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Batman: Arkham Origins story campaign DLC canceled on Wii U
Wii U owners won't be getting the upcoming Arkham Origins story campaign DLC, after Warner Bros. made the decision to cancel it due to a lack of demand. WB confirmed the news in a statement given to VG247, after GoNintendo published a supposed Nintendo of America email spilling the bat-beans. The Nintendo system and the latest Batman haven't been a dynamic duo, starting with WB not bringing multiplayer to the Wii U version for similarly quantitative reasons. WB's belated call to not give the Wii U further single-player content is curious, especially since there's other DLC from the game on the eShop, such as skins and challenge packs. The one ray of good in today's news is that, going by the email published by GoNintendo, Nintendo of America is issuing a full refund to those who bought the season pass, despite some of the DLC it covers already being out. Whether that decision is WB's or Nintendo's, it is at least the right one.
Report: GameStop Italy refusing pre-orders on Watch Dogs on Wii U [update 2]
Update 2: The canceled pre-orders were a glitch, and Watch Dogs will be available on Wii U again in the US and Italy, GameStop Italy and a US "source" tells Kotaku. Why didn't you just say so, Ubisoft? Update: By means of an email from GameStop Italy's customer service, we're told that in regards to Wiitalia's report, "This information is wrong, tomorrow the reservation[s] of Watch Dogs will restart." We're reaching out to GameStop Italy for clarification, and will continue to update the story as we learn more. Original story: An Italian report pours doubt over Watch Dogs reaching the Wii U, and Ubisoft hasn't stepped in to deny rumors of a cancelation for the platform. Wiitalia claimed GameStop Italy is refusing to take Wii U pre-orders of the open-world hacking adventure, after a reader was told by a store employee that Ubisoft had dropped the Wii U version. Wiitalia said it then called other GameStop stores and was unable to order the Wii U version at any of them. We've reached out to GameStop Italy to clarify the situation.
Rune Factory 4 isn't coming to Europe after all
The European production line for Rune Factory 4 churned to a stop this morning, after publisher MarvelousAQL canceled the game for the continent. The first 3DS entry in the Harvest Moon spin-off series was due in Europe this spring, having already been released in Japan and North America. Of course, that announcement came before the bankruptcy and closure of RF4 developer Neverland. "We regret to inform you that the European release of Rune Factory 4 for Nintendo 3DS has been canceled," reads a MAQL Europe statement on distributor Zen United's Rice Digital site. "While MarvelousAQL has made every effort to secure the title's release for this territory, it is, unfortunately, not possible to do so at this time. MAQL and MAQL Europe would like to thank everyone for their support and enthusiasm for their European releases. Please look forward to announcements on new MAQL titles over the coming months." We've reached out to MAQL Europe for more info. As for the Rune Factory series, there's been no news since Neverland's closure in November. Beforehand, MAQL series producer Yoshifumi Hashimoto exclaimed RF4 performed well enough to greenlight RF5. After the closure, Hashimoto said (via Siliconera), "As of now, it'll still remain a secret as to what kind of title we'll be releasing next, but I can say that the staff members are still doing great."
NES Remix contest canceled due to exploit, director apologizes
File this under "A Few Bad Apples Ruining The Bunch:" A time attack contest for NES Remix has been canceled due to players utilizing an exploit to decrease their times. The winner of the contest was set to have their run officially recorded by Nintendo, which obviously won't be happening. In a comment on one of the game's Miiverse posts, the game's director, Koichi Hayashida, apologized for the inconvenience and thanked players for their time. "In the interest of being as fair as possible, we decided to terminate the event without recognizing the fastest time," Hayashida wrote. "We sincerely apologize for this matter, particularly because the vast majority of people played fairly." The exploit seems to be related to repeatedly pausing the game, as there is a short delay between when gameplay resumes and the clock resumes. In other words: wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey.
AT&T ditches U-verse on Xbox 360 on December 31
AT&T is discontinuing U-verse, its streaming TV service, on Xbox 360 starting December 31, the company announced. AT&T will issue a $99 credit to Xbox 360 U-verse customers to cover the cost of a year's Xbox Live Gold, which was required for the service, and then some. The refund should show up within two billing cycles, AT&T said. U-verse hit Xbox 360 in October 2010. Anyone in need of an additional U-verse receiver to replace the Xbox 360 can hit up AT&T here or call 800-288-2020.
