News from Consolesource:



The WiiKey Team has updated its famous Nintendo Wii mod chip to version 2. The WiiKey 2 is compatible with all of the latest chipsets including DMS, D2A, D2B, D2C, D2C2 and D2E. Installation only requires 5 to 9 wires depending on the version of chipset you have. Order the WiiKey 2 from ConsoleSource.com today for only $34.95.

Features:

Compatible with DVD+-R, DVD+-RW and Dual-layer DVD (movies and GCOS)
Direct boot of Wii original games from the same region
Direct boot of Gamecube original games from the same region
Direct boot of different NTSC region Wii and GC games on USA and JAP consoles
Partial region free support on Wii and GC original and backup games with different videomode (ie PAL<->USA, JAPAN)
Improved read settings for recordable media
Supports running GC games at Wii disk speed
GC Audiostreaming Fix
Supports full-size DVD and DVD9 discs for GC homebrew
Supports GC multigame discs
Supports Wii and GC multidisc games
Does not modify RAM, making it virtually undetectable for the Wii
Full command set emulation ...

Is Japan's video game industry recessionproof? With stock markets swinging as violently as a fantasy warrior's sword, it's a significant question.

According to data collected by Enterbrain, the publisher of Famitsu magazine, combined sales of video game hardware and software for the first half of 2008 fell to just 78.7 percent of the level for the first half of 2007, dropping from 3.03 billion yen to 2.39 billion yen.

Year-on-year, hardware sales dropped to 66.5 percent of previous levels, while software didn't fare quite as badly, dropping to 89.7 percent.

The figures were presented by Hirokazu Hamamura, Enterbrain's president and Famitsu's executive editor, at a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan in Tokyo on Tuesday. Hamamura shared the podium with another industry expert, Hiroshi Kamide, director of the research department of KBC Securities Japan.

"The software situation in Japan is not so bad," Hamamura said, pointing to four games--Mario Kart Wii, Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G, Pocket Monster Platinum, and Dragon Quest V--that have sold more than 1 million copies each so far this year, compared to eight to hit that mark in all of last year.

With Wii Music and other highly anticipated titles still to come in 2008, "this half is going to be very good for software," he said.

Hamamura said that thanks to the popularity of Monster Hunter, "PSP [PlayStation Portable game hardware] sales in Japan took off dramatically."

"I think the phenomenon is very similar to what happened with Game Boy many many years ago...I think Game Boy had almost died out at that time, and Pocket Monster basically rescued this hardware. I think it's similar to what's happening with Monster Hunter and PSPs," Hamamura said.

He said the game, played through a network by four people, often in separate locations, is "the beginning of a new trend." Another of the year's top games is the multiplayer Phantasy Star Portable, which sold 606,480 copies in the first half, about triple the number expected. Hamamura attributed this to Monster Hunter having changed the gaming environment.

Despite such success stories, Kamide said the 100-day trend in software sales in Japan has been angling downward for the last year and a half.

"I do believe we are in a global recession at the moment, and the gaming industry does like to have a tag that it's recessionproof," Kamide said. "I think there's two ways of looking at this. Yes, obviously Christmas comes every year and hence the need to buy the next Pocket Monster...The other way of looking at it is, if people can't afford to buy Starbucks coffees anymore, are they really going to go and buy the next Brain Training game?"

Kamide said the industry's recent emphasis on casual gaming is changing. "I think now there's going to be a return to core games...as a lot of companies in the industry realize that core gaming is resilient, [while] casual gaming is actually seeing a slowdown in Japan."

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features...10TDY13104.htm ...

Sony Computer Entertainment Japan (SCEJ), a division of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. responsible for business operations in Japan, announced today that it would open PlayStation®Store for PSP® (PlayStation®Portable), on Wednesday, October 15, in Japan. Through this new service, PSP users will be able to access directly to PlayStation Store from their PSP to download content and services.

