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One Electronic Arts developer has taken to Twitter to sound off on the struggling Wii U. As spotted by IGN, EA senior software engineer and architect Bob Summerwill did not hold back when expressing his feelings for the platform.
"The Wii U is crap," Summerwill said, before deleting that tweet and all others. "Less powerful than an Xbox 360. Poor online/store. Weird tablet. Nintendo are walking dead at this point."
"Sony, MS, Apple, Google all following the same playbook," he added. "Standard, powerful, hardware, with focus on software and services."
Summerwill suggested that Nintendo should have exited the hardware business and instead shopped around its major titles to Microsoft and Sony.
"Nintendo are still operating like it's 1990," he said. "They should have 'done a Sega' and offered Mario/Zelda as PS4/Durango exclusives. Instead they make this awful console. Just stop it! Just make great games!"
Summerwill has worked at EA in a number of technical roles since 1999.
His comments came a day after EA confirmed that after releasing four games for Wii U, the publisher has no new titles in development for the system. By comparison EA supported the original Wii throughout its lifespan with 78 total games.
[UPDATE] Following the publication of this story, a Trion Worlds representative confirmed the cuts as part of a company reorganization. Development on Rift and the studio's other games is unaffected moving forward.
The representative also pointed out that the 80 percent layoff figure is "definitely exaggerated."
"To best position Trion in a rapidly changing industry, we have reorganized our teams and are expanding our free to play offering," the Trion Worlds representative said. "With Defiance, we delivered a great game that more than one million gamers registered to play and continue to enjoy.
"As we progress from launch to ongoing development of the game, we are adjusting our staffing levels to deliver new content and improved features," the statement goes on. "Rift, and our other titles in development, were unaffected by these changes. We are very much looking forward to the free to play release of Rift and are excited by the other new titles currently in development."
The original story follows below
Defiance developer Trion Worlds enacted a round of major layoffs today, according to sources speaking with IGN. The site has heard that as much as 80 percent of the company has been let go.
The bulk of the layoffs reportedly came at Trion Worlds' San Diego, California outfit, where Defiance is in development. A source added that senior leaders may not receive severance packages due to "undelivered services."
The layoff rumors come a week after SyFy ordered a second season of Defiance the TV show and Trion Worlds laid out extensive downloadable content plans for the game.
Defiance has more than 1 million registered players.
Trion Worlds also has US offices in Redwood Shores, California and Austin, Texas. In addition, the company operates a studio in London, England.
Trion Worlds could not be reached for comment at press time.
In addition to Defiance, Trion Worlds is currently developing End of Nations and fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game Rift, which will go free-to-play next month. The company is also co-developing Warface with Crytek.
During Microsoft's next-generation reveal event next week, the company will show off a "smaller and denser" Xbox console, as well as redesigned controllers. That's according to sources speaking with The Verge, who described the new controller design as "flattened."
The "smaller and denser" Xbox console is reportedly the rumored third generation Xbox 360 console that will be "significantly less expensive" than current models. According to Windows blogger Paul Thurrott, this console is codenamed "Stingray."
Details regarding the form factor of the Xbox 720 have not been divulged.
Unlike the PlayStation 4's DualShock 4 controller, no images of Xbox 720 controllers have leaked of yet.
In addition, The Verge has heard from sources that Microsoft will release an Xbox 360 dashboard update this summer in preparation for the next-generation Xbox. Part of the update will be a refreshed user interface, complete with smaller Live Tiles, similar to those that will be found in the upcoming Windows 8.1 update.
Another purpose of the update, according to the sources, is to ensure Xbox 360 owners can upgrade to the next Xbox and continue to interact with the friends on the past platform using beacons, achievements, and messaging.
The update is also said to kill off the controversial Microsoft Points system, replacing it with gift card and real-world currency alternatives. This was rumored earlier this week.
The site understands that a public beta for the Xbox 360 update will be available in late June or early July before a full release in August.
A Microsoft representative told GameSpot, "We're excited to share more about the new generation of games, TV, and entertainment on May 21, but have nothing further to share at this time."
Microsoft's Xbox 720 event takes place Tuesday, May 21 at 10 a.m. EDT. GameSpot will have full coverage of the event as it happens.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story stated the rumored "smaller and denser" Xbox console was the Xbox 720. GameSpot regrets the error.
Japanese developers must go "back to basics" if they are to return to prominence, according to GungHo Online Entertainment president Kazuki Morishita. Speaking with Gamasutra, Morishita said Japanese studios need to focus on making "good games."
