Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core US ver

Crisis Core was released in the US today on March 25, 2008. Best Buy retailers are offering an exclusive metal plated UMD case included with the game at regular price. Online orders are all backordered at this point. According to an exclusive interview with Mr. Tabata provided by Square-Enix Members, there will be a "harder" mode.

"Tabata: It has been our experience that games released in Western markets are generally of higher difficulty than those released in Japan, so the harder difficulty level was added to make sure that hardcore players are satisfied with the game experience."

FF VII remake in PSP?!

For FF VII fans out there, the chance of the remake of the game is still possible, according to Final Fantasy VII director Hajime Tabata, the remake is still possible. He discussed:

I think it is because the conditions of the game have not been met at this point.

The possibility for a remake may become greater if, for instance, the schedules of the original members of the Final Fantasy VII development team, such as Kitase and Nomura, open up.

The two names Tabata mentioned were really vital in the making of FF VII. Yoshinori Kitase was the game's director and scenario writer while Tetsuya Nomura served as its character head designer.

God of War PSP Bundle

Fans will be able to pick up a red PSP and Chains of Olympus in one bundle this June. The system will feature Kratos branded on the back, and the pack will also include a UMD version of Superbad along with a voucher for Syphon Filter: Combat Ops.

SCEA Vice President of Product Marketing Scott Steinberg described the move as a response to consumer demand and as a way to display the many uses of the PSP.

"God of War is one of the biggest PlayStation franchises, and with its portable premiere on PSP just around the corner, we wanted to offer something special that would appeal to both loyal God of War fans and non-owners who want to enjoy PSP's multi-functionality," Steinberg said in a release. "This bundle delivers great value, starting with the 'Deep Red' PSP -- one of the most highly sought-after colors based on our consumer research -- and the Kratos silkscreen."

The price tag for the lot will be a mere $199.

source: ign.com

Ninja Gaiden II

GDC 08: Ninja Gaiden II Release Date Announced
Itagaki drops in on Microsoft's keynote to show the game.


February 20, 2008 - At the tail end of this morning's GDC 2008 keynote address by John Schappert, special guest Tomonobu Itagaki announced that Ninja Gaiden II will be released on June 3.

Itagaki flew in from Tokyo especially to attend the Microsoft keynote, telling attendees that he wanted to prove Japanese developers are still alive and kicking.

In addition to confirming the game's release date, Itagaki showed off the newest playable build of Ninja Gaiden II, running Ryu through his lightning-fast paces in the Temple of Sacrifice stage.

info from Ryan Geddes

Final Fantasy Crisis Core English Version

As stated by Square Enix, FF Crisis Core(english) is gonna be out in the market by the 25th of March this year. The game will be fully translated in english and there will be some add ons namely: Extra quest modes, New Outfits, a better in-game camera and some new BG's. So basically, it won't be long till we can fully enjoy this epic game

Logitech diNovo Mini

Logitech just announced at CES, the diNovo Mini is a palm sized Bluetooth wireless keyboard and mouse replacement for HTPC owners. It sports a full-size keyboard for thumbing in text, as well as a ClickPad that can be used as both a touch pad for controlling the cursor and a direction button for scrolling through web pages. An array of dedicated Windows Media Center controls make browsing media collections easy. Backlighting for the buttons and an internal rechargeable Li-ion battery cover pretty much all features we'd like to see in such a device.

Price: $149.99
Source: IGN.com

Can't wait for skype? Fanjita and Noobz release their own treat!

Via QJ:


You have to hand it to Fanjita and Noobz, they just keep coming up with stuff that make us all go nuts. While the Sony PlayStation Portable mainstream crowd is waiting for more announcements from official channels about the upcoming Skype features, Fanjita and Noobz went on ahead with the development of the homebrew alternative.

In the latest post from the Noobz home page, the homebrew devs pointed out the flaws of Sony's Skype-driven system to come. They listed quite a number of disadvantages, and said they decided to make their own phone-calling software for everyone to enjoy.

The new Fanjita and Noobz software is called "Furikup." They say it's derived from "geeky" jargon, so don't worry if it sounds dirty when you first hear or read it. In any case, these are the main features:

* It's free software - in both the beer, and speech senses.
* You can use it anywhere in the world, subject to signing-up to a suitable local SIP-based voice-over-IP provider and being near a usable wifi access point. In many countries, you can find those for free or nearly-free - e.g. with SIPGate, in the UK, you can call to your PSP from any standard phone (landline or cellphone) for just the standard local call cost, and from PSP to another SIP phone (another PSP or a PC) for free.
* It runs on both slim and fat PSPs.
* It uses open standards, for maximum compatibility with other phone systems.
* You can use a Go!Cam (Chotto Shot), Talkman microphone, or SOCOM-style headset for audio input. (And even if you don't have any of those, you can still send audio from a WAV file in a pinch).

