Weekly Wrap-Up # 37 – Tesco Sells Tomb Raider Early, Vita Sales Soar, EA and Microtransactions and More

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<p>It’s that time of week again when we take a fond look back at the top five news stories from the week&period;  Welcome to the Weekly Wrap-Up&period; Below you’ll find a brief summary of the stories&comma; but for the full articles&comma; click on the hyperlink&period; Feel free to let us know if you agree or disagree with our choices&semi; if you have suggestions for future entries&comma; feel free to email me at <a href&equals;"mailto&colon;jeremy&period;tyler&commat;bagogames&period;com"><strong>jeremy&period;tyler&commat;bagogames&period;com<&sol;strong><&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Enjoy&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h1 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b><span style&equals;"text-decoration&colon; underline&semi;">Number 5<&sol;span><&sol;b><&sol;h1>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;tesco-selling-tomb-raider-early-cue-investigator-square-enix&sol;5467323087&lowbar;8a3ff1b1d4&sol;" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-41411"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-full wp-image-41411" alt&equals;"5467323087&lowbar;8a3ff1b1d4" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2013&sol;03&sol;06030933&sol;5467323087&lowbar;8a3ff1b1d4&period;jpg" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h1 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;tesco-selling-tomb-raider-early-cue-investigator-square-enix&sol;">Tesco Has Been Selling Tomb Raider Early… Cue Investigator Square Enix<&sol;a><&sol;h1>&NewLine;<p>It appears that some gamers have been lucky enough to snap up a copy of the new Tomb Raider game earlier than they should have&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Although the game is officially due out as of tomorrow &lpar;March 5&rpar; some branches of UK supermarket giant Tesco have already been selling copies of the games to hungry gamers&period; This came after MCV confirmed this saying that they purchased a copy of the game &lpar;as well as took a photograph&rpar; for £32&period;00&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h1 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b><span style&equals;"text-decoration&colon; underline&semi;">Number 4<&sol;span><&sol;b><&sol;h1>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;vita-sales-soar-price-drop-japan&sol;kazuo&lowbar;hirai&lowbar;with&lowbar;playstation&lowbar;vita-2&sol;" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-41520"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-full wp-image-41520" alt&equals;"Kazuo&lowbar;Hirai&lowbar;with&lowbar;Playstation&lowbar;Vita" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2013&sol;03&sol;06030646&sol;Kazuo&lowbar;Hirai&lowbar;with&lowbar;Playstation&lowbar;Vita&period;jpg" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h1 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;vita-sales-soar-price-drop-japan&sol;">Vita Sales Soar After Price Drop In Japan<&sol;a><&sol;h1>&NewLine;<p>Recently&comma; the PlayStation Vita had its price cut in Japan and according to GameWatch &lpar;as translated by Gematsu&rpar; it has seemed to be a successful move for Sony in the land of the rising sun&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It turns out that since the price cut went into effect on February 28<sup>th<&sol;sup>&comma; sales of the PlayStation Vita have increased by a factor of four&comma; impressive&excl; This quadruple quantity of portables being sold was a result of Sony cutting both versions of the Vita to 19&comma;980 Yen which roughly translates to &dollar;214&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Unfortunately however&comma; Sony is unlikely to offer a price cut overseas after the company announced that it had no plans for a price drop in other territories due to decisions regarding price drops being made on a region-by-region basis<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><b><span style&equals;"text-decoration&colon; underline&semi;"> <&sol;span><&sol;b><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h1 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b><span style&equals;"text-decoration&colon; underline&semi;">Number 3<&sol;span><&sol;b><&sol;h1>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;ea-questionning-69-videogame-price-tag&sol;4208022252&lowbar;62d9b6b451&sol;" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-41038"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-full wp-image-41038" alt&equals;"4208022252&lowbar;62d9b6b451" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2013&sol;02&sol;06032756&sol;4208022252&lowbar;62d9b6b451&period;jpg" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h1 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;ea-clarifies-statement-microtransactions&sol;">EA Clarifies Their Statement On Microtransactions&comma; Won’t Be in All Games<&sol;a><&sol;h1>&NewLine;<p>Electronic Arts and microtransactions aren’t two things you really want to hear are working together&comma; but it isn’t something that’s going to change anytime soon&period; The company&comma; however&comma; caught a bit of hell when they stated all their future games would include microtransactions and <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;gamasutra&period;com&sol;view&sol;news&sol;187939&sol;EA&lowbar;backtracks&lowbar;on&lowbar;recent&lowbar;microtransactions&lowbar;comments&period;php&num;&period;UTeNx9ash8E">have since come back to clarify what they really meant<&sol;a>&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I made a statement in the conference along the lines of &OpenCurlyQuote;We’ll have microtransactions in our games&comma;’ and the community read that to be &OpenCurlyQuote;all games&comma;’ and that’s really not true&comma;” said EA CFO Blake J&period; Jorgensen at the 2013 Wedbush Transformational Technology Conference&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to Jorgensen&comma; all of their mobile games will contain microtransactions&comma; but only because they will all be a part of the free-to-play model&period; Games that appear on consoles and the PC will see no microtransactions&comma; and will instead receive &OpenCurlyQuote;extensions’&period; He