“In fact, we play-tested the game until the last minute. With the most relevant information in hand, the decision was the most relevant to take. What we saw in the play-tests is that we were very close to the quality we wanted, but not exactly at the level. We thought that with more time we could give it a far bigger potential, so we think the best way to take care of this brand is to make sure it has everything it can be supplied to the customers that are expecting it.”

– Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot

Watch_Dogs was delayed until early 2014 earlier this week.

Via Gamespot

[EVENT] Extra Life 2013 – The 24-Hour Gaming Marathon for Charity LIVE!

Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in Features, General Gaming, Site updates, Videos | 1 Comment

Donate Dollars
Vote on Games

Ah yes, it is that time of year again– time to start preparing and setting up our participation in Extra Life 2013! Last year we participated for the first time ever and managed to play video games for 24 hours straight while people watched us live over the internet. This year, it’s going to be the same deal only BIGGER, BADDER, and BETTER than ever! So, here’s the low-down:

What is Extra Life? What have you gotten yourselves into this time?

Extra Life is a charity organization that is most famous for setting up a global 24-hour gaming marathon that has gamers attempting to play any game– board game, video game, card game, etc– for 24 hours straight without stopping. Anyone can participate, and your fundraising goal can be any amount you want– don’t hesitate to sign up yourself if you think you can get a few friends or family members to pitch in a couple bucks.

100% of the money goes to the charity, and it’s used to purchase video games and consoles for kids who are chronically ill or otherwise have to stay in hospitals for extended periods. The games are meant to help take their minds off of what they may be going through, which I’m sure many of you who have spent time in a hospital can relate to!

More: highlight

Mega-Man/Mighty No. 9 creator Keiji Inafune says “if any creator has not played Mario, then they’re probably not a good creator”, shares fondness for the series

Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in 3DS, General Gaming, General Nintendo, News, Podcast Stories, Wii U | 15 Comments

“If any creator has not played Mario, then they’re probably not a good creator. That’s something I can say with 100 percent confidence. Mario is, for game creators, the development bible. There are so many hints about good design, about cute characters, about innovation in using an existing gameplay system. It’s something you have to constantly look at and examine and take hints from as a game creator. It’s the anchor that grounds almost all games.”

“I have total respect for Miyamoto, to the point where… It’s very strange that there are national cultural treasures – they’re traditionally sportsmen. I think it’s very strange that somebody as famous as Miyamoto hasn’t been designated one of those people. He’s talked about in all different countries. Lots of people know him. He’s pushed forward Japanese culture and interest in Japan all over the world. He’s somebody that deserves everyone’s ultimate respect, and a lot of that is due to being able to create Mario. And Super Mario Bros. 3, of course, within that, was a fantastic game.”

– Keiji Inafune

This quote comes as part of a large Super Mario related feature that IGN is putting together where many gaming-industry personalities– Greg Miller, Cliffy B, and Ted Price, for example. You can check that out here.

Via Gamespot

Oddworld Inhabitants speaks on the possibility of new Oddworld games, says there are “two different possibilities”

Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in General Gaming, News, Wii U | 0 comments

“[There are] two different possibilities. I don’t want to say what they are, because we’ve talked way too many times and not actually delivered a title. Now, we’ve talked about Hand of Odd in the past, we’ve talked about Brutal Ballad of Fangus Klot; we started production then we stopped it. Those were the two that got out there and people didn’t really see anything new.”

“Most of my time today is going into designing new product, but our bandwidth is stretched. So I’m designing a lot of things – two major things. Now I’m not sure which will get started first. If we have the success of New ‘n’ Tasty … let’s say if we can do a million units of New ‘n’ Tasty – I don’t know if that’s completely unrealistic or not because we don’t have advertising money, we don’t have a big publisher pushing it. I think Sony will help us expose it. I think it will be a quality game, but it’s not trying to be Destiny, right?

