Happy Halloween everybody! This week’s edition of the News Wrap covers the announcement of The Walking Dead season 2, sees the Wii U continue to struggle at retail, Blockbuster re-enter administration and Microsoft deny (deny, deny) that there’s anything wrong with the Xbox One’s OS.
The dead walk again
Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead was far and away one of the best games of 2012. Since the game came to a close with the ‘bonus’ 400 Days episode, fans have been eagerly awaiting a follow-up and this week, Telltale gave them what they want.
Details are as scarce as a living human during the zompocalypse, but it’s definitely coming and we’ve got the teaser trailer to prove it. Just don’t expect to see too much more than Clem and some walkers, as you hear the melodic voice of the first games’ hero, Lee.
The Wii U ain’t doing so hot
Not that that’s news exactly, but I don’t think there are too many who realized Nintendo’s newest console was doing quite this bad. The company announced some sales figures this week that sound just a tad worse that anemic and they certainly surprised me.
How bad is ‘bad’? How’s 3.91 million consoles sold since launch sound? With some analysts predicting Xbox One and PS4 sales in the neighborhood of 10 million for year one, Nintendo’s figure is pretty lackluster, which is probably being nice.
Also stunning is that the Wii U sold a total of 460 thousand units (globally) in the last six months with 300k coming in the last quarter- which means that only 160k Wii U’s were moved in Q2, 2013. Ouch.
Read on for the whole horror-filled tale
Blockbuster Video enters ‘administration’ agai… wait, Blockbuster is still around?
Yes Blockbuster Video’s UK wing, the chain that would not die, is once again close to the abyss thanks to flailing sales at the retail level. It wasn’t too long ago that the company was in a similar position and managed to survive thanks to a sale to Gordon Brothers Europe.
Well, apparently the Gordo Bros. can’t put up with the company’s retail failings anymore and will be cutting the company loose- or at least, trying to. That’s providing that they can find anyone to buy it of course.
Oh, and as a very special screw for anyone who chose to place their Xbox One or PS4 pre-orders with the store (Really?! Why?!?!), all orders for next-gen consoles are cancelled as of now. Yep. Sorry about that.
The kids (and the Xbox One) are alright says Microsoft
Rumors have been swirling for a while now that the OS on Microsoft’s upcoming Xbox One console isn’t the stablest of things. Starting with several unnamed sources (sounds legit) on internet personality Pete Dodd’s website and then spiraling over to the likes of Kotaku and other larger sites, the scuttle is that the OS behaves quite badly when you have more than two Apps open at once and that online multiplayer is handled more like the PS3’s than the Xbox 360’s- which isn’t great.
For Microsoft’s part, the company denies anything’s ‘wrong’ and says that the Xbox One is on track “for a great launch”. Aside from the generic statements that you’d expect (see last sentence), the likes of Larry Hryb and Phil Spencer have also started to pipe up about the rumor mill’s turning and also say that there’s nothing wrong or problematic with the console.
Is this a non-issue? Read on for more
The best of the rest
While that was some of the biggest news of the last few days, there was way more going on in the world of gaming and comics this past week. Here’s a few of the other big stories that appeared on BG:
- New art and screens released for Baldur’s Gate II: Enhanced Edition
- PES 2014 online functions restored, ready to kick it on Xbox 360
- Update- Infinity Ward teases at aliens in Call of Duty: Ghosts
- PlayStation mobile App dated
- Sonic Lost Worlds (Wii U) Review
- Memoria (PC) Review
Want more? Check back right here on DDNet every week for the Brutal Gamer News Wrap, and don’t forget to check in daily for all the latest news and info from the worlds of gaming and pop culture onBrutalGamer.com
