Headline RePLAY On Break Till Next Year!

Headline RePLAY is on break until January of next year. See you in 2012 and happy holidays!

Headline RePLAY – 12.23.11

In today’s pre-Christmas edition of Headline RePLAY: an update on The Last Guardian and Trion Worlds is the latest to be hacked.

Yesterday, GameStop customers that reserved copies of The Last Guardian received a call announcing the cancellation of the anticipated title.

After Sony’s adamant denial of Team Ico’s latest foray being canned by several sources, GameStop came out today apologizing for the misunderstanding and released this statement:

“The Last Guardian has not been cancelled by Sony as we incorrectly stated in an automated phone call to reservation customers,” the statement read. “Because the game did not have a specific release date, GameStop made the decision to remove the game from our system. The Last Guardian will be reinstated for pre-order when a firm launch date is known.”

*Source: Kotaku

The hacking assaults of video game companies continue, with Trion Worlds, the developer of MMORPG Rift, as the latest victim. The company released a statement to customers saying a database was breached that contained: user names, encrypted passwords, e-mails, dates of birth, billing addresses and the last four digits and expiration dates of customer credit cards.  

“There is no evidence, and we have no reason to believe, that full credit card information was accessed or compromised in any way,” Trion emphasized.

Trion assured customers that the company is buffing up their security as they continue to research the extent of the unauthorized access.

As a precaution, customers are required to change their passwords, security questions and answers in addition to reconnecting authenticators (if applicable). To compensate players for the inconvenience, Trion is granting 3 days of game time and a “Moneybags’ Purse,” which increases looted gold by 10%.

*Source: Trion Worlds

Headline RePLAY – 12.22.11

Today on Headline RePLAY: conflicting accounts about The Last Guardian’s fate, players are unable to log into Star Wars: The Old Republic and an entire channel on the Wii is dedicated to fixing Zelda: The Skyward Sword.

In a classic case of “he said, she said,” GameStop customers that reserved The Last Guardian received automated calls today by the retail chain stating that the game was cancelled.

Sony’s director of corporate communications, Patrick Seybold, denies the cancellation: “This is not true,” he told Kotaku.  

Additionally, Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida also denies the cancellation reports via his Twitter account.

*Source: Kotaku

Star Wars: The Old Republic can’t seem to handle the high-volume of players entering the galaxy before or after launch— so much that even the website had to institute a queue for players to access their accounts.

The problem is exacerbated considering that the “grace period” (a 2-day period for Early Access players to enter their game’s registration code and submit billing information in order to continue playing) ended and now a lot of players cannot access the game at all because player accounts are tied onto the site.

BioWare acknowledges the problem and assures players that this was intentional on their part: “Due to the high volume of new game codes being redeemed on SWTOR.com, some users may currently be seeing a waiting page. We are intentionally controlling the flow of traffic and letting as many people through as possible.”

*Source: SWTOR.com

Remember how last week Nintendo of Japan offered solutions to Skyward Sword players that encountered the game-breaking glitch that made it impossible to progress? The solutions were similar to Metroid: Other M’s resolutions, like the tedious process of shipping the Wii or SD card to Nintendo.

Today, Nintendo has presented an alternative: an entire channel dedicated to patching the game. All players have to do is download the channel from the Wii Channel section of the Wii Shopping Channel and follow the instructions on the screen.

*Source: Andriasang

Headline RePLAY – 12.21.11

Today on Headline RePLAY we have dueling Final Fantasy XIII-2 stories: Final Fantasy XIII-2 sells 500,000 units on the first week, but its sales numbers are a cause for concern and video game robbers pocket-dials 911.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 made its debut this week to over half a million in sales, topping Media Create’s weekly software charts. Interestingly, the sales figure is just for the PlayStation 3 version despite a simultaneous release for the Xbox 360.

However, Gamasutra noted that these sales numbers are around one-third of the sales of the original Final Fantasy XIII two years ago. Most importantly, the site speculates that the sales could reflect “diminished consumer interest in Square-Enix’s flagship franchise.”

