Interestingly, the studio closure comes in light of a recent Bloomberg report that reveals that Meta is also making larger cuts throughout its Reality Labs division. These lay-offs are set to affect more than 1,000 employees at the company. Reality Labs is the main division for Meta’s various VR efforts, including the Quest headsets and the company’s game development studios.

It is worth noting that Meta had initially acquired Armature Studios and Twisted Pixel, along with Camouflaj, all the way back in 2022. The company had acquired Sanzaru Games back in 2020. While Armature Studios hadn’t released a game since 2019’s Quest port of Resident Evil 4, Twisted Pixel had released the Quest 3 and Quest 3S-exclusive Marvel’s Deadpool VR just last year.

It’s currently unknown what these studio closures mean for Meta’s Reality Labs division, be it the fate of future Quest headsets or exclusive titles. In a statement, the company noted that this was part of a move to focus more of its investments on wearable technology.

“We said last month that we were shifting some of our investment from Metaverse toward Wearables. This is part of that effort, and we plan to reinvest the savings to support the growth of wearables this year,” said a spokesperson for Meta.

Armature Studios had done quite a bit of prolific work with various major companies before it started focusing its efforts on VR games. It was known for its partnership with Sony Interactive Entertainment, having worked on ports for Sony’s platforms. These include the PlayStation Vita ports for Metal Gear Solid HD Collection and Injustice: Gods Among Us, and multiplatform ports for Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate. The studio has also previously worked with Microsoft on the 2016 adventure game ReCore for PC and Xbox One.

Sanzaru Games, on the other hand, is known for many projects over the years. Before VR, the studio had worked on titles like the PS3 remastered release The Sly Collection and PS Vita ports for games like God of War Collection and The Sly Collection. It had even worked on spin-off titles like Secret Agent Clank on PS2, and even the fourth game in the Sly Cooper franchise, Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, back in 2013.

The studio first began a relationship with Meta when it worked on titles like Ripcoil, VR Sports Challenge and Tron RUN/r back in 2016. The studio would catch Meta’s attention in a major way thanks to its VR-based action RPG Asgard’s Wrath, which was released on the Oculus Rift in 2019. A couple of years after its acquisition, the studio would release Asgard’s Wrath 2, which is considered by many to be one of the most ambitious VR titles released on Meta’s Quest headsets.

Twisted Pixel wasn’t as prolific with releases before its extensive VR work. However, the studio was well-known for its action platforming game ‘Splosion Man, as well as unique titles like LocoCycle and The Gunstringer. Its final release before being shut down was Marvel’s Deadpool VR.

And then, Sonic Boom happened.

Oh, Sonic Boom. The 2014 Wii U exclusive Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric was arguably an even worse outing and showing for Sega’s spiky blue mascot than the 2006 Sonic the Hedgehog had been. Riddled with bugs, glitches, poor voice acting, and atrocious level design, not to mention an entirely misguided combat system, Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric ended up resetting the franchise, and any goodwill that it may have been garnering, back by at least half a decade.

In all the discussion of the overwhelmingly negative reception that Rise of Lyric got, it is sometimes easy to forget that a Nintendo 3DS Sonic Boom game, Shattered Crystal, also released alongside it. Shattered Crystal was… also not good. While it wasn’t as terrible as Rise of Lyric was, it was still a very bad game, fraught with terrible animations, a slow pace (unforgivable for a Sonic game), and extremely linear and simple mechanics. That said, there was at least a shadow of a good game hidden somewhere in Shattered Crystal. Apparently, that was enough for Sega, because for the next Sonic Boom game, they chose to follow up on the 3DS outing, not the Wii U one, focusing instead on addressing all the flaws of the 3DS game, while also working on improving what it already did well.

The result? A game that is, surprisingly enough, actually reasonably fun to play.

