Happy Sunday, peeps! This is is a long weekend for us in Canada, as we celebrate the birthday of our reigning sovereign on Monday. God Save the Queen. Hail to the King… or should that be Master Chief?

From The Intarwebs & Blogosphere

Japanese Games Need More Multiplayer – Epic Games’ Epic Designer Cliff Bleszinski spoke with the fine folks at Gamasutra and told them that he’s played many awesome games made by Japanese devs, like Shadows of the Damned and Vanquished. The only thing missing from those, he felt, was a solid multiplayer experience.

“I’m not saying tack multiplayer onto every game,” he said. “But for instance, Shadows of the Damned, that was a wonderfully crazy adventure, the dialogue had me laughing out loud, just even the key-door systems in there; it was a beautifully crazy game with really fun gameplay, but no multiplayer co-op experience in there. I’m not saying tack on a versus mode; there’s a billion different ways you can do some sort of “players interacting with other players” mode.

“And if you’re going to make a third-person shooter… the fact that Vanquish didn’t have a multiplayer suite was a crime. That IP, it was pretty good as far as being Western, the gameplay was great, and the vibe… I’ve often said on record that if Gears is the kind of Wild, Wild West coal train chugging along, then Vanquish is the Japanese bullet train, with style and everything. There is absolutely no reason I shouldn’t have been zipping around, doing the mega slides, diving up in the air in an arena with other players.”

Ya know what games that had some multiplayer-esque mode in ‘em that he enjoyed? Dark Souls and Demon’s Souls. He loved how the games mixed the single and multiplayer together to create a seamless experience.

Gotta admit… I kinda agree with his point. No, all games don’t need a multiplayer mode, and you can’t just add it in for the sake of having an additional bulletpoint on the back of the box. However if multiplayer looks like it would be a good fit, then it is something to seriously consider, especially if there are plans to bring the game over to the West (since lots of folks like to play games with multiplayer here). I’m not saying that it should definitely be added; just consider it.

Source: What if Cliff Ran the World?, [Gamasutra]

Where’s The Cat Helmet? – Microsoft announced a Halo 4 Limited Edition, complete with fancy box and all. Though I would prefer an itty-bitty cat helmet more than anything else.

So what will you get for spending $100 on this?

• Nine multiplayer maps that can be downloaded for free
• Early access to the six Specializations in the game
• The Special Edition of the live action movie Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn, along with a “Making Of” documentary, a featurette, and some extra fiction
• A collection of Xbox Live goodies, including special armour set and prop for your Avatar, and unique in-game skins for your armour and Assault Rifle

Wonder if they’ll go all out and have Limited Edition Xbox 360 bundles, too? If so… we could still get that kitty helm!

Source: Halo 4 Limited Edition announced, detailed, [That VideoGame Blog]

We Like The Lil’ Guy. Really, We Do – Ah, EA. You’re trying so hard to look like do-gooders in the eyes of the gaming public. Now you’re going to help out devs on Kickstarter.

The publisher announced that they will waive the distribution fee for 90 days for crowd-funded games that are fully funded, complete and ready to publish if developers choose to use EA’s Origin service.

It looks as though there’s some devs that are already jumping at the opportunity. inXile’s Brian Fargo, who successfully funded his project for a Wasteland sequel, is taking EA up on the offer.

Whatever gets more exposure for these indie projects is great, but I’m curious to know what other conditions there are to this deal (e.g., have the game exclusively on Origin for X amount of time). I guess if there are devs already behind this, it can be a good thing… right?

Source: Origin waives crowd-funded games’ distribution fees for 90 days, [Joystiq]

From Twitter

Choice Tweets of the Week

It’s official I want VF5 FS, TTT2, Skullgirls, Persona 4 arena in next year EVO cause I don’t know if I’m participating or Spectating.

— Shadowmen (@Shadowmen19) May 14, 2012

@vsog_mineeva Haha just smashed down some OATS! #BreakfastOfChampions

— Rich the Rookie™ (@RichTheRookie) May 19, 2012

Vid of the Week

… because I know you kids like the Halo:

Halo 4 343 Industries Exclusive Interview

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That’s all for this edition of It Came From The Web! If you hear of any gaming news shenanigans over the week, give me a shout!

