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 | Blizzard boss tells Diablo III community to direct blame at him Jan 21st 2013, 14:40 "I was ultimately responsible for the game we released and take full responsibility for the quality of the result," says chief creative officer Rob Pardo in wake of criticism. 
Blizzard chief creative officer Rob Pardo has taken to Diablo III's forums to publicly defended former game director Jay Wilson, who announced his departure from the Diablo III development team last week. Wilson took to the forums to say goodbye after working on Diablo III for seven years, as he's now moving on to an unannounced project at Blizzard. The farewell discussions were quickly overtaken by many players who felt Blizzard has not done enough with their latest dungeon crawler, which was finally released in 2012 after years of development. "This thread saddens me greatly," wrote Pardo after 106 pages of people airing their grievances. "I know that the Battle.net forums have earned a reputation for rough justice, but I do not believe justice is being served by how people are speaking about Jay’s departure from Diablo III." While Pardo is "very proud" of Diablo III, which scored a very respectable 8.5 from GameSpot last year, he quickly concedes that the team at Blizzard have plenty more to do with the game. "I have enjoyed the game and played for many, many nights with friends and family. I’m not, however, going to use that as an excuse. The Diablo community deserves an even better game from Blizzard and we are committed to improving it." "We have a talented team in place and have no intention of stopping work on Diablo III until it is the best game in the franchise." Pardo also defended Wilson and said he has a great career ahead of him at Blizzard, "I hired Jay to head up the Diablo project and had the pleasure of getting to work with him, both in building the team and designing the game. He has great design instincts and has added so much to the franchise." "I’ve worked with many, many designers at Blizzard and Jay is one of the best. He has a great career at Blizzard ahead of him and I guarantee that you will enjoy Jay’s game designs in future Blizzard games." In summary, Pardo said that "blame" for Diablo III should be aimed directly at him instead of other people at Blizzard. "If you love Diablo as much as we do, then please continue to let us know how you feel we can improve the game. If you still feel the need to dish out blame, then I would prefer you direct it at me." "I was the executive producer on the project; I hired Jay and I gave him advice and direction throughout the development process. I was ultimately responsible for the game we released and take full responsibility for the quality of the result." The latest developments for Diablo III, which was one of Google's top searches in 2012, have shown difficulties in the long-awaited PVP mode of the game. Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
| | UK Chart: DmC tops the charts with only a third of its predecessor's sales Jan 21st 2013, 12:30 Ninja Theory's reboot knocks FIFA from the top spot. 
DmC: Devil May Cry, Capcom's warmly-received but slightly controversial reboot of the Devil May Cry series, has taken the top spot in the UK charts in its first week, knocking FIFA 13 down into second place after its two-week stint at the top. It's Capcom's first UK number one since Resident Evil 5 in 2009, even though Ninja Theory's DmC could only manage just over a third of what Devil May Cry 4 sold in its first week way back in 2008. DmC even had a three-day head start thanks to its worldwide Tuesday launch - games in the UK are traditionally launched on Friday. Call of Duty: Black Ops II rounds out the top three, with Far Cry 3 dropping two places to fourth and Need for Speed: Most Wanted sticking in fifth. DmC is the only new release to chart in the Top 40 this week, although 2K's NBA 2k13 returns in 19th, Paper Mario: Sticker Star pops in at 35th and Battlefield 3 enters at 39. The Top 10 UK All-Format Ukie Games Charts for the week ending January 19, 2013: 1. DmC: Devil May Cry
2. FIFA 13
3. Call of Duty: Black Ops II
4. Far Cry 3
5. Need for Speed: Most Wanted
6. Just Dance 4
7. Football Manager 2013
8. Hitman: Absolution
9. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
10. Assassin's Creed III
Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
| | Pong creator Atari files for bankruptcy Jan 21st 2013, 10:36 U.S. arm of iconic company hopes to "break free" and set up shop as a mobile and digital publisher. 
