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Sony completely revises list of PS4 EU studios, down from 53 to 30 [updates]
Sony made wholesale corrections to the list of European/PAL companies confirmed as PS4 developers and publishers, reducing the list of named studios from 53 to 28. Curiouser, not one of the developers and publishers named on the previous list makes an appearance on the new roll call. A spokesperson for Sony Computer Entertainment Europe confirmed to us the first list, sent out last week, was erroneous, and this new one is correct. There are no revisions for any other regions.The new list removes a number of significant names, including Mojang (Minecraft), Rovio (Angry Birds), Frozenbyte, Criterion Games, and City Interactive. In their stead are some new noteworthy studios, such as CD Projekt, who've confirmed The Witcher 3 as a PS4 game. Also included are Bohemia Interactive, Deep Silver, Ninja Theory, IO Interactive, Codemasters, 2K Games, and Sumo Digital. The full list can be found after the break.We've reached out to a number of studios for comment. Mojang's Daniel Kaplan reiterated to us the comments he gave to Gamasutra, saying his studio hasn't decided anything yet, and that the error is "confusion from Sony's side." Gamasutra's article also confirms Super Crate Box developer Vlambeer and Skulls of the Shogun creator 17-Bit, both included in the original list, as not currently working on anything for the PS4.A spokesperson for Monsters (probably) Stole My Princess developer Mediatonic, included in the original list but not in the corrected one, told us he couldn't make any comment on his studio and PS4 development. Meanwhile, Sumo Digital's inclusion adds weight to the rumor the British studio is working on LittleBigPlanet 3, but for the PS4. When approached previously about LBP3, a studio representative told Joystiq, "No comment." Update 1: A spokesperson for 505 Games tells us the Italian company is "definitely" planning to publish games on the PS4. 505 Games was in the original list of European/PAL PS4 developers and publishers, but not the revised list. The spokesperson noted the company's logo appears in the image showcasing PS4 partners, as shown during last week's event, as do many of the names in the revised list. Update 2: Sony Computer Entertainment Europe informs us the list of European PS4 studios has been further revised. Two more studios are now present in the form of Criterion Games and Ghost Games (an EA studio) - both were in the original list of 53. That takes the tally of confirmed European studios up to 30.
Rumor: LittleBigPlanet 3 is in development at Sonic All-Stars dev Sumo Digital
LittleBigPlanet 3 is rumored to be in development at British studio and Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed dev Sumo Digital. VG247 is reporting that, according to sources, Sony and former series developer Media Molecule approached Sumo Digital to make LBP 3, and that the game, which has yet to be announced, has already been in development for "well over a year." Upon inquiry, a Sony representative told the site that it "doesn't comment on rumor or speculation."When approached on the matter, a Sumo Digital representative told Joystiq, "No comment."LittleBigPlanet 2's Cross-Controller Pack, released in December 2012, was outsourced to Sumo Digital, so the developer has hands-on experience with the property. Also, as spotted by superannuation last April, motion graphics artist Naomi Summerscales' LinkedIn profile noted the developer is working on a PS3 exclusive to be released this year.Media Molecule is now working on Vita papercraft game Tearaway, having announced it was stepping away from LittleBigPlanet back in July 2011.
Nike+Fitness Training 360 bundle now shipping, game downloadable on Dec. 25
Winter holidays are, statistically speaking, the very best holidays, due to their general abundance of twice-baked potatoes and various pies. But when every serving at every meal contains at least three sticks of butter, those extra pounds can really pile up.Nike and Microsoft recommend solving your tummy troubles by doing crunches in your living room while a virtual man watches, or as the system is commercially known, Nike+Kinect Training. They've even got an Xbox 360 bundle for it and everything, which includes a 4GB console, Kinect, Nike+Kinect Training, Kinect Adventures and a month of Xbox Live Gold for $250, as seen above. That price tag is only valid through January 5, we should point out. After that, the bundle is kicked up to $300.Microsoft has also announced that the game itself will be digitally available through Xbox Live on December 25, at a smooth $50/4,000 MS points.%Gallery-172691%
Fans request Sonic and All-Stars Racing DLC, Sega plays along
Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed will have DLC, but the content of some of that post-launch goodness may be in the hands of the fans. As members of the Racing Transformed forum began throwing out ideas for characters to be added as DLC, Sumo Digital executive producer Steve Lycett issued a challenge:"Without any policing from the Sumo or SEGA crew, if you can all agree on three characters by the 1st of December and prove there is sufficient interest of at least 1,000 unique people per character, I will present the result to SEGA."And so the fans did. There are now separate pages on Change.org for each of the characters eligible to be included in Racing Transformed, and each signature counts as a vote for that character. The three current leaders are Hatsune Miku, Sega Saturn mascot Segata Sanshiro and Shenmue's Ryo Hazuki, each with more than 2,000 votes.There is no promise that Lycett will be able to convince Sega that this is a good idea, but there's always a chance this whole thing could work, so feel free to join in. Besides, there's nothing dangerous about randomly attaching your name to things on the internet.