It Came From The Web! Weekly Gaming News: May 13, 2012 by Mineeva, © Vast Sea of Games - Swimming through the sea of the video game industry.

Welcome to another edition of FANDEMONIUM!, where stopping the armies of Hell from wrecking the place is our duty.

With all the hub bub about Diablo III being finished in record time, I thought I’d see if there were speed runs of the other Diablo games. Sure enough, the folks at Speed Demos Archive have some nice ones.

Diablo II: Lord of Destruction was an expansion pack released back in 2001 a few months after Diablo II hit the shelves.

The self-titled Lord of Destruction, Baal, has some evil scheme to bring Hell to the mortals  by corrupting the World Stone that holds the barriers of existence in place… or some such thing. Anyway, dude bring Hellish army over the world = bad. And you won’t let that happen, you do-gooder you.

Runner Ricky Mitchell makes short work of the expansion and finishes it in a lil’ over an hour. Nice goin’!

Druid 1:11:43 by Ricky Mitchell, done in 41 segments appended to one file.

On a final note, Speed Demos Archive is holding their Summer Games Done Quick charity event May 24-28, with proceeds going to The Organization for Autism Research. Those who donate will be eligible to win some pretty insane prizes, including some special artwork, cels, plushies *SQUEEEEE~!* and even a brand new Wii Bundle!

Head on over to their Summer Games Done Quick Page for the event schedule and list of games being played.

I Like Running

• FANDEMONIUM!: Longplay — Ninja Gaiden (Sega Master System)
• FANDEMONIUM!: Speed Run —  Demon’s Souls (PS3)
• FANDEMONIUM!: Speed Run — Vice: Project Doom (NES)

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Know any talented gamers out there that you’d like to see featured on FANDEMONIUM!? If so, give me a shout!

FANDEMONIUM! Speed Run — Diablo II: Lord of Destruction (PC) by Mineeva, © Vast Sea of Games - Swimming through the sea of the video game industry.

Japanese magazine Famitsu is running a special celebrating the 15th Anniversary of the classic PlayStation game, Final Fantasy VII. They had an interview with Character Designer Tetsuya Nomura, who explained that he’s well aware of fans’ desire to see the game remade  (as many of the past Final Fantasy games have been over the last few years). However, they’re focusing on creating new titles that will (hopefully) match or surpass Final Fantasy VII. Nomura also said that the series’ future lies with Square producer Yoshinori Kitase.

Gotta say, I respect him for saying straight up that he wants to do new titles instead of working on a remake. I mean, they’ve already said that remaking Final Fantasy VII would take a really, REALLY long time and would cost a ton. I would prefer they put that time and those resources into making unique experiences for this generation. Besides, with all the Final Fantasy VII-related media that we had the last few years, perhaps it’s time to give it a rest, no? At some point down the line, they’ll give it to us. ‘Til then, chill.

Anyway, we all know that if any Final Fantasy remake needs to be done, it’s Final Fantasy VI. Just sayin’.

Source: Nomura: New Titles Take Priority Over Final Fantasy VII Remake, [andriasang]

Not-So-Final News Blips

• Is Final Fantasy VII Really The Best JRPG Ever?
• Nomura: It’s About Time For Kingdom Hearts To Go Back To Consoles
• More Crystal Conquest Details

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So how do you feel about a Final Fantasy VII remake? Yay or Nay? If you had to choose which Final Fantasy game Square should remake, which would it be? And how ’bout Nomura’s comment concerning their focus on new titles? Share your thoughts in the Comments Section!

Square Knows You Want A Final Fantasy VII Remake. So Stop Asking. by Mineeva, © Vast Sea of Games - Swimming through the sea of the video game industry.

With all the marketing they put behind the game, even going as far as having their own reality show to promote it, Street Fighter X Tekken hasn’t done as well as Capcom had hoped.

They revealed that the game has shipped 1.4 million units since its March release, which means sales “have fallen short of our plan”.

So what happened? Why did the game do so poorly?

“We believe one of causes is cannibalism because of the large number of other games in this genre that were launched within a short time,” a Capcom rep replied.