"Let's say that Japanese games are in their darkest times right now. There's no way to go but up, if that's the case," Morishita said. "In terms of making games, I think Japanese developers need to go back to basics about why they make games in the first place, which is to make good games."
GungHo Online Entertainment recently acquired No More Heroes and Shadows of the Damned developer Grasshopper Manufacture. The studio is currently working on Killer Is Dead, a multiplatform action game helmed by studio boss Goichi "Suda51" Suda.
Morishita is not the first Japanese developer to speak out on the current state of the industry in the region. Mega Man and Dead Rising designer Keiji Inafune said last month that Japanese studios are beginning to become aware of the "problem," but still have a ways to go.
Valve's free-to-play team-based shooter Team Fortress 2 has added its first community-made update. Called Robotic Boogaloo, the update adds 57 new items and is available to download today.
"When we first launched the Workshop back in 2011, we had no idea what the TF2 community was capable of," Valve said on the Team Fortress 2 blog. "As the hats, beards, boots, and hairdos started rolling in, we realized there was a huge well of creativity out there. But we didn't appreciate just how deep those waters ran until the community-made updates started appearing."
Valve points out that the Robotic Boogaloo update is 100 percent community-made, including the in-game content, the update hub website, the animated short, the comic, and the splash images in the Steam store.
"Plus, in a first for the Team Fortress economy, all the creators of the Robotic Boogaloo Update have decided to share the revenue earned from the sale of RoboCrate Keys," Valve said. "That means that everyone involved will be profiting from this update, not just the people making hats."
Gamers looking to pick up the comprehensive Metal Gear Solid: The Legacy Collection are going to have to wait a little longer.
Sony announced today the PlayStation 3-exclusive bundle will launch July 9 for $50. Previously, the collection was scheduled to launch in June. No reason for the delay was provided.
The Metal Gear Solid: The Legacy Collection will be released to mark the franchise's 25th anniversary. The bundle includes Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2: HD Edition, Metal Gear Solid 3: HD Edition (including the original MSX versions of the first two games), Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker HD Edition, Metal Gear Solid: VR Missions, and Metal Gear Solid 4: Trophy Edition.
On top of the games, the compilation pack will also include two Ashley Wood digital graphic novels for Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2.
Upcoming Metal Gear Solid games include Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes. Release dates for both games have not been announced.
Tom Clancy's Rainbow 6: Patriots has been pulled from the database of US retailer GameStop, with all existing preorders being cancelled.
Speaking to IGN, a source said that the US retailer "actively flipped a switch" to remove Rainbow 6: Patriots from its systems.
The source continued by saying that the retailer does not remove games from major publishers without official confirmation that the title has been cancelled.
A GameStop spokesperson told GameSpot that the retailer has "stopped taking reservations as we wait to hear further from Ubisoft on an official release date for Rainbow 6: Patriots."
When asked about the possible cancellation of the title, a Ubisoft representative added that "we have nothing further to share about Rainbow 6: Patriots at this time."
At time of writing, no other major retailer has pulled the game from its listings.
Officially, Rainbow 6: Patriots is due to be released in 2013 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC, though Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said in November 2012 that there is a "good chance" the game will be released for next-generation consoles.
Total War: Rome II is the fastest preordered game in the history of the strategy series, publisher Sega announced today. According to the company's data, more than six times the number of gamers have preordered a copy during its "first official week" than did for predecessor Total War: Shogun 2.
In addition, Sega said the $155 Total War: Rome II Collector's Edition has seen strong preorders, with over half of the available copies already sold out in the United States. The publisher previously announced that the collector's edition would be limited to 22,000 units.
Lastly, Sega announced that it sold more than 2 million Total War games in the past year, despite no new core installment in the series being released.
Total War: Rome II launches September 3 for PC. Downloadable content will be available for all users on launch day for free.
Insomniac Games "seriously considered" making Resistance 4, but ultimately decided to build an all-new franchise--Fuse--in an effort to avoid "franchise fatigue." President Ted Price revealed the news to GamesRadar, saying Resistance 3 represented a logical conclusion for the series.
"We decided to bring Resistance to a conclusion when we looked ahead and realized that Resistance 4, while possible and something we seriously considered, wasn’t going to be the right game for us at that time," Price said. "We wanted to do something new."
"One of the aspects of building franchises, and sticking with them for a long time is that even the team can get franchise fatigue. We had been pushing hard with Resistance from the beginning--which was a tough birth--to Resistance 3, which is a game we were all very proud of," he added. "With Resistance 3 it felt like we had capped off, or at least closed a major chapter in that franchise. So, a lot of the team was looking forward to doing something different."
