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 you’ll find a brief summary of the stories, but for the full articles, click on the hyperlink. Feel free to let us know if you agree or disagree with our choices; if you have suggestions for future entries, feel free to email me at jeremy.tyler@bagogames.com.
Enjoy!
Number 5
Disney Infinity Has Been Delayed: Wallets Around The World Breathe a Sigh of Relief
Disney Interactive boss,John Pleasants has confirmed that Disney Infinity will not be launching in June, as previously planned by the company.
Originally reported by the New York Times, Disney Infinity is Disney’s take on the popular Skylanders franchise which sees gamers collect figures which do a lot more than simply ‘look nice’ as when placed on other accessories allow you to play as which ever figure you have chosen. The figures themselves, at least in Disney Infinity, are also keys to extra story arcs which can be played through in game meaning each set of toys which you purchase is much more than just a simple DLC character unlock code.
The delay has been made at the request of retailers who apparently want it released closer to Christmas although moving the release date from June to August (20th Internationally, 18th in the US) doesn’t make that much of a difference
Number 4
“No Plans” to Bring New SimCity to Consoles
Although it has faced increasing complaints and caused millions of arguments across the internet since its released, the new SimCity has defiantly sold well. The new entry into the series has easily spawned at least several news stories on every video game blog, website or forum including yours truly so we’ll be surprised if it doesn’t feature highly when we report on the UK all-format charts tomorrow.
However, Electronic Arts has recently confirmed that the title will not be coming to consoles such as the Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U or any other next generation console whenever it will be revealed.
The confirmation was made in the form of a ‘tweet’ from the official SimCity Twitter account that read:
“Sadly, there are no current plans to move SimCity to console.”
Number 3
Vita Outsells 3DS In Japan
It may shock you to learn that Sony’s “doomed to fail” portable handheld, the PlayStation Vita, actually managed to outsell the Nintendo 3DS last week in the land of the rising sun.
The news follows another story we featured on Bagogames last week in that Sony announced sales of the handheld had quadrupled in the country after the price of both the standard and the 3G model was slashed in an attempt to get the Vita into gamer’s hands.
Going into specific details however, Media Create published data that showed that Sony had shifted 63,581 units of the console between March 4th-March 10th. This is in comparison to the 3DS XL and regular 3DS system COMBINED which managed 21,207 units. That’s a difference of over 2,500 units fact-fans.
Number 2
New Borderlands 2 Vault Hunter Will Be at PAX East
Gearbox Software has released a teaser for a new playable character set to come to Borderlands 2 and the world of Pandora. Based on the trailer, it appears to be a melee based character with an appearance entirely unique to itself. The teaser ends by stating that the mysterious character is en route to PAX East (March 24th) and will be accompanied by details on the increased level cap and more.
The Gearbox Software panel that will take place in the Main Theatre is where you’ll need to be. 12:30pm EST.
Number 1
Nintendo Required To Pay $30.2 Million As It’s Found Guilty Of Patent Infringement
Nintendo has been ordered to pay $30.2 million to former Sony inventor, Seijiro Tomita, in regards to infringing his patent for a glasses-free 3D display which the Nintendo 3DS uses. This news was revealed by Rueters who reported that a federal jury in New York had held Nintendo to be guilty.
This could has been a lot worse for Nintendo, however, as Seijiro Tomita originally requested that Nintendo would pay him $9.80 for every Nintendo 3DS unit sold which would equate to over $292 million in total. The jury didn’t agree and changed the amount Tomita was to receive.
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 that didn’t make the top 5, but were still important, nonetheless:
- Nintendo UK Announce Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D Release Date
- Patrice Desilets Has Returned to Ubisoft
- Saints Row IV Coming in August
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