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
NPD Discovers That 72% Of US Gamers Play Online
Interesting stats are the order of the day today after The NPD Group has revealed that 72% of gamers in the US play videogames online, an increase of 5% since 2012.
In addition to this huge chunk of the gaming population now linked together at the touch of the button, the group also found that gamers favorite ‘console’ to go online with was the PC, with 68% of US gamers saying that they play online through the device. The study also found a 12% increase in online gaming year-over-year for mobile devices.
Number 4
Nyan Cat Filing Lawsuit Against Scribblenauts
The creators of hit Internet meme, ‘Nyan Cat’ are suing the creators of Scribblenauts (both 5th Cell and Warner Bros.) for using the meme without their consent.
The creators themselves have no issue with the meme being used, as long as it is not for profit, which obviously Scribblenauts generates for each unit consumers purchase.
Unfortunately for the meme’s creators however, no trademark applications were submitted until the first game was released which could impact negatively on their attempt to win the case.
Number 3
Microsoft E3 2013 Press Conference Scheduled
Microsoft has released details regarding the date on which their E3 2013 Press Conference will begin. June 10th is when the show is scheduled, and those that have been invited have been asked to arrive by 8:45am PT at The Galen Center.
Other conferences from EA and Ubisoft have also been set to occur on the same day, but at later times. Sony, it seems, is the last to announce their own E3 times.
Number 2
2K Doing A “Nintendo” By Quitting E3
After it was announced that Nintendo won’t be having their regular large press conference event at E3 this year it was obvious that the event was going to be a little different. Though after the news that 2K Games will also not be attending the show it may be even worse…
Writing on their website, 2K Games stated;
“At 2K, we’re excited for the new opportunities coming with the next generation of hardware, and are hard at work preparing our announced titles for release. Whilst 2K will not have a booth on the show floor at this year’s E3 conference, we will have a lot of great news coming your way this spring.”
Number 1
Square Enix Europe Struck With Layoffs
Another company has been hit by layoffs, as Square Enix Europe is reducing its number of staff, MCV reports.
“We are reviewing our business in Europe to ensure we have the right structure, content and skills for the changing entertainment landscape,” said Square Enix in a statement to MCV. “We do expect changes to the UK office, which will affect personnel. We will update you when the time is right, but our priority right now is for the people within the business.”
Square Enix has been undergoing huge changes since the news came out that titles like Tomb Raider and Hitman: Absolution undersold and failed to meet the company’s expectations. This round of layoffs also comes closely after jobs were cut in Los Angeles earlier this month and the resignation of Yoichi Wada.
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:
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.
