Late Night Consoling

After having released the free F.E.A.R. Combat for PC, Vivendi also announced today that Monolith's full F.E.A.R. game will be coming to PlayStation 3. In May, the publisher announced that the well received shooter is also heading to Xbox 360. As with that version of the game, the PS3 port is being developed by Day 1 Studios. Vivendi sent along some screenshots of the PS3 build.

According to today's announcement, the game will ship in November of this year, though the press release stopped short of claiming that the game would launch alongside PlayStation 3 on November 17.

Ubisoft today announced that it has entered a long term licensing agreement with Star Wars video game licensor LucasArts. Though the full details of the deal were not disclosed, Ubisoft did reveal the first game under the agreement. Star Wars: Lethal Alliance is being developed by Ubisoft Casablanca for Nintendo DS and Ubisoft Montreal for PSP. Set between the events of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and the original Star Wars film, players take the roles of both the acrobatic Twi'lek Rianna Saren and the defense-oriented security droid Zeeo. Saren and Zeeo, in the service of the Rebel Alliance, must discover the Death Star and inform the Alliance. Presumably, they will not die to bring them that information.

Chief creative officer Serge Hascoet stated that the games will "take full advantage of the unique capabilities of both the PSP system and the DS," though the announcement did not elaborate on how they would do so. - Screenshots (PSP).

Ubisoft Casablanca and Montreal's Star Wars: Lethal Alliance is set to launch in December 2006 for Nintendo DS and PSP.

Veteran UK developer System 3 has announced that it has acquired the rights to the Epyx brand and game library, which consists of Commodore 64 classics such as Impossible Mission and California games. With its new acquisitions, System 3 will be developing visually revamped (but mechanically unchanged) versions of several Epyx titles, bringing them to Nintendo DS, PSP, and Wii. The currently announced lineup is as follows:

- California Games (NDS, PSP), May 2007
- California Games (Wii), June 2007
- Gottlieb Pinball Classics (Wii), November 2007
- Impossible Mission (NDS, PSP), January 2007
- Impossible Mission (Wii), February 2007
- Last Ninja trilogy compilation (NDS, PSP), April 2007
- Leaderboard (Wii), November 2006
- Super Fruitfall (Wii, NDS, PSP), Q4 2006

Several of the games will be published by Play It!; others do not yet have a publisher announced.

Namco Bandai Games today announced that NanaOn-Sha is developing a sequel to its shopkeeping sim Tamagotchi Connection: Corner Shop (NDS). Unsurprisingly titled Tamagotchi Connection: Corner Shop 2, the game will allow players to run a dozen different types of businesses, including bowling alleys, sushi bars, flower shops, and concert halls. The game will support local wireless for item trading and two-person multiplayer, and will also allow players to exchange screenshots. Amusingly, the DS microphone can be used to sing along at in-game concerts. - Screenshots.

NanaOn-Sha's Tamagotchi Connection: Corner Shop 2 is set to release for Nintendo DS in winter 2006.

Today, Sega released the fact sheet for its recently announced Sega Genesis Collection, and included in the feature list was a full confirmation of all 28 games. They are as follows:

- Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle
- Altered Beast
- Bonanza Bros.
- Columns
- Comix Zone
- Decap Attack starring Chuck D. Head
- Ecco the Dolphin
- Ecco II: The Tides of Time
- Ecco Jr.
- Kid Chameleon
- Flicky
- Gain Ground
- Golden Axe I
- Golden Axe II
- Golden Axe III
- Phantasy Star II
- Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom
- Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millenium
- Ristar
- Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi
- Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master
- Sonic the Hedgehog
- Sonic the Hedgehog 2
- Super Thunder Blade
- Sword of Vermilion
- Vectorman
- Vectorman 2
- Virtua Fighter 2

Sega Genesis Collection is slated to ship for PlayStation 2 and PSP this holiday season.

Sega today announced its lineup for Leipzig's upcoming Games Convention, running from August 23, 2006 to August 27, 2006. The list consists of games spanning nearly every current- and next-gen platform. Oddly, though there was no explanation offered in the press release, it seems that the upcoming Sonic Wild Fire for Wii has received a name change to the rather uninspiring Sonic and the Secret Rings. (Personally, I seem to remember those rings being pretty out in the open in most of the Sonic games I've played.) The complete lineup is as follows:

- The Creative Assembly's Medieval II: Total War (PC)
- Sonic Team's Sonic The Hedgehog (PS3, X360)
- Sonic Team's Sonic and the Secret Rings (Wii)
- Amusement Vision's Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz (Wii)
- Sega AM3's Virtua Tennis 3 (Xbox 360, PS3)
- Sega Driving Studio's Sega Rally (PS3, X360, PC)
- Amusement Vision's Yakuza (PS2)
- Sonic Team and Total Entertainment's Phantasy Star Universe (PS2, X360, PC)
- Pseudo Interactive's Full Auto 2: Battlelines (PS3)
- Backbone's Charlotte's Web (NDS, GBA, PC)
- Backbone's Sonic Rivals (PSP)

According to SCEA's official site, Game Republic's upcoming historical giant crab battle simulator set in ancient Japan, announced simply as Genji 2, has been renamed Genji: Days of the Blade. The game is currently set to launch alongside PlayStation 3 on November 17, 2006.

Shacker -mu- sends word about his website The Rabbit Snare, on which he posts personally translated interviews with gaming industry notables from Japan. So far, he's translated pieces on Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, Katamari Damacy designer Keita Takahashi, Okami director Hideki Kamiya and producer Atsushi Inaba, and Ico and Shadow of the Colossus director Fumito Ueda and producer Kenji Kaida, as well as other assorted tidbits.

IGN has an interview with Red Steel (Wii) artistic director Stephane Bachelet, speaking on the visual style and atmosphere of the upcoming shooter.