Final Fantasy and other PS2 news
July 31, 2005
Square Enix finished hosting the Square Enix Party 2005 in Japan and released some interesting new details about some of their future PS2 titles. The biggest, and arguably the most important, news item is that the much anticipated Final Fantasy XII will “finally” be released on March 16, 2005 in Japan. Sadly no word has yet been given on a US release. However, I expect that the US will receive the “final” installment of Final Fantasy for the PS2 in the 2006 calendar year. For the first time in a while the term “final” will actually mean something. Read more
Marvel and Activision Team Up Again
July 29, 2005
Activision extends license with Marvel to expand and solidified their long-term, broad-based strategic alliance through an additional license agreement for aby signing non-persistent Role Playing Game. Read more
If you Touch, you won’t Panic
July 29, 2005
Nintendo in Japan announced that they will be Publishing a new Nintendo DS puzzle title from Developer Aki. Titled Touch Panic, players will have to face challenges with laying tracks for rolling balls. You will have to successfully lay the tracks in order to allow the balls to roll off to safety. The title will be primarily played out on the bottom screen–utilizing the stylus touch controls–with the top screen only listing data like scores and time left to finish the level. Read more
We Barely Knew you, Tapwave
July 29, 2005
I have always been a fan of Pocket PC handhelds over Palm units. However, once I got my hands on the Zodiac Tapwave, I quickly changed my mind. The Tapwave was–without a doubt–the best PDA I have ever used. In the past two years I have used it frequently and my Compaq iPaq has sat collecting dust. However, it appears that any chance of seeing future Tapwave products has ended. We have learned through Tapwave.com that the Zodiac Tapwave has been discontinued and the company is closing its doors. Read more
Nintendo Down 80%
July 28, 2005
Despite sales of the Nintendo DS continuing to improve, Nintendo announced that their current quarter ended with nearly an 80% drop in profits from a year ago. Why would Nintendo have such a large drop off in sales? For starters, they haven’t been releasing many games for their home console–the GameCube. Third parties have also stepped away from the console and have decided to release their games only on the PS2 and Xbox. The Game Boy Advance SP has also not been selling well–despite claims from Nintendo that the Nintendo DS would not eat into the GBA SP sales. Read more
The Force Gets Dated
July 27, 2005
To coincide with the DVD release of Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith, LucasArts has announced that Star Wars Battlefront II will come out on the same day–November 1, 2005. The DVD release of Episode III will also contain a two level demo playable only on the Xbox. Read more
More from Xbox Summit 05
July 27, 2005
We have already reported on some of the things announced at the Xbox Summit 2005 in Japan. Today, we are giving you more details. We have learned about several companies and titles that are developing for Xbox 360. These include: Read more
Revolution & 360 Details at TGS?
July 27, 2005
It has been announced that Nintendo and Microsoft will both be giving keynotes at the Tokyo Game Show. Microsoft should be leading off with a speech around 10 AM on 9/16 and followed by Nintendo from 11:00 to 11:50 AM on the same day. Microsoft being at TGS is something that should be expected because they are trying to get all the exposure and support they can with their pending 2005 launch of Xbox 360. Nintendo, on the other hand, is not normally at Tokyo Game Show. Will Nintendo show off some new details about Nintendo Revolution? With GameCube news nearly non-existent, we can only hope to learn more later this year.
DRIV3R Coming to GBA
July 26, 2005
Hot on the heels of the Windows release in March, Atari announced today that DRIV3R is currently in development for Nintendo’s Game Boy Advance to release fall 2005. Read more
Makai Kingdom Ships
July 26, 2005
NIS America, announced today that Makai Kingdom: Chronicles of the Sacred Tome for the PlayStation 2 has shipped to North American retailers and is in stores now. Makai Kingdom is the latest of Nippon Ichi Software’s beloved strategy RPG series that is developed by the core team that brought gamers Disgaea: Hour of Darkness. Forget about all the strategy RPGs you have ever played before. Makai Kingdom redefines and sets a new standard for the genre. Read more