It’s that time of week again when we take a fond look back at the top five news stories from the week. Welcome to the Weekly Wrap-Up. Below is a brief summary, but for the full stories simply click on the hyperlink. Let us know if you agree with our top five. If you have suggestions for future Weekly Wrap-Ups, feel free to email me at jeremy.tyler@bagogames.com.
Enjoy!
Number 5
Electronic Arts Laying Off Staff
Electronic Arts has laid off a number of employees in Los Angeles, Montreal and a few smaller locations, EA Labels President Frank Gibeau revealed today in a post on the company’s blog. This appears to be a result of the company deciding to focus on mobile and console technology.
“EA’s leadership on these high-growth platforms allows us to retain and attract the industry’s best talent. Thousands of our existing employees have been retrained and redeployed to work on the new platforms and initiatives. But when it is not possible to redeploy a team, we soften the tough decisions with assistance. This week we let some people go in Los Angeles, Montreal as well as in some smaller locations. These are good people and we have offered outplacement services and severance packages to ease their transition to a new job.”
Specifics on what studios have been affected are unknown at the moment, but there’s word that Visceral Montreal, who is supposed to be working on Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel, has been shut down.
Number 4
Season Pass Details Revealed for BioShock Infinite
Developer Irrational Games and publisher 2K Games have revealed details of the Season Pass which will be available for the upcoming BioShock Infinite.
Development is already underway on three separate packs of downloadable content for the highly-anticipated game, and according to a press release, this DLC will provide “hours of additional gameplay and continue the player’s journey in the sky-city of Columbia with new stories, characters, abilities and weapons.”
The BioShock Infinite Season Pass will contain these three add-on packs and will launch alongside the game itself on 26th March, apparently offering “nearly £24 of add-on content for £15.99 or 1,600 Microsoft Points,” the game set to be released on PlayStation 3, PC and Xbox 360.
Number 3
Gears of War: Judgment Leaked to Torrent Sites
With exactly one month left until its official release, Gears of War: Judgment has managed to find its way onto torrent websites.
A Microsoft Rep confirmed to CVG that they are well aware of the situation and are working with their own security teams, as well as law enforcement, in an attempt to get things under control.
“Consumers should be aware that piracy is illegal and we take vigorous action against illegal activity related to our products and services. Playing pirated copies of games, such as Gears of War: Judgment, is a violation of the Xbox Live Terms of Use and will result in enforcement action, such as account and console bans.”
Number 2
PlayStation Vita Remote Play For PS4 Available Day One
One of the most exciting elements which Sony announced for the PlayStation 4 yesterday was that the PlayStation Vita console would operate as an actual controller to certain games.
The best way to think of this feature is to compare it to the newly release Wii U GamePad as the Vita also streams the actual game to its screen. This is due to the technology that Gaikai has pushed forward after Sony acquired them last year.
Yoshida noted in regards to Remote Play and the PlayStation 4: “The Remote Play side will work. So we’re saying virtually every PS4 game will be playable with PS Vita via Remote Play, so you connect your Vita to your PS4, especially at home, it’s a great experience.”
Number 1
Next PlayStation is Officially Called the PlayStation 4
At last, after rumors and code names and yadda yadda, we finally have a definitive name to call Sony’s next-gen video game system. Set to release this holiday season, the PlayStation 4 has officially been confirmed and announced at Sony’s PlayStation Meeting that took place in New York this evening.
The system aims to make all titles –from the PS1 era to the PS Vita– backwards compatible, thanks to Sony’s acquirement of Gaikai, as well as make all PS4 title playable on the PS Vita via remote play. Downloadable titles have also been said to be playable as you download them, which is nice due to how long downloads can take on the current PlayStation 3.
Honorable Mentions
This week had a lot of big news and the news staff and I found it hard to narrow it down to the usual five stories. Here are some of the articles for the honorable mention section. Rock Band DLC To Stop April 2nd, 50% Sale Continues To “Thank Community For Their Support”, Your PSN Purchases Are All Pointless & Useless On The PS4.
If you missed out on the big news items this week, you can check out our weekly podcast and get an audio update of this week’s madness from our podcasting team. Listen to us as we talk about some things seriously and a few other things not so much. We guarantee this episode will make you shake your fist at times and nod your head at others
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