on the spot!

This will be a standard tournament with teams of 4, assigned based on their ranks in the name of fairness, duking it out across all 5 modes. Bring your best weapons and gear for all 5 modes and make a big Splashdown!

This tournament takes place on July 7th at 5pm BST sharp!

Sign ups will be live until Wednesday July 4th!

 

ARMS – NL Inklings: Spring Into The Ring! (July 21 2018)

 

It's an ARMS tournament by popular demand!

ARMS: Spring Into The Ring Tournament!

That’s right! By sheer popular demand, it’s ARMS for Nintendo Switch! This small but lovable fighting game get’s its chance to shine in the NL Inklings sphere this month!

Full details will be worked out over the coming fortnight, but rest assured all control styles will be allowed.

This tournament takes place on July 21st at 5pm sharp!

Sign Ups will go live on Saturday July 7th and end on Wednesday July 18th!

 

That’s all for now. See you on the battlefield or in the ring! NL Inklings out, Happy Gaming!

The Splatoon 2 Tournament takes place on June 9th from 5pm BST!

NL Inklings Tournaments – Splatoon 2 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe!

Sean Alexander

The NL Inklings are holding Tournaments!

Yes that’s right Squids, we are hosting a tournament. In addition to a new modified rule set from out last event, we’re going bigger, but more on that shortly!

Firstly, every 4 weeks we will host a Splatoon 2 Tournament! (Splatfest permitting of course!)

 

Splatoon 2 Tournament!

The Splatoon 2 Tournament takes place on June 9th from 5pm BST!

The NL Inklings Splatoon 2 Tournament!

The first Splatoon 2 Tournament will take place on June 9th from 5pm BST!

4 (OR MORE!) teams will battle it out to crown the ultimate Squid Squad across several modes, including Clam Blitz, Rainmaker, Tower Control and Splat Zones!

Draws will be determined by Turf War matches, so don’t just practice in Ranked now!

Substitute players will available for every team so don’t fret if you need to drop for a bit. Each team will also be granted their own text and voice channels on Discord for communication and strategies!

Points are awarded for wins, and there will be a losers bracket as well, so don’t worry if your team gets knocked out. If we end up with more than 4 teams, well don’t worry, we can always do quarter finals first, or in the event of an uneven number of teams, round-robin to determine our top 4!

This entire event won’t take 4 hours, but it’s best to be sure.

If you want in, head down to Discord as soon as you can!

 

What else is there?

The Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Tournament takes place on June 23rd!

The Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Tournament!

Well who says there is going to be one tournament a month right? We have pretty active Rocket League, Overwatch, Mario Kart and more communities here, so why not hold a tournament every fortnight (Or Fortnite, haha!).

Yes that means starting June 9th, we will be hosting tournaments EVERY TWO WEEKS, with every other tournament being Splatoon 2!

So we will be kicking things off with a Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Tournament on June 23rd! This will be a set number of races over a given window, so just drop in when you want. Exact times and sign ups will go live on June 10th!

 

Also as a personal from me, if you share Splatoon 2, Rocket League or any kind of clips, art, snapshots etc. on Twitter, if you can include the hashtag #NLInklings, it will make life very easy on getting our community highlights together!

Thanks for reading, get ready to Splat and then get ready to Race!

Nintendo Switch eShop – UK Sales Charts (13/05/2018)

Sean Alexander

With the release of Donkey Kong a week gone, how has the UK eShop chart settled this week? Are the regulars still high?

Numbers in brackets are previous positions based on: 06/04/2018 (Unless they haven’t moved) in the UK eShop

Donkey Kong could stay at the top of the UK eShop charts this week

Has Donkey Kong maintained the number 1 spot?

