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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RUMOR: Leaked screens of PlayStation All-Stars reveal new characters and stages
Sony’s Smash Bros-inspired brawler is only a couple of months away from release, but so far the company is doing a pretty good job of keeping the finer details of the game’s roster under wraps. That changed this week though, with leaks of what is purportedly shots of nine stages and accompanying character portraits surfacing online. Stages include those based on BioShock and Loco Roco, while new characters feature Ratchet, SackBoy, Raiden and Nariko, making for quite the varied line-up. None of this has been confirmed as of yet, but if true, then it looks like developer Superbot is treating us to an extensive roster plucked from some of the biggest franchises to grace a Sony platform. Nonetheless, conspicuous by his absence so far is Solid Snake, which is pretty odd considering Raiden of all people made the cut. We presume this will change, but for now, be sure to hit the link and have a butcher’s at the images yourself.
Capcom RPG Dragon’s Dogma proved quite the financial success for the Japanese publisher, selling over one million copies worldwide, contributing to some impressive Q2 figures. The company has been keen on a sequel for some time now, with creator Hideaki Itsuno telling Famitsu some of the ideas he has for a sequel – providing it gets the green light, that is. From the sound of it, scale is going to be of paramount importance to Itsuno-san for Dragon’s Dogma 2, as only 60-70% of his ideas made it into the original. Furthermore, the game world itself is 2/3 the size of what he originally conceived, so we can assume players will have far greater exploration on their hands the second time around. Most interestingly, however, is the fact Itsuno-san wanted to include the ability to craft custom missions for the player and their pawns in the first game, as well as jump on and grab hold of enemies. These will presumably form the nucleus of what new elements we can expect to see in the sequel. For now, nothing has been confirmed, but we’ll keep you posted.
God of War Saga Collection outed
Not content with pumping out another all-new God of War title with next year’s Ascension, Sony apparently feels we haven’t had our fill of Kratos yet, and is prepping the meaty-sounding God of War Saga Collection for release this summer. That’s at least according to retail whispers close to Siliconera, which state the bundle is due for release in August 2012. No word on yet what it’ll include, but smart money puts it as a combination of the HD and Origins Collections, perhaps with God of War III thrown into the mix for a complete set. An ideal purchase for newcomers surely? Perhaps we’ll even get some other goodies in the box too. We’ll be sure to keep you posted.
Bethesda in S.T.A.L.K.E.R rumor for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3
STALKER 2 has been cancelled at least a couple of times if recent memory serves me right; in fact, it was only April that Serigiy Grygorovych, the CEO behind STALKER developer GSC Game World, Tweeted that the follow-up had been shelved. However, this is no longer apparently the case, with 1C Multimedia’s Sergey Galyonkin Tweeting that the game is in fact alive and well, and not only that, but Bethesda has allegedly snapped up the rights to the series and will publish a new game on PC and consoles. No further details are known at this point, but the info is said to hail from a credible source, so hopefully we’ll see a sequel materialise down the line.
Grand Theft Auto III delayed for PSN
Rockstar created quite a stir last month when it confirmed that GTA III would be making the jump to PSN as a PS2 Classic this week. After all, the game’s reputation speaks to itself, making it easily one of the most anticipated retro titles to hit Sony’s online service to date. However, sadly the game failed to turn up on the PS Store as planned, with the game pushed back due to music licencing issues. While it’s currently unknown when the sandbox crime epic will be released, a post on the PS Blog promises to let us know as soon as a revised launch date has been nailed down.
Final Fantasy XIII’s ‘Lightning Saga’ teased for late August
Square Enix has been teasing a continuation of the Final Fantasy XIII timeline for a while now, with those of you who have completed FFXIII-2’s DLC having witnessed hints that the story is far from over. Some folk have already jumped the gun and predicted FFXIII-3 is in the works, though whether or not this will actually happen remains to be seen; regardless, Square’s Yoshinori Kitase has made it clear that all will be revealed at the series’ 25th anniversary bash later this month. Known as the Lightning Saga, the project has only just entered production, so presumably it’ll be a while before it sees the light of day. Unfortunately, there was no mention of the elusive FF Versus XIII, which is a shame since there’s a palpable sense of frustration among fans that Square seems intent on extending the FFXIII brand and yet won’t give us just a fresh teaser of a game that was announced over six years ago.
