News from Lik Sang

In a year that could mark a long awaited turn-around for Disney with the Pixar merger, Square Enix have come together to celebrate almost 80 years of magic memories. In stock today, all pre-orders of Kingdom Hearts II US edition are being shipped, and all new orders will fly out the doors within 24 hours. Back in Japan the game sold 727,591 copies in its first week alone, so there's no doubt the untouchable RPG experience of Square Enix combined with the delightful imagination of Disney resulted in one of the greatest team ups of videogame history. Rather than have their hands tied by a specific story from a certain movie, the developers were free to create an entirely new adventure including all of Disney's most famous works, not to mention a couple of Square's too! Here you can watch the US TV Commercial, or download a trailer and gameplay footage from the Japanese version:

Set after Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories on the GBA, the original lead character Sora, and Disney comrades Donald and Goofy have slept for a solid year while regaining their lost memories. Waking up, Sora puts on some fresh clothes (we should hope so!) and continues on his quest to seal the keyholes of each world, protecting their innocence from the dark forces of the Heartless, Organization XIII and Nobodies. With a much more complex plot development than that of the original awaiting you, players of the GBA sequel will get the absolute most out of this title. The developers however have gone to great lengths to ensure you won't feel left out at all if you haven't played the portable adventure, and newcomers who missed both that and the first game need not worry either, you'll quickly be brought up to speed.

The original drew content from Alice in Wonderland, Hercules, Tarzan, Aladdin, Pinocchio, The Little Mermaid, The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Lion King, Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, 101 Dalmatians, Beauty and the Beast, and more. Here there's more of those classics, plus Lilo & Stitch, Chicken Little, Mulan, Pirates of the Caribbean, Tron, The Return of Jafar, Fantasia and others. In fact they range all the way back to 1928's Steamboat Willie, which of course takes place in black and white.

Despite some movies being used again, every level is brand spanking new, often taking place in completely separate settings than before. For example instead of on the streets of Agrabah for Aladdin, you'll be exploring the Cave of Wonders. Some franchises like Beauty and the Beast and Mulan which were only represented with characters in the original have been fleshed out with entire worlds here too.

At least 16 different Final Fantasy characters will appear here, including Auron, Yuna, Rikku, Cloud Strife, Yuffie, Sephiroth and more. Taking on a larger role, Cloud also has his own side quest now, and each of the FF VII stars take their looks from the more recent Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children movie. The Disney side has its fair share of cameos too, such as Scrooge McDuck, Yen Sid from Fantasia, Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather from Sleeping Beauty and a whole heap more.

The all star English voice cast is just as impressive as it was in the original, with almost all actors reprising their roles once again here. Highlights include the now 18 year old Haley Joel Osment, David Gallagher, Dan Castellaneta, Sean Astin, Mena Suvari, Christopher Lee, Rachael Leigh Cook, Jesse McCartney, Zach Braff and many others. ...

News from Divineo China

The first spare part for Xbox 360 is here, and naturally it is the most needed: A brand new replacement lens!

...

It's not often an RTS makes the transition from PC to console, and it's an even rarer occasion when a strategy game makes the leap successfully. EA games is attempting to bridge the gap between the two platforms, with an Xbox 360 port of their stellar Lord of the Rings RTS The Battle for Middle-Earth II.
Take a look at these latest console screenshots and you can see that - at least visually - little has been lost in the transition from PC to Xbox 360. While the console port is looking spectacular, we can only hope that EA manages to conjure up a control scheme good enough to perform the abundance of clicking and unit management, without throwing the Xbox 360 out the window in frustration. Early reports suggest they've succeeded admirably, but it's only when we get a chance to put hands on code, we'll be able to tell you for sure.

Still The Battle for Middle-Earth II marches on to Xbox 360 in June, so we shouldn't have too long to wait to find out.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com....php?id=136494 ...

