This is one of the lousier Christmas presents ever we suppose, since AQ Interactive, the Japanese publisher of Mistwalker’s games, decided to pick Christmas Day out of all days to announce its plans to cancel Cry On. Cry On has potential in the eyes of many gamers, but perhaps the Japanese are not quite ready yet to embrace the Xbox 360 for what it is. This is supposed to be an action RPG featuring the artwork of famed Japanese artist Kimihiko Fujisaka, and apart from that there is very little information available although we do know that heavyweight names behind the title ought to be more than enough for hardcore gamers to have faith in it.

As at press time, there is no word on whether Mistwalker Studios will be working on a new title or not, but hopefully they won’t throw in the towel that easily as the world could make do with at least one good RPG title a year on the Xbox 360 platform.

Source: ArsTechnica

According to Michel Guillemot, president of Gameloft, “We are delighted to be working with Nintendo on the WiiWare. We have great confidence in the games that we are developing, several of which include award winning established brands and original creations specifically for WiiWare.”

Here’s an excerpt from the press release touching several of the mentioned games in greater detail.

Block Breaker Deluxe is the best selling brick-breaking game, over 8 million copies sold, that has been vastly enhanced and improved for WiiWare. The longest, most feature-rich brick-breaker game created, the game is easy to navigate by moving the Wii Remote left and right to shift the pad and connect with the ball.

TV Show King is an original game only available on WiiWare. The game takes on the role of a mock game show testing players general knowledge.

Midnight Pool and Midnight Bowling, are top sellers on the mobile platform, but have been completely redone with new features for WiiWare. For Midnight Pool, the Wii Remote is used as a cue and in Midnight Bowling it substitutes for the bowling motion.

Press Release

Looks like those living in the US have more reasons to rejoice – only if they’re big fans of Nintendo, that is. The Japanese video gaming company has plans to roll out a brand new Nintendo DS Lite color, bringing a seventh color choice to folks living on that continent by parading cobalt and black on a single console. I guess two-toned consoles seem to be picking steam these days, what with the initial release of the Brain Age 2 bundle that came with the crimson/onyx handheld console. Get ready your calendars, boys and girls, and mark February 10th as the date to make a beeline towards a major game retailer near you.

A press release that touches on this new color scheme mentions in passing that this new DS Lite is somewhat akin to a “black t-shirt with a splash of color” that “grabs your attention”. You don’t say. I would expect the price point to remain the same though at $129.99 as it should, hopefully there won’t be anybody out there who is ready to make a quick buck by hoarding a fair number of DS Lites for themselves while the stores have run out of their own supplies. Looks like Polar White, Coral Pink, Onyx, Crimson/Black and the limited-edition Gold and Metallic Rose DS Lites now have yet another member to join their ranks.

Of course, when it comes to the sheer number of limited editions and color options for the DS Lite, Japan wins hands down – no question about it.

Source: IGN

Gamers on the Xbox 360 platform will get yet another chance to crack their brains with a new range of brain games, bringing the Brain Challenge game to Xbox LIVE Arcade. According to Gonzague de Vallois, senior vice president of Publishing, Gameloft, “The tremendous growth of mass-market, casual games coupled with the massive consumer acceptance of gaming platforms such as Xbox LIVE Arcade, has opened up a significant opportunity for Gameloft. Xbox LIVE Arcade is the perfect vehicle for us to expand our presence with players of all types.”

Brain Challenge was first released on mobile carrier handsets in 2006, achieving phenomenal sales that reach 1.5 million units to date. In fact, it has held its own to be ranked in the top downloads on carrier decks for more than a year after its initial release. The sales success of Brain Challenge is also further driven by the launch of the second volume in the series. In Brain Challenge vol. 2, you get Stress Management that complements the original game.

Brain Challenge isn’t available yet, but will be released sometime early next year. It is said to boost brain activity while helping players develop stress-management skills courtesy of a wide variety of games. There is even the presence of a personal coach within the game that helps players develop their abilities in several areas of cognitive function, including logic, math, memory and visual thinking, in a fun and entertaining way. Xbox LIVE Arcade won’t be the only platform getting Brain Challenge, as it will also be made available on the iPod, Nintendo DS and PC.

Press Release

That was apparently his response to UK’s PC Gamer magazine, asserting that his company’s eye-dropping shooter title on the computer (Crysis) will one day make its way to high-end consoles. While we know that the Nintendo Wii lacks the graphical firepower to handle the game, that leaves us with just two players in this game – the PS3 and the Xbox 360. All that is required now is a whole lot of optimization. One must tread carefully, however, as technical feasibility alone is not enough to guarantee anything at press time, and with no news of a confirmed console port, this is as good as a rumor.

Cevat Yerli adds, “What you would not do is make Crysis on PS3, 360 and PC for a single shipping date, because we would lose the quality focus. So I say, ‘First PC version, then we’ll see what happens.’” Should Crysis head out to the console, would you hold off your PC purchase assuming you have a gaming rig that is capable of handling this beauty of a game?

