Debut trailers have been released for the first two. I must say, MadWorld looks really stylish. It looks similar to No More Heroes, only in black and white (and red for the blood). I’m not certain if it’s cel-shaded or not, but I think it is. Bayonetta, on the other hand, didn’t really show much - more of a teaser, but looks promising.

Hit the jump the Bayonetta debut trailer.

“This year will be the largest in the history of the video game industry, with Xbox 360 leading the charge in the U.S. and abroad,” said Don Mattrick, senior vice president of the Interactive Entertainment Business in the Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft. “

REDMOND, Wash. — May 14, 2008 — Microsoft Corp. today announced that the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system has sold over 10 million units in the U.S., making it the first current-generation gaming console to break the 10 million mark in the U.S. The U.S. install base contributes to global sales of over 19 million, more than any other current-generation console.

“This year will be the largest in the history of the video game industry, with Xbox 360 leading the charge in the U.S. and abroad,” said Don Mattrick, senior vice president of the Interactive Entertainment Business in the Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft. “History has shown us that the first company to reach 10 million in console sales wins the generation battle. We are uniquely positioned to set a new benchmark for the industry.”

This announcement comes on the heels of one of the biggest entertainment launches in history, “Grand Theft Auto IV,” on April 29, 2008. Gamers eager to experience “Grand Theft Auto IV” online helped boost Xbox LIVE global membership to over 12 million this month. Fueled by an unparalleled combination of access to friends and family, the best online gaming features, and the best entertainment content, the Xbox LIVE service has doubled in membership in only one year’s time.

“Reaching an installed base of 10 million consoles in the U.S. is a significant achievement and an essential milestone on the road to market leadership,” said Billy Pidgeon, research manager at IDC. “Perhaps more important is the Xbox 360 worldwide online base — 12 million Xbox LIVE gamers is the largest community in the connected console games sector, which represents the greatest growth opportunity in the console market and where Microsoft has been the leader for two generations.”

Xbox 360 leads with the industry’s highest software attach rate, more than any other console this generation, and is home to the best-selling games. With the launch of Grand Theft Auto IV in April, Xbox 360 is now the home to more than 16 platinum titles that have sold through one million units or more including hits like “Halo 3,” “Madden NFL 07” and “Madden NFL 08,” “Gears of War,” “Guitar Hero II” and “Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock” and “Call of Duty®2, Call of Duty®3 and Call of Duty®4: Modern Warfare™,” giving Xbox 360 two times more platinum-selling titles than the Wii and a 16:2 lead over the PlayStation 3 in game titles topping one million in sales.Games not only sell better on the Xbox 360, they play better, too: Xbox 360 has 91 titles with a Metacritic review score of 80 or higher, compared with just 22 titles for Wii and 50 titles for PlayStation 3.

The lawsuit was originally filed in 2006, and stated that Nintendo infringed on Anascape’s patent during the designing of the Wii Classic, GameCube and Wavebird controllers. The Nunchuck and Wii Remote were not mentioned in the suit, says Nintendo spokesman Charlie Scibetta.

Interestingly enough, Anascape also sued Microsoft for infringements before the Nintendo trial, but reached an agreement earlier this month.

Via Yahoo News

The fast-paced mecha fighting series for the PlayStation 2 launched in Spring 2001, and was met with average reception at best. It is widely considered to be one of the PS2’s most underrated games, and has gained its own cult-fanbase across the world.

In an interview with PSM UK, Kojima stated that he “would like to say that Zone of the Enders is quite near the priority list… [after MGS4] it might be good to change to outer space or robots or things like that for a change”

We can only hope.

Heritage is measured by an aggregate of impeccable work, outstanding performance, unparalleled design and revolutionary thinking. It’s a quality that few command, and those that do are respected for where they’ve been, where they are, and where they’ll go in the years to come. Ferrari has it, as do BMW, Ford, and Nissan to name a few. It represents years of passion and dedication, the power to reach beyond the niche and simultaneously dwarf and inspire the competition.

This is heritage, this is Gran Turismo. This is our decade long devotion to excellence, as this week marks our 10 year anniversary of the Gran Turismo series in North America.

And as of April 30, Gran Turismo has shipped over 50 million games worldwide, complete with unrivaled physics, stunning graphics and a loyal fan base from every industry and lifestyle across the globe.

Many of you who have been fans of the series can fondly look back with us to the days of the first Gran Turismo on PSone, which in many ways revolutionized and redefined the racing category within video games. Licensed cars, realistic graphics, customization, replays were all pretty much unheard of, or unimagined, back then in racing games. Since then, Gran Turismo has grown and evolved, adding new features as the series progressed. It has also allowed millions the chance to test drive EVOs, STIs and GT-Rs, cars that were extremely rare in North America. Many also extended their passion from virtual to actual, actively seeking those rare imports, working on them and tuning them for track racing. The series also introduced Photo Mode, a simple and overlooked feature that is now a standard in any racing game, as well as B-spec mode, where you became the race team manager, commanding from the paddock.

Which leads us to the here and now with Gran Turismo 5 Prologue on the PLAYSTATION 3, a thorough racing experience with multiple views and features that will once again, change the way racing games are experienced. Gran Turismo 5 Prologue offers Gran Turismo-TV, automotive content from around the world, news feeds ticker off real-time events, and sixteen player games (both online and offline) that recreate the rush of actual track racing.

This is where our passions lie–in the cars, driving, and racing heritage. We’ve come a long way from the days of the first Gran Turismo, and we still have a ways to go to complete the vision.

Happy 10th Anniversary to everyone at Polyphony Digital and all the fans, both new and old, in our global Gran Turismo family.