1: Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (NEW) – £49.99
2: Stardew Valley – £10.99
3: Rocket League (Up from 4th) – £15.04
4: Timber Man Vs. (NEW) (10% OFF) (Up from 12th) – £1.61 (Usually £1.79)
5: Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition – £19.99
6: Football Manager Touch 2018 (Down from 3rd) – £29.99
7: Death Road To Canada (NEW) (20% OFF) – £9.59 (Usually £11.99)
8: Arcade Archives: Vs. Super Mario Bros. (Down from 7th) – £6.29
9: Sonic Mania – £15.99
10: Robonauts (Down from 6th) – £13.49
11: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – £49.99
12: Raging Justice (NEW) (10% OFF) – £8.99 (Usually £9.99)
13: Celeste – £17.99
14: Bridge Constructor Portal (34% OFF) (Up from not charting!) – £8.90 (Usually £13.49)
15: Kirby Star Allies (Down from 14th) – £49.99

 

UK eShop Analysis

 

So all in all this has been a quiet week on the UK eShop. First note is that yes, Donkey Kong remains in the top spot as expected.

The usual top 4 of Rocket League, Football Manager, Stardew Valley and Minecraft all hold high positions with Arcade Archives maintain a mid chart position.

Death Road to Canada and Raging Justice both show strong openings no doubt helped by their launch discounts.

Kirby is about to drop from the charts again as Mario Kart holds it’s position as the quintessential Switch title. Bridge Constructor Portal makes a resurgence thanks to a discount.

Most interesting this week is Sonic Mania and Celeste maintaining their chart positions. These games appear to have long legs on the eShop.

 

That’s all for this week! A good showing both from indies while DK rules! See you next week where things will be very different with the launch of Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition! Happy Gaming!

How did Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze fare in the eShop charts?

Nintendo Switch eShop – UK Sales Charts (06/05/2018)

Sean Alexander 1 Comment

Notable new releases show the UK eShop Charts may be very different this week. Is FMTouch still high? What about Donkey Kong?

Numbers in brackets are previous positions based on: 29/04/2018 (Unless they haven’t moved) in the UK eShop

How did Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze fare in the eShop charts?

Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze is the huge new release this week

1: Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (NEW) – £49.99
2: Stardew Valley – £10.99
3: Football Manager Touch 2018 (Down from 1st) – £29.99
4: Rocket League (Up from 5th) – £15.04
5: Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition (Down from 3rd) – £19.99
6: Robonauts (80% OFF) – £2.69 (Usually £13.49)
7: Arcade Archives: Vs. Super Mario Bros. – £6.29
8: South Park: The Fractured But Whole (NEW) (Up from 14th) – £49.99
9: Sonic Mania (Down from 8th) – £15.99
10: Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm Trilogy (NEW) – £44.99
11: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Up from 13th) – £49.99
12: Timer Man Vs. (NEW) (10% OFF) – £1.61 (Usually £1.79)
13: Celeste (Down from 12th) – £17.99
14: Kirby Star Allies (Up from not charting!) – £49.99
15: Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 3: Full Burst (New) – £16.99

 

This week the charts are pretty strange, so let’s break it down.

 

Analysis

 

The notable big entries this week are Bandai Namco’s Naruto titles, with the Trilogy placing respectably at 10th, and the third entry as a standalone purchase in 15th. South Park continues to steadily climb post-launch and Donkey Kong of course stormed to the top.

The usual chart topping suspects remain the same, with Minecraft, Rocket League, Stardew Valley and now FM Touch. Robonauts remains high due to a discount, Vs. Super Mario Bros due to nostalgia.

The critical darlings Sonic Mania and Celeste remain in the charts, as is expected now. Kirby returns after vanishing yet again, showing new purchases continuing long after launch. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is at least no longer the only first party release here!

Timber Man Vs is the final new entry, its low price and lower discount no doubt contributing.

 

That’s all for this week! A good showing both by indies and third parties with of course DK ruling the roost! See you next week where things may be very different! Happy Gaming!

Behind The Game Update – 02/05/2018! Inklings Approaching!

Sean Alexander

Surprise! Meet the NL Inklings!!

Yep, finally after who knows how long, we’ve got our own domain (Obviously, it’s why you’re here!) and we’ve now integrated the NL Inklings!

The NL Inklings logo!

The NL Inklings logo used on all our streams and media!

What are the NL Inklings? Well it’s a Squid Squad for Splatoon 2 that we here participate in (I happen to be a tyrannical overlord or something like that…) and we live stream matches sometimes!

