via Eurogamer


Square Enix has rubbished suggestions that Final Fantasy Versus XIII is on hold.

"Reports that development for Final Fantasy Versus XIII is on hold are false," the publisher said in a statement passed on to Eurogamer.

"The truth of the situation is that when free, some staff from the Versus team have been helping with the XIII team on development of Final Fantasy XIII. Development for both titles is continuing as originally scheduled."

That rather significantly contradicts translations of game director Tetsuya Nomura's comments in a Famitsu article, where he reportedly used the words "on hold" and said "the entire Versus team is helping to finish Final Fantasy XIII".

Along with Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy Agito XIII, Versus makes up a three-game "compilation" of titles marking the next, and next-generation, step forward in the famous Square RPG series.

Not much is really known about it other than what's been seen in trailers, but Nomura has previously evoked Kingdom Hearts when searching for comparisons. Speaking to Eurogamer last May, Nomura said it would "examine the humanity of the characters in this game" and distinguish itself from the FF games' traditional fantasy worlds.

"In Versus I'm trying to propose new vision of how a Final Fantasy game can be. The game's going to be more human than the science-fiction caricature we so often see. It will focus around current world events - in that sense it's darker," he explained at the time.

It's also still happily in development, or so Square Enix says, despite the inevitable bias towards getting FF XIII - a banner game for both its publisher and platform holder Sony - out of the door as quickly as possible. Hopefully we'll hear more about its progress at E3. ...

via Computer and Video Games


LucasArts has revealed a number of details regarding new Star Wars: The Clone Wars games, 'Lightsaber Duels' and 'Jedi Alliance' for the Wii and DS.

Wii game 'Lightsaber Duels' is predictably a lightsaber battle game that uses the Wii Remote as a lightsaber.

Whilst it's not one-to-one control, LucasArts has promised that your general movement will be mimicked on screen, providing the best Wii lightsaber experience yet.

You'll be able to participate in the most memorable duels from the animated movie and TV series, while taking control of several different characters each with their own fighting skills and unique abilities.

Comparatively, 'Jedi Alliance' for DS is a story-driven action adventure game that follows the characters from the TV show. It's fully stylus controlled, which somehow makes lightsaber combat more immersive. We're interested in how that works out.

In the game, players get to chose two Jedi from a line-up of six. One will be fully controlled by the player, with AI controlling the other. The pair will embark on a series of missions involving droids, Lightsaber wielding enemies and mini-games.

The characters have unique abilities too, and can be paired up to create different combinations to unlock new areas. Sounds a lot like Lego Star Wars to us, which isn't a bad thing. ...

via Computer and Video Games


A mother whose nine-year old son wrecked a Plasma TV with a Wii Remote has developed a screen protector designed to prevent a similar catastrophe from occurring again.

The inspiration came when her son and his cousin smashed up her telly while playing Wii Sports. "The end for our Plasma screen came just two days after we had won a Nintendo Wii Console", she said to CVG.

"I was just walking into the room and watched in horror as I saw a Nintendo Wii remote flying across the room into the Plasma screen. Although it wasn't travelling very fast it soon became apparent that the collision had broken the delicate surface of the Plasma screen."

After discovering that "many, many people" had experienced a similar problem, she developed a screen protector to help save Plasma screens from flying Wii Remotes You can take a look at what she came up with below or to the right.

Personally, we've never even seen anyone lose grip on a Wii Remote, let alone damage a TV with one. Mind you, none of us have kids (that we know about).

If we did though and they broke our plasma screen, we wouldn't invent a screen protector. Oh no, we'd pack them off to brat camp spend their college money on a new TV.


Photographs ...

via Computer and Video Games


SCEE president David Reeves has admitted that while piracy on PSP "is a problem", it can fuel hardware sales.

The piracy and homebrew scene has thrived on PSP since hackers busted the console's protection software wide open just months after its 2004 release.

"There is a piracy problem on PSP," he said at the recent DevStation conference in London (MCV reports). "We know about it, we know how it's done.

"It sometimes fuels the growth of hardware sales, but on balance we are not happy about it," he said, while explaining that Sony will soon be introducing new measures to tackle piracy on the handheld. ...

via Games Industry


Seeking to answer claims it is not doing enough to promote its new games download service, Nintendo of Europe has revealed plans for a major TV push to raise awareness about WiiWare.

Marketing boss Laurent Fischer this week acknowledged that it is "Nintendo's job" to support its developers by working harder to drive consumers to the service, and pledged to "promote this more heavily on an above-the-line basis on TV and in print."

