Late Night Consoling

Premier PC game development studio Valve announced today that the company will be supporting Xbox 360. No titles were revealed, but the announcement made repeated suggestions that multiple games are in development. It also noted that the first Valve-developed Xbox 360 game is "coming soon."

Xbox and now Xbox 360 have traditionally been the console platform of choice for historically PC-focused developers in the last console generation. Still, Gabe Newell had some harsh words for Microsoft's next-generation system last August, noting "Xbox 360 doesn't make my life any better, and in fact, it makes it a lot worse." Still, he seems to have come around. "The combination of Source and the 360 provides game designers the chance to create powerful entertainment experiences," said Newell in today's press release. "Whether developing a traditional FPS, RTS, RPG or delving into new genres, the Xbox 360 is a great platform for expanding Source and our game experiences."

Late last night, Sega made the second of its ongoing series of game announcements leading up to E3: Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz. Developed by Sega Studios for Nintendo's still-codenamed console Revolution, the game contains the traditional ball-rolling platforming along with a bevy of mini-games. However, the control scheme has received an overhaul. In this installment, the player will tilt the in-game level by physically tilting the Revolution controller, which controls the motions of the monkey's spherical vehicle. "The Nintendo Revolution presents a totally unique avenue for our developers to explore the art of game design," said Sega's Scott Steinberg. "Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz will present a mind-boggling array of gameplay innovations that will excite and challenge gamers while pushing the boundaries of imagination forward."

For a more in-depth description of the control scheme, refer to 1UP's interview with Sega developer Toshihiro Nagoshi. "The operational feeling matches the gaming system directly," said Nagoshi. "It almost feels like the Revolution was created for Monkey Ball to be played on." He also noted that this title has more mini-games than any prior series entry.

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz does not yet have a projected ship date. Sega will be releasing screenshots at E3.

Disney subsidiary Buena Vista Games today announced a publishing deal with Tetsuya Mizuguchi's independent development studio Q? Entertainment. Under the terms of the agreement, Buena Vista Games will release four upcoming Q? titles: Lumines II (PSP), Lumines Plus (PS2), Every Extend Extra (PS2), and Meteos: Disney Edition (DS).

Lumines II is the sequel to the acclaimed puzzler Lumines (PSP). Lumines II was initially revealed in a leaked Ubisoft release schedule, and then semi-confirmed yesterday by Sony E3 coverage hosts. Today's announcement finally confirmed the title, but it looks like Ubisoft, which published the first game, got snubbed this time around. While Lumines II was previously believed to be coming to PS2 as well, it appears that PS2 will be getting its own title in the franchise, Lumines Plus. The press release reveals no details about the game other than that it is a "pulsing new version" of the original game.

Every Extend Extra was first announced by Mizuguchi during TGS 2005. The game, which BVG's press release describes as "an electrifying action puzzle shooter game," It is based on a PC game called Every Extend; it is available for free at the official web site, which describes the game as a "'suicidal explodion' [sic] game with new feelings. Blow up self to involve enemies!"

Finally, Meteos: Disney Edition appears to be just as it sounds: "a new version of the popular galactic action puzzle title Meteos featuring beloved Disney characters." While I am the first to say that not nearly enough people played Meteos, designed by Smash Bros. and Kirby creator Masahiro Sakurai and produced by Mizuguchi, one wonders how much demand there was for this particular product.

All four titles are slated to ship this fall.

Atari today revealed HOT PXL, a mini-game-based title developed by zSlide for PSP. Described as "ingenious and hip," the game contains more than 200 mini-games which tell the story of skateboarder Djon. Seemingly inspired by Nintendo's WarioWare franchise or Sega's Feel the Magic (DS) series, Djon lives in a "pixellated world" populated by "fast-paced and varied mini-games ranging from eccentrically outrageous to cool and clever, dipping into Atari’s rich video game history for inspiration along the way." Players will also be able to download new content for use in the game.

HOT PXL is scheduled for release some time in 2006.

Buzzscope wonders whether Xbox 360 will be in trouble this fall when PlayStation 3 is released, and figures no, probably not.

If you have ever wanted your Xbox 360 to keep a blog based on your playing information collected by Xbox Live--and who hasn't?!--you can now do so over at 360voice.com. For even more 360 wackiness, check out GamerScoreChart.com, where you can track the progress of your Gamerscore plotted to a graph.