Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core managed to miss going playable yet again. The PlayStation portable installment in Square Enix's Compilation of Final Fantasy VII series was video-only at TGS. Ho-hum, but at least you can read our impressions as written by the lovely Andrew Alfonso.

We also have a new release time frame for the game. Japan's Impress Watch game site reports that a Japanese release is now planned for Spring of 2007.

With that in mind, it should be okay to expect a US release later in the year.

Via IGN ...

Heres an excerpt

It may seem like we're being mean on good ol' 2D at IGN sometimes, especially when talking about the Nintendo DS. It seems that nine games out of ten sprite-based games covered in previews and reviews lead to some kind of mention of what the game could have or should have been like in 3D. But it's not 2D's fault. Those nine games tend to be the nine worst-looking games on the platform, games that seemed to have been designed by graphic designers with an axe to grind against pixel art; the one game of the ten not knocked for its 2D'ness is usually done with the kind of flair of design craftsmanship and technical ability to make for a great-looking game against any modern graphics techniques.

The first DS game based on Yu Yu Hakusho (the anime/manga series that most outside of the fan community would remember from a run on Adult Swim if that run had lasted longer than two sneezes) is not that one in ten. An awful-looking dungeon crawler with equally meh gameplay, this title debuted in a corner of a corner of the show floor to little enthusiasm from those who played it before us. A 2D dungeon crawler (we can't say the word "dungeon crawler" enough, especially since we remember few to no dungeons from brief glances at the show), the game is a D-Pad based quickie RPG where you can play as one of several characters from the show with a flash-swap (at least, once you've unlocked them -- the game starts off with only the main hero kid, after a series of badly-drawn manga scenes introducing the series as a whole and the story of the game, which apparently follows the story from the beginning ... all we know is that we saw Yusuke being hit by the car and dying, then some old woman's face was shown, and then we were punching snake things and dog things in a dungeon.) Battles are mostly action-RPG style button masher fests, although there are touchpoint battle moves where you can tap on manga slips to make characters do cooler moves. There are also planned a number of minigames, including a shown Roshambo minigame. Two player wireless is also planned, although there's no indication of DS Download play, so we're not interested unless somehow the gameplay gets better.

Full Article at IGN ...

Heres an excerpt:

We're going to be perfectly honest with you here: we weren't real big fans of the first Tamagotchi Corner Shop, and the idea of waiting in line for quite possibly hours inside the Kids Corner of TGS for the chance of playing the game (and more likely, the chance of that game being taken out of our hands by an overzealous seven-year-old line-cutter before we've had a chance to push the start button -- this exact occurrence happened last year, by the by, so we're gunshy over dealing with these otherwise well-behaved kids) just made our humanity feel impinged. So, we didn't play this game. We did, however, take a look at the game being played, and we also watched the TGS trailer for the game. Nothing we took back from either experience made much sense, but then again, the first game didn't make a whole lot of sense either.

Full Article at IGN ...

Takara has tried to bring the Zoids series to America, but something about it just won't catch on the way it has here in Japan. Maybe it's that it's a series that inspires a game with gigantic robotic creatures, illustrated with surprisingly amazing detail and some gorgeous 3D effects, and those robots are playing Rock-Paper-Scissors with each other.

Still, as silly as that concept sounds, the newly-announced Nintendo DS Zoids game is somewhat fun. On the surface, it's just plain old Roshambo, where you choose a hand and then the enemy chooses a hand and whoever wins gets to hit the other ... this time, with fire breath and slashing attacks and missiles rather than just a tap on the wrist or a slug in the arm. The complication here is that the Nintendo DS's touchscreen features come into play -- when you win, you may have the option of modifying your move, either by winding up a wheel like a record turntable or else tapping a button exactly on a moving target. There's also a system for collecting and trading battle cards, although this was difficult to understand how it will function in play in the TGS showing. (How much more complicated do you need to make Roshambo? Do you really need to add cards to Rock-Paper-Scissors?)
Zoids on DS looked unusually beautiful to us, utilizing impressive 3D that animated extremely well (including bending for strikes and having working smaller parts on the body), plus the effects for fire and smoke and skidding dust were first-rate. It's still a turn-based game, so prettying up the graphics in a turn-based game doesn't affect the gameplay, but it does make us want to play it more.

This DS Zoids game was marked at TGS as 70% completed. With the series sometimes attracting an American audience off and on, it's possible that this game may make it stateside -- we'll keep you posted.

