Yet again Sony has released a downloadable game on the PlayStation Store that is already available in a better form on PSP. The original Wipeout from the days of PS1 has landed in downloadble form on Sony's PS3 market. I'm sure for hardcore Wipeout fans this is exciting and more playable games for PSP is never a bad thing, but why can't Sony focus on games that aren't already available on PSP and give us some downloadable games worth getting excited about? I'm sitting with my hands outstretched and they have money in them. Sony can take that money as soon as they give me some games I want to download and enjoy on my PSP.

via pspfanboy ...

Both Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl -- the true follow-ups to the immensely popular Pokemon RPG franchise -- will hit the Nintendo DS in late April, so it makes sense that, this close to the release, we're finally seeing an English language build. At Nintendo's booth at the Game Developers Conference, that's exactly what we saw. Sort of. The Pokemon Company threw together an extremely limited demo for show attendees, playable for ten minutes or until you get to the demo's goal. Whichever came first.

In the demo playthrough, we're immediately tossed in Jubilee City in the Sinnoh Region, led through a specific path that will take us, eventually, to a cavern. Before we head off to our adventure, we're handed a Pokemon Watch which displays the time digitally on the lower screen.

However, a brief conversation later we're right into a battle with a trainer ready for the pouncing. Luckily for us, we have level 30 critters at the ready, including Lucario, Roselia, and Mime Jr. The first trainer first tried to take us down with his Buizel and Mantyke, but we stood strong and trounced him easily using the easy to navigate touch-screen interface to toss a few attacks in his direction. The second trainer posed no problem, either. He tossed his whole arsenal of Chatot and Pachrisu at us. Again. No problem. The third trainer brought forth his Kricketot and Cherrim, but again, with such powerful Pokemon in our pockets it was hard not to win.

The demo ends right when we strike up a conversation with the person who's blocking the entrance to the cave. A brief "See you when Pokemon Pearl and Diamond are released" message later and the demo comes to an end. It'll also end if you spend too much time lollygagging in the battles or on the path.

If you haven't been following the development of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, the two games are modest upgrades to the Game Boy Advance titles. Character models, backgrounds, creature designs and other elements mostly consist of skewed 2D sprites and bitmaps, though you might encounter a structure or two that actually pushes the 3D capabilities of the Nintendo DS system. The real hook in the update is the touch screen navigation which, admittedly, makes moving through menus a dream compared to the D-pad/button interface of the previous games.

The final game will feature Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection support so that players can battle over the internet. The game will also interface with the upcoming Pokemon Revolution Wii title where players can link their system and copy of Pokemon Diamond/Pearl so they can battle their characters in 3D on the Wii system. That feature was also demonstrated at Game Developers Conference, though the versions used in the demo were entirely in Japanese. The DS and Wii systems synched up quickly and smoothly, and enabled a full touch-screen control of the battles via the connection.

The DS games, already available in Japan since September 2006, will ship in the US on April 22nd. We'll have more on the games in the weeks leading to their release.

via ign ...

via ign

All right, so Nintendo has already established that DS provides exercise for your brain while Wii gives your body a workout. But that doesn't mean that Wii owners can't take part in daily mental training, too. It's with that thought in mind that the company is readying Big Brain Academy for its home console. The title is inspired by the DS-based brain titles before it, but puts the unique abilities of the Wii remote to use in order to enable a fun and challenging multiplayer brain-off.

Nintendo showcased a fully playable version of Big Brain Academy at the Game Developers Conference 2007 in San Francisco and naturally, we were on hand to give it a try. The project can be enjoyed by a single-player, but one of the main advantages of the Wii build is a two-player challenge and Nintendo encouraged gamers to try out the mode at its GDC booth. In it, two gamers square off in vertical split-screen brain tests. Some will be familiar to those who played Big Brain Academy on DS, but others are brand new to the Wii build. Nintendo says some 15 activities spanning five categories, from memory and analysis to number crunching, visual recognition and quick thinking, are new to the console version.

Gamers who have never played any of Nintendo's brain games will find the experience similar to Wario Ware on some level, meaning that mini-games rotate in and out of the screen and players have only seconds to complete them, either correctly or incorrectly. The big difference, of course, is that the minis in Big Brain are, in fact, designed to give one's mind a good workout and in some cases, a hard walloping. Using the Wii remote, players interact with on-screen puzzles and aspire to best them quicker than their opponent. We're not embarrassed to admit that our initial attempts at some of the mind twisters resulted in poor completion times only comparable to Neanderthal man or perhaps well-trained monkeys and we're only a little embarrassed to admit that we were playing on easy.

