via IGN


At long last the previously announced inclusion of Commodore 64 titles on Nintendo's Virtual Console has borne fruit, with both Uridium and International Karate available for download in the UK today. Bringing up the rear is Midway's N64 racer Cruis'n USA, ensuring that there are a generous three titles for your delectation this week.

For 500 points you can grab either of the Commodore 64 titles, Uridium being a classic horizontal shooter, while International Karate is widely credited as kick-starting videogames' obsession with placing two men on a 2D plane and making them hit each other.

And then there's poor Cruis'n USA. For 1,000 Wii points you can get your talons into Midway's arcade port for the N64, though seeing as it barely scraped a four back in 1996 you may want to steer clear, and we very much doubt that 12 years spent lingering in pits of a bargain bucket have matured the gameplay too much.

Virtual Console European Releases, March 28

Commodore 64 - 500 Wii Points

• Uridium (1986)
• International Karate (1986)

N64 - 1,000 Wii Points

• Cruis'n USA (1996)

...

via Computer and Video Games


April 9 could well be the day that Ikaruga - the fantastic arcade shooter from Treasure - will arrive on Xbox Live Arcade.

So hinted a slip up on the Japanese Xbox.com site, which seemingly revealed the date earlier than was intended (quickly picked up by Japanese site Xbox-News).

The page on the official site has since been pulled, and MS UK offered no comment. Have some points ready anyway, though, just in case.

We've already blasted through the super-sweet high-res XBLA version, with full impressions and bullet-filled videos right here. ...

via Eurogamer


Rare has confirmed that the first Xbox 360 instalment in the Banjo-Kazooie series is on track for a Christmas release.

According to man-in-the-know George Kelion, posting on NeoGaf, "The game is scheduled for a holiday 2008 release - barring the coming of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, you should be playing Banjo 3 before the end of the year (providing you buy the game, that is)."

Kelion went on to confirm that Banjo's creator, Gregg Mayles, is lead designer on the game, and sought to calm fears it's going to be one for the kids.

"I can assure you that we haven't been focused on four year-olds when creating the new Banjo game," he wrote. "We hope that you'll be pleasantly suprised with what we've cooked up."

A teaser site for BK3 is up and running, for all the good it'll do you. "I really wouldn't base your ultimate judgements of the final Banjo model from what you've glimpsed on the teaser site if I were you," warned Kelion. "All shall be revealed in due course, not that long to wait now." ...

via Games Industry


Pokemon Ranger: Batonnage has beaten off the opposition to take the Japanese chart top spot, selling almost a quarter of a million units in the process.

The data, compiled by Media Create for the sales week ending March 23, saw a completely new top four, with Deca Sporta for the Wii in second place, Armored Core for Answer on the PlayStation 3 in third and SimCity DS 2: From the Past to the Future in fourth place.

Wii Fit in fifth was one of only three titles to remain in the top ten from last week as a plethora of new titles saw releases in Japan.

Tales of Rebirth for the PlayStation Portable was another new entry in sixth, followed by Super Smash Bros Brawl, which will have surpassed the 1.5 million mark in Japan this week.

Crayon Shin-chan: Arashi wo Yobu Cinema Land took eighth spot, DS Beautiful Letter Training was ninth, and Time Hollow: Seeking the Lost Past rounded out the top ten.

Although eight of the top ten titles were on Nintendo platforms, there was some good news for Microsoft, as two new entries for the Xbox 360 made it into the top twenty - Armored Core for Answer on that console made number 13, while Army of Two was number 20.

The full top ten is as follows:
1. Pokemon Ranger: Batonnage (DS)
2. Deca Sporta (Wii)
3. Armored Core for Answer (PS3)
4. SimCity DS 2: From the Past to the Future (DS)
5. Wii Fit (Wii)
6. Tales of Rebirth (PSP)
7. Super Smash Bros Brawl (Wii)
8. Crayon Shin-chan: Arashi wo Yobu Cinema Land (DS)
9. DS Beautiful Letter Training (DS)
10. Time Hollow: Seeking the Lost Past (DS) ...

Okay, more figures are in for the sales of consoles in Japan and they revert to usual positions as follows:


Nintendo DS Lite: 65,055
Nintendo Wii: 62,404
Playstation Portable: 59,833
Playstation 3: 12,874
Playstation 2: 9,990
Xbox 360: 1,407


DS is back on top (up about 11,800) and swaps its previous 3rd place with the PSP but even so the latter increases by about 2,000. Wii stays in 2nd, up 6,600. Last three consoles on the list ar the PS3, down 2,000, PS2 up by 60 and Xbox 360 crunches by some 300. ...

via The BBC News


Video game ratings need to be overhauled to make them easier for parents and children to understand, a UK government-backed review has said.