But that’s not all! On our official Discord (Link in the bar above!) we set up matches and cooperative efforts for other games like Minecraft, Rocket League, Overwatch, Pokemon and more! So come on by, check the Discord widget on the side of the site to see who is online and get an invite!

We also have @NLInklings Twitter updates. Give it a follow if you want to know when we are streaming some Splatoon action! It’s down the side of the site too!

We aim to have sessions every Saturday (Splatterday!) at 7pm BST/8pm GMT!

What does the NL Inklings community do?

The Binding of Isaac Session 3 - Available on YouTube and Twitch.tv

An example of our advertising for streams

But that’s not all! We now have live stream integration too! What will this mean? Well if you’re viewing this site on a desktop, you will get a notification that we are live on Twitch! Simply click it and boom, there you go. We will also publish posts to watch the stream embedded if you wish!

We will be live streaming play-throughs for future reviews, fun, competitive gaming with the Discord crew and maybe even more. Follow on Twitch or @BritishPlaying on Twitter for immediate notifications about those events!

 

That’s all for now! More will follow in the week! Keep playing and happy gaming!

Nintendo Switch eShop – UK Sales Charts (29/04/2018)

Sean Alexander 1 Comment

Is Football Manager still at the top? Did South Park make an impact as a new release? What indie games shot up in sales or otherwise? Let’s see…

Numbers in brackets 


 1: Football Manager Touch 2018 – £29.99
2: Stardew Valley (Up from 3rd) – £10.99
3: Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition (Up from 4th) – £19.99
4: Oxenfree (Down from 2nd) – £15.99
5: Rocket League (Up from 6th) – £15.04
6: Robonauts (80% OFF) (Up from 10th) – £2.69 (u+Usually £13.49)
7: Arcade Archives: Vs. Super Mario Bros. (Up from 8th) – £6.29
8: Sonic Mania (Up from 12th) – £15.99
9: Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove (Down from 5th) – £22.49
10: Streets of Red (Down from 9th) – £6.29
11: Don’t Starve: Nintendo Switch Edition (Down from 7th) – £17.99
12: Celeste (Up from 13th) – £17.99
13: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Up from 14th) – £49.99
14: South Park: The Fractured But Whole (NEW) – £49.99
15: Adventure Pals (Down from 11th) – £10.79

 

 

So what can we gleam from this look into the UK eShop? Well…

Football Manager Touch 2018 has firmly cemented itself as a top seller, making up what will likely be the top 4 for a good while now alongside Rocket League, Stardew Valley and Minecraft. At least until FIFA (Maybe) comes out on the Switch this September.

Arcade Archives remains around the middle of the charts, further showing nostalgia sells, as does Sonic Mania right behind perhaps in preparation for the DLC this July.

Streets of Red maintains it’s place despite no longer being on sale, while Robonauts hugely benefits. Of course Shovel Knight and Don’t Starve continue to drop down, while Celeste and Adventure Pals maintain the lower ends of the charts, with Celeste being a recent return.

Most notable then, is Mario Kart 8 Deluxe maintains it’s position as the sole charting digital first party title, and the only new entry this week is a respectable 14th place for South Park, a full price release of a game from October on other platforms. Maybe this one will pick up steam?

 

And that’s it for this week, so what did we learn? Football Manager is a hit, Mario Kart sells, indies are living the dream and South Park at least charted. Expect Donkey Kong to top next week though as a notable new release.

Nintendo Switch eShop – UK Sales Charts (22/04/2018)

Sean Alexander

This week in the UK eShop sales charts we get to see just what is going on with Football Manager, if it can hold its top spot after rocketing up the charts, and what other indie and third-party releases are sticking around yet again!

