via Eurogamer


Space Giraffe developer Jeff Minter has said he's going to stop writing about game development on his blog after taking a bit of a shoeing for a late-night post earlier in the week where he complained bitterly that the Xbox Live Arcade version of Frogger was outselling his latest game "by more than ten to one".


Two days later, Minter, clearly upset by the reaction, wrote:


Seems like a shame to us. We always enjoyed hearing what he was up to. He adds: "from now on this will just be about sheep and plushies and other such non-work-related stuff". Hopefully in time he'll change his mind.

For more on Space Giraffe, check out its gamepage, where you'll find it divided opinion, but ultimately won quite a few of us and you over. ...

via Computer and Video Games


After a long and gruelling wait for Sensible World of Soccer to arrive on Xbox Live Arcade, the title was tipped off earlier this month as being set for release in late November. With only one week left in the month then, where is the footy classic?

The obvious assumption would be that Codemasters' classic will be landing on the 360 game service next Wednesday, and our suspicions have been fuelled further by confirmation of a XBLA event next week flagging up SWoS.

Could Sensi be on for a November 28 release then? We expect news either way in the next few days. ...

via MCV


One of the first titles to make the move from boxed-retail to digital-download, Eidos’ Tomb Raider: Anniversary, has today arrived on Xbox Live.

Those who already own Tomb Raider: Legend are able to download the two different packs that comprise the game – each at a cost of 1200 Microsoft points (a little over £10 each). 20GB hard drive owners note, though, that the entire game will occupy around 3GB on your machine.

Aside from Microsoft’s Xbox Arcade Collection, the only other titles to appear both at retail and on Microsoft’s network are Bethesda’s various Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion expansions.

In addition, the publisher also confirmed that the Wii version of Tomb Raider: Anniversary will be released in Europe on December 7th. ...

via MCV


Sony has revealed details of its first ever dedicated PS3 Christmas TV campaign in Europe – which will concentrate on the high definition capabilities of the system.

Themed around the tagline ‘Entertainment like you’ve never seen it before’, 60 and 30-second ads will run on UK TV from December 1st. The creative is available to view online now.

Created by agency TBWA/London, the ad is dubbed 'The Entertainers'. Its development was overseen by award-winning director Noam Murro.

According to Sony: ‘The ad takes place in a theatre style scene with a host of flamboyant characters; A magician and his beautiful team of assistants are seen on a show-biz mission to turn a scruffy mongrel into a perfectly coiffed poodle, as a reference to how PS3’s high definition and Blu-ray disc capabilities make everything – from games and movies to photos – look and sound more beautiful and detailed than ever before.

...

via Computer and Video Games




Sony confirmed yesterday that it's not making a PS Phone, but Korea doesn't care because it's gone ahead and made one anyway.

The pictures below are of the Amycoll PS3 Phone. Clearly, Sony had nothing to do with it, but the unit actually looks pretty nice with its PlayStation buttons, proper D-pad and wide LCD screen. Nice work from the boys in "Koera" as it hilariously says on the unit.

And the funniest thing is that the PS3-branded unit runs on a Microsoft operating system for which, over the years, numerous emulators have been made, most notably full-speed SNES and NES emulators. Not missing the trick, the phone actually comes with said emulators pre-installed, probably breaking every copyright law in existence.

Check out the 'Windows: designed for PS3' logo. Hah! We want one.


Photographs here ...

via Computer and Video Games


It's the Wii console's second Christmas out and there a strong sense of déjà vu in reports that talk of internet-breaking sales as punters go mental for Nintendo's console.

Amazon apparently sold 1,400 consoles in just ten minutes, when stock was renewed last week. A similar picture is painted at retailers across the country, as the widely sold-out Wii becomes harder to find with every passing day.

The craze has predictably pushed up prices of the console - some are selling on eBay and Amazon (second hand) for over £300. Just as Reggie said would be the case, there just aren't enough consoles for everyone.

It's not that Nintendo isn't making many - on the contrary the company is said to be pumping out 1.8 million units a month. That's not enough to satisfy demand, but retailers are pretty happy about it.

The chief executive of Woolworths, Trevor Bish-Jones, told the Telegraph: "There is a steady flow of Wiis into the country between now and Christmas. It will not be enough to meet all consumer demand but is sufficient for retailers to enjoy good levels of sales in the run-up to Christmas."

