News from Play Asia:

Welcome to this week's Movie/Music news roundup, containing all new Japanese and Hong Kong Video and Music releases from this week listed at Play-Asia.com. Around 300 new items are covered in this week, including new J-Pop, Anime as well as Japanese, Hong Kong and Western movie releases and much more.

Here's a summary of all new releases that were published between Saturday, April 14th and Friday, April 20th. If some specific item that you are looking for is missing, please don't hesitate to contact our customer service with your request.


J-Pop Music releases (102)
ENKA Music releases (11)
Anime Soundtracks & Drama CDs (15)
Video Game Soundtracks (5)
Hong Kong Version Music releases (2)
Blu-Ray Disc Movies (2)
HD DVD Movies (4)
Hong Kong Version Movie releases (15)
Japanese Movies (9)
Non-Japanese Movies / Japanese Version (87)
Anime DVD releases (32)
J-Pop DVD releases (5)
ENKA DVD releases (1)
Misc. Japanese DVD releases (2)
Idol DVD (15) ...

via slashdot

Despite hopeful comments by analysts, Sony has gone on the record (again) saying that it has no plans to cut the PS3's pricetag any time soon. Next Generation reports:
Relatedly, the company has outlined releases for the second quarter of this year on the PS3, PS3, and PSP systems. ...

Nintendo's rival platform holders failed to get a look-in at the MCV Excellence Awards last night as the company walked away with no less than four trophies.

That included top prize the Grand Prix Award for contributions to the games industry, best marketing team and best PR team (an award shared with agency Cake).

Nintendo also saw off EA, Ubisoft, SEGA and THQ to pick up the trophy for best games publisher.

The full list of winners is as follows:

Grand Prix Award - Nintendo

Games Publisher - Nintendo

Finalists: Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, SEGA, THQ

New Games Brand - Guitar Hero (Activision)

Finalists: Brain Training (Nintendo), Gears of War (Microsoft), Just Cause (Eidos), Dead Rising (Capcom)

Unsung Hero - Blizzard Entertainment

Finalists: Capcom, Square Enix, Mastertronic/Blast, Koch/Nindie.com

UK Development Team - Traveller's Tales

Finalists: Real Time Worlds, Evolution Studios, Rare, Rockstar Leeds

Sales Team - THQ

Finalists: Nintendo/Koch, Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, Microsoft/Gem

PR Team - Nintendo/Cake

Finalists: Microsoft/Red/Edelman, Ubisoft, Electronic Arts/Shine Communications, SEGA/Kazoo

Marketing Team - Nintendo

Finalists: Microsoft, Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, THQ

Trade Marketing Team - Ubisoft

Finalists: Sony Computer Entertainment, Vivendi Universal Games, Nintendo, SEGA

Distribution Team - Koch/Nindie

Finalists: Gem, Centresoft, Just, EUK

Game Campaign - Gears of War (Microsoft)

Finalists: Wii Sports (Nintendo), Brain Training (Nintendo), FIFA 07 (Electronic Arts), Pro Evo 6 (Konami)

via gibiz ...

Take Two has reached an agreement with Jack Thompson which will restrict the crusading lawyer from suing the publisher's games.

Take Two brought a pre-emptive lawsuit against Thompson last month to stop the lawyer from declaring Grand Theft Auto IV and Manhunt 2 a public nuisance.

According to a report on GamePolitics, Thompson has agreed he will not sue or threaten to restrict sales or distribution of future Take Two titles. The outspoken lawyer will also restrict communication with Take Two via the publisher's legal team.

In return, Take Two has dropped two lawsuits against Thompson, including one over contempt of court during a case built around controversial title Bully.

via gibiz ...

Blitz Games has told GamesIndustry.biz that next-gen zombie title Possession is only on hold while the team concentrates its efforts on a major new title for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

While some media outlets have assumed Possession has been canned, Blitz has revealed that the work-in-progress title has helped the team get more development work, this time for a top tier publisher.

"Work on Possession is temporarily on hold but only because we've reassigned the team to work on a major new project on PS3 and Xbox 360," said a senior spokesperson for the company.

"Much of the work done on Possession directly led to us signing this new game and some of the technology has been enhanced further and will appear in this new title."

The Xbox 360 and PS3 project falls under Blitz's Volatile label, the division that works on games for a more mature market. Although the developer cannot yet reveal the publisher behind the project, the team is looking to expand in order to fulfil the expected demand of working on a high-profile title.

"This new project is a massive departure in style and content for Blitz Games," offered the spokesperson.

"We are on an even more aggressive recruitment drive for what will be a very high-profile title. We are truly honoured to be working with one of the most respected publishers in the world on this project," said Blitz.

via gibiz ...

Following the publication of NPD figures which show a small rise in PlayStation 3 sales, SCEA has said the European launch of the console has constrained supplies in North America.

