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Written by Matti RobinsonUpdate: Nintendo's 2023 Year In Review Wrap-Up Is Now Live
Written by Charles Harte
Update, 12/13/2023:
Yesterday, PlayStation and Xbox released yearly video game retrospectives for individual players, highlighting how much PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S they played in 2023, which games they played most, and more. Now, a day later, Nintendo has released its 2023 Year In Review feature.
Look back at all the fun you had with #NintendoSwitch games in 2023 with a personalized wrap-up! You can see what you played most, choose your favorite game of the year, and share your stats with friends.
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) December 13, 2023
See your #NintendoSwitch2023 Year in Review here: https://t.co/5VR8vnCX1I pic.twitter.com/yV3TkR11JV
Sign in to your Nintendo account and enjoy the look back at your year of Switch gaming, and let us know what your most-played Switch game was in 2023 in the comments below.
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Update, 12/12/2023:
Following Sony's lead, Microsoft has published its yearly retrospective as well, allowing Xbox and PlayStation fans alike to take a look back at the games they played this year. You can check out the Xbox Year In Review right here. For an idea of what to expect, here are some of my stats:
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When the year comes to a close, many spend time reflecting on the past 12 months of their lives, the decisions they made, and the places they went. In recent years, companies like Spotify have capitalized on this tradition, turning it into their Wrapped celebration, which has users all over the world sharing their stats, blurring the lines between an internet trend and a viral marketing campaign. It's no surprise that other companies would want to jump on that bandwagon, and one of the main participants is Sony, with their annual PlayStation Wrap-Up. You can check out this year's version right here.
Those who participate will get a quick tour through their 2023 on PlayStation, including their total hours played, their top games, and even which controller they used most often. You can see some of my stats below – including how much time I spent revisiting Ezio's games for an Assassin's Creed retrospective earlier this year.
PlayStation has had a good 2023. Between Spider-Man 2's critical success, the generally well-received launch of Final Fantasy XVI as a console exclusive, and new DLC modes coming to The Last of Us: Part II and God of War: Ragnarök, it's finished the year strongly. This was follows their recent release of the PlayStation Portal – you can read out thoughts on the device here.
What was your most played PlayStation or Xbox game of the year? Let us know in the comments!
More Than Half Of All Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare II Players Used The Game's Graphical Accessibility Settings
Written by Wesley LeBlanc
Developer Sledgehammer Games and publisher Activision Blizzard have released a detailed look at the new accessibility options that launched with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, the best-selling game of last month. In it, the companies reveal some interesting statistics that show accessibility options and features are very popular with players and useful for everyone that plays Call of Duty games.
For example, more than 40 percent of players customized their analog stick deadzone input in last year's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II. More than half of all players in that game adjusted graphical accessibility settings, too, like motion blur, field of view, and camera movement.
For this year's entry, Sledgehammer says, "Modern Warfare III provides even more ways to customize the visual experience for all players," like the High Contrast mode available in the campaign that "enables players with vision impairment or color blindness to see their allies and enemies more clearly." In this mode, allies are outlined with a blue-green color and enemies are outlined in red, and these visual markers change in real-time as you play.
Other new accessibility features in this year's Call of Duty include a major update to the settings menu of the game. Sledgehammer says settings are now tagged to better identify specific features, such as tags related to settings for motor, vision, audio, and cognitive adjustments. Plus, these tags can be filtered.
"Major updates to controller settings in Modern Warfare III provide more detail for players looking to customize their inputs," the blog reads. "These changes are also better reflected in the menu to give our community a visual preview of how these changes will impact on their controls."
One example of this is that the deadzone inputs menu now highlights an approximation of how left or right thumb sticks will react to tweaking with a visual preview on the screen.
Another new addition in Modern Warfare III is a new accessibility preset called "Low Motor Strain." This preset reduces the physical effort required when playing, with few button presses or holds required and sensitivity increased. "This preset joins existing presets which include simplified controls, audio/visual support, visual support, and motion reduction, making it faster for anyone who needs accessibility features to jump into the game," according to the blog.
For more, read Game Informer's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III review and then read about how it's already the second best-selling game of 2023. Check out Game Informer's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II review after that.
Have you been using any of these features in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III? Let us know in the comments below!