The long-troubled U.S. arm of Pong, Breakout and Asteroids creator Atari has filed a petition for bankruptcy. Reported by the L.A. Times, Atari Inc. and three affiliates filed petitions for Chapter 11 reorganisation in New York's U.S. Bankruptcy Court late on Sunday. The move is an attempt to break free from its French parent Atari S.A. and refocus the company to make digital and mobile titles, according to an anonymous "knowledgeable" source. While many of its iconic properties will be instantly recognisable, Atari is not in rude health: its revenue plummeted 34% in fiscal year 2012 and 43% the year before that. The L.A. Times even points out that licensing the famous Atari logo for use in other products now makes for 17% of the company's revenue. Another problem for the U.S. chunk of the company is "near total reliance" on London financial company BlueBay Asset Management, an arrangement which lapsed on Dec 31 and means the company lacks the funds to release any of its games currently in the works, one of which is the money-gobbling Atari Casino. Last year the company teamed up with Zynga to produce the in-app purchase fueled Breakout spin-off Super Bunny Breakout. Atari's share price has also tumbled from 11 Euros to less than one Euro since 2008. Today's Atari bears little similarity to the iconic publisher that shaped the direction of gaming in the 70s and 80s. French publisher Infogrames licensed the Atari name in 2003 and and in 2008 acquired all the gaming pioneer's American assets. Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
| | Free-to-play Spartacus Legends gets R18+ rating Jan 21st 2013, 06:09 Ubisoft's free-to-play fighting game based on Starz's original television series gets new Australian adult rating for "high-impact bloody violence". 
The upcoming Ubisoft title Spartacus Legends has become the second game to receive an R18+ rating in Australia following the introduction of the adult classification earlier this month. Based on Starz Entertainment's original Spartacus television show, Spartacus Legends is a free-to-play title for Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network. Its R18+ classification marks the first time a digital-only title has been given an adult rating in Australia, raising questions about the methodologies in place for policing distribution of age-appropriate digital content on home consoles. Replying to a request for comment, a spokesperson for Sony Computer Entertainment Australia (SCEA) said both digital and disc-based games can be restricted by parental controls on the PlayStation 3. "There are a number of parental controls in place," the spokesperson told GameSpot. "In terms of purchasing or playing online content on the PlayStation Network (PSN), at the time of account creation you have to be over 18 to set up a PSN account. If a person is under 18, the requirement is that the parent sets up a Master Account for the PSN, and can then create a sub-account for the child. When setting up the sub account, the sub account holder will not be able to play any games online rated above their age." Microsoft did not return a request for comment at the time of publication. However, the Xbox 360 does also feature parental controls. According to Ubisoft, Spartacus Legends will let players experience the life of a gladiator, from practicing on training grounds to participating in battles in the arena. Players will be tasked with dismembering their foes, and will have thousands of weapon combinations and skill system to use along the way. Players will be able to fight as Spartacus, Crixus, or a user-created gladiator, and take part in fights with friends locally or via online multiplayer. The Classification Board of Australia rated the game R18+ for "high impact bloody violence". According to the classification listing, the game contains high-impact violence, and moderate-impact themes, nudity, and language. Spartacus Legends does not yet have a release date for Australia, but is due out in Q1 this year in the US. Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
| | Army, Navy seeking out better video game tech Jan 21st 2013, 05:46 Soldiers reportedly find current military simulations dated; Army investigating new program to find replacement for Bohemia Interactive's Virtual Battlespace 2. 
The US Army and Navy are reportedly looking into ways to make virtual training more exciting for new recruits. According to an article in National Defense Magazine, both the Army and Navy are seeking contracts for the creation of updated virtual PC simulation games that will look and play more like Call of Duty than the games already available. "The industry needs to find a way to get past the older code that's sitting out there," Havok vice president of sales and marketing Brian Waddle told the publication. "[Soldiers] look at these simulators, and they don't take them seriously because they don't look as good as what they're playing in their living rooms." According to the report, the Army is looking for a first-person, massively multiplayer online shooter to replace Bohemia Interactive's Virtual Battlespace 2. It is offering a contract of approximately $44.5 million over five years to the winning application, which must include the ability to integrate more players across larger landmasses and accurately re-create territories like Afghanistan. For its part, the Navy is also looking for games that will be able to train sailors in specific tasks, including a training program that will run on Crytek's CryEngine 3. The Navy will offer three separate contracts of $100 million each. Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
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