Headline RePLAY – 7.30.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: Massive PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale leaks, Ubisoft plugs a security exploit in their PC games and gender in Minecraft.

A wave of PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale leaks have flooded the internet, purportedly extracted from game data from the recently-released beta, which includes unrevealed characters, stages, items and more.

The data reveals unannounced characters like Dante (Devil May Cry), Evil Cole/Zeke/Nix (inFAMOUS), Sackboy (LittleBigPlanet), Spike (Ape Escape), Sir Daniel Fortesque (MediEvil), Sam (Metal Gear Rising) and Nariko (Heavenly Sword) to name a few.

For a complete list on the leaks, check out the compilation via the source link or the NeoGAF forums.

Of course, Sony declined to comment on the leaks stating how it doesn’t comment on rumors or speculation.

|Source: IGN

A massive security flaw recently uncovered in Ubisoft’s PC games’ “uPLay” application prompted the publisher to release a fix to address the issue.

The exploit specifically lies in the browser plugin that uPlay installs rather than the application itself, which comes with any installation of Ubisoft PC games. A list of Ubisoft games that are affected can be found via the source link below.

While Ubisoft has not publicly acknowledged the security flaw, uPlay has been updated to version 2.04, which states: “Fix addressing browser plugin. Plugin now only able to open uPLay application.”

|Source: Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Markus “notch” Persson is not the lead developer for Minecraft anymore, but he reveals that the popular sandbox game’s protagonists are genderless despite being referred to simply as “Minecraft Guy.”

“If it wasn’t for the fact that that the default Minecraft character is referred to as “Minecraft Guy” and that I once jokingly answered “Steve?” when asked what his name was, Minecraft would be a game where gender isn’t a gameplay element,” said notch.

notch went on to explain how the main character model is to just represent a “Human Being,” neither male or female. “The blocky shape gives it a bit of a traditional masculine look,” notch noted, “but adding a separate female mesh would just make it worse by having one specific model for female Human Beings and male ones.

“That would force players to make a decision about gender in a game where gender doesn’t even exist.”

In regards to mobs and animals, notch explains that they are genderless, and they exhibit the “most prominent traits of both genders.” “Cows have horns and udders (even if I’ve later learned that there are some cows where the females do have horns),” he said, “and chicken/duck/whatevers have heads that look like roosters, but still lay eggs. For breeding, any animal can breed with any other animal of the same species.”

“Also, as a fun side fact, it means every character and animal in Minecraft are homosexual because there’s only one gender to choose from,” notch added. “Take THAT, homophobes!”  

|Source: notch

Headline RePLAY – 7.23.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: Ubisoft feels penalized by the lack of new consoles, Bravely Default: Flying Fairy is like Final Fantasy V and the status on Kojima Productions’ Fox Engine.

Following Square-Enix’s lead, Ubisoft agrees that the current console generation was too long and publishers are consequently “penalized.”  

“We have been penalized by the lack of new consoles on the market,” Ubisoft CEO and co-founder Yves Guillemot told Gamasutra. “I understand the manufacturers don’t want them too often because it’s expensive, but it’s important for the entire industry to have new consoles because it helps creativity.”

Guillemot argues that new consoles allow publishers to explore new IPs and products, but the end of a cycle doesn’t allow that luxury despite consumer demand for “new stuff.”

“It’s a lot less risky for us to create new IPs and new products when we’re in the beginning of a new generation,” he explained. “Our customers are very open to new things. Our customers are reopening their minds—and they are really going after what’s best… At the end of a console generation, they want new stuff, but they don’t buy new stuff as much. They know their friends will play Call of Duty or Assassin’s Creed so they go for that. So the end of a cycle is very difficult.

“If you can’t take risks because people don’t but, you don’t innovate. And if you don’t innovate, customers get bored.”

|Source: Gamasutra

New details released by Dengeki Online reveals that Bravely Default’s gameplay is close to another Square-Enix title, specifically Final Fantasy V.

Bravely Default’s job system is identical to FFV’s by utilizing a Job Commands and Support Commands setup. Job Commands are abilities that characters use during battle while Support Abilities are automatic status effects like +10% HP or a Knight’s ability to cover party members.

Characters can even equip other Job Commands and Support Abilities learned from other jobs—with a cost. Each ability comes with a numerical “cost” value, and the amount of abilities that a character can equip is limited by their cost.  