EA gives FIFA Manager the boot
The recently released FIFA Manager 14 is the last in the series, after founder Gerald Köhler admitted EA and developer Bright Future weren't prepared to take the series forward. In a frank post published on the FIFA Manager blog, Köhler admitted the 12-year series needed too much investment to be worth continuing. "The football manager genre at this level of sophistication is highly specialized and primarily played in two countries (England and Germany)," Köhler wrote, "In which – on top of everything – one game has practically dominated the market in recent years. The niche market and general trend toward online and mobile games were also contributing factors. Moreover, FM had reached a crossroads at which a new engine and/or corresponding online technology would be the only way to give the series a boost. When all these factors were evaluated, it led us to the decision to blow the final whistle." While EA supported the FIFA Manager series across a decade, it never made a significant impact against the genre steamroller that is Sega's Football Manager. Last year's entry, Football Manager 2013, became the series' best-seller after shifting more than 1 million copies, despite being pirated more than 10 million times.
InSomnia sleeps until January, current Kickstarter canceled
The engines are running on empty for InSomnia, an online "dieselpunk" RPG. Developer Studio Mono has pulled the plug on its Kickstarter campaign to fund the game so that the team may regroup and rework their presentation. "We want to make it absolutely clear that this isn't the end of InSomnia," a Kickstarter update for the game reads. The team plans to return late January of next year with an improved campaign. The post thanks backers who had already pledged to help bring InSomnia to fruition, but notes that "it soon became apparent based on that feedback that there were key components in our campaign that we had overlooked, that we needed to reveal a lot more about certain aspects of the game and to ultimately provide a much better explanation of what InSomnia is and what it is not." The post notes, for example, the common misconception that the game is an MMORPG, which it is not. Although the game's Kickstarter page has been effectively closed down, the InSomnia Facebook page and Twitter profile are still up, should you wish to follow Studio Mono and show support.
Young Justice: Legacy canceled for Wii U, Wii because of 'several factors'
Cartoon Network's Young Justice won't be leaving a Legacy on Wii U or Wii, after developer Little Orbit and publisher Warner Bros. opted to cancel the spin-off for the two Nintendo consoles. According to a statement on the game's Facebook page, the decision was made because of "several factors," including quality issues and low interest from retailers. The cancellation comes in the month before Young Justice: Legacy is due, but the action-RPG remains set for PS3, Xbox 360, PC, and 3DS. The game will star the show's league of precocious heroes, chronicling the events between the first and second series.
Ouya removes family-funded Kickstarter game from Free the Games program
When Golden Axe-inspired Dungeons: The Eye of Draconus met its funding goal thanks to help from a family member and was just two days from seeing the end of its Kickstarter campaign, Ouya removed the project from its Free the Games Fund program. In an update on the project's page, SuckerFree Games developer William McDonald wrote, "If we had remained silent we very likely would have received the funds, our transparency and honesty apparently was our undoing." That transparency came from a backers-only update on the project last week, which explained how the project ultimately reached $54,067 with donations from just 180 people. McDonald states in the update that although his family and friends initially refused to offer financial support, his father spent a large retirement check to help fund Dungeons: The Eye of Draconus' three episodes, thereby making it eligible for rewards earned from Ouya's Free the Games Fund. "It appears we were thrown under the FTG bus. Ouya gets their fall guy and Grid Iron keeps their money," McDonald wrote regarding Ouya's decision, referencing Gridiron Thunder, a game that received $171,009 on Kickstarter from just 183 backers as part of Ouya's program. Due to Ouya's decision, McDonald said the team opted to cancel the Kickstarter project, noting that the developer has "no plans to develop for Ouya further." This isn't the first time Dungeons: The Eye of Draconus has received funding, as it earned $5,177 on Kickstarter back in May 2011. In an August 18 update on that project's page, McDonald notified backers of his plans to enter Ouya's funding program, and that the developer had invested over $10,000 of its own money into the project since the first Kickstarter campaign ended. We've reached out to McDonald and Ouya, and will update as we learn more. For a brief summary on the Ouya Free the Games Fund's issues so far, check out our recap video.