Carried out by psychologist Dr Tanya Byron, it says more games need to be rated by official bodies.

It calls for the creation of a UK body to draw up and oversee a national strategy to keep children safe online.

It also recommends that new PCs be sold with software that will help prevent children seeing harmful online content.

Greater scrutiny

"I challenge government and industry to step up to make the digital world safer for children and young people," said Dr Byron at a press event launching the review.

One key recommendation is lowering the statutory age at which games have to go before the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) to 12.

At the moment video games only get a mandatory review by classifiers if they have "human sexual activity" or "gross violence"

Each year the industry submits about 250 games for review by the BBFC.

The introduction of a statutory requirement to classify games for children aged 12 plus will see the workload of the BBFC increase dramatically.

Dr Byron said her review had led her to conclude that parents' general lack of confidence and awareness was "leaving children vulnerable to risks within their digital worlds". The review also recommends that the ratings system be extended so that familiar BBFC logos seen on DVDs appear on all games sold in stores.

"I want parents to be empowered," said Dr Byron, "I want clear logos on all games so parents can make an informed choice."

"Kids are the digital natives, she said, "parents are the digital immigrants." While BBFC logos will adorn the front of game boxes, the "equivalent" ratings from Pegi will appear on the back of boxes. Pegi is a voluntary ratings system set up by the games industry.

"The European Pegi system works for the industry," said Dr Byron, "but the BBFC works for parents and children."

A consultation period will be held about the proposed changes to the recommendation system to which the games industry will be invited to contribute.

Before now the games industry has favoured a single system and has expressed a preference for Pegi.

The wide-ranging review also calls for more support for retailers so staff feel confident refusing to sell a game to anyone who is too young to play it.

Dr Byron also wants the government to set up a UK Council for Child Internet Safety that will report to the Prime Minister and be charged with drawing up a national strategy for online safety.

The council will co-ordinate the work of existing bodies who oversee net safety and implement a comprehensive programme that will educate parents about the benefits and dangers of using the net.

Work should also be done to see if there are technical means that can oversee where people go online and warn them about illegal or harmful sites they may visit.

It also called for the creation of kitemarked filtering software that is installed on all new PCs sold for use in the home and which is given away with all new net contracts.

The review said the online industry had to take greater responsibility when policing content posted to websites, such as video sites and social networks.

Sites where users can post their own images and videos should commit to specific time-lines for removing harmful content, recommended the report.

Search engines should also take steps to help parents limit what their children can look at and display links on their home pages to sites that can provide advice.

has recommended codes of practice for the industry, including social networking sites and video sharing sites, which should be independently monitored.

"We accept all the recommendations in the report," said schools secretary Ed Balls at the launch event.

He said the government would legislate where necessary to bring some of the recommendations into force.


Download the enitre report in PDF format from Computer and Video Games here ...

via IGN


Sierra Online, a division of Vivendi Games, is bringing the award-winning card game Lost Cities exclusively to Xbox Live Arcade for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system this Spring for 800 Microsoft points.

In Lost Cities, players draw from a pool of cards with the goal of amassing the most points and making prosperous expeditions through the various lost cities: the Himalayas, the Brazilian rain forest, the ever-shifting desert sands, ancient volcanoes and the mystifying depths of the Oceans.


Screenshots ...

via Gamedaily


In a new interview with IGN, John Koller, senior marketing manager for the PSP, shared his thoughts on the PSP's recent surge in the market and how the platform itself is evolving.


Sony has repeatedly talked about 10-year lifecycles for its consoles, but Koller also believes the PSP will stick around for 10 years. The portable may see some more changes along the way, however.


Later in the interview, Koller also clarified something that a number of us have been wondering about, namely if the upcoming Portable Copy feature (copying a Blu-ray movie to PSP) can be applied to any existing Blu-ray movie. Unfortunately it can't.

...

via Eurogamer


Following on from yesterday's PC demo, EA has thrown a UEFA Euro 2008 demo up onto Xbox Live Marketplace, and a PlayStation Network demo will also go live today.

The Xbox 360 demo is 1.1GB, and we're waiting for EA to let us know what's in the demo and how big it is on PS3.

If it's anything like yesterday's though, you'll get to take part in a match between England and Germany. Which, er, isn't terribly authentic to Euro 2008, but proves that it's not the winning or even the qualifying that counts.

UEFA Euro 2008 is due out on Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PC, PSP, mobile phone, Amstrad, crackers and T-shirts on April 18th and will include several new features over and above last year's FIFA 08, including the option to Captain Your Country. Mind you, they'll let anyone do that these days... ...