Late Night Consoling

Codemasters announced today that the classic Sensible Soccer will be returning. The new game, currently just called Sensible Soccer, will ship for PS2, Xbox, and PC some time in 2006. This will mark the first new full addition to the popular franchise in eight years.

"We are doing everything in our power to modernise and recreate the sheer playability, fun and footballing depth of the original and remind the playing public just what they have been missing out in the current market of slow, drab sims," said Jon Hare. Hare was the producer and designer on the original title, and is now working with Codemasters designers David and Richard Darling on the new title. It will be published by Kuju, which most recently finished up Battalion Wars (GCN).

For more on the game, check out this Jon Hare interview over at Eurogamer. The game is set for release some time in Spring 2006.

Tim Schafer, the legendary game designer behind such titles as Full Throttle (PC), Grim Fandango (PC), and Psychonauts (PS2, Xbox, PC), is the latest subject in Edge Magazine's weekly FAQ interview feature. Notably, Schafer confirms that his studio Double Fine does in fact have a new project in the works, describing it only as "Secret! New Stuff!" and noting that it is in the "prototyping and design" phase. For what it's worth, I have heard from reliable sources that this game is pretty much completely crazy, even by Schafer standards.

Like many other designers, especially those who also come from a primarily PC-oriented background, Schafer notes that he'd like to see episodic content delivery take off in games. In that vein, his most anticipated facet of the upcoming console generation is that broadened online support may allow for new ways of delivering games. He also notes how excited he is for Animal Crossing: Wild World (DS) ("I don't even want to talk about it, because I am obsessed enough with Animal Crossing - still - that it's actually unpleasant. The other night some people were at our house, and I was looking at one of them sitting there on the couch, and I kept thinking that if I rotated him 90 degrees so he faced the TV, I might get a higher score from the HRA."), which will be online-enabled. Might these various online-centric interests relate to his new game? Who knows? He also says how much fun he's having with We Love Katamari (PS2) ("It's the kind of game that's so good, I can't even believe it got made. How did this make it through the system, I keep wondering."), so then again maybe not.

This much we can say for certain: Psychonauts will be released in Europe in late November.

Microsoft Research has posted an in-depth analysis and explanation of its TrueSkill Ranking System being used in the Xbox 360 incarnation of the popular Xbox Live online gaming service. Those of you who happen to be statisticians will have a ball with this page. It's filled with graphs, equations, and all of those crazy variables I learned in high school stats and sadly don't remember anymore.

For those who do not wish to wade through a mathematical treatise but are still interested in finding out roughly how all this business works, feel free to peruse this IGN article. The author helpfully remarks, "If you're like me, and simply want to play, don't worry. All the math and statistics are working in the background, totally invisible to the end user." Well, thank goodness. I thought I was going to be calculating standard deviations while I waited for my Optimatch to start. Fortunately, IGN is here to reassure.

Publisher Marvelous has announced a new Harvest Moon game in development for DS by Neverland Company. The game, Rune Factory, is something of a hybrid between typical Harvest Moon farming gameplay and a full-on fantasy RPG. Producer Yoshifumi Hashimoto calls the game Harvest Moon with a sword. The player will be able to capture and raise monsters on the main character's farm for use in battle.

In September, Marvelous also announced a new Harvest Moon title for PSP called Innocent Life. The game will take a more typical Harvest Moon route, putting players in charge of a farm. The game does have some differences from the standard formula, however, in that the setting is some kind of tropical island and the main character's backstory is a bit more fleshed out than usual.

Both games are expected some time in 2006.

Hashimoto also revealed that an online version of Harvest Moon, currently known obviously enough as Harvest Moon Online, is also in the works. He did not specify a platform for the title, but indicated that it might appear either on PC or a next-gen console. It is probably safe to assume that, given the series' propensity to appear on primarily Nintendo platforms as well as Sony's from time to time, it won't be heading to Xbox 360, but beyond that it's hard to say.

Sony has released an official Media Manager for its PSP console. The software, which is downloadable for $19.99, provides a streamlined interface for transferring media between a PC and the PSP, with support for a wide variety of formats.

Sony's website is also currently taking preorders for a packaged box set including the software, a USB cable, and five free song downloads from the company's Sony Connect online music store. The package will retail for $29.99, or $24.99 if preordered. It is scheduled to ship November 22.

1UP has some still shots of the upcoming film adaptation of the Silent Hill survival horror franchise. This is a project I've actually been looking forward to and following for a while now, which says a lot considering I just about never show any interest in game-based movies. This one, however, is being co-written by Pulp Fiction story writer Roger Avary, and directed by Brotherhood of the Wolf director Christophe Gans. So, there's some promise. I've also read several interviews that seem to indicate the project is on the right track, but I have no misconceptions as to how easily a project like this could be fouled up or ruined by a studio even in competent hands.

Just as a point of interest, Avary is also the co-writer along with Neil Gaiman on a Beowolf adaptation being directed by Robert Zemeckis and featuring such thespians as John Malkovich, Crispin Glover, and Angelina Jolie. So, uh, there's that too.

EGM chats with Konami's Koji Igarashi about the recently-released and critically acclaimed Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (DS).

1UP talks with Capcom's Hiroyuki Kobayashi to determine whether the Devil May Cry 4 (PS3) trailer was realtime or pre-rendered.

For those who haven't bothered keeping up with all of this next-gen wackiness, IGN has a summarized hardware guide to the Xbox 360.