Fez 2 canceled [Update]
Development on Fez 2 has ceased. The announcement was made earlier today by a tweet on the official Polytron account, which we then corroborated and verified with creator Phil Fish. "It's true," Fish told Joystiq in an email. Fez 2 was originally announced during last month's E3-concurrent Horizon conference, where it was the surprise, show-ending reveal of the event, following a cavalcade of other new indie developments from different developers. Beyond the fact that it existed, however, and that Fez composer Disasterpiece was also involved in production, nothing specific was known about the project. Update: The official Polytron Corporation website has been updated with a short, candid message reiterating the game's cancellation.
Shadows of the Eternals crowdfunding drives to be canceled this week
Precursor Games, the development studio of ex-SIlicon Knights employees that has been attempting to fund a spiritual successor to Eternal Darkness dubbed Shadow of the Eternals, will cancel both its Kickstarter campaign and its self-powered crowdfunding campaign through PayPal this Thursday, June 6. Precursor plans to re-launch the Kickstarter campaign in "just a few short weeks," at which point "exciting new developments" will be revealed. "Since we announced this Kickstarter campaign we have seen more support from our community than we had ever hoped for," the announcement reads. "Along with this support has come a host of a new exciting opportunities that will make the game better than we envisioned. As a result, we have chosen to temporarily take down the Shadow of the Eternals crowdfunding campaigns on both Kickstarter and our own website on Thursday, June 6." Due to Kickstarter's architecture, no one that donated to the fundraising drive will be charged for their contributions. Likewise, the studio says that anyone who donated via the official Shadow of the Eternals website will receive a full refund through PayPal. As of press time, the still-active Kickstarter campaign has raised $127,364 of its $1.35 million goal. Meanwhile, donations through the game's official site have totalled at $157,545, for a combined $284,959.
Project Awakened on hold due to 'alternate funding options,' donors receiving refunds
Phosphor Games has cancelled its self-powered crowdfunding initiative for Project Awakened and will be issuing refunds to everyone that has contributed to the drive thus far, according to a missive of the game's official website. "At this time we need to put our funding endeavor on hold effective immediately. Everyone who pledged money will be receiving a full refund," the message reads. "There have been some alternative funding options that have recently been presented to us, so please continue to keep an eye out on our Facebook page for future updates." Phosphor turned to DIY crowdfunding after its initial efforts to raise capital on Kickstarter fell short of the company's goal.
Futurama gets canceled a second time, finale to air on September 4th
Bad news, everyone. Five years into Futurama's revived presence on Comedy Central, the animated sci-fi series is getting the boot for the second time in its long and tumultuous history. Long-time fans will remember the first series finale ("The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings") on Fox in 2003, the show's brief rerun stint on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, the foray into four direct-to-DVD movies (which were separated into sixteen episodes for its inaugural season on Comedy Central) and its eventual deal with the cable network that brought us South Park and The Daily Show. But even after stunts like playing on our gadget obsessions and coming up with a brand new mathematical theorem, it seems the fine folks over at Planet Express just couldn't slake Viacom's thirst for viewers. So, with a heavy heart, we await the series finale (dubbed "Meanwhile") to air on September 4th. But hey, maybe someone can convince Netflix to give life to yet another brilliant-but-canceled series? Update: To check out a preview of the show's final season -- to debut on June 19th -- take a peek at the second video after the break.
Report: Glitch cancels 3,000 BioShock Infinite pre-orders at Best Buy
Last night an issue struck 3,000 customers who pre-ordered BioShock Infinite at Best Buy, effectively canceling their orders, Side Questing reports. The glitch hit pre-orders for both PS3 and Xbox 360, predominantly online transactions.It's a fixable problem; Best Buy asks anyone who pre-ordered to check their emails and call customer service if their order is canceled. Best Buy offers a $10 gift card to each affected customer, so make sure to ask for that if you run into the problem. After your heart settles back into a normal rhythm and you stop screaming about how you'll miss all the sweet Sky-Hook action this March, of course.
