The Catch-Up: March 17th, 2014 - Koji Igarashi Leaves Konami

In 24 hours I’ll be… watching the progress bar of my Final Fantasy X HD download go up 1% every 10 minutes.

General News

Koji Igarashi, veteran producer of the Castelvania series, has left Konami after more than 20 years. “I’ve decided to break out on my own to have the freedom to make the kind of games I really want to make – the same kind I think fans of my past games want as well,” Igarashi said. “Leaving Konami was a big decision, and not one I took lightly – I’ve spent my entire career there, made many friends, and had a lot of great opportunities – but I hope all the gamers and fans who have supported me in the past will join me in being excited about what comes next. Wish me luck.” Good luck! [Via, Source]
Don’t worry, the earthquake didn’t affect the PlayStation All-Stars patch, Hohokum, The Order: 1886, Sony Santa Monica’s next game, or their future move. [Twitter]
Headed to the PlayStation 3 in Summer 2014 is Deponia, an “award-winning point & click adventure game trilogy centering on the fictive trash-planet of the same name and anti-hero Rufus.” The controls and user interface will be revamped for the PS3, with Producer Tom Kersten saying, “Still, the whole point and click gameplay and feeling remain the same. But we could benefit from the advantages of a controller-based system, for instance by additionally allowing direct Rufus control.” [Press Release]
Coming to the PlayStation 3 in Spring 2014 is SingOn, a brand-new singing game that will be released for free. Allowing the use of any compatible USB microphone, you’ll be given 10 sample songs for free, then you can buy a Time Pass to access the full catalog of thousands of covers. You can then pair the SingOn companion app with the PS3 to add songs from all the phones and tablets in the room. [Source]
We know nothing’s been mentioned of a potential sequel to South Park: The Stick of Truth yet, but South Park Co-Creator Matt Stone said of the possibility, “We’ll see how it’s received. This was a hellacious undertaking – much more than when we signed up for it. Never say never. I would do it again, in some fashion. I think that video games are really interesting.” Fingers crossed! [Source]
According to Christopher Dring, Editor at MCV, the PS4 saw sales rise 72.4% last week in the UK, thanks to actually being in stock. [Twitter]
Amazon has shed some light on the North American release date for Bound by Flame, saying it will be out on May 8th. We don’t know how accurate that is given May 8th is a Thursday (and not the usual Tuesday), but they do list the PS3 version for $39.99, so it seems this won’t be a full priced title. [Pre-Order It]
Later this week, a Delsin Rowe outfit for Sackboy in LittleBigPlanet PS Vita, LittleBigPlanet 2, and LittleBigPlanet Karting will be made available. No price was given, so you’ll just have to wait until the PlayStation Store updates to see what it is. [Source]
Asphalt 8: Airborne for iOS by Gameloft will be the first ever mobile game to feature Twitch’s live broadcasting functionality! [Source]
If you want to give your ears a taste of what to expect when inFamous: Second Son officially releases this Friday, the soundtrack comes out on March 18th for $9.99. [Via, iTunes]
The Kickstarted Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams has passed 1 million copies sold across all platforms. [Source]
While the MSRP may be $69.99 in Canada, VideoGamePlus is still selling inFamous: Second Son for $59.99. [Twitter]
Jason Heyward of the Atlanta Braves gave all his teammates a PlayStation 4. Why? Because he can. That’s why! [Twitter]

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