Nintendo and Red Bull are teaming as much as throw an extremely large winged Pikmin from a really high flight deck. There’s still time to peer it, and plenty of other flight machines, attempt to survive the plummet.[Except]

The Red Bull Flugtag Ottawa-Gatineau is occurring this Saturday, July 27. There, you’re going to get to peer the large flying Pikmin and homemade flying machines burst off the top of a 22-foot high deck. 

The Flugtag, that’s German for “airshow,” have been running since 1992. The contest is open to anyone and the machines must comply with the foundations set forth by Red Bull, which vary in keeping with location. 

Judging occurs in three categories: showmanship, distance, and creativity. We’re interested to determine if the Pikmin will actually fly (or just nosedive to its doom). To date, Pikmin 3 is sailing high on strong sales in Japan. American audiences may have of venture to maintain the title aloft on August 4.

Our Take
This is one in every of Nintendo’s most clever bits of selling in quite ages, and it has the possible to interact an audience that will not know Pikmin or the Wii U. Provided there’s enough fanfare and signage (and Nintendo Canada reps accessible within the crowd to reply the inevitable “What’s that speculated to be?” questions), this is able to be a tremendous win for Nintendo.

More connections with audiences outside the core are precisely the sort of thing which could help Nintendo reconnect with an audience that knows and loves Mario and friends but doesn’t necessarily know what they have been up lately.  

At San Diego Comic-Con, we had an opportunity to sample the most recent Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 build. We also had a possibility to talk with David Cox, producer at the game, and Robert Carlysle, the voice of Dracula. Today, we’ve learned on thing more.

In a talk with Destructoid, Cox indicated that Lords of Shadow 2 could be the final Castlevania from MercurySteam. The studio was on board for 2 console games and the 3DS Castlevania: Lords of Shadow: Mirror of Fate.

“So we’ve told Japan headquarters that it truly is the last one for us… there’s nothing worse than when somebody’s got something to mention, and when they’ve said it, they simply keep talking,” Cox said. If the previews are any indication, MercurySteam might be leaving the franchise on a high note. We’ll know for certain later this year.

[Source: Destructoid]

Our Take
I thoroughly enjoyed Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, and that i thought the ending and narrative elements of the DLC (if not the gameplay) were quite interesting. We’ve been fighting Dracula for therefore long, that obtaining a higher understanding of him can only enrich the remainder of the franchise (both past and future). Should Lords of Shadow 2 live as much as our expectations, MercurySteam will prove itself some of the few developers that knows when to forestall talking.

It takes lots of work to design a personality, especially a personality with as much history as Castlevania’s Dracula. Actor Robert Carlyle helped put his stamp at the iconic villain, or even altered his design for Konami’s Lords of Shadow series.

During a sit interview with actor Robert Carlyle and producer Dave Cox, both spoke of the evolution of the design of Dracula during the series.

“i did not get to work out any character designs or art for the sport before the performance,” said Carlyle, “i feel that Dave and the team brought me on board to essentially give something of myself to the project instead of just, ‘okay, say the lines this form, and check out to get them within 2.4 seconds.’ It was never like that. It was quite an organic process. They were really open to interpretation, and that they gave me various leeway to offer this performance loads of gravitas and emotional weight that we thought it needed.”

Left, Robert Carlyle, A.K.A. Dracula, middle, Ben Reeves, and right, Dave Cox, Lords of Shadow 2 producer.

“The nature actually changed much once Robert was on board,” said Cox. “There’s actually somewhat of Robert within the character. Once we originally designed Gabriel, he was way more of a large muscly, Conan-type character. When Robert came on board we realized that we wanted to make him a section more of an everyman and a more realistic character. Once Robert did his performance then we began to tweak him much more. In point of fact, we’re still tweaking the nature usually each day to take a look at and get him to slot the performance that Robert has done.”

“But as you’ll find, physically we glance almost a similar.” added Carlyle.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 comes out this winter, try out our recent preview of the sport here.

Earlier this month, we reported that Activision Blizzard parent Vivendi was set to make a move that might pay down its debt from the decision of Duty publisher’s coffers. The action would help pay down a small portion of significant debt.

As we mentioned in May, Activision has typically used a risk-averse investment profile. The publisher has largely stayed faraway from mobile, choosing instead to back a smaller collection of properties with growth potential.

This generation saw the upward thrust of Call of Duty because the biggest franchise in gaming, and the past three years had been enormous for the more youthful market (and their parents) with Toys for Bob’s Skylanders series. Licensed titles, including Transformers: War for Cybertron and Deadpool, fit the profile by using high fan interest.

Because of the more cautious approach, Activision has fared better within the recent industry disruption than many others, including its biggest rival, Electronic Arts. Activision most recently reported over $4 billion in cash, but a few of this is held outside the rustic. Were it to come contained in the Usa, the funds will be subject to taxes.

Activision doesn’t have the funds locally that Vivendi’s special dividend will require (approximately $3 billion, $2 billion of which might visit the parent firm). This may require new debt, a situation that Activision CEO Bobby Kotick have been working to circumvent. 

The Wall Street Journal report also mentions that Kotick was looking to use his company’s cash to purchase Vivendi out, though this have been disputed by other sources mentioned within the piece. 

We’ve reached out to Activision for comment.

[Source: Wall Street Journal]

Our Take
This probably goes without saying, however the situation isn’t good for Activision. A dividend would drain the corporate of a major amount of stockpiled cash meant to weather a tough 2013 fiscal year. 

Console transition years are hard, or even with Call of Duty: Ghosts coming, cross-generational development means added expenditure (even though solely developing for next-generation isn’t anticipated to extend costs).

If anyone can get over a sudden cash drain like this, it’s Bobby Kotick. He’s proven that during tough times, it’s possible to function a business without shedding a major variety of employees.

I expect that because of this we do not have a scheduled date for Activision’s second quarter earnings call. These presentations provide forward-looking guidance for investors. If Vivendi makes its move, it’d likely necessitate a drastic shift in planning and execution moving ahead.

In June, Saints Row IV was denied classification in Australia, even under that country’s new R18+ rating. The reasoning became clear shortly after, and Deep Silver and Volition vowed to wash the offending parts from the title with a view to release in that market.

Today, the Australian Classification Board has announced that it’ll be reviewing the revised application on July 29. Pictures from PAX Australia, which was held this past weekend, indicate that the title to be released in that country is different than what we’ll be seeing here inside the U.s.a..

[Source: Australian Classification Board via Joystiq]

Our Take
Saints Row has always been excessive , but it’s began to dial up the insanity because the last installment. The weapon that caused the Australian group to refuse classification have been interpreted widely, with some taking offense to the implication of sexual assault. Whether this was toned down for North America is unknown, because the weapon in question hasn’t been depicted in promotional materials.