Capcom has laid off a number of its staff, and now-former senior vice president Christian Svensson is among those affected.
Svensson stepped down voluntarily as the publisher reorganizes. He isn’t the only one to go, writing on Facebook that “sadly, I’m not the only one affected by the reorganization today. Over the next few days, I’ll be gathering resumes from as many as I can and will be sending them out to my contacts around the industry to see if there’s a ‘love connection’ to be made.”
Svensson also said:
“I’ve had the opportunity to interface with the best fans any company could ever hope to have. I know that I wasn’t always able to deliver what they wanted, but I promise that I did my best to champion their needs and wants. So thank you to the fans who made my job rewarding, challenging, and, if nothing else, interesting.”
“While I wish the company the best of luck, Capcom is going in a different direction and the need for people at my level, relative to other areas, is lacking. Those who know me well, know that I’ve been ready to go for quite some time. We tried some things that worked. We tried others that didn’t. We fought fights that were worth fighting and even won a few. I’m proud of what we accomplished.”
New Pikmin 3 press previews are starting to go live. Among them is a new report from IGN, which includes some new details. For a summary of what was shared in the site’s article, check out the summary below.
– The planet Koppai needs its resources
– Resources are needed at the expense of species on planet PNF-404
– Meet each explorer and each Pikmin type separately
– You’ll learn how to move between your lead characters, to multi-task your various unit types, watch your overworld map on the GamePad and even set waypoints for your Koppai crew members and their assigned legion of creatures
– Hints and tips are scattered throughout the land in the form of Explorer’s Notes
– New abilities include highlighting an enemy with the Wii Remote and pressing Z to create a locked-on camera perspective and allow you to shake your Nunchuk to send your entire Pikmin army rushing at your target
– Narrative involves sacrificing something for the greater good
– Koppai need your help and things like fruit juice, which you must extract/steal
– Also need to sustain your three commanders off that same resource
– Can do what you want, explore where you want and do any of it how you want so long as you stay alive
– Every day your team must drink some of the juice you’re trying to collect
– You’ll lose if you run out
– Can spend a day just collecting and stockpiling fruit
– If you run out of daylight during a boss battle, you can escape from your foe and return the next day
– Any damage done will remain,
– The same goes for any items you’re moving around – your progress remains
– At the end of a day, you’ll be shown a line graph tracking yor total Pikmin count
– Can revisit past days, provided you’re willing to lose any progress to that point
– Ex: if you’re on Day 7 and want to move back to Day 3, you can, but will erase Das 4, 5, and 6
– Take in-game photos with the GamePad and share them on Miiverse
The situation surrounding Scribblenauts Unlimited’s European release is incredibly bizarre. For unknown reasons, the Wii U and 3DS games remain unavailable in the continent.
Despite this week’s news that Scribblenauts Unmasked – the series’ latest game – will be hitting North America in late September, there still isn’t any news on Unlimited’s European release.
Nintendo’s statement about the situation is the same as before, which states that “some changes need to be implemented within the game before we launch them across Europe.” Unlimited will be out “very soon” according to the company – somehow I doubt that.
“We are sorry to announce that Scribblenauts Unlimited, a game developed by Warner Bros. Interactive & 5th Cell and published by Nintendo of Europe for both Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, will be delayed in Europe. It has come to light that some changes need to be implemented within the game before we launch them across Europe. We are very sorry for any inconvenience this may cause and we hope to make further announcements on the European launch of these games very soon.”
If you’re looking for a completely free game made just for Wii U, perhaps you’ll want to try out “Bluball”. This title was created exclusively for the console’s web browser in HTML5 – something we haven’t seen too often.
Players will find 15 stages and more than 50 stars to collect in Bluball. It uses the Wii U’s gyroscope for precise ball movement.
Creator Kenney Vleugels says admits that “The game doesn’t have audio and the framerate is quite low”, which “are problems of the Wii U’s browser”. Still, it’s not too bad of an effort!
Splinter Cell: Blacklist is introducing a brand new actor for Sam Fisher.
Michael Ironside, involved with the series since the first game, will not be returning. Ubisoft has instead decided to bring in Eric Johnson.
What led to the change? Splinter Cell: Blacklist creative director Maxime Béland explained to IGN:
Nintendo has opened the official European Mario & Luigi: Dream Team website. You can find it here.
There’s a trailer to see, gameplay information to read, and screenshots to view. Have fun!
Hulu is coming to the 3DS in Japan. It was announced today that the service will begin sometime this summer. In order to use Hulu, consumers will need to subscribe for 980 yen per month.
Interestingly, Hulu Plus still isn’t out overseas. It was originally announced for North America in October 2011.
In Europe, Namco Bandai trademarked something called “Lost Swords”. It’s associated with video games, meaning that the company could be developing this unannounced title. Lost Swords could a completely new project from Namco Bandai, given how we haven’t heard of a similar name in the past.
