News: Japanese Games Delayed and Servers Down After Earthquake

Following the destruction of the 8.9 magnitude earthquake which hit Northern Japan last Friday, March 15, 2011, several gaming publishers have opted to delay the release of some of their upcoming games, and some switched their online gaming servers to save electricity.

Publishers include Square Enix, who temporarily suspended their Final Fantasy XI, Final Fantasy XIV and PlayOnline services for at least a week starting March 13. Based on the official announcement however, subscribers of the PlayOnline service will not be billed throughout the April billing cycle. 

Konami soon followed, temporarily shutting down their Metal Gear Online service, but later resumed services last March 15.

On the other hand, Andria Sang reported that several game titles scheduled for release in Japan pushed back their release dates:

• Disaster Report 4. Scheduled for release in Spring 2011 in Japan, the game was most likely pushed back out of respect to the victims of the calamity, as the game's plot is centered around an earthquake ravaged city. 
• Yakuza: Of the End, slated for a March 17 release was also pushed back, with no reason mentioned. The game is set in a zombie infested Japanese city. Delay is localized only to Japan. 
• MotorStorm Apocalypse was also delayed until further notice, with an original launch date of March 17. The game is set in an earthquake torn San Francisco inspired city. The delay is localized also to Japan.
• Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Jill Valentine and Shuma Gorath DLC was delayed as well, originally for release on March 15.

Several publishers have also done their part by donating to relief operations:

• Tecmo Koei donated 10 Million Yen. (roughly Php 5.3 M)
• Sega Sammy donated 200 Million Yen. (Php 107M)
• Nintendo donated 300 Million Yen. (Php 160M)
• Namco Bandai donated 100 Million Yen (Php 53M)
• Sony donated 300 M Yen (Php 160M) and 30,000 radios.

In other news, we can now also do our part through a simple text messaging donation scheme setup by the Philippine Red Cross. To donate, Smart subscribers must text RED <AMOUNT> to 4143. Denominations of 10, 25, 50, 100, 300, 500, or 1,000 pesos are accepted. For Globe subscribers, text RED <AMOUNT> to 2899. Accepted denominations are 5, 25, 100, 300, 500, or 1,000 pesos.

Just like to share a few trivia about the Sendai Earthquake:

• The magnitude scale of the earthquake was actually raised to 9.0 by the United States Geological Survey. This is 1.5 times stronger than the originally reported 8.9 magnitude.
• It is now the fourth largest earthquake recorded since 1900. 
• It shifted the East Coast of Japan by 13 feet towards North America.
• It shifted the Earth's axis by 6.5 inches, and shortened the day by 1.6 microseconds.
• The total energy released by the earthquake was calculated by the USGS to be 3.9x10^22 joules. It is roughly equivalent to the energy released by 600 Million Hiroshima bombs. 

News and Trivia Sources:

• Andria Sang's Blog
• Game Informer
• Game Spot
• Wikipedia
• Yahoo! News
• Fit To Post Blog
• GMA News