Hasta La Gadget!

We caught wind of Bethesda possibly planning on releasing a “Legendary Edition“ of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim due to Polish retailer Ultima leaking its existence by listing it prior to the company’s big announcement. It looks as though Ultima’s slip-up turned out to be true as Bethesda has just announced they will be releasing Skyrim: Legendary Edition.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Legendary Edition will include the original game and its official add-ons, Dawnguard, Heartfire and Dragonborn as well as a number of additional features such as combat cameras, mounted combat, a Legendary difficulty mode and the ability to level up your character infinitely through Legendary skills. That’s right – Skyrim fans. You’ll now be able to level up all of your skills to your heart’s content making your Dragonborn the Dragonborn that ever Dragonborned. (more…)

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At his keynote at Digital Dragons, Quantic Dream COO, Guillaume de Fondaumiere, stated that innovation and experimental games doesn’t always result in unprofitable games. He cited Quantic Dream’s PlayStation 3 game, Heavy Rain, as a prime example of that. He states that it cost a total of $40 million to produce, market, and distribute the game. The game successfully generated $100 million for Sony, making it extremely profitable.

Foundaumiere says that Heavy Rain was highly experimental, and it pushed the boundaries of gaming, but it still became widely successful. The experimental game was not only successful in sales, but also in bringing exposure to Quantic Dream as well. Foundaumiere says that now gamers who loved Heavy Rain will be more likely to purchase the company’s next game, Beyond: Two Souls. Foundaumiere states that the game industry as a whole needs to start taking more risks and being more creative, instead of just creating the same games over and over again.

Fondaumiere also cites ThatGameCompany’s game Journey as an example. While he wasn’t able to release any sales figures for the game, or how much it cost to produce, he says that the game was both profitable for the company as well as Sony. He uses the Tomb Raider series as an example as to why lack of innovation can be deadly to the game industry. The franchise became irrelevant because the game company behind it overkilled it with too many similar sequels. By completely revamping the game’s story and gamestyle, Crystal Dynamics was able to revive the franchise.

At the keynote, Foundaumiere also touched on many other topics, including campaigning for the implementation of tax breaks for the game industry, as well as getting developers to be more responsible when developing their games. He says that children play their video games, and that even an ESRB rating won’t stop them. To make develop games more responsibly, he says that developers should “ban gratuitous violence in our games, that would be one step in the right direction.”

To conclude his keynote, Foundaumiere states that the gaming industry is currently going through a financial crisis. Part of the reason is due to the economy, but he also says that another part of it is the lack of creativity from developers. He says that the lack of creativity is the reason why gamers are “playing less.” He concludes that by offering new IPs and creations, developers will be able to get gamers, old and new, interested in their products once again.

[via Games Industry International]

Heavy Rain proves experimental games aren’t always unprofitable is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

When Sony announced the PlayStation 3, many rightfully assumed that the console would be the successor to the PlayStation 3, much like how the PS3 was the successor to the PS2 and so on. However it seems that Sony’s Middle East general manager has a very different view of the console, claiming that the PS4 is not so much a successor to the PS3, but rather an “addition to the family”, likening the console to other devices in the PlayStation family, like the PS Vita, PSP and so on. He went on to state that while the PS4 will provide a completely new gaming experience, it is not a successor to the PS3. It is definitely an interesting take on the console, and it might also be the justification that some PS3 gamers need to convince themselves that buying the PS4 is not necessary. What do you guys think? Is the PS4 an obvious successor to the PS3, or do you agree with the GM’s comments and that it’s more like an “addition to the family”?

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Action-RPG Dark Souls has sold an estimated 2,367,000 copies worldwide, according to the executive director of “From Software” (Dark Soul’s publisher in Japan), Eiichi Nakajima. The sales have amazed From Software so much that it decided to launch an Xbox 360 version of the game in Japan. While the game was released for both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 overseas, it was only limited to the PS3 in Japan.

According to From Software’s data, over 375,000 copies of Dark Souls was purchased for the PlayStation in Japan. Overseas, over 1.3 million copies of Dark Souls was purchased for both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 combined. From Software had a separate chart for copies of Dark Souls with the “Artorias of the Abyss” expansion. The expansion was included in the PC edition of Dark Souls, and was released as a DLC for PlayStation 3/Xbox 360 users. 137,000 copies with the expansion sold in Japan for both the PC and the PlayStation 3, while 555,000 of the copies sold overseas for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC.

These figures come shortly after gameplay footage of the game’s sequel, Dark Souls II, was released. Dark Souls II will feature the same gameplay mechanics as Dark Souls, but will feature a world that is twice as big. The game will still keep its challenging gameplay renown in the series since Demon Souls. Yui Tanimura, co-director of Dark Souls, states,

“We do not plan on having an Easy Mode since we are creating this game with a thought that challenge and difficulty are core elements of the game.”

Dark Souls II will again be released by From Software in Japan, and like Dark Souls, will be released by Namco Bandai in North America. It will be available for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and the PC for both countries, and will continue on the same momentum as its predecessors. While Dark Souls took place in the kingdom of Lordran, Dark Souls II will take place in a completely new setting. The game will once again revolve around a character seeking out a cure for a curse he has been afflicted with. Check out the 12-minute Dark Souls II gameplay video above.

[via NeoGaf]

Dark Souls sells over 2.3 million copies worldwide is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Namco Bandai’s Ridge Racer series has always been considered a more arcade-y racing game as its gameplay mechanics, especially when drifting, can be considered to be extremely exaggerated. The next game in the series will take an equally exaggerated step in another direction, but it isn’t to make its gameplay crazier, instead, it’s a step in the free-to-play direction.

Ridge Racer Driftopia will be the first Ridge Racer title that will be completely free-to-play as you can purchase cars, XP packs and repair kits to help enhance the experience. Just how much of the game will be free-to-play is unknown at this time, but we hope Namco Bandai will at least be able to deliver a Ridge Racer game for fans of the series without nickel-and-diming its customers by providing more DLC options than anything else, which it did with its Ridge Racer for Vita. (more…)

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