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Nintendo News Bits
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Written by Alexis M. (Rivithed)
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Thursday, 20 July 2006 |
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The once mascot of Sony is coming to Nintendo's Wii. Vivendi's Radical Entertainment will be bringing some form of Crash Bandicoot on the Wii in 2007.
From TVG: "Although Vivendi wouldn't discuss specifics, representatives did hint that the party mechanics of Crash Bang Boom would suit Nintendo's next system, but did confirm that the Crash Bandicoot franchise will definitely make an appearance on the Wii in some shape or form during 2007."
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Nintendo News Bits
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Written by Alexis M. (Rivithed)
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Thursday, 20 July 2006 |
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The developer of the dark atmospheric horror game, Sadness, has found a publisher. Nibris has been developing the dark, moody (aka Fun'iki-ge) Wii horror game, aimed at mature audiences and was in search of a publisher. The game deals with subjects such as narcolepsy, nyctophobia and paranoid schizophrenia. The publisher could not be disclosed at this time by Nibris because of a Non-Disclosure Agreement.
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Games Coming Soon
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Written by Alexis M. (Rivithed)
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Wednesday, 19 July 2006 |
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Clive Barker, master of supernatural horror, will be delivering an action horror game on next-gen consoles and PCs in 2007. "Clive Barker’s Jericho" will be coming from Codemasters.
Says Clive Barker, “It’s incredible when a company as admired as Codemasters embraces your vision the way they have embraced Jericho. This project is very close to my heart and I don’t believe there's ever been anything like it. It promises to be the most spectacular, creative, and unflinching realization of a Clive Barker nightmare that will drag players in kicking and screaming.”
Clive Barker’s Jericho deals with the mysterious reappearance of a lost city in a remote desert. When a form of evil that goes right back to the dawn of days resurfaces from there, a Special Forces squad, trained in both conventional warfare and the arcane arts, is sent in. Their mission: Hunt down and destroy the evil that lurks at the heart of the city before it destroys humanity.
“Players will constantly be given new challenges, new environments, and yes, new horrors and abominations to face every step of the way,” continues Barker. “However, unlike a conventional game in which the characters are attempting to escape at the end of their ride through Hell, our protagonists have a much more difficult task. The closer they come to the end of their trek into darkness, the nearer they get to the source of that darkness: Evil Incarnate, we'll call it for now…”
See three screenshots of Clive Barker's Jericho here.
Clive Barker’s Jericho is now in development for next generation consoles and PC and is schedule to launch late in 2007. Read more at Codemaster's web site here.

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Nintendo News Bits
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Written by Alexis M. (Rivithed)
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Wednesday, 19 July 2006 |
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A page that was accessible on Nintendo's Wii site revealed some information on the Wii WiFi (online). Here's the information from the page:
Be Connected
From your living room to the world, the built in Wi-Fi capabilities of Wii let you play games against friends and family around the world! If you have a wireless broadband connection, Wii is ready to connect right out of the box. And best of all, it's free to connect via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection and take on all comers!
How It Works
The ability to play games online is built into Wii. All you need is a broadband Internet connection and a wireless router. After you follow an intuitive setup process, you'll be ready to play games online in no time.
Free
Nintendo does not charge a fee for people to play via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, Nintendo's online service. Just put a game into the system and connect. Soon you'll play against your friends around the world!
Fun
Join the Nintendo worldwide community! Play the coolest titles around with gamers from around the world via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. Whether you're thrashing with your friends in Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam or hammering the competition in Smash Bros. Dojo, Wii opens up a world of fun through online play!
Safe
Nintendo has your online safety in mind. Thanks to our unique Friend Code system, you can control whom you play with online. Playing online is a great way to connect and reconnect people you want to play games with!
There was also a button to "Virtual Console" but the page was inaccessible. From the information on the page, looks like Super Smash Bros. and Tonk Hawk will be have some online play/connectivity, the Wii will use a similar setup to the DS's WiFi by using Friend-codes, will be free of charge and can connect to a wireless network without additional accessories.
Here's the linked to the cached page on Yahoo.
Nintendo Europe still had the page online as of this posting.
We have a screenshot here. Read more from Go Nintendo. 
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Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP) News Bits
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Written by Alexis M. (Rivithed)
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Tuesday, 18 July 2006 |
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The follow-up to the popular puzzle Sony PSP game, Lumines, will feature a pop-filled soundtrack and official music videos from recording artists. Lumines II, being published by Buena Vista Games, will feature the following music videos:
Beck – “Black Tambourine”
Black Eyed Peas – “Pump It”
Chemical Brothers – “Star Guitar”
Fatboy Slim – “Gangster Trippin’”
The Go! Team – “Bottle Rocket”
Gwen Stefani – “Hollaback Girl”
Hoobastank – “Born to Lead”
Junior Senior – “Take My Time”
Missy Elliott – “Lose Control”
New Order – TBD
Two additional songs will also appear on the game’s soundtrack:
Junkie XL – “Breezer”
Stigmato Inc – “Reality Check”
“In order to showcase my vision for ‘Lumines II,’ we needed to find music and videos with just the right tone, mix and energy to incorporate into the game,” said Tetsuya Mizuguchi, chief creative officer of Q ENTERTAINMENT. “I couldn’t be happier with the result and am excited to get the game into players’ hands.”
“Lumines II” also features music written exclusively for the game by Japanese artist Shinichi Osawa, also known as MONDO GROSSO, who provided the opening track for the original “Lumines.” Tracks from Ken Ishii (DJ/producer) and TECHRIDERS, both from Japan, are also in the game.
Lumines II will feature 60 stylish skins, wireless two-player ad hoc gameplay, all new battle modes, new 3D backgrounds, and all-new graphics and streaming video. Read more about Lumines II here.

