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 – 6.28.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: The producer of Lords of Shadow doesn’t want to be defined by just Castlevania, SEGA shuts its doors in Europe and Australia and we finally have a release date for Guild Wars 2.

David Cox wants his legacy to be more than just being “Mr. Castlevania,” he revealed today, and would like to explore other projects and ideas after the release of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 and Mirror of Fate.  

“Well, I think’s about wanting to leave a legacy,” the producer told VG247 in an interview. “And I don’t want to be in charge of a series that perhaps over a certain time is going to decline. I’d rather go out with a bang and leave that as our legacy in the Castlevania universe.”

Even if Lords of Shadow 2 ends up being a bigger success than the original, Cox insists that Mercury Steam is moving on. “We’ll somebody else can do that. I don’t want to be known as Mr. Castlevania, and we don’t want the team to be known as the Castlevania team,” Cox continued. “Working in a creative industry, you’ve got other projects and other ideas you want to work on. And that’s something that we and Mercury Steam want to do. We want to work on other projects. We’ve got other ideas.”

Cox says it all comes back to legacy. “If the game is successful I’m sure there will be pressure to do more, but the thing is, like I said, you have to think about legacy,” he said. “What sort of legacy do you want to leave? I’m proud of the games we’ve made but we’ve got other things we want to do. Other worlds we want to explore. Other stories we want to tell.”

So, what does Cox want to work on next?

“I love Contra. I’d love to do Contra. At Mercury Steam we’ve got an original idea that I think is really awesome. We’d love to bring that idea to the market and I’m hoping that the success of Lords of Shadow 2 will allow us to do that.”

|Source: VG247

SEGA Europe today confirmed that it will be closing their offices in France, Germany, Spain, Australia and Benelux as a result of its “restructuring” efforts to focus on digital content.

In lieu of SEGA, Koch Media will handle the distribution of packaged goods in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France and Spain.  Level03 Distribution and 5 Star Games will assist in Benelux and Australia respectively starting July 1, 2012.

|Source: Joystiq

After weekend betas and stress tests, ArenaNet has finally announced an official release date for Guild Wars 2: August 28, 2012.

ArenaNet has also announced that the MMO’s next and final Beta Weekend Event is taking place on July 20 – 22.

Guild Wars 2 was officially announced in 2007and was first revealed in 2010.

|Source: ArenaNet

Headline RePLAY – 6.27.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: The CEO of Sony is bowing out of the SCE board, South Korea’s controversial Shutdown Law is challenged and Square-Enix plans to outsource with large-scale development projects.

Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai is stepping down from his position as representative director and chairman on the Sony Computer Entertainment board.

Instead, Hirai is moving to a part-time role with the SCE board. Chairman Howard Stringer, however, is retiring from his part-time position with SCE.

Hiroshi Kawano, president of SCE Japan, joins a new team of executives appointed to the SCE board.

|Source: GamesIndustry International

South Korea’s controversial Shutdown Law, created to prevent players under the age of sixteen from gaming online between midnight and 6 a.m., may be found unconstitutional as two lawsuits makes their way through the country’s courts.

The law was passed last year, despite assertions by critics that it infringes upon the civil rights of children and that it’s excessively prohibitive.

A coalition of parents and teenagers filed one lawsuit, claiming that the law attacks parental rights to educate their own children. Another suit was filed by the Korean Game Industry, consisting of companies like NCsoft, Neowiz and Nexon, arguing that the law is unjust.

For their part, South Korea’s Ministry of Gender Equality and Family maintains that the Shutdown Law is the “bare minimum” to protect teenagers.

|Source: Kotaku

It’s no secret that Square-Enix is fraught with very long development times for their flagship titles like the Final Fantasy series. The director of Final Fantasy XIII and XIII-2 agrees, and revealed that the company is planning to outsource development with large-scale projects from now on vs. completely developing internally.

“The development time was quite long,” Motomu Toriyama told Gamasutra at GDC Taipei, speaking on the development of XIII. “Within our company, developing on PlayStation for Final Fantasy XIII we required a huge amount of graphical data…At the peak, there were over 200 people working on it.” The team consisted of 180 artists, 30 programmers, and 36 game designers.

