The Playstation

What makes a game sell?  Is it the development team, the marketing, or the attachment of a recognizable series name?  Sometimes, even all that isn’t enough—and sometimes, a hit can come out of nowhere.  I check in with a few popular series and try to find out what’s next.

• BioShock: Take-Two admitted that the sequel to their original smash-hit FPS didn’t move as many copies as they expected, but was still a success for the franchise.  Speaking from experience, a too-short single-player campaign and a disappointing multiplayer feature could have hindered sales.  Still, there are big things in the water for the sci-fi series, which follows the events of a civil war in a utopian underwater city called Rapture.  A film is currently in preproduction.
• Final Fantasy: Game director Tetsuya Nomura has announced that the script for Final Fantasy Versus XIII is now complete.  The game takes place in the same universe as Final Fantasy XIII, a world a lot like ours but with a science-fiction slant.  Nomura has said that the game will incorporate third-person shooter aspects, and will even have some blood, as opposed to earlier games.  Unlike FFXIII, Versus is currently PS3-exclusive. Read the rest of this entry »