Capcom has released a clutch of shots for its upcoming sci-fi shooter Lost Planet, which will be released early next year for Xbox 360.

Set on a hostile ice planet, Lost Planet follows the story of a young pilot called Wayne (great hero name) as he and a small band of humans try to repel the attention of the monstrous indigenous life forms, as well as an aggressive invading alien army.

The action is presented from a third-person perspective as the humans brave the elements to get hold of the thermal energy they need to survive. Aiding them in their quest is an impressive array of futuristic weaponry and a collection of all-terrain vehicles.

As you can see from the screenshots, Lost Planet is an incredible looking game that uses 'advanced light sourcing' to create the realistic look. There are also incredible weather effects which leave you in no doubt about the ferocity of the elements.

Lost Planet will be Xbox Live enabled with cooperative and competitive play, as well as downloadable content.

From the demos we've seen already, Lost Planet really does look spectacular and, with the creators of Devil May Cry and Onimusha on the development team, we're expecting big things from this frosty shooter. ...

News from Gamesradar

Yuke's, the developer behind the SmackDown! series, has turned its attention away from testosterone and sweat to frolicking puppies and cute canines with its new PSP game, The Dog: Happy Life.

The handheld game, which is released in Japan this month, allows you to choose some pups, dress them up, breed them (!), then take photos of the humiliated canine which can be then posted on the internet to further the poor pup's shame.

From the grabs it also seems possible to embellish and touch-up the photos to make the dogs look as though they're dancing, late for breakfast and saying hello.

While it seems to be lacking in some of the subtlety of the DS hit Nintendogs we have to throw Yuke's a bone for managing to make its game even camper. Truly remarkable.

There's no news of a UK release yet but perhaps Yuke's could include it as a SmackDown! minigame. Just a thought. ...

It's tough to keep a good bloodsucker down, and apparently Dracula was the best, as the forces of evil are attempting yet another resurrection of their dark lord in Konami's Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin for the Nintendo DS. Perhaps Dracula will be put down for the count this time, because Portrait of Ruin features a pair of protagonists working together to put the kibosh on his nefarious plans.

Players will take control of vampire hunter Jonathan Morris and the magically adept Charlotte Orlean and will be allowed to switch freely between the two to match the needs of their current situations. Both characters will have powerful summon attacks and a variety of weapons and equipment at their disposal, but they will also have their own unique strengths and abilities. Konami is also promising more than 100 different enemies and bosses on which to try out all those weapons and abilities.

Portrait of Ruin is scheduled for release this fall. Chances are good that Konami will show the game off at the Electronic Entertainment Expo next month, but until then, interested gamers can brush up on the series' first DS outing with the full review for Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow.

http://us.gamespot.com/news/6148120.html ...

It's tough to keep a good bloodsucker down, and apparently Dracula was the best, as the forces of evil are attempting yet another resurrection of their dark lord in Konami's Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin for the Nintendo DS. Perhaps Dracula will be put down for the count this time, because Portrait of Ruin features a pair of protagonists working together to put the kibosh on his nefarious plans.

Players will take control of vampire hunter Jonathan Morris and the magically adept Charlotte Orlean and will be allowed to switch freely between the two to match the needs of their current situations. Both characters will have powerful summon attacks and a variety of weapons and equipment at their disposal, but they will also have their own unique strengths and abilities. Konami is also promising more than 100 different enemies and bosses on which to try out all those weapons and abilities.

Portrait of Ruin is scheduled for release this fall. Chances are good that Konami will show the game off at the Electronic Entertainment Expo next month, but until then, interested gamers can brush up on the series' first DS outing with the full review for Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow.

http://us.gamespot.com/news/6148120.html ...

Can't wait for the World Cup? Xbox Live gamers with a copy of EA's 2006 FIFA World Cup, on sale in the UK from April 28, will be able to play multiplayer games (usually only available to Xbox Live Gold members) for free during the week of May 8 to May 15, 2006.

To access Xbox Live during the Free-For-All, all you need to do is plug a broadband cable into the back of your Xbox 360 console. Sign up for the standard Xbox Live Silver membership, and it will be upgraded to the gold package automatically on May 8th. Gold members will also be able to download the premium content only available to subscribers during the week.

As well as the chance to take on other players at 2006 FIFA World Cup, there will be limited edition consoles and free subscriptions to Xbox Live up for grabs during the Football Free-For-All.

The upgraded membership during the Free-For-All also gives players a chance to register for the Xbox Cup. The Xbox Cup, launched by Xbox, adidas and Electronic Arts, aims to find gamers to represent the UK in Germany this summer during the FIFA World Cup Finals. Teams from around the world will compete for prizes that include tickets from adidas to the FIFA World Cup. Whoever has the top spot on the Xbox Cup leaderboard on May 24 will be representing the UK in Germany.

Tottenham's Ledley King said: "The Xbox Live Football Free-For-All Week is a great chance for everyone to take on their friends over Xbox Live and I'll certainly be looking out for some of my team mates online to give them a game!"

http://uk.gamespot.com/news/6148156.html ...