It would also be on par with the company’s own observations a few months ago: that the Final Fantasy brand was “greatly damaged” by the release of Final Fantasy XIV, a MMORPG, in September 2010.

*Source: Andriasang & Gamasutra

In an ironic twist, two thieves that couldn’t stop boasting about their video game spoils taken from a Target got caught by a 911-operator that was listening in on the conversation.

According to police in Madison, Wisconsin, one of the robbers pocket-dialed 911 and proceeded to talk about how well their operation went and mocked other thieves for being caught. The two men allegedly stole the games to resell for a profit at a local video game store.

The operator recorded the conversation for an hour and informed the police, who beat the shoplifters to the store and waited for them with guns drawn.

*Source: ABC News

Headline RePLAY – 12.20.11

Today’s Headline RePLAY is all about Sony: the PS Vita sells over 321,000 units in its first week, Sony apologizes and resolves Vita’s launch problems and the company gets sued over its "no sue" clause.

Defying predictions of a “premature horrible death,” the PS Vita sold 321,407 units in its first week. The sales numbers were reported today by Famitsu.com using statistics from Enterbrain and covers two days of sales: December 17th and 18th.

In comparison, the Nintendo 3DS sold 371,326 units from February 26th and 27th of this year and in 2004 the PSP only sold 166,074 units on December 12th.

According to Sony, they only shipped 500,000 units but a Mainichi Digital contributor claimed to have heard reports of an initial shipment of 700,000 units prior to release.

*Source: Andriasang

The PS Vita was only out for two days and already the complaints from consumers are flooding in: everything from software bugs to unresponsive touchscreens and complete system freezes.

As if Sony was aware of the problems in advance, the company was quick to deliver an apology and even dispatch a software update to resolve the issues.

*Source: Endgadget

Back in September, Sony updated its PlayStation Network Terms of Service with a “no sue” clause to prevent class-action lawsuits. Now, ironically, Sony is the one being sued over the “no sue” policy.

According to Gamespot, a Northern California man is leading the charge with a suit filed last month that alleges Sony engaged in unfair business practices by forcing consumers to either give up their right to file a class-action lawsuit or surrender PSN access, which was effectively paid for when the hardware was purchased.

The suit states that Sony buried the “no sue” clause near the bottom of the 21-page TOS and avoided posting an accessible version of the form online, although the company has historically done so. The suit adds that while Sony has an opt out of the provision, the only method to do so was to contact the company in writing (no other forms of communication accepted) within 30 days.

*Source: Gamespot

Headline RePLAY – 12.19.11

Today on Headline RePLAY: a woman embezzles $166,000 for Facebook games and Star Wars: The Old Republic already has over 1.5 million players.

Bettysue Higgins of Gardiner, a former administrative assistant, pleaded guilty last week to embezzling $166,000 from the Maine Trial Lawyers Association, which a prosecutor claimed much of it was spent on Facebook games.  

An investigator found that over the most recent 18-month period, Higgins had 78 checks deposited directly to her personal accountant and paid out the funds to Zynga’s YoVille and Mafia Wars.

Defense Attorney Ronald Bourget added that Higgins personal bank account record for February 2010 alone showed that she spent more than $4000 into the games.

“Apparently she was buying virtual coins for virtual property in a virtual world,” said Leanne Robbin, an Assistant Attorney General and prosecutor of the case.  

*Source: KennebecJournal

Ahead of tomorrow’s official launch date, 1.5 million players are already roaming the galaxy in Star Wars: The Old Republic, an analyst estimates.

“Based on the numbers of servers now in operation, and the relatively high densities thereon, we feel fairly comfortable estimating that the game already has an excess of 1 million players, and potentially could have as many as 1.5 million with the official launch date of the game,” wrote Doug Creutz, an analyst from Cowen & Company.

Creutz’s methodology is based on the number of servers in operation in comparison to World of Warcraft in North American and Europe, the average player density relative to server capacity and the estimate that World of Warcraft has 4.0-4.5 million subs in North American and Europe.

