Late Night Consoling

Microsoft has already lured one MMORPG to their next-gen console, could another be on the way? Blizzard's VP of business operations, Paul Sams, is trying to make it happen. "We've been in contact with Microsoft... World of Warcraft was really built with a focus on PC, and while I think it certainly could get to Xbox, it's not something that at this moment we've decided to do."

Gaming legend Shigeru Miyamoto recently did an interview with Wired and he dropped a few details on both the Nintendo Revolution and the elusive Mario 128. He delivered the bad news first saying that Mario 128 is probably a Revolution title. "It's still floating around. We're searching for that fundamental idea that's going to drive the next 3-D Mario game, but we're not sure when that's going to jump out at us. We're doing lots of tests with small groups." As for the Revolution, he has a lot of faith behind the big secret that should make the console stand out. "Nintendo is always trying to be on the forefront of control innovations, like the analog stick, rumble or wireless. As soon as these are available, our competitors snatch them up. Because the user interface is going to drive the Revolution software design, that's what's going to make our software stand out. Nobody else is going to be able to do what we do with next-generation game software. So, I can't reveal anything. It's under wraps because it's the big gun."

It's happened! Spanish hackers have cracked the default firmware that shipped with American PSPs, version 1.5, which opens the floodgates to homebrew applications such as emulators, web browsers, and any kind of imaginable application. The only problem is that the US has seen two firmware upgrades since its US release and those have yet to be cracked.

Every good gamer out there should be familiar with The Super Mario Bros. Super Show and the animated The Legend of Zelda series. Well, both of these series will have full DVD releases this October that are the complete collections. Mario comes in four volumes and Zelda in three. Nintendo cartoons rocked hardcore, man; I'd giggle in glee whenever one came on and would dance with Captain Lou Albano as he'd chant "Do the Mario!"

GameSpot has a collection of reactions from Japanese developers and what they think of the next-gen consoles. EuroGamer has a dev interview regarding Daxter.