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
Avalanche Software: Wii U Dev Kits are Collecting Dust
With the recent announcement from EA about their new Frostbite engine not cohesively working with the Wii U, and their appearance of dropping Nintendo all together, there’s another third-party publisher that’s joined the ranks–Avalanche Software. Forecasting ahead, Avalanche Software sees that there is more to gain on preparing themselves for the more powerful PS4 and upcoming new Xbox and that there is little to be said with the Wii U.
Nintendo is hoping to garner more third party support at its small, hands-on gathering for the media at their booth, which will open about an hour before the E3 convention officially begins.
Number 4
Ouya Retail Launch Pushed Back to June 25
It has been announced that the Ouya system will have its retail launch pushed back from June 4th to June 25th in order for more systems to be made and to meet the overwhelming demand.
“Also, as you know, we’ve been shipping our early backers their units, gearing up for our official launch in June. The demand we’re seeing from gamers and our retailers is beyond our expectations, so, to meet all this demand, we are shifting our launch date by three weeks to give us time to make more OUYAs.”
Number 3
Sony: “The PS4 Was Never Going To Be Online Only”
After what has seemed like a year of rumors, speculation and gossip, Sony has now emerged and said that an “online-only” PS4 was never even considered let alone discussed by the company.
Whilst speaking to Game Informer, Shuhei Yoshida (president of Sony Worldwide Studios) made the confirmation:
“Did we consider it? No, we didn’t consider it.”
The president continued: “The main reason being that many countries don’t have robust internet connections. It makes sense for people to have internet connections to play online games, but for offline games there are many countries that we saw do not really have robust internet.”
Number 2
Assassin’s Creed Creator Patrice Desilets and Ubisoft Part Ways Again
After the burial of THQ, Assassin’s Creed Creator and Game Designer Patriece Desilets and his unannounced title 1666 went to Ubisoft, with the fate of both to be determined. Today, we now know the outcome of the relationship between Desilets and Ubisoft, with one claiming to be fired and the other claiming a departure.
In a statement provided by Ubisoft, the company stated that the discussions had between them and Desilets were ‘inconclusive.’
“The acquisition of THQ Montréal in January allowed Ubisoft to welcome 170 experienced developers, including Patrice Désilets, to our existing and renowned workforce. Unfortunately, since the acquisition, the good faith discussions between Patrice and Ubisoft aimed at aligning Patrice’s and the studio’s visions have been inconclusive. As a result, Patrice has left the studio. Our priorities remain with the teams already hard at work on projects in development. They are at the root of Ubisoft Montréal’s past and future successes.”
However, when speaking to Polygon, Desilets had something else to say that didn’t match up with Ubisoft’s statement.
“Contrary to any statements made earlier today, this morning I was terminated by Ubisoft,” said Desilets. “I was notified of this termination in person, handed a termination notice and was unceremoniously escorted out of the building by two guards without being able to say goodbye to my team or collect my personal belongings. This was not my decision. Ubisoft’s actions are baseless and without merit. I intend to fight Ubisoft vigorously for my rights, for my team and for my game.”
Number 1
Forget Xbox 720, Next-Box And ‘Xbox’, The Next Xbox Is Xbox Infinity
As we get closer and closer to Microsoft finally revealing their next generation console on the 21st May, we were sure as anything to get leaks and spills from all corners of the internet in regards to the nitty gritty details of the next console to try and convince us to give it a home.
Like many, we’ve referred to the next Xbox in many ways; Xbox 720, Next-Box and simply ‘Xbox’ have been typed, spoken and argued about for many months now but the latest report to be published claims that the next Xbox console will be called “Xbox Infinity.”
This news emerges after The International Business Times spoke to its sources which claims;
“Sources related to development of the new Xbox have confirmed to IBTimes UK that the console… will be called Infinity.”
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:
- Next Xbox Does Not Require an Internet Connection to Work
- Disney and EA Team Up to Publish Future Star Wars Titles
- Next Star Wars Game Not Coming Until ‘Mid’ 2014
- Krieg the Psycho Comes to Borderlands 2 Next Week
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.
