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
EA Lays Off More Staff as They ‘Sharpen Their Focus’ for Next-Gen
EA has laid off more of their employees as they prepare for the move to the next generation of game systems. An exact number of the employees who have been laid off is unknown, but it should be mentioned that EA’s Montreal studio has not been affected to the point of closing down.
In a statement provided to IGN and other outlets, an EA representative said the following:
“EA is sharpening its focus to provide games for new platforms and mobile. In some cases, this involves reducing team sizes as we evolve into a more efficient organization. These are difficult decisions to let go of good people who have made important contributions to EA, and whenever possible we retrain or relocate employees to new roles. Streamlining our operations will help ensure EA is bringing the best next-generation games to players around the world.”
Number 4
Batman: Arkham Origins Announced & Dated For All Home Consoles
Warner Bros. has just announced that a new title in the Batman franchise will soon be released under the name of Batman: Arkham Origins which is currently in development for all home consoles meaning that the game will be releasing on the PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and the Wii U.
The game’s release date was also confirmed to be the 25th October this year although it will not be developed by by Rocksteady Studios and will instead be developed in-house at Warner Bros. Games Montreal meaning many assets will be recycled.
Number 3
PlayStation Vita To Get Organized With Folders?
PlayStation Vita to get organized? Fred Dutton, manager of the EU PlayStation Blog, has heavily hinted that folders may be gracing Sony’s portable handheld, the PlayStation Vita, similar to how Nintendo introduced the organizing system on its own portable, the Nintendo 3DS.
The hint came after one user commented saying:
“Also a Vita FW update to stack your games in folders and for the memory card to save the layout of apps and games etc, so if you swap memory cards you don’t get a jumbled mess!”
Number 2
Microsoft Has Moved Their Xbox Event to May
The unveiling of Microsoft’s next-gen Xbox has been pushed back a month, according to The Verge. The Xbox themed event has now been set for May 21st, a date that has also been deemed accurate by The Verge’s own sources.
The news of the shift in dates comes not too long after Paul Thurrott, on the What the Tech show, talked about Microsoft and their next Xbox. Additional sources that have experience with Microsoft’s plans have stated that the May event will take place at a ‘small venue’ and will focus on giving out details regarding the next Xbox.
Number 1
Rod Fergusson Departing from Irrational Games
With BioShock Infinite now out and about and blowing the minds of people around the world, VP of Development Rod Fergusson [is] departing from Irrational Games in search of other projects.
Speaking to Polygon, Fergusson, who joined Irrational last year to help finish BioShock Infinite, states that he saw working with the developer as ‘a great opportunity to learn from Ken and his team’ due to him looking for better ways to tell stories in the games he works on. Prior to his employment at Irrational Games, he was at Epic Games as a Producer for the Gears of War series.
“I am very proud of the work that I did and of the team and what they were able to accomplish on Infinite. Now with the game shipped successfully, I’ve done what I set out to do here and now I’m looking forward to the next chapter in my life and career,” he said to Polygon.
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:
· Level 5 (Layton & Ni No Kuni) Working On A New Title For PS4
· EA Wins The Consumerist’s ‘Worst Company in America’ Title Again
· Microsoft Sells Mediaroom, Dedicating all TV Resources to Xbox
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.