Games Delayed, Canceled In Japan Following Quake

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There’s obviously a very real human tragedy going on in Japan right now, but we at TFTS (as technology is our beat) have been trying to bring you some tech-related angles of the Japanese Earthquake to you. Yesterday, we told you about how game publisher Square Enix was shutting down the servers that run their two MMO games (Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV) in order to conserve power in the country. Now, two more upcoming games with “disaster” settings have been delayed while one has been canceled outright.

If you haven’t played the Disaster Report series, they feature the player as an everyman trying to get through an earthquake-ridden, flooded city. The fourth installment of the series, Disaster Report 4, was due out this April in Japan only, but now publisher Irem is announcing that the game has been canceled outright. Obviously, nobody in Japan is probably in the mood to play games about a city hit by earthquakes and flooding – but depending on how much work they’ve already gotten done on the game, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it come back a year from now or something.

Sega is also chosing to delay their upcoming game, Yakuza: Of The End. It was a spin-off of the popular Yakuza crime fighter series in Japan and would of featured the players fighting zombies in a disaster-ridden city. Sega has announced that the game has been delayed indefinately following the quakes.

Another game that has been delayed has been MotorStorm: Apocolypse. This game was set to be the latest entry in the popular racing series for the PlayStation. While previous MotorStorm games have taken place in the mountains and desert – Apocolypse was (is) going to have more of a plot and was going to take place in an earthquake ravished West Coast American city. The game has been delayed in Japan and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe and Sony Computer Entertainment America are said to be considering their options regarding delaying the release in their respective territories.

Only MotorStorm was announced for an American release. The other two had only been announced for Japan, but considering the past games in the series had made it to the US, no reason to believe they wouldn’t have, as well.