2011's Resistance 3 is the most recent core entry in the series, though a PlayStation Vita game--Burning Skies--launched last year. The future of the series is unknown.
Insomniac Games' Fuse launches May 28 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
Today during a Nintendo Direct presentation, Nintendo announced (via Polygon) that the Yakuza 1 & 2 HD bundle is coming to Wii U in Japan on August 8. As its name suggests, the collection packs in the first two installments in the PlayStation 2-era action-crime series.
No mention was made of a release for the Yakuza 1 & 2 HD bundle in North America or Europe.
Polygon reports that a trailer for the bundle was shown, displaying upscaled graphics and Wii U-exclusive features. Players can use the GamePad to navigate the game's streets and monitor their characters.
A packaged standalone version of the Super Luigi U downloadable content for New Super Mario Bros. U will launch in North America at retail on August 25, Nintendo announced today.
Gamers will not need New Super Mario Bros. U to play New Super Luigi U, which will cost $30.
Those who own a copy of New Super Mario Bros. U already can pick up the Super Luigi U DLC when it launches through the Wii U eShop on June 20 for $20.
The news came during the latest Nintendo Direct today, where Nintendo president Satoru Iwata showed a new gameplay trailer for the content. He also revealed that Nabbit, a creature from New Super Mario Bros. U, will be a playable character in the content.
Nintendo announced the Luigi-themed DLC in February, calling it "large-scale" and "similar to the development of full software." It features updated versions of the first game's 82 courses with Luigi leading the way, instead of Mario.
The news comes a day after Nintendo revealed that New Super Mario Bros. U, a Wii U launch title, has now sold 770,000 units in the United States alone. It is a sequel to the original Wii's New Super Mario Bros. Wii, which has sold close to 28 million units life-to-date.
The Wonderful 101 will launch September 15 exclusively on Wii U, Nintendo announced today during a Nintendo Direct presentation.
The game, formerly known as P-100, is in development at Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance studio Platinum Games.
The Japanese studio is also working on another Wii U-exclusive, Bayonetta 2.
In The Wonderful 101, players explore various stages and recruit citizens to join their army of heroes. The more heroes a player gathers, the greater their Special Morph Powers will be. Gamers will use the Wii U GamePad to activate these powers, which include Bonzai Man, Vending Machine Man, and Toilet Bowl Man, among others.
Nintendo has announced Sonic Lost World as the first title of a new, exclusive partnership between the Mario creator and Sega for its upcoming Sonic titles.
Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata unveiled the game during today's Nintendo Direct conference, calling the game an action adventure platformer exclusive to Wii U and 3DS.
More information about the game will be made available prior to E3 2013, Iwata said.
Iwata also announced the latest title in the Mario & Sonic series, set at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia. The game, shown running on Wii U, features new events such as figure skating pairs and snowboard slopestyle.
The Wii U GamePad was also shown to be used for the curling event, with players having to brush the GamePad screen as the event plays out on the television.
The game will also feature dream events, allowing for the creation of fictional courses set across the Mario and Sonic universes and mixed event courses that are not part of the Winter Olympic Games.
Nintendo also announced the addition of more classic Sonic and Sega titles to the Wii U eShop in the future.
Nintendo will not be hosting its own press conference at E3 2013, but says it will hold another Nintendo Direct conference before the Los Angeles trade show begins.
Sonic Lost World is not the first recent Sonic title to be exclusive to a Nintendo platform. 2010's Sonic Colours was Wii and DS exclusive, though its follow-up Sonic Generations was multi-platform.
It's been a long time coming, but Sony has now confirmed the PlayStation Vita version of Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault will launch May 21 through the PlayStation Network.
The game was originally targeted to launch alongside the PlayStation 3 version in November, before being delayed multiple times.
In an effort to "make it up" to fans, Sony will give away copies of Ratchet & Clank: Deadlocked on the PS3 for those who purchased the console version of Full Frontal Assault. The giveaway kicks off when Full Frontal Assault for the PS Vita launches next week.
Full Frontal Assault takes advantage of Sony's new Cross Buy promotion, whereby those who purchase the PS3 version will receive the PS Vita iteration for free.
Sony also announced today that a new update to the PS3 version of Full Frontal Assault will introduce a new competitive multiplayer map set in Molonoth Fields from A Crack In Time. A new 2v2 game mode will also be available with the update, available to download today.
