Headline RePLAY - 7.11.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: Mr. Tekken reiterated his stance on DLC and fan demand, Tekken characters probably won’t be in the next Super Smash Bros. and Project Sora closes its doors.

In light of Nintendo’s Reggie Fils-Aime’s comments that fans are “insatiable” and Capcom’s on-disc DLC controversy, Katsuhiro Harada, a.k.a. “Mr. Tekken,” explains his heated letter to fans last month and repeated his uncompromising stance that there will never be paid-DLC characters in Tekken.

“Maybe 99 percent of the fanbase I interact with on a daily basis are very normal and straightforward in their opinions. ‘We like this, we don’t like this,’” Harada told Eurogamer. “It’s very simple and easy to understand, and it’s good feedback. I didn’t let it get to me at first, and if it was just me they were spamming it wouldn’t be an issue.”

“But they started spamming different game producers, other people I follow on Twitter, non-gamers related people, even friends, telling them ‘Please tell Harada to do this or that,” he explained. “It was quite embarrassing they were doing this, so I really wanted to stop it. And at the same time, I explained the reasons why the voice actors had changed.”

Harada agreed with Fils-Aime’s statement that it was “impossible” to satisfy the fanbase “100 percent,” but found that “99 percent” was tenable.

“Reggie-san was mentioning that there’s really no end to the requests and expectations from fans, and that I can agree with,” said Harada. “It’s impossible to please everyone 100 percent. 99 percent is maybe possible, by implementing requested features in your game. But you run into problems with securing staff for development. Adhering to fan requests means more work, which means people don’t get the game in their hands as fast as they like. It’s very difficult.

“But with Tekken Tag Tournament 2 we have really gone above and beyond what we normally do for fans on this project. Maybe 99 percent satisfaction can be achieved.”

In stark contrast to Capcom’s recent on-disc DLC practices with Street Fighter X Tekken, Harada was adamant that there won’t be any on-disc DLC or paid-DLC characters. In the interview, however, while Harada reaffirmed his stance on no paid-DLC characters, he conceded that some on-disc DLC may be necessary.

“When you look at DLC, whether paid or free, a lot of titles have it on disc, it’s not that unusual,” he noted. “I’ve been saying that, at least for Tekken, regarding techniques, characters and stages, these three things won’t be charged for, even if they are DLC.

“Saying that, if someone has a particular character they’ve downloaded and they play someone who doesn’t have that character, it might take five minutes for the person to then download the data to play against this person. This wouldn’t be very realistic and wouldn’t give a favorable impression, so we do plan to address these issues. So some content may be on disc, some might not. But since it’s free it shouldn’t be an issue.”

Despite his stance on paid-DLC characters, Harada acknowledged that he is “continually asked” on DLC plans by his higher ups in Namco Bandai.

“Actually this is something my bosses have been asking me for quite a while now—what are our plans for DLC? How much money can we make? They are a company, obviously, in it to make money. So it’s something I’m continually asked even now. But I haven’t changed my stance. If you’re making a fighting game, all of the elements necessary to enjoy it should be on the disc, or should at least be available for free.”

|Source: Eurogamer

After Namco Bandai announced its involvement in the next Super Smash Bros. game, it was unsurprising to hear that fans were curious on which, if any, new characters from the company’s extensive IP will enter the roster. Probably none from Tekken, if the words from Mr. Tekken himself were any indication.

 “That question was one of the most frequently asked questions we got when we announced the project,” Tekken producer Katsuhiro Harada told NowGamer. “Especially from abroad. The fans, rather than asking about Tales or Gundam, or some of our other franchises, the fans abroad saw Tekken as one of the key words and took off on that.

“We’re not really sure at this moment but when thinking of the playerbase who is playing Smash Bros, maybe Tekken characters is something they wouldn’t want, so I’ve been pulling back on that a bit. But I don’t know.”

|Source: IGN

Founded by Masahiro Sakurai in 2009 after the release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Project Sora has closed its doors on June 30, 2012. The studio’s one and only release was Kid Icarus: Uprising for the 3DS.

