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The Week in Review news piece summarizes and highlights the most important gaming related news and rumors over the past week. This weekly article will keep you plugged in and in-tune. The Nintendo Wii received a lot good news this week. For starters, Bethesda Softworks announced their plans for releasing a Mature rated title for the kid-friendly system. The company stated it was interested in getting into the system early, before true competition gets entrenched. Additionally, Satoru Iwata spoke out concerning potential price drops. Unfortunately, Nintendo has no such plans for the near future, but it certainly is a tactic they’ll employ to spur on growth. More interestingly, Iwata did confirm that a couple unannounced “market-driving” games are slated for a pre-holiday 2009 release. Lastly, the three Metroid Prime titles are getting bundled, enhanced, and released together on one disc this August. The games will all support widescreen output and will incorporate motion controls. Bethesda also announced this week that the three DLC offerings previously released on the Xbox 360 will be going to the PS3 starting in June. Moreover, two more DLC titles are planned for timed exclusive release on the Xbox 360. The add-ons are Pont Lookout and Mothership Zeta and will sell for 800 MS points. ZeniMax, Bethesda’s parent company, also added fuel to the gaming fire when it filed a USPTO application for a new “computer game software” project called Brink. This project could be the product of the “long-term development deal” Bethesda Softworks entered into with Enemy Territory: Quake Wars developer Splash Damage. Of course, details are scarce and involved parties have yet to confirm anything. As such, it is just as likely that the project now known as Brink could be something entirely different. Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has offered $33 million (USD) to bankrupt Midway for their Seattle and Chicago-based studios as well as the rights to the Mortal Kombat and The Wheelman franchises. However, the deal would not include the acquisition of Midway’s San Diego or Newcastle studios or the TNA wrestling franchise. As such, if the deal goes through, Midway may be on the path to solvency – less their most famed IPs. Right now both companies are awaiting approval from the bankruptcy court before the deal can go through. Whereas news was decidedly light this week, a number of rumors have begun to be spun ahead of E3 2009. One of the juiciest involved the ZuneX. According to the rumors and the “leaked” photos, the ZuneX is Microsoft’s handheld gaming / multimedia device. While we are discouraged by the design featured in the pics, the specs offered up are interesting if not entirely jaw-dropping. Click HERE to check out the scoop in its entirety. Despite the fact that the Konami / Kojima teaser site continues to string us along, the proverbial cat may already be out of the bag. According to 7-Eleven’s website in Japan, the next Metal Gear title is already listed in the convenience / game store’s database. Specifically, the games aren’t actually listed, but rather magazines that will offer coverage of the games. According to IGN’s John Tanaka, “in the case of the Metal Gear listing, the magazine is Famitsu PSP+PS3. Yes, it’s an all PlayStation magazine! This would imply that the new game is for either the PSP or the PS3.” Finally, the PSP may soon receive a digital video game rental service and possible music downloads. According to multiple sources, the game rental service has been known by developers since GDC, and the downloadable music service is in its earliest stages – apparently Sony is currently in talks with several studios trying to put together an iTunes-like service. Thanks so much everyone and we will see you next week! |