via Eurogamer


Square Enix has explained what will be different in the retail version of Final Fantasy XIII compared with the recently-released Japanese demo.

Crucially, levels and summons will be added to FFXIII, according to a list on 1UP that is compiled from various internet destinations.

Battle difficulty will be greatly increased, too, making this "the most difficult Final Fantasy ever", if director Motomu Toriyama is to be believed. And while the demo only focuses on one player, the retail version of the JRPG lets party members be controlled and commanded during battle. We'll be able to see combat from more angles, too.

Chain attacks will be vital in the full game, and no longer will characters continue to attack thin-air if they accidentally kill an enemy at the beginning of a chain. Snow will be tooled up at launch and no longer rely on his bare fists, too.

There's to be an "item" command added for battles, and more segments will be able to be added to the Time Gauge via a new character growth system.

Incidentally, the classic Final Fantasy victory fanfare will be there at launch and Square Enix is considering adding victory poses.

There will also be command shortcuts to speed proceedings, plus we're promised dialogue subtitles and a solid frame rate.

We went hands-on with the Final Fantasy XIII demo recently and conclude that "things are looking overwhelmingly positive".

The prospect of a European demo, however, isn't. A solid release date for Final Fantasy XIII here is also unknown, with a broad 2010 estimation our only signpost so far.

Japan, on the other hand, receives Final Fantasy XIII this winter exclusively on PlayStation 3.

The game will spread to Xbox 360 as it heads West. ...

via Games Industry


Apple has announced the financial results for its second quarter, ended March 28, with iPod and iPhone sales offsetting a three per cent decline in Mac sales.

The company saw revenue hit USD 8.16 billion, compared to USD 7.51 billion year-on-year, with a profit of USD 1.21 billion, compared to USD 1.05 billion. This translates to USD 1.33 per diluted share, compared to USD 1.16 for the same period the previous year.

Apple sold 2.22 million Mac computers during the quarter, down three per cent, at the same time more than 11 million iPods were sold, representing a growth of three per cent. Meanwhile, the iPhone sold 3.79 million units, a 123 per cent unit growth year-on-year.


Apple's stock is currently trading for USD 121.51, a drop in 0.21 per cent from the previous closing price. ...

via Games Industry


Apple has announced the financial results for its second quarter, ended March 28, with iPod and iPhone sales offsetting a three per cent decline in Mac sales.

The company saw revenue hit USD 8.16 billion, compared to USD 7.51 billion year-on-year, with a profit of USD 1.21 billion, compared to USD 1.05 billion. This translates to USD 1.33 per diluted share, compared to USD 1.16 for the same period the previous year.

Apple sold 2.22 million Mac computers during the quarter, down three per cent, at the same time more than 11 million iPods were sold, representing a growth of three per cent. Meanwhile, the iPhone sold 3.79 million units, a 123 per cent unit growth year-on-year.


Apple's stock is currently trading for USD 121.51, a drop in 0.21 per cent from the previous closing price. ...

via Gizmodo




Coming this fall is "The Strike," a fishing game promising "realistic lake bottom topography, life-like fish behaviors" and more, and with it, this bait-and-tackle controller. I can almost smell the Mercruiser fumes. ...

via Eurogamer


Atari has released the first set of changes for Xbox 360-exclusive driving game RACE Pro.

The title update - automatically downloaded from Xbox Live - fixes a slew of single- and multiplayer issues. Most of them are minor and technical bugs that make the list too long and boring to reproduce here. And we normally quite like lists - oh look, a train!

This update is a response to the requests of the community, apparently, which also explains why so much of it focuses on multiplayer.

If you're still pondering a RACE Pro investment, why not revisit our review and mull it over? You can probably add 0.0001 to the score now these fixes are in place. ...

via IGN


There's no denying it! The silence is officially over for Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers. Famitsu managed to get yet another update on the game in its latest issue, complete with commentary from producer Akitoshi Kawazu and director Toshiyuki Itahan.

The major point of note in this update is the first info on a new character, a Selkie male named Keiss. Having earned the trust of army leaders, Keiss takes up a job guarding the Alexis II air ship, a symbol of peace.

Keiss and main character Layle are work partners. They're partnership is just part of the story, though. You don't actually form parties in Crystal Bearers, so you don't directly control Keiss.

Outside of the Keiss and the characters introduced in the original unveiling of the game a couple of weeks back, we can apparently look forward to one additional primary character, a female Selkie who may have the hots for Layle.

In addition to the new character, the magazine introduces a couple of new gameplay systems: Playable Events and Demon Reaction.

Playable events allow you to interact with the game during event scenes, shaking the Wiimote or pointing at particular areas of the screen. Some of these scenes have to be successfully cleared in order to progress, but in general the story will proceed regardless of your success.

One example of a Playable Event has Layle falling through the sky. Demons fall towards him, and you have to aim the Wiimote to shoot them.

The Demon Reaction system is something that we've already seen in the teaser video clips at the teaser site. The demons of the Crystal Bearers world have their own AI and movement patterns. If you let them be, they'll interact amongst themselves. The enemies react to one-another, and to Layle's attacks, in various ways, with Kawazu noting that the game includes a considerable number of patterns.

Crystal Bearers is still without a final release date, but it's certainly reassuring to see it get so much coverage of late. The wait to play will hopefully not be too long. ...

via Computer and Video Games


Sony has revealed its "environmentally-aware" puzzle game, Trash Panic, for PSN. It was revealed yesterday, on Earth Day, but as Google hadn't changed we didn't know.

In the game, you have to "stop a virtual environment being swamped by an ever-flowing tide of rubbish", clearing the junk away by "arranging it strategically in a giant rubbish crate before it overflows".


It'll be out in spring. ...

via Eurogamer


Atari will bring Wii role-playing game Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World to Europe this autumn, complete with some exclusive regional content.

Those bits are a Gallery mode - unlocked on game completion, containing gameplay skits and various concept art - and more masks and headgear for new heroes Emil Castagnier and Marta Lualdi.

Dawn of the New World picks up where the GameCube's excellent Tales of Symphonia left off, and follows Emil and Marta as they journey to find out what's gone wrong with their world

The major new addition is the monster collection system that lets players capture and evolve over 200 monsters and use them in battle. But only three can be picked at a time, so selection will need strategical relevance based on the enemy at hand.

Dawn of the New World lets you and up to three friends work co-operatively during the real-time battles, too.

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New world has already been released in Japan and the US. Metacritic averages Western opinion at 68 per cent. ...

via Joystiq


We've always enjoyed SNK Playmore's long-running fighting franchise (the aptly named King of Fighters series), though we often find ourselves stuck with an inexplicable desire to see the series' adroit brawlers fly effortlessly through the air while shooting bullets out of their hands.

... No, you know what? We're not going to lie to you. We've never thought that. Nobody has, ever. Until now, that is -- Famitsu recently outed SNK's latest, and arguably most bizarre project ever: An Xbox Live Arcade shoot 'em up based in the KoF universe, tentatively titled King of Fighters Sky Stage. Based on the early screenshots we've seen, we're still trying to decide whether the game is going to be awesome or too awesome. Maybe you haven't heard: People. Flying. Shooting. Bullets. Out. Of. Hands. ...