PlayStation Store for PSP will start with over 250 downloadable content and services to offer a variety of entertainment to meet the needs of a broad range of users from casual players to game enthusiasts. Some of the content available on PlayStation Store such as Mainichi Issho Portable*1 will be offered free of charge, while some content, including “Game Archive” titles, will be offered within a price ranging from 300 yen to 600 yen (including tax). To further enhance the game line-up of PlayStation Store for PSP, all UMD titles to be released from SCEJ will become available in downloadable version as well at release *2, first of which is Destroy All Heros 2 to be released on Thursday October 16, 2008.

SCEJ will further expand the PSP platform and create a world of entertainment with exciting new software titles and network services towards the holiday season.

Screens Via Comments ...

The Tokyo Game Show is one of the highlights of the year for the video game industry, which spreads its major announcements between this event, the Leipzig Game Convention and a diminished E3 show in Los Angeles in the summer, and the Game Developers’ Conference in San Francisco in the spring.

Tokyo is more about games and gamers, with nearly 900 games on display and up to 180,000 people expected to attend over the next four days, rather than the limited industry professional events of E3 and GDC.

The console makers are therefore emphasising new titles, with Microsoft announcing a new version of Halo - Halo 3: Recon, to debut in a year’s time.

It also gave a launch date of November 19 for the “New Xbox Experience” - an update to its interface that allows the creation of animated avatars and new community features.

The “Experience” is designed to compete with Sony’s Home, a much delayed virtual-world interface for the PlayStation 3.

While Sony has yet to set a date for its official release, Jack Tretton, its US president, confirmed it would debut in November, in a recent interview at Sony’s US headquarters in Silicon Valley.

Extracts from that interview after the jump:


How does the PlayStation 3 fit with Sony’s ambition to network all its consumer electronics devices and mesh content?

Give me a form of entertainment that Sony’s involved in that doesn’t touch the PlayStation 3? That makes me perfectly happy if there are other ways to consume [a Sony film ] like Hancock. I have multiple choices just on the PlayStation 3 - I can sell it or rent it to you digitally through our video-on-demand service or I can play it on the Blu-ray player. The other cool thing is I can transfer it over to my PlayStation Portable and watch it there.

Why then buy another Sony product like the Internet Link for a Bravia TV or a networked Blu-ray player when for $399 you can get a PS3 that does it all?

I think it’s education. If people knew everything that a PlayStation can do and you really gave them an opportunity for a side-by-side comparison, they would buy a PS3. I get that all the time - why would you buy anything else? It’s a more educated sale today and that requires a different way of thinking in the way we market it and the way we sell it at retail and that’s something we have to work on.

Is your marketing shifting from the games?

The challenge is to wear multiple hats, because there is still the gaming audience that wants to know about the new games, they judge you first and foremost for your gaming capabilities. That is the audience we will never ever abandon. At $399, combined with the great software we have to offer, it will make us a very compelling argument this year and I have no qualms about us meeting our corporate goals and selling every unit we manufacture.

How has the video-on-demand service launched at E3 fared?

It’s going swimmingly well, there’s been a tremendous appetite for purchase and rental, it’s going a long way to helping tie the relationship together between the PS3 and the PSP because you can have up to five different PSPs with that movie content on it, so when I’m going to travel I will hook my PSP up to my PS3 and transfer it.

What are the prospects for Home?

It is a jaw-dropping experience. You become part of a living community with an avatar you can customise and your own 3D apartment, it’s a world unlike anything you’ve ever seen. I think it will be another part of our ecosystem, adding social networking and a connective tissue to the experience.

Where do you stand right now in the console wars after a somewhat shaky first year?

Gamers are coming back to us, we are selling a higher percentage of games such as Madden NFL and Grand Theft Auto, because people are choosing the PS3 [over the Xbox]. Sales are up over 100 per cent and we are tracking well ahead of what we expected. We are having success in multiple markets and, coming up to the second anniversary of the PS3, we are right where we wanted to be.

http://blogs.ft.com/techblog/2008/10...-against-xbox/ ...

