Late Night Consoling

The official Xbox 360 marketing brochure is now available on the good old world wide web. It details what is included in each of the two versions of the console (though it erroneously suggests that the $299.99 Core System comes with both a wireless controller and a wired controller, which it obviously does not). It also provides solid confirmation that the hard drive is necessary for any backwards compatibility with Xbox games. The brochure is full of brilliant marketing gems, such as "Good Experience: Faceplate. Best Experience: Multiple Faceplates." (at $19.99 each), as well as the revelation that the wireless adapter dongle will be $99.99. It also seems that the wireless controller is not rechargable by default, since there is a separate $19.99 "Play & Charge Kit" allowing users to "recharge your Xbox 360 Wireless Controller while you play." The brochure also revealed that the hard drive ships with a preinstalled Xbox 360 Live Arcade game: Hexic.

When the world learned that the team behind Ico was making another game, we knew it by the name NICO. It became Wanda and the Colossus and now Shadow of the Colossus, but in its early days NICO was something different, and if you preorder Shadow in Japan you'll see more of what it was in the early days. Customers who preorder the game will receive a bonus disc containing all of the trailers and promotional materials for the game, including a never-before-seen NICO concept video. There is no indication that this offer will extend to non-Japanese territories, but the videos will surely end up on the internet eventually.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, Square Enix's upcoming CGI film set in the FF7 world, will be released on DVD and PSP UMD on September 14 in both Japan and North America. The film will also receive a very limited theatrical release in Japan, but Square Enix has announced that the big-screen showings are not just limited, they're very limited. In fact, they're invite-only. Fans registered with the company's Shinra Company online fan club will be the only people invited to see the screenings, and registration to the club has already been closed. The movie will run from September 10-16, and the filmmakers will be present.

A track list was released today for Neversoft's upcoming Tony Hawk's American Wasteland (PS2, Xbox, GCN, X360, DS). The list is comprised of fourteen classic punk tunes, covered by current-day bands. Some, however, might call into question how accurate it is to label many of said current-day bands as "punk"... The list is devoid of any rap/hip-hop, which has featured prominently in recent Tony Hawk games. It is unclear whether this is the complete soundtrack, but at only fourteen tracks it is likely there will be more to come.

Development conglomerate Foundation 9, which owns studios The Collective (Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure), Backbone (Death, Jr.), Pipeworks (Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters), ImaginEngine (Dragonball Z Collectible Card Game), and Digital Eclipse (Midway Arcade Treasures), has announced its intention to support next-generation consoles. In February, The Collective announced development on a Dirty Harry adaptation, planned for release on next-gen systems only.

Another version of Nintendogs, Nintendo's soon-to-be-released dog simulator for DS, might be released towards the end of the year. Nintendogs: Holiday Edition was one title on a list of games recently rated by the ESRB. When the game first ships on August 22, it will come in multiple versions, each containing several different breeds of dogs, but it is unclear what distinguishes Holiday Edition from these.

1UP looks at game design education.

Brad Kane at GamaSutra recounts a peripherals panel at SIGGRAPH 2005.

Also at GamaSutra is a feature on combining fun and education in video games.