This week in video games, October 21, 2016: Nintendo's new Switch console

This week (two days early), sad news that another independent Vancouver game developer may be out of business, Red Dead Redemption 2 is confirmed, and news that you'll be able to soon get your Candy Crush fix on a TV near you. But first, Nintendo has revealed it's new console, Switch, and it's coming in the spring.

Nintendo Switch goes modular for mobility

Nintendo's new console is called Switch, and it's being released in March.

The Switch is a gaming system that can be mobile when you need it to be or a home-entertainment device when you want it to be.

At the core of it all is a tablet. It can be placed into a dock connected to your living-room television set or transported around. Enabling mobile play are the "Joy-Con" controllers, which attach to either side of the Switch, which is similar in look and function to the main Wii U controller.

But the Joy-Con controllers can also be removed and used as split controllers, with one in each hand, or as separate controllers for multiplayer gaming.

Nintendo will also be selling Pro Controllers to use with the Switch.

You'll also be able to create ad-hoc networks with mulitple Switch systems to allow for face-to-face multiplayer gaming.

In the promotional video (see above link), a number of games are teased, including the new Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Mario Kart, Skyrim, and Splatoon. But there have been no official announcements of titles that will be released for the Switch.

Nintendo did not provide a specific launch date or reveal pricing of the console or its peripherals.

Vancouver studio United Front Games reportedly closed

Posts on Twitter from employees of United Front Games indicate that the independent development studio has shut down.

While there has been no official announcement from company representatives, on Monday, October 17, producer Jen Timms wrote: "Currently mourning the best job I've ever had, and the most wonderful team I've ever worked with. The end of a great era. Goodbye, UFG."

The latest game in development at the studio was Smash+Grab, a team-based multiplayer being distributed through Steam's Early Access. UFG is offering refunds to anyone who paid for the game, writing that "we will not be doing any further development or support".

Headquartered in Yaletown, UFG has been operating since 2008 and was included in a Georgia Straight cover story about the connected video-game industry in Vancouver.

The studio covered a variety of genres, including cart-racing (ModNation Racers), open-world action (Sleeping Dogs), and fighting (Disney Infinity's Marvel Battlegrounds).

UFG weathered a number of setbacks, including the cancelation of True Crime: Hong Kong by Activision (which the studio was able to repurpose to a degree as Sleeping Dogs), and, most recently, Disney's decision to cancel the Infinity toys-to-life franchise.

Rockstar is going back to the west with Red Dead Redemption 2

Red Dead Redemption, the open-world adventure set in the American west when it was first being settled, is getting a sequel.

From Rockstar Games, which also develops the Grand Theft Auto series, Red Dead Redemption 2 is scheduled to release in the fall of 2017.

Yes, that's a long ways away. But given how much we liked the first game, we're willing to be patient.

From the WTF files: Candy Crush becoming a game show

Apparently, CBS has licensed Candy Crush, the franchise of match-three games, from developer and publisher King.

First released as a Facebook game in 2012, Candy Crush now appears on all mobile devices.

The TV game show will reportedly include two contestants going head-to-head on "enormous, interactive game boards".

In a statement, Glenn Geller, president of CBS Entertainment, said: “We are huge fans of Candy Crush and, like so many others, we know the ‘rush’ of advancing to the next level of the game."