C3: Considering the strong sales of Shadow Dragon in Japan, will you be trying to bring more of the ‘classic’ Fire Emblem games to a larger audience by remaking them on DS or Wii (such as Thracia 776)?

Horikawa: First of all, our priority is to ensure that this title is favoured by enough many customers all around the world, achieving a great final sales figure. This is a message to every game player out there - please give Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon a try!

C3: Now that development of Fire Emblem on DS has been completed, can fans expect a new Wii version from the team or will development continue on DS?

Horikawa: As for sequels, I think time is not ripe yet to disclose such information, either what our exact plans are or what platform we will focus on next. However, hopefully I will be able to announce something in the near future that will make all fans very excited…

Full interview here

That Spore kerfuffle earlier in the year sure seems like spilt milk compared to Rockstar’s GTA IV balls-up. The multiple DRM systems have proven to be the least of the troubled port’s problems - seems Kieron was lucky to even get into the thing, never mind that half his graphics were AWOL.

Everyone’s having their own problems, it seems. So, below the cut: a quickie poll to see how many of you lot are having problem with the game. That’s along with more ranting from me, and a list of the many fun Fatal Errors players are running into. I’m a victim of RMN40, which apparently means I need to install XP SP3. Problem is I’m running Vista. Nice!

(...)
Read the rest of GTAgate: How Was It For You? (1,044 words)

Posted by ento. | 49 comments | Donate or subscribe to RPS | Post tags: feature, gta IV, reader poll, rockstar, what a sad end to the year
This article is from Rock, Paper, Shotgun. If you're reading it on any other website, they're stealing it from us without permission.

Rock Band 2 vs. Guitar Hero: World Tour. For other systems, it's an arms race for the most features. For us, it's a battle to remove the fewest. For Australian Wii owners, the winner will be the game that actually gets released!

Rock Band 2 drum kit hides mystery port originally appeared on Nintendo Wii Fanboy on Thu, 04 Dec 2008 13:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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For digital console downloads, this was a slow week for all concerned. But it's to be expected - we're right at the beginning of December.

GamerByte's pick of the week would be Banjo Kazooie on Xbox Live Arcade. Being a huge fan of platform games - 2D and 3D, Banjo is a very welcome addition to the service, especially since we've got such a drought of platformers on all systems.

If you didn't manage to pre-order Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts to get your free code, it's still worth the 1200 Microsoft Points for a good 10-12 hours of content.

Here's the highlights for this week:

Xbox Live Arcade

This Week In XBLA - Banjo Kazooie
This week you can relive this fantastic Nintendo 64 platformer, now with HD visuals.

Denki Working On XBLA Project
The creators of the hidden Game Boy Advance gem Go! Go! Beckham are now working on a secret Xbox Live Arcade project.

1UP Specials Check Out Peggle XBLA
During this week's 1UP Show special, the crew look back on some missed gems over the past few months. When discussing Peggle Nights, they also discuss the upcoming Xbox Live Arcade version.

Reawakening The Sleeping Giant: The Pac-Man CE Interview
Christian Nutt at Gamasutra sits down with the people behind Pac-Man CE and Galaga Legions to understand the thinking process behind revitalizing classic Namco franchises.

Interpol Still On Its Way To Xbox Live Arcade
Sierra Online no longer appears to be, and with it go many of its XBLA games that were so close to release. At least one has been saved - Interpol has now been picked up by Microsoft.

PlayStation Network

Start-Select Preview Crash Commando
UK video game show Start-Select check out side scrolling Contra-esque multiplayer title Crash Commando on this week's episode.

EU PlayStation Store Update: Booty Docks, GTI Club+ Demo Available
The European PlayStation Store finally get Capcom's Age Of Booty, and also get the chance to play the demo of GTI Club+, which is coming in just a few weeks' time.

WiiWare

NA WiiWare Update - Pit Crews and Invaders From Space
The North American WiiWare update includes Hudson Soft's Pit Crew Panic, as well as Taito's Space Invaders Extreme.

OFLC Reveal Hudson's Onslaught For WiiWare
Another Australian classification website revelation for WiiWare games - Hudson bringing Onslaught to WiiWare.

Continue reading Second Life 1.22 (RC2) now available

Second Life 1.22 (RC2) now available originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 04 Dec 2008 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I wish the industry could find a way to make PC gaming more broadly successful. There are so many challenges for PC gaming – the complications from systems specifications to the drivers – most people look at PC games and say, ‘What are you talking about?’

The organizers of the Independent Games Festival Mobile have revealed a total of 107 entries for the second year of the event, more than doubling the amount of entries seen in the inaugural competition.

The entries were bolstered with a strong showing from the emergent iPhone and iPod Touch platform, but entries spanned platforms including mobile phones, DS, PSP and the Zune.

The event (organized by GameSetWatch parent Think Services) is a sister competition to the long-running Independent Games Festival, which announced record entries last week.

IGF Mobile itself, founded in 2007, has seen a host of notable independent projects enter the contest -- for which $30,000 in prizes are to be awarded at GDC 2009 next March. Nvidia is Platinum and Founding Sponsor for the event, and the prize pool includes a Best iPhone Game, presented by Gold Sponsor ngmoco.

