Headline RePLAY – 4.18.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: The makers of Angry Birds reject a $2 billion acquisition offer, Ubisoft gets sued for its Assassin's Creed series and the next God of War title gets leaked early.

Recently we heard of Zynga’s $180 million acquisition of Omgpop, the makers of the hit app Draw Something. However, did you know that Zynga tried to buy out Rovio Entertainment, the studio responsible for Angry Birds, with an offer of more than $2 billion?

Rovio has rejected the offer and declined to comment.

Bloomberg reports this is part of Zynga’s new strategy to counter Electronic Arts in the mobile gaming market by acquiring many “high-growth hits” like Draw Something to add to the company’s portfolio. Zynga has even recruited former EA executive Barry Cottle for this purpose.

“They are not really that competent in mobile, and they need to be,” said Wedbush Securities Inc. analyst Michael Pachter. “It’s the way that a big chunk of the world accesses the Internet.”

Pachter observes that the acquisition war may have unintended consequences: “You are going to have a lot of developers swinging for the fences and trying to hit it fast and hope Zynga will give them a couple hundred million dollars.”

|Source: Bloomberg

Ubisoft is being sued by John L. Beiswenger, the author of the novel Link, over alleged similarities between his book and the Assassin’s Creed series.

Beiswenger claims that the “Link device” and “Link lab” are “integral part” of the novel’s plot and setting, which the suit claims is similar to the Animus and Animus 2.0 in the Assassin’s Creed games. Other similarities include “spiritual and biblical tones, with references made to Jesus and God, the Garden of Eden, and the forbidden fruit.”

The novel even has references to assassins and assassinations.

The suit is requesting $1.05 million worth in damages for each Assassin’s Creed product released since 2007 or $5.25 million if the judge rules that Ubisoft has deliberately infringed on Beiswenger’s work in addition to preventing the release of Assassin’s Creed III.

|Source: GamesIndustry International

Like most things on the internet, it gets leaked early—like the next God of War game, which was inadvertently revealed by an Amazon.com product page, complete with box art and trailer.

The latest installment in the series is titled God of War: Ascension and it follows Kratos before he became the “Ghost of Sparta” or “a time when something other than rage consumed him.”

And that little narrative detail definitely nails it as a prequel.   

|Source: NeoGAF

Headline RePLAY – 3.22.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: Angry Birds Space blastoffs into release, a survey on where mobile games are mostly played and Tetsuya Nomura reveals more Kingdom Hearts 3D details.  

Angry Birds Space is now out on Android, iOS, PC and Mac to wreak havoc on your free time everywhere with planetary bird bombardment!

To celebrate its release, Rovio and T-Mobile has teamed up to construct a 300-foot slingshot, Angry Bird included, atop the Seattle Space Needle— and hosting a party serving Angry Bird cupcakes!

Rovio certainly knows how to throw a launch party!   

*Source: Joystiq

Are mobile games only played outside the home, sans the bathroom? Social game site MocoSpace went out to answer that question in a February survey that collected the responses of 15,000 players and the answer may surprise you: most mobile gaming is done at home.

• 96% play games at home.
• 64% play at work.
• 46% play during class.
• 25% play while at the gym.

Interestingly, when participants were asked where at home they played, 53% played in bed while only 5% played in the bathroom.

“This report should make every console gaming company nervous,” said MocoSpace CEO Justin Siegel, “Mobile gaming is not a companion to consoles, but rather it's attacking them on their home turf: the couch, the La-Z-Boy and even the bedroom.”

*Source: Kotaku

Kingdom Hearts 3D director, Tetsuya Nomura, returns in part 2 of Famitsu magazine’s interview to discuss the upcoming title’s themes and new features.

There were two parts to creating Kingdom Hearts 3D, Nomura explains: colors and keywords.

“For Kingdom Hearts 3D, I started off with an image of colors. I thought to myself, ‘Black and pink,’” said Nomura, “We always chose a thematic image color, but this time, interestingly enough, that was where we started.”

“In Birth by Sleep, ‘sleep’ was one of the keywords we focused on, and we talked about what the main character Sora must do,” continued Nomura. “We took the word ‘sleep’ and moved beyond it to the realm of ‘dreams.’”

Nomura then moved onto new features unseen in other Square-Enix titles, like the ability to skip cutscenes and view them later. This feature particularly helps in the mobile department where players might not have the time to watch a cutscene for a number of reasons.

“This was due both to a change we made with the non-interactive cutscenes in Final Fantasy Versus XIII, and because we wanted to maintain a tempo of the game where the player could limit the amount of time where they weren't in direct control,” explained Nomura.

Additionally, a memoir feature was added, which allows players to view the overall plot of the entire Kingdom Hearts series in order to lower the level of entry for new players.

“With so many games in the series, a lot of unfamiliar players can get confused. This way, newer players who might be nervous about starting from the latest game can jump right in.”

*Source: Kotaku

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 – 2.2.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: It’s all about numbers as Star Wars: The Old Republic shows its strength in the Force, Capcom reports heavy losses and Mass Effect 3 is hitting the mobile and handheld market!

The Force is strong with BioWare’s Star Wars: The Old Republic as EA reported the MMO now has 1.7 million active subscribers.

Active subscribers were defined as players already paying or still in their trial period. EA’s chief financial officer Eric Brown told Market Watch that EA netted more subscribers than originally expected.

Since the game launched late last December, it has sold over 2 million copies.  

*Source: Market Watch

Joining the ranks of Nintendo in the “Start 2012 with Losses” club, Capcom reported a 29% loss in net sales over the last 9 months of the fiscal year. As a result, the company’s operating income fell by a massive 47.2%.

However, there was some silver lining in the report: Monster Hunter 3(Tri) G sold over one million copies and titles like Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Dead Rising 2: Off the Record sold well overseas.

Additionally, Capcom’s recent success with mobile games has mitigated some of the financial damage.

*Source: Capcom

Mass Effect 3 is coming for handhelds and mobile devices! But it’s not going to be on the 3DS or PS Vita or even be a game! …wait, what?

“There will be "handheld/mobile" products tied to Mass Effect 3, as noted in our past few earnings announcements. They are part of the Galaxy at War system. We will have more details to share soon,” an EA rep told Kotaku.

Galaxy of War is a system in Mass Effect 3 where players can accumulate “Galactic Readiness” points by playing in the single-player campaign or multiplayer. The points are then spent to obtain the better endings in the game.

Other than EA stating that it would involve the Galaxy of War system, whether the mobile/handheld tie-in will be a game or an app is anyone’ s guess.

*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