Nothing is known of what will happen to Project Sora’s employees or Sakurai’s status beyond his work with the next Super Smash Bros. installment.

|Source: Andriasang

Headline RePLAY – 7.3.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: EA is going to be a 100% digital company, a new direction for the Super Smash Bros. series and members of the European Union can resell used downloaded games.  

EA Labels boss Frank Gibeau is moving from prediction to absolute certainty: the publisher is going to be a 100% digital company.

“It’s in the near future. It’s coming,” Gibeau told GamesIndustry International. “We have a clear line of sight on it and we’re excited about it. Retail is a great channel for us. We have great relationships with our partners there. At the same time, the ultimate relationship is the connection that we have with the gamer.

“If the gamer wants to get the game through a digital download and that’s the best way for them to get it, that’s what we’re going to do,” he said. “It has a lot of enhancements for our business. It allows us to keep more that we make. It allows us to do some really interesting things from a service level standpoint; we can be a lot more personalized with what we’re doing. “

This doesn’t mean that EA is throwing brick-and-mortar stores like GameStop under the bus, however.

“But if customers want to buy a game in retail, they can do that too,” Gibeau clarified. “We’ll continue to deliver games in whatever media formats make sense and as one ebbs and one starts to flow, we’ll go in that direction. For us, the fastest growing segment of our business is clearly digital and clearly digital services and ultimately Electronic Arts, at some point in the future…

“We’re going to be a 100% digital company, period. It’s going to be there some day. It’s inevitable.”

|Source: GamesIndustry International

Super Smash Bros. Brawl contained a mother lode of new content ranging from new characters, an exhaustive cast of multiplayer options to a campaign-based “Adventure Mode.”  Fans expecting more in its 3DS and Wii U iteration may be in for some disappointment, as the director of franchise says that the series is in for a new “change of direction.”

“It isn’t a matter of ‘if the next game has 50 characters, that’ll be enough.’ There is a certain charm to games that have huge casts of playable characters, but they tend to have issues with game balance and it becomes very difficult to fine-tune each character and have them all feel distinctive…” director Masahiro Sakurai told Nintendo Power.

“In terms of quantity, we’ve probably already reached the limit of what’s feasible. I think a change of direction may be what’s needed.”

|Source: Nintendo Everything

Publishers cannot stop consumers from reselling downloaded games, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled.

“An author of software cannot oppose the resale of his ‘used’ licenses allowing the use of his programs downloaded from the internet,” the ruling stated.

According to the Court, customers in the EU are free to sell their downloaded games, regardless of what End User License Agreement has been signed.  

“Therefore, even if the license agreement prohibits a further transfer, the rightholder can no longer oppose the resale of that copy.”

The decision suggests that a license-holder can even download from the publisher’s website as a “lawful acquirer.”

“Therefore the new acquirer of the user license, such as customer of UsedSoft, as a lawful acquirer of the corrected and updated copy of the computer program concerned, download that copy from the copyright holder’s website.

|Source: Eurogamer

Headline RePLAY – 6.22.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: Restrictions on new digital purchases of Diablo III, Persona 4: Golden boosts much needed PS Vita sales and Namco Bandai joins the Super Smash Bros. team.

In a move that is likely to spark a debate over consumer rights, Blizzard has announced yesterday that new purchases of digital versions of Diablo III are subject to content restrictions up to 72 hours.

Most specifically, digital version buyers are stuck on Starter Edition limitations, such as:

• Access up to Act 1 of the Skeleton King encounter.
• Level 13 cap.
• Matchmaking only with other Starter Edition players.
• No Auction House access of any kind.
• The inability to trade and drop items for other players to receive.
• Restricted players are locked out of chatting in public or game channels.
• Restricted players cannot attach a custom message to friend requests, but can send/accept friend requests and play with friends.  
• Users can only play in their home region.

