Late Night Consoling

That's right, it's your daily dose of PS3 rumor and news. Here we go:

- Echoing recent statements by Namco Bandai president Takeo Takasu that Sony has yet to share PS3 launch strategies with publishers, Koei president Kiyoshi Komatsu stated today at a Dynasty Warriors event in Japan that his company has not heard any plans either. However, Komatsu revealed that Sony will be holding a publisher-only event on March 15, and he expects that "there will be some new information regarding the PS3 then." It is unlikely that Sony will be revealing extremely major information, as the event is off-limits to press, but general release strategies and timeframes may be discussed. If so, don't expect it to be too long before information leaks out.

- Speaking to trade publication MCV, European PlayStation boss David Reeves spoke briefly about the PS3's launch, letting loose a rather intriguing comment. "It is my job to match day and date with the U.S launch," said Reeves. "I am doing my very best to make that happen." His comment seems to imply that Sony is looking to launch PS3 simultaneously in the the U.S. and Europe. Reeves also indicated he's not too worried about the Xbox 360's head start in the next-gen market: "Most of the first million people who buy an Xbox 360 in PAL territories will also buy a PS3," he said. In regards to his first comment, the story made the rounds but was largely treated with skepticism. Later in the day, GamesIndustry.biz spoke with SCEE senior spokesman Nick Sharples, who flatly denied the simultaneous launch speculating, saying that the company was "definitely not" committing to such plan. "Traditionally, it's gone Japan, then the States, then Europe - not just on our console, but on other games consoles and on other consumer electronics," explained Sharples. "So he's making the point that personally, his role is to make sure that we get it into Europe absolutely as soon as we can. It's certainly not meant to imply that there will be [simultaneous] day and date, or anything like that."

Atari announced today that it has received a Nasdaq Staff Deficiency Notice from major stock exchange Nasdaq. The notice states that Atari has six months to keep its flailing stock price at a minimum of $1.00 for 10 consecutive days. If the company can do so, it will receive notice of compliance from Nasdaq, but otherwise the company's common stock will be delisted from the index. This is just the latest financial woe of many for Atari, owned by French publisher Infogrames. Recently, Atari announced that it will be selling its development studios and trimming its workforce by 20% as part of a massive corporate restructuring. - Press release.

Ubisoft today announced that it will be publishing combat flight sim Over G Fighters in North America and Europe. The game is exclusive to the Xbox 360 and developed by, of all companies, Bubble Bobble creators Taito. In Over G Fighters, players use over 30 different jet fighters ("every modern jet fighter in the Western arsenal") to defend world peace from a terrorist organization. The game features an in-game recorder to save particularly noteworthy gameplay moments. Xbox Live is supported as well, with up to eight players in team-based or individual gametypes.

Over G Fighters will ship this June for Xbox 360. - Screenshots. Press release.

A demo of Namco's Ridge Racer 6 (X360) went up on the Xbox Live Marketplace today, but was quickly pulled as various users reported technical problems in getting the demo to run. Soon after, it was replaced and is now once again available for free (working) download. The demo is approximately 600MB.

EA sends over an internal Q&A about the Five Families of The Godfather (PS2, Xbox, X360, PSP, PC).