Star Wars: Old Republic Will Have Limited Launch Copies
Available copies of Star Wars: The Old Republic will be intentionally limited during its initial launch period, both for retail and digital sales. Reportedly this is for server stability reasons, or so an EA representative at Gamescom explained: once a certain number of copies are activated, EA will temporarily cut off digital sales (which are available exclusively through EA’s Origin system) and work on expanding the servers to compensate.
EA’s Frank Gibeau had indicated that such expansion will occur shortly after launch, stating that “We’ll be able to scale up and light up new severs on a fairly quick basis. We’ve got a plan to do that over the months following ship, and we’ve got a lot of capacity built into that.” No indication was given of what the player count threshold might be to restrict sales, though EA has previously indicated a substantial, albeit unspecified, number of preorders.
The Old Republic has not yet received a release date.
Source: 1UP
Zelda: Skyward Sword to Hit Shelves This November
Nintendo has just announced that Skyward Sword, the latest Wii-bound Zelda title, will launch on November 20. In case you’re wondering, yes, that’s in time for Black Friday.
Source: 1UP
Neverwinter Delayed to 2012, D&D Rights Dispute Settled
The D&D-based Neverwinter, a co-op RPG being developed by Cryptic Studios, has been pushed back to “late 2012” from its intended 2011 release. This news comes in the wake of a settlement between Hasbro and Atari over development and distribution rights, as Cryptic had previously been owned by Atari before being picked up by Perfect World earlier this year. Atari gained the rights to “several games,” while Hasbro keeps digital licensing rights for D&D in general.
Source: 1UP
DQ Heroes: Rocket Slime is About Returning Seven Orb Thingies
Some plot details have been explained regarding Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime 3. Key treasures of the Slime Kingdom, the seven Niji Orbs, have been stolen by the Tails Brigade. This is where you come in as presumably a bad enough slime to go get them back. Thus you set sail on the Slime Ship, which you will have to defend on occasion. Enemies can board the ship and even destroy it if you fail to protect the engine room.
Source: Andriasang
Breath of Fire IV Released on PSN
In case you were looking for a PSX-era RPG to spend six bucks on, Breath of Fire IV has been released on the PlayStation Network as a PSOne Classic. Just throwing that out there.
Namco Bandai, Nitro Plus Bringing Madoka RPG to PSP
Dengeki PlayStation has revealed that Namco Bandai and Nitro Plus (Stein’s Gate, Phantom of Inferno) are co-developing an “adventure dungeon RPG” based on the anime series Mahou Shojo Madoka Magica. Featuring turn-based movement through dungeons, Mahou Shojo Madoka Magica Portable is billed as a roguelike and reportedly is based off the anime, though the game will introduce new areas.
Standard and limited editions come up to 6480 and 11900 respectively, with the latter adding a bonus figure, illustration collection, and such. Both versions are scheduled for a March 15, 2012 release in Japan.
Source: Andriasang
Square Enix Offers to Let Fans Try FFXIII-2
With a playable version of Final Fantasy XIII-2 set for the Tokyo Game Show, Square Enix has announced plans for an early demo event. Hosted at their Tokyo office in Shinjuku Ward, the demo event will select a total of forty people in two phases of twenty to try the game. The meetup is scheduled for September 10, and anyone interested in attending can apply at the official site up through August 24.
Source: Andriasang
Nippon Ichi: Disgaea 3 for Vita, Other Games Announced
Nippon Ichi has confirmed that a port-slash-remake of Disgaea 3 is in the works for the PS Vita. Subtitled Disgaea 3: Return, the game will include all DLC featured in the PS3 version along with two new characters and four new scenarios. There has also been discussion of post-release DLC, though with the system itself not yet released there are few details at this time.
In addition, the company stated that four other games are being developed: an action RPG from the Prinny team, a new title from the Disgaea team, another game from System Prisma (the Cladun people), and a Japanese release of “a 3DS game that was popular overseas.” No platforms were specified.
Return is expected to debut at the Tokyo Game Show in September.
Sources: 1UP, Andriasang
What Happened This Week – Mr. Keynes’ Wild Ride
Come one, come all, we got all the news you have time for and then some! Well, okay more like all the news I can squeeze into a 15-minute podcast. And, well, actually it’s more like news and analysis and WHATEVER YOU’RE NOT THE POLICE OF ME!
In today’s cavity-fighting* episode:
- Minecraft studio Mojang, which I took a stab at pronouncing, finds itself sued by ZeniMax over use of the word “Scrolls.” I wish I were joking, and so does Bethesda.
- Someone looks to hand Rovio a fat sack of cash for purposes yet unknown. Who could benefit from Rovio owing them money? Oh, where to begin.
- 3DS analysis: Reggie discusses where it stumbled and the plan for going forward. Yeah, who among us could have predicted that launching without Zelda could be a problem?
- Meanwhile, Sony refuses to blink in reaction to the 3DS price cut. All they have to do is not run stupid advertising. How hard could it be, right? …guys?
