In this week's roundup, we talk about the new Capcom retail store and their many sculptures, some upcoming free-to-play games, Remedy's mysterious next-gen title, what we know about Obsidian's Kickstarter game project, speculate over Namco Bandai's teaser site, the Twisted Metal Axel patch being more than people bargained for, how MLB.TV will change the way gamers watch sports, Ubisoft's opinions on DRM, and the next best thing to be bitten by a radioactive spider.
Video Game News
1. Capcom Launches Retail Store
A Capcom retail shop is set to open in Tokyo on April 14th this year where they will hold events, provide free wi-fi for gamers and, according to Destructoid, "one of a kind sculptures" - bizarre. On top of the standard merch, however, the store is also expected to carry exclusive products previously only available on their e-store, E-Capcom. Anyone in the Tokyo area this year should check it out... or you can just wait until the Super or Ultimate Capcom store opens, which is said to be pretty much the same, but with more sculptures.
Source: Destructoid
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2. 'Sniper: Ghost Warrior' Devs Announce Free-To-Play 'World Of Mercenaries'
The people behind Sniper: Ghost Warrior, City Interactive, have announced World of Mercenaries, a free-to-play PC FPS that will be powered by the Unreal Engine 3. There is practically no details other than its name and the fact it exists, at this point, but City Interactive did have some nice adjectives to throw out about the game, stating that it's, "a skill based competitive FPS with stunning graphics, fluid controls, customisable weapons and focus on teamwork". Bogdan Oprescu, executive producer on the game, claims they have a devoted veteran team of FPS fans and that they, combined with feedback from the closed beta, will help shape the future of competitive FPS games. Check out a few pieces of concept art over at Eurogamer.
Source: Eurogamer
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3. Remedy Hiring For Next-Gen Project
News or hints of studios working on projects for next-gen consoles are popping up everywhere these days, which adds a lot of evidence that this generation of consoles is slowly creeping to their end. Remedy is joining that action and is currently hiring for an unannounced next-gen game saying it is "on the very brink of creating the games of the future."
"Remedy Entertainment is looking for world-class talent to work on an unannounced project targeted at future generation consoles. More than 20 new positions will become available within the next few months. The first batch of positions will go live as soon as Friday 30th of March."
At this point it's completely up in the air as to what the studio is cooking up, but it certainly isn't Max Payne as the studio sold the rights to Take-Two, having Rockstar develop it. No one is even sure when the next generation of consoles will arrive since Microsoft and Sony have been ultra hush-hush about it all. So, while it's nice to hear that things are in motion, the gaming world will just have to wait patiently until details start churning out... or you could apply for one of these gigs and see what it's all about (Psst. If you do, let us know what it is).
Source: Shack News
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4. MLB.TV On Xbox LIVE
Those nerds interested in sports can get their bro on in a whole new way through MLB.TV on Xbox Live, a personalized and interactive way to watch games. For those who have no interest in sports, MLB stands for Major League Baseball. Xbox owners can see games, recaps, highlights every time they turn on their Xbox and then watch every out-of-market regular season Major League Baseball game, almost 100 games per week, live or on-demand. In-between rounds of Gears of War, of course.
In addition, MLB.TV allows gamers to select favorite teams, prominently displaying them at the forefront of their Xbox Live experience. There is a mini guide to preview the day's games and, if it's too hard to decide between two, watch them at the same time using the split screen feature. Kinect gesture and voice controls can be used to navigate MLB.TV, for those who still want to keep it a little nerdy.
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5. Obsidian Kickstarter
Confirmed through a tweet by studio dude Chris Avellone, an Obsidian Kickstarter is being worked on. Specifically, Avellone had this to say when asked about the project: “No news yet except we’re still working on it.” Obsidian is currently working on South Park: The Game, which has potential, but a recently ditched next-gen project and some layoffs have been bummers for the studio. It's hard to go into speculation mode about what the project could be at this point, but their Kickstarter could garner some success financially. It worked for Double Fine.
Source: VG247
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6. Angry Birds Space Hits 10 Million Downloads
In not surprising news, Rovio has confirmed that Angry Birds Space was downloaded 10 million times in its first three days on the app store. They exuberantly tweeted: “10 million Angry Birds Space downloads in less than 3 days! Thanks to our fans, stay tuned for more!”
Surprised? We thought not.
Source: VG247
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7. 'Phantasy Star Online 2' Is Free-To-Play
Sega dished on some of the finer details for Phantasy Star Online 2 involving its pricing and its cross platform play. PSO2 will be free to download and play - earning its money through item transactions, something familiar to mobile gamers. Originally strictly for PC and Vita owners, the game will now also be available to smartphone owners, which will be more simplified. Character creation and controls will be simpler and will integrate more social elements into the game, making it more "personal". However, the PC and Vita versions will be the only ones offering cross platform play, the smartphone will just share data will the other versions.
The PC version will be arriving sometime in early summer, then the smartphone version this Winter and finally the Vita version in Spring 2013. A closed beta is expected to start sometime in April.
Source: Andriasang.com
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8. Ubisoft Talks Future Of DRM
Ubisoft's digital boss Chris Early spoke with Eurogamer about DRM for PC games eventually going away by applying MMO type systems. Early said, "Is it fair for someone to enjoy our content without us receiving some value for that? I think at the core of that is, no. Otherwise, other than works of charity, there would be few games made. The balance, however, is, how do we do anything about that and not harm the person who is giving us value for that?" Early continued to speak about on-going content development, content releases that are staples of MMOs being used toward other PC games.
As the rest of the game industry continues to evolve, the more you hear more about cloud gaming, the more you hear about companion gaming, the less a pirated game should work in all of that environment.
Essentially, Early figures that people who want a broader experience will be less inclined to pirate.
Source: VG247
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9. Namco Bandai Teasing New Announcement
Namco Bandai recently opened a teaser site that is simply adorned with a giant, flashing X and everyone has their theories. One possibility is that the site is for Tekken X Street Fighter, the flip of Capcom's take on the crossover released earlier this year. Siliconera suggests the new project could be a game linked with the Hunter X Hunter anime series, which has recently been remade by Japanese animation studio Madhouse. Andriasang.com notes that the tease has been updated to include familiar PlayStation associated controller logos next to text that reads "action adventure," which, if true, would rule it out as a fighter.
Source: CVG & Andriasang.com
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10. Twisted Metal Axel Pre Order Bonus Coming In Next Patch
CO Director and Lead Designer for Twisted Metal David Jaffe confirmed in a tweet that Axel will be free in the next patch saying, "Axel for free and for all+ a special surprise skin (for all vehicles) hits with the next patch."
Jaffe later stated that originally Axel was only available to people who pre-ordered Twisted Metal, but, for whatever reason, will be free and available to everyone. In addition, there will be a surprise skin for all characters. Jaffe also uploaded a video where he talks about the party system, fixes, tweaks and other topics and can be viewed here.
Source: MP1st
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11. 'Amazing Spider Man' Will Have Move Support
The final box art for the PS3 version of The Amazing Spider-Man revealed that the game will be PlayStation Move compatible and was confirmed by Jonathan Gendron, PR manager at Beenox, the studio in charge of development. iWaggle3d notes the box displays two Move controller instead of the traditional Move-Navi combo, conjuring images of the controllers being used for some realistic, two-handed, web-slinging action - more so if they are taped to the wrist. There is also a "web rush" mechanic that allows players to move through the environment in first person perspective that could utilize the controllers beautifully.
Source: iWaggle3d
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