CVG News Roundup 02/11/2013 - 02/15/2013

The following is summarized news from articles we published between 02/11/2013 and 02/15/2013 on CVGames. The original links can be found at the bottom of the article.

The game showed almost a year ago, Infinity Blade: Dungeons, alongside the iPad 3, has been put on hold as Epic Games and Impossible Studios, who were part of Big Huge Games and Kingdoms of Amalur, are no longer working on the project and no longer a part of Epic.

"Epic Games has truly embraced this stellar collection of developers who were displaced by the closing of Big Huge Games They have looked after us with complete care, giving us all the tools and resources we need to make a lot of gamers happy."

We are still unsure why the relationship was not working out but Epic Games is providing Impossible Studios with 3 months of severance pay and allowing them to take the studio name out and use it on their own.

The PlayStation 4 may have a few new titles to show off when it is announced on February 20, 2013.   One of these titles is Killzone 4 as an "industry source" says that the game is coming as a launch title and looks stunning.   A teaser trailer is said to be filmed last spring and we are eager to see more on the next incarnation of the franchise.

In other PS4 news, Media Molecule, the studio behind the hit LittleBigPlanet, is working on a secret title for the PlayStation 4.   When we heard from Media Molecule last year about the PlayStation Vita title Tearaway, co-founder Alex Evans said 15 staff members were working on Tearaway.

At least we know Media Molecule isn't working on LittleBigPlanet 3, as reported last week.

"It will also be a year of significant continued investment in several new properties with long-term potential that are not factored into our 2013 financial outlook, including Activision Publishing's new Bungie universe, Call of Duty Online for China and, the new Blizzard MMO."

As the last line states, we also probably won't be seeing much, if any, of Project Titan--from Blizzard.

This time, instead of flying in a space simulation, players will get a Free to Play Online Real Time Strategy game.

"Never before in the eight years of our existence have we worked on a title with a team as big as the Alliances team.   Free-2-Play is an incredibly exciting and promising market for mobile developers and we're really eager to create a premium-quality F2P title, which includes all the features and characteristics that have made our previous titles so unique and successful.   As you can imagine, this is not an easy task, but we've got a team of highly experienced and talented industry specialists assigned to the development of Alliances and the playable alpha version of the game does already look pretty amazing."

“It’s probably bad for the Steam community, in the long run, not to move to a different way of thinking about that.   We came to the conclusion pretty quickly that we could just do away with Greenlight completely, because it was a bottleneck rather than a way for people to communicate choice.”

Ubisoft is still unsure what to do since they leaked out word Rayman Legends was delayed on Wii U just to finish develop on other consoles.   Now they are making promises, on their Facebook page, that Wii U will receive an exclusive demo of Rayman Legends.

We are working with the development team to provide you with a new, exclusive demo for the Wii U soon.

Ubisoft really should have kept their mouth shut or just released Rayman Legends on the Wii U when development concluded this month.

In Star Wars related news, Obsidian Entertainment, Developer behind Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II, has a new idea, for Disney, about a new Star Wars Game.

So it was an interesting time to set a game, and you know, Chris Avellone came up with a really cool story.

Working in any profession where your "To Do" list has "Pitch new Star Wars Game to Disney" must be a pretty fun job.

Kotaku got an exclusive insider telling them more about the next Xbox, Xbox 720--codenamed Durango, that will require the new Kinect 2.0 to be plugged in and calibrated for the new console to function.   This means that Microsoft will have a camera and microphone that will be active every second you have your new Xbox online.

Up to 4 users will be able to be tracked by the Kinect 2.0 that will come bundled with the new Xbox.

The new Xbox will also come equipped with at least a 500 GB Hard Drive and all games will be required to install to the internal HD.

So rumors now have the Xbox with a built in spying Microphone and Webcam plus the ability to block all used games and loaned games.   And who is going to want to buy this should these rumors prove to be true?

Firemonkey has revealed that their next Real Racing game--Real Racing 3--will be Free to Play!   This replaces the normal $4.99 to $9.99 cost the game normally has associated with it at launch.

No word on how much in-game purchases will be or what items will have a cost associated with them.

At this point, it makes sense for us to focus our attention on other ways to keep Gas Powered Games running.

There are some hints that there are some other ways for them to secure the funding they need, save the company, Gas Powered Games, and still deliver on projects like Wildman and others.