We at CVG could only find select shops that still had Wii consoles in stock, and that was because they were bundling the console with fives games (that you probably don't want) for £400. No thanks.


It just comes to show how retailers exploit the shortages by bumping up the price of the Wii console to ridiculous levels. Who really want's to pay over £300 for one? ...

via Eurogamer


Nintendo's Virtual Console is abubble and apunch with new releases once again this Friday as Bubble Bobble and The King of Fighters '94 arrive for download unassisted by additional made-up adjectives.

Bubble Bobble is the NES version of Taito's fondly remembered platform game, and therefore costs 500 Wii Points (approx GBP 3.50 / EUR 5), and sees players popping and pushing bubbles in the dinosauric roles of Bub and Bob, complete with two-player mode and - even more of a blast from the past - a password system for saving your progress! No expense spent! Gawp in amazement at the Bubble Bobble Virtual Console screenshot gallery for additional excitement.

Meanwhile, The King of Fighters '94 is a NeoGeo game and therefore comes with a bizarrely huge 900 Wii-Point price-tag (that's approximately GBP 6.30 / EUR 9), and allows you to beat one another up using characters from various of SNK's other fighting series including Art of Fighting, Fatal Fury and Ikari Warriors. We've got a King of Fighters '94 screenshot gallery too, you know.

Watch out for official verdicts from official Virtual Console Roundup man Dan Whitehead tomorrow. ...

via MCV


With its dominance currently being felt the world over (though maybe not perhaps quite as strongly as it once was in Japan) Nintendo’s powerhouse console the Wii is celebrating another record success – this time in Australia.

The machine has just become the fastest console to reach the 200,000 sales mark, doing so after 50 weeks on sale.
This feat beats both the PS2 and DS, which both took 55 weeks to reach the same milestone, Gamespot reports.

In contrast, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 took 68 weeks to hit the same milestone. Sony’s PS3, which launched in the territory in March, recently passed the 100,000 barrier ...

via IGN


Were you aware that Japan's Dengeki magazine group recently gave out awards for the PlayStation brand's all time best of the best?

Neither were we.

Apparently, Final Fantasy VII placed quite highly in these so-called "Den-Play Awards." The game took the award for best story, best RPG, and best overall game. Cloud Strife took the award for best character, followed by the other vertices of his love triangle, Aeris at fifth and Tifa at eighth. Six characters in all placed in the top 50, with Sephiroth at 14th, Reno at 15th and Yuffie at 42nd.

Awards awarded, Dengeki PlayStation took the opportunity to get FFXII director Yoshinori Kitase and character designer Tetsuya Nomura to sit down for a lengthy interview recapping the past ten years with the FFVII offshoot. The two offered a few short insights into upcoming projects.

The magazine asked Nomura if Cloud's role will expand from here on out. To this, Nomura responded with, "I have my hands full with Final Fantasy Versus XIII now, so I can't say anything about the future, but the scenario writer, Nojima (Kazushige), says he doesn't want to part from Cloud yet, so there will surely be something."

Next, the PS3 Final Fantasy games. The two were first asked to comment on the changes the move from the PS2 to the PS3 brings to the series.


As for Nomura, the Versus XIII director said, "Compared to the move to the PS2, the move to the PS3 is more difficult. Planning and so-forth haven't changed much as far as work is concerned, but overall, the amount of graphics work has gone up considerably. You can show tiny details, so you have to make put tiny details in your illustrations."

Getting a bit specific on the Versus project, Nomura continued, "It seems that the Versus team was, from the start, trying to get the full specifications out of the PS3, and that takes time. Just the other day, during a Versus meeting, a programmer asked, 'Is it okay to program with PS3 exclusivity in mind?'." I asked why, and he said, 'If we port it to other hardware, we have to program with that in mind.' I responded, 'Of course, Versus is PS3 exclusive.'"

While Nomura admitted that Versus will still take a bit more time, he let slip a big hint on the final shape of the game: Versus may have airships and a world map.


Nomura seems to be confident in his team's ability to deliver with Versus, though. "We still haven't announced the Versus team, but there are some well-known members in there, so it will become a good product. Also, we're getting advice from the team working on FFXIII, which is being developed first, so we're progressing well."

Square Enix usually shows new footage from its major titles at the annual Jump Festa event in Tokyo in late December. We'll be sure and let you know if anything related to FFXIII (or even FFVII) shows up. ...