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
PlayStation Vita to Get Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead
In an interview with IGN, Don Mesa, PlayStation’s Director of Product Planning and Platform Software Innovation, revealed the news that Telltale’s Episodic, 2012 critical success, The Walking Dead, would be making the trip over to the PlayStation Vita.
“Having [a studio] like Telltale, a very successful indie developer, coming in to support us sends a strong message,” said Mesa to IGN. He continued by saying that the emotion and immersive experience, as well as the shock or fright that comes from The Walking Dead is something they want brought to the Vita. Regardless of where you’re playing it.
Number 4
PAX East: DuckTales Remastered Announced
At PAX East Friday, Capcom and WayForward announced, wait for it….DuckTales Remastered for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii U! Yeah, you read that right. And I bet the DuckTales theme started playing in your head.
The remastered title, set to release this Summer for $15/1200 MS Points, will feature the original voice cast, hand-drawn 2D animations and a pretty damn good excuse to re-watch the show.
Number 3
Microsoft Reconfirms No Halo Titles Coming To Steam Or PC
For many months now, rumors have been flying all over the internet in regards to Microsoft releasing numerous Halo titles on either the PC or through Steam.
Eurogamer recently found that the latest AMD beta drivers included an entry for Halo 3 to which caused Microsoft to issue a statement to the video game website:
“We currently do not have plans to release any Halo titles on Steam, nor do we currently have plans to release a PC version of Halo 3.”
Number 2
Durango Leak Reveals Mandatory Installation, Always Online
VGLeaks has posted a number of screenshots of the Next Xbox/Durango’s Development Kit installation software, as well as documentation that contains an overview of the hardware. The site, in the past, has talked at length about the hardware, but decided to move on to the software that actually powers the system. The aforementioned hardware overview details several features of the Durango, such as an always-online connection, a Blu-Ray disc drive, and mandatory game installations.
“The Durango will implement different power states so that it can always be powered on, but will draw minimal electricity when not in use. The console will be ready instantly when users want to play, and will always maintain a network connection so that console software and games are always current. With this ‘Always On, Always Connected’ design, users will quickly and easily enjoy their connected entertainment experiences, with no waiting for the console to restart or install updates.”
“Every Durango console will have a hard drive, although it’s exact capacity has not been chosen, it will be large enough, however, to hold a large number of games. All games will be installed on the hard drive. Play from the optical disc will not be supported.”
The overview continues to note how the Durango will contain an installation system that will allow players to play their game while it is being installed to the hard drive, as opposed to waiting for the install to finish. A Kinect sensor will also be included with every Durango system sold, and will be required for the console to operate.
Number 1
John Riccitiello Resigns From EA
In a post on EA’s The Beat, the company’s new Executive Chairman, Larry Probst, revealed the resignation of EA’s CEO John Riccitiello.
“Today John Riccitiello submitted his resignation to EA’s Board of Directors. In a letter to the Board, John outlined that while the company has made enormous progress in improving product quality and transitioning to digital games and services, our financial performance is tracking below the expectations set at the beginning of our fiscal year. This was disclosed in our last earnings call.”
Riccitiello’s last day at EA has been set for March 30th, with Probst stepping into the role of Executive Chairman in order to work with him and management to ‘ensure a smooth and orderly transition.’ Probst was the CEO before Riccitiello from 1991 to 2007.
“As we begin the CEO search, we are fortunate that Larry, who has a proven track record with our employees, partners and customers, has agreed to assume a day-to-day leadership role as Executive Chairman. He has 16 years of experience as CEO of EA and a deep understanding of the Company’s strategy, management team, business potential and industry trends,” stated Lead Director Richard A. Simonson.
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:
· Future Tomb Raider DLC Will NOT Expand The Single Player Mode
· Supergiant Games, Developer of Bastion, Reveals Transistor
· Daedalic Entertainment Announces New RPG Blackguards
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.