"The more you play Fire and Ice, actually, the more apparent it becomes that the game actually manages to strike a fairly good balance of providing the player to rush ever onwards though the levels, while also providing them with enough incentives to explore and find secret paths and hidden collectibles."

Right off the bat, you’ll notice that the excruciatingly slow as molasses speed of Shattered Crystal is gone in Fire and Ice. You can actually go fast again, which you’d think would be a given for a Sonic game, but I mean, that just tells you how low the bar set by the previous two Sonic Boom games really was. Just a few minutes with the game are also enough to show you that the game has addressed the complaint of monotonous, linear, and repetitive level design that was often leveled at Shattered Crystal.

The more you play Fire and Ice, actually, the more apparent it becomes that the game actually manages to strike a fairly good balance of providing the player to rush ever onwards though the levels, while also providing them with enough incentives to explore and find secret paths and hidden collectibles in the vein of the old school Sonic games. The levels generally constantly keep you on your toes, though, with new threats prompting you to respond at a second’s notice, and with the game having made the wise decision of making Sonic as small on screen as he is fast, the better to give players a field of view so that they’re not unfairly caught unawares by environmental hazards.

More complexity is added – theoretically – by the eponymous fire and ice mechanic. The mechanic, quite simply, lets you freeze water into ice, or melt ice into water, with you being able to switch modes on the fly while playing. I say theoretically because while you would assume that this leads to more nuance and depth to the level design, with perhaps more opportunities provided for hidden secrets, cordoned off areas, or just the ability to build up or maintain speed, none of that actually happens, and the mechanic seems to just be used for some simplistic puzzles, rather than put to some real meaningful use with the game’s level design. It’s a shame, because I can see it being genuinely clever should the designers decide to go all out with it.

"Even for a 3DS game, Sonic Boom: Fire and Ice looks pretty bad."

Another mechanic that should add some nuance to the game, but doesn’t, is Sonic’s friends. While, again, you can switch between different characters on the fly, there just isn’t much reason to- Sonic himself seems to work well enough, and if you find some other character that you like more, you are rarely given any actual incentive to switch away to some other character- the odd puzzle notwithstanding. This is, again, a mechanic that could have used some more fleshing out.

It is also a shame that, for as well as Fire and Ice plays and is designed – and it plays and is designed reasonably well – it looks highly generic and painfully mediocre, like some low budget slapdash shovelware game put together in a hurry at the last minute to capitalize on a brand’s fleeting popularity. Even for a 3DS game, Sonic Boom: Fire and Ice looks pretty bad, with levels especially suffering from generic visual palettes, and with characters themselves looking really out of place (and poorly animated, just like in Shattered Crystal).

But if you can look past that, you end up with a Sonic game that’s pretty fun- and especially if you’re a younger fan, one that you should be able to enjoy, or one that should serve as an excellent gateway to the franchise. Sonic Boom: Fire and Ice is not ever going to rank in the top echelon of Sonic games, and is definitely not good enough to make up for how bad the two previous Sonic Boom games were- but judged on its own merits, it’s fun enough that series fans won’t necessarily regret giving it a go.

This game was reviewed on Nintendo 3DS.

With Sonic Boom not making the press much lately, that doesn’t mean that it hasn’t been an anticipated title and on Sonic fan’s minds. For those of you who are unaware Sonic Boom is is being published by Sega and developed by Big Red Button and Sanzaru Games for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS.

Sega recently announced a new character that will be making her way into the game and that characters name is Sticks. Now according to Sega, Sticks will be an integral part of Sonic Boom, and her back-story according to Sega is that Sticks has spent most of her life in the wilderness in isolation. However in Sonic Boom she will join the ensemble cast of the Sonic Boom franchise.

Hiroyuki Miyazaki, Chief Content Officer for the Sonic Brand, SEGA of America states that “Sticks is a significant addition to the Sonic Boom universe and the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise,She brings a quirky personality and perspective to the team dynamic, and we look forward to sharing this energetic and funny new character with the world.”