- Reggie also makes passing mention of “watching what happens in Europe” when asked about Xenoblade, The Last Story, and Pandora’s Tower. Deliberate troll or accidental? You decide!
- What doesn’t worry me: Lonesome Road‘s delay. What does: the possibility of being unable to convey my confusion over whatever Ulysses’ deal is.
- As promised last week, I offer a semi-postmortem on the recent market insanity and what lies in store for us down the road. Bottom line, brace yourselves and get popcorn.
Continue reading ‘What Happened This Week – Mr. Keynes’ Wild Ride’ »
The 3rd Birthday – Staff Review
Long feared to be a dead series, the announcement of The 3rd Birthday caused no small amount of surprise and delight amongst fans of Parasite Eve. Unfortunately, the finished product cannot be said to have the same effect. Featuring an overcomplicated mess of a plot, suicidal AI, and an actively hateful interface, The 3rd Birthday has fundamental issues that really prevent it from being enjoyable. There are some good points, of course: the game is great at creating a sense of tension, has a huge amount of replay value, and it presents some unique ideas in gameplay. It’s unfortunate that these ideas are buried under the weight of the game’s less player-friendly elements, to the point where it becomes difficult to recommend The 3rd Birthday even to fans of the series.
Continue reading ‘The 3rd Birthday – Staff Review’ »
Cladun x2 Release Date Revealed
NIS America has just announced the release date for Cladun x2, the sequel to Cladun: This is an RPG. The title will go live on August 30, exclusively on the PlayStation Network.
For more information, check out the game’s official site located somewhere over here.
Demo Coming for Final Fantasy Type-0
Via Famitsu is the news that Final Fantasy Type-0 will see a public demo version prior to release. The demo, dubbed “Natsubi,” is a modified version of a demo shown at an Odaiba event a few weeks ago. No timeframe was given on the demo’s release.
Source: Andriasang
Legend of Heroes Boosts Falcom Earnings Forecasts
Strong sales and preorders for the Legend of Heroes series have prompted developer Nihon Falcom to raise its yearly earnings forecasts. Two titles in particular – Zero no Kiseki and the upcoming Ao no Kiseki – were cited for the change, and for the period of October 2010 to September 2011 the company now expects net earnings of 125 million yen, up from previous estimates of 75 million.
Source: Andriasang
Nintendo Announces Contest for Zelda Flipnotes
As part of their Zelda 25th Anniversary celebration, Nintendo has announced an unusual fan contest based on flipnote submissions: short Zelda-themed animations made either on paper or with the DSi’s Flipnote Studio. Contest winners will be examined by key Nintendo staffers – Shigeru Miyamoto and Eiji Aonuma were specified – and added to the Zelda anniversary website, which is being set up here.
Submissions must be in by September 9.
Source: 1UP
Borderlands 2 Officially Confirmed, Details Unveiled
With ongoing speculation of Borderlands 2‘s unofficial existence, the title has now been formally announced by developer Gearbox. CEO Randy Pitchford was reportedly disappointed that the information had been leaked, but it was confirmed that the title will see a release sometime in publisher Take-Two’s 2013 Fiscal Year; sometime between April 1 of 2012 and March 31 of 2013.
Some details about the gameplay were revealed as well. Borderlands 2, like its predecessor, is a four-player co-op shooter, though players will control a new cast of characters with the originals appearing simply as NPCs. The three-branch skill tree remains intact, and Eridium now serves as both currency and the means to upgrade weapons and vehicles. NPC interactions are reportedly deeper as well, from conversation to enemy AI. And lest we forget, the iconic yet annoying robot Claptrap will show up in the game as well.
Diablo III to Require Constant Connection, Prompting Outcry and Response
The upcoming Diablo III will require that players stay connected to the internet, even for single player, due to new Battle.net and auction house features. Reacting to the news, fans expressed frustration over the design decision, stating that the game won’t be playable for those without a stable internet connection and that pirates will simply crack the restriction anyway.
In response to the complaints, Blizzard’s online technologies Robert Bridenbecker explained the decision to require a constant connection. Having an offline mode would mean “introducing a separate user flow, a separate path that players are going to go down. And, at the end of the day, how many people are going to want to do that? It then becomes a matter of having to find a way to deal with those offline players when they suddenly want to go online. Do they then have to leave everything behind? We said we don’t want to look at that [in Diablo III]. Let’s just keep everything clean.” He also stated that preventing piracy wasn’t a major consideration for this decision.
No release date has been announced.
Source: 1UP
FNV Lonesome Road DLC Delayed Past August
As many Couriers are aware, the final planned DLC for Fallout New Vegas was originally slated to release back in July. In a post on the official forums, senior producer Jason Bergman stated that “due to circumstances beyond our control, Lonesome Road won’t be out this month.” The team is reportedly working to release it ASAP, but no timeframe was given.
Source: Joystiq
