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
Microsoft Announces MyPunchcard, A New Feature for Xbox Live Rewards
Microsoft is rolling out a new feature for their Xbox Live Rewards program, starting April 1st. Called MyPunchcard, this new feature allows Xbox Live Rewards Members to earn rewards by playing games online, specifically arcade games.
According to the post on Major Nelson’s blog, only the most dedicated arcade fans will be able to complete all three of the soon-to-be available Punchcards, and those that manage to achieve that will get a guaranteed spot in an upcoming VIP Exclusive.
Number 4
3DS Save Data Transfer Tool Announced For Japan
A service, which many Nintendo 3DS gamers are hoping will be released worldwide, is due to be released in just two days… in Japan.
The service transfers save data between 3DS retail game cartridges and 3DS digital downloads, meaning if you purchase a digital copy of Mario Kart 7 for example and then (for some reason) want a physical copy, you’ll be able to simply transfer the save between the two.
Number 3
PAX East: Borderlands 2′s New Vault Hunter is Krieg the Psycho
Gearbox Software, at their PAX East panel today, revealed Krieg, the newest Vault Hunter to join the Borderlands 2 cast and cause chaos on the world of Pandora.
Krieg is an ex-psycho bandit whose skills reside in melee combat and taking on large crowds of people. His action skill, Blood Axe Rampage, allows him to swing or throw his weapon at enemies and restores his health while he focuses on killing dudes. His various skill trees give him stat boosts when he takes damage, with one skill increasing his damage output while he’s on fire.
Number 2
Rumor: Rocksteady Working on Batman: Arkham Origins, Coming to Current/Next Gen Systems
The next entry into Rocksteady’s successful Batman: Arkham series is currently in development, says Gameblog, who claims to have been notified by unnamed sources. Called Batman: Arkham Origins, the title is supposed to be announced at E3 this year and will come to current and next-gen consoles.
The next Batman game from Rocksteady has long been rumored and Time Warner has already revealed the news that another Batman: Arkham game would be coming this year.
Number 1
Yoichi Wada, President of Square Enix, Resigns
Square Enix has announced that current president, Yoichi Wada, will be resigning and the company’s current Representative Director, Yosuke Matsuda will be taking his place, effective late June 2013.
The change comes as a result of the company’s financial earnings, which has been revealed to be far less than what they had hoped. ‘Slow sales of major consoles titles’ and ‘sluggish performance of its arcade business’ appear to be the biggest factors that prompted in the change.
“In view of the rapidly changing environment of the game businesses, the Company has decided to implement major reforms and restructuring in its development policy, organizational structure, some business models, and others.”
“The Company expects to incur loss of approximately ¥10 billion from such restructuring efforts to be recognized as extraordinary loss about loss from restructuring in the settlement of the account for its fiscal year ending March 31, 2013.”
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:
· Free Halo 4 Forge Island Map Out Now
· Stores & Jobs Saved At Blockbuster As A Buyer Emerges
· Infinite Crisis Announced by Warner Bros. Interactive, Developed by Turbine
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.