Newly released today



Produced by Cyber Front with its scenarios written by Utsukoshi Koutaro, a writer who has worked for famous adventure games such as Memories Off, the Infinity series enjoys immense popularity.

Part dating simulation and part adventure, the games features an air of suspense that forces you to rack your brains to work a way out of your pressing situations that include time leaps and messed up dimensions.

http://www.play-asia.com/SOap-23-83-...j-70-2z8o.html ...

Newly released today



Produced by Cyber Front with its scenarios written by Utsukoshi Koutaro, a writer who has worked for famous adventure games such as Memories Off, the Infinity series enjoys immense popularity.

Part dating simulation and part adventure, the games features an air of suspense that forces you to rack your brains to work a way out of your pressing situations that include time leaps and messed up dimensions.

http://www.play-asia.com/SOap-23-83-...j-70-2z8o.html ...

Newly released today



This is an adventure game inspired by the popular figure series Tetsudou Musume. As a cameramen of a traveling magazine, you are entrusted with the assignment of discovering and revealing the charms of the ladies working in the railway industry.

Get to know them through conversing with them and the more they favor you, the better the poses and pictures you can take of them.

Each of the ladies you meet on your journey has their story or troubles, some of them may be struggling with a railroad company that is loosing money, another may be forced to quit their jobs after their marriages. Solve their problems by your camera and gain their favor in the process.

http://www.play-asia.com/SOap-23-83-...j-70-2tqv.html ...

Newly released today



Participate in the dogfight that crosses the boundaries of time. More than 40 mechas and 30 pilots are showing up in this galactic airborne action.

Missions are categorized by the series they appear in, travel through time with your mech and complete these tasks.

These missions include battling alien army regiments, overpowering troupes of rampaging soldiers and shoot down strange organisms that fall from the sky, etc. All of these missions support cooperative play modes, so combine forces with a friend when enemies swarm in on you.

Utilizing the graphical capabilities of the console, the backgrounds of the fights are rendered to the most realistic degree. Protect the world with all your might as it's a shame to see such beautiful scenes swallowed by seas of fire.

Admire the mechas you get in the mecha gallery, glean useful information from the introductory passages and decide which one is best for what kinds of missions.

Participate in the ultimate dogfight in Macross Ace Frontier on your Sony PSP™. The ticket to this exciting event is sold for US$ 48.90 only.

http://www.play-asia.com/SOap-23-83-...j-70-2x5d.html ...

Welcome to this week's Games Update, our weekly summary featuring all new product arrivals from the last seven days.

Basketball is one of the most exciting sports to participate in, and doubtlessly most people have played in matches either in gym class or under more official circumstances. For those who excelled in the sport, try your hand at it in the cyberworld, get a feel of what being inside the league is like via NBA 09: The Inside.

For those who are less fond of the sport, you might change your mind after playing a game or two in NBA 2K9 or NBA Live 09 in your own private quarters, without the stress of being under the critical gaze of teachers and other spectators.

Although quite a number of basketball games came out this week, they are by no means the majority of the releases, so for those who have preferences for other genres, please rest assured as there is definitely something to cater to your tastes.

Get involved in inter-galactic action in Macross Ace Frontier on your Sony PSP™. With 40 mechs to pilot and 30 player characters to choose from, build up your CV as an invincible pilot as you complete various missions set out for you throughout the history of Macross. You can even enlist the help of your friends when you get into trouble.

Master a range of hi-tech weaponry in Fracture, where the United States are no longer united. Due to environmental disasters, the east and west of the States are separated from each other. Dissent over the other end's mode of survival arise and war ensues. See if the war will bring an end to the difference between people or will it amplify it?

Everthing has to be fast, action, wits, strategy and combat with Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood. Banding together with his friends, Sonic is off to save the world again from a menace that is tearing the world apart and destroying it bit by bit. Gather another three of your friends and prevent the world from suffering the same fate as in Fracture.