"It's still pretty much beta software - the audio quality needs some work (but it is usable), the UI isn't very pretty, and video calls aren't working (yet!)," notes the authors.


Download Link:

Download Here

CES 2008: Sony to launch PSP Keyboard by mid-2009

Quote:

More exciting details are being revealed as the Consumer Electronics Show 2008 in Las Vegas continues to unfold. Sony, in particular, has been very active in the show, unveiling new features for both the PlayStation 3 and the PlayStation Portable.

After announcing both the Skype and GPS functionality, as well as a new USB microphone, representatives from SCEA have now confirmed that the GPS receiver and the add-on camera will be made available in the U.S. before the year ends. Finally. No exact date, however, has been set.

But more excitingly, the same representatives also mentioned that their developers are currently developing an add-on keyboard for the PSP to do away with the mobile phone-like text entry feature.

Those who've been following the PSP scene ever since will remember that a similar design was shown during the 2005 outing of Electronic Entertainment Expo. When asked about the same, the spokesperson said that they currently considering several designs.

Lastly, it was also revealed that the said peripheral will be made available during mid-2009.

Skype only for PSP Slim & Lite because of Phat's memory limitation!

Looks like owners of the Fat PSP are out of luck.

Source QJ:

We know some of you techies and geeks out there guessed this, but official confirmation just rolled in. Sony's rolling out the red carpet for Skype toward the PSP-2000, a.k.a. the PSP Slim & Lite (or Diet), only because the Slim can handle Skype's memory requirements and the PSP-1000 (PSP Phat) cannot. Sony's Nick Sharples stated:

Although PSP-1000 and PSP-2000 are identical in basic functions, there are differences in hardware specifications to some extent and, for that reason, PSP-2000 may differ in features from PSP-1000. We had studied the possibility of supporting Skype with PSP-1000 but had to give it up because of the smaller size of main memory on PSP-1000 series.

The real difference here isn't so much as with weight as it is with memory. In fact, the PSP Slim & Lite packs double the RAM in megabytes (or mebibytes for the crusading computer geek) than the PSP Phat. And for the developers, 64 MB of RAM is probably much easier to work with for porting a voice communication software for use over WiFi than 32 MB of RAM. More on this as they come in.

Exclusive PS3 games (confirmed!!)

Released [18 Titles]



* Full Auto 2: Battlelines

* Genji: Days of the Blade

* Godfather: The Don's Edition, The

* MLB '07: The Show

* Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire

* MotorStorm

* Ninja Gaiden Sigma

* Resistance: Fall of Man

* Ridge Racer 7

* Spider-Man 3: Collector's Edition

* Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom

* Virtua Fighter 5 [timed for 360]

* Warhawk

* Lair

* Heavenly Sword

* Folklore

* The Eye of Judgement

* Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction



Upcoming [82 Titles]



* ActiveDogs Project

* Afrika

* Agency, The

* Agaresu Senki [Record of Agarest War]

* Airtight Project

* Angel Link [Working Title]

* Aqua Vita [YouTube]

* Battle Field Valkyrie [Announcement]

* Black Blade

* CyberConnect2 Project [Announcement]

* DC Universe

* Diseaga 3

* Driver 5

* Dynasty Warriors 6

* Eight Days

* Ember [PlayThree]

* EyeCreate

* Eyedentify

* Fifth Phantom Saga

* Final Fantasy XIII

* Final Fantasy Versus XIII

* Getaway 3

* Gradius

* Gran Turismo 5

* Gretzky NHL [Working Title]

* Haze [Timed Exclusive]

* Heavy Rain

* Home, PlayStation

* Hot Shots Golf 5

* inFAMOUS

* Imabiksou [Scans]

* Killzone 2

* LittleBigPlanet

* Little House in the Plateau [Working Title]

* Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

* Metal Gear Solid Online [Announcement]

* Megazone 23: Blue Garland

* Metro 2033: The Last Refuge

* Mist of Chaos

* My Summer Holiday

* Namco Bandai RPG Project

* Namco Bandai Sports Project

* Namco Bandai Shooter Project

* NBA '08

* Ni-Oh

* Project D

* Project Psychic [Working Title]

