Late Night Consoling

Sony has just wrapped up its week-long invite-only Destination PlayStation event intended to inform retail and publishing executives about the company's plans for the next year. While nobody really expected any big announcements at the conference--after all, there weren't any members of the press there to cover them--many did expect PlayStation 3 to be present in some form, seeing as it will presumably be a pretty big part of Sony's retail and publishing strategies in the near future. However, leaked reports from NDA-bound attendees, spread throughout forums, news sites, and gaming blogs around the internet, have indicated that Sony did not actually present its next-gen console to the high-ups present.

What does this mean? Who knows? Sony's Phil Harrison is delivering a keynote address at Game Developers Conference in a few weeks, and the title of his speech is "PlayStation 3: Beyond the Box," so there should be at least some kind of actual news coming out soon.

Nintendo released its updated DS Lite to Japanese retailers yesterday, and the machine sold out in a matter of hours. Many stores declaring their stock depleted before business hours began, based on the blocks-long lines of consumers waiting outside. Unfortunately for those of us who were hoping to get our hands on the console soon after its native launch, importers apparently were not even able to obtain units themselves; all the supply was necessary for retail stores. With the delay of the Enamel Navy and Ice Blue versions of DS Lite, the already insufficient supply was even more insufficient. Retailers have been putting a high premium on the machine, with prices approaching $250 or more. Importer Lik Sang sent out emails to all of its DS Lite preorder holders, noting that customers must accept a new price of $199.90 or cancel their orders. Still, the email noted, it is impossible to know when the orders will be able to be filled.

The regular DS has facing similar supply issues for about two months now, after Nintendo experienced even higher than expected demand over the holiday season. According to Nintendo exec Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo didn't plan on unveiling Lite so early but it became necessary simply to get more units out into the market. As far as when the machine will officially hit other territories, there has still been no word. While Nintendo may make an announcement during the upcoming Game Developers Conference, at which company president Satoru Iwata is delivering a keynote address, the launch itself might be a ways off in order to allow supply and demand to stabilize in Japan.

A few weeks ago, developer 7 Studios posted a job listing indicating that the studio is currently working on the PlayStation 3. The position advertised is a programmer for untitled Xbox 360 and PS3 projects. 7 Studios has worked mainly on licensed properties, being the studio behind the Fantastic 4 game adaptation of the film adaptation, and currently working on a Pirates of the Caribbean title. The company was also responsible for 2002's modern take on the arcade classic Defender. Thanks IGN.

Chicago-based developer Day 1 Studios is also advertising for a variety of new positions for PS3 and Xbox 360 projects. Day 1 is the company behind MechAssault (Xbox) and MechAssault 2: Lone Wolf (Xbox). According to IGN, the company is not working on a new iteration of the MechAssault series.

Yesterday, Microsoft's website was updated with a list of Xbox titles repackaged under a Best of Platinum Hits line and repriced to $9.99. Today, the company sent out an official press release, and it turns out there are more titles that were shown on the site. The full list of sixteen games is as follows:

Counter-Strike, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, Enter the Matrix, Fuzion Frenzy, MechAssault, Project Gotham Racing 2, Shrek 2, Soul Calibur II, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Island Thunder, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4, Tony Hawk's Underground, and True Crime: Streets of LA. - Press release.

EA sends along an internal Q&A about the weapons of The Godfather (PS2, Xbox, X360, PSP, PC).

GameSpot has a video developer interview on Nintendo Software Technology's Metroid Prime Hunters (DS).