After you are done blowing the world up and saving it from total destruction, its time to shake it. Step into the shoes and smelly skin of Mario's alter ego Wario who always ended up doing something good with evil intentions. Find treasure, defeat enemies and save people from deprivation in Wario Land: Shake.

Appearance can be decieving, the pink, round, soft Kirby is a match against King Dedede the huge penguine and Meta Knight the winged sword wielder. Make use of the local Wi-Fi connection to have a Kirby: Super Star Ultra adventure with a friend and DS download to enjoy the mini games with 3 more selected friends.

Aside from all the adventures and action, enjoy what the world can offer in a more peaceful sort of way. Tour the land, namely Japan and appreciate the services and comforts provided to you by the ladies of the railroad industry in Tetsudou Musume [Standard & Limited Edition].

While you are on the trains, take a break from admiring the railroad ladies, whip out your Sony PSP and continue your counter crusade against the Goddess of Judgement in Valhalla Knights 2. The goddess has woken up after eons of enchanted sleep, its time for you to become a hero and act against her.

As usually, here's a summary of all new releases from this week, followed by a quick preview of what is expected to be hot next week.

Xbox360™
Fracture US US$ 64.90
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock JPN US$ 64.90
Guitar Hero: Aerosmith JPN US$ 64.90
Guitar Hero: Aerosmith Bundle JPN US$ 129.90
NBA 2K9 ASIA US$ 54.90
NBA Live 09 US US$ 64.90
Rock Band 2 Wireless Guitar US US$ 89.90
Silent Hill: Homecoming US US$ 64.90

PlayStation3™
Cabela's Dangerous Hunts '09 US US$ 44.90
Fracture US US$ 64.90
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock JPN US$ 64.90
Guitar Hero: Aerosmith JPN US$ 64.90
Guitar Hero: Aerosmith Bundle JPN US$ 129.90
NBA 09: The Inside ASIA US$ 59.90
NBA 09: The Inside US US$ 64.90
NBA Live 09 US US$ 64.90
Silent Hill: Homecoming US US$ 64.90

Nintendo Wii™
NBA Live 09 All-Play US US$ 54.90
Star Wars The Force Unleashed JPN US$ 59.90
Wario Land: Shake It! US US$ 54.90
We Cheer US US$ 44.90

PlayStation2™
Cabela's Dangerous Hunts '09 US US$ 34.90
Daito Giken Koushiki Pachi-Slot Simulator: 24 - Twenty-Four JPN US$ 49.90
Dragon Ball Z Trilogy US US$ 34.90
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock JPN US$ 64.90
Guitar Hero: Aerosmith JPN US$ 59.90
Guitar Hero: Aerosmith Bundle JPN US$ 129.90
Infinity Plus [Limited Edition] JPN US$ 95.00
Kamiyo Gakuen Makorouku Kurunugia JPN US$ 64.90
Memories Off Duet - 1st & 2nd stories (Love Game Selection) JPN US$ 19.90
Memories Off Sorekara (Love Game Selection) JPN US$ 19.90
NBA 09: The Inside US US$ 34.90
NBA Live 09 US US$ 44.90
Omoide ni Kawaru-Kimi: Memories Off (Love Game Selection) JPN US$ 19.90
Pipe Mania US US$ 24.90
Star Wars The Force Unleashed JPN US$ 59.90
Will O' Wisp: Easter no Kiseki JPN US$ 49.90
Will O' Wisp: Easter no Kiseki [Twin Pack] JPN US$ 89.90

Nintendo DS™
Brain Quest Grades 5 & 6 US US$ 34.90
Family Tool Attach Case JPN US$ 18.90
Hi! Hamtaro: Ham-Ham Challenge US US$ 34.90
Kawaii Koinu DS2 JPN US$ 48.90
Kirby: Super Star Ultra US US$ 39.90
Margot's Word Brain US US$ 24.90
...