Agent 47's first foray into the world of next-gen assassination will be in Hitman: Blood Money on Microsoft's Xbox 360, IGN is reporting.
According to the website, the 360 version of the game will release this year, IGN actually saying it believes it will launch simultaneously alongside PC, Xbox and PS2 versions of Blood Money in May. It further claims that an "independent source close to the English publisher [Eidos]" has let slip that the next-gen version will feature identical content and plot to the other platform versions of the game but will benefit from an additional layer of visual gloss - improved graphics, special effects and lighting.

We put in a call to Eidos and queried a spokesperson on the existence of Hitman: Blood Money on Xbox 360, but all we received in reply was "No comment". If we hear anything more on this, we'll let you know.
Meanwhile, Eidos has released a new Hitman: Blood Money trailer (NOT showing Xbox 360 footage) which we've uploaded here for your viewing pleasure. The trailer carries the title 'Gaining Access To Your Target' and, according to the publisher, "shows some of the new moves that Agent 47 has at his disposal which allows him to reach locations that were thought to be unreachable. A good assassin always finds a way to gain access to his/her target no matter how well protected." ...

The Xbox 360 is starting to build speed this month with the arrival of some truly spectacular titles and further marketplace releases championing the bustling Live service. There's still one important piece of the x-shaped puzzle to land though, and it's a next-gen appearance of the hugely anticipated third instalment of Halo.
The latest rumours to trickle from the internet suggest that it could be a little while yet before the Mater Chief triumphantly arrives on the Xbox 360. Citing a duo of anonymous sources, IGN claims that it'll be March 2007 before we get our hands on the next-generation Halo, further cementing Microsoft's comments that they won't be rushing Master Chief's 360 opus out the door.

If true, we're sure Halo 3's slip to next year will disappoint more than a few Halo fanatics, but with massive titles like Gears of War and Mass Effect landing this year, Xbox 360 owners have plenty to look forward to in 2006.
On the flip side, some stern-business types might suggest that a little nudge to get the Chief blasting on Xbox 360 this year might be a very sound idea. With both the PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Revolution hitting stores this year, Microsoft could do with all the firepower it can get to combat the arriving next-gen competition, and Halo 3 would no-doubt be a silver bullet against even the most colossal of console launches.

We have to wonder if the mooted 2007 date has anything to do with the forthcoming Halo movie, which is scheduled for summer 2007. Could we see a launch alongside the Halo flick? it'd certainly be a big double whammy.

With the year swiftly progressing and still no sign of Bungie's next-gen epic, we think it's likely that Microsoft is indeed eyeing a 2007 release for Halo's next-gen reprisal. However, expect to see at the very least a sneak peak at the game at this year's E3 show, where Microsoft again needs to sway attention away from the other next-gen revelations.

We will of course keep you informed on even the smallest of Halo 3 developments. ...

The Revolution will have a global worldwide launch or not, maybe it will, on the other hand perhaps it won't. Hmm, well it seems like everyone's been barking up the wrong tree about what Nintendo president Saturo Iwata may or indeed may not have recently said about Nintendo's global launch plan for the big N's next-gen console.
Anyway, a Nintendo spokesperson has attempted to shine light into the darkness by talking to trade mag MCV in an effort to clarify Iwata's recent comments about the possibility of a global launch. While many took Iwata's recent word to mean a mult-territory global launch wasn't on the cards, now apparently it could be.

"The comments have been taken out of context," the unnamed Nintendo spokesperson told MCV. "What he's actually saying is that we're not holding a worldwide launch just because everyone else is doing one too. It's just another re-iteration of the fact that we're not looking at what Sony or Microsoft are doing."
"Unfortunately, it seems everyone's jumped on it and got the wrong idea."

So Nintendo could go for a global launch after all, although the spokesperson didn't attempt to shed any further light, ruling nothing out, but of course also ruling nothing in. It seems we'll have to wait for Nintendo's E3 presentation to provide final answers, but the big N has consistently gone for the third way and there's no reason why its launch plans should be any different. ...

Final Fantasy XII won't be hitting British shores until the end of the year, but already buzz for the series next instalment is beginning to emerge, which is supposedly going to be revealed at this year's E3.
American games mag EGM makes the claim, suggesting that the next entry in the Final Fantasy series is heading exclusively to the PlayStation 3. According to the mag, a brief teaser video will be rolled-out at E3 showing off Final Fantasy XIII in all its next-gen splendour, and presumably sending series loyalists into an excited frenzy.