– Oddworld co-founder and president Lorne Lanning

Via Joystiq

61% of UK citizens believe that games cause an increase in aggression, old people are more likely to link the two

Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in General Gaming, News | 2 Comments

A poll taken by YouGov asked UK citizens if they believe that playing video games can cause real-life aggression to bubble up. Respondents were only able to answer “yes” or “no” to the poll, as no “sometimes” or “maybe” answer was provided. Here are the results:

– 61% of respondents said “Yes” when asked if games increase real-life aggression
– 57% said that games are a good way to let out frustration
– Old people/those who haven’t played games think worse of games than young people/those who have played games

Don’t read too far into this– it’s just one study.

Via Eurogamer

Game Freak’s Junichi Masuda shares his thoughts on the passing of Hiroshi Yamauchi

Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in General Gaming, General Nintendo, News | 0 comments

“I just found out about the news regarding the death of former Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi. He created the Famicom, and the game business in Japan, and made it into a recognized part of the game industry around the world. And he also loved Pokémon. Mr. Yamauchi, today we surpassed one million preorders for XY… I pray from the bottom of my heart for your happiness in the next world.”

– Pokémon director Junichi Masuda

Former Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauichi passed away yesterday due to complications from pneumonia.

Via Siliconera

Gamestop VP says Call of Duty: Ghosts is “on track to be the most pre-ordered title of the year”

Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in General Gaming, News, Wii U | 1 Comment

“Call of Duty is an entertainment juggernaut and cultural phenomenon. We are excited for the upcoming release of the new installment of this blockbuster franchise, Call of Duty: Ghosts. We look forward to celebrating the worldwide November launch of this great game that is on track to be the most pre-ordered title of the year.”

– Gamestop VP of merchandising Bob Puzon

Just as a little editorial sidenote: It’ll be incredibly interesting to see how long Call of Duty can go being annualized before people get fatigued of it. It’s such a well-loved franchise!

Via Joystiq

Activision renews “Sing Hero” trademark

Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in General Gaming, News | 0 comments

Though it’s not any indication of activity within the franchise, it appears as though Activision doesn’t plan on letting go of the Sing Hero brand name anytime soon, as they’ve renewed the trademark for it in relation to an “unannounced project”. The trademark was initially filed back in 2009, although not a single game with that moniker has ever been released.

Via Gamespot

Activision Publishing CEO says yearly Call of Duty releases “have found a nice equilibrium with peoples’ appetite”

Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in General Gaming, News, Wii U | 1 Comment

“The cadence of the releases seems to have found a nice equilibrium with people’s appetite. There’s demand and excitement each and every time out. Then people are playing throughout the year. We don’t take anything for granted.”

“Having alternating studios is one of the secrets to the franchise’s success. You have different creative people who are strong-willed and have minds of their own. Everyone gets what makes a great Call of Duty game. Treyarch and IW are the masters, and have built this thing. So, there’s a lot of common DNA from year to year. But then people come in and want to top each other. There’s some healthy competition. There’s a desire within the creative team to not do the same thing and not be stagnant, the same way there is in the player community.”

– Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg

Hirshberg also mentioned how Call of Duty releases have become a sort of “pop culture event” that people want to take part in simply because it’s topical. He compared to to the release of Avatar (2009 movie), saying “a lot of non-hardcore sci-fi fans saw Avatar because it was an event. You felt you had to be a part of it. We’ve reached the status with Call of Duty of this sort of pop-cultural inevitability.”

Via Gamespot

Latest Nintendo annual report touts over 650 million units of hardware sold over 30 years

Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in General Gaming, General Nintendo, News | 2 Comments

Details from the latest NIntendo annual report have come in, and it gives some interesting figures that really put things in perspective:

– Over the past 30 years, Nintendo has sold 653 million units of hardware.

– 268 million consoles, 385 million handhelds
– 2.195 billion units of software sold on home consoles
– 1.907 billion units of software for handhelds
– Software numbers include download software and bundled software

To put things in perspective: That works out to nearly 60,000 units of hardware sold every day on average, and nearly 375,000 units of software sold per day on average. The average software tie ratio? 6 games per unit of hardware.

That’s a lot of merchandise. Wowza.

Via Polygon