Late Night Consoling

During Sony's pre-E3 conference last year, the company unveiled a new PlayStation 3 project from Jak & Daxter developer Naughty Dog Studios. Referred to only as the untitled Naughty Dog project, the game appeared to be a third person action/adventure title featuring highly detailed jungle environments.

Now, it seems that the game's actual title may have been revealed by way of an official listing for a game design workshop conducted by the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts. Among the workshop's instructors is E. Daniel Arey, creative director at Naughty Dog. Arey's list of credits is included, and the only game listed for 2007 is something by the name of "Uncharted: Drake's Fortune" for PlayStation 3.

It appears that the discovery originated on the NeoGAF forums, where member gofreak uncovered several Sony trademarks including Uncharted: Drake's Fortune as well as some kind of online media program called "beats." and a likely EyeToy successor called "Eye 3." Later in the thread, a poster by the name of reminder linked to the USC page.

Legendary masked man Zorro will be making a name for himself on Wii, according to news posted by the official Zorro Productions site. Handling development of the game, entitled The Destiny of Zorro, will be Emeryville, California-based Pronto Games. Most of Pronto's past games have been for handheld and mobile platforms; among its credits is the Game Boy Advance title Dungeons & Dragons: Eye of the Beholder.

Zorro Productions' post notes that Pronto's games are known to be "small, fast and fun," which it considers appropriate for the character in question (minus the "small" part). "The game is easy to understand," the description continues, "with challenges for casual gamers but with an interest level that will attract hard core gamers, too."

Few concrete gameplay details have been released regarding The Destiny of Zorro, though presumably some kind of rapier-slashing will be in order. Zorro Productions expects the game to ship during the 2007 holiday season.

Another Monday, another round of games added to Wii's Virtual Console. This week sees one game each originally publihed on Super NES, Sega Genesis, and TurboGrafx-16. From Super NES comes the classic Super Mario World (1-2 players), which needs little introduction. It is available for 800 Wii Points ($8). Sega offers from its library the arcade-to-Genesis top-down action title Gain Ground (1-2 players), notable for having numerous player characters each with unique weapons and attributes. The game runs 800 Wii Points ($8). Finally, from TurboGrafx-16 Hudson has released Irem's brawler Vigilante (1 player), featuring a classically marketing-driven video game plot that sees pop star Madonna kidnapped by thugs. Are you a bad enough dude to rescue Madonna? Find out for 600 Wii Points ($6).

Microsoft sent word today that this week's Xbox Live Arcade Wednesdays release will be the classic Midway arcade game Root Beer Tapper, adapted by frequent Live Arcade developer Digital Eclipse. The game will run 400 Microsoft Points ($5), and includes online cooperative and versus multiplayer modes. As always, it will be avaialble on Wednesday, February 7, at 1:00am Pacific time.

Capcom today announced that it has launched a new web presence dedicated to its many game franchises, including Lost Planet, Resident Evil, Mega Man, Ace Attorney (you know, Phoenix Wright), and others. The site will serve as a community hub, with forums for each game series as well as exclusive content and promotions. Currently, the Phoenix Wright--I'm sorry, Ace Attorney--sub-site features an interview with Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice For All translation editor Brandon Gay.

Those interested in the goings on over at developer Bizarre Creations (Project Gotham Racing franchise, Geometry Wars franchise) may be interested in the company's latest studio update, its first such post in nearly a year. The update discusses the performance of the company's games, its recently announced rhythm game Boom Boom Rocket (X360), and its upcoming PS3/Xbox 360 shooter The Club.