Welcome everyone to the New Gamer Nation Weekly News. This week we have a some delicious and sour news for you to savor with your vision portals including financial trouble hitting Sony, very hard; Nintendo registers a domain name, and it has something to do with Mario; Miyamoto talks about a possible future project, and the future of Nintendo; Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim news; We have an update about the Capcom, Namco Bandai, and Sega colaboration; and some pre-order announcements. Pause your game it’s time for the news.
Sony’s Financial Trouble
All is not well in the land of Sony. The electronics giant has projected a loss of $6.4 billion, and has now decided to cut 10,000 jobs and television production to start making the company profitable once again. Sony CEO and President Kazuo Hirai, has laid out a plan is to shift the company’s focus to produce top quality cameras, phones, and gaming systems. Sony hopes to forecast an operating profit of $2.3 billion for the year ending in March 2013.
Source: USA Today
Nintendo Registers New Domain
Nintendo announced in an investor presentation in January, the company was working on a new 2D Mario game, with a launch of April of 2013. No other details were given in January, however earlier in the week, Nintendo registered the domain of supermario4.com, which could finally mean this is the next title in the legendary franchise. After some research was done, it was discovered the owner of the domain was none other than Nintendo of America, and if you do visit “supermairo4.com”, that leads you to Nintendo’s homepage.
So could a Super Mario Bros 4 be the next Mario game for the 3DS, or even a title on the Wii U? Or is this Nintendo just protecting it’s I.P.?
Source: IGN
Miyamoto Talks About Possible Future Projects & Standout Director
In an interview with Edge, Shigeru Miyamoto stated he was open to a game in the style of or a sequel to The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past.
“I think the answer would be the same if we’re talking about just porting,” he said, “but I think I’d be even more interested in creating something new maybe based on, or starting from, A Link To The Past. I think it’s important to bring some really new software.”
He went on to say that since he’s taken a step back in the creative process at Nintendo, while taking the time to mentor the future directors of Nintendo, he feels the vision could ultimately be compromised should they make a sequel to A Link To The Past. However, Miyamoto did praise one director in particular, Koichi Kawamoto, who developed the concept demo that birthed the WarioWare series, and more recently created 3DS’s StreetPass Quest. Miyamoto says Kawamoto is “a very strong figure [who] will play a very important role in the future.”
Skyrim’s Dragon Shouts Trademarked; Voice Command Coming Soon
ZeniMax, Bethesda’s parent company, has filed several trademarks for dragon shouts featured in The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim. There is no word yet on what they plan to do with the trademark, but I’m guessing anyone caught saying “Fus Ro Dah” might have to fork over some cash. Well they’ll have to fork over cash if they aren’t playing the game, or fighting off a real dragon (it can happen). Bethesda announced earlier in the week Skyrim will have Kinect support through a free update at the end of April. The voice commands will cover just about anything including but not limited to dragon shouts.
Source: G4
Capcom, Namco Bandai, Sega Game Announced
Earlier this year we mentioned Capcom, Namco Bandai and Sega were collaborating on a game. This week, Project X Zone (“Project Cross Zone”) was revealed in Famitsu this week, and Andriasang had all the details. The 3DS title is a role playing game featuring characters from all three companies. It is said, in general, the characters will team up in pairs for fighting scenes. Below is the list of characters in their pairings:
Capcom
Ryu & Ken (Street Fighter 0), X and Zero (Mega Man), Demitri and Dante (Darkstalkers and Devil May Cry), Chris and Jill (Resident Evil)
Sega
Shinguji Sakura and Ogami Ichiro (Sakura Wars), Pai and Akira (Virtua Fighter), Kurt and Riela (Valkyria Chronicles), Ulala and Touma (Space Channel 5 and Shining Force EXA)
Namco Bandai
Sanger Somvold (Super Robot Wars), Jin and Ling Xiaoyu (Tekken), Kos-Mos and T-elos (Xenosaga), Yurie and Estel (Tales of Vesperia), Kaito and Black Rose (.hack)
Pre-Order Announcments
This week’s announcements are all the goodies you get when you pre-order any one of these games. First up Square Enix’s next title Sleeping Dogs. For those that don’t know, Sleeping Dogs is a third person action adventure game that takes place in the streets, and sometimes waters, of Hong Kong, set to be released August 14. Depending on where you pre-order the game you get one of the following packs:
Amazon “Martial Arts” Pack:
Shaolin Showdown Mission
Shaolin Warrior Outfit (Boosts Striking Damage)
Bonus Triad XP
Wing Chung Decoration for the Safehouse (with temporary combat boost)
Gamestop “Police Protection” Pack:
High Speed Mission
Hong Kong SWAT Police outfit
Exclusive assault rifle
SWAT Police vehicle
Personally, they both sound pretty good, but I’m all for the Amazon bonuses considering they’re going to boost my stats.
Resident Evil 6 Pre-Order Bonuses
Also giving out retailer exclusive pre-order bonuses is Resident Evil 6. Depending on where you pre-order RE6, you can get one of three multiplayer maps for Mercenaries Mode. Order at Gamestop and you get the Catacombs, an underground location filled with zombies and booby traps including a spiked floor. Should you pre-order the game on Amazon, you get the High Seas Fortress map, which is set on a battleship, from the wide open deck, to the closed area corridors. And finally, should you pre-order at Best Buy, you receive the rail yard pack, which is said to be a “multi-level” stage taking place inside of parked trains to the rooftop of the facility.
Hitman: Absolution-Professional Edition
Square Enix is giving it’s Hitman super fans something extra, a “Professional Edition” to Hitman: Absolution. While no price point, or announce date for that matter, have been announced, Hitman: Absolution Professional Edition includes some nice physical bonuses, as well as in game bonuses. In game bonuses include a DLC code that unlocks access to a couple of extra weapons: the Agency Jagd P22G pistol (silenced), the Agency HX UMP SMG, and the Agency SPS 12 semi-automatic shotgun. The physical bonuses include a clamshell case that contains a hardbound art book and a behind-the-scenes documentary.
Personally I like the physical bonuses, such as the art books, and I really love seeing the behind the scenes of a game’s production. If I were to guess, I’d guess this would cost about $100, and I really hope I’m wrong and the price is lower than that. Even still $60 for the game, and $40 worth of extra stuff, might be worth it to Hitman fans.
Well, that’s all the time we have for you this week, let us know what you think about any of these stories in the comment section below. Also, if you haven’t done it already, please check out all of our PAX EAST 2012 coverage. Our own fearless leader, Pilot, and our mobile games expert PCS went down there, did some interviews, and got their hands on some games that haven’t been released to the public yet. Better yet, we even got some recognition from Rockstar Games, how cool was that? So, until next week, game on, gamers.