Again, we haven’t announced that yet, but I’m really excited about where that’s going too.

I want to avoid a situation where, five years from now it’s 'wow, this game's been in development for five years.'   That’s why I don’t announce things until we know what they are.   It’s not fair to hold us accountable for a process that’s designed to get to a quality end that's good for the customer.   As we get to places where it makes sense to announce things in that regard, we’ll do that, too."

Just iterate into your own world with the gameplay loops that are working, and then we will reattach story and style in a way that’s meaningful and makes sense for the game design that’s winning."

Pitchford also has admitted that Gearbox will be raising the level cap in Borderlands 2 despite previous reports that it would break the game.

Coming tomorrow on PlayStation Plus is Closure--the puzzle platformer from Eyebrow Interactive that made a splash on PSN when it was released last year.

Plus users will also be able to grab Critter Crunch for $1.40 (normally $6.99), Alien Breed for $7.99 (normally $9.99), Derrick the Deathfin for $4.00 (normally $7.99), and NHL 13 for $38.38 (normally $47.99).

At DICE 2013, Jenova Chen, head of thatgamecompany, shed some light as to why they are moving their company to multiplatform.

"We did get the money, we got to finish the extra year, but a lot of people in our studio were not paid in the last half of the year, and we actually paid our savings to extend the game for another couple months.

If I were Sony, I would write out a check to make sure these guys stay exclusive to me for the foreseeable future.

Finally, for all your Real Time Strategy buffs out there, StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm Public Beta will end on March 1, 2013.   You will then have to stay content until the game releases on March 12, 2013 to play more of the new expansion for StarCraft 2.

Aliens: Colonial Marines could be one of the worst games we have seen released by a respectable developer in a long time.   The title that has been in development, at Gearbox, for over six years has released to mediocre reviews, strange bugs, low-resolution textures, and screen tearing.

Back in May 2012 the disgruntled former employee said, in a forum post: "Hate to say it, but I wouldn't get your hopes up too high for Colonial Marines.   I used to work at Gearbox, and the development of that game has been a total train wreck, going on what, 6 years now?

I hope it proves me wrong, as I still have alot of friends still working at Gearbox, but I am expecting it to be average at best."

Some thought the day would never come but Dragonborn is available for the PlayStation 3 complete with a 50% off sale for $9.99.   But once those are released, it will be the first time since the launch of Skyrim, the PlayStation 3 version is feature complete when compared to Xbox 360 and PC.

“We don’t really like that, for most players, all of your current gear is very likely to be something you've found on the Auction House.   This can create a situation where it doesn't feel like you 'own' the gear you've obtained; instead, it feels like you are renting it.   Something we discuss frequently is how the Auction House has impacted the game and how we can refocus players away from farming the Auction House and onto farming monsters."

This was exactly my problem with the auction house and a big reason why players turned against Diablo 3.

They are saying that 60% of their customers won't buy a console that doesn't play used games.

And to not have those things would be a substantial reason for them not to purchase a new console."

In one way the used game business has been critical for the health of the retail channel, and having a healthy retail channel is an important thing for us.

But I think the used game market's a little like any other kind of market where it creates liquidity.   So if someone goes in and trades in a game, there's a good chance they're going to buy another one of our games.   And so if there's a liquid market, I think that that's not a bad thing at all."

Bungie will be officially unveiling their upcoming game, Destiny, on February 17, 2013, in a move that could mean this won't be making an appearance at E3 2013.

The game was originally set to come out in 2013, on the Xbox 360, and 2014 for PlayStation 3.   However, with recent news of new consoles, could this be coming on the next Xbox and PlayStation consoles in 2013?

"And we also have a strong games release this year, which will include the next release in the Batman Arkham franchise So all in all, we expect Warners to post another very strong year in 2013.

Rumors suggest that Rocksteady Studios is not working on this game but a separate Batman title not set to appear until 2014 or beyond.

The Last of Us, one of the big, exclusive PlayStation 3 titles that has Xbox 360 owners jealous is looking to slip to a June 18, 2013 release--a week after E3.

The original articles, with full text can be read here:

http://www.cvgames.com/news/m3-my-morning-musings-dungeons-hold-rayman-s...
http://www.cvgames.com/news/n3-nightly-news-narration-spybox-720-thatgam...
http://www.cvgames.com/news/m3-my-morning-musings-aliens-bad-ps3-skyrim-...