Activision isn’t exactly thrilled with Wii U’s performance thus far. Speaking during the company’s post-earnings financial call earlier today, company CEO Bobby Kotick said the publisher is “somewhat disappointed” by how the system has come out of the gate thus far.
An investor had asked Kotick about Skylanders’ potential on Wii U. The series most appeals to children between the ages of 6 to 11, so the system’s lukewarm launch is “something we are concerned about.”
Killer Croc appears to be joining Injustice: Gods Among Us’ roster. NetherRealm Studios creative director Ed Boon tweeted a screenshot featuring the character without much else:
— Ed Boon (@noobde) February 7, 2013
Warner Bros. hasn’t officially confirmed Killer Croc as playable, but it looks like that’s the case. Riddler and Penguin, also shown in the photo, are likely just background NPCs, however.
Ubisoft could have launched Rayman Legends on Wii U this month if it wanted to. In every practical sense, the game is done. Ubisoft is simply sitting on the title so that it can churn out ports for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
A Ubisoft representative commented on the Rayman Legends delay, stating that the move was made simply “to release on multiple platforms.” The rep mentioned that the company tends to “release all of our platforms simultaneously”, and while a few exceptions have been made in the past, doing so is “not our standard practice.”
“There are no issues with the game development. All of the information was in the press release, the only reason for the delay is to release on multiple platforms. We usually release all of our platforms simultaneously (aside from PC). We’ve made special exception sometimes in the past but it’s definitely just on a case by case basis and not our standard practice. In this case, Ubisoft recently decided they wanted to release the game on multiple platforms so the decision was made to launch them all at the same time rather than separately. I know it’s not an elaborate, ‘convincing’ answer, but it’s the simple truth.”
Warren Specter has to be the most beloved game developer who isn’t actually that great at the technical aspect of game design in the industry right now. I mean, he has made some utterly incredible games– Deus Ex being perhaps his most famous– but recent products of his have been flawed (Epic Mickey) or downright poorly designed (Epic Mickey 2). Going into the future, the recent string of less-than-perfect games isn’t deterring him from continuing, however, and he says he has plenty more to make:
– Game designer Warren Spector
“I want content that is relevant to my life, set in the real world. If we’re going to reach a new audience, we have to stop making games for teenage boys.”
– Game designer Warren Spector
Philosophies like that second one are why people hold Spector in high regard, despite the shaky quality of some of his releases. He knows where the gaming industry should go and he knows how to keep the art on par with any other expressive media, he just can’t do it all the time. I truly hope going forward he manages to strike that balance of art and technicalities!
Following their ever-present strategy of protecting folks on their online services, Nintendo has announced that anyone under the age of 12 will be unable to directly friend request (or be requested by) other users via Miiverse, and will instead have to manually input Nintendo Network IDs via the Home Menu. This doesn’t come as much of a surprise given their past with online security, and since it doesn’t affect the majority of users who would be interested in requesting each other (or the majority of people who own a Wii U already) they’re probably not expecting too much backlash.
– Miiverse Code of Conduct
Sounds like a safe plan to me!
To say the least, Wii U owners aren’t pleased with the news that Rayman Legends is going multiplatform. Due to the new SKUs, the game won’t be available until September. The delay was announced just weeks before Legends was supposed to launch on Wii U.
Wii U users took to Miiverse today to voice their displeasure with Ubisoft. You’ll find tons of commentary from system owners on the Uplay community complaining about the news.
But Wii U fans aren’t the only ones unhappy with Ubisoft’s announcement. One of the developers (take this with a grain of salt – he’s apparently “Xavier”, on stage at Ubisoft’s E3 presser last year to show off the title) wrote a fairly lengthy reaction to the delay. Xavier noted how members of the team “spent 6 months barely seeing our wifes, kids, and friends” as they crammed to get Rayman ready for release this month. It was “for nothing”, however, and “it was a hell to swallow” the news. Xavier does stand by the quality of Legends though, and hopes consumers won’t neglect it simply because of what some believe is a poor decision from Ubisoft.
A translated forum post from the ElOtroLado forum reads (thanks to NeoGAF’s Tiamant):
Nice to see Pikmin 3 getting some love!
Last May about 30 million Skylanders toys had already been purchased by kids, parents, and gamers alike. That numbers seemed absurd then, but now– just nine months later– it has more than tripled, topping the 100 million mark this past quarter with help from the release of Skylanders: Giants.
If you’re interested in how much money Activision is making from this franchise alone? Over $500 million in revenue has been generated by the series, with 40% of that coming from the fresh-off-the-presses Giants.
