Late Night Consoling

Citing Microsoft's 30% growth in China this year, Microsoft Greater China chief executive Tim Chen said in an interview that the company hopes to launch Xbox 360 in China next year. The country's software market, traditionally a legendary hotbed of piracy, has been growing at a 40% annual rate and is now worth $20 billion. Microsoft has been trying to claim a bigger piece of that pie with its Windows operating system, but the national government supports Linux.

Last month, Microsoft announced that Xbox 360 will be built in three factories in southern China.

Real Time Worlds, the studio recently founded by David Jones, has announced some specifics regarding its upcoming Xbox 360 title, Crackdown. The game is the second of two known to be in the works at the studio, the other being the urban MMO All Points Bulletin (X360, PC). While APB seems to be something of a massively multiplayer Grand Theft Auto, Crackdown is more of an online futuristic Grand Theft Auto. The game features three rival gangs: Cai-Shen Corp from Asia, known for hitmen and vengeance; The Volk from Russia, masters of unlocking firearms; and La Muerta from Spain, hot rod pros. The player, as some kind of superhuman vigilante, must take down these organizations and bring peace to the city. All signs seem to indicate that this is achieved not through clever subterfuge and corporate espionage, but more likely by way of driving around in vehicles and blowing things up. Jones was one of the founders of Scottish developer DMA Design, where he helped to create the venerable Lemmings and Grand Theft Auto franchises. DMA Design, of course, is now known as Rockstar North.

Also, chalk up another RPG franchise heading to Xbox 360. SoftMax, developer of Magna Carta: Tears of Blood (PS2), and Banpresto, best known for its game adaptations of anime franchises, have announced their intention to release the as-yet-unsubtitled Magna Carta 2 for Xbox 360 in 2007. Korean developer SoftMax's Magna Carta was released on PC and PS2 in Korea and Japan, and is set for release by Atlus in North America and Europe this November. Microsoft has been attracting a surprisingly strong contingent of non-Western developers for its upcoming Xbox 360 console, a start contrast to its largely Western lineup for this generation's Xbox. In particular, there have been many announcements for Xbox 360 RPGs.

Finally, developer iNiS also has a game in the works for Microsoft's system. Known primarily for its rhythm games, iNiS is responsible for the excellent Gitaroo-Man (PS2) and Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! (DS), but apparently the studio's Xbox 360 title will be a platformer, which comes as a bit of a surprise. The game will use iNiS' brand new in-house NFactor 2 engine, which features some advanced lighting techniques. It's a bit odd to hear that a developer such as iNiS is working on a platformer, but knowing that studio it probably won't end up run-of-the-mill.

The most recent issue of the ever-announcement-laden Famitsu has revealed two new "Mana" titles (Seiken Densetsu in Japan) in the works. The first, entitled Children of Mana, is an action RPG coming to Nintendo DS. No details regarding the game are available, but Square Enix plans to ship it this Winter in Japan. The other game, currently only known as Seiken Densetsu 4, has even less information available: its platform hasn't even been announced yet, though PlayStation 2 at least seems like a good guess.

It was not revealed if these titles are directly related to Square Enix's mysterious World of Mana project, other than belonging to the same franchise. Some have speculated that these two newly-announced games simply are World of Mana.

The DS will be getting another strategy title in the form of what is currently known only as Ys Strategy. No details are available regarding this entry in the 18 year old Ys series, including a release date whether the game is real-time or turn-based.

The Ys series will also be hitting PSP when that system's port of Ys: The Ark of Napishtim (PS2) is released this winter.

SCE's survival horror franchise Siren (PS2) is being adapted to film in Japan by director Yukihiko Tsutsumi. The movie has apparently finished principle filming, and is set for release next February along with the game's sequel, Siren 2 (PS2). It seems unlikely the film will be released in Western territories, but given recent trends don't be too surprised if an American director (such as Sam Raimi or Quentin Tarantino) decides to produce a stateside remake a year from now.

IGN's Matt Casamassina interviews Tancred Dyke-Wells, creative director on Kuju's rather fun Battalion Wars (GCN). In regards to a possible Revolution sequel, Dyke-Wells notes that Kuju is "continuing to have positive discussions with Nintendo", and "we're very aware of how important multiplayer is for possible future versions of Battalion Wars."

As one might expect given it is a daily week-long feature, 1UP has the newest installment of Team NINJA Week, in which Tomonobu Itagaki he reveals how much he friggin hates Tekken (and loves Pikmin! This guy's okay in my book).

IGN has a video interview on Clover Studio's incomprehensibly gorgeous Okami (PS2).

Edge Online has a feature up chronicling the developer relations strategy Sony pursued with its original PlayStation, which helped put the machine on top.