BioWare was working on a spy game, 'Agent,' in 2009
Way back in the olden days of 2009, BioWare co-founder Trent Oster started work on a new, PS3-exclusive spy game called Agent, which "failed to survive the recession," Oster told Eurogamer. Agent was a mix of Jason Bourne and 007, Oster said, though we detected a hint of Deus Ex in his description as well:"The concept was to do the other half of GoldenEye," Oster said. "The idea being that James Bond isn't just a gun that walks around the world and shoots people. He's a suave manipulator, he's a talented martial artist, he's a secret agent. We wanted to cross that 007 with Jason Bourne, where he's been modified in some way; you're not sure what, but he's definitely deadly."We really wanted to push the acting side, the digital acting. We really wanted to be very high drama, very intense scenes. I always think of the scene in the second Bourne movie where Jason Bourne's choking the guy out with a book and he's right in his face and it's this very intense moment. That was one of the key things we wanted to carry off."No, Agent didn't have anything to do with the PS3-exclusive game that Rockstar announced in 2009, also dubbed Agent. EA "didn't believe in the concept" for BioWare's game and Agent was sent off on a mission from which it'd never return: counting all the grains of sand on a windy beach. Or just the recycle bin.
'Redemption' appears to be Crytek's canceled PS3, Xbox 360 game
Art director Eric Cochonneau worked at Crytek from 2005 to 2009, during which time he was "responsible for the art direction on an undisclosed AAA title for Xbox 360 and PS3," and not many other games, according to his resume. That in mind, Cochonneau's portfolio shows off a large batch of detailed screenshots and concept art for a canceled PS3 and Xbox 360 game called Redemption.Redemption appears to be a forest-bound, gun-loaded romp featuring scary men and a young girl as a companion character. It's set in eastern Europe, if the cars are anything to judge by. The main character, a surly middle-aged man, has a custom pistol and his enemies have an arsenal of high-powered weaponry.While the characters are all in concept stages, the environments are at "visual benchmark" stages, complete with 3D renders of the game's water particle effects.We've contacted Crytek for more information about Redemption. Check out the entire gallery for yourself at Cochonneau's portfolio.
Star Trek: Infinite Space canned
Sorry Trekkies, but if you were hoping for a second Star Trek MMO, you're going to be waiting for some time. Gameforge announced that it is cancelling Star Trek: Infinite Space effective immediately. This doesn't come as a complete surprise, as the publisher put the beta on hold last year in a desperate search for a co-publishing partnership. Gameforge explained the decision in a statement: "Since autumn 2011 we made many efforts to find a publishing and marketing partner for Star Trek: Infinite Space. Unfortunately, our efforts were not successful. So we have decided with a heavy heart to finally abandon the project Star Trek: Infinite Space." Infinite Space was to be a browser-based title set in the war-torn Deep Space Nine era of Star Trek. The publisher had obtained the assistance of Trek staples such as Nana Visitor, René Auberjonois, and Denise and Michael Okuda.
Canceled Mojang project was a first-person shooter
Mojang, the studio in front of the man behind Minecraft, was working on a first-person shooter with another company, Markus "Notch" Persson tells Joystiq. The collaboration and the project itself is now completely dead, Notch confirms, following today's news of a mysterious cancellation.The FPS was killed off in the prototype stage, not because it wasn't turning into a good game, but because Mojang "did not want more external dependencies," Notch says. "The success of Minecraft meant we could focus on projects fully owned by us."Future collaborations aren't out of the question for Mojang, as long as they're "not to make money. If there are other reasons to collaborate, maybe!"Here's a reason: Portal guns in Minecraft.
Canned Sony projects including The Getaway 3, Heavenly Sword 2 found in artist's reel, CV
Former Sony lead artist Martin Binfield touched a few projects that never saw fruition, including The Getaway 3, and his showreel shows off bits of these before they were shelved. The Getaway 3 footage in Binfield's above reel is pulled from the game's E3 trailer, while canceled PS3 science-fiction and lifestyle projects demonstrate rocket-fueled space travel and the joys of being a single father, respectively.Heavenly Sword 2 is listed on Binfield's CV as canceled in 2008. He was the character animation team lead on the first Heavenly Sword.
Uncharted 3's discarded level ideas
Uncharted 3 didn't just pop out of Naughty Dog's studio, polished and fully formed, without any work from the developers themselves. Part of that "work" process involves pitching and sometimes discarding a level idea or two -- or 12. Naughty Dog has released a dozen images of the Uncharted 3 that could have been, along with a brief description of each, to IGN.One canceled level is the "Foggy Forest," pictured above, which transformed into the French Chateau setting in the final game, with less mist and early-morning light. "The Sand Pit" had Sandlantis hidden in a desert sinkhole and the "Floating Reservoir" would have seen Drake fight his way up the inside of an oil reservoir in the shipyard.Check out all of the would-have-been, could-have-been ideas here.
