via Computer and Video Games


Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker will be available for the DS on UK shores as from March 14, Square Enix has confirmed.

Wildly dubbed as Square Enix's answer to Pokemon, Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker is the latest in the Dragon Quest Monsters series and the first to be featured in full 3D.

In Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker (one of the most unwieldy titles seen in quite a few months) players must rise to the top of the ranks by gradually collecting and fighting over 200 monsters.

In this latest iteration, a number of new changes have been made to the game play. The random dungeons have been jettisoned, and instead the game is built upon predefined levels and a world full of quests to complete.

For those who are so inclined, you can also take your monster teams online and participate in the Wildcard World Cup, available via the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. ...

via Eurogamer


Rare has rather predictably refused to say anything about GoldenEye making its way to Live Arcade.

Rumours swept from an Xbox Evolved piece claiming Microsoft, Rare, and Bond licence holders Activision had agreed to offer it on the service.

Evidence was, well, sketchy - based upon "very reliable sources" and promises the site had seen it with its own eyes.

If this does all turn out to be true, then you should apparently expect polished presentation and Live multiplayer from the N64 classic.

Speculation also suggests Rare will unleash more of its back catalogue after GoldenEye, pointing at hits like Perfect Dark and Banjo-Kazooie.

Or they could make another Viva Pinata! That's what we'd do! Listen to us, Rare! ...

via Joystiq


The United States Army is working with Microsoft to sponsor the first Halo 3 tournament to be held over Xbox Live. The tournament -- which is sadly limited to U.S. gamers only -- begins in April, and will feature prizes for top players.

Leading up to the tournament, the US Army will sponsor a series of "Basic Combat Training" mini-contests through Xbox Live, where players register and play Halo 3 on certain days in order to win. Registration has already begun for the first contest, entitled "Sniper School," and gameplay will begin on January 19. Registration for the main tournament will begin in March. ...

via Kotaku


For some reason known only to themselves, Nintendo are releasing two...unique titles on the Australian Virtual Console. The two games, which were classified on January 7, have never been seen on our fair shores, and a betting man would put good money on you never having seen them, either. The first one's Smash Ping Pong, a Famicom port of Konami's Ping Pong arcade game. The other one's *breath* Do Re Mi Fantasy: Milon no Dokidoki Daibouken, the SNES sequel to Milon's Secret Castle. Could Nintendo be planning another Japan-only Virtual Console love-in similar to last year's "Hanabi Festival"? We can only hope. ...

via Computer and Video Games


Sega has given the first detail of its partnership with International Sports Multimedia to create official games of the Beijing 2008 Olympics.

Eurocom Entertainment is behind 360, PS3 and PC versions of the game (the only ones being talked about at the moment) that'll be available this summer. Sega says the games will feature "authentic simulations" of over 35 events and incorporate control schemes that allow n00bs to learn how to play the game "while providing experienced gamers the chance to set new records".

That old chestnut. How hard can it be to learn the old "bash-the-buttons-as-fast-as-you-can" technique? There'll also be online game modes that hope to bring out the Olympic Spirit in us all, but we doubt it somehow - especially over Xbox Live.

"After the successful launch of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, we are delighted to announce the official video game of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games," said Gary Knight, marketing director at Sega. "Combining an enjoyable game with a truly global sporting license will provide a fantastic sports game experience for gamers everywhere".

More in the build up to the opening ceremony. In the meantime, take a look at the first screens below, taken from the 360 version.


Screenshots ...

via Kotaku


The BBC News had a sit down with Bill Gates at CES recently and instead of asking him their own questions, they asked him their viewers. This gem, the first in the Q&A video, asked Gates about the hardware issues that have plagued the Xbox 360, almost since launch.


Well we certainly had to apologize to our uses about a number of box that had to be replaced. We did that for free for all of those people, we've gotten a lot of positive feedback about the way we handled it. We've got incredible reliability on the new work we've done. Our commitment is that it will be the most reliable video game box out there. People really love the Xbox because of the content, but we've got to make sure that the hardware never stands in the way of that.

Later in the interview he was asked about Vista and the possibility of releasing a version that would be no-frills, but still support game playing.


Any chance of a no-frills operating system? Just a system that plays PC games and a few basics. I hate the compatibility issues Vista has. And he ends "Help"

Ha ha. Well Vista has been a very successful product. Obviously because it is so broadly used and connects up to everything we get a lot of feedback. Things to improve, new things to work on. We're hard at work on things ,we do downloads of improvements all of the time and of course there will be a major new version coming along. So Vista is very successful, ties into the new hardware advances, but we love getting the feedback. People are very passionate about their PC. They use it more than anything else.

Are you proud of Vista, because a lot of people are questioning whether you should be.

No, I'm very proud of Vista. Like all of the products we ship as soon as we get it out we hear how we could do this differently and that differently but it has been a very important product for the industry a lot of great things were done in Vista. Now we are hard at work on what comes next. ...

via IGN


Burnout 3 - for many the best in Criterion's kinetic driving series - is coming to Xbox Originals this Monday. It'll be available across all major territories with the exception of Japan for 1200 Microsoft Points.

The game joins other Xbox classics such as Halo, Psychonauts and Fable on Microsoft's Marketplace service and comes just weeks before the latest instalment in the series, Burnout Paradise, is released on January 25. The asking price for the download, 1200 Microsoft Points, translates as £10.20 or $14.99 in Earth money. ...

via Games Industry


New Line Home Entertainment has confirmed that it plans to drop support for Toshiba's HD DVD format in favour of Sony's Blu-ray platform, according to an article in the Hollywood Reporter.

The news comes after last week's announcement by Warner Bros that it would be following a Blu-ray-exclusive path from now on, a move which led to the cancellation of the HD DVD press conference at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

US TV giant HBO will also follow suit, meaning that in future some of the most popular TV series' such as The Sopranos, will not be released on the HD DVD format at all.

Recently Microsoft, which had been seen to favour the HD DVD format with the release of its Xbox 360 player attachment, stated that it had no preference on format, and that if necessary it could release a Blu-ray attachment as appropriate. ...

via Eurogamer


Angry Texans have marched to court and filed a lawsuit against Microsoft for its shoddy Live performance over Christmas.

The probably-cowboys claimed the platform holder had misrepresented itself and breached its contract through negligence.

"Microsoft knew the increase in subscriptions would increase game-play on its servers, yet failed to provide adequate access and service to Xbox Live and its subscribers," read the filing.

The trio of accusers are reportedly asking for around USD 5 million in compensation, which sounds like rather a lot given that they would just have been killed and mocked by a bunch of teenagers anyway.

Late last week Microsoft popped its head out and offered Live Gold subscribers one free XBLA game as an apology for connectivity issues over the festive season, although it's not yet clear whether you will be able to choose your game or simply get what you're given.

It also did its fair share of New Year boasting, after it boosted its worldwide Xbox 360 sales up to 17.7 million. ...