Sonic & Sega All-Stars Transformed dev impressed by Wii U graphics power
Sumo Digital didn't need to re-engineer the graphics of its upcoming game for Wii U, the developer disclosed in an interview. Sumo, currently working on Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing Transformed, was worried the game's "effects and shaders" would need an overhaul on Wii U. Instead, the British studio was left impressed by the new console. The game's executive producer, Steve Lycett, described the graphics processing unit's capability as a "surprise."Lycett also praised the Wii U's memory, arguing that its abundance helps make the console's graphics equal to that of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3."The Wii U looks as good any of the HD platforms," Lycett told Official Nintendo Magazine, "The Wii U has way more memory, so we can take advantage of that with less compression on elements and textures, so it will look all lovely and shiny."
Bizarre Creations lead Gareth Wilson now Sumo Digital lead designer
Bizarre Creations was a UK studio well-known for its street racing games, the first of which was on a Sega console. So if there's anywhere else design manager Gareth Wilson would feel at home, it's at Sumo Digital, the British studio responsible for developing the modern OutRun games and Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing for Sega. Wilson is the first known Bizarre staffer to announce a new position after the sad closure of that company. He is now the lead designer at the Foundation 9-owned Sumo, and will no doubt be in charge of a great many racing games.
Split/Second PSP launch trailer and demo hit the gas, break the glass
Do you need to be convinced of Split/Second's capacity for stock car annihilation on PSP? Sony's offered you two ways to do so, the most thorough of which is a brief demo that's currently available on the PlayStation Store. What better way could there be to preview the miniaturized, bombastic racer than to actually get your hands dirty? Well, we're not sure about a better way -- but there's certainly an easier way. See, downloading and playing that demo? That would require hundreds of button presses. Watching the launch trailer posted after the jump? That's like, two button presses. Maybe three, if you have to scroll down. Talk about efficient! Also, lazy.
Doctor Who: The Adventure Games receiving second season
Doctor Who: The Adventure Games will return for a second season, which will tie into the next series starring the eleventh Doctor. The BBC's Simon Nelson said the the company would be "daft" not to commission another season after 1.6 million downloads of the initial episodes. Episode four of Doctor Who:TAG's first season will be available "later in the year," free to UK residents. The series is available in North America through Direct2Drive at $13 for the whole bundle.
Fly the TARDIS in third Doctor Who: The Adventure Games episode
Traveling through time is tough. Unless you were lucky enough to be born as Jean-Claude Van Damme, Doc Brown (or his young companion, Marty McFly) or something, it's pretty much been a crapshoot for most of us human beings. The only other possible option has been to meet The Doctor. A more realistic alternative than trying to track that dude down is to play Doctor Who: The Adventure Games and BBC has announced that the upcoming third episode -- due to launch on August 27, but only available to UK residents -- will give players an intimate look behind the blue doors of the TARDIS and even let them pilot it. For the unaware, the TARDIS is the it's-a-police-box-but-not-really structure that allows The Doctor and his companion to traipse through time and space. So it would seem that next week Einstein-Rosen Bridge enthusiasts will finally have a viable fix! Now if only we could fast-forward to next week. Jean-Claude, if you're reading this, would you mind helping us out?
