Headline RePLAY – 2.7.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: North American PS Vita owners will miss out on the UMD Passport program, the Kinect Star Wars Bundle has a release date and Mass Effect: Infiltrator for the iOS is announced!

Possibly a deal-breaker for many PSP-owners planning on transitioning to the PS Vita, Sony has told Kotaku there won’t be a North American equivalent of the UMD Passport program, which would’ve allowed PS Vita owners to transfer their PSP games over.

Sony announced the program back in November, which Japanese PSP owners could opt to register their games onto PSN accounts, pay a small fee and re-download the games on the PS Vita. No alternatives were provided at this time.

Déjà vu. Reminds me of the situation with the PSPgo two years ago, which almost guaranteed the handheld’s doom.

Sony has yet to provide an explanation for the exclusion.

*Source: Kotaku

Overhauled for 2012 in the form of a Xbox 360 and controller, R2-D2 and C-3PO will finally be in the hands of Star Wars fans and gamers alike in the Kinect Star Wars Bundle, which is slated for release on April 3^rd.

Price is set at $449 for the 320GB system and it comes with the droid-themed console and controller, a white Kinect sensor and a copy of Star Wars Kinect Adventures.

*Source: Engadget

In what could be the first mobile tie-in to Mass Effect 3, BioWare announced Mass Effect: Infiltrator was coming to the iOS.

The title was announced at a press event in New York today, where it was described as a “fully featured iOS third-party shooter” with “stunning graphics and authentic weapons and powers from the Mass Effect series.”

It isn’t a Mass Effect title without story, and BioWare doesn’t disappoint here: the narrative will involve freeing prisoners from a hostile Cerberus base and collecting evidence of the organization’s crimes.

Players will “receive rewards” for gathering evidence and increase Galactic Readiness. “Every completed rescue and intelligence discovery in Infiltrator will increase a players’ Galactic Readiness rating directly through the ‘Galaxy at War’ system in Mass Effect 3,” said EA.

As icing on the cake, actions taken in Infiltrator can affect the Mass Effect 3 storyline and weapons unlocked in the mobile title can be used in Mass Effect 3 too.

*Source: Kotaku

Headline RePLAY – 1.2.11

Today on Headline RePLAY: the cracking of the PlayStation Vita has begun and BioWare is looking into expanding its brands into the mobile space.

We are not even a month into the PS Vita’s release and already there are signs of it cracking under the pressure of the homebrewers— like a video of Sonic & Knuckles being played on the handheld.

It isn’t a direct crack of the system, however. The feat was accomplished by running a PSP Genesis emulator through the PS Vita’s PSP emulator.

It’s like the movie Inception’s dream inside a dream concept, except done with emulators.

Additionally, the video’s uploader, frwololo, cautioned that Sony has implemented some security that makes the exploit “moot,” and the demonstration was more for “research” and a “ray of hope” for the homebrew community.  

*Source: YouTube via Kotaku

Joystiq has released an interview where BioWare’s creative lead, Greg Zeschuk, revealed that the company is looking into “logical extensions” to its brands for its mobile development.

“We did that iOS Mass Effect Galaxy thing really early. We said, ‘We should just try this and see what happens.’ And we learned something from it,” Zeschuk told Joystiq’s Ben Gilbert.

“What we do a lot is we’ll actually explore a platform and kinda play around with it,” explained Zeschuk, adding credence to the idea that BioWare is looking into experimenting with the mobile space.

Zeschuk added that one person in BioWare is responsible for identifying “logical extensions” on mobile development but the creative lead cautioned that the company “haven’t announced too much” yet.

Will we see more games like Mass Effect Galaxy that expands BioWare’s IPs or something totally different in the future?

Stay tuned!

*Source: Joystiq