The Catch-Up: September 2nd, 2013 - Gearbox Working on Two Next-Gen IPs, DriveClub Won't Have Split-Screen

Working on Labor Day makes no sense (or does it make complete sense?)!

General News

We put this in The Catch-Up because we don’t want it to be true, but Best Buy is listing the Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster for release on January 15th, 2014 (Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z has a January 28th release date). We’ve reached out to Square Enix about the release date and hopefully they’ll tell us it’s still on track for 2013, but this NeoGaf thread isn’t making me hopeful. [Dragon Ball Z/Final Fantasy]
In happy Best Buy news, they have 9 different PS3 games on sale for $14.99, including PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, Killzone 3, and the ICO & Shadow of the Colossus Collection. [Check ’em out]
Gio Corsi, Director of Third Party Production for SCEA, let it be known that his new group “will work closely with our publishing partners to bring their beloved IPs to some new places.” He then asked people on the PS Blog to “let me know in the comments what you want to see on PlayStation (PS3, PS4, PS Vita).” The post is currently at over 2,700 comments, so I feel bad for him having to read through every single one. [Source]
The Mighty No. 9 Kickstarter campaign has already passed its $900,000 target goal and, as of writing this, is over $1.1 million. If it manages to reach the stretch goal of $2.5 million, they will do PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii U versions. The Kickstarter ends on October 1st, so it has plenty of time to reach it. [Check it Out]
Sticking with Mighty No. 9, the Twitter account said, “We’d love to [do it on PS4/PS Vita] but only IF we hear enough interest and can make the money work.” [Twitter]
The XCOM: Enemy Within Commander Edition, which includes XCOM: Enemy Unknown, the Elite Soldier Pack, Slingshot and Second Wave add-ons, as well as the Enemy Within expansion is coming out this November on consoles for $39.99 Garth DeAngelis, Senior Producer at Firaxis Games, explained why it isn’t available as a digital download: “When it came to the consoles, it was too big. If we wanted to deliver the same content to the console players, we had to do it this way as a standalone expansion on a disc. We couldn’t simply just patch it in.” [Source]
Randy Pitchford, President of Gearbox, said when talking about the Homeworld IP they obtained from THQ, “We’re kind of busy. Borderlands became a massive thing. We’ve put a huge amount of our mindshare and effort into that. Also the next-generation of console is really exciting to us. So, Gearbox has begun developing two original properties. Two new original things for the next-generation. We haven’t announced what those are yet, but the consequences of all that is that our internal mindshare has been very tapped. For us to internally start an effort to make a sequel to Homeworld would have wait.” [Source]
Clearing up some questions, Paul Rustchynsky, Design Director on DriveClub, revealed that the PlayStation Plus edition of DriveClub will be available “well into the new year.” As well, if you decide to upgrade from the PS+ Edition to the full digital edition, there will be a discount, with that discount being announced in a few weeks. While you have the PS+ Edition though, you can unlock a Platinum trophy and it will only be lacking a few cars/tracks. For either version, there won’t be split-screen. [Via/Source]
Naoki Yoshida, Producer and Director of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, gave a status update on the various issues plaguing the game. [Check it Out]
While the main game is about 15-20 hours, expect 80-100 hours of full content in Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. [Twitter]