We’ll just have wait and see if Sticks really makes us Sonic fans beam with excitement.

The game is one of few titles to be running on Cry Engine 3 on Wii U and is currently set to be published by Sega. Sonic Boom is slated to release during the Fall of 2014 and will bring a close to the Sonic exclusivity agreement with Nintendo, making this the third game to be released under the deal.

• 1. Development
• 2. Gameplay
• 3. Characters

Development

On May 17th of 2013, Sega and Nintendo entered into an exclusive partnership regarding Sonic the Hedgehog. The Nintendo exclusivity deal would ensure that the next three Sonic titles to be developed and published by Sega would be exclusive for Nintendo systems, starting with Sonic: Lost World and Mario, Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games and finally Sonic Boom. Stephen Frost, Sega of America Producer said that the decision to choose Big Red Button was rooted in the studios development history, specifically that of their leader Bob Rafei who has previously worked on games like Jak and Daxter.

Sonic Boom marks a turning point in the Sonic franchise as it will be a spin off series from the mainline Sonic The Hedgehog franchise that Sega relies so heavily upon. The title is set to launch alongside a TV series tied to the game wherein Sonic Boom (the game) will fulfill the role of prequel content. In a statement that some considered controversial, the game has been designed to appeal to a “Western audience” in both visual design and appeal. Takashi Iizuka (a veteran sonic game designer) revealed that they wanted to make sure they had Western game developers on board and make it a part of television that appeals to the west.

It was later elaborated upon by Sega of Americas Marketing Director Marchello Churchill that although the newly designed franchise was geared towards a Western Audience, it would not “replace modern Sonic” with assurance that the game is very different, both in tone and art direction. This Western slant on the game has angered Japanese fan base who have been told that the game will not be released in their country and that the game will remain a separate entity from the main series, drawing ire from the Sonic community.

With the game set to feature a new gameplay mechanic named “Enerbeam”, the game is set to focused on combat and exploration. This new twist on the Sonic universe sees both Big Red Button and  Sanzaru games working alongside Sonic Team to ensure a more solid experience across both platforms, with both versions of the games being different, both in landscape, environments and enemies encountered.

Gameplay

With the developers having stated that the game is not just about speed, Sonic Boom is set to have a strong action adventure focus  with the gameplay being more centered around exploring the game world and engaging in combat in stark contrast to the adrenaline styled fast moving games that have come before it. Players will still have access to the main line established cast of characters (Knuckles the Echidna, Sonic the Hedgehog, Amy Rose and Miles Tails Powers) and they will all retain their established strengths and signature abilities such as Knuckles awesome strength that lets him burrow into the ground, fight and climb or Sonics signature Homing Attack.

A new gameplay feature is the EnerBeam (a particularly unimpressive name: EnerBeam – Energy Beam) which is a whip like energy beam which will allow them to attach to moving rails, remove enemies shields and aid them in solving puzzles in the environment. As the game progresses, the player will switch between the 4 characters and make use of their abilities to overcome the game’s obstacles. Sonic Boom will also support local multiplayer for two players, while online multiplayer will be able to support four player games.

According to Stephen Frost, the level design of the Wii U versions of the game and 3DS versions of the game will be different from one another.

Characters

Below is a list of the currently known characters set to appear in Sonic Boom:

Sonic the Hedgehog – The Blue Blur that made Sega famous returns as the main character in this spin of franchise. Bringing his signature homing attacks and speed to the game, he should make for an interesting combatant in the games more combat focused portions. This being coupled with the new EnerBeam may well influence the games exploration mechanics as well.

Amy Rose – Amy the Archaeologist brings her knowledge of ancient areas to the team, alongside her highly skilled acrobatic abilities she can fall from great heights and land safely where others could not. Alongside her acrobatic skills she has the Piko Piko Hammer, a large pink and yellow mallet which she can use to swing at foes.