…

Cannibalism? REALLY? This is coming from the folks who released Street Fighter IV, then Super Street Fighter IV and Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition. Let’s not forget Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 and its upgrade, Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3, which was released about 9 months later as a retail game. Oh, and Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike Online Edition. Can’t forget that one.

I think that Capcom has their reputation to blame for it, really. They have such a long history of re-releasing a fighter with more characters and minor tweaks, people probably thought that they were going to do the same here and release Super Street Fighter X Tekken Turbo Arcade Edition in a couple of months (so why bother dishing out the dough, right?).

Then there’s the issue of the on-disc DLC present on Street Fighter X Tekken. Hackers found out that 14 characters were locked on the disc that Capcom had planned to release as downloadable content. They did offer up a reason and felt that there was no difference between having the characters locked on disc and being available for unlocking later and having the DLC available as separate download later on, but people were still super pissed. They also got dinged by the BBB for it. According to Gamesindustry International, they are re-thinking this whole on-disc DLC deal, so that’s something.

Anyhoo, cannibalism is the wrong word to use. It’s saturation. Besides the multitude of Capcom fighters, we have SNK’s King of Fighters XIII, Arc System’s BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend (with their online-enabled port of Guilty Gear Accent Core Plus coming this summer for Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network), Reverge Labs’ Skullgirls, Namco-Bandai’s Soul Calibur V… OY!

Don’t get me wrong. I think it’s awesome that there’s a variety of choice out there for fighting game fans, but like everything else in life, you can have too much of a good thing. At this rate (especially if Capcom continues to just spit out fighters the way they’ve been doing), it could lead to consumer burnout. And that would be a bad thing.

Source: Capcom: sales of Street Fighter x Tekken “have fallen short of our plan”, [Eurogamer]

Final Round… FIGHT!

• Darkstalkers 4 Has Been In The Works For A Year
• UK Street Fighter X Tekken Fans Battle It Out In The Remix Arena
• The Soul of East London Still Burns For Soulcalibur V

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Oy… what do you think of the abysmal sales of Street Fighter X Tekken? Why do you think sales weren’t through the roof as Capcom had hoped? Share your thoughts in the Comments Section!

Street Fighter X Tekken Isn’t Selling Too Well by Mineeva, © Vast Sea of Games - Swimming through the sea of the video game industry.

Happy Mother’s Day! To all you gamer mommas out there, I hope you’re having a ball today =)

Okay, so a lot more happened this week besides Assassin’s Creed-related shenanigans. I mean, as much as I love facepalming about the whole thing, there are other games that need my love. Like Soul Sacrifice.

From The Intarwebs and Blogosphere

A Man’s Best Friend Is His Spine – The always-outspoken Keiji Inafune gave us a first glimpse into his PlayStation Vita title, Soul Sacrifice, which he’s working on with the help of Sony’s Japan Studio and Marvelous AQL.

There doesn’t seem to be a lot of plot details at the moment, only that you play as an enslaved wizard who chances upon a demonic grimoire of some sort. You can customize your dude and over the course of the game, your appearance can change. How? Well it depends on the type of magic you use.

Spells require you to sacrifice objects in the vicinity. But for those hardcore, I’m-going-to-mess-you-up spells, you’re gonna have to pay a steeper price: your body parts. For example, in order to cast the spell Excalibur, you have to rip out your own spine. I think I’ll go with the Gorgon spell, instead. That way I can shoot fools with eye lasers.

I didn't need my glasses anyway... or my eyeball.

Repeated use of these ultra-powerful spells will eventually turn you into a monster. Just like the ones you’re fighting. Yes, they were all humans at one point, which is Inafune’s clever lil’ way of getting you to care about them. Once you defeat one of these guys, you can choose to sacrifice it or let it go. You get different items depending on what you choose to do.

There’s also a four-player co-op mode via ad hoc (I’m getting a Monster Hunter-vibe from this), though Inafune is looking into adding an online mode. So far, this is a Japan exclusive slated for later this year, though it could get pushed to earl 2013. Certainly hope this does come here, ’cause it does peak my interest…

Source: Keiji Inafune Explains How Soul Sacrifice Is Played, Siliconera

See Ya In 25 Years, Pit – In a recent interview with IGN, Kid Icarus: Uprising director Masahiro Sakurai was asked if there were any plans for a sequel to the highly-successful Nintendo 3DS game.

