Welcome to another instalment in our weekly news digest where the team at PSU Towers picks our favourite slices of gaming gossip from the past seven days.
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Final Fantasy Versus XIII will be ‘unbelievably amazing,’ says executive producer
Final Fantasy diehards are jonesing for any news about the oft-delayed Final Fantasy Versus XIII. Word on the game has surfaced via Final Fantasy executive producer Shinji Hashimoto. It’s a small tidbit, but it’s a good one.
Speaking about the game’s progress at Ginza SWING!! in Tokyo, Hashimoto said that the game has evolved considerably from its 2010 trailer showing, and is "turning out to be unbelievably amazing."
Read more.
Crytek: Sony, Microsoft to struggle without free-to-play
Platform holders Sony and Microsoft will find themselves in for a rough time in the next-generation console war if they fail to adopt the concept of free-to-play titles.
That’s according to Crytek head honcho Cevat Yerli, who told Eurogamer that the industry giants need to support F2P games going forward.
Prey has not been cancelled, says Bethesda
Prey 2 hasn’t been cancelled, Bethesda’s marketing head Pete Hines has confirmed.
Hines was responding to claims that he had confirmed the game’s cancellation during a chat with IGN Benelux. However, this turned out to be a mistranslation:
Evil Cole MacGrath joins PS All-Stars Battle Royale roster
Today, at the GameStop Managers Show in San Antonio, Texas, SuperBot Entertainment revealed the newest member to join the already colorful PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale roster, Evil Cole MacGrath.
Sony, Quantic Dream never discussed Heavy Rain 2
The CEO of Quantic Dream has said that the studio never had a proper discussion with Sony in regards to developing a sequel to Heavy Rain.
Despite the success of the PlayStation 3-exclusive thriller, David Cage revealed that his studio was never under pressure to churn out a follow-up – instead, Sony was happy to give Cage complete freedom with his next project.
PlayStation All-Stars beta officially announced for Europe
It’s been a long time coming, but PlayStation gamers in Europe are finally getting their chance to experience the much-anticipated PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale in the form of a beta coming next month.
Announced on the EU PlayStation Blog this morning, the PlayStation All-Stars "limited public beta" will be available on both PS3 AND PS Vita starting Tuesday, September 11.
Metal Gear Solid movie announced, Avi Arad producing
At today’s Metal Gear 25th Anniversary event in Tokyo, Hideo Kojima took the stage to officially announce that an oft-rumored Metal Gear Solid movie is officially in the works.
Posters with the slogan "Metal Gear Solid Hollywood Movie" appeared at the event, and Kojima confirmed the project to those in attendance. Avi Arad will be the producer on the film.
Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes unveiled
Hideo Kojima has officially announced Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes, the next instalment in the critically-acclaimed stealth-action franchise, at a special 25th anniversary event in Japan today.
The game was shown off running on Kojima-san’s new Fox Engine, with Twitter chatter coming out of the event claiming parts of the demo were shown in real-time, which managed to leave many jaws well and truly floored.
Team Bondi unveils Whore of the Orient
Team Bondi, the developer behind the critically-acclaimed L.A. Noire, has unveiled it’s working on a title for next-generation consoles named Whore of the Orient.
PS Vita sales mostly in line with expectations, says Sony boss
Sony CEO and President Kazuo Hirai has revealed that sales of PlayStation Vita are mostly in line with the company’s expectations.
Despite this, Hirai told Reuters that PS Vita was lagging behind somewhat in a few regions, though didn’t disclose any further details.
Read more.
PlayStation 4 will launch in 2013, says EA boss
EA Labels president Frank Gibeau recently boasted that he had witnessed both next-generation consoles, and now the man behind EA brand management has told Bloomberg that PlayStation 4 will launch in 2013.
During the interview, Gibeau commented that hardware and software sales tend to flatten out towards the end of a console lifecycle.
God of War: Ascension dated for U.K., Special Editions detailed
Sony’s confirmed launch dates for God of War: Ascension in PAL regions.
Kratos’ latest bloodbath will be released in mainland Europe on March 13, followed by Australia and New Zealand on March 14 and finally the U.K. and Ireland on March 15.
Nariko and Sir Daniel Fortesque confirmed for PS All-Stars Battle Royale
Following the confirmation of Raiden by Gamespot yesterday, Heavenly Sword protagonist Nariko and the hero of MediEvil, Sir Daniel Fortesque, have joined the cast of PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. Gamespot have posted a video showing gameplay featuring Nariko, Sir Dan, Evil Cole and Raiden battling in the Timescape stage based off the Ape Escape series.
God of War movie not dead, will be an origins story
The planned movie adaptation of Sony’s God of War series is still in the pipeline, though it has emerged that the screenplay has required some major tweaking.
That’s according to writing duo Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton, who also confirmed that the film will be an origins story similar to Batman Begins.
Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary Ultimate Collection Box announced
Final Fantasy will be receiving a meaty Ultimate Box Collection as part of the series’ 25th anniversary, Square Enix has confirmed.
The bundle was announced during the on-going 25th anniversary bash in Tokyo, Japan today, and includes the following:
Insomniac’s Overstrike is now Fuse
Speaking at the PAX Prime 2012 keynote address, Insomniac president Ted Price revealed a screenshot from an unannounced intellectual property. According to Game Informer, this intellectual property is the game once known as Overstrike – except now, the game is called Fuse.
Final Fantasy XIII sequel announced, called Lightning Returns
Freshly announced today, Square-Enix detailed the third and final outing for the Final Fantasy XIII series called Lighting Returns: Final Fantasy XIII.
Series director Motomu Toriyama spoke on the subject, and he said that Lightning will be a much stronger character in Lightning Returns than in the other two titles, because this will be her final battle