Source:

Everyone knows that the Xbox 360 isn’t the most reliable console around, and in fact has been the one that saw most returns to the manufacturer due to the “Red Ring of Death” phenomenon. Microsoft isn’t going to take this mistake lying down though, and will respond to complaints as well as research into just why the Xbox 360 is currently experiencing such a high failure rate. It seems that Xbox 360 owners can now contact Microsoft for a free replacement for up to 3 years from the day they purchased their consoles. Gamers in the past who have had to fork out their own money for repairs after the initial 1-year warranty can also seek for refunds according to Microsoft.

According to most people, this hardware failure is most probably the result of an inadequate cooling system that is included in the current 90-nanometer CPU and GPU chips, where certain cases show that these have overheated to a point where the chips themselves pop right out of their sockets! Those who received repaired systems noticed that extra cooling does help in the long run, and with the release of cooler 65nm chips later this year, you ought to see a much lower return rate. Microsoft estimates that this exercise will cost them up to $1 billion.

Microsoft’s Xbox division executive Peter Moore mentioned that “good service and a good customer experience are areas of the business that we care deeply about. And frankly, we’ve not been doing a good enough job.” Kudos, Peter! I must say that the Xbox 360 has one of the best libraries around at this point of time, but if only it was more reliable. Perhaps the Germans could come up with a console of their own and we’ll be able to enjoy trouble free gaming for many years to come. Hmm, that sounds like the original NES that came out in the 80s and required minimal maintenance.

Source: Electronista

While the Xbox 360 does not make up the entire Entertainment and Devices Division on its own, one can safely assume it is the biggest contributors to the loss, with the Zune, Games for Windows, and IPTV offerings following behind since Microsoft has already mentioned that “Xbox-related sales generates the majority of hardware revenue” for the division.” To put things into perspective, the $315 million loss is actually an improvement over the previous year’s quarter which posted a net operating loss of $402 million.

Bill need not fret just yet since the entire company saw a revenue of nearly $14.4 billion – that’s more money that you, me, and our families will ever be able to earn throughout our lifetime. I wonder when will the Xbox start to bring in the cash for Microsoft. Still, their branding campaign has been pretty successful, with 11 million Xbox 360s shipped to date.

Source: Kotaku

According to Dave Karraker of Sony America, he mentioned, and I quote verbatim, “At launch, we offered two separate models of PlayStation 3 to meet the diverse needs and interests of our PlayStation fan base. Initial retail demand in North America was upwards of ninety percent in favor of the 60GB SKU, so we manufactured and shipped-in accordingly. Due to the overwhelming demand for the 60GB model from both retailers and consumers, we have ceased offering the 20GB model here in North America. In addition to the larger internal hard drive, the 60GB PlayStation 3 features added storage media slots and built-in Wi-Fi not found in the 20GB system. Based on retailer and consumer feedback, we have decided to focus our current efforts on the more popular 60GB model.”

Anyone with half a brain probably won’t buy Sony’s corporate BS any more. After all, the company has done much damage to its own reputation by spinning half truths and even outright lies, pushing technologies that people don’t want into their purchases and having a stranglehold on their own proprietary formats that make device interconnectivity a difficult and convoluted process. Do you seriously think that 60GB PS3s are exactly what gamers want? The last time I checked, gamers wanted nothing but Wiis. Going by the same train of logic, does this mean Sony is manufacturing Wiis now instead of PS3s?

Source: Joystiq

Most people hardly have long amounts of time to invest in gaming, which could explain why there is not much complaints about a lack of titles for Nintendo’s latest console. Do bear in mind that this is still a new product, and it takes a good year or so before quality titles get released on a more consistent basis. Some of the more anticipated titles to come in the coming year includes Paper Mario, Sonic, and Super Mario Galaxy, so when those are released, perhaps talk of a “drought” will be quelled.

Personally, I really wonder why everybody and their consoles can’t get along with each other. It is not as if anyone is putting a knife to your throat, forcing you to stick to one brand of consoles. After all, there is a little something for everybody across all three, and the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii have very different games (more pronounced with the Wii compared with the Xbox 360 and PS3 of course) that will appeal to a bunch of people. You don’t see every home relying solely on Sony or Panasonic for their home entertainment options, so why not apply that carefree standard to the world of consoles?

Source: Joystiq

You know it is really sad when Sony’s PlayStation Portable (PSP) has a mere handful of games that were released exclusively on the PSP platform, while the majority of the others were readily available in a much more graphically superior version on the PS2. Unfortunately, the PS2 is slowly but surely being phased out with the recent introduction of the PS3, which leads to the question – where will the PSP get its list of ported games from in the future? The answer, ironically, lies in its rivals – the Nintendo DS Lite and ageing Game Boy Advance.

The DS by and large already has a bunch of ported games from the Gameboy Advance early in the system’s life, although plenty more DS exclusives have been released over the past year. This leaves the PSP with no choice other than to remake GBA titles, since the PSP has no touchscreen functionality to take advantage of DS ports. The most obvious choice that could revive flagging PSP sales would be the recently announced Final Fantasy titles. Word on the street is, there will be a PSP port of the GBA RPG, Riviera.

Of course, the GBA and DS are not the only sources for ports, but they could be the major supplier. The Xbox will also chip in with a couple of titles such as Xyanide and Painkiller: Hell Wars. All this is strangely ironic as most people thought the power of Sony’s marketing and the PSP’s technical specifications would be a clear winner, but apparently nearly everyone forgot that it is the content that matter and not just technical wizardry.

Source: PSP Fanboy