Late Night Consoling

Following confirmation that Europe would be receiving only about 300,000 Xbox 360 consoles for the region's launch, Microsoft's Peter Moore has cautioned that many European gamers may have a tough time getting their hands on the next-gen machine this holiday season. "[The Xbox 360] has 1700 parts, we have to make them, pack them, and ship them," Moore explained. "I'm not sure I can guarantee that everyone will get an Xbox 360 by Christmas." The news doesn't come as too much surprise, given that North America is Microsoft's primary market yet the machine is notoriously difficult to find in stores, with units still selling on Ebay for twice their suggested value or more.

Sony Computer Entertainment announced today that the manufacturer has shipped 100 million units of its market share leading PS2 console as of yesterday. It becomes the fastest console to reach that shipment mark, doing so five years and nine months after its Japanese launch. This beats the previous record, held by Sony's own PlayStation; that machine took nine years and six months to reach the same numbers.

That sum breaks down to 40.65 million units in North America, 37.13 million in PAL territories (including Europe), and 22.22 million units in Asia. The system has seen 6,200 game releases and 1.869 billion PS2 games have been shipped (note that number shipped is different from actual sell-through to consumers). Though concrete numbers are not available, most analysts estimate that Microsoft's Xbox has shipped about 22 million units in its lifetime, and Nintendo's GameCube about 19 million. The only current machine to even remotely approach the PS2's shipment numbers is Nintendo's Game Boy Advance with about 70 million.

Microsoft is launching a new Xbox 360 advertising campaign in Japan, one that might seem a bit odd considering many Japanese gamers were rather vocal about the inconveniently large size of the original Xbox in smaller Japanese homes. The manufacturer has constructed large Xbox 360 monuments in several Japanese cities. The constructions are twelve feet tall and equipped with 65" screens hooked up to (smaller) Xbox 360 demo units. The consoles are loaded with demos of the six Japanese launch titles: Perfect Dark Zero, Every Party, FIFA 06, Wrestly Kingdom, and Tetris: the Grandmaster Ace. The Xbox 360 launches in Japan on December 10, and the monuments will stand until approximately a week later.

Q Entertainment's fantasy action title Ninety-Nine Nights (X360), certainly the least bizarre thing in recent memory to come from Space Channel 5 (PS2, DC), Rez (PS2, DC) and Lumines (PSP) designer Tetsuya Mizuguchi, is a little delayed. A GameSpot-translated interview from Famitsu Xbox 360 indicates that the game will be missing its January release date and instead will be shipping in Japan some time in Spring 2006. A North American release date has yet to be announced. Mizuguchi noted that the delay is necessary to maintain the quality of the title, which is currently about 80% complete.

In the less-confirmed department, following reports that Team NINJA's Dead or Alive 4 (X360) will be missing its already-delayed Japanese release date, it seems that the same may hold true for North America. Originally set for the 360's launch, the game was postponed until December 1, then to December 7. At this point, it could end up getting pushed to December 14. Apparently, a Tecmo representative speaking to GameSpot claimed that official word from the company is coming this week.

After various swapping of hands with regards to the developer and publisher rights of State of Emergency 2, it seems that it's finally getting settled. The game will be developed by DC Studios, almost exclusively known for portable games in the past, and published by SouthPeak Interactive. Unlike its predecessor, which was released on PS2 and Xbox, this game will come out for PS2 and PSP. Unsurprisingly, the game is missing its 2005 deadline. It will ship for PS2 next February, with the PSP version to follow sometime in third quarter of 2006.

1UP interviews developer Harmonix's Daniel Sussman and publisher RedOctane's John Tam about the critically acclaimed Guitar Hero (PS2).

GameSpot has a Q&A with Criterion's Matt Webster about the Xbox 360 version of Burnout Revenge (X360, also PS2, Xbox).