Shadow of the Eternals Kickstarter cancelled

Precursor Games to pull the plug on crowdfunding campaign, promises to re-launch in weeks with “exciting new developments”

Precursor Games raised plenty of eyebrows with its crowdfunding campaign for a spiritual successor to Silicon Knights’ Eternal Darkness, but it hadn’t raised the money it needed. Precursor today announced it would be halting the Kickstarter three weeks into a five-week campaign, and with less than $300,000 raised of the $1.5 million originally sought. Precursor CEO Paul Caporicci explained the move today in an update to the project’s Kickstarter page.

“Since we announced this Kickstarter campaign we have seen more support from our community than we had ever hoped for,” Caporicci said. “Along with this support has come a host of a new exciting opportunities that will make the game better than we envisioned. As a result, we have chosen to temporarily take down the Shadow of the Eternals crowdfunding campaigns on both Kickstarter and our own website on Thursday, June 6.”

Caporicci promised that the Kickstarter campaign would be re-launched in a few weeks with more news about those opportunities. In the meantime, the current Kickstarter campaign will be closed shy of its goal so backers won’t actually be charged, and Caporicci said pledges made through other channels will be fully refunded via PayPal.

The Shadow of the Eternals Kickstarter has drawn attention for the participation of Silicon Knights founder and Precursor Games chief creative officer Denis Dyack. The developer had kept a low profile since Silicon Knights laid off much of its staff after releasing the critical and commercial flop X-Men: Destiny, and a report surfaced with former employees accusing Dyack of intentionally diverting resources from that game in order to prep an Eternal Darkness 2 demo to shop around to publishers. (Precursor confirmed that it purchased art assets from Silicon Knights to use for Shadow of the Eternals.) Dyack finally addressed the accusations in a video during the Kickstarter campaign, saying he had previously kept silent on them because he didn’t think anyone would believe them.

 

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Sony shuts down the PlayStation 2 in Japan

One of the best-selling consoles of all-time stops Japanese shipments

Sony has ceased shipments of the PlayStation 2 console in Japan, according to Famitsu (translated viaKotaku). The console was released in Japan way back in March of 2000 and has sold 21 million units in region as of December 23. Globally, the system has sold153.6 million units since launch until the beginning of 2012.

Users in Japan can still purchase new PlayStation 2 systems, but once the stock is gone, it’s gone.

There’s been no additional word of the PlayStation 2 reaching end-of-life in other regions.

 

Pachter: Wii U to sell 3 million by Christmas 2012

Nintendo will ship 3 million Wii U consoles by Christmas 2012, and they’ll all sell out, according to game analyst.

Game analyst Michael Pachter, who’s been critical of the Wii U and Nintendo in the past, believes that the current “negativity” that surrounds the console won’t have an impact on sales.

The negativity surrounds the launch, some update issues with the console, some critics didn’t like the games — this is always the case. And as Pachter points out, “negativity will never go away”. Pachter doesn’t see this to affect the European and Japanese launches either.

Pachter believes Nintendo will ship 3 million consoles to stores by Christmas, and that all 3 million will sell out. He also thinks that Nintendo will sell 5.5 million Wii U consoles by March 2013, on par with what Nintendo has forecast.

This is quite a backtrack from Pachter who last month said that Nintendo’s “5.5 million” sales number was “unrealistic“. Now, apparently, Pachter believes it’s quite realistic.

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Family Guy: Back To The Multiverse Launch Trailer

I Love Family Guy, so I’m excited to see that Family Guy: Back To The Multiverse is now available on Xbox 360 and PS3. The game introduces an all-new original story written and voiced by all the top  “Family Guy” talent. Check out the launch trailer below for Family Guy: Back To The Multiverse and save the world.

Black Ops 2 Wii U vs PS3/Xbox 360 graphics comparison

Wii U version looks identical to the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC versions of the latest Call of Duty title.

Call of Duty Black Ops 2 is a Wii U launch title and is available now for Nintendo’s new console. The guys over at Ninten2TV did a quick comparison between the Wii U and the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC versions of the game. And as expected, the games look nearly identical. Besides some color and contrast improvements on the Wii U, there doesn’t seem to be much of a difference. Call of Duty titles are known for delivering a very consistent look and experience across all systems, so it’s of no surprise that the versions look the same. Of course, the video doesn’t take into account that the Wii U has a GamePad controller with an additional screen that the console needs to render and support.

For more on Black Ops 2, join the Black Ops 2 discussion on our Wii U forums, and tell us your first impressions of the game!

 

Source: WiiUDaily