However, the analyst admits that there are “missing pieces” in his analysis and he doesn’t know the “relative capacity” of The Old Republic vs. World of Warcraft servers nor what the ‘full’/’very heavy’/etc. labels signify.

*Source: CVG

Headline RePLAY – 12.16.11

Today on Headline RePLAY: Zynga raises $1 billion in its NASDAQ debut and Sony flip-flops on the PS Vita.

Responsible for Facebook sensations like Farmville and Mafia Wars, developer Zynga raised $1 billion in an initial public offering (IPO) yesterday that ranks it as the second most valuable video game company— ahead of its competitor, Electronic Arts.

Zynga sold 100 million shares at $10 per. According to Bloomberg, this sort of offering was the biggest by a U.S internet company since Google raised 1.9 billion in its IPO back in 2004.

Interestingly, Zynga shares listed on the NASDAQ did decline today by 5% to $9.50.

“Zynga shouldn’t be valued at three times what other companies in that space [social-media] are valued at,” explained Jeffrey Sica, chief investment officer of Sica Wealth Management LLC. “That’s why people looked at it as having a potential downside. Investors found it too rich.”

Nevertheless, Sica’s analysis painted a complicated picture that despite concern in the market, he advised clients to buy the Zynga IPO.

*Source: Bloomberg

Here is a confusing series of events: first Sony said the PS Vita was locked to a single PSN account, and then it said the handheld can have multiple accounts via memory cards. And now it’s back to square one as a representative told Wired today that the Vita can only support one account.

 “[The] PSN account is tied to the hardware and the memory card, not just the card,” a different Sony representative told Wired in an e-mail, “which means that if a second person is using your Vita, it’s not just a case of switching out memory cards, it’s clearing out all of your saved data on the Vita itself when you do the factory reset.”

“In other words, PlayStation Vita is intended to be played by only one user,” the representative said.

*Source: Wired

Headline RePLAY – 12.15.11

Today on Headline RePLAY: Square-Enix can’t seem to catch a break and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword gets a fix.

Square-Enix is experiencing a case of déjà vu as one of their servers got hacked yesterday that resulted in a temporary shutdown of the company’s members service. Today, the feeling of déjà vu continues as the company reported that about 1.8 million accounts were affected by the breach.

According to Square-Enix yesterday, there was no possibility of a credit card information leak. The intruder hacked into an unknown number of servers that instead stored personal information like names, phone numbers and e-mail addresses.

“We [have] yet to learn whether illegal access was gained to our clients’ information,” said a Square-Enix spokeswoman. “But we have asked our customers to be aware of the incident in case they receive suspicious messages using our name.”

*Source: France24 via Kotaku

Like Metroid: Other M before it, Skyward Sword has a game-breaking glitch that made it impossible for players to progress through the game. And like Metroid: Other M, Nintendo of Japan has a workaround posted on its website or a fix that involves either sending in your SD card or Wii system to Nintendo.

Another solution Nintendo is working on involves a downloadable program to patch the save file.

No word yet from Nintendo of America when these fixes will reach Western shores.

*Source: Nintendo via Destructoid

Headline RePLAY - 12.14.11

Today on Headline RePLAY: Infinity Ward punishes Modern Warfare 3 cheaters, a Nintendo Wii controller can be lethal, another studio head prophesizes the doom of console gaming and MORE Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance news this week as Platinum Games’ Atsushi Inaba defends the company’s role in the project.

Infinity Ward isn’t playing around when it comes to punishing Modern Warfare 3 exploiters, the company’s verdict is a whopping 5000-day ban— a 13-year wait.   

“If you see this message, it means you’ve been Permabanned (for something bad),” Tweeted Infinity Ward’s Robert Bowling. 

Details on what activities that would result in the 5000-day ban are unknown, but short of wanting to wait until the year 2025 to play, it’s best not to find out.