goes on to use <em>Battlefield Premium<&sol;em> as an example&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;You’re going to see extensions off of products like <i>Battlefield Premium<&sol;i> which are simply not microtransactions&comma;” he said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><b><span style&equals;"text-decoration&colon; underline&semi;"> <&sol;span><&sol;b><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h1 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b><span style&equals;"text-decoration&colon; underline&semi;">Number 2<&sol;span><&sol;b><&sol;h1>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;mike-capps-longer-epic-games&sol;mike-capps-2&sol;" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-41823"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-full wp-image-41823" alt&equals;"Mike Capps" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2013&sol;03&sol;06025709&sol;Mike-Capps&period;png" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h1 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;mike-capps-longer-epic-games&sol;">Mike Capps No Longer at Epic Games<&sol;a><&sol;h1>&NewLine;<p>Mike Capps&comma; former president of Epic Games who <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;mike-capps-president-epic-games-retires&sol;">stepped down last year<&sol;a>&comma; is no longer at the company&period; The news comes from a post he made on <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;facebook&period;com&sol;michael&period;capps&period;351&sol;posts&sol;10151285241732680">his Facebook page<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;When we announced that I wanted to transition out of my leadership role at Epic&comma; the plan was for a continued but less active role&comma; service on the board of directors&comma; and ideally&comma; being that eccentric semi-retired guy who still comes to playtests and gold parties&period; I’m sad to say that plans have changed&comma; and as of February 11th&comma; I’m no longer affiliated with Epic Games&comma;” he said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This isn’t a completely out of nowhere announcement&comma; as the staff at Epic was made aware of the news before Capps made it known to the public&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><b><span style&equals;"text-decoration&colon; underline&semi;"> <&sol;span><&sol;b><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h1 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b><span style&equals;"text-decoration&colon; underline&semi;">Number 1<&sol;span><&sol;b><&sol;h1>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;respawn-cofounder-retires&sol;respawn&sol;" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-41379"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-full wp-image-41379" alt&equals;"Respawn" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2013&sol;03&sol;06031151&sol;Respawn&period;jpg" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h1 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;respawn-cofounder-retires&sol;">Respawn Co-founder Retires<&sol;a><&sol;h1>&NewLine;<p>Jason West&comma; co-founder of Respawn has reportedly left the company due to family issues&period; West&comma; formerly the president of Infinity Ward&comma; which he started up with Vince Zampella&comma; launched Respawn with Zampella in 2010&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The pair was dismissed from Infinity Ward and subsequently became embroiled in lawsuits with Activision&period; They claimed they were unfairly let go whilst Activision asserted the pair had been secretly working with EA during their time at Infinity Ward&period; A settlement was eventually reached&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h1 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><b>Honorable Mentions<&sol;b><&sol;h1>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;journey-wins-big-video-game-baftas&sol;journey-game-screenshot-1-b&sol;" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-41577"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-full wp-image-41577" alt&equals;"BAFTA" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2013&sol;03&sol;journey-game-screenshot-1-b&period;jpg" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>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&period; Here are some of the articles that didn’t make the top 5&comma; but were still important&comma; nonetheless&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&CenterDot;         <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;nintendo-updates-wii-system-software&sol;">Nintendo Updates Wii U System Software&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;First Of Several”<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&CenterDot;         <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;psn-gem-journey-cleans-bafta-game-awards&sol;">PSN Gem &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Journey” Cleans Up At BAFTA Game Awards<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&CenterDot;         <a href&equals;"Ubisoft&percnt;20Executive&percnt;20Director&percnt;20Would&percnt;20Like&percnt;20a&percnt;20Wii&percnt;20U&percnt;20Price&percnt;20Cut">Ubisoft Executive Director Would Like a Wii U Price Cut<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><b> <&sol;b><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;&quest;attachment&lowbar;id&equals;40573" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-40573"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-full wp-image-40573" alt&equals;"BG-Bagocast-itunes-logo" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2013&sol;02&sol;BG-Bagocast-itunes-logo&period;png" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>If you missed out on the big news items this week&comma; you can check out our <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;podcast&sol;bagocast&sol;">weekly podcast <&sol;a>and get an audio update of this week’s madness from our podcasting team&period; Listen to us as we talk about some things seriously and a few other things not so much&period; We guarantee this episode will make you shake your fist at times and nod your head at others<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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