Late Night Consoling

Microsoft has posted an "interview" on Xbox.com which serves to tell gamers all about My Xbox, the service that links the Xbox 360 to Xbox Live and Xbox.com. It will contain a variety of features to keep track of your friends either by way of the internet or the Xbox 360, as well as your gamerscore and your friends' gamerscores. Gamerscores are made up of achievements, various goals that are unique to Xbox 360 games. Assumedly, since Microsoft is looking to make Xbox Live as global as possible in the coming generation, developers will be required to build a certain number of achievements into their games. These achievements are aggregated into a reputation (a ranking from 0 to 5 stars) and the gamerscore, which is an integer value that is used to compare gamers to one another in terms of their gaming prowess.

In news that may or may not be of interest given the above information, Bungie has just disabled its online leaderboards for Halo 2 (Xbox), claiming that it led to an overly competitive environment which bred cheating and bad attitudes.

Xbox Live will be taken offline for one day on Monday, October 24 while Microsoft upgrades the system in preparation for the Xbox 360 launch. By the end of October, My Xbox will be online, and the interview implies that gamers will be able to take advantage of its services with their standard Xbox Live accounts. Of course, achievements will not be viewable, since they do not exist in current Xbox games.

Sony has announced that a silver edition of PS2 will go on sale in Japan November 23. It has not yet been announced for any territories outside of Japan, but don't be surprised if it shows up in North America and Europe early next year. The unit is visually identical to the standard slim PS2, but under the hood there have been a few changes. This new system, dubbed SCPH-75000, will not be compatible with several PS1 and PS2 games. Final Fantasy XI players who were unable to switch over to the slim PS2 due to a lack of hard drive compatibility will be sympathetic.

The list of affected games is small. For PS2, it includes Tekken 5, Gauntlet Dark Legacy, Hitman: Contracts, and several other titles. For PS1, it includes Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX, Resident Evil 2, Krazy Ivan (who else remembers that one?), Worms, RacinGroovy, and a number of other titles. Many more PS1 titles are affected than PS2 titles.

Though it is unlikely the issues will cause widespread consternation due to their fairly specific effects, it does raise potential questions regarding the backwards compatibility of PS3. Will Sony attempt to emulate the affected games through software on a case-by-case basis, such as Microsoft is doing with Xbox 360 (though PS3 will not have a hard drive, so that option seems less likely) or will the number of relevent games be considered too small to be a significant problem?

Sony will be selling a new PSP package for the holiday season. Called the PSP Giga Pack, it will include essentially the same elements as the current Value Pack, but with a 1GB memory stick instead of a 32MB stick. The package does not include the strap that comes with the Value Pack, but does include a stand and a USB transfer cable. It will retail for $299.99 in the United States, $349.99 in Canada, EURO 299.99 in Europe, and about GBP 214.99 in the UK. To replace the missing strap, Sony will be selling a full selection of Casual Line, Elegant Line, and Urban Line PSP hand straps in Japan, though it has not yet been announced whether they will make it elsewhere.

Nintendo announced this week that Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time (DS), the upcoming sequel to the critically acclaimed but commercially weak Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (GBA), will make use of the optional DS Rumble Pak that will first be made available bundled with Metroid Prime Pinball (DS). The announcement indicates that the Rumble Pak is not a one-game feature, and perhaps lends a small bit of credence to yesterday's rumor that Metroid Prime Hunters (DS) will support it as well.

Activision sends word that id Software and Vicarious Visions have made available two new multiplayer maps for Doom 3 over Xbox Live. The two maps are named Communications and Surface. Communications is set in a dark warehouse filled with many nooks and crannies (just like Thomas' English Muffins), and "is perfect for surprising enemy players from the shadows or taking them out head-on." You know, either way. Surface is set in an Mars UAC base yard, filled with intersecting overhead platforms for threats from all angles.

Both maps are also included in the Xbox version of the Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil expansion.

Frankie over at Bungie.net has a feature called Halo 2 By the Numbers: One Year Later in which he gives a huge number of statistics regarding Halo 2 sessions over Xbox Live. Some interesting stuff, also some frightening stuff.

1UP translates a Famitsu interview with From Software producer Atsushi Taniguchi regarding the upcoming Tenchu DS (working title).

Game Informer interviews Harmonix producer Daniel Sussman about Guitar Heroes (PS2).