Dead Space Ignition is a downloadable Dead Space 2 prequel, for XBLA and PSN
We know Dead Space-dev Visceral Games has had its eye on the downloadable space -- along with the rest of EA -- for some time now with the oft-rumored Jack the Ripper title and something else. Well, that something else is Dead Space Ignition, "the first of many exciting game extensions we have planned for the launch of Dead Space 2," says Dead Space franchise exec producer Steve Papoutsis. From what we can gather from the press release (embedded after the break), Ignition is a "Choose Your Own Adventure," comic-style story with "three unique hacking mini games." Ignition will provide a "unique perspective leading up to Dead Space 2" and fill in new players on all the backstory they need to shoot monsters' limbs off. Depending on which adventure you choose, you'll earn one of four endings (replayability!) and those endings will reward you with in-game trinkets for Dead Space 2, "including an exclusive suit." Like 2008's Dead Space comic series, Ignition is again tapping comics author Antony Johnson to weave a tale of suspense, horror, mystery and (oh, right) dismemberment! Dead Space Ignition is being co-developed by Visceral Games and Sumo Digital for a Fall 2010 release on Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network. Considering the promotional nature of the title, we're hoping the asking price is a reasonable one. [Editor's note: The image above was posted yesterday on the Dead Space Facebook page teasing today's announcement. The alien jargon in the upper right spells out "Ignition."]
Doctor Who: The Adventure Games now available (and free) in the UK
Brilliant! Folks living in the land from whence the time-traveling, sonic-screwdriving adventurer originated can now download the first episode in Sumo Interactive's Doctor Who: The Adventure Games for free. Titled "City of the Daleks," the game sees the Doctor and his companion, Amy Pond, in an alternate version of London in 1963, where the nefarious Daleks have taken over the city and are baking cakes for everybody. (Just kidding! They're murdering everyone. That's what Daleks do.) Us Americans will have to wait until "early July," when the game will be available for us to purchase. Yes, purchase. Like, with money. Life can be so unfair sometimes. [Via Eurogamer]
Doctor Who: The Adventure Games dev diary is photogenic
Can't wait for next Saturday to finally bring you the first installment in the Doctor Who: The Adventure Games series? Your two options boil down to either hopping into your discreet, time-traveling police box and moving two weeks into the future, or ... you know, waiting. Fortunately, the latter should be made more bearable by watching the developer diary posted after the jump. Watch as the ever-charming Matt Smith (the titular Doctor) and Karen Gillan (companion Amy Pond) do some rotoscoping photo shoots, and lend their voices to the game. Then watch as the developer works on facial animations, which results in the horrifying texture seen above. Not so pretty now, is he, ladies? [Via Big Download]
Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing DLC released early on PSN, removed
On Thursday, the UK PS3 version of Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing received a new downloadable racer and a new stage: Metal Sonic and the Egg Hangar, respectively. Then, in what seems like an inadvertent April Fools prank, it disappeared, having evidently been released early as a mistake. The Sega blog post announcing the actual DLC release for this week (Shenmue's Ryo Hazuki in his forklift) makes a point of noting that "This is the only DLC item out today." For a few lucky, Sonic-fast buyers, it was some early DLC. But for the rest of us, it's the source of some footage, captured by reader Hogfather, that we can watch after the break to preview some upcoming DLC.
More FIFA World Cup 2010 media than you can shake a red card at
We know, we know -- we've been desperately waiting for more new media on April's South Africa-themed FIFA release as well, and today we've finally got some more. Arriving care of GDC 2010, EA Sports released the trailer you see above and the smattering of new screens seen below (for Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 as well as the Wii). The trailer urges players to take their own country's team to the World Cup, though we should issue a word of warning to those of you in the contiguous United States who choose to bring our fine nation to the top: it's just a game. Okay, okay, sorry -- we were just joshin' ya! We suppose it's possible. Maybe after the robots take over. Maybe. %Gallery-88011%%Gallery-88010%
Metareview: Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing
It could just be our lowered expectations for games including kart racing, Sonic or "All-Stars" in the title, but we were pretty surprised by the positive buzz for Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing; the Wii, PS3 and 360 versions are all doing well with a 79 percent average on Metacritic. Here's what's being said: GameSpot (80/100): "Although the core of Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing is obviously pulled straight out of Mario Kart, this wacky racer can stand on its own four wheels. The tight controls and excellent track design ensure that head-to-head competition is always exciting, but it's so fun just to play around with these karts that it's easy to lose hours climbing the online leaderboards in Time Trial mode." 1UP (B): "Though it has some hiccups, unexciting party modes, and a questionable difficulty curve, All-Stars Racing is a respectable effort that makes a good kart racer at its core (and is at least much more cohesive than Sega Superstars Tennis)." Nintendo Power (8/10): "It isn't quite the fan paradise it could have been, but it's a very good racer that makes great use of classic Sega franchises. We wouldn't mind a sequel with more franchises and tracks included." IGN: (8/10): "It's pleasantly surprising to find out that the Nintendo Wii edition – apart from the lower resolution – gets similar treatment with close to the exact same features as the stronger hardware."
