Welcome to Beyond Co-Op, a weekly piece that talks about industry stories that may or may not be related to co-op gaming.
The stories for this week:
- Sonic to Return in 2010...in 2D!
- Zenimax (Bethesda) Buys Prey Rights
- Two Batman: Arkham Asylum DLC Downloads Coming in Next Two Weeks
- Disney Acquires WideLoad/Bungie Co-Founder Put in Charge
- Big Release Week
Sonic to Return in 2010...in 2D!
I know I’ve been waiting for this to happen for a long time (or at least for the series to return to Sonic Adventure level if in 3D), but Sonic is finally coming back in 2D in 2010. No systems announced, no idea if this is a full game or a downloadable one through XBLA, PSN, WiiWare, etc. The video is located at this link. Should be interesting and I hope we hear more soon.
Source: Colony of Gamers
Zenimax (Bethesda) Buys Prey Rights
This may not be huge news, but it is ironic in that when Prey was released it was running on id’s Tech4 Engine. As you know, id was recently purchased by Zenimax and all their IPs will now be developed internally. Even though they’ve bought the rights, id will not be making the sequel. Another interesting point is that there had been rumors of a Prey 2 being in the works. I’m wondering if they dropped that totally to start from scratch again.
I enjoyed Prey when it came out, with its portal stuff before Portal came out from Valve. The game had long been in development hell before 3DRealms probably figured out they needed more money for Duke Nukem Forever and decided to license out the property.
Source: Colony of Gamers
Two Batman: Arkham Asylum DLC Downloads Coming in Next Two Weeks
First off, if you haven’t picked up Batman: Arkham Asylum, run to your local game store and pick it up (my Colony of Games review). With that out of the way, it’s been announced that there will be 2 free DLC packs coming in the next two weeks. No word on what they are, although they will be available across all platforms including the PC game that releases this week. This means it will not be the exclusive challenges given to the PS3 version for instance. I’m pretty excited and hope to hear soon exactly what these will contain.
Source: Joystiq
Disney Acquires WideLoad/Bungie Co-Founder Put in Charge
Although the purchase of WideLoad is not necessarily news (they’ve released Stubbs the Zombie and Hail to the Chimp, the news that Disney has put former Bungie co-founder Alex Seropian in charge of all of its gaming division is news. He will oversee Warren Spector’s group Junction Point Studios as well as Pure and Split/Second makers Black Rock Studios. One would also believe he may oversee future Marvel properties that aren’t currently tied up in licensing to game companies.
I’m still of the opinion that the rumors long ago of Disney wanting to acquire EA could eventually prove to be true. Warner made the move this week to have DC Comics overseen by the film division, a drastic change in direction whose trigger was probably pulled because of the Marvel acquisition. If Disney bought EA they would have a top notch publisher from which to oversee its whole gaming division. With EA being disappointed by Madden sales this week (also a very good game at the 360/PS3 class) they could be ripe for new surroundings.
Source: Colony of Gamers
Big Release Week
Hide your wallet! The rush is on this week before many take a break for Halo 3: ODST’s release next week. These games all come out this week:
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 (360/PS3/Wii/PS2/PSP/DS)
Need for Speed: Shift (360/PS3/PC/PSP)
WET (360/PS3)
Batman: Arkham Asylum (PC)
Red Faction: Guerilla (PC)
NHL 10 (360/PS3)
NHL 2K10 (360/PS3/Wii/PS2)
Scribblenauts (DS)
Mario and Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story (DS)
Some really good games there and the most talked about one is probably Scribblenauts on the DS. Is your wallet going to be wailing this week and are you going to pick up Halo 3: ODST next week as well?
Source: me
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Wish it had created it with co-op in mind, but still a good game.
I'd really like to see new challenges that were not Combat or stealth...puzzles! Like the rooms with people in traps and you have to use your skills to figure out the puzzle.