Action game Bayonetta 2, the sequel to...Bayonetta 1, is headed to the Wii U. It's an exclusive! And Nintendo is publishing the game. This has made some "fans" pissed as hell. Others are happy. But what do the game's developers have to say?

Platinum Games, the studio behind Bayonetta, released statements from staff as well as the studio's honcho, Tatsuya Minami. He provides some explanation as to why Nintendo is publishing the game and does briefly mention the role of Sega, who published the first Bayonetta. Here's Minami:

As game developers, we are incredibly excited to be able to announce a new title to all of our fans; however, we are aware that the announcement may have come as a shock to many of you.

As with Bayonetta, Bayonetta 2 is under development and production here at Platinum Games, and is a true sequel to the acclaimed first game in the series. Bayonetta is one of our most beloved titles, and it played a large part in establishing Platinum Games as an emerging game studio in the minds of users worldwide. Bayonetta has fans the world over, and we would never dream of alienating them from participating in the future of Platinum Games.

That being said, the console games market is in a state of upheaval, so establishing a new game franchise requires a considerable amount of will, determination, and love. Bayonetta is a brand that we want to see become stronger, reaching the hands of more and more gamers, so we have continued to consult with Sega, the previous game's publisher, on how we can make sure this takes place. Our answer was a new partnership with Nintendo.

Along with their new hardware, Nintendo, as a company, is dedicated to establishing a new future for the games industry, as you can tell by their record of passionate support for gaming. Alongside Nintendo, we hope to grow the Bayonetta brand beyond where it stands today, allowing even more gamers around the world to experience the action of our beloved witch. As developers, we are working hard to make this a reality.

The game's director (and creature designer) Yusuke Hashimoto as well as the first game's director and sequel supervisor Hideki Kamiya both shed light on the game's core motif. First up, Hashimoto:

It has been three years since Bayonetta, a title I was also a part of... I'm incredibly happy to be able to announce that we are working on a sequel. Alongside Bayonetta's creator, Hideki Kamiya, I'm working on everything from creating a compelling world to character designs (I will be designing the enemies again), and everyone on our talented team is united around the core of Bayonetta, Climax Action, in an effort push the series forward. For empowering our heroine with incredible new action to introducing new characters (which you may have noticed in the teaser trailer), Bayonetta will further expand on the mythology of the Trinity of Realities—Inferno, Paradiso, and our human world. I can't wait to take the journey with you.

And Kamiya:

After Bayonetta was released, I was coming back on the bullet train with Yusuke Hashimoto, pondering various ideas for sequels or spin-offs to Bayonetta over a beer. I never thought we'd actually get to announce a sequel to her story, so I am absolutely over the moon.

Even though there has been a bit of a gap since the release of the last game, but I still got lots of request for a sequel from gamers. We were secretly making one the entire time. While I am not the director of this game, I am still supervising the world, story, characters, etc. in close coordination with Hashimoto, and I have been from the very beginning. You have nothing to work about on that end. And of course, plenty of members from the first Bayonetta are on-board and working hard under the direction of Hashimoto, so I look forward to work every day, coming in and seeing all the progress they have made on the game. With new hardware, we look forward to expanding on the Climax Action of Bayonetta, so sit tight and get ready!

It's interesting that Nintendo was able to take over the publishing rights for Bayonetta from Sega. I guess Nintendo does what Sega don't?

Platinum Games [Official Site]

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Once you open up a Wii U box, you'll find a bunch of stuff inside. Namely, all of this, as Nintendo seeks to crush the practice of unboxing by doing it for us, months before the product is even released.

What I love about these images is the small print down the bottom. As though Nintendo's online features, which actually look kind of cool, are some kind of disclaimer!

I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank Nintendo for including a HDMI cable with each console. That's something certain other companies who ship HD consoles with composite cables could learn a thing or two from.

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The Wii U is being released on November 18 in the US, and on December 8 in Japan. PAL fans, though, can expect to get their hands on the console right in between those two dates.

November 30 is when the Wii U will hit shelves across Britain, continental Europe and Australia. Prices will of course vary between regions, especially since most countries involved set their own depending on suppliers and taxes.

For the record, though, it's expected the Wii U bundles will cost around £230/£270 in the UK, while in Australia they'll sell for AUD$350/AUD$430.

Naval combat strategy and simulation game Pacific Strike was supposed to be out on iPad already. It's not, though, because Apple has two problems with it.

Problem #1 is that there's a bug. OK. Understandable. But problem #2? The game had Japanese flags in it.

According to Apple's App Store guidelines, this is bad because:

"Enemies" within the context of a game cannot solely target a specific race, culture, a real government or corporation, or any other real entity.

Putting aside the almost farcical application of applying this rule to a game about the Second World War, there are countless games already on the App Store making enemies of just about everyone.

You'd think, after all these years of people complaining about the arbitrary and sometimes nonsensical policing of the App Store that Apple would do something about it. Guess not!

App Store rejects WWII game over Japanese flags [Pocket Tactics]

When the cosplay team at Propped Up Creations do Mass Effect, they do not screw around. Rather than take the easy route and dress up as humans, in this gallery you'll see a Turian (Garrus), a Krogan (Wrex) and a very Joan Collins-esque Salarian (Mordin).

And no, they're not walking into a bar.

Dragoncon 2012: Mass Effect [Facebook]

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Galan Pang works as an artist at CCP's Shanghai studio, where he's done some amazing stuff for upcoming shooter Dust 514.

The gallery below contains images both from that game and his personal works, in which killer giant mechs feature prominently.

You can see more of Galan's work at his personal site and his CGHub page.

To see the larger pics in all their glory (or so you can save them as wallpaper), right-click on them below and select "open in new tab".

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For such a beloved manga and animated film, poor Akira hasn't had the best of luck when it comes to video games. Amidst the wreckage of the awful NES and Amiga adaptations of the movie, though, there always lingered the promise that a cancelled Akira project - one destined for the SNES, Genesis and Mega CD - could have been OK.

We'll never know, of course, the game is long gone. But John Szczepaniak over on HG101 has been chasing around like a madman trying to learn more about the ill-fated games anyway, and has hit paydirt with an exhaustive interview with Jim Gregory, one of the developers on the SNES version of the game.

If you like Akira, or the history of the SNES, it's a must-read.

Jim Gregory interview - AKIRA - SNES [HG101]

This bizarre little piece of animation was originally intended to serve as the intro to a German documentary about video games. The idea was to take existing characters from the history of games and "reinterpret" them, to match the series' brief to present the everyday lives of MMO addicts.

I can kind of see that, in how weirdly everyone is acting, but still. That end. Bananas.

Video Games [Musclebeaver, via it 8-bit]

Valve artist Realm Lovejoy tweeted this video earlier in the week, saying "Look at what I helped unbox today at work". Which is a lot calmer than how I would've said it.

"Oh my GOD look at this just LOOK AT THIS" is all I'd be able to manage, before ducking behind a couch for cover. Just in case.

Realm Lovejoy [Twitter, via Venus Patrol]

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The wonderful Zac Gorman gets more detailed about the plot for the Metal Gear games than I could ever manage.

He's pretty much spot-on, right?

The plot to the Metal Gear Solid series as described by someone who has never played it [Magical Game Time]

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