Disney shuts down LucasArts

Not too long ago, Disney acquired Lucasfilm and LucasArts for $4.05 billion dollars. Now the company has announced that they have shutdown LucasArts and will be creating future Star Wars games based on a licensing model.

"After evaluating our position in the games market, we've decided to shift LucasArts from an internal development to a licensing model, minimizing the company's risk while achieving a broader portfolio of quality Star Wars games."

"As a result of this change, we've had layoffs across the organization. We are incredibly appreciative and proud of the talented teams who have been developing our new titles."

-Disney representative

LucasArts had been around since 1982, and while known primarily for their many Star Wars games, they also created a number of original IPs over the years, including the Monkey Island series and Grim Fandango.

The last project announced by the company was Star Wars 1313, which received a lot of attention from the press in spite of the fact that relatively few details were revealed about the title. There had been rumors that it had been cancelled following Disney's acquisition of the franchise, and it appears that they were true.

As for Disney itself, the company is currently focusing on Disney Infinity and mobile games, although there can be no doubt that new Star Wars titles will be announced in the near future.

Source: Joystiq

Epic Games VP says Unreal Engine 4 can run on Wii U if scaled down

Image from Unreal Engine 4 "Infiltrator" tech demo.

While speaking at GDC, Epic Games Vice President Mark Rein reportedly laughed when asked if the Unreal Engine 4 could run on the Wii U, and said that it could not. Engadget reports that he has admitted that isn't technically true, and says that it can run on Nintendo's console if it is scaled down enough.

"You heard the stupid gaffe yesterday about the Wii U. If someone wants to take Unreal Engine 4 and ship a game on Wii U, they can! If they wanna ship an Unreal Engine 4 game on Xbox 360, they could make it happen."

Epic has released a new UE4 real-time demo called "Infiltrator" which shows what the engine is capable of when running on a system with very high tech specs. You can watch it after the break.

Source: Engadget

Unreal Engine 4, Frostbite 3 Engine not coming to Wii U

Update: Mark Rein says Unreal Engine 4 can run on Wii U if scaled down. Click here for article.

Original Story

Epic Games is the company behind the Unreal Engine, and the fourth version of said engine is capable of some truly amazing visuals. In an interview with Videogamer last year, Epic's Mark Rein said that Unreal Engine 4 could be made to run on the Wii U, provided it was scaled down, but he went on to say that Epic themselves would not be supporting Nintendo's new console.

Kotaku recently spoke with Rein at the GDC, and posed the question once more. His answer was much more blunt this time around.

Kotaku: "Will UE4 run on the Wii U?"

Rein: "Hahaha no. I mean, sorry, it's not really a correct answer. We're not… we have Unreal Engine 3 for the Wii U. Right? And Unreal Engine 3 is powering all kinds of amazing games, still lots of games are being made with Unreal Engine 3. We announced today about a new Unreal Engine 3 license. Unreal Engine 3 doesn't disappear because of Unreal Engine 4. But our goal for Unreal Engine 4 console-wise is next-gen consoles. That's really what our energies are focused on. If you want to make a Wii U game, we have Unreal Engine 3, and it's powering some of the best games on the Wii U already.

IGN then asked him why he laughed at the possibility of UE4 on Wii U, and he elaborated further:

“I just laugh at the question…Unreal Engine 4, we’re not PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, or Wii U. It’s next-gen technology. That’s what we’re aiming for.”


“The truth is, if a developer wanted to take an Unreal Engine game and put it on Wii U, they could. Unreal Engine 3 is kicking ass on Wii U. The best games on Wii U are made on our technology. What more do you want from us?”

In addition, DICE, the developers of Battlefield 4, have confirmed that the Frostbite 3 Engine will not support the Wii U either. Here are a few comments from Patrick Bach, the executive producer of the Battlefield franchise.

"We right now don't have support for the Wii U in the Frostbite engine, we don't want to back down from what we see as our low-spec machines [including the PS3 and Xbox 360]."