“We are also thinking that we will not do large-scale internal development any longer,” he revealed, citing time constraints and lessons learned from XIII. “We have a lot of great creators in Square-Enix, but for larger-scale development we will be doing more distributed and outsourced development to reach our targets on time.”

|Source: Gamasutra

Headline RePLAY – 6.26.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: Don’t expect a Final Fantasy VII remake anytime soon, the Wii U will be low priced and Tekken’s chief fighting game producer wants the community to act like “adults.”

Final Fantasy VII fans that are holding out for a remake shouldn’t hold their breaths, as Square-Enix CEO Yoichi Wada said it would take a Final Fantasy title that “exceeds” the quality of VII for the company to consider it.

During the company’s annual Q&A session, the inevitable VII remake question was asked and Wada conceded that the company is currently not making Final Fantasy games that surpassed it yet. If a remake was to be released now, he said, the series would be “done with.”

The Square-Enix CEO added that the company is more than willing to work on a remake, but if they did, it would require their “full effort.”

|Source: Andriasang

Nintendo is staying quiet on the Wii U’s pricing, despite its expected release this holiday season, but if recent comments by CEO Satoru Iwata are any indication, it won’t suffer from the same high price trap that the 3DS did.

“We won’t make the same mistake that we did with the 3DS, which was considered relatively high by consumers,” said Iwata in an interview that was featured in today’s Yomiuri Shimbun.

Iwata promises that the console would be released at a “reasonable” price.  

|Source: Andriasang

After being barraged with requests on Twitter by insatiable fans to bring back original voice actors and characters for Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Namco Bandai’s chief fighting game producer had enough, and is telling the fanbase to stop “whining and complaining about everything.”

“I believe that, before whining and complaining about everything, you need practice at taking a step back and analyzing things objectively,” Tweeted Katsuhiro Harada. “And also at being an adult.”

Harada then explained extensively why the voice actors are/can’t be the same, and that despite how unappreciative some of the fanbase seemed to be, he will continue to “sincerely comply” with fan requests.

“I have even compiled to the requests of you all spamming me to ‘bring back characters’ from previous installments. You often say, ‘let’s show the dev team how sincere we are by buying 2 copies if they bring back character X,’ but did you really go through with it?” asked Harada rhetorically. “Expecting you to at least pre-order the game, I was met with more spam, after you apparently didn’t notice that Jun and Michelle actually return.”

“I still have some characters left to be revealed that comply with some of your requests,” he continued, “even ‘bringing back’ several others. Even so, none of them are paid DLC. I will continue to sincerely comply with fan requests. However, I can’t continue to engage the negative ones that, without knowing what you are talking about, or even thinking about what you are saying, blindly repeat ‘bring back, bring back, bring back…’ After this lengthy explanation, I will be quite surprised if there are still people who still don’t get it.

“Thanks for understanding or not understanding,” finished Harada. “Whatever.”

|Source: @Harada_TEKKEN via Destructoid

Headline RePLAY – 6.25.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime says that the gaming community is never-satisfied, the producer of Final Fantasy XI steps down and a Resident Evil-themed restaurant is “comig soon!”

In a rather blunt commentary, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime expressed his frustration with the “insatiable” nature of the gaming community and how they are unable to differentiate between a “phenomenon” and a “ho-hum” title.

“One of the things that, on one hand, I love and, on the other hand, that troubles me tremendously about not only our fanbase but about the gaming community at large is that, whenever you share information, that perspective is, ‘Thank you, but I want more,’” Reggie Fils-Aime told Kotaku on the last day of E3 2012. “‘Thank you, but give me more.’ I mean, it is insatiable.

“And so for years this community has been asking, ‘Where’s Pikmin?’ ‘Where’s Pikmin?’ ‘Where’s Pikmin?’” he continued. “We give them Pikmin. And they say, ‘What else?’

Fils-Aime adds how the latest Mario game and Nintendo Land generated the same “So what’s more?” and “Ho-hum, give me more” responses despite how those titles were in response to community demand.

The Nintendo of America president also argued that the gaming community is “unable to differentiate between a phenomenon and something that is ‘ho-hum’” until they play it, experience it, friends ask about it or until it sells millions of copies.

|Source: Kotaku

At Vana Fest 2012, Final Fantasy XI producer Hiromichi Tanaka announced his leave of Square-Enix, citing health reasons and his desire to return to game development as a single creator.

