Late Night Consoling

Square Enix today announced its official games lineup to be presented at this year's E3, containing upcoming titles for PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS, PSP, and Game Boy Advance. With the exception of the already-released Final Fantasy XI on Xbox 360, The list is suspiciously devoid of any titles on next-gen platforms, as well as any games scheduled to ship past 2006. It is probably safe to assume the publisher will be showing or mentioning further titles during its pre-E3 press conference on May 8. New Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles games have been announced for both Revolution and Nintendo DS, and several Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest games, among others, will undoubtedly appear on PlayStation 3.

PlayStation 2:
- Dawn of Mana (no current release date)
- Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII (Summer 2006)
- Final Fantasy XII (Fall 2006)
- Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria (TBA 2006)

Nintendo DS:
- Children of Mana (TBA 2006)
- Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime (TBA 2006)
- Final Fantasy III (TBA 2006)

PSP:
- Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth (TBA 2006)

Game Boy Advance:
- Final Fantasy V Advance (TBA 2006)
- Final Fantasy VI Advance (TBA 2006)

Multiplatform:
- Final Fantasy XI: Treasures of Aht Urhgan (PS2, X360, PC; already released)

Namco Bandai today announced an exclusive title for Xbox 360, Mobile Ops: The One Year War. Despite the name, Mobile Ops was actually conceived as a Gundam title, but Namco Bandai elected to forego that branding since the Gundam name carries less weight in the United States. A mecha combat game, players pilot giant robots as well as fight on foot or in other vehicles. "With dramatic cockpit views and exquisitely detailed mobile suits, we fully expect 'Mobile Ops' to immerse gamers into a futuristic world where giant mechas loom against a war-torn horizon," said Namco Bandai business director Yoshi Niki. The game will support Xbox Live team play as well.

Mobile Ops: The One Year War ships this holiday season. - Screenshots.

After constant rumors in recent weeks, Atari has confirmed that Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 will be heading to Revolution in addition to the previously known PlayStation 2. The fighting game contains over 100 characters and nine single- and multiplayer game modes. "The innovative controller featured with Nintendo Revolution is perfectly suited for Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2, which engages players with fast-paced fighting moves," said Atari marketing director Matt Collins. "Gamers will be able to play in a very physical way, mimicking several of the show’s most popular character moves and pull off awesome combos and attacks." Specific details on how the Revolution controller will be used were not revealed. The game is being developed by longtime Dragon Ball developer Spike.

Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 is slated to ship this holiday season.

After months of Perfect Dark Zero's launch title brethren slowly receiving Xbox Live demos one by one, Microsoft has stated that a free downloadable demo of Rare's launch shooter will be made available soon. It will include a single player map enabled for online cooperative play, as well as a multiplayer map.

Starting tomorrow, Japanese PSP owners can get a taste of the upcoming PSP title Loco Roco via an official demo made available through the game's official website. To play the game, users must upgrade their systems to version 2.70, which will also be released tomorrow for Japan. Of course, in reality, the upgrade (and presumably the demo) will most likely work on PSPs from other territories, as has been the case for past updates that were released in Japan before the rest of the world. In all likelihood, part of the new update's functionality is to continue Sony's ongoing attempts to curtail homebrew efforts on the system, but offering a demo--with more to come in the future, one would assume--is certainly a nice addition.

Nintendo and AOL Games have announced a joint contest offering three winners the chance to be the first general consumers to play Nintendo Revolution games during this year's upcoming E3. Head over to AOL's website to sign up. Note that though AOL's page has pictures of a regular DS and Super Mario 64 DS, the prizes are in fact a DS Lite and the upcoming New Super Mario Bros. (DS). The package also includes a three-day, two-night stay in Los Angeles during E3, as well as attendance to Nintendo's pre-E3 press conference.

Nintendo has launched its official website for New Super Mario Bros. (DS), previously just a static splash screen. The site now contains a new gameplay video as well as the promise of a new video each Monday through May 15, which coincides with Nintendo's currently listed ship date for the game.

Sega also launched Super Monkey Ball World, a site devoted to its popular Super Monkey Ball franchise, including Traveller's Tales' Super Monkey Ball Adventure (PS2, GCN, PSP).

Follwing Nintendo's announcement of TurboGrafx games on Revolution's Virtual Console, Game Informer has cooked up RTE306: A TurboGrafx-16 Revolution Retrospective. There's also a brief interview with Sega's Scott Steinberg about Sega's relationship with Nintendo, in the context of the recent news about Genesis games playable on Virtual Console as well.