Media Molecule to pursue new IP

Developers Media Molecule, famous for the LittleBigPlanet series on Sony's PS3, has announced that it is moving away from its breakout hit, and will instead be focusing on developing new titles for the time being, CVG reports.

The UK-based developers was acquired by Sony last year, and Siobhan Reddy from Media Molecule posted on Twitter earlier today that, “We're stepping away from Little Big Planet to focus on some new ideas.”

While LBP fans may lament at the news, it's good to learn that the developers will be putting their talents to new use. There's nothing worse than seeing a developer stagnate by pumping out sequel after sequel of a particular game.

Nintendo Wii U to cater to FPS market

Nintendo is arguably the most famous gaming brand in the world, bringing us hundreds of great titles and some awesome consoles over the years. While the company has had widespread success, they've never really entered the FPS market as seriously as others.

That may be set to change with the Wii U though, Nintendo's recently announced console sporting a wireless tablet-like controller. According to CVG, Nintendo's Katsuya Eguchi recently spoke to Edge magazine, expressing his hopes for FPS games on the new system.

“A very key part of the new controller is the screen,” he said. “You saw the video at E3 of the Zapper with the controller perched on top of it.”

“When we were testing that, and playing around with it, we realised that in terms of an FPS, it had changed the way we were interacting with it and how much closer it felt. That was one of the moments that made us very happy and excited.”

The Wii U definitely has the potential of supporting great FPS gameplay, featuring built-in gyroscopes that could allow for augmented reality (AR) gaming away from the TV similar to what we saw with the 3DS handheld. Gamers can (theoretically) simply attach the Wii U tablet controller to the zapper gun and run around the house 'pwning noobs' wherever they please.

New Halo novel named and dated

According to Joystiq, the sequel to the Halo novel Ghosts of Onyx will be entitled Halo: Glasslands and will be available for eager reader consumption on the 25th of October.

The book is being penned by Star Wars and Gears of War novelist Karen Traviss, and is the first in a new trilogy of Halo novels that will, “explore the Halo Universe in the wake of the final events of Halo 3.”

In addition to providing a different yet still related entertainment experience for Halo fans, the novels will help fill the gaps before 343 Industries releases Halo 4 sometime next year.

Minecraft 1.7 introduces industrial revolution

The latest update to indie gaming hit Minecraft has just gone online, with patch 1.7 adding a ton of new possibilities to the game by introducing pistons. With pistons players will be able to create intricate machines and contraptions, deadly traps and automatically triggered staircases to name but a few.

The 1.7 patch was initially scheduled to be the long-awaited 'Adventure Mode' update, but according to developer Notch’s blog this has been postponed to patch 1.8. He also said that 1.8 is still a “significant time away”, but the wait is sure to be worth it as it'll introduce completely new adventure and combat focused modes to the game. Also scheduled to be included in 1.8 is at least one new mob, new combat mechanics, more interesting farming and even NPC villages.

For now though Minecraft addicts will have to make do with 1.7. In addition to pistons the patch includes a new item, shears, which can be used to shear sheep and pick up leaf blocks. TNT now also needs fire or redstone nearby to be triggered, and sheep won't drop wool from simply being punched in the face anymore.

Check out this video below demonstrating some of the update's piston craziness.