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February 27, 2005
After years of taking the back-seat to Sony and Nintendo in the Japan Game Console Market, Microsoft has announced a new hire for the next generation Xbox console, that is hoped to bring them at least to the passenger side.
Since launch in February 2002 Microsoft has sold 19.9 million Xbox machines worldwide, the company said, but sales have been especially sluggish in Japan, home of Sony and Nintendo Co Ltd, Microsoft hopes to change this by bringing "Final Fantasy" franchise creator Hironobu Sakaguchi on board to develop role-playing game (RPG) video games exclusively for the next-generation Microsoft Xbox video game platform.
The "Final Fantasy" franchise, has sold more than 60 million units worldwide, I can only imagine Microsoft hopes to recreate that success.
The original Xbox was not the blockbuster, Microsoft dreamed of in Japan due to the lack of RPGs for the Xbox, according to Microsoft; they don't want to make the same mistake again. Sakaguchi will lead a development team on two new role-playing games to be released for the new console.
"Sakaguchi-san has taken role-playing games -- traditionally a niche market -- and introduced them to a broad and diverse audience across the globe," said Peter Moore, corporate vice president of Worldwide Marketing and Publishing at Microsoft. "We are ecstatic to work with Sakaguchi-san and celebrate what this news means not only for Xbox, but for gamers worldwide."
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February 22, 2005
Sony, Japan has announced a free repair program for the Sony PSP. This repair is to correct a defect where controller buttons on some Playstation Portable (PSP) units may become stuck and not return to their default position. The defect occurs in part of the initial shipment of PSP units and is caused by excess plastic not being completely removed during the molding and manufacturing process of the outer cabinet. As a result, when a button is pressed, it can become caught on the excess plastic and not return fully to its default position.
via TechJapan
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AudioCubes is offering the Sony PSP Earphones with Remote for $49.95. Sony PSP PlayStation portable can also hold music files. With Sony PSP Earphones and the remote, you can easily choose and play without looking at the PSP screen. Stylish design with high quality sound.
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February 17, 2005
Movies on Sony's Universal Media Disc to play on the PlayStation Portable (PSP) will be priced at $19.99 here in the U.S according to sources. While I am excited about the PSP, I am not to sure about paying 19.95 for a movie that can only playback on the PSP, maybe when the UMD format is used on other devices I will consider, ah OK, I will just get maybe three, just to see, you know.
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February 16, 2005
Novint Technologies , an Albuquerque, N.M., based company showed off 'the Falcon', a touch-based game input device at the Demo conference. The technology behind Falcon was originally developed for complex information modeling, some uses included dental education and geological exploration. Falcon apparently goes several steps further than Force-feedback by providing a three-dimensional tactile experience. OK. Its so pretty. Novint plans to begin selling the Falcon early next year for around $100. For now, the company is busy trying to convince game developers to support the device by adding the application programming interface supplied by Novint to their code. Read More at CNet
via Cnet
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February 15, 2005
Atari announced yesterday that it has reached an agreement with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment to develop and publish The Matrix: Path of Neo. Atari, Shiny Entertainment and the Wachowski brothers, will work together on The Matrix: Path of Neo. (PS2). The Matrix: Path of Neo will allow players to play as Neo and participate in some of his milestone sequences from the films. The game will feature the likenesses of all the major actors, including Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Ann Moss and Hugo Weaving reports GameSpy
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February 13, 2005
Sony Pictures will release "XXX," "Hellboy," "Resident Evil 2" and "Once Upon A Time in Mexico" titles on the Universal Media Disc (UMD) video format that plays on the new PlayStation Portable handheld entertainment system for the North American market. The UMD format designed initially for use with the PSP, holds about 1.8GB of content. The disc can hold up to two hours of DVD-quality music videos or four hours of standard quality. The 4 titles will be released on April 19, additional titles to be released monthly thereafter. Movies on UMD will be produced in 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio and encoded using advanced AVC compression reports physorg.
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February 9, 2005
Expected to hit American soil on March 24th in mass quantity, the Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP) has been touted by a few game enthusiast as a must have. I will confess I am sucked into the hype of the PSP and will try to score one on release day, the folks at GearLive However are not as excited about the PSP, in their word's "Why Sony's PSP Will Suck" - From what I gathered I believe they still want one, most of the problems they point out could be easily erased once the PSP takes over the world, in the fashion of the Apple iPod. Hopefully they will publish some of the lover letters from Nintendo DS fans and hate mail PSP fans 'excerpt - Let's talk first about the recently announced price. $250 is a big slap to all of our faces. Not because the PSP isn't worth the cash, but because of all the useless accessories Sony decided to bundle with the system. Apparently Americans are too stupid to purchase better alternatives for themselves. They need to be spoon-fed everything. News Flash Sony: When I bought my Playstation2 it didn't come bundled with a memory card. I had to buy that on my own. It also didn't come with a bundled movie to show off the DVD capability. Because of all the accessories, Sony had to raise the price to $250. '
- Seen at AliceandBill
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February 6, 2005
The Washington Post is reporting that the mayor of Washington and several city council members want to ban the sale of violent and sexually explicit video games to minors. Apparently video games play a part some how in the crime in their area. umm OK. A measure under consideration would limit the sale of the Grand Theft Auto series, Mortal Kombat and other such games. A store that violates the ban could be fined up to $10,000 and face being put out of business. Council member Adrian M. Fenty said Grand Theft Auto "awards points for killing police officers and assaulting women, and it is done in a way that glorifies violence." Mayor Anthony A. Williams said he would support the measure, to be introduced Thursday. Douglas Lowenstein, president of the Entertainment Software Association, said the group encourages retailers to require ID checks before selling games that are rated "M" for mature but opposes government restrictions on content as unconstitutional.
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Fosfor Gadget reports on the Preliminary list of launch titles for the Sony PSP. The PSP will be launched in US and Canada on March 24 for $249 USD and $299.99 CND
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