On Friday March 11, 2011 a staggering 9.0 magnitude earthquake rocked the country of Japan. The quake produced a massive tsunami that literally decimated everything in its path. Entire cities were engulfed in a wall of water within minutes. What does this disaster have to do with gaming news? Well, Japan is home to some very big companies (ex: Square Enix) who are responsible for producing some very popular games (ex: Final Fantasy). Many of these companies have announced downtime and/or delays for current and upcoming games. Read on to see exactly what games are being affected by this.

 

First up is Sony. Sony is apparently delaying the release of MotorStorm: Apocalypse in Japan (originally set to launch in Japan on March 17). Apocalypse is set in a massive city (presumably San Francisco) that is being destroyed by earthquakes.

 

Next up is Konami, who have announced via Facebook that they are shutting down MGS Online until further notice to help conserve energy in Japan. Konami also mentioned that gamers can keep track of when the game will be back at their official website.

 

Continuing the trend is Square Enix, who have taken their MMORPG games Final Fantasy XIV and Final Fantasy XI offline for at least a week according to the company. Square Enix apologized for the disruption in service and said that subscribers to the services disrupted would not be billed for the month of April.

 

Last but not least is Sega, who have reportedly delayed the launch of Yakuza: Of the End, originally scheduled to launch in Japan this week.

 

Other game studios from the area who have announced downtime, delays, and/or cancellations include Irem (scheduled to launch Disaster Report 4 this spring on PS3, in which you must escape a city that has been wrecked by an earthquake) and Capcom (scheduled to launch new DLC for Marvel vs. Capcom 3 in Japan this week that would include Jill Valentine from the Resident Evil series, now delayed).

 

It’s pretty obvious why certain companies have delayed their games (especially MotorStorm: Apocalypse and Disaster Report 4 which feature earthquakes as most of their stories), because not many people in Japan would want to play anything like that right now.

 

UPDATE 3/16/11: A fellow writer has informed me that there are several other delayed games (posted below). Source (In Japanese) He has also informed me that a few video game companies are donating large sums of money to help Japan, those numbers mentioned below as well. (Thanks, Daavpuke!)

 

Other delays:

Steel Diver 3DS
Dragon Age: Origins
Haruhi Suzumiya's Majhong PSP
Toaru Kagaku no Railgun PSP
Major League Baseball 2K11
Top Spin 4
POwerful Golf DS
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood DLC

 

Donations by video game companies:

 

Sony Group is giving 300 million yen and 30,000 radios.

Namco Bandai is giving 100 million yen.

Nintendo is giving 300 million yen.

Sega Sammy is giving 200 million yen.

Other donators include Tecmo Koei, Yon-sama, and 5pb. Source (In English)

 

Lastly, I think I speak for everyone here at NoobFeed when I say that our thoughts and prayers are with everyone in Japan.

Of course if you would like to donate $10 to help support Red Cross relief efforts in Japan, you can text REDCROSS to 90999 to give $10. More information is available at Red Cross and Google.

 

Andrew Kalies, NoobFeed