“If by ‘lasting universe’ you mean to ask if there’s a sequel, the answer is no,” he said, “because we pushed a lot into the game in order to let people have this short yet deep experience, but the novelty of that would likely grow thin in the next game. For now, my thought is that perhaps we’ll see someone else besides me make another Kid Icarus in another 25 years.”

I’m one of those ’80s babies that loved Kid Icarus on the ol’ NES (I never did play the Game Boy game, Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters). I’ve waited this long for a brand-spanking new game in the series, and I’m happy we got one. While it would stink to have to wait so long for another Kid Icarus game, gotta admit that it sounded kinda nice to hear that they won’t milk the franchise, either.

Source: IGN, via Joystiq

Beyond Goodness – Assassin’s Creed 3 isn’t the only Ubisoft game I’m excited for. There’s also the forever-in-development Beyond Good & Evil 2. While I sit here and twiddle my thumbs waiting for more news about the game, the folks over at Unseen64 found some more in-game footage that makes me wish this game was coming out this generation. Dang nabbit.

Beyond Good & Evil 2

Source: Unseen64, via Eurogamer

From Twitter

Choice Tweets of the Week

IT’S POUTINE O’CLOCK

— Jeff Rubenstein (@jeffrubenstein) May 6, 2012

C:\DOS … C:\DOS run … run DOS run! — Dave Oshry (@DaveOshry) May 8, 2012

Hey, Tim Burton. Time we had a “chat” about you ditching Michael Keaton for Johnny Depp as your favorite star. Don’t worry. I’LL FIND YOU. — The Batman (@God_Damn_Batman) May 11, 2012

Vid of the Week

This ain’t for the squeamish at heart. Fair warning.

SOUL SACRIFICE　第１弾トレーラー

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That’s all for this edition of It Came From The Web! If you hear of any gaming news shenanigans, give me a shout!

It Came From The Web! Weekly Gaming News — May 6, 2012 by Mineeva, © Vast Sea of Games - Swimming through the sea of the video game industry.

Welp, that didn’t take nearly as long as I thought it would. The combined powers of Twitter, Facebook, and gamers frothing at the mouth for more Assassin’s Creed 3 goodness was enough to break through that wall on the Unite To Unlock The World Gameplay Premiere page and unveil the new trailer.

… and it looks delicious.

No really. The whole “AMERICA! FUCK YEA!”-vibe people were afraid of when the game was first announced was no where to be felt. And it looks really exciting. And Connor’s really hot.

… tee, hee, hee.

Assassin’s Creed III World Gameplay Premiere [North America]

Boy, this has been an Assassin’s Creed-filled day, hasn’t it?

I’m Lurking In The Shadows To Take Your Cookies

• Author Stands By His Assassin’s Creed Lawsuit
• It Came From The Web! Weekly Gaming News — March 18, 2012
• Assassin’s Creed 3 Set In USA? That’s A-OK! [UPDATE]

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Thoughts about the trailer. Comments Section. GO!

Assassin’s Creed 3 World Gameplay Premiere Trailer Unleashed by Mineeva, © Vast Sea of Games - Swimming through the sea of the video game industry.

You’ll remember a while ago that John Beiswenger, author of the book Link, filed a lawsuit against Ubisoft claiming that Assassin’s Creed took many of its’ story plots from his book. He’s seeking 5.25 million dollars in damages and is requesting that all future Assassin’s Creed games be cancelled.

Gamers, passsionate people that they are, didn’t take the news very well and proceeded to completely bash the book on Amazon; leaving 1-star reviews and leaving some pretty nasty remarks about the book and the author. Stay classy, kids.

Beiswenger’s lawyer, Kelley Keller, responded to Eurgoamer’s questions regarding the lawsuit and the negative reviews:

“We understand that many gamers are upset about the litigation and potential for delay in the release of the next Assassin’s Creed video game, and as a result of that anger have been posting negative comments on Amazon – and other forums – about our client and his novel Link. However, copyright laws exist to protect authors and creators from others who copy or create works that are, under the law, substantially similar; failure to enforce copyright laws renders them meaningless.

