PSP HOMEPAGE

Rumors began circulating yesterday that Australian developer Krome Studios has laid off a good chunk of its staff and closed its Adelaide studio, leaving just its Melbourne and Brisbane studios behind. Krome has now officially commented on the situation, and while it’s perhaps not as bad as original reports had suggested, the situation at Krome is not a good one.

“As we have seen by other recent announcements, the games industry is still going through economic challenges which Krome is not immune from. These times are challenging and as a result, we have put some of our staff on notice pending the outcome of a number of upcoming projects,” a statement issued to GameSpot Australia (via GamesIndustry.biz) read.

The statement made it clear that Krome’s current projects will not be affected in any way: “It is important to note that this action has not affected the development of our current projects, both announced and unannounced, which we are continuing to work on. Additionally, Krome remains firmly committed to the future of all three studios.”

 

 

Leave a Comment

Parasite Eve spinoff The 3rd Birthday will be exclusive to the PSP, but the publisher recently expressed interested in bringing the franchise back to home consoles.

Speaking with VideoGamer.com, executive producer Yoshinori Kitase said that Square Enix chose to develop the game for the PSP because of their experience with the platform.

“But if this game turns out to be a success, then we’d be looking at extending the franchise into PS3,” Kitase said.

 

 

Leave a Comment

Mirroring EA’s recent counter-maneuvers against the used games market, THQ has revealed plans to include a single-use code with new copies of WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2011. Like the online pass for Madden 11, this code will unlock online multiplayer and other premium content.

Specifically, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 users get free access to the game’s first DLC pack, which will add Chris Masters to the game’s roster, plus additional, Halloween-themed costumes for Rey Mysterio and Kelly Kellly. Anyone who picks up a used copy of Smackdown vs. Raw this year will have to pony up $9.99 (800 Microsoft points) for these features.

Keep your eyes peeled for WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2011 starting October 26. It’s coming to pretty much every platform under the stars, including PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PSP, and Wii.

 

 

Leave a Comment

Sony did not publicly show off (or even announce or otherwise mention) the PSP 2 at GamesCom this week, but reports are now spreading that Sony has given a few publishers private demonstrations of the device in its current, incomplete incarnation. Eurogamer reports that three separate, unnamed publishers have been shown the PSP 2, with “several” first-party games running on it.

These publishers all say the handheld is roughly the same size the PSP-3000 (pictured) with a “rich and detailed” screen, but the standout feature was its touch controls…on the back of the unit, not on the screen. Evidently there’s a “touch-sensitive area” behind the unit, on the other side of where the screen is, although exactly how games would be controlled in this manner (or how the system would even be held) wasn’t explained.

Sony has also already supposedly settled on a business model for the PSP 2 (also not detailed), and they were originally considering making it disc-based, but after developer feedback it’s more likely it’ll be Flash media-based, like the PSPgo. One source said he expects the system to be ready to launch by the end of 2011, although another said it may be at least another two years. When asked for comment, Sony told Eurogamer they don’t “comment on rumor and speculation.”

 

 

Leave a Comment

Between Street Fighter IV, Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and the recently-announced Street Fighter/Tekken tie-in, it seems fair to say that the fighting-game genre hasn’t been this healthy in ages. The question, of course, is how to keep it going — how to keep fighters from falling once more into the creative pit it wandered into around the turn of the millennium.

“I think that if we want to take the fire we’ve started and really fan the flames, we need to up the number of opportunities people have to interact with fighters,” SFIV producer Yoshinori Ono told Famitsu magazine this week. “That’s why we made SFIV for the iPhone and are making Super SFIV for the Nintendo 3DS right now. Having it on lots of different platforms gives users more chances to interact with it, and it lets them enjoy fighting games in a light and easy kind of way.”

SFIV’s release triggered buzz, no doubt, as did the rise of a robust tournament scene. “To be honest, I’ve been making fighters for a long time,” BlazBlue director Toshimichi Mori said. “Fighter fans tend to be pretty dedicated to start with, so I really haven’t noticed if there’s a boom going on or not. If there is, though, I’d say SFIV contributed a lot to it, as well as Daigo Umehara becoming a pro player. If we can see more star players like Daigo, I think that’ll earn more popularity for the whole genre.”

 

 

Leave a Comment