Late Night Consoling

Konami told gamers to keep their eyes and ears open on January 27 as it had a surprise to share. Well, the proverbial cat is out of the bag. Konami is developing a new Castlevania game for the PS2 called Castlevania: Curse of Darkness. Players control Hector, a Devil Forgemaster who trained under Dracula, who is out for revenge against the other Devil Forgemaster, his old chum Isaac. Hector is out for revenge as Isaac is trying to frame Hector's wife for murder. The game is described as an action-RPG by producer Koji Igarashi, who wanted to make "a better 3D action game." The Belmont family will be included in some aspect of the game.

Namco will announce tomorrow that it plans to publish Arc the Lad Generation for a U.S. audience in May. For our market, it will undergo a name change to Arc the Lad: End of Darkness. The biggest feature going for this game is the ability to take the action online, allowing up to 4v4 versus matches or 4-player co-op.

Take-Two Interactive makes headlines again! This morning, they signed an exclusivity deal with the MLBPA and then later it was revealed they exercised an option in their publishing agreement with Sega to fully purchase Visual Concepts and its subsidariary, Kush Games. The deal also grants Take-Two rights to all its properties, which is basically all the 2K series of sports games. Supposedly, the sum of the purchase was $24 million. The low price could be a reflection of the company's loss of its flagship series, NFL 2K, and the ESPN naming rights.

UK retailer Argos updated their online shopping site with a rather interesting listing: a new slimline PS2 in a sleek silver color. It was priced at 99 pounds, the same price as the standard black PS2. No other information is currently available, as Argos quickly removed the listing, and it's not sure if the console will make it to the states.

In a recent interview, SCE president Ken Kutaragi disclosed that over 4,800 Japanese gamers have sent in their PSPs for repair due to issues with the square button. The complaint is that the button is not sensitive enough, requiring it be pressed stronger than the others. Kutaragi admitted that it wasn't an issue with the PSP as it was part of the design. Because of its close proximity to the screen, the sensor under the button is a bit misaligned. Kutaragi stated, "This is the design that we came up with. There may be people that complain about its usability, but that's something which users and game software developers will have to adapt to. I didn't want the PSP's LCD screen to become any smaller than this, nor did I want its machine body to become any larger."

The rumors have been slamming the web recently. Over the weekend, a supposed source close to Nintendo divulged a few details about the company's upcoming console, Revolution. The highlights were integrated broadband, gyroscopes in the controllers, dual processors and a hard drive, use of the HD-DVD format, connectivity with the next-gen Game Boy, and Mario will available at launch. As for Sony's PlayStation 3, the Cell processor will reportedly run at a whopping 4.6GHz. Other tech bits about the Cell can be found here.

That's the word coming from French gaming site Jeuxpo. Namco will release the latest entry in the series for the PS2, Xbox, GameCube, and an unannounced platform. (launch title for Xbox 2?) No other details were available, but it's definitely something to keep an eye on for E3.

GameSpot talks with the EA producer of Batman Begins. GameBiz chats with the lead designer of FIFA Street. IGN finds an online version of the American PSP device manual and runs it down here.