Some of the puzzles were simple. For instance, five different numbers appear on screen and you have to eliminate the a couple of them with the Wii remote so that the end sum forms the five, or three, or two, or whatever predetermined figure the game has selected. In another, players must watch as characters are placed underneath rotating cups and then identify where they are hidden when the objects finally stop moving. In one more, the object is to snugly fit two different protruding pieces of a 3D cube together. In one more, gamers must draw the pathway for a railway. Finally, gamers may have to pop a series of balloons with numbers painted on them in order of lowest to highest. None of the activities require any complex movements from the Wii remote; rather, in most cases, a simple point and button press will do. Obviously, Nintendo's plan is to keep the presentation simple so that - like the DS versions - players of all ages can enjoy the experience.

The graphics are simple - so much so that it's easy to see that they were inspired by the DS version. And yet, the colorful, stylized presentation does have a charm all its own. It is, at the very least, inviting, which is probably the goal.

It may still be too early to tell if Nintendo can duplicate the handheld success off the Big Brain series for its Wii console, but from what we've played so far, it's off to a great start. Not only is Brain Age Academy as pick-up-and-play friendly as its DS predecessors, but it's also challenging and it sports a two-player mode that adds a much-needed competitive element. ...

Nintendo of America was on-hand at the Game Developers Conference 2007 with a handful of playable Wii titles, including the anticipated platformer/RPG Super Paper Mario. We took the gorgeously stylized sleeper for a spin and walked away completely dazzled. The title, which was originally planned for GameCube before it made the jump to Wii, is a sequel to the hit GCN game Paper Mario and bears many similarities to its predecessor. For one, it is brought to life with a quasi-2D style made possible with cardboard cut-out visuals. Mario is literally paper thin as he walks through colorful storyboarded environments complete with blocky clouds and skinny enemies. In addition, the title is neither a dedicated platformer nor RPG, but a combination of the two. That being said, in our experience Super Paper Mario leans closer to the former than the latter, as some of the turn-based battles of previous games have been thrown to the wind in favor or new real-time action. But the commonalities seem to end there because Super Paper Mario takes the 2D/3D relationship several steps farther and really bathes itself in new and improved play mechanics, which are deeper and more engaging than ever before, even as it oozes enough style to satiate any desire for nostalgic presentation.

In Super Paper Mario, gamers control not only Nintendo's classic Italian plumber, but also Peach and Bowser, too. The characters become unlocked and join Mario's party, so to speak, as he progresses through the adventure, which Nintendo promises will be lengthy and challenging. In fact, a company representative suggested that the title could take some players upward of 40 hours to complete. Gamers grip the Wii remote classic style and move the mascots through the levels with the D-Pad, sacrificing true analog controls - and trust us, nobody is even going to notice. The 2 button causes the selected hero (or heroine) to jump into the air and the 2 button executes special moves endowed by floating collected Pixls, which we'll explain in detail momentarily. But the most important function falls to the A button, which literally transforms the play field from 2D to 3D in an instant.

full article at ign ...

Nearing the end of his anticipated Game Developers Conference 2007 keynote, Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto played a short, but incredibly sweet new video of Super Mario Galaxy in motion. The movie showcased less than two minutes of new gameplay footage, but it was enough to ignite a wave of applause from excited Nintendo fans.

In the video, Mario again collects stars and soars through space, landing atop giant spherical bodies complete with enemies and platformer obstacles. In addition, though, the footage debuts a variety of different, never-before-seen planetoids, baddies, and challenges, all of which look incredible. In older demos, Mario could be seen traveling across more traditional asteroids and planets, but in the new trailer he is shown bounding across enormous eggs, glass cylinders, exploding volcanoes, through stars, onto grassy knolls, on wooden planks, and even onto gargantuan apples, among other objects. It's clear that Nintendo has absolutely abandoned any attempt at keeping a galactic logic of laws with the game, which is, we're sure, just fine by everybody.

Although regular-sized worlds make up the backgrounds in many of the galaxies Mario explores, the mascot seems to traverse much smaller bodies, going from spheres to apples, from volcanoes to glass cylinders, and so forth. Gamers expecting giant land masses are - at least so far - out of luck. That noted, Nintendo has done quite a lot with the objects and obstacles in place as many of them seem to change dynamically or are altogether interactive.