A full list of IGF Mobile 2009 entries is now available, including screenshots and details on each of the entries. As always, many of the top IGF Mobile games will only come to the fore during the judging process -- and there are many high-quality titles not listed below.

However, a diverse set of entries have come from many different mobile formats and multiple continents, with the diversity of mobile platforms being reflected in some of the following entries:

Zen Bound [iPhone/iPod Touch] (Secret Exit)
"Zen Bound is a calm and meditative game of wrapping rope around wooden sculptures -- a simple task that can become surprisingly complex."

Soul Trapper [iPhone/iPod Touch] (Realtime Audio Adventures)
"Soul Trapper is a 3+ hour interactive audio adventure that follows the turbulent life of Kane Pryce, a 27 year-old drifter who possess a mysterious device known as the Soul Trap, a supernaturally charged object that allows him to hunt down, capture, and send ghosts from the earthly realm to the afterlife."

Picopoke [MMS] (Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab)
"Picopoke is an interpretive photo game which brings flexible play to a new level. The game revolves around weekly challenge rounds, involving fulfilling challenges by taking photos and voting to determine winners. Picopoke takes advantage of the social networking community. Picopoke can also be played with mobile phones via multimedia messaging service (MMS), capturing moments spontaneously with camera phones."

Rhythm of War [Playstation Portable] (SME Dynamic Systems)
"Rhythm of War is a rhythm action strategy game where the player must travel through different time epochs to fight aliens and saves the planet. The struggle takes place on the four tracks, where the player has to defend himself in accordance with musical rhythm of each track."

Ruben and Lullaby [iPhone/iPod Touch] (Song New Creative)
"Ruben & Lullaby is a story you play like a musical instrument. Two lovers are fighting. You can control what they're feeling, where they're looking, when they speak, and when they listen. Your actions conduct a moody jazz soundtrack that reflects the feelings of the characters as they change in real time."

UZA: The First Journey [Nintendo DS] (Multiple:Option)
"Arcade action meets abstract art in UZA: The First Journey, an arcade action game similar to Robotron/Geometry Wars. Watch as your gameplay performance creates a piece of real-time abstract art. With only one life, how long can you survive, how much can you score, and what will your actions look like?"

FastFoot_Challenge [J2ME] (urban team)
"FastFoot-Challenge is a multiplayer GPS action game. 4 to 5 players with mobile phones and GPS receivers play in an area of 1km radius. One player escapes, the others have 25 minutes to catch him. His advantage: continuous updates of the chasers' positions, while those only see his position every 6 minutes. "

Wardrive [Nintendo DS] (and-or)
"Wardive captures the wireless networks in the immediate area, like a wardrive tool, and creates a game. it reads the names of the hotspots in your immediate area and turns them into enemies which try to take your wardrive-crystal."

Laser [Flash Lite] (CreatePlayShare)
"Creation and customization, community and sharing, single and multiplayer; endless levels with a variety of gameplay. Laser."

Circuit Swap [Zune] (Teabag Games)
"Circuit Swap is an exciting new puzzle game targeting mobile devices. Players are given the task to power up the city as they move battery pieces and get them inserted to the socket 'goal' pieces."

Finalists in the IGF Mobile competition will be announced on January 26th, 2009, and more information is available on the official IGF Mobile website.

I am sure that you have been wracking your brains for Christmas gift ideas for some time now. And with the big day looming ever nearer, you might be running out of time and funds for gifts. Here’s a good idea that I got from 8bitjoystick over at Seattle PI – trade in old games:

Two weeks ago I bit the bullet and packaged up a lot of old game systems and games that I have had in storage and not played in years and traded them in at Pink Godzilla games. I would rather pass them on to a new home than to move them to my new place and then let them collect dust in a storage in the back of my closet. That and the back of my HDTV looks like a basket of snakes when I have my old game systems hooked up. I had to run some older 3d game systems through a video filter to even get them to display correctly on my rather fickle HDTV.

I think that this is a brilliant idea – something that everyone should have thought of. He is right, those old games would probably end up in storage and gather dust anyway.

Another thing that I think I might do is take a look at my collection and see which games I can actually give away. I have countless little cousins and nephews who would appreciate playing some games. Naturally, I am not parting with my special edition games but I am more than willing to pass on some others. Would you give away or trade in old games?

N•Revolution magazine was created to go hand-and-hand with all the latest news, reviews, and rumors surrounding releases for the Nintendo DS and Wii. With both systems selling at break neck speeds, one would think the UK based magazine would be flourishing. But that couldn’t be farther from the truth, as N•Revolution has announced that they are calling it quits.

Damian Butt, the managing director for the magazine, puts the blame on Nintendo’s move from the hardcore to the casual, “The decision to suspend N•Revolution has been taken because it has become increasingly obvious that Nintendo’s strategy for Wii and DS is no longer in line with Imagine Publishing’s target readership, and has moved increasingly away from the hardcore gaming community that is our specialty.”

Ouch. Butt irons out the thought process that went into this decision by adding, “With many new launches and especially acquisitions coming to fruition, we believe the resources and manpower are better spent in other markets where advertising revenue and PR support are stronger and sustained.”

If you were a fan of N•Revolution don’t worry, they will be taking their printed format and spreading it out in other publications owned by parent company Imagine Publishing, as well as on the website NowGamer.com.