Monthly Archives: September 2009

Square president Yoichi Wada has called upon the Japanese gaming industry to create adult oriented games in order to compete in the global market.

“There are not many publishers that create games for adults,” he said. “In the West, they tend to believe it’s cool to play games, even adults.”

In order to do this, change is necessary for the ratings industry which Wada feels is outdated, forcing publishers to either censor games or avoid a Japanese release.

While Wada believes ratings are important in order to “protect children”, the system needs to be revised and should that happen, he feels Japan could “possibly lead the global market”.

Wada was speaking during a panel titled “Strategies and Visions of Top Makers in the Global Era” featuring the heads of Japanese gaming companies at TGS, which included Capcom’s Haruhiro Tsujimoto, Konami’s Kazumi Kitaue, Sony’s Shuhei Yoshida, and Namco’s Shin Unozawa.

Thanks, Joystiq.

Codemasters announced today that Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising has gone gold and will be available on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 come October 6, 8 and 9 in the US, PAL territories, and the UK, respectively.

The single-player and co-op demo for the game will be released on PC only post launch.

Sorry console folks.

Meanwhile, past the break, is a new video for the game showing off the Eagle Offense Mission, and new screens.

Full press release is below as well.

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Come December, the Japanese PlayStation Store will be updated with new content from major manga publishers, with titles like Bleach, Evangelion, Detective Conan, Fullmetal Alchemist and many more.

Over in Japan, publishers ASCII Media Works, Bandai Visual, Enterbrain, Fujimi Shobo, Futabasha, Hakusensha, Kadokawa Group, Kodansha, Shogakukan, Shueisha and Square Enix are high rollers in the manga industry, and this news should please many fans in the country.

For now, in the US, Marvel is the only bit of comic heading to the PSP service until more are added.

More through Joystiq.

Sony’s press conference at TGS was loaded with bombshells, apparently, because Home was revealed to be heading to PSP during the presser this morning.

The portable version of Home will allow you have blogs, photo albums, chat, mini-games, and real-time communication.

No word on when, but it’s still good to know.

Via Examiner.

Voice chat has been confirmed for White Knight Chronicles when it launches in the US next year and will also include all the updates released for the game in Japan.

This was revealed during Sony’s PS3 press conference at TGS following Kaz’s keynote.

Famitsu pretty much said this yesterday, but Kotaku got it confirmed during the wee hours this morning.

More through the links.

SCEE’s just dropped over a list of the 17 games you’ll be able to pick from as part of the PSP go Rewards promo it detailed earlier.

And here it is:

If you’re upgrading to a PSP go from a current gen PSP you’ll get three of these for free. Bargain.

Ruffian’s just released hi-res versions of the shots it gave to Game Informer recently for a Crackdown 2 cover feature. This really does look awesome. After the break.

Some brand new screens were released this morning as part of Microsoft’s TGS effort. It’s all adding up to excitement o’clock.

Out next year.

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During the press conference following Kaz’s speech at TGS, Sony dropped word that two PSP-3000 bundles would be hitting Japanese retail in December.

One of these is the Gran Turismo Racing Pack which includes a piano black PSP with the GT logo and “auto exhaust-inspired” titanium black buttons. Inside the bundle’s box are GT-styled accessories with the game on UMD.

The second bundle comes with Winning Eleven (Pro Evo 10), and Sony has yet to elaborate on what is included in it.

There’s bit more over on PlayStation Lifestyle.

Polyphony Digital’s Kazunori Yamauchi revealed mode details for Gran Turismo 5 during Sony’s TGS press conference.

Here’s what was revealed:

• GT Mode: World Map, My Garage, Car Dealer, Tuning Shop, Championship Race, and License Test.
• Online: Open Lobby, Text/Voice Chat, Private Room, Online Photo Album, Online Replay Album, and you can export replays to YouTube.
• Photo Mode: Photo Drive, Photo Stage.
• GT TV: Improved UI, export of videos to PSP, and progressive downloading.

Sony has promised to announce a European and US date for the title “soon”.

Via G4.

IGN’s bought WhatTheyPlay.com, as you can see here.

“As videogames become a mainstream form of entertainment, offering insight about game content that helps parents make informed decisions about what games are appropriate will be a useful service. We are excited to welcome What They Play into the IGN fold.” said IGN’s Peer Schneider.

WhatTheyPlay was set up two years ago in order to educate parents about games in general.

No financial terms were disclosed.

Thanks, Joystiq.

Loads of screens and a new video for Monster Hunter Tri have emerged out of TGS.

The Wii title is out early next year, and the video is past the break courtesy of D’toid.

The screens can be found through here.

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Square’s released some TGS-flavoured Final Fantasy Versus XIII shots today, no doubt giving the PS3 faithful an extra line of hope. Get them from IGN.

The RPG looks spectacular, as you’d expect. Definitely more subdued than its Lightning-based counterpart.

No date.

Two new Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles videos from TGS were posted this morning over on IGN.

One shows the Alley Way battle, and the other is the TGS trailer.

Good stuff, there. You should go have a watch.

SCEA’s Jeff Rubenstein just said on the US PS Blog that European and US dates for GT5 will be announced “soon”.

The social media manager also confirmed a solid date for the game’s Japanese release as March 31, 2010.

It was widely reported this morning that Polyphony’s racer would ship in Japan next March, the information coming for Sony’s press conference at TGS.

It never ends! Microsoft just confirmed that the Brütal Legend demo’s now been posted on Live, following last week’s release for pre-orderers.

Blurb:

Brütal Legend is an action game from the mind of Tim Schafer. Eddie Riggs, a roadie chosen by the Rock Gods and played by Jack Black, must battle through a heavy metal fantasy world to save humanity and slay demons — using only a broad axe, his guitar Clementine, and an army of metal heads.

Go! It’s out on October 15 for PS3 and 360.

SCE confirmed the PSP version of LittleBigPlanet for a December launch in Japan today. The news comes from a TGS fact sheet, as pictured above.

We’re still down as “autumn” in Europe.

Three new screens were also released from TGS this morning. They’re after the break.

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A Feral Interactive port of BioShock’s being released for Mac next month, it was announced today.

Apple fans will be able to get a proper glimpse of Rapture on October 7.

It’ll retail in North America for US $49.95, £34.99 in the UK and €39.95 throughout Europe.

PR after the break.

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IGN’s stuck up five in-game movies of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. It’s looking awesome.

very snaky. It’s out next year.

Ubisoft’s confirmed that the PC version of Assassin’s Creed II has been pushed back to Q1 2010.

“A bit more time for the dev team to deliver the best quality game to you,” said the firm.

The console versions are scheduled to ship on November 20.

Thanks, Tymon.

Few new shots of JAW’s Gravity Crash for you after the break.

Still no date on the PS3-PSP retro shooter, but we don’t reckon you’re going to be waiting too much longer.

Update - Two exclusive ones for you there.

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