* Quantic Dream Project [thread]

* Railfan [Train Simulator Online]

* Railfan Touwan Koutetsu

* Romance of the Three Kingdoms

* Redwood Falls

* Sega's Toshihiro Nagoshi Project

* SingStar

* Sky Blue [YouTube]

* SOCOM 4

* Tears to Taira: Kakan no Daichi

* Tekken 6

* thatgamecompany Project #2 [untitled]

* thatgamecompany Project #3 [untitled]

* Time Crisis 4 [Including Guncon 3]

* Tomb Raider 8

* Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

* Unreal Tournament III [+PC] [Timed Exclusive]

* Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom

* Vampire Rain: Altered Species

* Wall, The [+ PC]

* Wardevil

* Way of the Samurai 3

* White Knight Story

* Yamasa DigiWorld DX

* Zipper Interactive Project



PlayStation Network Exclusives



Released [14 Titles]



* Blast Factor

* Calling All Cars!

* Cash Guns Chaos DLX

* flOw

* Go! Puzzle

* Go! Sudoku

* Gran Turismo HD Concept

* Gripshift

* Lemmings

* Mortal Kombat II

* Nucleus

* Super Rub-a-Dub

* Super Stardust HD

* Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection



Upcoming [16 Titles]



* Buu Buu Cocoreccho [Loco Roco]

* EchoChrome

* Elefunk

* Everyday Shooter

* Free Realms

* Go! Sports Ski

* Gran Turismo 5: Prologue

* High Stakes on the Vegas Strip: Poker Edition

* High Velocity Bowling

* Nobi Nobi Boy

* Pain

* Pixel Junk Racers

* Snakeball

* SOCOM: Confrontation

* Toy Home

* Wipeout HD



MultiPlatform Unknown Exclusives [1 Title]



* Silent Hill 5 [Possibility]



Unknown Exclusive/Rumored Titles [14 Titles]



* Digimon World Online [Wikipedia]

* Epic Project [Announcement]

* Final Fantasy VII [Possibility]

* God of War 3

* Hideo Kojima Project

* Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier

* Kingdom Hearts 3

* Motorstorm 2 [Confirmed?]

* Nine to Five [Speculation]

* Resistance: Rise of Man [Box Art?]

* Sly 4

* TimeSplitters

* Twisted Metal [Clown Cloud]

* Zone of the Enders 3 [Magazine Scan]

* NCSoft Deal [Guild Wars PS3? Lineage PS3? MMO's!]

Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep -to be released in Sony PSP

Plot

Birth by Sleep will tell the story of three new characters, all of whom are keyblade apprentices in search of a missing keyblade master.

Screenshots:

Games that will hit PSP this year

Heres the latest release dates for upcoming psp games:

January 8, 2008 Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law Capcom Adventure

January 15, 2008 FlatOut: Head On Empire Interactive Racing

January 22, 2008 Rainbow Islands Revolution Ignition Entertainment Platformer

January 29, 2008 Bomberman Land Hudson Soft Action

January 29, 2008 Pursuit Force: Extreme Justice Sony Computer Entertainment RacingAction

February 4, 2008 World Championship Cards Crave Entertainment Card

February 5, 2008 B-Boy SouthPeak Interactive Music

February 5, 2008 Blokus Portable: Steambot Championship Irem Software Engineering Puzzle

February 5, 2008 Downstream Panic! Atari Puzzle

February 12, 2008 Dungeon Explorer: Warriors of Ancient Arts Hudson Soft ActionRPG

February 12, 2008 Patapon Sony Computer Entertainment Action

February 12, 2008 WipEout Pulse Sony Computer Entertainment Racing

February 18, 2008 Need for Speed ProStreet Electronic Arts Racing

February 20, 2008 Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection Crave Entertainment Pinball

March 3, 2008 Puzzle Guzzle Agetec Puzzle

March 3, 2008 Wild ARMs XF XSEED Games RPG

March 4, 2008 Destroy All Humans! Big Willy Unleashed THQ Adventure

March 4, 2008 God of War: Chains of Olympus Sony Computer Entertainment Action

March 4, 2008 Major League Baseball 2K8 2K Games Sports

March 4, 2008 MLB '08: The Show Sony Computer Entertainment Sports

March 11, 2008 Chessmaster Ubisoft Board

March 17, 2008 DT Racer Refuelled Valcon Games Racing

March 11, 2008 Winning Eleven: Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 Konami Sports

March 18, 2008 N+ Atari Platformer

March 25, 2008 Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Square Enix ActionRPG