Squint at this Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing DS trailer
We realize that it's probably difficult to cut together a trailer for a DS game. After all, there are two screens to deal with and the system doesn't exactly sport the HD (or even 480p) pizazz of its bigger console cousins. Considering the bottom screen in Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing appears to be reserved solely for a map, you'd think you could zoom in on the top screen every once in a while. Still, even in such a tiny space, the DS version of All-Stars Racing looks much the same as the console versions, minus a few polygons here and there, of course. As Nintendo has already proven with Mario Kart DS, kart racing can be very, very enjoyable on-the-go. If All-Stars Racing plays as well as it looks, maybe gamers will finally have a new reason to chase down some power-ups and clobber their friends. Let's just hope there aren't any damned, hateful blue shell power-ups. Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing hits stores this week.
Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing demo might be forthcoming
The prospect of racing against the Bonanza Bros. as a forklift-driving Ryo Hazuki likely has many Sega fans on the precipice of purchasing Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing. However, those of us whose common sense has yet to be short-circuited by fan service would prefer to try out the game in order to determine whether the actual racing is worthwhile. And according to a Digital Spy interview with producer Steve Lycett, we may get to do that. "We're currently looking at downloadable demos for 360 and PS3, and a DS demo via the Nintendo Channel to boot," Lycett said. He also responded positively to the idea of Sumo Digital developing a Shenmue sequel -- you know, because having a game with a Ryo Hazuki character model in it is basically halfway there. "I'm sure if Sega asked, we'd love to take it on," Lycett said. "It'd scare me to death to take on something so epic, but well, I'd like to think we could do it justice. I think if you cut us in half at this point, you'd find Sega written through the middle of us!"
Virtua Fighter, NiGHTS characters in Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing
Apparently, Sega's plan is to represent every Sega franchise ever in Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing -- except, of course, for Segata Sanshiro. The publisher announced two more playable characters today (well, four, actually, in pairs): Virtua Fighter's Akira and Jacky, and Bonanza Bros.' Mobo and Robo. The Virtua guys appear to be riding in a red Ferrari, which would add the OutRun franchise to the list as well. All these reveals are in line with the character portraits found hidden on the website. NiGHTS will appear in the game as well, though not in a capacity that will cause superfans "DiGi" and "Trippy" to lose their bets and burn their NiGHTS memorabilia collections. The androgynous dream-monster will appear as the flagman in the racing game.
Alex and Jen really want you to play Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing
The other day, our friends Alex and Jen invited us up to their loft to play this new racing game for the Wii. We were a little leery about going (Jen kept yelling things like "Waaaah! Super horn!" and "Shortcut cheat!," which was weird), but they promised us it was kart racing "with attitude," so we went anyway. It was okay, we guess. You could ride planes and cars and stuff (Jen was really excited about riding bananas for some reason), but when Alex and Jen kept yelling random competitive cliches in between these weird clinical explanations of powerups, we got kind of freaked out and started checking our watches. Things got a little uncomfortable when Alex threatened to make Jen cry like a little girl, and when she replied with a confident "Bring. It. On," we knew it was probably time to call it a night and quietly excused ourselves from their apartment. On our way out, we heard Alex creepily mumbling about "the sweet taste of victory" under Jen's nonsense shouting. They've already called us to see if we want to hang out next weekend for a "rematch," but uh, we think we're probably busy then.
Report: FIFA 10 moves 2.2 million units in the UK
FIFA 10 has already found its way into 2.2 million UK homes, making it competition for the "biggest-selling game in the series so far," according to an MCV UK report. With today's earlier announcement of a free-to-play FIFA and the recent unveiling of FIFA World Cup 2010 South Africa, and now this, we're quite considering naming it "FIFA Week" here on Joystiq. And we're willing to bet that EA Sports marketing manager Trevor Uzice would be a big fan of that, especially considering he believes that "there's no denying FIFA 10 is the best football game ever." While we're not sure that the (admittedly impressive) sales numbers corroborate his sentiments, it's always nice to see marketing putting its most outlandish spin on any piece of news. %Gallery-69462%