Knuckles the Echidna – Knuckles has long been known for his ferocious strength and punching power, as such he returns in Sonic Boom as the Tank, or Bruiser of the team. He wields a pair of silver knuckle dusters and wears sports tape similar to that of Muay Thai boxers.

Miles Tails Powers – Miles is the brains of the team, make no mistake. His ability to create gadgets and use them to aid Sonic has never been underestimated. His twin tails that allow him some flight abilities will prove useful when combined with the EnerBeam for exploration.

Enemies

Burn Bot – The Burn Bot is one of the creations spawned from the mind of the series antagonist. Contrary to what it’s name would suggest, the Burn  Bot makes use of large claw like appendages to do battle, and not fire.

Doctor Eggman (Dr. Robotnik) – Doctor Eggman returns as the villain who will oppose Sonic and his team in Sonic Boom, this time taking on a much more militaristic appearance in stark contrast to his previously fat bodied, thin legged appearance.

Note: This wiki will be updated once we have more information about the game.

After releasing on the PS3 in 2009, the God of War Collection is now available for the PlayStation Vita at both retail and in digital format. It currently retails for $29.99 in the US and will be released on May 8th in the UK.

The God of War Collection includes God of War and God of War 2. These aren’t your standard ports though – the initial HD remakes were created by Bluepoint Games (who created the excellent Titanfall Xbox 360 port recently) for the PS3 but the PS Vita version has been handled by Sanzaru Games which developed Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time and The Sly Collection.

Both games will be in 720p for the PS Vita though and be available at retail on a memory stick. Considering the glowing reviews the PS3 port received, it’ll be interesting to see how the Vita version is received. Stay tuned for more information on the same in the coming days.

Sly Cooper, the stealth platformer video game series will be getting its very own film adaptation. It is currently set at a tentative release date for Summer of 2016. The last Sly Cooper game was released in 2013 exclusively on PS3 to generally good reviews from aggregate game ranking sites.

The film will feature it’s own unique plot not-yet covered in the game series: Sly Cooper will discover that thievery is actually his birthright, as many of his ancestors were some of the world’s most well known thieves. In fact they were so renowned that the thieves and spies of the Cooper clan combined their knowledge and spoils into an ancient book of secrets.

Sly Cooper and his buddies, Bentley Turtle and Murray Hippo must find the various missing pages of this ancient book and reassemble it to learn its secrets before the evil Clockwerk can get his hands on it.

All in all it sounds like Sly Cooper will be a fun family film with a similar attitude to that seen in the games of the series.

Developed by Sanzaru Games for the PS3, The Sly Collection is essentially a remastered release of all three Sly Cooper games – Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus, Sly 2: Band of Thieves and Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves – which released on the PlayStation 2.

All three games were created by Sucker Punch Productions, who are in charge of the inFamous series these days. Sanzaru updated the graphics to HD resolutionf or running on the PS3. They also worked on Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time for the PS3 and PS Vita, so that extra experience should come in handy when translating The Sly Collection to the handheld.

Hopefully, this will bolster the Vita’s poor performance as leaked NPD results indicate that the handheld sold only 33,000 units in the US in March.

The game is available on the PS3 and PS Vita, and the experience is largely similar, but this review was done on the PS3 version. It’s a stealth platformer and stays true to the previous Sly games. The main concept of the game is to find Sly’s ancestors and as the title suggests, travel in time to do that.

My main issue with the game is that it does not innovate much to be called as a mainline game, however, it sticks to the core principles that the past games were created on. You can play as Sly’s ancestors in the each time line you find them, and all of them will be unique and have great abilities.

Sly’s friends Murray and Bentley are useful in certain situations. Murray is bulky and can power his way through enemies, while Bentley is the nerdy guy in a wheelchair who can zip past enemies and hack things. Overall, it’s what you expect from a game like this. It’s charming, fun to play, and offers you choices.

