Andrew Wilson has been named CEO of Electronic Arts, the company announced today.
He’ll be following in the footsteps of former executive John Riccitiello. Riccitiello resigned as CEO this past March.
Wilson has been with EA for well over a decade. His previous position was executive vice president of EA Sports.
In an announcement message, Wilson pointed to three main points as his goals going forward:
1. Continued transformation for our digital future;
2. Delivering amazing games and services across platforms; and
3. Instilling a culture of execution that will drive profitable growth.
You can find Wilson’s introductory announcement in full on EA’s blog.
WayForward has announced that Inti Creates is working on Shantae: Half-Genie Hero. The studio is involved with art-related assets, such as key artwork, concepts, and character illustrations.
Inti Creates was initially signed on for Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse. Since then, the company has simply continued on and has assisted WayForward with Half-Genie Hero.
Inti Creates’ previous work includes Mega Man 9 and 10. Additionally, the studio is developing Mighty No. 9 (hence the image above).
The recently-released figurine-powered video game Disney Infinity launched with relative success, pushing 300,000 copies of their pricey ‘starter pack’ in its first two weeks on the market. Unfortunately, Activision is trying to quell the excitement about Disney’s success, saying they sold 500,000 copies of their Skylanders Giants starter pack in its first two weeks, about 170% as many copies as Infinity.
Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg says “the best is yet to come”, citing next month’s release of Skylanders: Swap Force as reason to stay interested in the franchise.
The original Toki Tori is coming soon to the Wii U eShop. Two Tribes confirmed on Twitter today that the game has been submitted to Nintendo for testing, and gave a rundown of features.
Off-TV play will be supported. Players will additionally be able to use touch/stick controls. Portal 2 ARG content is included as well.
Toki Tori 1 Wii U is headed to Nintendo for testing tomorrow! What to expect? - Off-TV play - Touch / stick control - Portal 2 ARG content
— Two Tribes (@TwoTribesGames) September 17, 2013
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destiny will release in North America and Europe on October 24, Capcom has announced. The game will be available digitally on the eShop. As was previously announced, pricing is set at $29.99 / €24.99.
Details regarding the costume pack and Turnabout Return episode will be shared “soon”.
View the gallery above for new English screenshots. The official announcement can be found after the break.
Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma hopes players will be surprised with the series’ newest game, A Link Between Worlds. He’s already teased a change for the main shop. There will also be “gameplay that never existed on previous Zelda games,” as he told ONM this month.
Aonuma said:
“Using the 3D effect on Nintendo 3DS and making the two-dimensional A Link To The Past playable in 3D was kind of an assignment that Mr Miyamoto had given me after the release of Nintendo 3DS. However, I wanted to do more than just that. My main reason for wanting to do it was because this game is perfect for the part where Link turns into a drawing and moves along the walls.”
“The 3D effects are this title’s biggest addition in terms of the hardware’s performance and features. However, we have also introduced gameplay that never existed on previous Zelda games. Players who have become used to the series and who are expecting things to work a certain way will probably be very surprised, so I hope that they look forward to this.”
For a number of years, all of Sonic’s handheld outings were comprised of side-scrolling gameplay. This is changing with Sonic Lost World, which is the first 3D Sonic title on a Nintendo portable.
Sonic Team boss Takashi Iizuka explained ton ONM that a side-scroller “didn’t make sense” because Sonic Lost World’s main idea is a cylindrical world. Because of the 3DS’ added power, 3D worlds are now more possible than before.
“In Colours and Generations the focus was a side-scrolling game. If you look at Lost World, the main concept is a cylindrical world, so it didn’t make sense to do a side view. The 3DS’s extra power makes it the sort of place 3D can be used really well.”
“Even though it’s power powerful than a DS, it still has its limits. It wasn’t easy to get the same levels, but we kept cutting things back until we could get it so that if you looked at it – in a trailer, say – you couldn’t tell which was which. We tried to get the same feel for Wii U and 3DS.”
Last year, 5th Cell included Nintendo characters and items in Scribblenauts Unlimited. Players could add characters such as Mario and Link to their game, as well as objects like the Super Mushroom and ocarina.
Scribblenauts Unmasked, unfortunately, won’t allow for similar functionality. According to senior producer Caleb Arseneaux, the game lacks Nintendo characters. Nintendo items likely won’t be included either.
Arseneaux said:
“No Nintendo characters made it in this version, mostly because we had so much work to do in order to get over 2,000 objects from the DC Universe into the game!”
