via Eurogamer


Don't expect a sequel for Sony Japan Studios' quirky PSP and PSN puzzle title echochrome, two of the creative folk behind the game told Eurogamer today.

Producer Tatsuya Suzuki and Kyushu University's Jun Fujiki - whose academic research into realising "trick imagery" in 3D inspired echochrome in the first place - were chatting to us at the Develop conference in Brighton.

It took a bit of discussion before they could work out whether they were allowed to say anything, but eventually, Fujiki told us starkly that "we're not doing a sequel - we're not doing echochrome 2".

It's not all bad news for fans of the mind-bending puzzler, though, because Fujiki definitely wants to work with Sony's development team again - and they're already working on a new title focused on an entirely different kind of trick imagery.

Expect more brain-breaking, M.C. Escher style visuals, then - but not echochrome all over again. Excellent. ...

via Gizmodo US


One report, it's an anomaly. Two reports, maybe one's fake. But more and more reports have been surfacing—with photos—of cracking white iPhone 3Gs. So is the white iPhone constructed in an inferior manner to the black model? Or could black iPhone 3Gs just better at hiding the cracks? We're not sure, and there's still too little info to know at this point whether the trend is something to be worried about. But does anyone in the audience have a cracked white iPhone in-hand?


Photographs here ...

via Joystiq


Rockstar has created a placeholder site for the semi-recently announced Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars which may be giving away a little more than it had planned. Along with the usual DS logo branding and ERSB "RP" badge is ... the official Nintendo W-Fii Connection emblem. It certainly looks like it's intended to be there, but we won't know for certain whether the first GTA on Ninty's dual-screen handheld will have proper online play until Rockstar says something – and that could be a while. In the meantime, we can only wait and dream of setting Liberty City ablaze with other DS users over the internet. ...

via Computer and Video Games


Naughty Dog has confirmed that a patch introducing trophies to Uncharted: Drake's Fortune will be released imminently.

Forty seven trophies will be up for grabs and a 48th trophy will be awarded should a player manage to find all of them.

They will be awarded for things as diverse as finding treasures, getting a hundred headshots or defeating fifty enemies in a row without dying.

The trophies will be tied to the medal rewards system and the requirements to get each trophy will be exactly the same as the one for the associated medal. We never saw that coming...

Finally - and of no surprise here - the trophies will not be retroactive. "We originally left our save games unlocked and portable so gamers could move them off the hard drive and their existing game elsewhere or show off some of the unlocked content at a friend's house," Naughty Dog frontman Arne Meyer told IGN.

"This type of portability would have allowed gamers to get Trophies unfairly and we couldn't let that happen. To receive Trophies in Uncharted you will have to start a brand new save game without any medals or rewards unlocked."

We'll let you know when it's time to stick Uncharted back in and give it another go. Thank goodness it's seriously worth a second play. ...

via Computer and Video Games


The successor to the Nintendo Wii is already in development and being prepared, president Satoru Iwata has revealed.


Not at all surprising news, but what will be interesting is how Nintendo addresses the massive expectation now left by its radical transition from controller to Wii Remote. What will it do next?


By the look of its current bank balance, don't expect the Wii 2 answers any time soon. ...

via Eurogamer


Electronic Arts has revealed it's currently developing 40 titles for the Wii and DS.

Sounds like the publisher is firmly committed to supporting Nintendo's consoles, then. This might be something to do with the success of Wii title Boom Blox - according to EA, 450,000 copies were sold during the most recent financial quarter.

The game "continues to sell well", said silver-haired bossman John Riccitiello. We're certainly big fans; read our review to find out why.

EA's latest financial report reveals the company made a USD 95 million loss during the first quarter of FY09. However, sales during the period doubled to reach USD 804 million. ...

via Games Industry


Nintendo has told GamesIndustry.biz that it has so far this year seized almost 30,000 piracy devices which infringe company copyright.

The numbers come following Nintendo Japan's lawsuit, which with the help of 54 other publishers, aims to tackle the growing threat of DS piracy devices such as the R4 cartridge.


The notorious R4 chip is available to buy over the internet, and allows hacked code to be transferred easily onto the Nintendo DS and played via a cartridge and memory card.

...

via Eurogamer


The PlayStation 3 has sold twice as many units worldwide this summer than during the same period last year, producing smiles and maybe lunch parties with wine at Sony.

Between April and June 2008 shoppers snapped up 1.56 million PS3 consoles - over double the 700,000 figure from 2007.

PSP sales were also up, climbing from 2.13 million in 2007 to 3.72 million in 2008.

Software figures followed a similar trend. PS3 game sales surged upwards by 18.1 million units, more than quadrupling the 4.7 million figure for the period in 2007.

PSP game sales increased by 2 million, bringing the April to June total to 11.8 million.

Sony saw a slight slump in PS2 hardware and software numbers, although both figures are still more than respectable: 1.51 million consoles shifted and 19.3 million game sales.

Sony still expects to sell 10 millions PS3 consoles this financial year, which ends March 2009, as well as 15 million PSP handhelds. ...

via Eurogamer


Developer Hothead Games has dismissed suggestions it's favouring Xbox 360 and PC, following the recent and long-awaited confirmation of Penny Arcade Adventures for PS3.

"Everyone seemed to come up with their own rumours. They thought there was exclusivity or that Penny Arcade doesn't like the PlayStation 3 but that wasn't it at all," Vlad Ceraldi, Hothead boss, told Kotaku.

Top priority, explained Ceraldi, is getting the game finished as soon as possible - which is why he stuck with PC, Xbox 360 and Linux to begin with.

Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness is due out on PS3 this autumn, following a rather poor reception on PC and Xbox 360 in May.

There are four episodes planned for the deranged 1920s horror-cum-comic adventure, according to Ceraldi. And when those are finished, the Penny Arcade creators will explore other settings and storylines.

Incidentally, Hothead would love to bring the RPG adventure to Wii, only the game is too big for a console without a hard drive. Oops.

"It's purely an issue of size limit. Our game is just too big. If they increase that limit or add a hard drive, anything like that we would revisit [Wii Ware]," said Ceraldi.

Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness costs 1600 Microsoft Points (GBP 13.60 / EUR 19.20) on Xbox Live Arcade. ...