Late Night Consoling

Another set of prominent members of the Japanese games industry has sounded off on the next-gen consoles. Square Enix's president, Youichi Wada, said Microsoft was "one step ahead" in the online games business and publishers need to adapt to this new revolution. Konami's president pledged support for original games on each console (and PC) whereas Namco's VP claimed that only one console will reign supreme in Japan and all publishers will migrate to it. Read the full quotes by clicking the link.

Typically, I don't prefer to report on predictions from analysts but Merrill Lynch does their research and here's their latest findings on the PlayStation 3. They expect the console to cost Sony $494 per unit, forcing them to price it at $399. The Cell, RSX GPU, and the Blu-Ray drive each cost about $101 each. Ken Kutaragi hasn't confirmed a price, but he said a mark down from production costs would not be steep.

If you were looking forward to playing the console version of Far Cry on your PS2, I have some bad news for you: it has been cancelled. Far Cry Instincts is now exclusive to the Xbox. Ubisoft hasn't stated officially why the decision was made to go Xbox-only. Xbox gamers, you can still expect this one in September.

The driving MMORPG All Points Bulletin, from the mind of the creator of the Grand Theft Auto series, will also release on the Xbox 360. Previously a PC-only title, rumors surfaced that it'd have a console port when APB's developer, Real Time Worlds, revealed that they had partnered with Microsoft. However, expect to wait quite a while for this one; it's shipping in 2008, a year after the PC release.

The RPG series infamous for its German sub-titles appears to not be dead after all. Due to not-so-great sales, everyone thought that the episodic Xeno series ended with Xenosaga 2, but a voice actor on the series revealed on his personal site that he's been doing voice work on the third title. No official word from Namco yet.

Nintendo's two-faced portable has surpassed one million units sold in the European territory. The handheld launched over there on March 11 and sold 500,000 units in the first three weeks. In the UK alone, sales are over 250,000. Although we just got Meteos, unfortunately for them, it'll take until September.

If you're already bored with Battlefield 2 (what?!), here's what's coming out this week. The Xbox's sole release is King of Fighters: Maximum Impact. PS2 scores Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana and Mobile Suit Gundam: Gundam vs. Zeta Gundam. PSP owners can pick up Dead to Rights: Reckoning. Riviera: The Promised Land hits the GBA while Meteos arrives on the Nintendo DS.

TotalVideoGames chats with Josh Sawyer about Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows.