Late Night Consoling

This week, Nikkei reported that Square Enix claimed to be developing a sequel to its multiplatform MMO Final Fantasy XI (PS2, X360, PC). Today, the publisher issued a cut and dried denial of any such comments, saying "[Square Enix] did not make such an announcement and has not made any decisions resembling those detailed in the media report." The statement went to confirm that the company is indeed working on a "an online title for next-generation platforms including game consoles and PCs," as it has previously revealed. However, it is "a completely new MMORPG" rather than necessarily being related to Final Fantasy XI or the Final Fantasy franchise.

Earlier this year, Final Fantasy XI producer Hiromichi Tanaka indicated that a new Square Enix MMO is in development for PS3 and Windows Vista. This is likely the game to which the Nikkei report referred. At the time, Tanaka refused to comment on whether the game is related to Final Fantasy.

Earlier this week, Club Skill reported that Capcom's upcoming zombie beat-em-up Dead Rising (X360) has been banned in Germany for its extremely gory contents. Germany's software ratings organization, the Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle, is notorious for harshness in game ratings, with publishers frequently modifying game content in order to fall in line with requirements.

In reality, Dead Rising has not been banned by the German government. Rather, the USK has denied the game a classification, according to the official web site. What this means is that while the game may still be sold within the country, it cannot be openly advertised, and must be purchased directly from one adult to another. Despite this, Capcom still plans to release the game in Germany on its September 8 release date. Dead Rising is set to ship August 8 in North America.

Publisher Buena Vista Games today revealed the lists of music and music videos that will be appearing in Q Entertainment's upcoming PSP puzzle sequel Lumines II. This time around, the music still contains some electronic tracks, but otherwise has a heavy Western pop focus, in contrast to the first game's predominantly Japanese pop and electronic soundtrack.

The following tracks will be appearing, accompanied by music videos: Beck, Black Tambourine; Black Eyed Peas, Pump It; Chemical Brothers, Star Guitar; Fatboy Slim, Gangster Trippin'; The Go! Team, Bottle Rocket; Gwen Stefani, Hollaback Girl; Hoobastank, Born to Lead; Junior Senior, Take My Time; Missy Elliott, Lose Control; New Order (TBA). The remaining two songs will be present without videos: Junkie XL, Breezer; Stigmato Inc, Reality Check.

Lumines II is set to ship this November.

According to Xbox Live's Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb, a demo version of Rockstar Games presents Table Tennis (X360) will be heading to Xbox Live "very very soon." This information reportedly comes from Rockstar, so it is likely the demo is finished and waiting for the sometimes oddly drawn out approval process from Microsoft. The demo will include single-player and local multiplayer modes, though it will not be playable online.

THQ today announced that it has opened a new internal development studio in Carlsbad, California. Incinerator Games is focused on next generation console development, and its first announced projects are the Xbox 360 and Wii versions of Rainbow Studios' Pixar adaptation Cars, recently released for PS2, Xbox, GameCube, Nintendo DS, PSP, Game Boy Advance, and PC. THQ had previously announced its next generation versions of Cars--in fact, the game was one of the first confirmed Wii titles--but had not revealed any details.