EA not developing any more games for Wii U
14
EA has confirmed what was already apparent from its release schedule: the publishing giant is no longer making games for Nintendo's Wii U console.
"We have no games in development for the Wii U currently," EA spokesperson Jeff Brown told Kotaku.
The platform was conspicuously absent from the announcements of upcoming EA games including Battlefield 4, Madden NFL 25 and FIFA 14.
With EA having just inked a deal with Disney to develop Star Wars games, the publisher's position could see Nintendo's console missing some key third-party franchises.
However, Brown said EA hasn't ruled out developing for Wii U again in the future.
Metro dev "was never playing on a level field" – former THQ boss
10
Jason Rubin, the former president of THQ and co-founder of Naughty Dog, has lauded Metro: Last Light for its technical and creative achievements while drawing attention to the working conditions at Ukraine-based developer 4A Games.
"The budget of Last Light is less than some of its competitors spend on cut scenes, a mere 10 percent of the budget of its biggest competitors," Rubin wrote in a post on GamesIndustry.
"Yet it is lauded for its story and atmosphere. It is built on a completely original and proprietary second-generation engine that competes with sequels that have stopped numbering themselves, with more engineers on their tech than 4A has on the entire project. Yet its tech chops are never in question."
Assassin's Creed 4 sales forecast lower than AC3
3
Ubisoft is "conservatively" forecasting sales of Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag to be lower than last year's Assassin's Creed III.
The publisher thinks the upcoming game's Golden Age of Piracy theme may be received by a global audience even better than the American Revolution was in Assassin's Creed III, but has set its expectations lower "to be prudent".
Assassin's Creed III is the best-selling title in the series so far, achieving a remarkable 12.5 million units shipped in the financial year ended 31st March 2013.
Ubisoft suspends Désilets' game 1666 indefinitely
Ubisoft has indefinitely suspended development on 1666, following the dismissal of Patrice Désilets, creative lead on this game, and creative director on Assassin’s Creed and Assassin’s Creed II.
Désilets left Ubisoft to set up a new Montreal-based studio with THQ. When that publisher folded earlier this year, Ubisoft picked up the studio and its intellectual property. However, Désilets was dismissed two months later.
In an investor call last night, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said, “After more than two months of discussion with [Désilets], we couldn't align our vision both on project development and team management. Consequently our collaboration has ended. We have suspended development on 1666 for an undisclosed time.”
Polyphony considering Gran Turismo 6 for PS4
5
Yesterday, Sony unveiled Gran Turismo 6, and scheduled its release on PlayStation 3 for later this year.
To the disappointment of many fans, Gran Turismo 6 was not confirmed for Sony’s next console, the PlayStation 4, also slated for this holiday season.
Kazunori Yamauchi, head of Gran Turismo development studio Polyphony, has said that a PlayStation 4 version is possible at a later date.
EA to drop Online Pass system
9
Online Passes for EA titles will be a thing of the past, according to the publisher, which said it made the decision based on player feedback.
“Yes, we’re discontinuing Online Pass,” EA senior director of corporate communications John Reseburg told VentureBeat. “None of our new EA titles will include that feature.”
The Online Pass programme was instituted by EA as a way to earn revenue from second-hand sales of its games. A code for online access would be supplied with copies of the game purchased new, which would unlock online features including multiplayer. The code could only be redeemed once, which meant second-hand purchasers would need to buy a new code from EA if the original purchaser already redeemed it.
Sony announces Gran Turismo 6
39
Sony and Polyphony have unveiled Gran Turismo 6, and say the game is coming to PlayStation 3 later this year.
The announcement was slightly botched when a press release fired ahead of the scheduled announcement at the Silverstone raceway, one of seven new tracks to feature in the game. Australia’s Mount Panorama track in Bathurst is also rumoured to be on that list.
Gran Turismo 6 will boast a roster of over 1200 cars, 33 locations and 71 layouts.
Sony’s next console, the PlayStation 4, was not named as a supported platform for Gran Turismo 6. Instead, Kazunori Yamauchi said in a statement, “We're pleased to deliver GT6 to PlayStation 3 as we have a very loyal community on that platform.”
UK LulzSec hackers jailed
4
Four UK hackers affiliated with the group LulzSec have been sentenced to jail for their parts in attacks on organisations and companies including the CIA, and game publishers such as Sony, EA, and Bethesda.
The four defendants had all pleaded guilty. Ryan Cleary received the longest sentence, 32 months, after confessing to additional attacks on the US Air Force, and for possessing indecent images of babies and children, reports the BBC.
Ryan Ackroyd was sentenced to 30 months, and Jake Davis was sentenced to 24 months. Mustafa al-Bassam received a 20 month suspended sentence.
EA announces DICE Los Angeles with focus on Star Wars games
EA has announced the opening of a new studio that will develop games based on the Star Wars universe.
DICE Los Angeles is an offshoot of the Swedish-based developer DICE, the creator of the critically acclaimed Battlefield series.
Earlier this month EA signed a multi-year agreement with Disney, the new owner of the Star Wars property, to develop core console and PC games based on Star Wars.
Square Enix losses due to restructure, poor sales in US and Europe
12
As expected Square Enix has reported a ¥13.7 billion (NZ$163 million) loss for the 2013 financial year.
The loss comes despite revenues of ¥148.84 billion (NZ$1.77 billion) and a net sales increase of 15.7 per cent.
An extraordinary loss incurred due to company-wide reforms was to blame, said Square Enix.
Google celebrates 37th birthday of Breakout
2
Breakout turns 37 today, and Google has thrown it a small celebration.
Typing "Atari Breakout" into the Google Image search box kicks off a game of Breakout – complete with score count – that uses the image thumbnails as blocks.
Breakout was an arcade smash when released in 1976 by Atari, and official ports to consoles like the Atari 2600 proved equally popular.
Ubisoft considering ZombiU sequel
1
A sequel to Wii U survival horror title ZombiU is in the prototype phase at Ubisoft.
The project was mentioned by Ubisoft Montpellier's Jean-Philippe Caro on Twitter in response to a fan question.
Ubisoft has since told Eurogamer that the project is yet to be greenlit.
Bethesda releases new Wolfenstein: The New Order screenshots
2
Bethesda has released 11 new Wolfenstein: The New Order screenshots.
The game is set in an alternate past where Nazi Germany won World War II. As B.J. Blazkowicz, players must singlehandedly take down this new order.
Wolfenstein is in development at MachineGames, a studio composed of many former members of Starbreeze. It is built on the id tech 5 engine.
Nvidia Shield will retail for US$349
12
The Nvidia Shield will be available late June in the US and Canada for US$349 (NZ$425), Nvidia has announced.
Pre-orders for the device will be open from May 21, and it comes with two games – Expendable: Rearmed and Sonic 4 Episode II THD.
The Shield is a five-inch portable Android game console that can also stream PC games from a nearby PC – to a TV if required.
It runs standard Android 4.2.1 and features 2GB of RAM, a retinal multitouch 720p display, tuned bass reflex drivers for audio, a micro-SD card slot, a GPS chip, and a mini-HDMI 4K output.
The system’s Tegra 4 processor features a quad-core Cortex-A15 CPU, 72 GPU cores, and provides six times the graphics muscle of its predecessor, according to Nvidia.
News Index
Subscribe
Don't miss a thing - get the top gaming stories delivered to your inbox every day.