*Source: MP1st & Robert Bowling’s Twitter

Nintendo Wii remotes can be dangerous, and as one family in Belleville, Michigan discovered, they can explode. Fortunately, the Fuson family was out of the house when the controller exploded, because it sent plastic shrapnel all across the room and even bore a hole through the couch it was on.

Missy Fuson thinks the controller exploded because the alkaline batteries were replaced with lithium ones— the exact kind of thing that the Wii manual warns against.

However, Fuson said the warning was difficult to find and the consequences of using them weren’t spelled out. “I feel responsible as a mom. I need to tell other parents that during Christmas, we need to be reading all the manuals for every toy and make sure that we fully understand what we’re putting in our children’s hands because the consequences can be deadly,” she said.

Nintendo has offered to replace the Fuson’s equipment at a discounted price.

*Source: WXYZ.com

The end of console gaming prophesized by officials in the gaming industry has been going on for years that it’s almost an art. Bossa Studios head, Henrique Olifiers, continues the trend by predicting “a horrible premature death” for the PS Vita.

“Valve is bang on: proprietary stuff is madness, we should be moving to more open platforms, to interoperability, bringing everyone together. If this is not the motto for the big console manufacturers, not only will we not be there – they’re likely to die a horrible premature death, the kind of which I think the Vita will suffer from,” said Olifiers in an interview with VideoGamer.com.

Bossa Studios is best known for the Facebook game Monstermind and its recent recruitment of Yoshifusa Hayama, the former executive producer of The Last Guardian.

*Source: VideoGamer

Not a lot of fans were thrilled to hear that Platinum Games held the reins to Metal Gear Solid Rising: Revengeance. Atsushi Inaba, executive director and producer at Platinum Games, took to the Twitter feeds to address fan concerns about the upcoming game:

Let me begin.

It seems there are some who wish to imply PlatinumGames was able to achieve what Kojima Productions could not — interviewers among them.

This notion is spurious. Clearly, we have not yet produced any results in the world of Metal Gear.

The artists at Kojima Productions gave their blood, sweat and tears to bring the Metal Gear Saga to life.

The gap is immense. Mr. Kojima tossed his chips on our table, believing we could handle the task. In other words, he took a gamble.

Many seem to think the change from MGSR to MGR altered everything about the game, but this is simply not true.

MGSR’s concept excited us. We have love and respect for it, as we do the character of Raiden and the idea of freely cutting anything apart.

I know reaction to the new trailer is mixed. Yet I also believe our love and respect shines through.

It is my hope that you catch a glimpse of the future in the footage.

In order to achieve that evolution, that future, we at PlatinumGames will continue to fight, shedding our own blood, sweat and tears.

That is all.

Inaba’s response is a humbled one, reflecting Platinum Games’ respect for what Kojima Productions has accomplished. Even more telling is Inaba’s commitment to MGS fans that they will continue to shed their “own blood, sweat and tears” into the project.  

*Source: OfficialPlayStation Magazine

Headline RePLAY – 12.13.11

Today on Headline RePLAY: Hideo Kojima doubles the headlines, Iran responds to Battlefield 3, and Obsidian Entertainment expresses its hatred for used games.

Kojima hits the headlines again, this time striking the Twitter feeds and confirming an “authentic stealth MGS” in the works and asks fans to “patiently wait for the sequel coming in the future.”    

And if that is not enough for fans, Kojima reaffirmed his desire in making a Zone of the Enders 3. “We would want to make that game as well,” he told GameFitNation.

More interestingly, Kojima said the game could be built on the Fox Engine, but noted there was a lack of staff available to devote to the project.

*Source: Kojima’sTwitter & GameFitNation

Banning Battlefield 3 was not enough of a response for Iran. To counter EA’s blockbuster shooter, Iran announced it will produce the computer game “Attack on Tel Aviv.”

Iran’s National Foundation for Computer Games (NFCG) said the game is an answer to Battlefield 3’s missions where an American soldier is fighting on Tehran’s streets in search of missing nuclear warheads.

