Tendo City

For the DS, Xenosaga and Baten Kaitos. No other details yet... (Gamespot)

Oh yeah, and they released Mr. Driller - Drill Spirits for DS (in the US.). Also on the DS front, it's selling really well -- 90% of the initial shipment of 500,000 has sold. They're forcasting 5 million sales by the end of March. Sony? When the PSP comes out in Japan this month, they'll only have 200,000 available...

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/12/01/...14218.html


For the GBA, Ace Combat Advance, Klonoa 2, Pac-Man Pinball and Mr. Driller 2.

Quote:Today, Namco sent out a press release outlining its handheld line up. Besides including the already released--and reviewed--DS titles Ridge Racer DS and Mr. Driller Drill Spirits, the announcement revealed a trio of new titles for the Game Boy Advance--and one very old one.

First up is Ace Combat Advance, a handheld cousin to Namco's successful Ace Combat series for the PlayStation 2. The game casts players as a greenhorn pilot in the United Air Defense, an air force battling "an evil worldwide economic superpower" called General Resources Ltd. Ace Combat Advance will sport 10 planes in its pint-sized virtual hangar and offer 12 missions. The game is due in February 2005.

Also coming in February 2005 is Klonoa 2: Dream Champ Tournament, another scaled-down spin-off of a PS2 game, Klonoa 2. Both games feature the same "floppy-eared protagonist" Klonoa. However, the GBA version is a side-scrolling adventure set in five worlds that combine "platform, puzzle and adventure elements," according to Namco. As one might expect in a game called Dream Champ Tournament, Klonoa's goal will be to be come the Dream Champion by snatching up the most stars, sun, and moon fragments within a limited duration of time.

Another title due in 2005--though Namco doesn't specify when--is Pac-Man Pinball. The first pinball came to feature the company's emblematic character casts the round protagonist as the ball itself. In order to "rescue" them, players will shoot Pac-Man at other characters from the Pac oeuvre, like Ms. Pac-Man. Standing in his way will be his traditional enemies, the ghosts Blinky, Inky, Pinky, and Clyde. Pac-Man Pinball will also sport several mini-games "to keep the action fresh," in Namco's words.

Namco's fourth "new" GBA title isn't new at all. In Japan, Mr. Driller 2 was a launch title for the handheld back in 2001. It will make its stateside debut four years later, sometime in 2005. The puzzle game features the titular hero facing off against a female competitor, Anna Hottenmayer, in three contests--Mission Driller, Endless Driller and Time Attack Driller--where they must drill the maximum amount of blocks to win. Mr. Driller 2 also has Game Link functionality, allowing for competition between two GBA-owners.

Bah. Let me know when Soul Calibur III is coming out.

Baten Kaitos and Xenosaga for DS is pretty good news!

That article was about DS sales, and the text you quoted didn't say anything about those two games.

But, I did manage to find a similar article saying the same thing on IGN.

http://ds.ign.com/articles/569/569825p1.html

THERE.

And it's interesting, but I have to wonder how much I care. Really, the thought of being able to play a game on the go is nice and all, but it's not what I'd call the deal maker... I have plenty of NEW portable games that I'd rather spend my cash on than what amounts to a port, rather, a reduced port, with worse visuals and controls. Nah, I'll keep my PS2 version.

That was a different article, and I didn't quote or link it because they said nothing more than I posted here... well they said what Baten Kaitos for GC is and what Xenosaga for PS2 is, briefly, but I assumed everyone here knew that... note the 'no more details are known' comment I made?

Note the (Gamespot) tag, saying my source?

They can't be straight ports, the DS isn't powerful enough... so if I wanted to be optimistic I'd say that maybe they could be new games... :) Probably not, but hey, it's possible.

I know it's not a straight port, I pretty much said something that could only mean I knew that. I'm not sure what you call a port that's drastically reduced rather than improved though...

But having played Xenosaga, I'd say that after a graphic dive, the DS could easily support it. The whole game consisted of very low numbers of characters on the screen at any one time. I'd go as far as to say the PS could run it. Heck, Xenogears had larger more complex areas in it than Xenosaga, though with much lower polygon counts and detail, plus all the characters were essentially animated sprites layed out in a 3D world.

ABF posted an article?! Uncredible!!

I'll definitely be keeping a close eye on these two DS games, hopefully they'll be something new.

Woo, Klonoa 2! That'll mean two new Klonoa games in one year (the PS2 sequel is also coming out)! YAY!!!