Headline RePLAY – 6.18.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: EA wants to make Dead Space more “accessible,” Mistwalker is looking into making more action-RPGs and Australia creates an adults-only rating for video games.

What does it take for a franchise like EA’s Dead Space to thrive in the modern AAA, big-budget marketing environment? Accessibility and a massive audience, says  EA Labels boss Frank Gibeau.

“So we embraced that idea [co-op] and we tried to open up the accessibility of the IP a little bit by adding a little bit more action, but not undermining the horror,” Gibeau explains in an interview with CVG.  “We can’t not be a horror game because that’s what Dead Space is.”

“We’re pushing it in areas such as environment, co-op and at the same time we definitely do not want to piss off our fans by taking it too far from horror,” Gibeau elaborated. “We’re very self aware of that—we listen to the fans and we hear them.”

It all comes down to numbers and finances, says Gibeau, citing the massive audience required to maintain the Dead Space franchise.

“In general we’re thinking about how we make this a more broadly appealing franchise, because ultimately you need to get to audience sizes of around five million to really continue to invest in an IP like Dead Space. Anything less than that and it becomes quite difficult financially given how expensive it is to make games and market them. We feel good about that growth but we have to be very paranoid about making sure we don’t change the experience so much that we lose the fanbase.”

|Source: CVG

Beyond making new iOS games, The Last Story’s lead designer Takuya Matsumoto revealed in an interview with GameZone that Mistwalker is looking to make more action-RPGs for the Wii U.

“The development team and Sakaguchi-san are looking forward to making more [action-RPGs],” Matsumoto told GameZone, “especially for the Wii U because it has another [screen] right in front of you that will add another level of strategic elements into the action-RPG. So we are really looking forward to it, but we haven’t really planned anything.”

Interesting! It looks like the Wii U is the system to watch for future action-RPG titles from Mistwalker!

|Source: GameZone

In an effort to curb minors buying “unsuitable material”, the Australian Parliament has created a new adults-only rating in the video games rating system through the passing of the Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Amendment (R18+ Computer Games) Bill 2012.   

“The R18+ category will inform customers, parents and retailers about which games are not suitable for minors to play and will prevent minors from purchasing unsuitable material,” said Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare.

The bill has received overwhelming support, as the R18+ rating allows for more games to reach Australian shores when the previously held MA15+ rating usually banned overseas adult-only games or were given a lower classification, consequently permitting children to buy them.  

|Source: News.com.au

Headline RePLAY – 5.15.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: Blizzard comes to the rescue of Australia GAME’s Diablo III pre-order customers, Capcom re-evaluates on-disc DLC and the last of Final Fantasy XIII-2 DLC is released.

Australia’s GAME retail chain went into voluntary administration yesterday and select stores consequently were devoid of Diablo III on their shelves. Pre-orders were cancelled, nonrefundable and unable to be used for anything else. When Blizzard learned of this, they swooped in with white wings to offer a “free” copy of Diablo III and a refund.

According to Blizzard Community Manager Lylirra, Australian GAME customers can do the following:  

1.  Purchase the digital version of Diablo III from http://www.diablo3.com now or anytime before May 21, 2012.
2. Download and start playing when the servers go live!
3. Submit your GAME Australia  preorder/prepurchase  receipt to us before June 30, 2012.
4. Receive a credit from Blizzard, for the amount you paid in advance to GAME Australia for Diablo III. This credit will be applied to the payment method used for the digital purchase.

Further details on how to submit your GAME Australia receipt is to be revealed by Blizzard’s customer service team at a later date.

|Source: Battle.net

Capcom’s downloadable content policies have subject to much outrage this year, with Street Fighter X Tekken being on center stage because of its on-disc DLC. In light of the public outcry, Capcom has begun the “process of re-evaluating” its on-disc DLC policy.

“We would like to assure you that we have been listening to your comments and as such have begun the process of re-evaluating how such additional game content is delivered in the future,” Capcom’s Christian Svensson wrote on Capcom-Unity.

Pre-empting player complaints, Svensson warns that the re-evaluation process has just started recently. “As this process has only just commenced in the past month or so, there will be some titles, where development began some time ago and that are scheduled for release in the coming months, for which we are unable to make changes to the way some of their post release content is delivered.”

Svensson elaborates that Dragon’s Dogma is one such title, where additional DLC is already on-disc and the decision was made at the beginning of the game’s development cycle. He assures fans that despite Dragon’s Dogma being designed around post-launch content, the shipped title will offer 30-40 hours of gameplay and more than 60 hours of side-quests.

“Just wanted people to know in advance the whys, wherefores and where we’re going in the future,” Svensson concludes. “You are being heard. Thanks.”

|Source: Capcom-Unity

The march of Final Fantasy XIII-2 DLC ends today with the release of “Lightning’s Story: Requiem of the Goddess,” “Snow’s Story: Perpetual Battlefield,” Black Mage and White Mage costumes for Noel and Serah respectively and 16 new outfits for everyone’s favorite Moogle, Mog.  

“Lightning’s Story: Requiem of the Goddess” covers the unseen battle between Lightning and Caius, and the opportunity to recruit XIII-2 Lightning for use. Since this episode deals with the final segment of the game, Square-Enix highly recommends that players complete the main game before playing through the DLC.

“Snow’s Story: Perpetual Battlefield” involves a Coliseum battle with Snow and the Coliseum’s eternal host, the Time Arbiter. Like other Coliseum DLC, Snow and the Time Arbiter can be both recruited upon defeat.