By now you've surely heard all about the 9.0 earthquake that occurred off the coast of Japan last week, knocking the Earth 6.5 inches off its axis and triggering a tsunami that claimed the lives of thousands. With a number of Japan's nuclear power plants in official "state of emergency" status and the country in complete disarray following the horrific event, it should come as no surprise that several upcoming games are now being delayed.
There's really no elegant way to do this, so I'm just going to list the delays for you straight out:
* Sony Computer Entertainment Japan pushed the March 17 launch of "MotorStorm: Apocalypse" into a TBA state. There's no word on whether this will affect the April 12 North American release, though the PlayStation Blog still lists it for that date.
* Sega cited "various circumstances" in pushing back the release of "Yakuza: Of the End," which was also slated for a March 17 release, into TBA status.
* Capcom will delay the release of the upcoming "Marvel Vs. Capcom 3" DLC that adds Jill Valentine and Shuma-gorath to the game as playable characters. There's no word on whether or not the U.S. and Europe releases will be affected.
* Irem flat-out cancelled "Disaster Report 4," which features an earthquake that destroys a city among its playable scenarios. The game was nearly ready for release, but given the subject matter this is a sensible move on Irem's part.
We're surely seeing only the beginning of the lasting impact that this natural disaster will have. A number of Japanese publishers and developers have stepped up with donations, including Nintendo, Sega, Tecmo Koei, Namco Bandai and Sony. Thanks to CVG for assembling the list of delays.