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■Koei confirms Fatal Inertia on PS3, talks how Japan falls behind in game development
During an interview, the big guys from Koei confirmed Fatal Inertia for the Sony PlayStation 3 (previously moved to Microsoft Xbox 360) and its 2008 release. While PS3 owners look forward to some futuristic hovercraft racing action, Koei fans can count on more Dynasty Warriors hack-and-slash goodness for years to come.Speaking of Fatal Inertia, Koei's managing executive officer and deputy general manager Takazumi Tomoike mentioned how the game is almost entirely Canadian-made. Koei Canada is a young studio with only six or seven Japanese people, he continued. Only around 20 people are working on the game's development, and they're all young people who are still learning how to build a game through this sci-fi racer.
The discussion soon touched the issue of western developers being more advanced than those in Japan. When talking about development of multiplatform games, Tomoike believes Japan is lagging behind because Japanese companies focus more on bringing out the maximum potential of specific platforms.
Another way Japan falls behind is in sharing technology within the company. Tomoike admitted that even Koei is not too efficient in sharing information among themselves, seen in how Dynasty Warriors games are different from Kessen titles. Other companies have it worse though, like one famous for losing the source code of their own RPG because they hid it from themselves too well.
Software division executive officer Akihiro Suzuki also shared some insights, like how installments in the long-running Dynasty Warriors series are similar yet different. We get the good 'ol hack-and-slash in the same "one man against a thousand" flavor from every DW game, as Suzuki puts it. Some complain, but it looks like we can expect more button-mashing action to come.
His reply when asked how long the series will last, Suzuki replied, "As long as [development studio] Omega Force wants to continue with it, I think it will continue." It goes without saying that most people simply don't see Omega Force growing tired of ancient Chinese guys going at it.
■Xbox 360's Jasper to result in price cut and better reliability?
In a recent blog post by Dean Takahashi, it was revealed that the new motherboard coming for the Microsoft Xbox 360 will be codenamed "Jasper." It's set to be incorporated into Xbox 360s come August 2008 and is predicted to bring in some good stuff for console buyers.The new motherboard will have a 65-nanometer graphics card from ATI along with smaller memory chips. If all goes according to plan, Jasper will result in lower costs for Microsoft and more reliability for consumers.
The post says that in a neutral point of view, Jasper may indeed make the Xbox 360 a lot safer from the "red lights of death" than its predecessors. The smaller graphics chip, the post says, will result in less heat, making temperature management a lot easier.
The article further predicts that a new price cut should follow since the Xbox 360 shaved US 50 off its tag after the Falcon motherboards were implemented months ago.
The only gripe that the source had over the matter is that it's not happening any sooner than scheduled. Implementing Jasper with all its benefits should make the Xbox 360 more competitive with the Nintendo Wii, at the same time create more space between it and the Sony PlayStation 3's market share.
Ordinary consumers won't have to go through the trouble of digesting all the tech talk. All they need to understand is that come the third quarter of next year, they might be worrying less about the dreaded breakdowns and more about how to stop playing their favorite titles.
■Destroy All Humans! Big Willy Unleashed debut trailer
Take away your anal probes and disintegrator rays, because THQ's Destroy All Humans! Big Willy Unleashed for the Nintendo Wii has bigger plans to make humans suffer. Your favorite alien guns and zappers will still be available, but this time around, it's all about unleashing the Big Willy. After watching the video we've found, any other weapons of mass destruction will look primitive.
Aliens are back to wreak havoc on Earth with bigger and badder toys. You'll find a creepy giant robot battling equally massive tanks in the upcoming Destroy All Humans! title. Unfortunately for mankind (lucky for us who want to burn cities down), it looks like all efforts are futile against something that can fire laser beams and unleash an explosive fart.
Destroy All Humans! Big Willy Unleashed is slated for an early 2008 release. 'Til then, we'll be keeping you posted with updates, so watch this space!
Aliens are back to wreak havoc on Earth with bigger and badder toys. You'll find a creepy giant robot battling equally massive tanks in the upcoming Destroy All Humans! title. Unfortunately for mankind (lucky for us who want to burn cities down), it looks like all efforts are futile against something that can fire laser beams and unleash an explosive fart.
Destroy All Humans! Big Willy Unleashed is slated for an early 2008 release. 'Til then, we'll be keeping you posted with updates, so watch this space!
■Square Enix Q&A: Vagrant Story a natural candidate for next PSP port
Square Enix answered a few questions about the Ivalice Alliance in an interview and even hinted at the possibility of a Vagrant Story port to the Sony PSP. From how Squeenix responded to the query, we'd also bet on a game starring Basch and a U.S. version of Final Fantasy XII International: Zodiac Job System.
