Every week we do a quick wrap-up of some news items that may have slipped through the cracks. The wrap-ups will be shorter versions of our articles, lumped together to give you an idea of things you may have missed.

The Dead Rise Again – Canadian Developer Working on Sequel

While it was rumoured ages ago that a sequel to Dead Rising was in the works by the studio that has brought out titles such as The BIGS and MLB 2K8, it has now been confirmed by Capcom that all of the above is true. Dead Rising 2 is being developed by Blue Castle Games in Burnaby, BC and will continue the mayhem of mowing down waves of the undead in fun-filled locales, in this case the fictional town of Fortune City (a.k.a. NOT Las Vegas). It seems as if the protagonist is not that of Frank West, photojournalist, but what little information has been shown so far in the form of a viral teaser and several screenshots reveals that it continues the story from where the first game left off.

Dead Rising was a big reason why I ended up having a Xbox 360 and is a game that I still enjoy playing with friends from time to time, even thought it is a single player title. This sequel is among my most anticipated games right now just being mentioned, and all the speculation as to what new gameplay elements Capcom will introduce is already starting to run rampant. Complaints from the last game usually centered around time restrictions, having an open world with limited time and save capacity and being single player only. As I mentioned, there are not a lot of details at this time but we’ll be keeping a close eye on the game going forward and getting ready to take down the horde once more.

Crytek Purchases Free Radical – Hopes to Move to Consoles

It was disheartening to hear that Free Radical had been basically blown apart late last month. After a failed launch of the PS3 exclusive Haze, the makers of the popular Timesplitters franchise (and previous designers for Goldeneye) were showing off concepts and cool ideas they had, maybe hoping to gather some interest in what they could do. Turns out Crytek, purveyors of FarCry and Crysis were listening and snatched them up, along with the 40 remaining staff members. Crytek’s technology combined with the direction and creativity of Free Radical, now Crytek UK, could bring about some serious shooter action in the future.

There is a larger plan, of course, with Crytek trying to make a push into consoles after having some war of words with the PC gaming crowd, they hope their acquisition will make that transition smoother and quicker than previously planned, and considering the console focus of their new studio it is very likely we’ll see results quickly.

UK Tattletale Act on Canada has No Legal Grounds

Last year, the government of the United Kingdom issued an appeal to the World Trade Organization criticising Canada’s taxation laws when it comes to game development. They argued that the tax breaks the various provincial governments were allowing unfairly drew developers away from the UK. Tiga, a group that represents the businesses of game software development has now offered an update and harsh condemnation of the government, saying their appeal is baseless and that they should be more interested in adopting similar tax laws for the benefit of the country. With England suffering very hard times right now, Tiga’s CEO Richard Wilson has argued that offering better breaks would encourage more jobs and put more money into economic growth at a fraction of the price of the bank bailouts that are currently being pushed through parliament.

This isn’t the first we’ve heard of Tiga’s taxation crusade. Late last year, they called out the government’s pre-budget strategies, saying that game developers in the UK were being held back by the tax laws. It is a hard battle for some groups, especially considering the recent developers with the Byron report and the genuine interest shown in assessing games effect on violence and other negative societal factors. It is especially difficult to sell free money to groups that tend to get reasonably bad press. Tiga demonstrating an interest in the appeal by the UK government (through the European Union) may be marred in self interest, it is good to see some outside perspective taking shots at the claims against countries that are supporting game development. With the economy taking a turn and many Canadian studios seeing job cuts and closures, having a tax cut-off issued due to an investigation by the WTO may be a nail in the coffin for a lot of studios.