Lastly, Sony revealed that new Full Frontal Assault skins are now available for purchase via the in-game store. These include the Monsters, Intergalactic Foot Soldiers, and Plushy packs, which are each available for $2.
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is coming to the PC, series creator Hideo Kojima announced during a recent podcast (via Joystiq).
News of the port was later confirmed by Platinum Games creative producer Jean Pierre Kellams over Twitter.
No further information about the PC version of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance was divulged and a Konami representative was not immediately available to comment.
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance launched for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in February. Developer Platinum Games previously stated that it is interested in making games for the PC and publishing them through Valve's Steam downloadable games service.
Upcoming Brad Pitt zombie movie World War Z will be accompanied by a game tie-in, Paramount Digital Entertainment has announced.
The World War Z game will be available on iOS and Android devices on May 30, ahead of the film's worldwide release on June 21. The movie focuses on ex-United Nations employee Gerry Lane (Pitt), who travels the world to stop a zombie outbreak.
The game, developed by Chicago-based Phosphor Games Studio, appears to follow a similar track. Its debut trailer (below) shows that players will battle zombies in a variety of scenarios. In one scene, the player uses a crowbar to attack enemies and in another, wields an automatic weapon attached to a helicopter.
The latest game from Paramount Digital Entertainment was a Star Trek: Into Darkness tie-in called Star Trek The Video Game. GameSpot's review of the title found little to enjoy, outside of the voice acting from the film's cast like Chris Pine (Captain Kirk) and Zachary Quinto (Spock).
Eight new screenshots of MotorStorm developer Evolution Studios' DriveClub have emerged.
The close-up screenshots (via All Games Beta) of the PlayStation 4 exclusive racer show off the game's car models, lighting engine, and cockpit views. Multiple car types are featured, and manufacturers Audi and Mercedes Benz are prominently displayed.
DriveClub was unveiled alongside the PlayStation 4 in February. The game's aim, according to Evolution Studios, is to make a realistic, connected racer with multiplayer and asynchronous play.
DriveClub currently has no release date. Sony this week announced its other realism-focused racer, Gran Turismo 6, for the PlayStation 3--but hinted to GameSpot that there are already plans in place to bring it to PlayStation 4 in the future.
Rockstar Games has released four new images from Grand Theft Auto V.
The screenshots show off the game's protagonists escaping police pursuit and in the depths of a murky ocean. The images were originally published in Edge magazine.
GTAV launches September 17 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. It features three playable protagonists--Trevor, Michael, and Franklin--a first for the series.
For more on GTAV, check out the latest Ask GameSpot video feature below.
More than 50 billion apps have been downloaded from the App Store, Apple has announced. Customers are downloading more than 800 apps per second for an average of 2 billion per month, the company said.
The 50 billionth app downloaded was Say The Same Thing, a word-matching game from the band OK Go. It was downloaded by a man in Ohio, who received a $10,000 App Store gift card to mark the milestone as part of a previously announced promotional campaign.
"Apple would like to thank our incredible customers and developers for topping 50 billion apps downloaded," said Apple senior vice president of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue. "The App Store completely transformed how people use their mobile devices and created a thriving app ecosystem that has paid out over nine billion dollars to developers. We're absolutely floored to cross this milestone in less than five years."
The App Store originally launched in July 2008 with 500 total apps. At present, there are more than 850,000 apps in the store, available for iPhone, iPad, and iPad Touch. Apple recently revealed the top 25 paid app list, which was dominated by games.
Nintendo has reported a 52 percent year-on-year rise in sales of first-party 3DS software during the first four months of 2013.
Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata.
2.1 million Nintendo-published 3DS games have been sold between January through April 2013 in North America, Nintendo says, citing data from the NPD group.
Nintendo reports it took 30 weeks to sell two million first-party games in 2012, and reports that it accomplished the same sales milestone this year in 18 weeks, suggesting increasing take-up of the platform in North America.
While the first four months of 2012 saw the release of high-profile 3DS titles such as Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D and Resident Evil: Revelations, there were two first-party releases; Kid Icarus: Uprising, and the Tecmo-developed Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir.
In the same time period in 2013, however, Nintendo has published Fire Emblem: Awakening, Brain Age: Concentration Training, Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, and LEGO City Undercover: The Chase Begins.
Nintendo says sales of Lego City Undercover: The Chase begins have reached almost 94,000 copies since its late-April launch, whereas Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon has been purchased over 530,000 times.
The Mario publisher has scheduled a Nintendo Direct conference for later today.
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