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
