After two long years of hoping and begging, our efforts have finally paid off: Nintendo is making another Wii Music!
News Blips:
Shigeru Miyamoto reveals Nintendo is working on a Wii Music sequel. During an interview with Techland, Miyamoto let some of his plans for the next Wii Music slip. "There's a lot of potential still in Wii Music," Miyamoto said. "We're going to change it up, a new interface is coming, and all of that." He also discussed the possibility of including Mario in the game. "If we get more people to understand what's going on in the game concept, then he might appear in the game." You know what else should be included in the next Wii Music? Songs that people actually want to play.
Viacom is looking to sell Harmonix, creator of Rock Band and Dance Central. Viacom originally bought Harmonix for over $175 million in 2006 but stated earlier this year that it was considering reducing the developer's estimated net value because it felt it was overstated. Harmonix representative John Drake said this news won't impact the company's commitment to its games. "This morning’s announcement does not affect the ongoing work at the studio as we continue to support our existing franchises, Rock Band and Dance Central," he said. "As stated earlier, Viacom is in discussions with several potential buyers and will continue to fully support the business until a sale is completed." Hopefully Harmonix's buyer will be a recycling company that can find a much better use for those plastic instruments people have accumulated over the years. [Gamasutra]
Activision donates $1 million of Call of Duty: Black Ops' revenue to its non-profit veterans organization. The Call of Duty Endowment is a non-profit corporation focused on assisting veterans' transition to civilian life. Tomorrow, the organization will launch its 25-day Service Ops campaign, a social-media event to raise awareness about veteran unemployment. Followers can participate by spreading information about the cause to win copies of Black Ops. Jim Carey, CODE advisory board member, said, “This campaign is a simple way for folks to say ‘thank you’ to our veterans, while also putting a larger spotlight on a national problem that we want more individuals to recognize.” Some might argue video games based on real wars are disrespectful toward our veterans, but at least Activision is trying to balance things out.
K2 Network buys the APB intellectual property from defunct developer Realtime Worlds. GamesIndustry.biz reports the company paid around £1.5 million (about $2.4 million) for the property and claims the game may become active again sometime next year. K2 Network is the creator of GamersFirst, a free-to-play game service, and it may be changing APB's original subscription model to fit its own. APB had bigger problems than charging gamers a subscription fee, but going free to play would definitely be a step forward for such an ambitious game.
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