There’s a double dose of encouraging Wii U-related news coming from Havok today.
First off, the company’s Vision Engine is now available for the platform. With its release, the full product suite of Havok technology has made its way to Wii U. Along with access to the free binary downloads of Havok Physics and Animation, developers are able to purchase a source license for any product they desire. Available tools include the aforementioned Havok Vision Engine, Havok Physics, Havok Animation, Havok Behavior, Havok Destruction, Havok AI, Havok Cloth, and Havok Script.
Vice president of sales and marketing Brian Waddle commented:
“We have shared a long-term partnership with Nintendo and are pleased to offer licensing of our entire product suite for Wii U developers worldwide. With several great Havok-powered launch titles recently released, we are pleased to see Wii U developers pushing the hardware with Havok’s tech. We look forward to seeing Havok Vision Engine power some great high-fidelity games on the new platform.”
Famitsu has returned with yet another teaser this week that may potentially break the hopes and dreams of gamers. In its latest issue, the magazine says it will, at long last, have news about a popular title. Further information was not provided.
Along with the teaser, Famitsu promised to share rankings of the most-anticipated 2013 games as voted on by readers.
See you next week, Famitsu!
Masahiro Sakurai dealing with bad RSI, says he should use his hands less
RSI– also known as “repetitive strain injury”– is a painful muscle/joint/bone/something condition that can be brought on by extensive and strenuous use of a particular muscle in the human body. The latest victim of this relatively common condition is Smash Bros. director and Kirby series creator Masahiro Sakura, who says many years of programming and testing has left his hands in pain too often to do excessive work:
“Using a mouse, keyboard or gamepad make my arm tired, so I can’t use them in a continual manner. The only device I can use for an extended period of time is a joystick. It’s posing problems when I’m test-playing something in progress.”
“I figure that if I cut down on writing emails and other things, try not to type in so much data myself, and start giving more verbal directions, that’ll reduce the amount of keyboard-oriented work I have to do. But if I’m going to be supervising other people’s work, there’s no way to cut down the amount of mouse usage I need to perform. I’m trying to work it with my left hand in order to give the right one some rest, but that definitely cuts down on my work efficiency…”
So what’s a prolific game designer to do!? Sakurai says he’s going to try using a trackball mouse instead of a traditional one. Best of luck to him! I hope it helps him regain the efficiency he desires.
Gungho Online Entertainment acquires Grasshopper Manufacturer
Everyone’s favorite (and only!) No More Heroes developer Grasshopper Manufacturer has been purchased by Ragnorak Online publisher “Gungho Online Entertainment”, but how this affects Suda51 and his team’s development process remains to be seen. Word on the street is that the developer will be operating as normal, and has teamed up purely to give them more resources to realize their vision.
“By joining GungHo Online Entertainment, we are aligning ourselves with a strong, established publishing force that will support our vision to further create inspired new games that appeal players across the world. The Grasshopper team and I have many new ideas to share with our fans as we move forward so this union with GOE will help us realize our future plans.” – Grasshopper Manufacturer Founder Goichi Suda
This week’s Japanese software sales are as follows:
01./02. [3DS] Animal Crossing: New Leaf #
02./01. [PS3] DmC: Devil May Cry
03./00. [PSP] Gintama no Sugoroku
04./00. [PSV] Demon Gaze
05./00. [3DS] Fantasy Life
06./00. [PSV] Genkai Totsuki Monster Monpiece #
07./00. [PS3] Kamisama to Unmei Kakumei no Paradox #
08./00. [PS3] Hitman: Absolution
09./03. [PSP] Digimon Adventure
10./04. [3DS] New Super Mario Bros. 2 #
11./05. [3DS] Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (Best Price!)
12./06. [3DS] Inazuma Eleven Go 2: Chrono Stone – Neppuu / Raimei
13./08. [3DS] Paper Mario: Sticker Star
14./12. [3DS] Taiko no Tatsujin: Chibi Dragon to Fushigi na Orb
15./09. [WIU] New Super Mario Bros. U
16./19. [WII] Taiko no Tatsujin Wii: Super Deluxe Edition #
17./07. [3DS] Tousouchuu: Shijou Saikyou no Hunter-Tachi Kara Nigekire!
18./15. [PS3] Call of Duty: Black Ops II – Dubbed Edition
19./10. [PS3] Fist of the North Star: Ken’s Rage 2 #
20./11. [WIU] Nintendo Land
This week’s GameStop deals are as follows:
Update: Nope. From the Activision forums:
“We are aware that some of the menu listings from the [Xbox] 360’s Revolution DLC drop are showing up in the game. This is … just a versioning problem that we are working to address.”
Like I posted about last night, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 got a brand new patch last night that supposedly brought a handful of things up to speed with the PS360 versions of the game. The reality ended up being that it broke more than it fixed, but that’s for Treyarch to deal with as time goes forward. The most interesting part of this isn’t that things broke or didn’t break: It’s that we may have seen our first glimmer of hope for the “Revolution” DLC coming to Wii U in quite some time.
When the patch was applied, players quickly noticed that leaderboards now included the DLC-only “Diner Turned” mode, and there were even a few players listed on it despite it not having come out for anything other than Xbox 360 thus far. There was also a calling card added based off of the “Peacekeeper” SMG, which is a gun only available for those that have purchased the DLC.
Wii U community manager A_Trey_U was quick to rectify the situation, however, saying it was just an accident:
“Holy things that shouldn’t have happened, Batman! This is indeed a bug, and sadly something that will likely be going away this evening.
This is by no means a confirmation of DLC. Just something that got brought over when we brought over the rest of the fixes from the other platforms. Leave it to our community to find it in the first two minutes.”
We’ll just have to wait and see what happens! Treyarch is usually under incredibly strict rules about what they can and can’t talk about during the Xbox 360’s exclusivity period with DLC, so if we hear anything it’ll likely be after February 28th when the DLC comes to PS3 and PC.
