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
Naughty Dog “Constantly” Asking Rogen & Goldberg to Write Uncharted Movie
The Uncharted movie has been a long time coming. Arguably the best part of the entire franchise is that the cutscenes in Uncharted are fantastic, engaging and (at times) hilarious as PlayStation gamers are given a visual treat watching Nathan Drake’s adventure pan out across the single player campaign. Wouldn’t it be great as a film?
Two writers constantly asked to write the film however have recently spoke to IGN regarding their thoughts on the idea of an Uncharted Movie. Both Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg have apparently been approached by Naughty Dog to write the film and this has happened on “multiple occasions over the past four years”.
Number 4
Google Moving Into Console & Watch Territory
The Wall Street Journal has reported that the big search box company in the sky (they do exist on earth, trust us) Google are developing both an Android-based video game console alongside an Android-based wristwatch.
Reading more of the report reveals that the console and watch are being developed to help the company beat Apple to the bunch, another high profile company that many believe may have been developing their own console and smart watch for some time now.
Another source states that Google have been keeping watch of the Ouya, an Android powered console which launched earlier this week across the globe and saw stock vanish within the first day on sale from both Amazon and GameStop due to popular demand. Both retailers have since been given more stock.
Number 3
Xbox One Not Shipping With Official Headset: “Use Kinect”
In what seems like another step back for Microsoft after it took a step forward last week by essentially reversing its policy for used games, the company has announced that the Xbox One will not come with an official headset as it includes Kinect.
Speaking to Ars Technica, Microsoft explained their decision to not include the headset due to the inclusion of Kinect with every Xbox One console:
“Xbox One does not include a pack-in headset accessory. Each Xbox One includes the new Kinect sensor, with a highly sensitive multi-array microphones designed to enable voice inputs and chat as a system-level capability, both in-game and with Skype and other experiences. For gamers who prefer a headset, we have a variety of offerings that you can find on the Xbox Wire.”
Number 2
The PlayStation 4 Was Going to Come with a Camera and Cost $499
One of the biggest things Sony did during their E3 presentation, aside from announcing used games support, was reveal the $399 price point that made it $100 cheaper than Microsoft’s Xbox One. According to IGN and other sources, the next-gen system from Sony was originally going to come in a bundle similar to its competitor, and would contain the PlayStation 4 Eye camera and retail for $499.
Sony managed to keep their changes quiet, in an attempt to (now successfully) get a one up on Microsoft, even going as far as to not inform retailers of the price change and only the exclusion of the camera. Now, the camera will be sold separately at a price point of $59.99, but some features of the DualShock 4 may now go unneeded, such as the PlayStation Eye being able to detect where in the room an in-use controller is and rearrange the split-screens to give a better view.
Number 1
Sony Releases Firmware 4.46; Fixes Bricked PS3 Consoles
Almost immediately after Sony released firmware update 4.45 last week many gamers began posting on the companies forums reporting that the latest update had bricked their consoles and rendered them useless in the process. This led to Sony removing the update and thus begin work on update 4.46 to deliver the same improvements as 4.45 but without the whole ‘rendering consoles useless’ error.
This update is now available to download and Sony have also uploaded a step-by-step guide to inform PS3 users whose consoles were brick to inform them how to manually update the console in safe mode. This guide can be accessed here: https://support.us.playstation.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/4984
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:
- Ouya Now Available To Purchase
- GameStop Accepting “Unlimited Preorders” For PS4
- Google Moving Into Console & Watch Territory
- Netflix Releasing New Recommendation Program for PlayStation 3 App
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.
