Late Night Consoling
Over the weekend I had a chance to spend some more time with Final Fantasy X-2, and I think I've finally gotten the hang of this combat system. It's definitely a bit weird, and awfully intimidating at first, but it's actually pretty deep once you figure out the mechanics of the thing. Of course, just last night I got slapped with an extra bit of complexity (special dresspheres?) but I'm sure I'll figure that out in time.
| PSX in Europe This Year gamesindustry.biz is reporting that at the CEBIT show in Germany, Sony has confirmed plans to release their PSX uberconsole in Europe before the end of the year. There's no word on a North American release, but seeing as how Europe rarely gets this sort of thing well in advance of the rest of the world (EyeToy aside), one would assume a North American release will happen this year as well. |
| EA Gets Mature, Rewarded by Wall Street Proving once again that the mainstream audience is only offended by M-rated games until they see the numbers behind them, Electronic Arts' recent announcement that they will be getting back into the M-rated business with an upcoming game based on The Godfather has resulted in one firm changing their recommendation for EA's stock from "hold" to "buy." This isn't the only reason of course, and another factor is the strong sales of 007: Everything or Nothing, but I felt it deserved pointing out nonetheless. |
|
| Viewtiful Joe 2 This Year? Rumors hit the web today that Viewtiful Joe 2 is in the works, and will be released for GameCube in Japan before the end of the year. According to the report that's being circulated, the game will apparently let you play as both Joe and his girlfriend Silvia, often simultaneously. The Magic Box has a piece of artwork up they say is from the sequel, and they also report that the PS2 port of the original game will be released in Japan later this year in Japan only, as SCEA has rejected both Viewtiful Joe and Killer 7 for release domestically. |
|
| New Rainbow Six 3 Map Released Ubisoft has released a new map for Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3. Titled "Meat Packing Plant," the map is the third free map released for download over Xbox Live, and is ported from the PC version of the game, although it's said to have been enhanced for Xbox Live (in other words, it uses blast processing!). |
|
| No Tekken 5 at E3 GamerFeed has spoken to a source at Namco regarding the rumors last week that Tekken 5 will be shown at E3 in May. Apparently there's no truth there, as their source says, "As cool as Tekken 5 would be, the rumor is false. There are no plans to show anything at E3 or ship anything in 2004." |
|
| High-Res FFXII Trailer Fan page FFXII.org recently posted a higher-resolution version of the Final Fantasy XII trailer from the Famitsuwave DVD, which we've mirrored at FileShack. Again, this isn't anything new, but it is much higher quality than we've seen so far. Thanks Games Are Fun for the tip. |
|
| Burnout 3 Interview IGN has conducted an interview with Alex "The Yapper" Ward and Matt Webster, the director of design and executive producer respectively at Criterion Software, the studio currently hard at work on Burnout 3. The duo talks about "takedowns," the new opponent AI and of course, the online functionality of the PS2 version of the game. |
| New DS Mockup Technology blog Gizmodo (which has offered a bounty for legitimate pictures of the system), has posted a scan from the current issue of T3 Magazine, which has that magazine's guess as to what the DS will look like. Maybe I'm just a power geek, but that looks just like a Klingon Bird of Prey to me. Yes, I am a geek. |
|
| Limited Edition Xbox in North America? Happy Puppy is reporting that Microsoft is finally going to offer a limited edition Xbox bundle in North America. According to their news item, the system will be Halo green and come with a similarly colored controller, a copy of the original game and a special Halo 2 DVD. Thanks Games Are Fun for the tip. |
|
| Sudeki Interview A new interview with Tuomas Pirinen, the lead designer at Climax on the upcoming Xbox RPG Sudeki is up at Computer and Video Games tonight. The interview is of decent length, and deals with a variety of gameplay topics as well as some more general subjects, like their plans (or lack thereof) for an eventual Japanese release. |
| Misc. Media/Previews | |
|
| GameSpot has a new preview of Pokemon Colosseum, The Magic Box has new shots from The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords + and Planet GameCube has new shots from Pokemon Colosseum. |
|
| Eurogamer.net has a new preview of Transformers and PS2.IGN has a hands-on look at Gungrave O.D. |
|
| New movies from Sudeki are up at GameSpot tonight, Team Xbox has new behind-the-scenes stuff from Conan and new character renders from the currently-unnamed new Oddworld game, and 1UP previews and Team Xbox has new media from Tron 2.0: Killer App. |
|
| CVG has more shots from Headhunter: Redemption (PS2, Xbox), GameInformer has new shots from 100 Bullets and The Red Star (both PS2, Xbox) and both GameSpy and GameInformer have new previews of Red Dead Revolver (PS2, Xbox) and we've got new shots from the PS2 and Xbox versions of the game respectively. |