The 3DS RPG even includes party skits, which are reminiscent of Namco Bandai’s Tales RPG series.

|Source: Andriasang

In an interview with PlayStation.Blog, Metal Gear series creator Hideo Kojima revealed that the new Fox Engine is “nearly finished” and a demonstration will be held on August 30th in Japan.  

“The Fox Engine is nearly finished,” Kojima told PlayStation.Blog, “but the only way to be sure it works is to create a game at the same time and improve the engine with our tools as we go along.”

Kojima noted that they were originally going to use Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance for the project, but that was before Platinum Games picked up the title.  

“Production studios in Japan are nearly extinct,” he said, “a fact that we have recognized for nearly 10 years, and although the Fox Engine is not finished we are ready to show what it can do… on August 30th in Japan to be more specific.”

|Source: PlayStation Blog

Headline RePLAY – 7.9.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: There are no microtransactions on the Final Fantasy VII PC re-release, a unified eShop account for 3DS and Wii U owners and Assassin’s Creed the movie.

It looks like that the re-release of Final Fantasy VII on the PC won’t contain microtransactions, a Square-Enix representative confirmed.

The wording on the “Character Booster” feature for the re-release caused much confusion, as it stated that players can increase character stats and currency “all with a simple click of a button.”

“No the Character Booster will not cost real money to use,” a Square-Enix representative told Kotaku. “We’ll have the final pricing info on the game to share soon, but we can confirm that there will be no microtransactions for the upcoming release of Final Fantasy VII on PC.”

|Source: Kotaku

Rather than bog Nintendo-system owners with multiple eShop accounts for each console, the publisher is implementing a “unified account system.”

“A unified account system will be implemented later this year with the launch of the Wii U,” said David Marshall, a Nintendo Customer Service Representative. “Eventually this same account system will be made compatible with Nintendo 3DS systems.”

Marshall didn’t offer any additional information or whether it’ll work outside the U.S. and Canada.

|Source: Nintendo World Report

Despite the disappointing returns on “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.” Ubisoft is once more adapting one of their franchises for the bigscreen; most specifically Assassin’s Creed, starring and co-produced by Michal Fassbender.  

“Michael Fassbender was our first choice to play the franchise’s iconic hooded hero,” said Ubisoft Motion Pictures CEO Jean-Julien Baronnet. “Michael [Fassbender] is an extremely smart, talented, versatile and committed actor.”

Fassbender had roles in “X-Men: First Class,” “Shame,” “Haywire” and “Prometheus.” The actor has spent the past year developing films with Conor McCaughan, and produced the short “Pitch Black Heist.”   

Ubisoft was originally in talks with Sony late last year to produce a series of “Assassin’s” pictures, but negotiations have been put on hold.

|Source: Variety

Headline RePLAY – 6.13.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: A Zelda game made by Retro Studios is not ruled out, Nintendo’s new paradigm with handhelds and Ubisoft’s faith with the Wii U.

The quest to find out what Retro Studios is secretly working on continues, and this time it ventures into interesting territory: can they be working on a Zelda game?

“Retro is very busy right now, but I’m afraid I can’t say exactly what it is that they’re very busy [working] on,” Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto told IGN’s Richard George, immediately shutting down that line of questioning like Nintendo President of America Reggie Fils-Aime did.

When asked about the prospect of Retro working on a Zelda game, Miyamoto did not rule out the possibility. “In terms of them working on a Zelda, it’s not out of the question, certainly, for them to work on an entire Zelda game amongst themselves.”

“Traditionally I think that the Zelda team has always had a close contact with anyone who’s working on a Zelda game. If you were going to have that happen in the US at Retro, that would be kind of difficult for them to be able to coordinate,” the developer explained. “Certainly they’re too busy for that sort of thing right now. It would probably require me to be involved to a great extent as well, so I would have to get over quite a bit too. I’d probably have to live in Texas… [laughs]”

Not a Zelda game at this time either, then. The search goes on!

|Source: IGN

Nintendo is (in)famous for releasing new revisions on a handheld within a year of each other to extend its shelf life—just look at the DS with the DS Lite, DSi and DSi XL variations, for example. Except with the 3DS Nintendo may instead be looking towards a future generation.  

“I really feel like I’m satisfied with the 3DS hardware as it is,” Shigeru Miyamoto told IGN, when asked about the recent Japanese newspaper Nikkei report of a 3DS XL, and if Nintendo had similar plans. “I feel like it’s the best for this generation.