"It's about, where do you put your focus? And the Wii U is not a part of our focus right now."

The Frostbite 3 Engine will act as the framework for many of Electronic Arts' future games, including Dragon Age 3: Inquisition and the next Mass Effect title which is currently in development. EA has not announced Wii U versions of either of those games, among others.

Sources: Kotaku, IGN, Eurogamer, Polygon

Analysts: Nintendo will announce Wii U price soon, Microsoft and Sony will respond by dropping prices

MSRP: ???

In an interview with NowGamer, Jesse Divnich of EEDAR spoke with NowGamer, analyst Jesse Divnich of EEDAR said that he believes Nintendo will announce the price and release date of the Wii U in September. He believes the company is holding off on revealing the price as a strategy to deal with the competition.

Divnich: "Considering the potential for PS3/Xbox 360 price cuts this holiday, it is understandable that they are keeping their cards close to the chest."

The cheapest Xbox 360 model is selling at $199.99, while its PS3 counterpart is going for $250. With the advantages its rivals have in terms of libraries and online offerings, it's easy to see why Nintendo is so determined to get the price "just right."

Michael Pachter, the Wedbush Securities' analyst who can't seem to say anything positive about Nintendo also commented about the Wii U's MSRP. Amusingly, he acknowledged the public perception about his attitude towards the big N. "As soon as Nintendo tells us the specs, I'll take a stab at the cost. As soon as they give us the price, I'll guess unit sales," he told NowGamer. "People love to beat me up for bashing Nintendo, but they bring this on themselves. They give no information, and want us all to proclaim that their consoles will sell record numbers."

At the end of the day, no one knows anything and there was nothing valuable to glean from the interview. Analysts are paid a lot of money and yet it seems the majority of the time they are simply stating the obvious, with the press dutifully reporting every word of it. If there's one thing to take away from NowGamer's interview, it's this: Nintendo is treading carefully and they do not want to underplay or overplay their hand.

Source: NowGamer

Bing Gordon: Nintendo is on track to become a software-only developer

Bing Gordon is a legend of the video game industry. He worked at EA for 26 years, guiding the marketing department and later making the transition to Chief Creative Officer in 1998. After a decade of service in that position, he left the company to pursue other opportunities and received the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences' Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011. When he has something to say about the gaming industry, people listen.

The key players in the gaming industry have wildly different takes on the Wii U, and in an interview with gamesindustry.biz, Gordon offered his thoughts on Nintendo's new console. When asked about the competition the system will face from tablet computers, he had this to say:

"I think Nintendo's already on track to become primarily a software company. We saw that with Sega back in the day; Sega made some missteps and became primarily a software company. Nintendo hasn't really made missteps, Nintendo probably has better creative talent and better leadership now than Sega did."

Although he didn't mention it by name, he was clearly alluding to the Dreamcast, implying that the big N's current situation mirrors that of Sega in 1999, the year they launched their innovative, but ill-fated console. The controversial Michael Pachter recently made the same comparison, but the game industry analyst is frequently wrong and is mocked relentlessly. Gordon, on the other hand, is an industry veteran, and he knows a thing or two about the way the business works.

Before you get too worked up, listen to what Gordon had to say about Nintendo's current business plan.

"It's [Nintendo] got the most robust business model, the best creative talent; Miyamoto's still the best in the business. Apple's most directly competitive with Nintendo. So far, when Miyamoto makes a perfect game, in his career he makes games worth $200 - it's worth buying a system for."

That is definitely reassuring to Nintendo fanboys, but he added "I think if you're Nintendo, as long as Miyamoto's coming to work, you can sustain a proprietary platform. He's that good."


Miyamoto is getting up there in years, and if Gordon's statements are taken at face value, he might not see Nintendo as being viable as a hardware manufacturer after Miyamoto retires. Interesting perspective from an industry giant.