Nintendo’s New Console Rumor Round-Up
Well, scratch that off your E3 bingo cards; Nintendo is definitely absolutely positively showing off they next gen console at E3 and it will be playable. And if the rumors are true, it's also aiming to be the single most un-Nintendo product they have released yet. Let's take a look are some of the crazy predictions about the next Nintendo.
Valve is Full of Mad, Obsessive Geniuses: The Portal 2 ARG is On
Half-Life 2: Episode X may have seemingly fallen by the wayside, but Valve is clearly hard at work on some crazy stuff. Portal 2 comes out next week, and the company is already having fun with a seemingly impossibly intricate ARG revolving around the game. The madness started on April 1st, Potato Fool's Day, when Valve sold the Potato Sack indie game bundle. $38 and change for a ton of games including Super Meat Boy, Bit.Trip Runner, Defense Grid, Amnesia: The Dark Descent, and Killing Floor. It seemed innocent enough, but then... strange things happened.
Activision Making a Bizarre Move: Studio May Shut Down
From the minds that brought you Project Gotham Racing, Blur, Geometry Wars, and 007 Blood Stone comes... job loss? At least that's what the staff over at Bizarre Creations thinks. There is a NeoGAF thread that has people who claim to be from the studio stating that Activision has intentions to close down the studio. Further investigation has revealed a 90-day consultation period in which Activision will decide what to do with the studio, be that sell them or, in the worst case, shut them down entirely. Activision sent out this statement:
"Over the past three years since our purchase of Bizarre Creations, the fundamentals of the racing genre have changed significantly. Although we made a substantial investment in creating a new IP, Blur, it did not find a commercial audience. Bizarre is a very talented team of developers, however, because of the broader economic factors impacting the market, we are exploring our options regarding the future of the studio, including a potential sale of the business."
In spite of my feelings toward Activision, a world with no more Geometry Wars does make me sad.
(via Giant Bomb)
UPDATE: 3DS Release Date Still In The Air
UPDATE: A new scan over at GoNintendo has debunked the previous scan, showing it to be nothing more than a photoshop edit. Original article below.
Joystiq just found out via VGTribune and Official Nintendo Magazine UK about an official release date for Nintendo's next handheld sensation. We had heard first that the 3DS was set for early 2011, and then that was narrowed down to March 2011. An early magazine leak has confirmed that date to be March 11th, 2011. Scan below.
Phantasy Star: The Return?
Siliconera does this really cool thing where they look for trademarks filed by Japanese game companies. During a more recent search, they discovered two new Phantasy Star games in development: Phantasy Star: Eternal Planets and Phantasy Star: Eternal Hunters. Though I'm sure this is a Pokemon-ing of either of the online Phantasy Star series, I still wish that this was a revival of Phantasy Star proper. Seriously Sega! Where is Phantasy Star V? (via Destructoid)
UPDATE: Krome Studios Is Closed
[UPDATE: Looks like the rumors were true. IGN was able to confirm that Krome Studios is no more. Original post follows.]
Kotaku is reporting rumors that Krome Studios is going to be shutting down. Krome is behind a number of games including Ty the Tasmanian Tiger, Xbox 360 Game Room, and more recently Blade Kitten. This really bums me out, as Blade Kitten was pretty fun and also the first game in a trilogy. It's Advent Rising/Heavenly Sword syndrome all over again.
Splinter Cell, Prince of Persia, More PS2 Games Getting PS3 HD Remakes
It all started with the God of War Collection. Then came the Sly Collection. The next was the Team Ico collection. Now add three more to the rumor mill, as Joystiq has found out evidence of a Mortal Kombat: HD Acade Kollection via a GameStop listing, while VG247 has found listings for the Splinter Cell Trilogy and the Prince of Persia Trilogy listed on European retailer Zavvi.
This isn't the first time we've heard of any of these; in August, Amazon France had Splinter Cell and Prince of Persia listed while ShopTo had the Mortal Kombat listed. All pages have since been pulled, but it's looking more and more likely that the two titles do exist. The Mortal Kombat: HD Arcade Kollection is to ship on November 16th, the Splinter Cell Trilogy is set for November 26th, and the Prince of Persia Trilogy is not to come out until March 11th of next year. It is expected that the Mortal Kombat game is expected be a compilation of Mortal Kombat 1, 2, and 3, the Splinter Cell game will probably consist of Splinter Cell, Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, and Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, and the Prince of Persia game is likely the Sands of Time trilogy, which is Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, and Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones. All are expected to have the budget price of 39.99USD.
Inception: The Dream: The Movie: The Dream: The Game: The Dream
Variety (via GoNintendo) reports the master filmmaker Christopher Nolan has intentions to spin summer blockbuster Inception into a videogame.
"We are looking at doing is developing a videogame based on the world of the film, which has all kinds of ideas that you can't fit into a feature film," Nolan said. "That's something we've been talking about and are looking at doing long term, in a couple of years." I, for one, would love to see an Inception-based videogame, though I can't even begin to imagine how it would work. Hopefully it won't bend my head like Inception did.
Inception came out only two months ago, and in that time it's made over $250 million domestically and over $750 million worldwide. The timing for a video game might be off, but that's just as well, considering how bad tie-in games tend to be when they're anchored to a release date.
Wii 2 Looking More Likely
This is just a rumor, but according to VG247, the Xbox 360 is likely to take the top spot from the Wii this year in the US, while Media Create has confirmed that the PlayStation 3 has passed the Wii in Japan. Nintendo is set to announce a release date and price for the 3DS in Japan on September 29, and soon after we may be seeing a peek of the Wii's inevitable successor.
In 2003, Nintendo spent $34 million dollars on research and development. By the time the Wii launched in 2006, that was up to $103 million. By 2007, it had more than tripled to $370 million in R&D. Certainly a good portion of that money was going toward the 3DS development, but it's an awful lot to spend on a handheld gaming console, no matter how phenomenal it may be. Michael Pachter may have actually been right when he predicted WiiHD in 2011.
Still Unbelievable: Free Overnight Shipping On Duke Nukem Forever
Saw this on Gamestop's web site. I know the game is actually being made and that there's a very good chance we'll see the game come out next year, but I still can't shake the feeling that this is just an elaborate joke. It's like the gaming industry itself wants to draw out its longest running gag just a few more years.
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