Headline RePLAY – 7.2.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: The Castlevania series is compared to the Batman movies, Seth Killian joins Sony and EA’s plan for world domination—by stamping premium services on many IPs as they can.  

If Koji Igarashi’s take on the Castlevania series is like Tim Burton’s Batman, then David Cox is Christopher Nolan, the Lords of Shadow producer says.

“It’s a reboot of the franchise in a different universe than what you know. It’s a different take on the mythology,” Cox told Kotaku. “It’s a bit like the difference between Tim Burton’s and Chris Nolan’s Batman. It’s the same character, it’s the same universe, it’s a work of genius—but they’re both very different takes on it.”

“In many ways, we see Dracula as our Dark Knight,” Cox continued. “Sure, people kind of know what to expect now, but much like the new Batman films we want to sort of shatter those expectations with the next one. People are going to expect more of the same but we’re not going to give them more of the same—we’re going to give them something really different.

“Lords of Shadow one was kind of the origin of Dracula or “Dracula Begins” if you like, and Lords of Shadow 2 will be the conclusion to the saga—“Dracula Rises.”

|Source: Kotaku

Seth Killian left Capcom with the adoration and respect from fans and the fighting game community recently, but left little word to where he is heading next. So, where is Killian now?

“I’m the lead game designer for Sony Santa Monica’s external division,” he revealed to Kotaku in an email interview. “That’s the group that works with Sony’s outside studios, which includes groups like Giant Sparrow (The Unfinished Swan), SuperBot (PlayStation All-Stars), ThatGameCompany (Journey), Queasy (Sound Shapes) and lots more.

“I expect the role will vary from project to project depending on the teams’ strengths,” Killian elaborated, “but overall I’ll be working with the teams on all design and creative aspects of the games in collaboration.”

|Source: Kotaku

Frank Gibeau is quite… frank about EA’s direction within the video game industry. In another interview with GamesIndustry International, the EA Labels boss revealed that he wants to expand Battlefield 3’s Premium Service to other IPs.

“We’ve launched subscription businesses in our other categories,” he said. “We had EA Sports subscription before Elite came out, so adding that component to the design is not a reaction. It’s something we’d always been considering and we had been looking at. We didn’t have it ready for launch and it took us some time to get it prepped.

“Having said that, they [Activision] did something really innovative and if your competitor does something innovative and you think it applies to what you can do, then there’s no harm in doing that,” Gibeau continued. “This is an industry where people have a lot of oneupsmanship and if somebody innovates, you match it or you exceed it.”

Apparently, it’s a popular service too, as it already attracted over 800,000 subscriptions in its first two weeks.

|Source: GamesIndustry International, MCV

Headline RePLAY – 6.29.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: A status update on the Microsoft vs. Sony console war, a third of gamers prefer digital and why Castlevania: Lords of Shadow DLC sucked.

Are you curious on the status of the Microsoft vs. Sony console war? As this console generation draws to a close, an infographic shows that it’s a close fight: the Xbox 360 is winning—barely, by 4 million units sold worldwide.

The chart made by Console Fanboyism reports that the 360 sold over 66 million units vs. the PS3’s 62 million. The sales figures are then divided by a six-year period, region, games sold, and other data like controller preference.

It concludes that Microsoft will have the edge entering the next generation of consoles due to advancements it made with the Kinect.

Ultimately, seeing how Nintendo’s Wii fared alongside the 360 and PS3 would’ve been far more telling than just a direct comparison of the two.

|Source: Destructoid

More than one-third of video game consumers who bought games in the past three months rather purchase a game digitally than a physical copy, a study by the NPD Group found; a 10 percent increase from last year.

“Gamers are growing more comfortable in acquiring content online, as we saw the preference for digital increase ten percentage points from last year,” observed NPD analyst Liam Callahan. “The proliferation of free games on mobile devices has reduced the barrier of entry for online gaming to zero, fueling an increase in acquisition.”  