Now that Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions is out, we've seen how Square Enix can port such dated games to the PlayStation Portable. Vagrant Story, another PlayStation title from the Ivalice Alliance, is sure to woo fans if it gets a makeover. When asked if there are plans to port that to the PSP like what Square Enix did with FFT, Ivalice Executive Producer Akitoshi Kawazu replied:
Vagrant Story was a title that pushed the PS one to its limits. The technical hurdles in porting it to the PSP would be extremely high. Of course, I think it's the next natural candidate for such an update, and there's no denying its extreme popularity overseas.
Basch, who was initially intended to be Final Fantasy XII's leading man, doesn't seem to be out of the scene. FFXII: Revenant Wings for the Nintendo DS has Vaan as the main guy, which leaves the question of what happens to who's supposedly the main character in FFXII. Square Enix declined to answer, and left us scrambling for our thinking caps.
On another note, producer Hiroyuki Ito left a tiny open window for any North American FFXII International: Zodiac Job System release. Chances are slim, but enough for the faithful. According to Ito:
Right now, the prospects of a North American version are the playoff prospects of a 9-6 team, down 2 with 2:02 left to play, facing 4th and 7 on the opponent's 43-yard line.
You can check out the entire interview of Kawazu and Ito with 1Up by following the Read link below.
■Ultimate PSP v1.6 released
Homebrew developer JPJunkie (pspfreefiles) has released the latest update to his Flash Portal for the Sony PlayStation Portable called Ultimate PSP v1.6. For those of you who haven't heard of this kind of software, it's a nice package of Flash Games and other applications in one big bag.Ultimate PSP v1.6 contains 150 Flash games, 29 applications and a link to JPJunkie's new forum where you can tell him what you think of his work and maybe suggest a few things that could be implemented in later versions.
Installation is easy and can be done in a few steps. But you have to read the included readme to sort the procedures out. Enjoy all the nifty stuff and the new forums linked! JPJunkie also says the forums will soon need moderators.
Download: Ultimate PSP v1.6
■Pandora ELF Menu
PSP homebrew developer jas0nuk just released Pandora Elf Menu for the Pandora Battery. What it does is allow users to choose which ELF files to access when booting up their Sony PSPs with the Pandora Battery and magic memory stick.The download comes with Resurrection.elf to replace the one existing on your PlayStation Portable, so you can see a list of what's inside your ELF folder. You'll have to work with ELF files, because EBOOT files can fail. PBPUnpacker can convert EBOOT to ELF files if you really have to.
You can download jas0nuk's Pandora ELF Menu app by clicking on the download link below. As always, it helps to check out the Readme file for the installation instructions and to find out which tools are nice to have in your ELF folder.
Thanks to CypResS for the tip!
Download: Pandora ELF Menu
■Peter McDonald gives details on Rock Band's venues
Yahoo Video recently posted a video of Harmonix's upcoming music game Rock Band (Sony PS3, Microsoft Xbox 360) featuring the locations where players will be jamming in. The clubs and arenas looked great, and Rock Band Senior Artist Peter McDonald revealed a lot about them.McDonald says that although the locations are not real, some of them were inspired by real places such as Charles Pub which a lot looks like a pub where development team members hang out. Others, however, are a bit easier to figure out, like New York's Empire Square Garden.
Sounds a bit cheesy? McDonald defends their decision not to use real arenas by saying that most locations look pretty much the same on the inside. He explains that they needed something a bit bolder and more distinct.
As you probably know by now, Rock Band has a tour mode where players can see how everything goes on when a band hops from city to city to blow roofs off joints. In this game, you'll be a mainstay of three major rock havens: Los Angeles, Boston and New York.
The mission in every city is to develop a following that will push you atop the charts. You'll go from a meager club band to arena-destroying icons as you get better with your riffs. For a preview of the places you'll be going, watch the video at the read link. Below is a full list of every venue in all the game's cities.
New York
- Small Club: Heebie Jeebie's
- Big Club: Ramp Arts
- Arena: Empire Square Garden
- Small Club: Charles Pub
- Big Club: The Establishment
- Theater: Hancock Theatre
- Small Club: El Ocho
- Big Club: The Snake Pit
- Arena: Wilshire Forum
Buy: [Rock Band Special Edition (Xbox 360)]
Buy: [Rock Band Special Edition (PS3)]
■No more monkeying around: TimeSplitters 4 is official
It's offical: Free Radical's TimeSplitters 4 is in the works, and it's coming to "getcha." If you head over to Free Radical's official website, you'll find an announcement for the next installment in the wacky first-person shooter series. TimeSplitters 4 promises crazy characters, hot sweaty action, and other good stuff that will beat naked girls any day.
Along with a brief introduction comes a flash movie, calling gamers to "fight to the finish" in the greatest FPS of all time. You'll see a little surprise at the end, and it's also a surprising revelation. Details are scant, but after watching the teaser, we're expecting healthy amounts of humor packed with fast-paced action like what the series is known for.
