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.
“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.
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.
Another solution Nintendo is working on involves a downloadable program to patch the save file.
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 déjÃ
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.”
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.
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.
And this is why we cannot have good things and why things like Online Passes exist.
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.
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.
Hence, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance was born.
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
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