Playing as Bentley also gives you access to mini-games and depending on how much you like the six axis functionality of the DualShock 3 controller, your enjoyment of them will be decided. Personally, those additions, I feel, only tend to annoy gamers because six axis isn’t something lot of developers use nowadays considering how outdated that tech is. It can be termed as a gimmick, and there are hardly examples of it implemented interestingly in games, however, Heavenly Sword did do justice to it.

The game is accessible and rarely will you get stuck in the missions. You will easily know where to go and what to do, and platforming and hopping around roof tops is a joy. The thing that makes it enjoyable is the beautiful Cell Shaded visuals employed. The game looks much better on the PS3 than on the Vita, although, I really didn’t play the Vita version all that much.

Sneaking around enemies and pickpocketing them as Sly is very easy as well, and if you can manage to steal coins thrice you will actually be rewarded with something cool. The animations all blend in nicely to give you a great thievin’ experience that you have come to expect from this series.

You journey takes you on a lot of locations from Japan to the Wild West, and each area contains a hub where you can explore and do missions. It’s pretty straightforward, and the story isn’t confusing at all. These time related things usually tend to mess up my mind *cough*

The Vita version is available for free and the game is part of Sony’s cross buy initiative which is a good thing, but I recommend this to be played on the PS3 because it doesn’t give the same experience on Sony’s handheld, however, you can use the device as an addon for finding treasures and the likes in the PS3 version.

So why would you want to play this game? Simple. If the series is something that you have enjoyed in the PS2 days, then you should definitely take a look at it because Sly 4 stays true to the original forumla and adds some of its own, but that’s also where the game falters because it really doesn’t add much to the formula.

This game was reviewed on the PS3.

Being one of the few games to not be designed by Sucker Punch but instead by Sanzaru Games who handled remake duties for the Sly Cooper HD Collection, Thieves in Time sees the Gang travel through different eras in history to retrieve different pages of the Thievius Raccoonus.

You’ll be able to play as Murray, Bentley, Carmelita, Sly himself and even enlist the power of his ancestors through different ages. The game may not be as critically acclaimed as other titles in the series but it still retains the series irreverent humour and style.

Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time is published by Sony Computer Entertainment and is due to release for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita on March 29th and March 28th, respectively.

The game came out in the US first and is scheduled to be released in the EU today, and we have a complete guide for you showing where the unlockables and collectibles are.

It’s quite a good game based on all the reviews that have come out for it and the Vita version of the game plays similarly to the PS3 version.

The locations of all the treasures and other things are same between both versions because they are basically the same game.

Sly Cooper, together with his loyal friends Bentley and Murray, has just completed his latest heist when he is overcome by alleged amnesia and goes off with his female pal Carmelita, leaving Bentley as the keeper of the treasured Thievius Raccoonus, the Cooper family’s ancient book of master thievery.

First off, let’s take a look at all the treasure locations:

All Treasure Locations

If you collect all 12 in a given world, and you’ll repair that stage’s arcade machine in the hideout, unlocking a minigame. Videos courtesy of YouTube user Sakura Nakatani.

Sly Mask Locations Guide

Sakura Nakatani has made a lot of videos on Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time and here’s what he/she had to say about Sly Mask locations in the game.

There are 60 mask total. This will give you the location of each one. Before the playthrough, I collected a few on my very first run. Not realizing I was gonna do a guide for it later. I’ll still indicate where the mask is…or was.

Here’s a quick jump for the chapters:

• Museum Hiest: 00:00
• Turning Japanese 00:56
• Go West Young Raccoon 07:36
• Clan of the Cave Raccoon 13:21
• Of Mice & Mechs 19:19 40
• Thieves 26:14 Return To Paris 33:13

Clue Bottle & Safe Location Guide

This location guide is courtesy of YouTube user Sakura Nakatani.

EPISODE 2

EPISODE 3

EPISODE 4

EPISODE 5

This guide will be updated once we have more information on the game.