I love how easily misconstrued developments such as Shigeru Miyamoto's "retirement" let the imagination run wild. I'm sure many of us pictured the guy morosely spending the remainder of his now-purposeless life manning a one-man sushi restaurant serving "Pipe Rolls" and "Skyward Sake" in some cramped, anonymous Tokyo alleyway. Then again, it could've just been me….
News Blips:
Gaming social network Raptr proclaims The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim the most played game of 2011. The service's Raptr Awards tallied its registered gamers' total hours played in the first month, average session length in the first month, and average playtime per person in the first week for each nomination. Check out the winners list below, or hit this link for the full report.
- Most Played Game — The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim (Bethesda)
- Most Played Shooter — Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Activision)
- Most Played RPG — The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim (Bethesda)
- Most Played Open-World Game — Batman: Arkham City (Warner Bros. Interactive)
- Most Played Sports Game — FIFA Soccer 12 (EA Sports)
- Most Played Social Game — The Sims Social (EA Play)
- Most Played New IP — LA Noire (Rockstar)
- Most Successful Paid to Free-to-Play Game — DC Universe Online (Sony Online Entertainment)
The PlayStation Vita handles multiple PlayStation Network accounts — if you aren't opposed to resetting your new best friend to factory default as a requirement. Sony Associate Brand Marketing Manager Crystal MacKenzie told Wired that the upcoming handheld/tricorder/finger massager uses memory cards to store PSN data, enabling users to swap out cards whenever they want to change accounts. "So if you wanted to change different PSN users but use the same memory card, you would need to go factory reset," MacKenzie said. That's the good news. The bad news: Actually fulfilling that hokey idea of yours to buy more than one of those overpriced memory cards.
Dead Rising 3 reportedly takes place in the fictional California town of Los Perdidos. An unidentified source told Siliconera that the game features a new protagonist named Rick, an orphaned car mechanic that nails the "ragged repairman" look rather well. The source also described the game's theme as an apparent exploration of illegal immigration. I suppose Capcom came close to going with a title like "Arizona: Our Struggle" but decided otherwise at the last moment.
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