Mac gaming receives a boost from GOG.com, Japanese Vita sales lag, The Old Republic details free-to-play, and more.
Click through for the biggest gaming news stories for the week of October 15:
Is The Last Guardian in for even more delays?
Producer of both Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, Kenji Kaido, announced today via Twitter that he is no longer with Sony. He also is remaining tight lipped about what he is doing next - outside of enjoying his summer vacation, that is. This is one more big shift for Team Ico who is struggling to get The Last Guardian out the door.
Is streaming the future of gaming? Sony's betting on it.
With the ongoing battle between publishers and retailers over used games—not to mention the fight against piracy—it stands to reason that a move away from physical media is the future for the video game industry. It’s a transition already fully underway in the film industry, with digital movie rentals, sales, and streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime rapidly becoming the preferred method of watching movies at home. Some companies have tried to bring streaming to the gaming market, with OnLive being the most notable, but the big console manufacturers have been mum on the subject. That is, until now. It was announced today that Sony is purchasing Gaikai, another popular cloud-based video game streaming service.
Available now for the PlayStation Vita.
The Smash Bros-style brawler will pit Sony's biggest stars against each other.
Back in November of last year, it was becoming apparent that Sony was developing a Super Smash Bros style fighting game featuring various PlayStation exclusive characters. Under the moniker Title Fight, many clues about the mash-up brawler surfaced, including website registrations, as well as the Michael PlayStation 3 advertisement. During a recent press event, Sony finally pulled the curtain back on the game, which is now officially known as PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale.
A full reveal will be announced May 10, 2012.
This week's Famitsu contained within it an advertisement for a brand new PlayStation Vita title. The six page teaser doesn't reveal much but what is clear is the name of the title, Soul Sacrifice. A teaser website has appeared as well.
Three new apps will be free to Vita owners starting with Paint Park today.
Sony posted on their PlayStation blog today an announcement of three new free apps that will be released for the PlayStation Vita. The first app, now available, is called Paint Park and it will be the latest in the series of "Park" apps that started with the Welcome Park app at launch.
We learn a sequel was also once in the works for the cult classic.
Sony Computer Entertainment hasn’t exactly been a hotbed of RPGs from a development standpoint, but there was a time back in the late 90’s that the genre had the studio’s full attention. The genre was a behemoth then, with titles regularly gracing the covers of video game publications and garnering respectable development and marketing budgets. SCEI wished to put forth their offering and the result was the cult classic Legend of Dragoon.
"Weak TV sales and swelling losses" are to blame.
Sony Corporation is expected to cut 10,000 jobs worldwide over the next year due to "weak TV sales and swelling losses." This doesn't come as a big surprise as the company posted big losses for the last quarter of 2011 and the PlayStation Vita hasn't been selling as well as originally hoped. Other endeavors, like 3D technology and the PlayStation Move have both been disappointing for the company, failing to the gain the traction necessary to bring the company out of debt.
Tech specs, the name "Orbis," and a launch window of 2013 are speculated.
Some strong PlayStation 4 rumors have surfaced yesterday and have been swirling around the internet. A "trusted source" is claiming that the next console from Sony will be entitled "Orbis" and will be released next winter. It is not made clear if this is the American, European, or Japanese street date.
