While nowhere near a financial success, Tim Schafer’s Psychonauts gained a cult following for its unique presentation and gleeful, sometimes black, humor. So strong is the game’s cult street cred, that fans have been clamoring for a sequel ever since the original’s 2005 release date. If Schafer has his way, such a sequel would already be in production. In an interview with PSM3 (via CVG), the Double Fine founder speaks on his interest in doing Psychonauts 2.
Originally conceived as a joint-publishing between Electronic Arts and LucasArts, EA revealed that a recent deal between the two companies has made the company the MMO’s sole global publisher and marketer. As LucasArts still retains the rights to the property, it will remain on board as a key collaborator on the game’s design and publishing. The shift has not affected the game’s 2011 launch date.
The ex-Capcom, now Zenimax employed auteur designer Shinji Mikami has been shedding some light on his career in interviews with Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu (via 1Up), with one of the more interesting tidbits coming to light only recently. In speaking on his entry into the game industry as a college graduate, Mikami reveals that Capcom wasn’t the first company to approach him with a career possibility.
While Microsoft has always stated that the specifications for their Kinect motion sensor camera allowed them to be manufactured on the cheap, the exact profit made on each unit has remained a mystery up until recently. UBM TechInsights reports that the per-unit cost for the Kinect sensor hovers around a mere $56, netting Microsoft a clean $94 profit with each unit sold. The “heart” of the system, the PrimeSense reference system (consisting of the cameras, microphone, and processor) by itself only costs $17, leaving the rest of the cost for cosmetic and related hardware like casing and wiring.