Late Night Consoling

Prior to the release of Xbox 360, many gamers had Gamerscore points--awarded for specific Achievements during gameplay--and Microsoft Points--purchased with real money and exchanged for Xbox Live Marketplace goods--confused and in some cases mentally melded, believing that devoting more time to games could potentially earn them free content. This clearly was not the case, but according to alleged "partially torn documents" apparently acquired by Xbox 360-oriented site Unscripted 360, Microsoft may be planning something similar.

Unscripted 360 claims that, next month, Microsoft will unveil a system that will award a "limited number of prizes" to overachieving Achievement achievers. The program, states the site, will be free, and will apparently have room for the casual as well as the hardcore.

Microsoft has obviously not announced any such program, but in its official responses to inquiries on the matter it is acting slightly less like a brick wall than publishers generally tend to do when confronting rumors, suggesting that there is a possibility this may be on the money.

While its last-generation compatriots have long since faded away, PlayStation 2 has kept on chugging with some remaining noteworthy exclusives. Little has been released recently about what is arguably the biggest of these, SCE Worldwide Studios Santa Monica's God of War II, though it has remained a strong presence in gamers' minds. This weekend, designer Cory Barlog, who took the reins from God of War creator David Jaffe for this installment, indicated on his personal blog that the upcoming vengeance-fuelled action sequel is nearing completion. "My work here...is done," reads the post headline, after which he describes that as of this past Sunday, January 28, his team has completed their part in the project and it's off to Quality Assurance for final testing and certification.

Previously, God of War II held a general Q1 2007 release period projection, but according to Barlog, the game "is on target to get finished and pressed in the beginning of February," meaning it may well be only a couple of weeks away. GameTrailers is hosting a new trailer of the game.

Much ado has been made in recent days over a job posting on the official Telltale Games website, requesting an experienced Wii Systems Programmer who will be hired for the purpose of "implementing our core 3D graphics and audio systems on the Wii." The first conclusion on the mat of the interwebs is, of course, that the company must be in the process of porting its well received episodic series of Sam & Max adventure games over to Nintendo's current home console.

It may not actually be quite so clear that that is what the company currently has on its plate, however. Telltale has attempted to diffuse the rumors, though--as is typical for companies commenting on rumors--it has stopped short of explaining the full situation. An observent gamer might examine the various major publishers' Wii strategies since the machine's launch, then examine Telltale's catalogue of games, which includes the TV series-based CSI: 3 Dimensions of Murder published by--wait for it--Ubisoft. Draw your own conclusions.

Those who occasionally play free independently developed games may very well have at one point stumbled upon N, the addictive ninja-starring Lode Runner-esque physics-based platformer from developer Metanet Software. Some of those people may have at one point fantasized about playing the game with a console controller rather than a keyboard. Those particular people will be pleased to read the latest news post on Metanet's official site, where the company announced that it is beginning development on N+, an Xbox Live Arcade version of its award winning game. Assisting with development will be Vancouver-based Klei Entertainment.

N+ will be similar to its predecessor in terms of content and gameplay, and will include a level editor which players can use to send custom content to others. Multiplayer modes are also under consideration.

Metanet hopes to have N+ completed by the end of this summer and available on the Xbox Live Arcade Marketplace this fall. Pricing estimates were not given.

Wii's Virtual Console was updated today with four new games originally published on Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, and Nintendo 64. From the Super NES lineup, Konami contributes the classic sidescrolling shooter Contra III: The Alien Wars (1-2 players), available for 800 Wii Points ($8). Sega brings two from Genesis with the cooperative action game Bonanza Bros. (1-2 players) and the comic-flavored action game Comic Zone (1 player), both available for 800 Wii Points ($8). Finally, Nintendo offers the timeless Mario Kart 64 (1-4 players) from its Nintendo 64 library, for 1000 Wii Points ($10).