“The United States is governed by a Zionist Regime so Attack on Tel Aviv would make Americans angrier than a game about an attack on Washington,” said Behruz Minaii, the head of NFCG.

Arguably, what makes gamers angrier like no other are the Battlefield vs. Call of Duty troll wars.

*Source: Tehran Times via Kotaku

 

Saying used games are a thorny issue for publishers and developers is an understatement. Obsidian Entertainment decided it was not stated clearly enough and wanted their stance on the record when they discussed digital distribution with IndustryGamers yesterday.

“Of course, one of the greatest things about digital distribution is what it does to reduce the used game market. I hope digital distribution stabs the used game market in the heart,” said Obsidian Entertainment’s Chief Creative Officer Chris Avellone.

And this is why we cannot have good things and why things like Online Passes exist.

*Source: IndustryGamers

Headline RePLAY – 12.12.11

Today on Headline RePLAY: not all is as it seems with Metal Gear Rising, Valve teases its fans with more maddening hints and Modern Warfare 3 proves its worth.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance’s reveal at the VGAs generated more questions, rumors and misconceptions than hype and Kojima Productions has been clearing house with new information on the title.

Most revealing was that Metal Gear Rising was silently canned because the development team felt that the original Rising as a game, where just anything can be sliced and diced, would be insufficient. It reached a point where the staff had no idea what the game should be and Kojima said the project would probably not be completed. The staff disagreed but Rising was ultimately cancelled.

Enter members of Platinum Games, which happened to arrive at Kojima Productions studio one day. Platinum Games learned about Rising’s fate, found it unfortunate that it was half-done, and took over the project.

Hence, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance was born.

*Source: Andriasang

The internet conspirators are at it again— this time to prove the existence of the ever-elusive and never announced Half-Life 3 within Valve’s Portal 2 VGA video starring antagonist Wheatley.

After prying arcane clues from the video, 4Chan wrote a letter to Valve co-founder Gabe Newell who promptly responded, “I don’t suppose it would ease your wrath if I told you we’re announcing all of your favorite things at E3 2012?” and added later that it would have “something with a ‘three’ in it.”

And dialing up the speculation is Valve’s “Doug Rattman” Twitter account coming back to life, Tweeting, “It begins.” What follows is the Twitter feed spitting out odd strings of code, ending with a series of Tweets denying its importance and claiming that the system “just freaks out when it calls up a foreign source of information.”

May the endless speculation commence!

*Source: Kotaku & Destructoid 

Activision-Blizzard announced today that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 topped $1 billion in worldwide sales 16 days after its release and trumped James Cameron’s Avatar, which in comparison took 17 days to reach the magical one billion dollar figure.  

Call of Duty games are profitable, who knew?

*Source: Yahoo! Games

Return of the Slayers

After a decade long hiatus the Slayers return with more high-fantasy/anime parodies, slapstick humor and fan service than you can throw fireballs at. Instead of one season of 26 episodes, the latest addition to the franchise now consists of two 13-episode season titled Slayers Revolution and Evolution-R (cue the cringing here). Revolution starts where Slayers TRY left off in 1997 with the self-described genius sorceress and beautiful Lina Inverse (a description that is totally belied by her arrogance, temper and reckless use of spells that levels entire cities) and her companion, the swordsman Gourry Gabriev, attacking pirates to give the now-endangered bandit population a chance to recover. And for better and worse, after a decade of waiting, little has changed with the Slayers.

For fans, the first episode is a return to form with the all too familiar hijinks involving Lina’s nonexistent bust and her infamous reputation that quickly leads to the iconic pair being ultimately reunited with the mystic swordsman Zelgadis and justice-and-love obsessed Amelia. More hilarity ensues when Lina gets arrested on the charge for being herself and her first episode debut is spoiled by a new character (Pokota) casting her signature spell: the Dragon Slave. Even after a decade the Slayers greatest strength is still here— the interactions between the cast and the long-running gags all at Lina’s expense. Admittedly, some of the humor would alienate new viewers as there is a lot of fan-service involved with longstanding jokes and even a clever cameo of an old Slayers movies-exclusive character.  

