In The News
Hiromi Tsuru, the actor who brought Bulma from Dragon Ball to life, has died. The cause was reportedly aortic dissection.
She was “discovered unconscious in a car on along [sic] the Shuto Expressway in Tokyo. The vehicle was stopped, the hazard lights were on, and Tsuru was still wearing her seatbelt,” Kotaku’s Brian Ashcraft reports. Tsuru was 57.
EA pulled microtransactions from Star Wars: Battlefront II until further notice. IGN’s Jonathon Dornbush writes that “the ability to purchase crystals, the sequel’s in-game currency, for in-game microtransactions, is currently unavailable for players, and EA has confirmed that it has pulled microtransactions from the game temporarily … ‘We’re turning off all in-game purchases,’ DICE GM Oskar Gabrielson’s statement reads. ‘We will now spend more time listening, adjusting, balancing and tuning.’”
Sales news:
VentureBeat’s Jeff Grubb reports the Nintendo Switch topped the charts for game hardware in October. The SNES Classic came in second. “‘When combined with the NIntendo 3DS family of systems, Nintendo systems accounted for two-thirds of all video game hardware sold in the United States for the second month in a row,’ reads a Nintendo press release. The company confirmed that total U.S. hardware sales were over 1 million units, so consumers picked up at least 666,000 Switch, Super NES Classic, and 3DS consoles.”
Switchs are still selling out rapidly in Japan, according to Ashcraft. “Last week, the Nintendo Switch topped the Japanese sales charts, moving 84,593 units (in comparison, the PS4 was the second-best seller at 23,613 units).”
Game Informer’s Imran Khan says Middle-earth: Shadow of War and Assassin’s Creed Origins took 1st and 2nd place, respectively, for October game sales. Super Mario Odyssey came in 3rd and South Park: The Fractured but Whole came in 4th.
Ubisoft has 6 more months of breathing room. Gamasutra’s Alissa McAloon reports that Vivendi “says it won’t be proceeding with its plans to acquire control of Ubisoft for a period of at least six months.”
Game Informer’s Matt Miller reports that Ubisoft’s Berlin studio will get to work in 2018. “Istvan Tajnay is set to act as studio manager … Ubisoft Berlin seems like it will start out in a collaborative role with other Ubisoft studios on some of the company’s major properties, including the Far Cry franchise.”
Green Man Gaming hired Ian McGregor as its chief marketing officer. He previously worked at EA and Activision. GamesIndustry.biz’s James Batchelor has the roundup of recent hiring ins and outs.
THQ Nordic acquired Experiment 101, Batchelor also reports. “The developer is currently working on open-world RPG Biomutant, a title that THQ Nordic announced it was publishing back at Gamescom in August. The publisher has also acquired this IP along with its creator.”
G2 Esports and Logitech announced their partnership. “Logitech G shares our passion for gaming and top-level performance. We are delighted that Logitech G stands for profound understanding of player needs, as well as innovation and progress,” the press release reads. “On top of using existing technology, as a part of Logitech G global esports roster, G2 Esports players will be the forerunners and testers, taking part in the new product research and giving their input for the best quality and comfort.”
If you’re really good at these two games, chances are you’re also pretty smart. That’s according to a new study out by the University of York. “The York researchers stress the studies have no bearing on questions such as whether playing computer games makes young people smarter or otherwise. They simply establish a correlation between skill at certain online games of strategy and intelligence.”
Sailing is going digital. “World Sailing, the governing body of the sport, is diving into esports with the launch of the virtual World Sailing Championships,” SportTechie’s Kendra Andrews reports. “Through a partnership with digital sailing platform Virtual Regatta, the eSailing World Championship with be held annually starting in 2018.”
Last Expedition is Max Hoberman’s new project. Polygon’s Alex Kane did a profile on the man who created Halo 2’s multiplayer. Here’s a snippet: “To an outsider, Hoberman’s life seems to share many of the qualities that have made his various high-profile game projects so successful over the years: this is someone with a lot on his shoulders, who’s often cautious and pragmatic, and yet he always keeps an eye to the future.”
Master X Master will shut down Jan. 31, 2018. “The ‘heartbroken’ team behind NCsoft’s MOBA Master X Master has announced that the game will go offline,” GamesIndustry.biz’s Haydn Taylor writes.
More screenshots of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds’ desert map are out.
Jump into Hearthstone’s Tavern Brawl this week to get a free Kobolds and Catacombs pack.