We’ve reached that point in the week again where it’s time for another entry in the Weekly Wrap-Up. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m kinda happy it’s the weekend.
Below you’ll see our top five news stories from this week, as well as several honorable mentions. As always, if you want to read the full story, you can simply click on link hidden in the article’s title. You know, no need to over complicate things.
Also, if you think you’ve got some cool ideas for future entries in the Wrap-Up, or you think we missed a news story in our top five, you can email our Sr. News Manager Jeremy Tyler at jeremy.tyler@bagogames.com. Be nice.
Number 5
More Layoffs Have Taken Place at EA
EA has revealed the hard news that more of their employees have been laid off, as the company continues to move towards new tech and mobile. In a post of their own site, they had this to say:
“In recent weeks, EA has aligned all elements of its organizational structure behind priorities in new technologies and mobile. This has led to some difficult decisions to reduce the workforce in some locations. We are extremely grateful for the contributions made by each of our employees – those that are leaving EA will be missed by their colleagues and friends.
These are hard but essential changes as we focus on delivering great games and showing players around the world why to spend their time with us.”
Number 4
Ratchet & Clank Movie Coming to Theaters in 2015
Insomniac Games has announced a new, currently in production Ratchet & Clank movie, set to release in 2015. The studio has teamed up with Blockade Entertainment and Rainmaker Entertainment to bring the duo to the big screen.
“Insomniac is honored to play a hands-on role with the film’s production, screenplay, character development, and animation consulting. Furthermore, our own Ratchet & Clank writer, T.J. Fixman, who has written all of the recent Ratchet & Clank games, is writing the script for the film as well,” said Community Lead James Stevenson on the PlayStation Blog.
Number 3
Batman: Arkham Origins May Have Multiplayer Mode
The next exciting and anticipated installment in the Batman Arkham series aka Batman: Arkham Originswill supposedly have a multiplayer mode with more than just the bat swooping out of the bat cave. According to Kotaku, who cited two sources, one of the modes will be similar to the first Lego Batman installment where you could play as one of many of Batman’s evil adversaries and experience their side of the story. However, in this case, the mode will put the players in clown shoes to be part of Joker’s gang or wrestling unitards in Bane’s gang to help stop Batman and Robin from doing their heroic deeds.
Number 2
Iwata Headed West to Become New Nintendo of America CEO
It was announced today, as Nintendo made its annual year end fiscal report, that Satoru Iwata, the current CEO of Nintendo of Japan, has been appointed the new CEO of Nintendo of America. Reggie “the Regginator” Fils-Aime’s role at Nintendo will not change but he will no longer be under the direction of Tatsumi Kimishima who is making a move to Japan this summer as the new general manager of corporate Analysis and Administration and manager of General Affairs.
Number 1
Next Xbox Reveal Officially Confirmed for May 21st
May 21st is the day when we’ll finally get some solid information regarding Microsoft’s next Xbox, Major Nelson revealed on his site.
The Xbox Event, which will be held on the Xbox Campus in Redmond, Washington, will be streamed for all to see on Xbox.com and Xbox Live, as well as broadcast on Spike TV at 1pm ET / 10am PT / 17:00 GMT.
“On that day, we’ll share our vision for Xbox, and give you a real taste of the future. Then, 19-days later at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles, we’ll continue the conversation and showcase our full lineup of blockbuster games.”
Honorable Mentions
A lot of other stuff happened aside from the news stories above. Good thing for Honorable Mentions, otherwise you may never know these existed:
- Next Xbox Coming in November, Will Cost $499/$299
- Nintendo Will Not Be Doing an E3 Press Conference
- 2k Announces The Bureau: XCOM Declassified
- Tesco Goes for the Double Kill, Announces Call of Duty: Ghosts
- Harmonix His With Layoffs
- Gearbox Will Soon Own the Rights to Homeworld
- Rayman Legends May Be Coming to the PlayStation Vita
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.
Until next week!