Late Night Consoling

Gee, I wonder why? If you missed it, an image was leaked that showed the Xbox 360 design in all its glory; you can find the pictures here. According to Internet rumors, Microsoft now believes the leak came from the MTV production staff. Supposedly, an actual console wasn't going to be showed, just the render that is being passed around. In any case, a couple other images hit the net: this one showing what appears to be a 64MB memory card inserted into the system and this side shot of the console with a 40GB hard drive attached.

Okay, grain of salt time. IGN's rumor column has a few intriguing tidbits. First, the biggie. Halo 2.5 will be available launch day and it will come pre-loaded on the hard drive. It will feature high-res textures, widescreen res, 720p, and cut-scenes that don't feature LOD pop-in. I would assume it'd also have all the new maps. If true, smart move; the $399 console with the hard drive has a pack-in game and everyone now has a reason to buy the hard drive separately. The other rumor is that the system will have 40 titles available the first month. 15-20 at launch, and ten more each two weeks. Some names being tossed around are Perfect Dark Zero, Test Drive, the new Need for Speed, PGR3, Burnout 4, and a Namco racing title. Can't ever have enough racers, apparently.

Namco responds with an enthusiastic, We Love Katamari! The oddly-named sequel to Katamari Damacy was officially announced today by Namco, saying that the series will "deliver a new level of originality and style that will have gamers shouting, 'We Love Katamari!'" A co-op mode is being instituted along with a much more robust battle mode. It's set for release later this year.

SCEA revealed a new football title that will apparently compete with Midway's Blitz: The League. Titled Road to Sunday, the non-licensed football game will also be a fighting game (wut?). Yes, you read correctly; there will be a focus on off-the-field issues as the game features a fully-involved plot. You see, the owner of the Los Angeles Show owed a bunch of money to a Jamaican crime lord. When he dies, the problem is passed onto his son. His son, an apple fallen not far from the tree, figures out that the only way to pay off the debt is to enter his players into an underground fighting organization. Kick the crap out of players from opposing teams and maybe they won't play in the next game! This has winner written all over it.

America's greatest American is back with a new game for the PS2, Xbox, and PC. It's called Bad Day L.A. and it features a "comedic storyline that plays off the fear culture." It's a satire of Los Angeles and disaster movies, placing you in control of a bum who's up against zombies, terrorists, and natural disasters. Check out a Q&A with McGee here at GameSpot. Fun Fact: McGee left the U.S. to join Enlight Software in Hong Kong to do this game.

At an International Symposium on low-power and high-speed chips, Toshiba showcased the Cell processor in action. The demo had 48 MPEG-2 streams running at the same time, decoded into 1080i, displaying each different video in its own square on a 8x6 grid. This was to show off a moving thumbnail feature. Hopefully we'll see it playing games at E3.

Just to remind you guys, four new maps for Halo 2 multiplayer are now available on Xbox Live. Two are free and the other two cost $5.99. The rest of the maps arrive on June 28 for $11.99.

THQ released a patch that fixed the broken online component of their recently released WrestleMania XXI. Despite not being able to connect, it still downloads the patch and it even improves loading times. However, the patch will delete all of your created wrestlers. Now we just wait for the patch that makes the game fun.