Category Archives: xBox 360
Dead Space 4 not in development, series future uncertain
Dead Space 4 isn’t in the works, but that doesn’t mean the series is dismembered for good. EA Games Label Executive Vice President Patrick Söderlund spoke to Eurogamer about the future of Visceral’s flagship series last week.
Rumors circulated in March that work on Dead Space 4 was canned after poorer-than-expected sales for Dead Space 3. EA quickly dismissed the rumors as “patently false.” Whether the game was ever in development, it certainly isn’t now.
EA may let the series cool for a while as the publisher transitions to next-gen development.
“Is that team working on a Dead Space game today? No they’re not,” Söderlund said. “They’re working on something else very exciting. You have to think of it from that perspective. Is it better to put them on the fourth version of a game they’ve done three previous versions of before? Or is it better to put them on something new that they want to build, that they have passion for?”
At least one of Visceral’s teams is starting on a Star Wars project, as part of EA’s exclusive licensing deal with Disney. The studio’s Montreal branch, which developed Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel, was shut down in February.
“Will there be another Dead Space game? Who knows? Have we killed it? No, of course not,” Söderlund said. “But right now that dev team is focused on something else that you and other gamers will be very happy with.”
Bethesda says Prey 2 still isn’t worth talking about
Sometimes when a publisher and developer go quiet about a game awhile, it means they’re waiting to emerge, phoenix-like, with new information, a release date, and a snazzy trailer. That isn’t the case for Prey 2, Bethesda VP of PR and marketing Pete Hines told IGN.
“We appreciate that folks are displeased that we haven’t had any update or any info on Prey 2, but whatever your displeasure is, you can’t even be remotely as unhappy about it as us,” Hines said. “We spent years and millions of dollars and a ton of effort trying to help Human Head make a great Prey 2 game. What we said the last time we said anything was that it’s not up to our quality standards.”
And that’s still the case Hines said. He didn’t address rumors that Arkane Studios, the team behind Dishonored, has taken over work on Prey 2 from Human Head. Whatever it is right now, it’s just not good enough to warrant talking about. If and when that changes, Hines said, Bethesda will deliver an update.
“What is the chance that we have some amazing, unbelievable game and we’re just not talking about it for no reason? Zero,” he said. “This is a business.”
Hitman studio lays off almost half of staff
Hitman developer IO Interactive will lose almost half its staff and all projects aside from a new game in the assassination series, Square Enix Europe announced today. The publisher laid off employees to “align [its] business against a changing and challenging market,” GamesIndustry International reports.
“The studio will focus resolutely on the future vision for the Hitman franchise and is in pre-production on a new AAA Hitman project. However we have taken the difficult decision to cancel other studio projects and initiatives at IO and reduce the workforce in this studio, which will impact almost half of the employees currently at IO, as we make internal adjustments to face the challenges of today’s market.”
Most recent title Hitman: Absolution did not meet Square Enix’s sales expectations, but it seems the publisher and developer will double down on the future of the 13-year-old franchise.
Square Enix says it will attempt to relocate staff to other open positions within the company where it is able, and former production director Hannes Seifert will take over as IO’s new studio head.
FFX/X-2 HD Remaster sales could spur FFXII remake
If Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster is successful, a spruced-up version of Final Fantasy XII may be the next step. Yoshinori Kitase, who produced both the original games and their remakes, spoke to RPG Site about the future of Final Fantasy’s past.
“If they do well, I think this will pave the way for more of the previous games to remade in an HD sort of quality,” Kitase said. “I mean, if we had to single out one of the vast number of Final Fantasy titles which we could make in HD, it would have to be Final Fantasy XII.”
Series fans may grumble that Final Fantasy VII wasn’t mentioned as a candidate. But converting the PlayStation original to modern standards of graphics and control would be more like making a new game than retexturing and smoothing out another PlayStation 2 title.
Kitase pointed out that he was not involved with FFXII, so he doesn’t want to say too much. But good sales figures for FFX/X-2 HD Remaster certainly wouldn’t hurt its chances.
“We’ll have to wait and see if these Remasters are going to be successful, first,” he said.
Fez 2 announced by Polytron
Prepare your spatial awareness for further Fez. Polytron Corporation (aka Phil Fish’s studio) and composer Disasterpeace revealed that Fez 2 is coming in a brief teaser at the end of E3-alternative Horizon’s stage show today.
Fish has offered no further details on the sequel to the hit puzzle-platformer, but somehow we get the feeling it won’t be an Xbox Live exclusive.