“The Amazon ‘bombing,’ storm of negative comments, and threats to our client have no bearing on the appropriateness, merits, or outcome of this suit. They have no material effect on the legal claims.”

Now the suit in question is calling out Assassin’s Creed for its’ themes on religion, assassins and good and evil, as well as the use of the Animus, which Beiswenger claims is similar to the device in his novel that allows people to access their ancestors’ memories and relive them. Seems like a coincidence, yea? Keller doesn’t think so.

“If we believed the similarities were mere coincidences, our client would not have filed suit,” she said.

As for why it took them five years to launch this lawsuit, Keller says that they filed it “within the applicable time periods required under the law”, so it’s all fine and dandy.

I dunno. I mean, stories borrow themes from each other all the time, don’t they? And the idea of a story in which you can see your ancestors’ memories, find out that they’re assassins, and all this other stuff isn’t so mind-blowing that no one would’ve thought of it before, yea? Hell, I bet there’s a bunch of fan-fiction that have all this stuff in it! So why target Assassin’s Creed? Better yet… how did he find out about Assassin’s Creed to begin with? And what proof does he have that Ubisoft had access to his story beforehand instead of someone over there just being creative and thinking this stuff up on their own (’cause, you know, that could very well happen)?

The copyright suit (which you can read here) also lists GameTrailers… why the hell go after GameTrailers? Because they showed footage of the game and the Animus? Just like several other videos about Assassin’s Creed? Why not go after Sony for making that Assassin’s Creed Home Theme for PlayStation Home?

… crap. I better not give him any ideas….

Source: Author behind Assassin’s Creed copyright lawsuit defends his position, [Eurogamer]

White Hoodies, White Hoodies EVERYWHERE!

• It’s Red Coat Hunting Season In The New Assassin’s Creed 3 Trailer
• How Assassin’s Creed 3 Will Work on Wii U
• New Assassin’s Creed 3 Details Leaked [UPDATE]

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Good grief. What do you think of all this? And why do you think he named GameTrailers (as this still confuzzles me). Take your gavels over to the Comments Section!

Author Stands By His Assassin’s Creed Lawsuit by Mineeva, © Vast Sea of Games - Swimming through the sea of the video game industry.

The last time Kingdom Hearts graced the consoles was Kingdom Hearts 2 for the PlayStation 2 in 2006 (not counting the re-release of the Chain of Memories that we got for PlayStation 2 in late 2008). Since then, new additions to the Square-Enix x Disney crossover have appeared on PSP or Nintendo DS, with the newest installment, Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance, coming to North America on July 31 for the Nintendo 3DS.

In a recent interview with GameInformer, series creator Tetsuya Nomura expressed interest in bring the series back to home consoles.

“We have been invited to make games on different new platforms, and every time we have created titles making sure that they are highly compatible with the platform,” Nomura said when asked about bringing the series to the PlayStation Vita. ”The PS Vita is definitely a powerful device that is very interesting, but because of its high power, there isn’t much of a difference with a console. So even if we were to make a game, we would have to be very careful about how to create it for that device. I also feel that it’s about time that Kingdom Hearts should go back to being on a console.”

Nomura was also asked if we would maybe see an HD collection of Kingdom Hearts (’cause, you know, everybody’s releasing HD versions of PlayStation 2 games nowadays). And it seems like it’s not outside the realm of possibilities.

“If it is possible, I would like to do something about the series being spread over so many different consoles, too. I am thinking a lot about the future.”

I seriously wouldn’t mind playing Kingdom Hearts games in glorious 1080p, would you? Fingers crossed on that one! And different consoles? Meaning that everyone will get a piece of the pie? I’m down for that, too!

If you want to get a hint as to what will be in store for you in Kingdom Hearts 3, make sure you play through Dream Drop Distance to the very end: apparently, bombs will be dropped.

Nomura was also asked about news regarding Final Fantasy Versus XIII. How’s that coming along? Well…

“We would like to ask for your patience on an official announcement for this title,” he said. “It always takes time when tackling the challenge of doing something completely new, but we are doing our best to bring information to the fans as quickly as we can. Your patience is greatly appreciated.”

