Another week passes and another update for console sales in Japan are in with the change in the first 3 ranks:


Nintendo Wii: 57,068
Playstation Portable: 53,924
NintendoDS Lite: 48,658
Playstation 3: 21,008
Playstation 2: 10,429
Xbox 360: 2,891


PSP slides by roughly 19,800 into second place while the Wii tops it despite taking a 7,500 drop. The DS lite sinks further by around 3,300. PS3 see a rise by 6,500, PS2 dips 500 and the Xbox 360 up by 9, virtually no different to last week's reading. ...

via Computer and Video Games


PC gamers and handheld players will have to wait two weeks longer than originally anticipated for the PC port of Assassin's Creed and the DS spin-off, Altair's Chronicles.

Both originally dated for February, Ubisoft previously delayed them until March 28, only to now move them further back to April 11.

Speculation suggests that they may have been pushed back to fall into the fiscal year of 2008-2009, but no explanation has been reported by Ubisoft so far. ...

via Computer and Video Games


PC gamers and handheld players will have to wait two weeks longer than originally anticipated for the PC port of Assassin's Creed and the DS spin-off, Altair's Chronicles.

Both originally dated for February, Ubisoft previously delayed them until March 28, only to now move them further back to April 11.

Speculation suggests that they may have been pushed back to fall into the fiscal year of 2008-2009, but no explanation has been reported by Ubisoft so far. ...

via IGN


Valkyrie Profile appears to be the next major franchise to jump ship to Nintendo. A few leaked scans from the upcoming issue of Japan's Jump comic magazine indicate that, following recent entries on the PlayStation 2 and PSP, the series is on the way to the DS through Valkyrie Profile: Toga wo Seou Mono.

Said to be the third entry in the series, Toga will feature a new hero, Wilfred, along with classic characters like Lenneth. The game appears to utilize an isometric perspective, with sprite-based characters controlled over three-fourths view play field. This would definitely be a change of pace for the series. Developer Tri-ace is once again handling development, with Square Enix, of course, publishing.

Once games are revealed in Jump, they're usually given a more open announcement within one or two weeks. Expect to hear lots more on the next entry in one of Square Enix's most critically acclaimed series shortly. ...

via IGN


Valkyrie Profile appears to be the next major franchise to jump ship to Nintendo. A few leaked scans from the upcoming issue of Japan's Jump comic magazine indicate that, following recent entries on the PlayStation 2 and PSP, the series is on the way to the DS through Valkyrie Profile: Toga wo Seou Mono.

Said to be the third entry in the series, Toga will feature a new hero, Wilfred, along with classic characters like Lenneth. The game appears to utilize an isometric perspective, with sprite-based characters controlled over three-fourths view play field. This would definitely be a change of pace for the series. Developer Tri-ace is once again handling development, with Square Enix, of course, publishing.

Once games are revealed in Jump, they're usually given a more open announcement within one or two weeks. Expect to hear lots more on the next entry in one of Square Enix's most critically acclaimed series shortly. ...

via Gizmodo


he Nikkei business daily is reporting that Toshiba will take a $986 million hit this year for its ill-fought HD DVD campaign, though somehow the manufacturing supergiant will manage to post a roughly $2.5 billion profit nonetheless, down from a projected $2.9 billion or so.

The estimated cost of HD DVD for the company this year was supposed to be closer to half a billion, but the halt in production means costly line changes and "other charges." Toshiba itself isn't saying a word yet, but damn if there ain't truth to this. ...

via Computer and Video Games


Capcom's old-boy classic top-down shooter 1942 is being revived for Xbox Live Arcade and PSN, where it'll release this summer.

Reported on IGN, 1942: Joint Strike retains the top-down viewpoint of the original; but obviously things have moved on a bit in the hardware department since the 1980s so we're getting what's described as "impressive 3D graphics".

Fans of co-op play will no doubt be pleased to hear that Joint Strike features support for two-player offline and online blasting.

If you're unfamiliar with 1942, in a nutshell you flew a WWII plane and shot the crap out of stuff.

1942: Joint Strike will set you back 800 Microsoft Points (£6.80) or $9.99 in the US on PSN (which would be five quid here). ...

via Joystiq


Lost Planet: Extreme Condition Colonies Edition -- known around these parts as Lost Planet: Colonies or Lost Planet 1.5 -- has finally been officially announced. The game is a repackaging of the full Lost Planet title, plus a bunch of additional multiplayer and single-player extras. The good news: It'll cost about $30. The bad news: Colonies Edition multiplayer will be incompatible with current Lost Planet games.

Scheduled for a May 27 release on 360 and PC, Colonies mainly adds new, creative multiplayer modes to the original game. Several are based on holding checkpoints and CTF variants. Our favorite, however, lets one gamer control an Akrid, with the others teaming up to try to take down the alien. Different creatures are available, and we recently saw a demo showing how a spindly, player-controlled giant can make quick kills with its swiping legs.

New playable characters, new weapons, and new levels are also added. Many of those are tuned for these alien battles, giving bunkers for humans to hide from the less-mobile aliens. Xbox 360 and PC players can play against each other using paid, Xbox Live gold accounts. Non-paying PC gamers will still be able to play online, but they'll only face other PCs.

Colonies single-player adds a few new ways to navigate the snowy wastelands. Score Attack awards gamers points for dispatching enemies and destructible objects. Another mode lets gamers fight each boss in order, one after another. And an extreme-action setting juices weapons, player speed, and lets gamers plow through, head-first.

All of this seems great for the Lost Planet newbie, but current players will likely balk at buying the game again. Capcom wanted the multiplayer modes to work between the old and new editions, but cited non-specific "technical reasons" for it not happening. And Capcom hasn't announced a PS3 version, so Sony gamers will also miss out on the newfound action. ...

via Games Industry


With the price of Xbox 360 models slashed this week, Microsoft Europe boss Chris Lewis believes the aggressive move will help snare the elusive casual consumer, while reinvigorating the platform in places where it is being outsold by PlayStation 3.

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Lewis, newly promoted to full oversight of Microsoft's entertainment business in Europe, said: "There are some sweet spots of pricing, particularly in parts of Europe, that do genuinely open up larger communities to the console and certainly Euro 199 is one of those pricepoints. It's a perfect time to open up the mass-market floodgates."

Coming in the wake of the demise of the Microsoft-backed HD DVD format, the price reductions are also designed to counter increasing Sony momentum, which saw SCEE president David Reeves boast earlier this year that PS3 had already overtaken 360's installed base in Italy, Spain, France and Germany, despite 360's head start.


The entry-level Arcade unit at GBP 159 is now cheaper than Nintendo's mass-market friendly Wii, while the main Premium model, at GBP 199, is now GBP 100 cheaper than PlayStation 3.

Accepting that there have been flaws in the mission to conquer Europe to date, Lewis revealed: "We have to be more consistent, we have to be more single-minded about the message that we represent. It's making sure that we develop marketing and content there that is appropriate and that resonates with local tastes. I think we are getting consistently better at recognising that. I will say that in the early stages of the last version and this we were less fixated on that than we should be. I guarantee to you that will change."

He continued: "Let's take Spain as an example – we are heavily invested there, we've tripled the size of the team, we've put a warehouse in Spain that makes sense to the local retailers' need there. And we'll continue to invest in that way."

However, Lewis was keen to trumpet the overall strength of the platform, boosted significantly by its critically-acclaimed software portfolio and the growth of the Live online service, insisting that installed base is only part of the picture.


Part one of the full interview with Chris Lewis can be read here. ...