With Andrew Wilson’s recent appointment to CEO of EA there was bound to be a management shuffle at the company. After all, someone has to take over his duties as head of EA Sports. Patrick Soderlund, formerly the corporate vice president and the man who turned Battlefield into a gaming a goliath, will be filling that role. Lucy Bradshaw will be joining the management team with EA Maxis, and Frank Gibeau will be overseeing work at EA Mobile. This all from a supposedly leaked internal memo, so don’t treat it as doctrine quite yet. Other changes are likely to follow, such as filling their roles, and we’ll cover the important bits as they trickle in.
A few details have surfaced regarding Grand Theft Auto Online’s rumored microtransactions. According to some early players, in-game credit cards valued at $100k, $200k, $500k, and $1.25million will be available for real money purchase. The only reports I’ve got are coming from the UK where it’s pounds sterling. If that gets converted at current rates, you’re looking at $3.18, $5.59, $11.19, and $21.59, respectively. Frankly, that conversion doesn’t normally happen correctly, often to the American benefit. More likely you’ll be looking at $2-15. I f we don’t get official details beforehand, we’ll all know for certain on October 1st when online launches. For what it’s worth, Rockstar is already warning players to expect server issues on launch day, as they estimate 15 million users will be attempting to use it. The warning is nice, but I’d much prefer to see preparation instead.
The German ratings board has stamped a PS Vita version of Injustice: Gods Among Us as appropriate for ages 16 & up. This is despite no official announcement of a handheld version of the title. Back in July, a Game of the Year edition for Vita was spotted on Amazon France, but was quickly taken down. Without corroboration from Warner Bros. this is only rumor, but I’d expect a holiday release.
Square Enix has revealed a pre-order bonus for Thief, available February 28, 2014 for current and next-gen consoles. “The Bank Heist” is a call-back to the fan-favorite bank mission from Thief II: The Metal Age.
In case you missed the email, Sony’s PlayStation Network is running their spend $50 get $10 promotion again. This launched on Wednesday – thanks for the heads-up Sony, can’t we learn about this sooner? The promotion runs through October 29, 2013. For every $50 you spend from your PSN/SEN Wallet in that window you will receive a $10 voucher in November (by the 8th). Just a quick refresher because I see these questions every time they run this:
- You don’t get the $10 instantly. Spend the money now. Between 10/29 and 11/8 you’ll get an XMB message from Sony with instructions for getting your $10.
- Games, DLC, movies, TV shows, subscriptions (PS+, Music Unlimited, etc.), anything that you purchase by spending money from your SEN/PSN funds counts, even if part of it is the $10 you still have from their last promotion.
- You can pre-order games on PSN. If you’re pre-ordering something that releases after 10/29 (Call of Duty, Need for Speed, Watch Dogs), you can still take advantage as long as you spend the money before the end date.
- According to Sony, the $49.99 you spend on a year’s PS+ membership will count as $50. I’d find something cheap to add just in case though.
Despite some absurd delays, like having the publisher collapse, South Park: The Stick of Truth has been issued a(nother) release date. It’s now scheduled for December 10, 2013. This is a tough slot. Plenty of would-be customers may be exclusively next-gen by that date. For the less hardcore, they also have to compete with a bevy of titles releasing in the October to November window that may already be seeing discounts by mid-December. Furthermore, who buys brand new games right before Christmas? What if someone is buying it for you? Then again, no one else is releasing in that time frame, so they’ll have the new releases rack to themselves.
The XBox One will have a fitness app this “holiday” in the form of the creatively titled XBox Fitness. The app will be free for Gold members until December 2014. As you’d expect, this will utilize the Kinect camera, but possibly not in the ways you’d think. The Kinect will read your heart rate, examine which muscles are being used, and track performance through balance, tempo, and form. The camera can also determine your jump height and punching power, providing on the fly feedback. The app will have workout sessions varying from ten to 60 minutes in length. It can also recommend workouts for you, based on your past choices and performance. Online social competition is included as well. For those who are just angry that their console will do something besides playing games, this is just another source of irritation. For those looking to have a central piece of technology in their living rooms that appeals to the entire family, you may have just sold it to your reluctant spouse.
Naughty Dog has, at long last, detailed their plans for The Last of Us DLC. Three pieces are currently in the works. The “Abandoned Territories” Map Pack releases October 15th and expands your multiplayer experience with three new maps: Bus Depot (overgrown, urban, wild giraffes), Hometown (dark, moonlit, stealthy), and Bookstore (bi-level for verticality). The second pack is for single-player. Performance capture for a new character starts next week so I’d expect a long wait. However, they’re saying December-January. The third segment is more multiplayer, and it’s expected in the first half of 2014. All three are available as part of the $19.99 Season Pass, available now.
Thus ends September, another month gone by too quickly. And if you thought that was fast, wait until you see the whirlwind that will finish the year with two new consoles and a plethora of AAA titles I can’t wait to play.