From what we reckon, Timesplitters 4 is still early in development. Free Radical is currently recruiting artists and programmers for the project, offering takers with some free fruits and the chance to cover colleagues in mustard. You'll have to be very competent though, because they're searching for people with talent and "skillz."
Free Radical's Rob Yescombe was quoted saying the game is "unsigned at the moment," so we can't tell which next-gen platform it will appear on. We do know it's in development, and you can go visit Free Radical's website if you think you're up for the challenge. They've also got TimeSplitters 4's trailer on the site so watch it if you feel up to it.
■Nintendo Wii gets updated to 3.1U/3.1E
Nintendo has released the latest update for its Wii game console and some new neat things have been added. The hot-selling game machine now allows users to send links to friends and copy text from pages in the Internet Channel and use that as input in the Search field. Other changes include:
- USB keyboard compatible
- Links received on the Wii message board now open in Internet Channel
It's a little strange that Nintendo didn't really put up a huge announcement for this update. In our case, we just turned our Nintendo Wii on and it asked us if we wanted to update. Sure enough, we wanted to and it was there. Don't expect anything life-changing. It seems 3.1U/3.1E is a minor update for the console's browser.
■Blizzard estimates level time from 70 to 80 in Wrath of the Lich King
Blizzard lead designer Jeff Kaplan and lead character artist Chris Robinson reiterated Blizzard Entertainment's stance on the new Death Knight class in an interview. And like what we've heard from Blizzard community managers, Kaplan and Robinson clued in on how World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King will be oodles better than The Burning Crusade in profession, features (like voice chat), and instance access because the previous expansion's issues taught them well.
But interestingly, Eurogamer managed to slip a quick question to Kaplan which milked opinions on how long a level 70 player would take to reach the new extended cap of 80. If our memory still serves us well, one player managed to hike from 60 to 70 in 28 hours, and that happened not more than two days since The Burning Crusade launch. Will we see a repeat performance?
We probably will, because Kaplan replied, "Theoretically, it takes as much time to progress from level 70 to level 80 in Lich King as it did to progress from 60 to 70 in The Burning Crusade." Now though his estimate considers "average" player skills and devotion to the game, we should consider the fact that all levels from 70 to 80 will have an instance to run through, plus the usual mobs to grind on.
■Rock Band for the Wii possible?
We all know that Rock Band, Harmonix' latest rhythm game that lets a group of four players rock it out at the same time, is coming out for the Xbox 360, the PlayStation 3, and the PlayStation 2. One major console is missing from that list, and it's Nintendo's little machine of motion-sensing happy, the Wii. So this begs the question - will we ever see four Wiimote wielders rocking out to Rock Band on the Nintendo Wii?
The answer? Harmonix doesn't say yes, but it doesn't say no either. In an ambush interview of one of Rock Band's PR representatives, the company gave its either-way answer through this statement, verbatim: "We have only announced 'Rock Band' for the Xbox 360, PS3 and the PS2. Stay tuned for more announcements."
Stay tuned for more announcements, you say? We'll certainly stay tuned, that's for sure. Of course, we're not one to keep up false hopes, but when someone doesn't outright deny something, it certainly lends room to the possibility of that something being true. In the meantime, check back here for more updates, and you can read the entire interview with MTV by clicking the Read link below.
■Microsoft announces Games For Windows - Live 1.2 update
Microsoft has announced the coming of its Games for Windows - Live 1.2 update with a November time frame. The new version includes additional UI features, offline Achievements, and the ability to see who among your friends are "joinable."Of all these, the new Achievements addition is probably of the most value as players can now pike up Gamerscores without having to connect to the Internet.
The previous update, Games for Windows - Live 1.1 pleased a lot of people with greater stability, new nuances to the interface, and support for the Russian, Polish, Czech, Norwegian, and Dutch languages.
Microsoft also reminds everyone to check out these titles which will be the first to support the new service functions:
■Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 update reveals Arale
On the latest update of Namco Bandai's Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 official website, Arale finally appears among over 150 characters available in the game. Don't be surprised if you haven't heard of this girl from the Dr. Slump manga, because she's not exactly the popular chick around.For fans of the Dragon Ball Z manga and anime series, she's remembered as the girl who helped Goku and his friends combat General Blue in a brief saga. She has been a favorite cameo that most Akira Toriyama followers love, but we're among those who can't imagine what she'll be doing in battle.
We've seen Arale in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 scans before, but we are yet to figure out how she'll fight. Will she pick up moves from her Jump Super Stars version, or offer a breathe of fresh air as a female character among burly guys oozing with testosterone? Time will tell, when the game hits the shelves this November 13.