“What we’re thinking about right now is probably going to be for a future generation of handheld.”

|Source:  IGN

Despite all the rumblings on whether or not Nintendo can make lightning strike twice with the Wii U, Ubisoft boldly gambles on the next-gen console’s success.

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot predicts that the demand for the Wii U will be “strong,” so much so that he expects Nintendo to manufacture 5 more million units within the first six months of the system’s launch.

“Generally, that’s what [Nintendo] does,” Guillemot told Reuters. “The number can be more, it can be less… they are always limited in the number that they can build.”

The Ubisoft CEO dismissed speculation that investment in the Wii U is “risky” because games that are launched with a new system “sell well.”  

“It’s easier at the beginning of the console cycle to astonish people and bring them new experiences than at the end of the cycle,” he explained. “So the risk that is seen as a big risk by many is actually the contrary.”

|Source: Reuters

E3 2012 RePLAY - 6.4.12

MICROSOFT PRESS CONFERENCE

GEARS OF WAR: JUDGEMENT

FABLE: THE JOURNEY

TOMB RAIDER

HALO 4

SPLINTER CELL: BLACKLIST

ASCEND: NEW GODS

SOUTH PARK: THE STICK OF TRUTH

DANCE CENTRAL 3 

EA PRESS CONFERENCE

DEAD SPACE 3

SIMCITY SOCIAL

CRYSIS 3

XCOM: ENEMY UNKNOWN

 
STAR WARS: THE OLD REPUBLIC — NEW CONTENT PREVIEW

EA PARTNERS WITH UFC 

BATTLEFIELD 3: PREMIUM SUBSCRIPTION

UBISOFT PRESS CONFERENCE

ASSASSIN'S CREED 3

ZOMBIU

WATCH DOGS

RAYMAN LEGENDS

THE AVENGERS: BATTLE FOR EARTH

JUST DANCE 4

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 – 3.1.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: Ubisoft confirms Assassin’s Creed 3 speculation, a patent troll is targeting big companies and a new development studio is founded by the creators of Fable.

Confirmation, ahoy! Ubisoft has just confirmed the image we saw yesterday of Assassin’s Creed 3 on their Facebook page by posting the cover art for the game depicting the same white-cloaked, tomahawk-wielding assassin in the backdrop of the Revolutionary and British armies duking it out.

If confirmation from the source wasn’t enough, Game Informer also revealed the art for their April cover story— the same image from yesterday crafted by comic artist Alex Ross.

It looks like the next locale in the war between the Templars and the Assassins is the 18th century: the American Revolution!

*Source: Ubisoft

A patent troll may be on the loose under the guise of “GameTek LLC.” The company is suing companies like Facebook, Zynga and EA over US Patent #7076445: “System and methods for obtaining advantages and transacting the same in a computer gaming environment.” Basically, GameTek claims it patented the use of virtual currency to buy items in a game, which includes almost every modern title in existence.

Industry Gamers tracked the patent back to when it was filed in 2000, which was then granted to Shawn Cartwright in 2006, then assigned to Theados Corporation in 2011, and ultimately passed to GameTek. GameTek previously went bankrupt in 1997 and closed a year after, but is currently not engaged in any business other than pursuing the lawsuit.

GameTek is seeking a judgment on the aforementioned companies for infringing on the patent and to prevent them from doing so again in the future in addition to “reasonable” attorney’s fees and whatever else GameTek may be entitled to.

*Source: Industry Gamers

Fable’s art director, technical director and executive producer all left Lionhead Studios to join the franchise’s creators in forming a new UK-based development studio called “Another Place Productions.”

Simon Carter, one of the two brothers that created Fable, left Lionhead last June in hopes to join his brother, Dene Carter, working on games for digital platforms like XBLA, PSN, Steam and mobile devices. Other members of the Fable team that joined the Carter brothers include art director John McCormack, technical director Guillaume Portes and executive producer Jeremie Texier.  

Another Place Productions’ mission is to create “high-quality, meaningful experiences that will inspire audiences worldwide.”

It is unknown how their departure will affect the development of the Kinect-centric Fable: The Journey, or any other projects.

*Source: Gamasutra

Headline RePLAY – 2.17.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: One of BioWare’s best retires, about half of Japanese developers are returning a profit and Ubisoft’s jarring prices for Dungeon Hunter: Alliance.

