Late Night Consoling

Hollywood blockbuster producer Jerry Bruckheimer might be in charge of the big screen treatment of Jordan Mechner's character the Prince of Persia. He briefly mentioned the property to film site ComingSoon.net: "Then we have a thing called 'Prince of Persia,' which is a big video game, that we're considering doing." Presumably, such a film would be based on Ubisoft's Sands of Time trilogy. Mechner himself still owns the rights to his creation, so let's hope he makes sure it stays in the right hands.

At the very end of an interview with Investor's Business Daily, Microsoft's Steve "Developers" Ballmer commented very enthusiastically on the prospects of the Xbox 360 versus Sony's upcoming PS3. Ballmer called the launch "phenominal, absolutely phenominal," and when asked about the Japanese launch, said that while Microsoft expected it that to be a difficult market, "I'd still call the launch phenominal." Ballmer expects Microsoft to overtake its main competitor. "I'm not sure we're going to beat Sony in Japan this generation. Maybe. But we're going to beat Sony [worldwide]. We're off to a very good start." He downplayed the PS3, noting that it still has no firm worldwide release date, price point, nor real gameplay footage. Ballmer also pointed out the high cost implied by the included Blu-ray drive. Finally, he noted that "Sony has no strategy for an online service."

Dragon Quest head Yuji Horii spoke at a London event commemorating the European launch of Dragon Quest VIII (PS2), the first game in the series to make it to Europe. Apparently, on press briefing sheets, the question "Are they (sic) any plans to release this title on different platforms or game consoles?" was answered with a rather surprising "TBD." Horii went on to discuss, of all things, the Revolution controller. It is not clear whether this was in response to a specific question or part of his presentation. When speaking on his motivations for working in games, he said, "I loved the fact that it was interactive, that you do something and you get feedback. ... I like the idea of interactivity with the hardware, so there, where you mention the Nintendo controller, it's a new interface, and it's exciting to have that reaction. You do something, and it reacts to you. It's human nature that to have some feedback from your actions it (sic) rewarding." Might the project lead and producer be making designs to branch out his series to Nintendo's upcoming machine?

Despite Dragon Quest's absolutely insane popularity in Japan--with games from the franchise not being released on school/work days because of the high number of absenses and convenient calls-in-sick--it has never achieved anywhere near the same weight in the West. However, Horii remains hopeful that its popularity in Europe might rise. "We just did the best we could. From meeting you guys and other [Europeans], I know now that fans of Dragon Quest in the west are huge otaku, that they're big fans, so I want to give them more chance to play the game."

Some bits of information regarding the "Virtual Console" part of Nintendo's upcoming Revolution surfaced in the last few days. IGN has some mock-ups of a possible Revolution online service interface from a recent marketing survey. Though the rather crude screenshots "are preliminary in nature," they give at least some kind of indication of how the service might work. Potential pricing schemes were also mentioned. There may be a $14.99/month subscription service allowing access to any available game, as well as individual NES games for $2.99 and N64 games for $19.99. Again, it should be pointed out that all information in the article is preliminary and should not be taken as some kind of uncovered news. In that vein, despite the screenshots showing the games listed by console, a Nintendo patent describes a variety of ways users could sort the games, such as by franchise.

Perhaps most intriguing bit of information was a list of (again, tentative) possible "launch" titles for the service. IGN points out that Sin & Punishment, in the N64 list, was never previously released in the US. Of course, all the company's major franchises such as Mario, Zelda, Metroid, and so on are present. Me? I just hope Tetris 2 stays on the list. The vs. mode in that game is just awesome.

Additionally, Revolution Report pointed out today an update to Nintendo's patent for their Virtual Console technology. Being merely an update, most of the information was already revealed by Revolution Report when the found the patent the first time. One of the changes was that, rather than simply specifying Nintendo's legacy consoles, the patent now includes consoles of "other manufacturers." This fits in with comments by Sega that Nintendo consoles are now the "spiritual home" of Sonic the Hedgehog, which came with implications that classic Sonic games may appear on Revolution. The patent also notes that the system would be capable not only of emulating home consoles but also "a hand-held portable game system," which might include Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, or (less likely) DS software.

Nintendo responded to rumors that the DS will be receiving a retooling some time soon. Unfortunately, the manufacturer refused to actually confirm or deny the claim. From IGN:

"Clearly, Nintendo DS continues to be one of the most popular and talked-about video game systems available. Through 2005, some 13 million units have sold worldwide. Nintendo is always looking for ways to improve its games and systems, but we have nothing to announce at this time."

Japanese publication Famitsu reports that Taito will be bringing its classic Bust-a-Move/Puzzle Bobble franchise to PSP under the name Ultra Puzzle Bobble Pocket. That game is set to launch in Japan on March 23. There was no indication of whether or not the game would make it to Western shores.

Infinium Labs, theoretically home of The Phantom Game Service, has announced via a press release today that Greg Koler will be replacing former Infinium CEO and Xbox co-founder Kevin Bachus. Koler will serve as CEO and President, and well as interim CFO Officer (chief financial officer officer?). Infinium claims that The Phantom Game Service will be brought to market this year.

1UP, which seems to be Uwe Boll's main point of contact with the gaming press, has contacted the director regarding a recent interview suggesting Boll might be in consideration for directing the upcoming Metal Gear Solid film. Boll confirmed to 1UP that he was indeed sent the script, though he did not disclose any of its plot points or characters.

Revolution Report has a chat with ATI's John Swinimer regarding the graphics card company's work on Nintendo's upcoming console.

GameSpot has a developer interview on Criterion's Black (PS2, Xbox) and Designer Diary #2 for EA's The Godfather (PS2, Xbox, X360, PSP, PC).