A statement issued by the company this morning notes that PS3 sales were by up by 2 per cent last month to reach 129,638 units.

However, SCEA added, "We continued to find ourselves supply constrained in March due primarily to the shift in manufacturing focus to the PS3 PAL version to support the launch of the system in Europe."

The NPD figures state 199,000 Xbox 360 consoles were sold during March, while Wii came out on top with 259,000 units - despite continuing stock shortages.

But PS3 was the only next-gen console to see sales rise over the course of the month, SCEA said, with Xbox 360 and Wii sales down by 12 per cent and 22 per cent respectively.

PlayStation 2 is still outselling all of the next-gen machines with just under 280,000 units sold. However, 508,000 Nintendo DS units were shifted in the same period, making it the best selling hardware overall.

Sales of rival handheld PSP rose also by 2 per cent during March to reach just under 180,000 units. The price of the Core system was reduced to USD 169 earlier this month and according to SCEA, the response from consumers and retailers has been "very positive".

"March 2007 showed a 24 per cent increase in retail dollars generated year-over-year for the PlayStation brand in North America with total sales of USD 447 million, due in part to the addition of the PS3 platform as well as the strong launch performance of God of War II for PS2 at retail," the company's statement reads.

"On the software front, we were pleased to see sales increases from February for both the PSP and PS2. PS2 software showed a 29 per cent increase with the launch of God of War II and PSP software demonstrated a 13 per cent jump."

via gibiz ...

Investor adviser Roger Ehrenberg believes Microsoft's foray into gaming has been a "disastrous endeavour", and that it should rethink its entire strategy.

His conclusion was based on "objective numbers" taken from the Microsoft's financial statements, which show a total loss of USD 5.4 billion from its efforts.

"Microsoft needs to take a long, hard look at its gaming strategy: and, in fact, its entire H&E [Home and Entertainment] strategy," Ehrenberg stated on Forbes.com. "At what point, regardless of its virtually endless financial resources, does it say 'enough is enough'?"

"Would we have been better served by returning the extra cash to shareholders rather than investing it in a franchise that seems to have questionable prospects for turning around? These are the kinds of questions Microsoft management should be asking. And hopefully, for shareholders' sakes, they are."

Apparently the company's focus on hardcore gamers has left it with a dwindling user base. If it continues with the same strategy then he believes it will have a problem. Instead, Ehrenberg reckons, it should take a long hard look at Nintendo's master plan, with a mass-market approach and cheaper console.

He even cites EA as measure of how successful a particular console is considered to be, believing that the more games the publisher throws at the hardware the more important it is. Which makes us scratch our heads, because Xbox 360 has had and continues to have strong support from EA.

"Nothing short of a tectonic transformation in perception of Xbox 360 relative to its competitors," will change things, he added.

It is fair to say Microsoft hasn't enjoyed the success it dreamt of in Japan, which Ehrenberg picks up on, but its persistence with JRPGS like Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey could show strong will power. Not to mention the success of Gears of War across the region.

We can't help but think Mr. Ehrenberg would fit right in to our very own comments threads. And if he did, what would you like to ask him?

via eurogamer ...

According to most major retailers, Tomb Raider Anniversary will be out on 25th May.

Eidos echoed this statement to Eurogamer earlier, telling us the game will be available next month.

The game will be available for PC, PS2 and PSP, but it isn't yet known whether the PS2 version will be compatible with PlayStation 3.

Tomb Raider Anniversary is inspired by the very first adventure in the legendary series. Developer Crystal Dynamics promises caves full of new thrills, all wrapped up in the engine used for last year's Tomb Raider Legend.

It was originally planned to be a 10th year celebration, but has since slipped into the 11th year of the Tomb Raider series

via eurogamer ...

Downloadable PS1 titles compatible with the American PlayStation 3 will start to appear sometime next month, according to Sony Computer Entertainment's US office.

Yesterday saw the release of firmware updated for both PS3 and PSP aimed at allowing for PS1 games bought in the PS3 Store to work on both formats, but at the time Sony had little to say about when we'd start to see the actual games - with the European store achingly barren.

Fortunately we shouldn't have to wait long. "We'll be replacing the older PS1 games with fixed versions sometime in May," a spokesperson told IGN. You'll then be able to download those to your PS3 hard disk and either play them from there or transfer them off to PSP Memory Stick.

And if you're using an American or Japanese console and have already downloaded a few PS1 games, don't fret, because you'll be able to grab the new more widely compatible versions for no extra charge. There's no word on whether the new versions of old games - or subsequent releases - will still restrict you to copying the game to PSP five times.

A Sony UK spokesperson wasn't immediately able to clarify European plans for downloadable PS1 games, but did say that we should expect an announcement regarding the PlayStation Network "soon" and that it would likely include some information on the subject.

via eurogamer ...