Late Night Consoling

Citing close sources, Game Informer claims that Nintendo of America is plotting to move its sales and marketing team from Redmond, WA headquarters to an as yet undetermined location, with San Francisco and New York likely candidates. The article indicates that affected employees were informed of the decision Thursday, and have until June 1 to decide if they wish to relocate to the new office, which may open this fall, or accept a severance package.

The cause behind the move and any possible implications for other Nintendo divisions are unknown at this time. Shacknews has contacted Nintendo of America for more information, but had not received a comment as of press time.

According to retailer listings, Activision is planning to release a 1980's-themed rendition of its Guitar Hero franchise on PlayStation 2 this July. Though retailer listings are often taken with a grain of salt, they have something to back them in this instance--early this year, gaming magazine EGM mentioned that a 1980's version of Guitar Hero was on the way in the summer.

Apart from a supposed $39.99 pricepoint, no other details are available at this time, though the "Guitar Hero 2" and "Expansion Pack" portions of the EBGames page suggests a copy of Guitar Hero II may be required for play. Gamefly only describes the game as "Guitar Hero: Rock the 80's."

Nor is there any word on a potential Xbox 360 version of the game, though many speculate the new songs could be distributed via the Xbox Live Marketplace. Last month, Activision released three song packs for the Xbox 360 version of Guitar Hero II through Xbox Live, featuring music from the original Guitar Hero.

NanaOn-Sha's PlayStation music game Vib Ribbon may see a modern remake on PlayStation 3 and, at long last, make its way the United States. In an interview with Gamasutra, NanaOn-Sha's Masaya Matsuura--the man behind the music of PaRappa the Rapper (PSX, PSP) and Um Jammer Lammy (PSX)--revealed that the company is in talks with Sony regarding a new version of the game for the PlayStation Network.

"We are discussing the possibility of making a downloadable version of Vib Ribbon for Sony," said Matsuura. "But, I don't know yet - Sony only recently launched their downloadable service in Japan, so maybe we need to wait a while before releasing a title with that kind of appeal."

Vib Ribbon was unique amongst the various PlayStation music games as it allowed users to create their own soundtracks and levels by swapping the game disc with a music CD. The generated levels then had gamers navigating through each track while the respective song played in the background, with the level layout determined by the song's composition. Much to the disappointment of North American gamers, Vib Ribbon only saw release in Japan and Europe.

Empire Interactive will be bringing The Bitmap Brother's Speedball II: Brutal Deluxe to Xbox Live Arcade. Described in the announcement as a "a perfect conversion" of the original game, the Xbox Live Arcade edition of Speedball II will also feature high definition visuals, more teams, and downloadable content.

In the same announcement, the company also confirmed that it will release its version of Technos' Double Dragon--containing both the original game and a mode with updated visuals--on Xbox Live Arcade this upcoming Wednesday, May 9.

Bungie has rectified the problems that prevented certain users from downloading the recently released Certain Affinity-developed Halo 2 Blastacular map pack, which sells for $4.

"Firstly, our apologies. We realize this has been inconvenient and annoying," posted Bungie's Frank O'Connor. "The problem was caused by either trying to get the maps for free (don't worry, you're not in trouble), accidentally trying to download on a Silver and then Gold account, or by various incompatible age rating problems between 360 dashboard and the original Xbox. Almost everyone should now be able to download the maps now, and the bonus is that we can now accelerate the maps' introduction into matchmaking."