Late Night Consoling

Independent developer Edge of Reality today announced its first original project since the studio's inception eight years ago, a military-themed action title featuring heroic protagonist John Cipher. "In Cipher Complex, a recon satellite is mysteriously blasted from orbit, and when diplomatic requests for information are stonewalled, the US government is forced to call in its last resort - Operative John Cipher," reads the announcement. "Charged with uncovering the truth by any means necessary, Cipher is going behind enemy lines to extract information the hard way." Company president Binu Philip promises "brand new styles of gameplay and methods of storytelling." The game is internally funded, and no information regarding a publisher was revealed.

Previously, Edge of Reality has worked on titles such as Shark Tale (PS2, Xbox, GCN, also on GBA, PC), Pitfall: The Lost Expedition (PS2, Xbox, GCN, PC), and N64 ports of the first three Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games. This March, Midway cancelled the gang warfare-themed game Fear & Respect (PS3, X360), in development by Edge of Reality.

Cipher Complex is in the works for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. No release date has yet been announced.

Classic game character Sonic The Hedgehog--who you may also know as "the blue dude with the 'tude"--celebrates his fifteenth birthday today, having starred in his first eponymous game for the SEGA Genesis on June 23, 1991. According to sega, over 44 million copies of over 30 different Sonic titles have been sold worldwide since the series' inception, which works out to over 8.000 Sonic games being sold every day. Gamers have sunk over 500 million hours playing Sonic and collected a mind-boggling 66 billion rings.

In honor of the occasion (and possibly also in a fortuitous bit of marketing coinciding with the onset of the three next-gen consoles), there are several upcoming Sonic games in the pipeline. As far as what's been previously announced, Sonic The Hedgehog will be coming to PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 later this year, Sonic Wild Fire will be coming to Wii in 2007, and racer Sonic Rivals will hit PSP this fall.

Finally, another title was newly announced today. Sonic The Hedgehog Genesis, a light remake of the first Sonic game, will be released for Game Boy Advance this November at a $19.99 price point. The game will be nearly identical to the classic, with the addition of Sonic's later-added "Spin-Dash" maneuvre as well as an upgraded save system.

Following a PC update earlier this week, today the Chapter 2 content for the Xbox 360 version of Ubisoft's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter was made available on Xbox Live (which the press release refers to as "Xbox LIVE!").

Chapter 2 is downloadable via Xbox Live Marketplace for 1200 Microsoft points ($15). It contains four new co-op missions, eight relit multiplayer maps from the original game, new game mode Team Battle with two new game types, two camouflage patterns, four faces, and five weapons. For more details, check out the announcement from earlier this month.

The seven HDMI Founder companies--Sony, Hitachi, Toshiba, Matsushita/Panasonic, Philips, Silicon Image, and Thompson--announced this week the HDMI 1.3 specifications. Included in the announcement was news that PlayStation 3 will utilize the standard. New features to HDMI 1.3 include:

- Increasing the interface's bandwidth speed from 4.95 GB/s to 10.2 GB/s
- Support for 30-bit, 36-bit, and 48-bit color depth, up from 24-bit in prior versions
- New smaller connector option for smaller devices such as camcorders
- Automatic audio/video synching capability
- Support for new lossless audio formats Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio

"PLAYSTATION 3 will be the most advanced computer platform for enjoying a wide range of entertainment content, including the latest games and HD movies, in the home," said Sony Computer Entertainment head Ken Kutaragi regarding the announcement. "By introducing the next-generation HDMI 1.3 technology, with its high speed and deep color capabilities, PS3 will push the boundaries of audiovisual quality to the next level of more natural and smoother expression on the latest large flat panel displays."

PlayStation 3 will launch this November with a split price point; in North America, a 20GB hard drive model will retail for $499, and a 60GB model for $599. Among other differences, the $499 model does not include support for HDMI.

This week, Nintendo's Japanese operations announced the Japanese release date for Opera Software's Nintendo DS web browser. It will be available July 24 exclusively through online sales for a price of 3,800 yen ($35). The browser itself ships on a DS cartridge, and the package includes an additional GBA cartridge that acts as memory enhancement for smoother browsing. According to images released by Nintendo, two versions will be available, one with the expansion cart tailored to fit the original DS, and one tailored to fit the DS Lite.

No pricing or release date information for non-Japanese territories has yet been announced. - Screenshots.

Bethesda Softworks today announced that Johnny Depp will be reprising his Pirates of the Caribbean film role of Captain Jack Sparrow in 7 Studios' upcoming action/adventure game Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow. "We are thrilled to have Johnny Depp working on this project," says Todd Vaughn, executive producer of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow. "We couldn't imagine a better way to capture the spirit of the character than to have Depp lend his voice to Captain Jack Sparrow. It truly adds to an already rich gameplay experience."

7 Studios' Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow will be released for PlayStation 2 and PC by Bethesda Softworks on June 27.

Nintendo's press site reveals that Brownie Brown's tentatively named DS RPG Magical Vacation has been redubbed Magical Starsign for its North American release. The game, which was released this week in Japan, is actually a sequel to a GBA game called Magical Vacation, which never made it out of Japan. Brownie Brown is a studio founded by former Square artists and designers responsible for Square's Secret of Mana seriers; the recognizable Mana visual style is apparent in Starsign.

Magical Starsign ships October 23 for Nintendo DS. - Screenshots.

Nintendo has announced that in the first month of its release New Super Mario Bros. (NDS) has surpassed sales of 500,000 in the United States, which apparently works out to a sales rate of 20 per minute since its release. According to NPD sales data, the game was the #1 selling title in the month of May.

Myelin Media sent out word that a patch for the Xbox version of 5000ft's Stacked with Daniel Negreanu has been released via Xbox Live. It fixes various issues, including an unintentional reset of a players' bankroll when logging into Xbox Love, incorrect leaderboard tracking, and inappropriate "Ask Daniel" poker tips. Apparently, another patch is forthcoming to address a recurring "dirty disc" error message.

GameDaily BIZ chats it up with Nintendo EAD Software Designing Department head Takashi Tezuka, speaking about developing for Nintendo DS and Wii, as well as what it's like working directly underneath Shigeru Miyamoto.

Game Informer has an interview with SCE Santa Monica's Cory Barlog about the upcoming God of War II (PS2).

PSINext chats with Ninja Theory's Marco Salvi about the tech behind Heavenly Sword (PS3).

Music 4 Games talks with EA music and marketing exec Steve Schnur about the soundtrack for EA Tiburon's Madden NFL 07 (PS2, Xbox, GCN, PS3, X360, Wii, NDS, PSP, GBA, PC).