It’s raining… news and stuff. So get covered in it. You will be the envy of your friends.
Next-gen (as tradition is almost dictating) news first. According to a VG247 source (it had to be, right?), the controller for the PS4 is “more or less” the same shape as PS3’s DualShock, however the Start and Select buttons have been have been moved to accommodate a front touchpad. The L2 and R2 shoulder buttons have been also been remodelled. So… no real improvement there then…
Sega has released a patch for Aliens: Colonial Marines. Unfortunately, nothing in the patch fixes how average the game is. It does however fix “multiple campaign and online issues“.
The much delayed DLC for Skyrim on PS3 is now available on the European PlayStation Network, and will cost you 50% less for the first week of release. There is also a sale happening with some great games you probably need to have in your collection.
Capcom has confirmed that the arena-based challenge mode ‘Bloody Palace’ for DmC Devil May Cry will be available to download on Xbox 360 and PS3 from 20 February.
Rather than wait for Sunday’s reveal – which may be an announcement of a release window or similar – an “analyst” at Cowen & Company reckons Bungie’s Destiny “may well ship in 2013“. “We had been expecting a 2014 ship date for the title, given management’s highly cautious 2013 guidance and the timing of the upcoming console cycle,” Creutz said in an investor note today. “However, we think a reveal this early in the year indicates that the title may well ship during 2013.”
Bored games… or board games? Mass Effect Risk has been announced by BioWare. As they said via their Facebook page: “Oh yes, it’s real, and it’s coming this Fall!” Is it just me, or is Mass Effect just wearing a little thin now?
GameStop reckons that they found that 60% of gamers will not buy the next-gen consoles if they block used games. Only 60%? I expected that to be a little higher actually. [via CVG]
Another day, another UK retailer announces shop closures. The administrator for the Blockbuster chain has announced that 164 stores will be closed. The closures will leave 800 staff unemployed. Closing down promotions are expected at affected outlets while the rest will operate ‘as usual’. [via Eurogamer]
Valve has let go/made redundant/fired around 25 employees in a “great cleansing” at the firm. It appears that the hardware and Android departments were hardest hit, suggesting a shift in the company’s focus. Official word is awaited from Valve. [via Gamasutra]
EA’s chief creative director Rich Hilleman says they should’ve “done better” with Medal of Honor. Hilleman told Rock, Paper Shotgun: “It was an execution problem… We don’t think Medal of Honor’s performance speaks to any particular bias in that space against modern settings, World War II, or any of that. It’s much more that we had some things we should’ve done better… I think a key part of this is having the right amount of high-quality production talent and we didn’t have the quality of leadership we needed to make [Medal of Honor] great. We just have to get the leadership aligned.”
A few reviews for Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance have snuck out. And they think pretty highly of the game too. Japanese magazine Famitsu has given the game a 39/40 score, while UK magazines Play and Games TM have gone with 91% and 9/10 respectively. [via CVG]
Fumito Ueda has has said to “keep an eye out” for an official announcement from Sony about his PS3 project The Last Guardian. “While it’s been a long time coming, The Last Guardian remains under my creative supervision and is still in development by an incredibly talented team,” he said in a message posted on his personal blog.
And to end… because we really can’t believe this piece of non-news actually happened. A new patch for Dead or Alive 5 has added a feature to allow players to manually control the movement of the female fighters’ breasts. No, we don’t understand this either.