In a forum post, support forum agent Kaltonis explains that the “review period” was necessary to combat fraud and other malicious activities that can “weaken everyone’s play experience.” Kaltonis adds that the delay is “no longer than three days” and can be over “often much quicker than that.”

Blizzard further clarified in a statement released to Kotaku, stating that the move was to “help ensure the integrity of the game and auction house service” and to “deter credit card fraud.”

The company says the content restrictions are only until payment verification is complete, and that most payments are approved and restrictions are lifted within a day. Blizzard also assures players that it will monitor player feedback and will continue to “evaluate the best methods for ensuring a positive experience for everyone.”

Additionally, Blizzard acknowledges that there were players that purchased the game digitally after patch 1.0.3 were unintentionally affected by the security changes, and ended up capped at level 13 and content locked at Act I. Blizzard says they are working to correct the issues as soon as possible, and will provide another update when there are more details to share.

|Source: Blizzard

The release of Persona 4: Golden provided the PS Vita with a much needed sales boost in Japan this week by single-handedly moving over 34,000 units. The last time the PS Vita saw numbers above the 30,000 mark was in early January, before sales started declining.

Most tellingly, the Persona remake alone broke PS Vita software records by moving 137,076 units since its release four days ago.

|Source: Media Create Sales (Week 24) by NeoGAF via GameTrailers

Namco Bandai is joining the Super Smash Bros. development team alongside Sora, according to a joint-statement released by the two companies.

Super Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai says announcement was made so he can develop the game with some freedom. He said the project has “just gotten started” and the game was announced before any actual development.

Sakurai commented how the prototype prepared by Namco Bandai’s special team “looks pretty good” and that it’s “working great.”

Namco Bandai for their part wants to assure fans that their “dream team” is on the job, such as Yoshito Higuchi, the producer and director of the Tales series, Tetsuya Akatsuka, producer and director of Mobile Suit Gundam: Extreme Vs., the art/sound director of SoulCalibur and the main development team staff from Tekken.

“We will fully utilize our experience and knowledge in action/fighting game development, technical capability, and organizational strength,” promised Namco Bandai’s Masaya Kobayashi, “and we hereby promise you that we will develop the best and most powerful Super Smash Bros. title ever! Don’t miss it!”

|Source: Nintendo

Headline RePLAY – 5.10.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: Rumors of a new Star Fox game, GameStop readies the sale of Steam vouchers and a Kid Icarus Uprising sequel is unlikely.

A new Star Fox game for the Wii U may be revealed at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo alongside Pikmin and Mario, says an industry insider close to Techtroid.  

According to the unnamed source, the title is being developed by Retro Studios, who is already working on a Wii U project.

“It’s [Star Fox] a project everyone wants us to do,” Retro Studios said previously.  

While the latest Star Fox game will be shown off, it is not a launch title for the Wii U, says the source.

|Source: Techtroid via ScrewAttack

Conceding defeat of its push into online PC sales, GameStop is preparing to offer Steam vouchers in its stores on May 15th.

A GameStop source told Kotaku that it was “kind of sensitive issue,” considering the retailer’s purchase of Steam rival Impulse last year in order to compete with online PC sales.   

GameStop and Valve are unusual bedfellows in this agreement, but it’s a practical one that’s sure to profit both parties.

|Source: Kotaku

Even though Kid Icarus Uprising on the 3DS was a huge success in Japan and overseas, designer Masahiro Sakurai flatly rejects the idea of making a sequel.

“If by ‘lasting universe’ you mean to ask if there’s a sequel, the answer is no,” Sakurai told IGN when asked if he and the Project Sora team created the Uprising universe so it can be revisited for future projects.

Sakurai explained it was “because we pushed a lot into the game in order to let people have this short yet deep experience, but the novelty of that would likely grow thin in the next game.

“For now, my thought is that perhaps we’ll see someone else besides me make another Kid Icarus in another 25 years.”

|Source: IGN