Quote:Final Fantasy VII: Before Crisis Announced
Posted by Andrew McClure at 05:55:40 PM EST on 5.11.2004.
When rumors of a Final Fantasy VII sequal first surfaced (which was probably about five minutes after Final Fantasy VII was released) there was always talk of a game staring the Shinra G-men, The Turks. After Advent Children was announced most have given up on hopes for a game starring the Tarentino-esque hatchet men (and woman) but fear not for Square Enix has just announced Final Fantasy VII: Before Crisis.
The game is a cellphone exclusive and it takes place six years before the events of Final Fantasy VII. The game will be about the Turks rise in the Shinra company. It appears to be an Action RPG with some turn-based elements. Also up to three players can join in if they all have the game installed on their cell phones.
It is unknown at this time if and when US players will get a chance to play this title. The cellphone platform has yet to be announced but all the other Square Enix cellphone titles have been for the Japan exclusive NTT DoCoMo. But keep those hopes up: Square Enix has stated that they want to support the cellphone videogame market on both sides of the pacific.
GT4, a new Metal Gear... the PSP is going to kick so much ass. Just look at these gorgeous screeens!
YOWZA. NOW we can see what the PSP is capable of!
From 1up.com:
Quote:Metal Gear Acid is the name of the new 3D Tactical Espionage Action game for PSP, according to a brief announcement on Konami's E3 media disc. However, that's about all there is to say about the game as yet -- it's an "all-new stealth adventure game," development is headed up by Konami JPN's Hideo Kojima, and that's about it for now. A release date is not available as yet.
The first few screens are, however, looking for all the world rather like a card game of some kind. Peruse those and look forward to more details when Konami chooses to bring Acid out from the shadow of its older PlayStation 2 brothers.
Quote:
May 11, 2004 - To say that Sony's PlayStation Portable handheld system dominated the company's E3 2004 press conference would be an understatement. Officially unveiled approximately 20 minutes into the presentation, the new game system was a big hit with the crowd and finally answered several of questions that most of us have been asking in the year since the hardware was first announced.
Scheduled to be launched in Japan at the end of the year (North America and Europe get it in the spring of 2005), The PSP is available in PlayStation 2 black with a 16:9 widescreen TFT LCD display that boasts over 16.7 million colors and a resolution of 480x272. Dimensionally, its numbers are 170mm x 74mm x 23mm with a weight of 260 grams. Basic portable functions like built-in stereo speakers, exterior headphone connector, brightness control and sound mode selectors are among the lineup of features, and the buttons mirror that of a PlayStation 2 controller almost exactly (Square, Triangle, X, and Circle face buttons, a digital pad, start, select, and an analog thumb stick populate the face, with two shoulder buttons on the top).
Additionally, the new system comes standard with USB 2.0 and 802.11b Wi-Fi wireless LAN connectors that allow for multiple PSPs to be simultaneously connected to one another. Data and software can then be downloaded either by using the wireless LAN connections or through the use of a Memory Stick Pro Duo. The PSP also adopts the small high-capacity optical medium Universal Media Disc, the UMD. This format not only allows for 1.8 GB of space, it also provides an extremely versatile format for games, music, and video. The press conference demo showed off the trailer for Spider-Man 2 (the movie not the game) as well as Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children which is coming to both the DVD and UMD formats. To protect the content, a robust copyright protection system has been developed which utilizes a combination of a unique disc ID, a 128 bit AES encryption keys for the media, and individual ID for each PSP hardware unit.
Unfortunately, Sony did not announce a price point for the system so how much the unit will cost is still somewhat of a mystery. We expect officials to announce a more formal pricing structure at the upcoming ECTS or Tokyo Game show events; but we wouldn't mind if something a little meatier came down the pipeline before then. Click on our media page below to view the first official images from the system and stay tuned to IGNPSP for more throughout the day.
Alright, here's what I think of the system so far. On a technical level it's amazing. 10 hour battery life for games, an amazingly huge (for a handheld) 16x9 screen, a nice button layout (including what I think is an analog... nipple or stick or something), the design of the system is very sleek (much better-looking than the DS IMO), and the games announced so far sound really great. I'm just not quite as exited about it right now as I am for the DS since we haven't gotten a good look at any of the big games, which is what matters. All I know is that as long as the price is right, Sony could very well dominate the portable gaming market, or at least take a huge chunk out of it. I can't wait until it comes out next spring.
Quote:During the Nintendo press event at E3 Satoru Iwata took the stage to talk about Nintendos' future. He stressed the importance of the Nintendo DS in the fortcoming 12 months, but he also made some allusions to the successor to the Gamecube.
Calling it "Something you will be excited about" he refused to give any technical details, he confirmed that the new machine was definitely being worked on and that it will offer an "Unprecedented play experience something that has never been offered before" He also promised that it would bring about a "revolution" in games players lives.
Is this all hot air or something truly spectacular or just a heap of buzz words to incite the masses into hysteria? Only time will tell, but you can guarantee that we here at Cube-Europe will be watching -from the edge of our seats, of course.