When Mario reaches the end of a grassy peak, a beanstalk sprouts from its edge, rises into space and eventually connects to another body, enabling Nintendo's iconic mascot to jump to it. Later in the footage, Mario stomps a protruding cork into an oversized apple and a greenish walkway extends from the giant fruit. Mario is sent flying over flowing volcanic landscapes and crashes through pillars in the process. All of the planets share one trait in common, which is that they ignore gravity, which means that Mario can run up and over or down and under anything he sees. As readers can imagine, the physics go hand-in-hand with a series of impressive environmental puzzles. In one sequence, gamers must use the Wii remote to first point at and then drag Mario through a hazardous obstacle course made of fiery planets, but the satellites spew flames as he nears them.

Mario is seen swimming and battling what appears to be a fish boss of some kind in one snippet of the footage. In another, a spiral galaxy twists in the depths of space as he flies to a nearby ship. It's evident from the footage that gamers have only seen a very limited selection of the game's variety.

Galaxy is probably the prettiest title yet for Nintendo's new console. Not only does the art design shine with stunning characters, worlds and enemies, but the mascot and environments come to life with a host of graphical effects. The title's crispy-clean textures look to be bump-mapped in some cases, and we can't recall spotting better particle effects in a Nintendo title. Plus, everything runs in progressive-scan and 16:9 with a silky smooth framerate.

Via IGN ...

Ubisoft's Prince of Persia swung onto the PS2 in 2003, bringing an acrobatic flair to adventure games that had long been missing. His follow up adventures, Warrior Within and Two Thrones, further cemented his hold on the genre. But now the prince is leaving the consoles for the portable realm with Prince of Persia: Rival Swords. We had a chance to play the game at GDC, and came away with new impressions of the upcoming title.

While the noise in the expo hall prohibited us from overhearing the plot, we noticed that the game opens with the prince on a boat, reflecting on his life and the various events of the previous games. His ship comes under attack by flaming arrows and catapults from a keep overlooking the sea, which eventually shatters the deck of the vessel. Barely escaping with his life, the prince grabs hold of flotsam and drifts towards the nearby shore. Seeking some amount of vengeance for the attempt on his life, the prince enters the keep looking for blood.

Like the console versions of the game, the prince retains his gymnastic rolls, flips and mantling abilities. In fact, the game throws you into immediately leaping over gaps, shimmying across ledges and sliding down ladders within the first thirty seconds of play. The sense of verticality is back as well, as you'll climb columns and bounce back and forth between pillars, or use your dagger to cut a path down tapestries. The dagger isn't only for breaking your fall, since you'll be able to use it to perform stealth kills or pair it with a secondary weapon to increase your combos in battle.

Of course, with the split second timing that Prince of Persia games require during puzzle sections or some battle sequences, players really need a solid camera. Fortunately, the camera in Rival Swords is responsive, with the ability to use the L button and the directional pad to move the camera around at any time. You won't have to constantly adjust the camera, because it will intelligently place itself during certain moments, like making jumps between pillars. Players will also have landscape moments where you can get a bird's eye view of an area, including any possible threats that may await you, like guards or traps.

Depending on the amount of sand you collect, you'll be able to unlock various artwork and illustrations in two different galleries. However, there's much more to the game than the single player story. Players can launch into chariot races at any time and run horses around three separate tracks: a ruined city, an underground sewer and a desert area. Players will also be able to engage other people in multiplayer matchups. Since there was only one PSP running the title at the conference, we couldn't try it out or see how many people would be able to fight each other. We'll have more on Rival Swords as soon as possible.

via ign ...

via ign

The shockwaves felt from the announcement of Sony Computer Entertainment's impending online community Home are still rippling through the industry. So far, of course, that impact has put all the focus on PlayStation 3, but in the future, SCE may be able to use re-direct some of the Home movement towards its other "Game 3.0' system, the PlayStation Portable.

In a Home technical FAQ on Sony Computer Entertainment's DevNet service, the company addressed the question of whether Home will be accessible outside of your PlayStation 3. The company confirmed that aspects of Home are being considered for use on PlayStation Portable and possibly cellphones. Sony did not answer directly what its intentions might be with a mobile version of Home or give a timeline of when to expect further answers on these possibilities. The full quote about how Home relates to PSP is as follows:

Q: Is Home a PS3 specific service? Will users be able to access Home through other devices? Initially Home will only be accessible via that PLAYSTATION®3, although over time our intention is to enable users to interface certain Home features and services via other networked devices such as PlayStation®Portable (PSP®) and mobile phones.

