Late Night Consoling

What do you mean I already used that joke? It's comedy gold. Anyway, in addition to Bullying Online and Jack "Ol' Faithful" Thompson pre-emptively slamming Rockstar for their upcoming title Bully, the Washington D.C.-based Peaceaholics has now physically held a protest outside of Rockstar's New York offices. The group, which has a history of Rockstar criticism, is calling for Bully's demise.

Despite a decade of PlayStation-centric releases, developer/publisher Square Enix is guardedly suggesting that they might pursue a multi-console strategy come next generation. "There won't be a single dominant machine," noted Square Enix president Yoichi Wada. What with Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles on GameCube (and, soon, DS) and Final Fantasy XI on Xbox 360, it doesn't seem too out of the question to expect the company to expand their horizons. Wada did note, however, that specific franchises such as the main Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest lines aren't necessarily planned for multiple consoles yet.

Midway's fiscal second quarter results were below expectations, netting a $29.9M loss on $36.9M in revenue. This is a striking change from last year's second-quarter loss of $11.2M. The results are attributed to poorer-than-predicted performance of Unreal Championship 2 (Xbox) and Area 51 (PS2, Xbox, PC). Midway hopes to reduce its loss to $19M in the next quarter.

In other Midway news, the publisher has secured Australian development studio Ratbag. The acquisition was completed largely with 418,570 Midway shares, a value of approximately $5.7M, along with another 38,050 shares distributed to certain Ratbag employees. The studio will take on the name Midway Studios - Australia. Like many large publishers, Midway is pursuing a strategy of amassing third-party studios, re-branding them, and focusing on in-house development.

Ratbag titles have been almost entirely car-centric, with franchises such as Powerslide, Dirt Track Racing, World of Outlaws, and The Dukes of Hazard: Return of the General Lee. Midway CEO David Zucker (no relation) stated, "Ratbag brings to Midway a rare combination of development expertise in driving and on-foot combat that they are incorporating into our games now in development." Midway has not stated which titles the developer is currently working on.

Apparently, the ESRB has assigned ratings to Rare's upcoming Xbox 360 titles Perfect Dark Zero and Kameo: Elements of Power. The former received an M, and the latter a T. The ESRB's website reveals Kameo's T rating, while searches for Perfect Dark Zero return no results at time of writing. However, the original Perfect Dark on N64 was rated M, so such a rating for the Xbox 360 version would be no surprise. What is notable about the ratings are that they imply that Microsoft has submitted versions of the games to the ratings board for review. Might Perfect Dark Zero end up as a launch title for 360 after all?

Over at the old FileShack you can grab the Gears of War (X360) E3 trailer in high-def format. Hooray for trailers, and for the internet!

Tiger Telematics' Gizmondo portable console, which has already been available in the UK, is hitting snags in its US release plans. The machine was originally slated for an August 11 launch date in the States but nonexistent marketing as well as low press support has caused confusion as to when the thing's actually arriving. Well, apparently it's October now. "There will be a launch event, but at present it's not been decided where or when," according to a Giz representative. Hmm.

Peter Jackson speaks to GameSpot about Michel Ancel's King Kong, based on Jackson's upcoming film.

Idle Thumbs chats with GameSpot's Greg Kasavin.

Times Online sits down with Pac-Man creator Toru Iwatani.