Atari today announced Bandai’s brand new Dragon Ball Z® title, Super DBZ®, set for release on PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system throughout Europe in June 2006. Super DBZ is a new, highly intense DBZ® fighting experience unlike any previous DBZ game, featuring an all new arcade-style fighting system. Developed by former Street Fighter II producer Noritaka Funamizu’s new studio, Crafts & Meister, Super DBZ promises fans and gamers incredible on-screen damage and an abundance of intense combos.

"Super DBZ takes the DBZ franchise into authentic arcade fighter territory,” said Cyril Voiron, Marketing Director, Atari Europe. “This is something new and different for the DBZ series and will mesmerize gamers with its intense gameplay and technical combo systems. Bandai are working with an excellent new studio to develop this impressive title, and Crafts & Meister’s hand-to-hand combat pedigree radiates throughout Super DBZ.”

With unique fighting moves and styles for every character, including Goku, Gohan and Vegeta, Super DBZ gives gamers super-fast combination moves and battle scenes sure to satisfy any DBZ buff. In the air or on the ground, Super DBZ will give players a hardcore 3D arcade-fighting DBZ experience.

Dragon Ball Z is the gold standard of anime-based video games, with more than 25 different games and ten million units sold since May 2002. For additional information about Super DBZ please visit www.dbz-videogames.com ...

The planned online service for the PlayStation 3 continues to take shape, with sources close to the Royal Bank of Scotland telling GamesIndustry.biz that the bank is working with Sony in the UK on trials of an online payment mechanism.

The deal between Sony and the RBS was signed last week, according to our source, with trials of the payment system due to start in May - which corresponds nicely with Sony's stated timeline for PS3 development, which sees them delivering a version of the Network Platform which can be used for final testing by September.

The payment system on the PSNP - a rather cumbersome acronym which is set to be replaced before the launch of the console, possibly with the internal development name, PlayStation HUB - is set to be used for a wide range of transactions.

Sony Computer Entertainment worldwide studios boss Phil Harrison outlined many of those uses in his keynote address at the Game Developer's Conference last month, including the Xbox Live style arcade and retro game downloads, additional content purchases for PS3 titles, subscriptions to massively multiplayer titles, and even buying in-game items through regulated "real money" auctions.

Further details of the PlayStation Network Platform are expected to be announced at E3 this year, when showcasing the PlayStation 3 is likely to be at the top of the agenda at Sony's pre-show conference on Monday, May 8th.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=16300 ...

Discussing the impending launch of the Revolution console, Nintendo of America's SVP marketing and corporate communications, George Harrison, stressed the importance of third party publisher support.

In a recent interview with US magazine Game Informer, Harrison talked about the lessons learned from GameCube, noting that a lack of broader support outside of the company's own titles was detrimental to the machine's success, and it's a mistake Nintendo aims to rectify with its next generation console.

"One of the lessons we tried to learn from GameCube was that we kept things too close. And so as we got ready to launch, we had some of our own great games but third parties were kind of behind the eight ball in terms of being able to have games ready," Harrison stated.

In terms of early support for the Revolution, which launches this year alongside Sony's PS3, third party software ought to be available in abundance, Harrison confirming "We've got more than 1,000 developer kits including the controller kits, out, so there should be plenty there."

Whilst Harrison refused to be drawn on the still-unconfirmed pricing strategy for the new machine, the company ethos of introducing "disruptive devices" into the market was echoed in the interview, as Harrison reflected on the current generation and mused on what's really important for generating success.

"I think that, oddly enough, when people talk about horsepower, sheer graphical processing and things, the system that had the least impressive technical specs, the PlayStation 2, became the huge winner in the last generation," Harrison commented.

"That told us that it wasn't always just about horsepower. One of the things that we did learn, and one of the reasons that we're here today is that you have to get third party involvement early and they have to be able to get access early."

Nintendo plans to unveil further details on the Revolution console, its online and digital content support, and a number of first party software titles at the forthcoming E3 expo in May. As the convention draws closer, and the launch of the console approaches, third party developers are also starting to voice their support, and a number of launch titles are expected to be announced, if not displayed at the show in May.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=16286 ...

The growth of the mobile games industry has been stalled by a widespread failure to invest in customer satisfaction, Digital Chocolate marketing VP Jason Spero has told MobileIndustry.biz in an exclusive interview.

Spero believes that the mobile industry has hit a wall in terms of customer penetration not because of too few consumers trialling products, as is the conventional wisdom, but because many of those who do are being disappointed.

"My view is that we're churning users," he explained. "My view is that we're not satisfying end users; my view is that we've got plenty of trial. So many people in the industry are focused on trying to bring more users into the tent - and I'm happy that people are spending effort on trial, we are as well, but the industry as a whole has under-invested in customer satisfaction."

Although he wouldn't name any of the products in question, Spero claimed that Digital Chocolate has identified a "Dirty Dozen" titles which are regularly trialled by users and whose quality is so poor that those users are then lost to the mobile content market.

"There are a lot of them in the racing category, and there are a lot of them in the movies category - and every time a user shows up and downloads one of these, that user is going to be lost to the mobile ecosystem for quite some time," he accused.

"Every time we promote and feature something that is of low quality, and deliver a bad user experience, we've then taken $5.99 or $6.99 from that user, and lost them forever to the ecosystem," he concluded.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=16273 ...