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
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