Nintendo’s winter, PlayStation’s fall, Xbox’s MasterCard | Kaser Focus

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Nintendo and Sony both apparently conspired to have their big September shows on the same day — while I was out of the office, no less. I managed to watch the Direct in the morning (while at the DMV) and I was struck by just how much the company is leaning into Mario this time around. Not surprised, of course — it’s Mario, after all, and the brand is hotter now than ever. But in the next year or so, we’re getting a Mario vs Donkey Kong remake, a Paper Mario: Thousand-Year Door remake, a solo Princess Peach title, a Luigi’s Mansion 2 remake and a Super Mario RPG remake.

The State of Play was perhaps less invigorating, but it was no less fun for me. I’m pleased (but, again, not surprised) to see the return of Separate Ways to RE4 Remake, and just pleased to be able to play it again, especially given how much I liked the base game. The new trailer for Spider-Man 2, which promises a much bigger map with more activities, makes me look forward to this October despite the extreme overcrowding. The rest of the games shown during the SoP were interesting, especially FFVII Rebirth, but I’m more interested to see how Sony spruces up my autumn.

Microsoft and Xbox, meanwhile, may not have had a major event, but they’ve still had a big week. Earlier in the week, the company launched an Xbox-branded MasterCard with a points reward system for gamers. It’s an interesting initiative, but I don’t like it for a very