According to the report, worldwide sales of the popular Sony handheld during the financial year ending April were at 13.89 million. It sold 9.77 million last year, meaning sales have increased by at least four million.

This much thanks to the fact that the PSP has seen a massive growth in Japanese sales this year, outselling both the DS and Wii for several months.

Via PocketGamer

Tales of Vesperia is the newest and tenth main entry into the Tales of series. It was announced on December 22nd, 2007 and Jump Festa. It will be produced by Yoshito Higuchi.

No release dates have been confirmed for any of the versions.

(Click to enlarge)

~ Weekly Scores

- Siren: New Translation (PS3)

- BioHazard 5 (PS3, 360)

- Bayonetta (PS3, 360)

- Infinite Line (DS)

- Mad World (Wii)

]]> http://akayuki.com/2008/05/14/weekly-famitsu-scans/feed/ http://akayuki.com/2008/05/14/weekly-famitsu-scans/ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/akayuki/SapY/~3/289762624/ http://akayuki.com/2008/05/14/assassins-solid-no-joke/#comments Tue, 13 May 2008 22:55:58 +0000 Jak Cadden http://akayuki.com/?p=4130 Well, sort of. You may remember around the first of April, Konami released a video of Altair from Assassin’s Creed walking around one of the street battles in Metal Gear Solid 4. It has been confirmed that Snake actually has an alternative Altair costume that can be enabled in MGS4.

Source - PS3 Fanboy

Debut Trailer

Hit the jump for the second trailer.

Air to Ground

Source - Eurogamer

The Penny Arcade game has been a long time coming, but now we know when we’ll get a chance to play it: both the Xbox Live version of the game and the PC/Linux/OS X version will be released next Wednesday, May 21. The game will cost 1600 Microsoft points, or $19.95. Play time is estimated at between six and ten hours, and the title is rated Mature.

Excellent.

The official description of the game: “Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode One is an RPG-Adventure game set in the deranged 1920s universe of New Arcadia, delivered to gamers via accessible episodic releases. Players join Gabe and Tycho, the crime-solving team of the Startling Developments Detective Agency, to combat savage enemies and solve mysteries hidden deep in the sinister heart of New Arcadia. The game is the result of close collaboration between Hothead Games and Penny Arcade, featuring distinct artwork and characters designed exclusively by Mike ‘Gabe’ Krahulik, story and dialogue by Jerry ‘Tycho’ Holkins, both brought to life by the Hothead team.”

We saw the game at last year’s PAX and came away very impressed with both the art and the humorous writing; this is a game that Penny Arcade fans are sure to enjoy. It’s also the first Greenhouse release, Greenhouse being the indie games portal that Penny Arcade developed with Hothead Games to help distribute independent titles to a wider audience. For a first title, they could do much worse.

We’re looking forward to playing this, and expect a review in the near future.

• Dr. Mario & Germ Buster (Nintendo)
• Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King (Square Enix)
• Lost Winds (Frontier)
• Pirates: The Key of Dreams (Oxygen Interactive Ltd)
• Pop (Nnooo)
• Star Soldier R (Hudson Soft)
• Toki Tori (Two Tribes B.V.)
• TV Show King (Gameloft)

From 1UP:

By Yoshi Sato, 05/08/2008
This week’s Famitsu magazine has revealed a brand new RPG for the PS3: Cross Edge. Developed by Compile Hearts, the game is a collaboration between five Japanese companies: Capcom, Namco Bandai, Nippon Ichi Software, Idea Factory, and Gust.

Players will take on the role of the hero Yuto Kannagi and heroine Mikoto Aiba. Characters from various games will also be featured, including Morigan, Felicia, and Dimitri from the Darkstalkers series, Misha, Aurica, and Lady Shurelia from Ar Tonelico, Etna and the Prinnies from Disgaea, Meu from Spectral Souls, and Roze, Lilia, and Marie from Mana Khemia 2.

Each world in the game is based on each of the titles mentioned above, players will venture across these worlds to free as many souls as possible and battle against evil monsters. Up to four characters can join the battle, with each of the buttons mapped to character-specific attacks and spells. Using combinations of these attacks between your characters will also trigger more powerful ones. Aiba will gain “forms” after freeing souls, which are basically new costumes to dress up in, each providing different properties and attributes.

Cross Edge is expected for a September release in Japan. Considering most of these game and characters are also familiar in the U.S., let’s hope that someone will pick up and localize this collaborative title.

From Ars Technica:

By Michael Thompson | Published: May 12, 2008 - 03:17PM CT

If Freddy vs. Jason taught us anything, it’s that franchise crossovers always result in winning formulas, just like the upcoming Mortal Kombat vs. DC game. Series like Marvel vs. Capcom, Kingdom Hearts, and Aliens vs. Predator have proven that gamers do tend to adore titles involving more than one of their favorite franchises. Now, five Japanese developers are joining forces to assemble a new crossover RPG that will be, for lack of a grander word, epic.

X Edge (”Cross Edge”) will be developed for the Playstation 3 and will feature input from Capcom, Namco Bandai, Nippon Ichi Software, Idea Factory, and Gust. Players will control unique protagonists in the game and will encounter characters from (among other series) the Darkstalkers, Spectral Souls, and Disgaea universes (pictured at right).

From what has been described, it sounds as though the game will feature the “worlds are home to individual IPs” approach of Kingdom Hearts; each world will house unique monsters for players to battle . This month’s issue of Famitsu Magazine in Japan has an in-depth preview, as well. X Edge is due out in Japan this September from Compile Hearts, but no one has offered to pick it up in the States yet. Of course, given the popularity of some of the featured series, it seems a safe bet that someone will be interested in bringing the game to America.