Via IGN ...

Tank Beat was an odd little game for the Nintendo DS here on the show floor at TGS. At first glance, it was the ugliest damned thing we ever saw -- blocky tank models driving through blocky cities, mowing down cardboard cut-out trees and firing lines of missiles at other blocky tanks. Catching the developer's name on the kiosk, however, gave us courage to give it a chance -- the game is developed by Milestone, makers of Chaos Field on GameCube and Radigy on Dreamcast (perhaps the very last official Dreamcast game to ever be released, by the by, so thanks to them for that.) Playing it, we found the gameplay actually enjoyable, and even the graphics came through with a certain all-basic style when seen running so smoothly on the DS Lite screen instead of show monitors.


Imagine the gameplay of Tank Beat as a realtime strategy game where you only play as one unit, and you get it. Play is entirely stylus-based, where you draw tracks on the below game map to control your tank up above. Stroking on the map will give the tank a path to follow, so that's your basic control. Holding down a point outside of your stroke will turn the camera on the 3D game field towards where you want to look. Finally, tapping on an enemy blip will let you shoot at opponent tanks. A little adjusting, and players will quickly be navigating their tank all around the battlefield, using just simple strokes to charge at enemies or to send their tank retreating while returning fire in the opposite direction.
Your beat in Tank Beat won't just be to attack at all times -- in fact, the TGS demo we played only contained a protection mission. Here, opponents rolled over the hills outside of the small set of buildings the radar you are protecting is located in, and you must decide the best course of action for taking them out without being blown up or having your goal blown up. We expect a variety of missions like this in the full game. Players have a full range of tanks to choose for playing, from tiny scrappers to missile carriers to giant Panzers. Multiplayer will be a big feature for the game as well, as not only does it support 2-player wireless play, it also fully utilized the Nintendo WiFi Connection platform for online play.

Tank Beat is scheduled for release here in Japan at the end of November. Release outside of Japan is not scheduled and seems unlikely, so check with import dealers if this game's unique draw is for you.

Via IGN ...

Heres an excerpt

It's not every gamer that remembers the NeoGeo Pocket Color card clash game between the heroes of SNK and Capcom's two fighting franchises, but those who do know of it remember it fondly. At last, SNK is bringing the game back for a portable platform that will finally reach the masses with this Nintendo DS release.

SNK vs. Capcom Card Fighters DS is a robust re-imagining of the series, with several brand new tweaks to the formula to make it interesting and incredibly challenging. The core addition is something called "Force", which is a system of power points that you must be able to expend if you wish to use a card. Each side of the two-fighter battle has a card bar (with a deck to pull from as well as several face-up cards) and a Ring where you place your active cards. Up to eight cards can be used at a time, but to use a card, you must have enough Force to place it. This Force appears as little marbles that you place on the points for the cards, each of which needs a certain combination of different Force color marbles to be able to use. If you don't have the Force, you must either choose different cards or else throw away other cards from your deck.

Full Article ...

Bubble2K has released a new WIP version of his Snes emulator for the DS, heres whats new:


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We were right, sort of. Even after the software upgrade this fall, via component cables, the Xbox 360 will still only upconvert DVDs to 480p, and will play HD DVD movies at a maximum resolution of 1080i. To get 1080p output for movies, you must use a VGA cable, which is not subject to the same copyright restrictions. This just means the Xbox 360 is just like every other HD DVD and Blu-ray player on the market, but you wouldn't know that by reading Microsoft's press releases yesterday. If you ran out and bought a 1080p HDTV yesterday don't return it just yet, you should be able to get equal picture quality to 1080p if your TV processes the incoming signal correctly, and if it supports 1080p via component you can still play upconverted and native-1080p games . We're still waiting to hear exactly how HD DVD's advanced audio capabilities will be handled by the 360 and oh yeah...a US price, please Microsoft?.

Update: Added list of supported resolutions after the break.
To break it all down what you will get from the Xbox 360 after this fall's software update:

VGA:

HD DVD - 1080p resolution and all others

DVD - Upscaled as high as 1080p resolution and all others

Games - 720p games upscaled to 1080p, also supports native-1080p games in the future
Component:

HD DVD - 1080i resolution maximum, limited by AACS

DVD - Upscaled to 480p maximum, limited by CSS
Games - 720p games upscaled to 1080p, also supports native-1080p games in the future ...

New release of the Snes emulator for the Xbox, heres whats new:


More Info ...