Whether this rumour turns out to be true or not, we think the next Final Fantasy game appearing on Sony's next-gen console is a pretty safe bet. The series has traditionally be married to the PlayStation brand, with rival consoles left empty handed of any "true" Final Fantasy games.

Either way, E3 is just over a month away and we'll be there to report first-hand on any hot announcements in the world of Final Fantasy. ...

Edison Carter has once again updated his Cheat Device for the Game Grand Theft Auto Liberty City Stories, heres all the details :

v1.0:
Hover cars
Gather spell
Full size video recorder
Load outside staunton safehouse
Drivable RC toys
Your car is indestructible also prevents visible damage
Gangs no longer attack you

v1.0 release notes:

Please try to limit your use of the large video recorder. The videos generated are huge to download. For technical reasons, it is not possible to display the instructions during full screen video recording without the possibility of it getting into the video, so you'll just have to remember that X+DOWN stops the recording.

RCGOBLI, RCRAIDE, RCBANDT and "tiny invisible heli" are all drivable now thanks to Vettefan. If you take the invisible heli to a pay 'n spray, it'll become visible and you can see it's the police heli that chases you when you have 3 stars.

Download & Give Feedback via comments ...

Source - IGN

It's WrestleMania 22 in Chicago, Illinois this weekend and to help celebrate the occasion, the folks from Yuke's, THQ, and WWE are going to make a special announcement tomorrow evening. To be revealed at the annual Superstar Challenge prior to this weekend's festivities (which includes the WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony and WrestleMania itself), the announcement will officially confirm the next iteration of the WWE videogame family, WWE SmackDown vs. RAW 2007.

In addition to confirmation that the game is coming to stores later this year, the most interesting piece of information actually relates to the systems on which the game is coming out -- which embrace PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions besides the expected PS2 and PSP SKUs.

This move not only marks the first time in the franchise's history that a SmackDown title will appear on two system generations at once, but also, the first time that the game will be headed to a platform other than one created by Sony.

"We are pleased to bring our highly successful WWE SmackDown vs. RAW franchise to next generation consoles," said Kelly Flock, executive vice president, THQ worldwide publishing. "As the publisher of the number one wrestling videogame brand in the world, we are eager to take this franchise to new heights by offering the game to current-generation, next-generation and handheld gamers."

"We are excited about the next groundbreaking release in the multimillion dollar SmackDown vs. RAW franchise," said Nelo Lucich, vice president of interactive, JAKKS Pacific. "WWE SmackDown vs. RAW 2007 combines ambitious, exciting features, such as the interactive fighting area within the crowd and a brand new analog control grappling system, which enhance the WWE videogame experience. We are confident this debut will offer a compelling sports entertainment experience for the next generation of gamers."

So what's this about a new analog control system and interactive crowd fighting? Specific details about those features are still a little vague, but we do know that gamers will be able to take their brawls into the audience just like on WWE programming, while also experiencing what THQ is calling "more realistic fighting" and "more intuitive movement." As stated earlier, though, what that means exactly we don't know.

What we do know, however, is that a number of improvements in other areas will certainly make the cut. Season Mode, for example, is said to feature "an unprecedented level of player choice" compared to previous games, while in-ring and outside-the-ring hotspots (which can be used to inflict bodily damage in special ways) have also been included. Moreover, arenas in SVR2K7 will be fully interactive to the point of supporting unspecified environmental damage and players will have the ability to take signs and other objects from fans and use them as weapons.

Speaking of weapons, there will be plenty of those too (more than in the last game) and brand new "High Impact Combination Moves" that round out each superstar's arsenal. Further enhancements, like an expanded General Manager mode, online play with voice chat support (finally!), high-definition displays for PS3 and 360, and updated rosters will also be included. Multiplayer fans should also be happy to note that up to six players will be able to wrestle each other at once for all three console iterations. Version details for the PSP, however, disc are still a mystery.

More info and screens at the link above: ...