 

Numbers in brackets are previous positions based on: 15/04/2018 (Unless they haven’t moved)


 1: Football Manager Touch 2018 (NEW) (Up from 3rd) – £29.99
2: Oxenfree (Up from 8th) – £15.99 
3: Stardew Valley (Up from 4th) – £10.99
4: Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition (Down from 2nd) – £19.99
5: Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove (Up from 7th) – £22.49
6: Rocket League (Down from 1st) – £15.04
7: Don’t Starve: Nintendo Switch Edition (NEW) (Up from 13th) – £17.99
8: Arcade Archives: Vs. Super Mario Bros. (Down from 5th) – £6.29
9: Streets of Red (NEW) (20% OFF) – £5.03 (Usually £6.29)
10: Robonauts (80% OFF) (Up from not charting) – £2.69 (Usually £13.49)
11: Adventure Pals (NEW) – £10.79
12: Sonic Mania (Up from 14th) – £15.99
13: Celeste (Up from not charting) – £17.99
14: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Down from 11th) – £49.99
15: Kirby Star Allies (Down from 12th) – £49.99

 

So take aways for this week? A few things really. First, sales of Oxenfree and Shovel Knight have propelled up the charts to actually dismantle the usual three suspects of Rocket League, Minecraft and Stardew Valley.

Football Manager is very likely to remain a chart topper along with the usual three for some time now, especially at £30. Arcade Archives VS Super Mario Bros also continued to linger in the middle of the charts.

Don’t Starve seems to be selling really well, still climbing up to a respectable 7th. Streets of Red and Adventure Pals are the other new indie entries this week, one with a launch discount, locking themselves notable sales over other entries.

Celeste has also returned, as has Robonauts with a huge discount. UK gamers love cheap and cheerful after all.

More of note is the continued presence of Mario Kart as the evergreen digital first party release, as Kirby is about to fall from the charts entirely. Not surprising, but Mario Kart will also likely drop in the coming weeks with the release of Donkey Kong.

 

So that’s it for this week on the Switch eShop in the UK! Join us next Sunday when we see if Football Manager can remain on top. It probably can, it’s football. I said this last week too.

Nintendo Switch eShop – UK Sales Charts (15/04/2018)

Sean Alexander

I figured we could start doing this, looking over the UK eShop charts on Switch.

Update (15/4/2018) – Yes, Football Manager Touch 2018 has hit Number 1

This week, the comparison data will be from the day prior, April 14th, as some interesting things have shown up. All future weeks will be compared to the prior Sunday!

Numbers in brackets are previous positions based on: 14/04/2018 (Unless they haven’t moved)
1: Rocket League – £15.04
2: Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition – £19.99
3: Football Manager Touch 2018 (NEW) (Up from 4th) – £29.99
4: Stardew Valley (Down from 3rd) – £10.99
5: Arcade Archives: Vs. Super Mario Bros. – £6.29
6: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – £49.99
7: Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove (20% OFF) (Up from 9th) – £17.99 (Usually £22.49)
8: Oxenfree (75% OFF) (Up from not charting) – £3.99 (Usually £15.99)
9: Snake Pass (Down from 8th) – £15.99
10: SteamWorld Dig: A Fistful of Dirt (Down from 7th) – £8.99
11: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Up from 12th) – £49.99
12: Kirby Star Allies (Down from 11th) – £49.99
13: Don’t Starve: Nintendo Switch Edition (NEW) – £17.99
14: Sonic Mania – £15.99
15: ARMS (Down from 10th) – £49.99

So what do we take away from this? Well a few things.

First, even though Football Manager Touch 2018 arrived with no fanfare, it’s skyrocketed up the charts – a surprise, but given FIFA does the same whenever it goes on sale, it’s expected especially when the UK is prime footy territory.

Another note is the resurgence of a few indie games. Snake Pass is fresh off of sale, and Oxenfree and Shovel Knight have absolutely shot up. Don’t Starve is the other new entry this week, showing a good showing for yet another release of the game.

Kirby is still hanging on, to my surprise despite falling hard out of the retail sales charts – and ARMS, fresh out of a sale and demo, is about to vanish again. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has decided to show up again too, probably for some new Switch owners as it seems to be the go to game.

It should be noted the top of the charts rarely changes. Arcade Archives VS. Super Mario Bros. is a prime example of why Virtual Console most likely won’t arrive at all: Imagine all those games clogging the charts like this one does. But Minecraft, Rocket League and Stardew Valley always occupy top spots and have since launch – real mainstays those are.

So that’s it for this week on the Switch eShop in the UK! Join us next Sunday when we see if Football Manager can remain on top. It probably can, it’s football.