Drew Karpyshyn, writer and contributor to the first two Mass Effect games and recently Star Wars: The Old Republic, has retired from BioWare and is moving onto writing novels, screenplays and other projects.

“I’m proud of everything we [BioWare] accomplished, and I know going forward that BioWare will continue to live up to its well deserved reputation for making the best story driven games in the industry,” wrote Karpyshyn on his blog.

In his twelve years of service at BioWare he wrote in the Baldur’s Gate series, Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire and of course, Mass Effect and Star Wars: The Old Republic.

As to foreshadow his novelist aspirations, Karpyshyn also wrote the Baldur’s Gate, Mass Effect and Star Wars: The Old Republic books.

“The Dragon Age games and the continued success of the Mass Effect series after my departure make it pretty clear that BioWare can get along just fine without me,” assured Karpyshyn.

“I’ll always have fond memories of Bioware, and a great appreciation for everything it meant to me. But my future is wide open, and I can’t wait to see what’s in store. (Plus, now I’ll have more time for golf.)”

*Source: Drew Karpyshyn’s Blog

A recent report is showing that only 55% of Japanese development studios are profitable, and nearly half of them lost money over the past two years.

The study was conducted by Mirko Ernkvist, a researcher at the University of Gothenburg. Ernkvist found almost half of the companies sampled in the study didn’t break-even and the average profit margin was minus 2.6%— a loss.

The report attributed the poor performance to declining exports both domestically and internationally, increasing development costs and Japan’s own economic challenges.

*Source: Develop

I heard of price disparity but this has to be the most baffling case of it: Ubisoft’s Dungeon Hunter: Alliance is going for a retail price of $39.99 on the PlayStation Vita.

On PSN the title is priced at $12.99 and on iTunes it’s currently at $0.99. I had a brain aneurysm seeing the gap for what amounts to be the same game.

According to Destructoid's Jim Sterling, the PS Vita iteration does have a “few minor alterations” but he ultimately deemed it as an “ostensibly a big port.”

*Source: Destructoid

Headline RePLAY – 2.15.12

Today on Headline RePLAY: Assassin's Creed III release date is revealed, lots of Resident Evil 6 information to share and is Guild Wars 2 coming to consoles?

In a rather straightforward announcement, Ubisoft has revealed that Assassin's Creed III will be out this fall on October 30, 2012.

No other details were given, undoubtedly to be distributed as we inch closer to the release date.

“We will push the title a lot because it’s a fantastic product that the team has been working for three years,” said Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot. “What we have seen is just fabulous.”

*Source: GameInformer

Like an incoming wave of zombies, Capcom is handing out Resident Evil 6 details en masse today via this week’s Famitsu. Are you prepared for the incoming horde of information?

• RE6 is 50% complete.
• It’s not a return to the series’ roots, despite the added horror atmosphere.
• Aiming to be the best entry to the series.
• The third main character is designed to be relatable to younger audiences. 
• Also will have an unrevealed partner character.
• The President in the trailer is not Ashley’s dad, but rather his predecessor.
• Zombies are not creations of the T-Virus
• Can now wield weapons, run and jump.
• Introduction of new “J’avo” enemies.
• Exhibits certain human qualities like the ability to understand speech, work as a group and use weapons.
• J’avos can regenerate damage via mutations into varied forms to promote unpredictability and player adaptability.
• Revamped control scheme: ability to slowly move left and right while holding a gun, perform 180 degree turns, slide, roll in any direction, take cover, etc.  

It’s a lot of information to handle at once, but nothing a few headshots can’t handle, eh?  

*Source: Andriasang

ArenaNet publicly flirted with the idea of Guild Wars 2 on consoles before, but never hinted at any serious consideration of it. According to Guild Wars Insider, Guild Wars 2 coming on consoles has abruptly become an actual possibility via details gathered from a conference call.

“When it [console] comes to Guild Wars 2 as we have announced already, we are in the preparation stage. For other titles we are looking at various options as we speak. So once again, nothing has been finalized yet for me to make specific comments now.”  

After this made the rounds on the internet, ArenaNet has stepped in to clarify. “I think ‘stay calm, don’t panic’ will become my new mantra,” said ArenaNet’s Martin Kerstein. “We stated multiple times in public that we have a small team working on a console version, but we are fully dedicated to make the most kickass game for PC.”

*Source: Guild Wars Insider