April 2008 Iron Man SEGA Action

April 2008 Star Wars: The Force Unleashed LucasArts Action

April 2008 Tom Clancy's EndWar Ubisoft Strategy

April 2008 UEFA Euro 2008 Electronic Arts Sports

May 2008 Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, The Disney Interactive Studios ActionAdventure

May 2008 Code Lyoko : Quest for Infinity Game Factory Adventure

June 2008 Hellboy: The Science of Evil Konami Action

June 2008 Incredible Hulk (2008), The SEGA Action

June 2008 LEGO Indiana Jones: The Videogame LucasArts Adventure

16GB Memory Stick PRO Duo

Like what some people anticipated, Sony has announced the 16GB Memory Stick PRO Duo with a US$ 300 price tag. Come March, it'll be available for all your storage needs. Yep, that means more space for Homebrew and other media on the Sony PlayStation Portable.Back in February 2007, it was said that this version of the Memory Stick will be available this year. Considering how early the 16GB model will hit stores, it probably won't be too much of a dream to see 32GB Pro Duo sticks which are scheduled for 2009.Without a doubt, owners of VAIO, Walkman, Cyber-shot, and other Sony products will also be delighted to have larger storage space. For us pspslimhomebrew folks? That means more homebrew, of course!

This is not my Original Post

Ragnarok Online 2

Ragnarok Online 2 improves on many of the original's features as well as adding quite a few of its own. Below are notable new features or changes that will be seen in RO2. Larger features are described in detail. Not all game features have been announced yet.
Full 3D graphics, while retaining the "original anime style" of Ragnarok Online.

Real Emotion Expression, allowing player avatars to show and express realistic emotions. This will replace the "bubble emotes" from the original.

Anti-Theft Mob System, which gives benefits to a victim of kill-stealing instead of penalizing the offender.

Safe Trade System, which enables two ways of trade. The first option requires an item from both parties (or Zeny) and the second option allows the trade of an item or amount of Zeny without having to receive something in return.

Killing one strong creature has been redesigned to be far more effective than killing multiple weaker enemies. Grouping has also been made far more beneficial to those in the group.

Loot collection has been changed to a "loot the body" system. Instead of making dropped items fall onto the ground, the player must select the fallen enemy's corpse and retrieve the items.

Jumping and swimming have been implemented.

There will be a day and night cycle.


Specialty Job system
This System allows a character to use skills from other classes. Special abilities can be gained by leveling a character's job class, giving them the ability to create useful and original class combinations, such as battle mages and wares-selling thieves

More info here http://www.ragnarok2.co.kr/

A Sony Exclusive -MGS4 on PS3

Sony has officially announced that MGS4 will be a Sony Exclusive. Even though Konami hadn't announced anything yet about this said exclusivity, sony is putting all its efforts to make MGS4 stay where it truly belong -on PS3

Starcraft 2

The long-awaited return of StarCraft has been rumored for years, and now is finally official -- Blizzard officially announced on May 19, 2007 the sequel to its incredible strategy title Starcraft.

The Long Wait is Coming to an End

The long awaited tekken movie is now on its track. Tekken the movie will be helmed by Dwight Little director of Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid, Steven Seagal's Marked for Death, and Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home. In recent years, Little has focused on TV work, with stints on popular Fox shows like 24, Prison Break, and Bones. Production is scheduled to begin February 4 in Shreveport, Louisiana.The Tekken film has been in the works since 2002, when production company Crystal Sky Pictures picked up the rights for it for a reported 60$ million. After lying dormant in recent years, the project resurfaced in October when a teaser poster hit the web.

Tekken 6!!

What's new on Wii

Wrestling hits Nintendo Wii. And they did a little tweaking about the controls.
Usually we complain about developers trying to do too much with the Wii motion controls, but SvR 2008 does a fine job of mapping out all of your various strikes, grapples and other moves to a controller scheme that is easy enough for anyone to pick up. Strikes are executed with a wave of the Wiimote, Irish Whips are performed by waving the Nunchuk and one of the new features, the taunt system, actually allows you to motion the taunts that the wrestlers perform. There's nothing quite like telling your opponent to "Suck It!" by motioning the taunt made famous by Degeneration X.

Latest Game on PSP

Untold Legends: Brotherhood of the Blade may be the hottest RPG on the platform; it's not only an RPG with the requisite four main types of characters, but also a multiplayer RPG where wireless connectivity will enable players to join in the action, and from our brief look, it already works smoothly, nearly seamlessly.