Late Night Consoling

As of today, the Invasion Map Pack for the Xbox 360 version of Infinity Ward's Call of Duty 2 (X360, PC) is available through Xbox Live. It includes five new multiplayer maps: Crossroads in Antonville, France; Newvillers in St. Louet, France; Normandy in Amaye sur Seulles, France; Decoytown in Alam Halfa, Egypt; and Harbor in Rostov, Russia.

The Invasion Map Pack is available for 800 Microsoft Points ($10). Activision also sent over some screenshots from the new maps.

According to various online news outlets, UK publication PSP Magazine published news allegedly received straight from Sony that by the end of 2007, PSP will be compatible with close to 7,000 PlayStation games. During Sony's pre-E3 conference this year, the company announced that its portable system will at some point be able to play certain PlayStation titles made available for purchase and download. However, this is the first indication as to the amount of support the service will be receiving, as well as its time frame.

There are a few things that do make the alleged news a bit implausible. Firstly, worldwide, there were 7,743 PlayStation titles published according to Sony's published data--1,335 were released in North America, 1,501 in Europe, and 4,907 in Asian territories. That would mean nearly the entire worldwide library, including localized versions, would be available for PSP by the end of next year. It is questionable whether this would be financially viable, given that every title is not likely to be in high demand. PSP will also have a tougher time with backwards compatibility than PS2 and PS3 since it lacks the built-in PS1 hardware of its home console brethren, making this purported lineup astonishingly ambitious. That's not to mention the PSP's lack of two of the four shoulder buttons present on the PS1 controller.

Sony, unsurprisingly, is declining to confirm these rumors. For now, take this with plenty of salt.

According to a presentation given this week by Nintendo of Spain, the company is considering offering pre-paid value cards for Wii's upcoming Virtual Console service, sold through retail channels. Virtual Console will offer titles from all pre-GameCube Nintendo home consoles, Sega Genesis, and TurboGrafx-16, as well as new smaller scale titles. Such prepaid cards would allow gamers to purchase games through the service without use of a credit card. Apparently, the idea is specific to Nintendo of Spain at the moment, though it may be extended to other Nintendo regional branches.

According to Japanese publication Famitsu, a new Ridge Racer title is in the works from Namco for PSP. Last year, the racer-heavy portable console launched with a version of the long running racing franchise. Ridge Racers 2, as the new game will be known in Japan, will include 18 tracks from prior Ridge Racer games from the original PS1 title up to Ridge Racer Type 4. There will be 18 cars available from the start, with additional cars unlockable. The game will again feature 8-player local wireless multiplayer as well as World Tour and Time Attack, and will add new Arcade, Duel, and Survival modes.

Ridge Racers 2 will be released in Japan on September 14, 2006. No North American release has been announced.

Ubisoft today announced that it has opened up a new development studio in Sofia, Bulgaria. Some of its staff, including its manager, comes from Blazing Angels Squadrons of WWII (Xbox, X360, PC) studio Ubisoft Romania.

Ubisoft Bulgaria's first projects are the PC port of Ubisoft Montpellier's Rayman Raving Rabbids (PS2, Xbox, GCN, PS3, X360, Wii, PC) and a console port of Telltale Games' CSI: 3 Dimensions of Murder (PC).

GameSpot has a translated Q&A with From Software producer Toshifumi Nabeshima regarding Chromehounds (X360), originally published by ITMedia.