Sony Australia has confirmed it’s to delay further shipments of Motorstorm Apocalypse in the country in the wake of last week’s Japanese earthquake.
The Evolution off-roader was due to release today in Japan and tomorrow in the UK, but was delayed in both countries following last week’s events.
The game has made its way onto Australian shelves, but Sony’s said it will stop shipments now.
“Further to the recent events in Christchurch, New Zealand, we are shocked and saddened to see the impact of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and our thoughts are with all those affected,” said the company in a statement, per GamePron.
“We are very conscious of the underlying theme in MotorStorm and are doing everything we can to be as sensitive as possible to the situation. A number of steps have already taken immediate effect including the delay in distribution of the product in New Zealand.
“In Australia, the game is already in distribution, however we are ceasing any further shipments and have pulled the total marketing launch campaign in consideration of both of these recent tragic events.”
Dynasty Warriors 7 leads Japanese quake sales figures
Despite the earthquake and tsunami last week, Media Create has released data for the week ending March 13.
Dynasty Warriors 7 finished out on top in the software ranks with 253,900 units, followed by Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy for PSP and Professor Layton & The Miracle Mask.
In terms of hardware, 3DS was the big winner for the third week in a row following its late February launch in the country, selling just under 100,000 units. PSP and PlayStation 3 came in at second and third.
A more detailed listing of the charts will come later.
Square Enix delays FFXI, FFXIV updates
Having yanked servers for its online games offline to conserve power in Japan following severe problems at the Fukushima nuclear power station, Square Enix has now delayed updates for Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV. The XI update, which was scheduled for mid-April, has now been set up for a provisional May date.
The next two patches for FFXIV have now been put down for an April release.
Producer Naoki Yoshida has put together an open letter you can read here.
Games industry continues charitable efforts
The games industry has continued its charity and relief efforts for Japan following donations earlier this week by Sony, Nintendo, Capcom, Namco Bandai and more.
Square Enix has made a ¥100 million donation, and has also started a worldwide employee fund that will use the Japanese Red Cross.
Those who have Square Enix Accounts can use their Crysta points to make donations. More details will come shortly.
GoNintendo’s also kicked off an animation project for Japan. More here.
And Combat Arms company Nexon has also kicked off its own donation campaign.