In a mini-interview with Famitsu.com, Tanaka revealed that he suffers from a major illness, to which he didn’t mention specifics, except it was a major cause for his departure.

Tanaka was employed with Square since 1983 and is known for his design work on the first few Final Fantasy titles and as the producer of Xenogears and Chrono Cross.

|Source: Andriasang

A Resident Evil (Biohazard)-themed restaurant is “comig soon” to Shibuya, Japan, to serve zombie treats marinated in Capcom’s bad spelling.

The Biohazard Café and Grill not only has zombie-flavored cuisine for sale, but limited edition Resident Evil items too.

It’s opening on July 13 at 11 a.m. and will only be around for a year.

|Source: Kotaku

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 – 6.21.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: The future of gaming in the words of EA’s COO, resumable replays coming to a StarCraft II near you and the father of Mario voices his concern on video game violence.

Free-to-play and microtransactions may be the future of video games in order to avoid the music industry’s fate, says Electronic Art’s Chief Operating Officer.

“We’re going through, as an industry, just an unbelievably difficult transformation,” said EA COO Peter Moore in an extensive interview with Kotaku, “that is not from one business model to another but from one business model to a myriad of different business models.”  

Despite Moore’s belief that the industry is transitioning to a variety of business models, he predicts the F2P/microtransactions model will be in every game.  

“I think, ultimately, those microtransactions will be in every game, but the game itself or the access to the game will be free…,” he said. “The great majority will never pay us a penny which is perfectly fine with us, but they add to the eco-system and the people who do pay money—the whales as they are affectionately referred to—to use a Las Vegas term, love it because to be number one of a game that like 55 million people playing is a big deal.”

Ultimately, Moore believes that the F2P model is inevitable within the next five to 10 years, and compares it to walking into a store.

“I think there’s an inevitability that happens five years from now, 10 years from now, that, let’s call it the client, to use the term, [is free],” said Moore. “It is no different than… it’s free [for] me to walk into The Gap in my local shopping mall. They don’t charge me to walk in there. I can walk into The Gap, enjoy the music, look at the jeans and what have you, but if I want to buy something I have to pay for it.” 

Moore asserts that the transition is necessary, to avoid becoming like the music industry.  

“Music used to make money selling music,” he notes. “Music is now all about going on tour and concerts, go do corporate appearances, sell your merchandise, build your online website, find ways to do it that way, because they don’t make much money after Apple takes its cut, and that’s where most of us get our music.

“We don’t even see ourselves as a traditional publisher anymore. We’re a digital entertainment company.”  

|Source: Kotaku

After the infamous internet drop during the Global StarCraft II League finals in Las Vegas: why is LAN still not available for StarCraft II? In Kotaku’s continuing interview series with StarCraft II lead designer Dustin Browder answers that very question:

“We got to a point in development where we were trying to deal with creating an online, connected experience for our fans,” Browder explained. “We really wanted everyone to always be hooked up to their buddies all the time. We felt like that would be a way better user experience than just having everybody sort of separated out all the time, hiding out in offline mode.”

Browder says it was a “difficult decision” discussed for years. “We made the decision that since everybody’s connected these days anyway, that it wouldn’t really be too much of an issue.”

Except there was an issue, like the spectacular internet drop in the middle of a major eSports match during the Global StarCraft II League finals that compelled spectators to chant: “We want LAN! We want LAN!” with Browder in attendance.

  

“We have seen in a couple of places, we’ve had some venues who are doing eSport play unable to maintain their Internet connection,” he conceded. “Which was a bit of a surprise for us, but again, it’s not that unreasonable. We’re like, ‘Really you can’t—okay.’”

This prompted Blizzard to implement a “restart from replay” feature, which allows internet dropped players to load up a game file and start exactly where they left off. Resumable replays and other new features are set for release sometime close to StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm’s launch in a free patch that is free and independent from the expansion.

“So if their network gets down… if there’s a brown-out, if somebody’s mouse explodes, you’ll soon have a way to jump right back in and keep playing.”

|Source: Kotaku

Joining the man behind Epic Mickey and Deus Ex, Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto voiced his own concern about the violence that permeates today’s video games.