Source: Nomura suggests Kingdom Hearts 3 will launch on home console, [Eurogamer]

My Sanctuary, My Sanctuary…

• Kingdom Hearts 3D Release Date Announced
• Something’s Coming for The World Ends With You
• Square Enix’s Mystery Game Is… Crystal Conquest!

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How stoked would you be to see Kingdom Hearts back on consoles? How ’bout the news of an HD Collection? Share your thoughts, along with parts for the awesomest Gummi Ship ever, in the Comments Section!

Nomura: It’s About Time For Kingdom Hearts To Go Back To Consoles by Mineeva, © Vast Sea of Games - Swimming through the sea of the video game industry.

Ah, the Rumour Mill. How I’ve missed thee. Let me count the ways.

So it seems that an employee over at Blockbuster UK  was in a sharing mood and decided (for whatever reason) to take screenshots of Wii U titles in the store’s database and give it to the internets. Because caring equals sharing. Or some such thing.

Here’s a rundown of the launch titles:

• Just Dance 4
• Killer Freaks From Outer Space
• Marvel Super Heroes
• Metro Last Light
• Monsters Party
• New Super Mario Brothers Mii
• Ninja Gaiden 3
• Pikmin
• Rabbids Party Land
• Raving Rabbids
• Rayman Legends
• Shield Pose
• Splinter Cell 6
• Sports Connection
• Tekken
• Your Shape 2013
• Zombie
• Aliens: Colonial Marines
• Assassin’s Creed
• Batman Arkham City
• Darksiders II
• Dirt 3
• Formula 1 All Stars
• Game Party
• Ghost Recon Online

I love E3 Time. Everyone just busts out the crazy. Again, I feel the need to mention that this is all just a rumour at this point. There’s no way of telling how many of these are really going to be a part of the actual Wii U launch lineup until we get the word from Nintendo (most likely at E3). Then again, the revelation that North America was going to get Xenoblade came from a screenshot of GameStop’s inventory list, so maybe there’s some weight to this, too?

Source: GoNintendo, via That Videogame Blog

Get the Power!

• Shigeru Miyamoto Likes The Cut of Vita’s Jib… But It Needs Games
• Pikmin 3 and Super Mario Wii U Will Be At E3
• You Might Be Able To Nab a Wii U For $300 Or Less

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I like lists. They look so organized and stuff. Speaking of lists, what’s on your list of games that you’d like to see on Wii U? How many of the games on this list do you think are the real deal? Let us ponder these and other Wii U mysteries on the Comments Section!

RUMOUR: Wii U Launch Titles Leaked by Blockbuster UK by Mineeva, © Vast Sea of Games - Swimming through the sea of the video game industry.

Shhh! Be vewy, vewy quiet! We’re hunting some wasically wabbits in Wed Coats.

Er… Red Coats.

Ubisoft unleashed this teaser trailer of Connor, lead stud of Assassin’s Creed 3, hunting down a Red Coat. The Red Coat, poor sod that he is, takes an arrow to the knee (okay, it’s the leg, but I couldn’t resist making that Skyrim reference).

New Assassin’s Creed 3 teaser video

Leaves a a nice taste in the mouth.

Want more? Yea, I do too. And Ubisoft knows it. That’s why they set up this Unite To Unlock The World Gameplay Premiere page. All you gotta do is click on the option to Tweet about it on Twitter or post it on your Facebook profile. When that metre reaches the goal, we get to see some sexy new gameplay footage.

… *sigh* What are you waiting for? Get on it, internet!

Source: Watch Assassin’s Creed 3′s Connor hunt a Red Coat, [The Verge]

More Assassin’s Creed News… ‘Cause I Know You Want It

• Author Sues Ubisoft Over Assassin’s Creed Plotlines
• European Regions Will Get Assassin’s Creed 3 Collector’s Editions
• How Assassin’s Creed 3 Will Work on Wii U

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So we gotta sing for our supper to get Ubisoft to give us more. What sort of gameplay would you like to see on the Assassin’s Creed 3 premiere footage? Share your thoughts in the Comments Section!

It’s Red Coat Hunting Season In The New Assassin’s Creed 3 Trailer by Mineeva, © Vast Sea of Games - Swimming through the sea of the video game industry.