The Online Gaming 2012 report data was collected over a three week period and included nearly 8,500 respondents. The report noted that 40% of those surveyed acquired at least one game in both physical and digital formats.

|Source: IGN

The Castlevania: Lords of Shadow team were victims of their own success, says producer David Cox, explaining why despite the game’s success its only two pieces of DLC were both poorly reviewed and sold.

“The problem was that the game’s success caught everyone by surprise,” David Cox told Gameranx, specifically talking about Lords of Shadow DLC “Reverie” and “Resurrection.” “It caught senior management by surprise and they want us to do DLC. We never planned to do DLC, so we ended up doing DLC after the fact and in hindsight that was a mistake. It was rushed. We had to rush it to the market.”

Cox says if he and his team can go back and redo DLC it would have to be planned from the “get go” and be a side story that “enriches the original story” versus a continuation.  

“When you have success there’s pressure on you to bring something else to market very quickly,” he explained. “And I think it was wrong of us to do that.”

As far as the upcoming Lords of Shadow 2 is concerned, Cox refuses to comment. But if there was to be DLC for the sequel, “It should add to the experience, not take away from it,” said Cox.  

|Source: Gameranx

Headline RePLAY – 4.3.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: Why is the producer of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Tweeting from Romania? Developers are reporting that the Wii U doesn’t match the graphical levels of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 and an Arizona bill could criminalize internet trolling.

Romania. Home of the most beautiful castles in Eastern Europe and where a bulk of Konami’s Castlevania games takes place. What better location for the producer of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow to tease his next game?

“Today and tomorrow I am in the land of Dracul…” Tweeted producer David Cox. “What am I doing there??? You will see…”

When asked for details, Cox simply said: “No comment.”

*Source: @CastlevaniaLOS via Joystiq

Recent Nintendo consoles like the GameCube or Wii hasn’t exactly been cutting edge in raw graphical prowess. Although Nintendo’s upcoming Wii U can produce full HD graphics, according to developers that are familiar with the hardware, it just doesn’t match the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3.

“No, it’s not up to the same level as the PS3 or the 360,” one developer told GamesIndustry International on the condition of anonymity. “The graphics are just not as powerful.”

“Yeah, that’s true. It doesn’t produce graphics as well as the PS3 or the 360,” another developer agreed. “There aren’t as many shaders, it’s not as capable. Sure, some things are better, mostly as a result of being a more modern design. But overall the Wii U just can’t quite keep up.”

GamesIndustry International observes that Nintendo is “hampered” by going with a tablet controller, especially with “cost and graphics power” being “tightly linked.” In order to keep the console’s price at a “desired level,” the publication says the tablet controller is the Wii U’s “big innovation” not “raw horsepower.”

*Source: GamesIndustry International

In order to combat the obnoxious, aggravating dwellers of the internet, Arizona presents House Bill 2549—legislation that would make “trolling” the internet illegal and charge violators with a Class 1 misdemeanor, which can lead to a $2,500 fine and up to 6 months in jail.

Section 1, Part A of the bill reads:

“It is unlawful for any person, with intent to terrify, intimidate, threaten, harass, annoy, or offend, to use ANY ELECTRONIC OR DIGITAL DEVICE and use any obscene, lewd or profane language or suggest any lewd or lascivious act, or threaten to inflict physical harm to the person or property of any person.”

The bill has already passed both legislative houses last week and is currently waiting to be signed by Governor Jan Brewer.

Supporters of the bill argue it’s a necessary provision to prevent online bullying. Opponents, however, contend the law is “overly broad” and could easily include public forums like 4chan, reddit and other sites that permit commentary.  

“Government may criminalize speech that rises to the level of harassment and many states have laws to do so, but this legislation takes a law meant to address irritating phone calls and applies it to communication on websites, blogs, listserves and other Internet communication,” Media Coalition explained in a letter last week.  

*Source: Yahoo! Games, Kotaku