Slayers Revolution and Evolution-R, then, is an animated love letter welcoming old fans back while inviting newcomers to visit past seasons (note: all on Netflix). Most of the old cast of voice actors since Slayers NEXT makes an outstanding return, except for Xellos, Prince Philionel and Rezo; although their roles are covered very well by Michael Sinterniklaas, David Brimmer and Liam O'Brien respectively. The opening and ending themes are done by series veteran Megumi Hayashibara (also the Japanese voice actress for Lina) and the entire is soundtrack comprises of completely remastered tracks.  

Alas, after ten years, the Slayers still suffers from the same problems as the original three seasons— a total lack of character development of the main cast. For being stars of the series, they are rather static: Gourry’s lack of intelligence is used as an excuse for exposition and Amelia is Sailor Moon without the transformation sequences. Granted, these personalities are often used to hysterical and entertaining effect, but when the plot starts to get serious it leads to a form of predictability. However, the antagonists and new cast members are so well fleshed out with complex motivations and personalities that it makes up for any lack of character development. Even so, there is a lot to be desired when interesting characters like Zelgadis and Lina are neglected until the last few episodes in Evolution-R.

Slayers Revolution and Evolution-R are neither a revolution nor evolution of the series from the 90s. Nevertheless, it’s an explosive reminder of what made it a classic then and why it’s a force to be reckoned with in the present. Beware bandits, pirates, and demon lords— Lina Inverse is back! 

Game Over For Mega Man?

Blue is the new color for shocking cancellations and an uncertain future. Mega Man lost his last life and the Game Over screen this time could very well be permanent. I’m not just talking about the Mega Man Legends 3 cancellation that was announced last week, but about the Blue Bomber in all his incarnations. Mega Man was a versatile contender in the gaming market with his legendary side-scrolling gameplay, action-RPGs and even arcade-styled fighting games. However, with the Blue Bomber’s less than stellar track record over the past decade and Keiji Inafune leaving Capcom last year, one must ask if Mega Man has been reduced to just an icon of our childhood. Alas, I must concede that Capcom recognized this much earlier than we did.

STAGE SELECT – SALES

Mega Man’s exploits in the market are mediocre at best and dubious at worst. Except for original games in the NES era, a few entries in the Battle Network series, the first two X games for the SNES and the retro-styled Mega Man 9, it is clear that the Blue Bomber’s games never sold like other Capcom IPs such as Street Fighter or Resident Evil. Capcom tried to remedy this with sequels, reboots and spinoff games, but Mega Man never seemed to reach that last stage of success. The Blue Bomber’s decline can be traced to the last decade alone by short-lived reboots and successors to the franchise.

Maverick Hunter X and Mega Man Powered Up, for example, were supposed to be complete reboots of the series for the PSP, but never made it past their first debuts. Mega Man ZX for the DS was supposed to be a continuation of the Zero series and stopped at Advent, even though Advent’s secret ending clearly pointed towards a sequel. And then there was the promising Mega Man Star Force series, the spiritual sequel to Capcom’s successful Battle Network games which went from yearly installments to two-year interludes to nothing at all.

Fans suspected the worst, and Capcom concluded that Mega Man was just not selling. 

 

*Source: gamrReview

**Note: Sales numbers are based on worldwide, lifetime totals.
***Mega Man Star Force 2 sales: 543,753

Mega Man’s only successes in the past decade were the two Star Force games and the two 8-bit reboots in 2007/2008 and 2008/2010 respectively. For the Star Force series, it was evidently in decline by the 400,000 sales margin difference on the second installment alone. Mega Man 9 sales are harder to track being a downloadable title, but Christian Svensson, Capcom’s VP of Strategic Planning, scored it as a financial success in 2009, “We’ve had the highest revenue-generating Xbox Live title, we’ve had the highest revenue-generating Wii title, [and] we’re definitely in the top three or four on the PlayStation network.”