IGN regular DarthBrian calls this "Virtual PSP" in Home a tease.
We're hoping that instead, it's a hint...

However it might be that Sony could "enable users to interface certain Home features" with PSP would be welcome -- this system is dying for a community network service of some type. However, PSP owners might want to temper expectations of a portable Home until we see what Sony actually does with it. It could well be that while the communication aspects of Home might come to PSP, it would be in the form of a more standard communication service -- text chat, VOIP exchanges, AIM-style Friend Lists, etc. -- than a full-fledged 3D version of home on the portable. Although Home is an amazing application capable of 3D gaming and other forms of interactivity, its underlying principle technology is simply standard communication methods (in fact, users can skip Home's virtual world entirely and just message or chat with each other on the standard PS3 XMB menu.) So, while your friends are exploring a 3D world of people and conversations, PSP home users might simply see a chat log and a Lobby List.

Even that, however, would be a huge service for the PlayStation Portable, which currently has no means of communicating with the PlayStation Network userbase and no community service of its own (unless you count the online crowd gathered for SOCOM and Syphon Filter battles.) Whether the PSP does or does not have a virtual world version of Home (and we're not saying it won't -- we're just saying that Home services might be quite different from what we're all excited about on PS3), that still means you would have Friend Lists and email access and the ability to challenging gamers before booting your favorite PSP game to see if anybody is online to play it. Plus, this would give PlayStation gamers a portable means of checking out what's going on at Home when they're not at home to check in on PS3.

Home is a major part of the future of PlayStation, and we'll be following its developments to see how Home expands and (hopefully) where else gamers can call Home. ...

via ign

The PSP GPS adapter hasn't seen too much support since its release late last year, but that's about to change. In Japan, the latest issue of Famitsu is home to a final release date for Sony's highly anticipated GPS update to Minna no Golf (known as Hot Shots Golf internationally).

Minna no Golf Ba Vol.1, as the game is being called, will hit Japan on 5/31 at a slightly pricey 5,980 yen. This is about 1,000 yen higher than most standard PSP games, and it doesn't even include the GPS unit. Sony will also offer a GPS unit bundle, at a cost of 9,980 yen.

The inclusion of a "Vol.1" in the title suggests that there will be future installments in the series. Sadly, Sony has yet to comment on the new addition to the name. ...

via ign

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII has a habit of making a brief appearance and then disappearing without a trace for months. The last sighting was at the Japanese Jump Festa event last December, where Square Enix unveiled a playable version that blew us away with its visuals and production values. Then, all went silent.

The game has resurfaced again, this time on the pages of Famitsu. The magazine has a four page update on the title, with new story and gameplay details, and some hints on when we can expect another look (following what we presume will be a period of complete radio silence).

We now have complete details on two characters who seem to have the biggest roles in the game's story. First off is Zack, who made a brief appearance in the classic FFVII title and is the main character in Crisis Core. Famitsu reveals his last name: Fair.

Joining Zack Fair is a first class solider named Angeal Hewley. He travels with Zack heavily, and the two have developed a strong trust, with Angeal acting as the teacher and Zack the pupil. He's also apparently well connected to the Sephiroth and Genesis characters. An image in Famitsu shows Angeal, Sephiroth and Genesis in a face off in the city of Junon.

Proucer Tetsuya Nomura shared some comments with the magazine on the two characters. He pointed out that Zack's last name, Fair, contrasts with Cloud, the hero of Final Fantasy VII. Hewley is a Greek term.

The Famitsu story also clears up a few points about the battle system, which we got to experience at the Jump event. In our hands-on writeup, we mentioned a mysterious three-slotted roulette that appeared at the top-left of the screen. This is known as the Digital Mind Wave. The DMW spins around on its own and automatically stops. Based on the number on which it stops, your character earns a variety of status upgrades, including increased HP and a full MP meter. Once you've gotten your rewards, the roulette automatically begins spinning again.

The DMW is the key to getting special Limit Break attacks during battle. The roulette has character images in addition to numbers. If all three slots stop on the same image, you get a powerful attack or recovery move, depending on the image.

Nomura wouldn't give a final release date to the magazine, but he did reveal that the latest version of the game will be available for play at May's Japan-only Square Enix Party.

At the very least, Japan can expect this game in 2007 now, as the official release date in Famitsu was recently changed from TBA to TBA 2007. ...