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, before proceeding to offer our two cents on each story for good measure.
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‘A lot rests on Vita’s success,’ says SCE boss
Sony Computer Entertainment big cheese Andrew House (or for the uninitiated, the bloke who got Kaz Hirai’s old job) has admitted this week that 2011 was a bit of a turbulent time for the hardware giant. Aside from the after effects of the horrendous Japanese earthquake disaster, Sony also had to contend with PSN gate, which not only pulled its flagship online service off for over a month, but damaged – in some cases, irreparably – consumer confidence in the firm. Unsurprisingly, with the New Year underway, House had admitted that “a lot rests” on Vita’s success, with the handheld’s launch an early highlight in Sony’s 2012 offering. With morale suffering a blow at the hands of the aforementioned PSN outage among other things, House reckons Vita’s launch will also lift team spirit, noting a new hardware launch always brings the smiles home. Here at PSU, we’re slightly irked by the rather luke warm response to the Vita in Japan, but remain confident in the handheld’s future success. Personally, I think the line-up was always far more suitable to western audiences, which bodes well for its U.S. and European debut on February 22. Fingers crossed, eh?
Warner unveils Mortal Kombat: Komplete Edition
Hands up anyone who saw this coming a mile off? Thought so. Nonetheless, this is a solid move in my book, as I’ve personally yet to pick up Mortal Kombat and now I can do so without having to fiddle around and download all the extra content. The Komplete Edition was outed before Christmas as it goes, having appeared on the BBFC’s official website, though it’s only this week that publisher Warner has lifted the wraps off the bundle. It’s out on March 2, so that’s not too long to wait, though a price has yet to be determined — hopefully it’ll be in the region of wallet-friendly, though. As for the rest of you, needless to say if you haven’t picked up MK yet, hold off a little bit longer and pick up the Komplete Edition.
CES 2012: Vita to get Netflix on launch
Sony seems to be making a concerted effort to pack PS Vita with as many features as humanly possible for its western launch next month, with NetFlix being the latest inclusion. The video streaming service will be available out of the box on day one, meaning you’ll be able to enjoy your favourites TV shows and movies in the palm of your hand courtesy of Vita’s crystal clear OLED screen. Lovely.
PlayStation consoles sell 6.5 million during holiday season
Sony confirmed this week that its extensive family of PlayStation consoles shifted some 6.5 million units over the 2011 holiday season, with PS3 alone flogging an impressive 3.9 million units. Big numbers, though you’d expect so considering the holiday period accounts for Thanksgiving and Christmas – all those deals are bound to send consoles flying off the shelves. Nonetheless, it’s great news for Sony HQ, and regarding PS3 in particular, puts the system well on track for hitting its targeted 15 million consoles for FY2012, which ends March 31. No doubt games such as Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception as well as the plethora of other exclusives on sale helped drive PS3 adoption during this time. A well-deserved pat on the back for Sony.
Mass Effect 3 getting single-player, multiplayer DLC
Mass Effect 3’s March debut is getting closer by the day, and chances are most of us are expecting pretty big things from Shepard’s sci-fi swansong. Fortunately, BioWare seems to be ticking all the boxes, confirming a strong post-launch line-up for the eagerly-anticipated RPG. Specifically, series overlord Casey Hudson’s confirmed that ME3 will receive DLC for not only the multiplayer component (as expected), but also the single-player element. This is music to my ears, as Mass Effect 2 received some pretty substantial post-launch pleasures, and seeing as how I’m a single-player bloke at heart, I doubt I’ll be bothering much with the multiplayer side of things. Either way, BioWare looks set to cater to both sides of the fence, and that can only be a good thing.
Sony shoots down PS4 E3 reveal rumors
Well, Sony is hardly going to confirm a mammoth reveal like PlayStation 4 in advance are they? But in all seriousness, this shouldn’t really come as a surprise. Sony has been trumpeting its commitment for PS3 for a good while now, and in all honesty the system has only come into its stride in the past 18 months – they’re hardly going to unveil a new machine at this point in its life. On the flip side, it seems a lot of consumers are ready to embrace the next-generation of hardware, and many have noted a lack of new titles for 2013 and beyond, which may or may not point towards the end of the line for current systems. Personally, as I’ve always maintained, I don’t think we’ll see PS4 until 2014, though there is always a chance Microsoft may get out the door first with its successor to Xbox 360. Even if Sony does have plans for a new console sooner rather than later, the chances of it appearing at this year’s E3 are about as likely as Millwall winning the cup.
Modern Warfare 3 is 2011’s biggest-selling game
Shocked? No? Thought not. Modern Warfare 3’s victory was pretty much in the bag after it obliterated entertainment records upon its November launch, though that doesn’t mean we should ignore all the other gems that performed well throughout last year. While obvious commercial juggernauts such as Battlefield 3 and FIFA 12 pulled in the punters, it’s great to see games such as Skyrim make the list of best-selling games in 2011. On the Sony front, the PS3 chart is largely dominated by shooters and footie sims, though Uncharted 3 also made the list in fourth place; impressive for an exclusive title, especially as it only released in November. PSP is still chugging along, with the most curious performer being the two-year old Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines as the fifth highest-selling title on Sony’s aging slab of 2011. Now that’s staying power. (editor’s note – it’s worth noting that MW3 has since been dethroned in the U.K. by singer Adele as 2011’s biggest entertainment property).
Sony or Microsoft to bow out of console business, says Gaikai
This is something of an overblown claim, and frankly quite laughable when you consider the fact Gaikai is a game streaming company. As such, it’s not a surprise to hear the firm predicting the death of Sony or Microsoft in the console making game at the end of the current-generation. After all, it’s like smartphone companies sprinkling doom and gloom all over dedicated handheld consoles like the PlayStation Vita – they’re not exactly going to be singing its praise, are they? But yep, Gaikai reckons one of the companies won’t be bringing a new console out, and while we’ve yet to hear anything official on PlayStation 4 or the NextBox, it’s pretty much a given that Sony and Microsoft will churn out another telly box at some point in the future.
New Medal of Honor, Need for Speed outed by GAME
It was only a matter of time before we caught wind of a new Medal of Honor and Need for Speed. In regards to the former, developer Danger Close (otherwise known as EA Los Angeles) confirmed last year that a sequel to its 2010 military shooter was in the works, and while almost 12 months has passed since that news, it shouldn’t be long until EA officially lifts the wraps off the project. As for Need for Speed, well, presumably it’ll be handled by Criterion, though nothing else is known on the game at present. Still, it should be long until we find out more, so stay tuned to PSU.com for more details.
December 2011 NPD: Industry down 21 percent
The latest NPD figures make for some grim reading, with the videogames industry on a whole recording an eye-watering 21 percent drop in sales last month in comparison to December 2010. Hardware in particular suffered the biggest blow, down 28 percent year-on-year. It’s not all doom and gloom however, as Sony insisted its PlayStation brand rounded off a ‘banner 2011,’ reiterating the fact it flogged an impressive 6.5 million units globally over the holiday season last year. Unsurprisingly, Xbox 360 took the crown for the highest-selling console of December, a record that it’s held for 12 consecutive months now. Sony, of course, is keeping mum as to how many PS3s it did sell in the U.S. last month, though crucially it did note that sales were up year-on-year, which is encouraging news.
The Best of the Rest…
New Gran Turismo 5 DLC is just around the bend
Konami dates Silent Hill HD, Downpour, Book of Memories
Don’t judge PS Vita Euro success based on Japan, says SCEE