Svensson, however, was cautious when asked about the performance of Mega Man 9 and 10 in a June 2011 interview with IGN: “Yes, we were pleased with the results. Let me also say don’t let the 8-bit nature of those games make you think that they didn’t cost much to make because they were not inexpensive. They were efforts, in many cases, larger than most of our other digital efforts in terms of budget. They are not small. We are modestly pleased with how 9 and 10 did.”

It’s striking how Capcom called Mega Man 9 its “highest revenue title” in 2009 and now downplays its success. Mega Man 10 in contrast had no such press, and instead is teamed with its predecessor a year later as a game that Capcom is “modestly pleased” with. Additionally, Svensson’s citing production costs, creator Keiji Inafune’s leave of Capcom and the cancellation of Mega Man Universe and Legends 3  are all alarming for the Blue Bomber’s future.   

LEVEL HAZARDS – INAFUNE, THE VIDEO GAME INDUSTRY & CAPCOM

Inafune made numerous headlines last year with his infamous prophecies of doom about the Japanese gaming industry being “finished” and his discontent at Capcom’s working environment, which all but foreshadowed his resignation. Inafune’s departure of Capcom should not have affected the likelihood of new Mega Man games, but serious questions on those prospects were raised when in March of 2011 Mega Man Universe was canned and Legends 3 shared the same fate in July. Capcom tried to address this concern in a FAQ posted along with the Legends 3 cancellation:   

Q. Is the cancellation of MML3 related to the departure of Inafune-san?
A. The cancellation of the MML3 project is in no way related to Inafune-san leaving the company.

Except Inafune revealed Capcom had a lot of new ideas rejected, and that he had to break rules in order to make new IPs like Dead Rising and Lost Planet. Andriasang reported that in a seminar at Ritsumeikan University, Inafune cited a policy from management that required 70 to 80% of game production to focus on sequels and the remaining 20% on new ideas. Inafune observed that most new ideas were rejected anyway.

Nevertheless, Inafune kept his teams working on titles like Dead Rising and Lost Planet, which ended up running 400% over their prototype budget; Inafune was approved to finish work on the games. Mega Man Universe being canceled made sense under this context: in an interview with 1UP Inafune noted that Universe “kind of started to cancel” as soon as he left Capcom and felt like he was the only one “pushing” for it. Inafune’s accounts strongly suggest that Legends 3 was a consequence of him leaving Capcom. 

And even with no new Mega Man game on the horizon, Capcom insists that the Blue Bomber is neither dead nor abandoned:

Q. This is the second Mega Man game cancelled this year, what does this mean for the future of the Mega Man Franchise?

A. Mega Man is still an important franchise within Capcom’s portfolio and we will continue to pursue opportunities to create new titles in the series.

MEGA MAN – CONTINUE?

Is it Game Over for Mega Man? For Capcom, the Blue Bomber might have missed his last jump over the spiked pit, but the Continue option remains uncertain. For the fans? The answer is fully charged, Mega Buster resounding: NO. Mega Man will endure in the form of fan made games, artists, musicians and in the memories of its fans.

Mega Man Perfect Harmony, a co-opt 4-player classic platformer showcases what could have been the next evolution of Mega Man’s gameplay. Artists on DeviantArt and book projects like UDON’s Mega Man Tribute illustrate how Mega Man inspires the imagination. Comics like Archie’s Mega Man or UDON’s localization of Hitoshi Ariga’s Mega Man Gigamix series are testament to the endless adventures that the Blue Bomber has outside of games. Capcom’s sound team is even on the action, with a September release on the horizon of the “We are ROCK-MEN”, a collection of arrangements and remixes on Mega Man music up to the X series. Additionally, musicians and composers at OverClocked ReMix have two album projects readied called “Maverick Rising” (based on the X series of music) and the “Mega Man 9 ReMix Project.” 

Mega Man might just be an icon of Capcom’s bygone days, but for gamers everywhere he is still blasting Robot Masters and storming Dr. Wily’s castle.