“Sometimes I get worried about the continued reliance on making games that are so centered around guns, and that there are so many of these games,” Miyamoto told IGN. “I have a hard time imagining—particularly for young generations of gamers—how they sit down and play and interact with that.”

Last week, Warren Spector told GamesIndustry International that the “ultraviolence has to stop” and he believes that the industry is “fetishizing violence.”

|Source: IGN

Headline RePLAY – 6.20.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: The New Super Mario Bros. series is supposed to look the same, Capcom is releasing Okami HD for the PS3 and Solid Snake returns for Metal Gear Solid 5.  

Destructoid contributor Tony Ponce lamented the “visual conformity” of the New Super Mario Bros. series in an editorial late last month—and Nintendo agrees, revealing in an interview that it was an “intentional” design decision and that it is “what people want.”

GameSpot had the opportunity to interview the man in charge of the New Super Mario Bros. series, Takashi Tezuka, and asked why the franchise is “very similar mechanically and visually.”

“It’s intentional,” Tezuka revealed. “That similarity in the visual style and the control style is all intentional. The things we feel like we’ve already promised the gamer is that Peach will be kidnapped by Bowser, and Mario will move from left to right. We know that’s what people are expecting!

“We know that there are all types of Mario games, as you said. So for us, with the New Super Mario Bros. series, we don’t really need to mess with it. This is what people want.”

Tezuka did add, however, that designers are taking “extra consideration” into what “art style” takes advantage of Nintendo’s transition to HD with the Wii U.

|Source: GameSpot

If you missed Okami on the PS2 and the Wii, and the sequel Okamiden on the DS, you may not want to miss Okami’s return—this time to the PS3 and in HD.

Capcom has confirmed the release of Okami HD, remastered for the PS3 with 1080p HD graphics, Trophies and optional PS Move support.

The news was first reported by Twitter user Sinobi (translated via Andriasang), followed by official confirmation from Capcom.

Okami HD is slated for release this fall on PSN and will be priced at $19.99.

|Source: Joystiq

The creative mastermind behind the Metal Gear Solid series has revealed that Solid Snake will be making a return in Metal Gear Solid 5, despite the fact that the developer wanted to “let him die” at the end of Guns of the Patriots. Oh, and the game will be about infiltration, espionage and convincing people to give players ‘a favor.’

“About Metal Gear Solid 5, I can tell you two things,” Hideo Kojima disclosed to French gaming magazine IG. “There will be much question of infiltration, espionage, and convincing people to give you ‘a favor’ like in the last Metal Gear Solid.

“I liked the idea of social interactions in Deus Ex: Human Revolution, but we will see. And if I say more, the female ninja public relations officer, who is behind the door, I will be carved up into pieces,” he warned. “So it’s better that we meet again when the time comes to talk about Metal Gear Solid 5.”

On Metal Gear: Revengeance and Solid Snake’s appearance, he said: “Metal Gear: Revengeance never claimed to be a Metal Gear Solid. This is not a game about our beloved Solid Snake. It is a spinoff that tries something different. We have not yet finished with Solid Snake, despite the fact that I wanted to let him die at the end of Guns of the Patriots.”

Kojima added that the in-house FOX Engine will be used for the upcoming game.

|Source: CVG

Headline RePLAY – 6.19.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: StarCraft: Ghost isn’t returning from the dead anytime soon, StarCraft II on consoles and Seth Killian announces his departure from Capcom.

Fans that are hanging onto hope that Blizzard will revisit StarCraft: Ghost should consider their odds, as Blizzard says the chances of that happening are as likely as the making of Lost Vikings 3.

“There are no plans,” StarCraft II lead designer Dustin Browder told Kotaku bluntly. “I’m not saying we won’t ever, but I’ll tell you what I do know: There are no meetings going on. There is no team. No one talks about doing it.”

“It doesn’t mean that in two years from now, we won’t have those meetings, the team won’t be formed,” Browder hedged, “but there is literally nothing happening around that game right now that would indicate that there’s any likelihood that it will happen. It’s just as likely we’ll do that again as Lost Vikings 3 or whatever. There’s just no guarantees one way or the other, but nothing is happening.

“We are super huge fans of consoles. We love console gaming as players. I wasn’t really party to [the decision to put Ghost on hold] but I know it was a difficult decision.”