Take-Two: GTA V is making ‘substantial progress’
Those of us who were hoping for a quick update on GTA V during Take-Two’s latest financial report Tuesday night were left disappointed – again. The publishing giant only mentioned the game was making progress in terms of development, and while that’s all fine and dandy, something on a release date would have been extremely welcoming. But alas, nine months after its unveiling and we’re still no closer to finding out when the game will be released, though Wedbush Morgan’s Michael Pacher seems to think a pre-holiday launch is a possibility – providing we get a release date announcement at Gamescom. Still, this is GTA V; if Rockstar’s taking their time with the project, then you can be sure it’ll equal if not surpass the quality set down by its multi-million dollar selling predecessor. Regardless, the media blackout has been somewhat worrying, and we’re hoping to catch another glimpse at the game later this month. Fingers crossed.
EA’s Q1 earnings show PC generated more revenue than PS3
There’s been much talk about the decline of PC gaming lately, but for publisher EA, the trusty home computer actually turned in more revenue during its first financial quarter than PS3. Xbox 360 ruled the roost (no surprise there), but thanks in no small part to Battlefield Premium, PC achieved $276 million in revenue, while PS3 pulled in slightly less at $267 million. However, an interesting note is that PC figures are based on digital sales, not traditional boxed retail purchases. And, given that EA is a firm believer in the digital-only future, this will no doubt put smiles on bigwig’s faces.
Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel announced
EA’s pulled the curtains back on the long-rumored third entry in the Army of Two franchise, subtitled The Devil’s Cartel. Unlike previous rumors pointing to Army of Four, this latest entry won’t support four-player co-op, but instead adheres to the familiar two-player based offering via split-screen or online. The story itself sounds disappointingly generic at present, focusing on a pair of grunts named Alpha and Bravo (blimey, clearly creativity wasn’t a focal point here) thrust into the midst of a drug war thwart with corruption and deceit. Still, with Dead Space developer Visceral Games at the helm, we have no doubt that the gameplay is going to come up trumps.
Mass Effect 3 Leviathan DLC announced
As expected, EA confirmed Mass Effect 3’s first chunk of single-player DLC this week as part of the publisher’s Summer Showcase. Like previous rumors suggested, the content is named Leviathan, and revolves around the Reapers, which ties in with reports that it’ll feature on a benevolent Reaper named Leviathan. Further details are being kept under wraps, but it’s good to finally get a look at the single-player offerings after BioWare’s continuous drip-feeding of multiplayer goodies. A price and release date has yet to be announced, but we’ll be sure to keep you updated.
MGS4 Trophy patch release date announced
It’s been a long time coming, but Kojima Productions is finally patching seminal stealth-‘em-up MGS4 with Trophy support this month – Monday, August 6, to be exact. While I’m sure the most dedicated MGS aficionado doesn’t need the inclusion of Trophies to embark on another play through of Snake’s adventure, it’ll no doubt give gamers further incentive to plough through the cutscene heavy epic. In total, there’s 34 Trophies to gobble up, details of which can be found here.
PSN sneak peak for Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Can’t be bothered to wait until next Tuesday to see what will be up for grabs on the PS Store? Then have a butcher’s at our new sneak peek feature and see what you can expect. Hit the link above for the full article.
The Best of the Rest…
Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes HD Collection absence explained
E3 to remain in Los Angeles until 2015
SOCOM ‘is not done,’ says SWWS boss
Sony, Microsoft failing to embrace industry changes, says Firefall dev
Resident Evil 6 to feature Ada Wong mission
Take-Two offers no update on Agent, XCOM FPS still on track
Sony unveils Q1 results, but how well did PS Vita sell?
John Carmack apologizes for RAGE issues, including bad ending and poor marketing