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General Gaming News Bits
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Written by Alexis M. (Rivithed)
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Tuesday, 18 July 2006 |
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DirecTV and IGN will be recording a two-day videogame comeptition on July 21-22, 2006. The program will air on DirecTV on August 25-27. The top Counter-strike and Battlefield 2 teams in the US and Scandinavia will be competing. The players and coaches include:
Amber Dalton - Leader of PMS Clan (All female gaming clan)
Matt "Zyos" Leto (2004 Halo Champion)
Emannuel Rodriguez (Top US Dead or Alive Player)
James Clifford (US Dead or Alive Champion)

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Games Coming Soon
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Written by Alexis M. (Rivithed)
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Tuesday, 18 July 2006 |
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Midway did a brief interview with Dwayne "THE ROCK" Johnson on the upcoming SpyHunter game. Here it is:
Were you a fan of the original, SpyHunter?
I was a big fan of the original game. When Midway came to me with the idea, of course, we were still in the development of the movie. So my first question was how is this game going to be different? How can it compete? They said for the first time the fans of the video game Spy Hunter are going to be able to get out of the car and actually become this character who's been driving this car all this time.
So I thought, okay, how else can we compete because the video game market is so ultra competitive? How can we be creative? How can we maim and bring death to the opponents creatively with my bare hands? :)
Since your character gets out of the car for the first time in franchise history, do you think this makes SpyHunter the next Knight Rider?
Okay, well let me tell you something. Comparing Michael Knight to Alex Decker is like comparing wine to vinegar. Alex doesn't care about wearing the coolest jeans or the coolest jacket. He just has one mission, which is to hunt down spies and to kick ass like there's no tomorrow.
Are there any wrestling moves we'll recognize in the game?
Oh definitely. There's a couple of signature moves in there. For example, the rock bottom was a big finishing move for me, signature move. So we included that. There are different versions of suplexes and things that I learned from a lot of Japanese wrestlers, that if they're performed the way they're supposed to be performed, they're highly, highly dangerous. So then I just took it to another level. It's just crazy the stuff we were coming up with. And it was awesome. I saw it all back and I couldn't be happier. It was great.
So gamers, you will get to run out of your car and finish off the enemy with a "rock bottom". Rock, just be careful what you wish for with the "maim and bring death" in Germany. They just may not be as receptive to you as the charming David Hasselhof. 
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General Gaming News Bits
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Written by Alexis M. (Rivithed)
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Tuesday, 18 July 2006 |
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The next-gen version of Disney/Pixar's "Cars" will be coming to the Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii from THQ's newly formed game development studio, Incinerator Games.
From THQ: "THQ Inc today announced the formation of its new development team, Incinerator Games, the latest addition to THQ's growing internal Studio System. Based in Carlsbad, Calif., Incinerator is comprised of veterans of the Twisted Metal, NFL GameDay and MLB 2006: The Show projects from Sony's 989 studios, as well as the Midnight Club franchise from Rockstar. Incinerator is primarily focused on development for next generation consoles.
"The addition of Incinerator Games is another example of our dedication to enhance and expand our internal development capabilities," said Jack Sorensen, executive vice president of worldwide studios, THQ. "We're really excited to see the Incinerator team begin to bring its own ideas for next generation development to THQ."
Incinerator Games is working on other unannounced next-gen games as well.

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Xbox 360 News Bits
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Written by Alexis M. (Rivithed)
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Monday, 17 July 2006 |
Capcom's upcoming Dead Rising will not be for sale in Germany. The USK, the ESRB of Germany, found the game to be too gory for release. This is the first Xbox 360 game to face a ban barred release. Game content is typically modified by region, but there is no easy way to get around Dead Rising's hack and slash game play. Read more about Dead Rising here (or on the German Xbox page here, where the release date is currently listed as TBD).
July 18 Update: We've asked the USK, the rating board of the game in Germany, to elaborate on what this really means to the German release.
From a USK representative: "That's right, the gorgeous Dead Rising received No Rating (Keine Kennzeichnung) by the USK. The USK and the OLJB cannot rate games when there is a potential risk of banning. Because if a game has a Rating, it can't be banned afterwards (when released). So the USK checks in advance if certain criteria of the Bundesprüfstelle are met, no Rating can be given." The representative goes on to say: "So the game CAN´T officially be released in Germany, because MS (Microsoft) politics doesn't allow non-Rated games to be published on their platform. From the youth Protection Laws point of view it COULD be released, you can even advertise for it, it can be on the shelves, you are just now allowed to sell it to minors, a fee of 50,000 €uro might hit you."
So to sum it up, it sounds like they are avoiding a potential ban by not rating it, under the conditions of the Bundesprüfstelle, which in turn prevents its release since Microsoft does not publish non-rated games.
Besides the killing and maiming of thousands of undead, who knows if any references to an animal's private parts, as reported by Kotaku, had anything to do with it.
Either way, gamers in Germany may need to go to their neighbors for some help on the release or go to smaller/import dealers.

From QJ.Write Comment (0 Comments) |
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Games Coming Soon
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Written by Alexis M. (Rivithed)
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Saturday, 15 July 2006 |
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The suspiciously Lord of The Rings looking Project Gray Company game in development turns out to be a Lord of The Rings game. "Project Gray Company" has now officially been announced by EA as "The Lord of The Rings: The White Council". The RPG game will use the A.I. from the Sims 2. Visit the official site here to learn more about the upcoming Lord of The Rings RPG.
Read an earlier report here. 
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