Morning DLC: Video Games News And Rumors 11/28/13
By Nick Tylwalk
In honor of Thanksgiving in the United States, the staff of GameSided would like to give its thanks to all of our readers. We appreciate your help in getting this site off to a great start this year, and we hope you’ll stick with us going forward. The best is yet to come!
"Sony’s European arm will switch off two PS4 online features at launch in a bid to avoid PSN issues.In a post on the PlayStation Blog, the company states: “Following the successful launch of PS4 in North America on the 15th November, we have seen an unprecedented influx of players onto PSN.In order to avoid network congestion and slow speeds, Sony will therefore be switching off the following features:What’s New – Discover and engage with all of your friends’ PS4 related activityContent Information Screen – See friends’ activity and information specific to the title you are looking at"
"The release of its first original video game in 2011 should have been a celebratory moment for Cambridge-based Fire Hose Games, but instead it was a nightmare. Almost immediately after Fire Hose launched “Slam Bolt Scrappers” for PlayStation 3, the PlayStation Network was hacked, forcing Sony to shut it down for 24 days to prevent loss of users’ personal data.Ultimately, “Slam Bolt Scrappers” sold well, and Fire Hose has since enjoyed success with a second game, “Go Home Dinosaurs,” and with collaborations on hits such as “Rock Band Blitz” and “Dance Central.” The company now employs 11.But the disappointing debut exemplified the risky business of video game development and planted the seed for a major shift in strategy. Starting next year, Fire Hose will transform itself into an incubator for indie game developers, who will receive stipends, mentoring, and workspace at the company’s Inman Square office in exchange for sharing the proceeds of games they produce."
"I’ve never heard of a game being cancelled after it has technically been released before, but now it’s happened: the absurdly dreadful Ashes 2013 game that made a brief appearance on Steam last week has now been officially canned.This means there will be no console versions forthcoming, as was originally planned. Publisher 505 Games plans to issue refunds to anyone who mistakenly bought it during the brief period it was up on Steam before it was pulled.The statement reveals a troubled development – and in the end, all of this is really rather sad. “As most people who have followed the project closely can affirm, the development of Ashes Cricket 2013 has been fraught with challenges almost from the outset,” it reads."