Today's News Blips are brought to you by the weekend and my rapidly diminishing control over my college life.
News Blips:
Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto discusses the Wii U's online functionality. "We're not going to sit here and say that our goal is to become the number one online gaming company, because that's not our goal," Miyamoto told MTV Multiplayer in an interview. "But, understanding that the types of experiences our consumers like to play do often contain elements to them that can be improved or may even require an online connection. Also, knowing that the system is going to have a browser suggests that obviously Internet and Internet connectivity are going to be very important for the system." Miyamoto also described how the console's local multiplayer capabilities can potentially "take advantage of online by connecting to the Internet and making new types of play that way."
Twisted Metal designer David Jaffe thinks the Wii U will be "50 percent less successful" compared to the Wii. "I think there's a large enough percentage of people who bought the Wii as something other than a gaming device and turned it into the fad that it was," Jaffe said to GamingUnion. "Most of that percentage is going to go away now. I don't think enough of them have become 'gamers'. They tried [the Wii], now they're onto something like free-to-play massively multiplayer games, and then they'll move onto something else. How many of them got converted into actual gamers? I don't think a large portion." Jaffe further explained that the popularity of mobile gaming could sway Nintendo players into picking up an iPad or similar device, since most of them are "just as happy playing Storm in a Teacup on iPad versus a new 3D Mario."
Hackers loot a chunk of user data from an old Neverwinter Nights forum server. BioWare Edmonton General Manager Aaryn Flynn assured customers in an email that no credit card numbers were stolen, but other account info such as user names and passwords got plundered. "We immediately took appropriate steps to protect our consumers' data and launched a thorough ongoing evaluation of the breach," Flynn wrote. "If your user name, email address, and/or password on your Neverwinter Nights account are similar to those you use on other sites, we recommend changing your password at those sites as well." Interestingly, the attack was reported 10 days ago on BioWare's official forums. Where's my "oh, for fuck's sake" emoticon?
EVE Online's new microtransaction-based vanity store causes a stir for its ludicrous prices. A mammoth official forum thread quickly filled up with players protesting the Noble Exchange of Incarna, EVE Online's latest free expansion that adds fully customizable avatars into the game. Because of lopsided exchange rates between Isk (the in-game currency), subscription rates, and Aurum (the currency used for purchasing vanity items), shoppers are expected to plunk down sizable amounts of cash for items such as a $25 t-shirt and a nearly $80 monocle. Rock, Paper, Shotgun has the full skinny behind the convoluted currency exchange system and subsequent player fallout.
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