The U.S. video game industry is facing a rough second half of the year – just look at Microsoft. The first American company to actually find success in the game console business since the 1970s ran full steam through the first six months of the year, announcing not just a new machine in Xbox One but an entirely new method of doing business: A console that requires a persistent Internet connection to leverage a network of servers for extra computing power. A console that negates the value of disc-based games but lets you share them for no extra charge. These are all new ideas for consoles, and they clearly exhausted old Microsoft because it rolled back many of its plans this week.
Microsoft is the face of the American video game industry so let’s give it a break! Let it catch its breath and cool off while we look outside our shores. That’s Jetsetter’s job as Digital Trends’ weekly column looking at the world of import gaming and international game development. So let’s give the U.S. a rest and see what’s going on elsewhere.
Conker’s Bad Fur Day creator returns to Nintendo consoles!
Chris Seavor was a bright light amongst British video game developers in the 1990s, working on much-loved Rare Ltd. games like Killer Instinct. Seavor’s Pièce de résistance though, was Conker’s Bad Fur Day and its remake Conker: Live & Reloaded. Not only was he the designer behind Conker, he was also the surly little squirrel’s voice. The designer was ousted from Rare in 2012, but now he’s back with his own studio, Gory Detail, and his making a brand new game for Nintendo’s Wii U. The game is called The Unlikely Legend of Rusty Pup, a 2D platformer about a robotic dog with a big emphasis on story.
“It’s quite a serious and adult story, but still a fun and hopefully playable game with lots going on,” Seavor told Nintendo Life, “It’s a 2D platformer, but a with depth to it. You physically move in and out of the screen. It’s also got hints of Lemmings in there. The game has a core gameplay mechanic – and when I say mechanic I mean something you do which will effect something else in the gameworld – which we can’t say because it will give so much away!”
Dark Room Sex Game returns.
The Copenhagen Game Collective took a ballsy approach to Wii game development back in 2008. The Danish developers looked at Nintendo’s motion controller and thought, “Instead of a mini-game collection, why don’t we make a game about sex?” That they did, in the form of the graphics-less Dark Room Sex Game. Two players hold Wii remotes and follow sounds coming from the remote as cues for how to move the controller in the most pleasurable way. The win condition is precisely what you think it is. Thanks to a report at Eurogamer, we now know that the CGC is remaking the game using the more accurate PlayStation Move controller! Dark Room Sex Game HD will use “enhanced light feedback” to pump up the game experience. It’s also looking for voice actors to provide brand new “sighing, moaning, smacking, screaming, and crying” all for “the sake of… Art.” Sounds like an instant PlayStation 4 classic to us.
PlayStation 4 hits the Netherlands on November 13?
Last week in Jetsetter, we looked at a possible 2014 release date for the PlayStation 4 in Japan. This week, we look at a rumor that the PS4’s European release is a lock for holiday 2013. November 13, 2013 to be specific. Dutch retailers Bol.com and MediaMarkt have posted that date as the new Sony console’s coming out party. NeoGAF user Cyborg even snapped a shot of an in-store advertisements from MediaMarkt. Is November 13 a worldwide release date? Who knows! Until Sony confirms anything official, consider this just another dose of wild international speculation.