WiiWare, which launched in Europe on May 20, is Nintendo's response to Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network, offering complete, low-memory games as part of the company's existing Virtual Console Channel on Wii.

But with relatively little marketing spend going on the launch, Nintendo has received criticism in the press and from gamers via forums that it is failing in its duty to support and promote the titles developers were producing for the service.

Fischer, speaking exclusively to GamesIndustry.biz, responded to these claims, insisting that the company was already making use of existing mechanisms to fuel awareness.

"What we are doing, and this is I think important to keep in mind, is within the tools that we have at Nintendo to support and promote this feature, we are already use them as extensively as possible," he said.

"The key tools of course are the website, which is updated automatically every time we have a release. We also inform the journalists all over Europe about new titles; and we use the Nintendo Channel, which basically allows us to go directly to all of the consumers who have connected their Wii online. These tools area already there and we use them proactively and intensively."

However, Fischer conceded that a broader campaign was necessary, and revealed specific marketing initiatives were in the works to promote WiiWare via mainstream television and print media.

"The next step is that we start to develop TV campaigns – this is on different paths in different countries," he explained. "In France the TV campaign to promote WiiWare in general has already launched and I know that we're considering that kind of activity to promote WiiWare via mass market media. It's just a matter of timing between the different countries.

"We believe that this software we have is very unique so the idea is that we need to drive awareness of what is available and how it works. We know that it takes time to drive that awareness among the general public."

And in a move to reassure the small independent developers Nintendo is keen to attract to the service, Fischer added: "That's our job – to make sure as many people as possible with a Wii check out the WiiWare content. That's Nintendo's job; we are committed to this."

Fischer this week also sought to clarify as a "joke" comments quoted in the press, where he claimed only "geeks and otaku" were interested in extra storage for the Wii, revealing that Nintendo was currently "working on a solution".

LostWinds, by UK developer Frontier, is the current top-selling title on WiiWare in Europe. ...

via Eurogamer


Iconic game designer Warren Spector has said he believes lengthy adventure games are "on the way out".

The Deus Ex creator, who now heads Junction Point Studios for Disney, believes game designers need to work out how to meet a new generation of demands.

"I love working with Disney because I'm so tired of making games about guys in black leather carrying guns. I don't want to make those any more," Spector told Gamasutra.

"Building a game is as complex as making as a Hollywood movie. We are in a business that is both software engineer and entertainment, and we have to balance it. It used to be that you could trade off gameplay for graphics, but you can't do that any more.

"100-hour games are on the way out. How many of you have finished GTA? Two per cent, probably. If we're spending USD 100 million on a game, we want you to see the last level!" he added.

However, casual games have their own set of problems, according to Spector, who said, "If you don't make it on the front page, you don't get your game seen."

Spector has yet to put his name to a project since Ion Storm (Deus Ex series, Thief: Deadly Shadows) was closed by Eidos in 2004.

All we've heard of his Junction Point project is a teaser quote from the man on the studio website:

"When we do announce what we're doing, half the world's going to think we're crazy and half the world's going to think it's the coolest thing since sliced bread - how great is that?!"

Read to the full interview to find out what sort of people Spector wants to hire to help him. You'll need to love "chaos" and "change", apparently. ...

via Kotaku


It feels like forever since I first sat down with Torpex Games' dream team of Bill Dugan and Jamie Fristrom about how fast and easy it was to develop using Microsoft's XNA . While the initial prototype may have only taken four days, the company's first game, Schizoid, has been in the works for quite some time. Well now things are coming to a head, as Torpex has dropped us a line to let us know that Schizoid will be making its Xbox Live Arcade debut next month. While no specific date or price was mentioned, it's good to know I'm that much closer to getting my hands on the title I've been itching for since early 2007. ...

via Computer and Video Games


Here's the latest batch of Halo Wars screens, and it's all looking very nice.

to be cooking up a pretty chaotic RTS with the Halo universe, with Scarabs and Scorpion Tanks rumbling through massive open environments packed with smaller infantry units, Warthogs, Banshees and all sorts of other units. Read more about it in this detailed preview.

The shots below aren't the ideal resolution, but well worth a look, and you can see loads more on GamePro.


Screenshots ...

via Eurogamer


Electronic Arts has confirmed to Eurogamer that new boxing title Facebreaker will be out this autumn.

Facebreaker is in development for PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii. As Johnny reported in his preview last month, it's an arcade fighter with cartoony visuals and a sense of humour. See for yourself by checking out the videos on the gamepage.

News emerged this morning that Facebreaker has been given a September 5th release date in the US. An EA spokesperson has since confirmed to Eurogamer, "It will be the same in Europe." ...