StarCraft: Ghost protagonist Nova is making a return in StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, however.

|Source: Kotaku

For StarCraft to return to consoles, it would have to be an “awesome experience” and be an entirely new game, says StarCraft II’s lead designer.

“If I can control a cursor on the television with my head on the touchscreen, that might be able to work,” lead designer Dustin Browder told Kotaku. “[But] because of the hotkey scenario, it’s not like players actually play StarCraft with the mouse only—they play with the mouse and keyboard…  We obviously allow new users to play mouse-only and that’s really fun, but when you get serious about the game you do move into the mouse and keyboard space.”

And while there are no teams “exploring” console versions of StarCraft II, Browder confessed to considering the possibilities and described what it would take to make one.

“So [a console StarCraft] would have to be just an awesome experience,” said Browder. “As an alternative, we’d have to redesign the game for that UI which could be something we can do down the road, but that wouldn’t be a port anymore. That would be a much more serious endeavor with lots of design time and lots of work poured into it.”

It would take new interfaces, new units and new controls—likely be a new game.  “Whatever it takes to make it feel really tight, really clean,” said the lead designer.

“We haven’t seen the system that we felt we could easily do it,” he said. “And that’s not to say that someday we won’t make a really special effort to get it done, cause it certainly would be exciting. We’re just not there yet.”

|Source: Kotaku

Seth “S-Kill” Killian, Capcom USA’s strategic marketing director of online and community and co-founder of the annual EVO fighting game championships, announced his departure from Capcom today; his final day is Friday, June 22nd.

Aside from Capcom producer Yoshinori Ono, Killian is known for his involvement with the Capcom fanbase and being the “face” of Capcom’s fighting games.

Killian didn’t reveal where he’s heading next, but did say he has chosen a “new path” which will let him “embrace a new dream.”

|Source: Capcom-Unity

Headline RePLAY – 6.18.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: EA wants to make Dead Space more “accessible,” Mistwalker is looking into making more action-RPGs and Australia creates an adults-only rating for video games.

What does it take for a franchise like EA’s Dead Space to thrive in the modern AAA, big-budget marketing environment? Accessibility and a massive audience, says  EA Labels boss Frank Gibeau.

“So we embraced that idea [co-op] and we tried to open up the accessibility of the IP a little bit by adding a little bit more action, but not undermining the horror,” Gibeau explains in an interview with CVG.  “We can’t not be a horror game because that’s what Dead Space is.”

“We’re pushing it in areas such as environment, co-op and at the same time we definitely do not want to piss off our fans by taking it too far from horror,” Gibeau elaborated. “We’re very self aware of that—we listen to the fans and we hear them.”

It all comes down to numbers and finances, says Gibeau, citing the massive audience required to maintain the Dead Space franchise.

“In general we’re thinking about how we make this a more broadly appealing franchise, because ultimately you need to get to audience sizes of around five million to really continue to invest in an IP like Dead Space. Anything less than that and it becomes quite difficult financially given how expensive it is to make games and market them. We feel good about that growth but we have to be very paranoid about making sure we don’t change the experience so much that we lose the fanbase.”

|Source: CVG

Beyond making new iOS games, The Last Story’s lead designer Takuya Matsumoto revealed in an interview with GameZone that Mistwalker is looking to make more action-RPGs for the Wii U.

“The development team and Sakaguchi-san are looking forward to making more [action-RPGs],” Matsumoto told GameZone, “especially for the Wii U because it has another [screen] right in front of you that will add another level of strategic elements into the action-RPG. So we are really looking forward to it, but we haven’t really planned anything.”

Interesting! It looks like the Wii U is the system to watch for future action-RPG titles from Mistwalker!

|Source: GameZone

In an effort to curb minors buying “unsuitable material”, the Australian Parliament has created a new adults-only rating in the video games rating system through the passing of the Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Amendment (R18+ Computer Games) Bill 2012.   

“The R18+ category will inform customers, parents and retailers about which games are not suitable for minors to play and will prevent minors from purchasing unsuitable material,” said Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare.

The bill has received overwhelming support, as the R18+ rating allows for more games to reach Australian shores when the previously held MA15+ rating usually banned overseas adult-only games or were given a lower classification, consequently permitting children to buy them.  

|Source: News.com.au