The future is here! We’ve finally reached 2017. That means it’s officially the year of Switch. Exciting, right?

To start off 2017, we have a couple of small site updates to bring your way. First, we’ve finally updated NE’s logo. As much as we’ll miss Wii U, Switch is taking over, and it only made sense to reflect that on the site – and so we’ve swapped out the GamePad in our logo for the Switch unit. I ultimately felt that a small, subtle change rather than a complete overhaul would be the right way to go. If you can’t immediately spot the difference… then mission accomplished!

Massive thanks to Beta64 for helping us out with this. He approached me wanting to help, so I’m incredibly grateful. It was almost a happy coincidence that this happened since I’ve been watching Beta64’s YouTube series for a very long time. It’s fantastic stuff and there’s no doubt that it requires a ton of effort, so you should seriously consider giving it a watch.

As another site update, I’m sorry to say that we’re removing NE’s “likes” functionality on January 8. That’s the little text you see in each post (and on the homepage) showing how many times something has been liked. It just wasn’t really used by anyone, and since NE sometimes feels like it’s hanging on by a thread, bogging it down with unnecessary features is probably silly at this point. If or when we find a way to make the functionality more interesting, we’ll definitely consider bringing it back.

Thank you all so, so much for your support in the previous year. I seriously can’t believe that NE will be celebrating its 10th anniversary several months from now. I hope everyone has a great New Year’s and a great 2017 overall. There should be fun times ahead with Switch on the horizon!

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Update: Added in Sunday’s updates.

Nintendo Badge Arcade has been receiving daily updates since heading to the 3DS eShop. Because it’s continually updated with content, we’re rounding up all of the additions and changes in a weekly post.

Here’s what’s on tap for the week of December 26:

December 26

– 2 Ashley holiday panels
– 2 Nikki holiday panels
– 1 Monster Hunter holiday panel
– 5 Pokemon holiday panels
– 3 Mario holiday panels
– 10 Animal Crossing holiday panels
– 7 regular Pokemon panels (3 with 1 day left)
– Thank-you campaign badges for 20 purchased plays until January 5
– 2 free plays

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Right after Nintendo announced Switch, Unreal Engine came out in support of the new platform. A tweet at the time mentioned that the company is “thrilled to partner with Nintendo to help Unreal Engine 4 developers bring their games to Nintendo Switch”.

Now we have some new comments from Takayuki Kawasaki, territory manager for Epic Games Japan. In an interview with Japanese website Social VR Info, he mentioned that Switch does indeed support Unreal Engine, and there are actually a lot of titles coming that are using the technology on Nintendo’s new console. This includes releases of already announced major titles and new games. His final statement was vague, but Kawasaki indicated that he’s hoping the Japanese console business picks up more steam from Switch’s arrival.

On a somewhat related note, Dragon Quest XI will be using Unreal Engine 4. After Square Enix announced that back in Summer 2015, there was an uptick in usage of Unreal Engine by Japanese-type titles. Perhaps we’ll be seeing some of these games on Switch in the future.

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One of the final aspects of Miitomo’s New Year event is now live. As soon as you boot up Miitomo, you should be greeted with a notice about a free Golden suit. It can be claimed until January 5 at 11:59 PM.

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Dragon Quest XI was shown off on a special NHK program this week. We were able to see a bit of 3DS footage, which seemed to show something interesting (and went mostly unnoticed). Unlike the PlayStation 4 (and possibly Switch) version, your party members are shown as you move throughout the world.

We also have some news about Dragon Quest XI’s music from composer. Every piece of in the RPG is newly written. Also, while the 3DS and PlayStation 4 versions share the same music, there will be different arrangement for each platform.

Also on the topic of music, Sugiyama needed to finish composing everything for the original Dragon Quest in one week. The Dragon Quest theme was actually written in just five minutes. When asked how he felt when he heard he would only have one week to work on Dragon Quest’s music, Sugiyama said he believed he could do it.

More: Dragon Quest XI, Japan, Square Enix

My Nintendo has been updated in Europe with several new rewards.

First, Flipnote Studio 3D is now available to all. It can be redeemed one time for 200 Platinum Coins.

In terms of digital content, a number of discounts have gone live. Here’s the full lineup:

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BioWare producer Michael Gamble is officially ruling out Mass Effect Andromeda for Switch. Gamble published an inconclusive tweet in October, but has now clarified that the game won’t be on Nintendo’s new platform – at least not initially. Gamble did leave the door open to the possibility in the future, indicating that it’s something that could happen if the fans clamor for it.

Gamble said:

“Yeah, not right now, no. We’re not planning on it. If the Switch launches and everyone’s just yammering for Mass Effect, who knows. We never want to close doors like that.”

Several years ago, EA published Mass Effect 3 for Wii U’s launch. That was handled by Straight Right, the same team that ported Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

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More: BioWare, EA, interview, Mass Effect Andromeda, Michael Gamble

Circle Entertainment promised that Go! Go! Kokopolo 3D is still on the way even though the game was announced over four years ago. We almost didn’t believe it, but now we have concrete proof of its existence.

Circle Entertainment has finally posted the very first screenshots from Go! Go! Kokopolo 3D. You can view them in the gallery below.

If you’re wondering what all the fuss is about with Go! Go! Kokopolo 3D, the original title on DSiWare was quite good, but went under the radar. Since games on the 3DS eShop tend to get more recognition, hopefully this new release will as well.

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Square Enix owns two big franchises: Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. Yet even though Final Fantasy managed to make a big splash in the west, Dragon Quest has still been trying to attain the same sort of success.

Dragon Quest executive producer Yu Miyake touched on this topic in last month’s issue of EDGE. He said Final Fantasy’s western popularity in comparison to Dragon Quest is something Square Enix has “been thinking about a lot internally”.

Miyake brought up a few different reasons in the interview. For one thing, “the source of nostalgia is different” in Japan and the west – Dragon Quest on Famicom and Final Fantasy VII on PlayStation respectively. He also believes that Square Enix should have originally given a greater effort with Dragon Quest’s localization. Finally, Miyake said that the cartoon-like aesthetic of Dragon Quest may not immediately connect with western gamers.

Miyake left some encouraging words, saying that “the age of people who are playing is rising” and there’s a greater interest overall as well. Square Enix is also trying to “soften up the ground for Dragon Quest XI” with its spinoff titles.

Miyake’s full words:

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More: Dragon Quest, interview, Square Enix, top, Yu Miyake

Last week, we put up Pokemon Sun/Moon concept art from the Alola Art Book, a pre-order bonus in Japan. However, some additional images have now surfaced from the English guide. Not only do we have some of last week’s images in higher quality, but also a bunch of brand new ones. View the various pieces of art below.

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More: Pokemon Moon, Pokemon Sun, top