A fresh communique issued by Microsoft today announces an exclusive collaboration with Robbie Williams (.com) to bring music videos and "extra exciting content" to the Xbox 360, through the Xbox Live online service. Fans of the former Take That singer should already be able to download three of his latest videos today, and these are: "A Place To Crash", "Lovelight", and his latest single "She's Madonna".

As I'm sure you're wondering by now, these will of course come at a price. Each high definition music video will set you back 280 Microsoft Points ($3.5 / €3.36), but you can save a bit by going for standard definition videos that only cost 230 points. Robbie Williams themes (including 4 pictures) are also available to hopelessly dedicated fans, in exchange for 150 points.

In addition to this, RobbieWilliams.com in association with Xbox, will be running competitions to give away five Xbox 360 consoles and stacks of games, so keep checking that website for more details if you're interested. Oh and here's a few words from Robbie himself:

"I love playing Xbox at home and on the road, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2006 kept me company through the tour!"

His latest tour - which he's probably talking about - was the Close Encounter 2006 tour, which saw him play to over 3.5 million fans in 20 different countries and breaking a world record with ticket sales. Also, his most recent album "Rudebox" was the fastest-selling platinum awarded album in the UK in 2006, and debuted at #1 in 11 countries worldwide giving Robbie his 8th solo #1 album, a feat topped only by the king of rock'n'roll, Elvis. And while we're at it, it's worth noting that Robbie Williams has sold over 50 million albums worldwide to date.

And now he's going after the gamers' arcade pennies. Beware!

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A late GDC 2007 news to surface today on Eurogamer tells about their chatter with legendary game creator Warren Spector at the San Francisco event last week. As you may - or may not - remember, Warren Spector's latest studio, Junction Point was founded in early 2005, and after about nine months of development, their first fantasy game came crashing down. We still don't know what that game was about, or why they cancelled the deal with their "supportive publisher" (also unnamed). But at least we know they're not working with Vivendi either, because Spector recently shot down that rumour on GI.biz. Well, anyway, the important thing is they're back on track now, working on two new games with a team of 24 people:

"We've got two IP that we've worked on and we've got several months of work into each of them. One of them we're working in collaboration with a fellow you would have heard of out of Hollywood and one of them is based on a game-world that I created about 15 years ago with my [fantasy-writer] wife. I've been waiting for the technology to catch up with the ideas in there."

Once we know who that "Hollywood fellow" is, we'll probably have a better idea about that project. As for the other one, the following statement does a wonderful job of getting us all excited, without revealing anything at all:

"I think when we do announce what we're doing, I think people are going to be very interested, very surprised and there'll be lots of people saying, 'Oh my God, I can't wait,' and a lot of people saying, 'He's completely out of his freakin' mind.' I can't wait."

Last year, Junction Point Studios was also working on "some stuff with Valve", but it's not yet clear how (or if) that fits in this latest scheme of things. We should hopefully know more in the next couple of months, when Spector expects to have something more relevant to say.

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Halo 2 PC And Games for Windows Live Launching On May 8

Just a couple of days ago, during an interview with GI.biz, Valve's Doug Lombardi was questioning Microsoft's commitment to PC gaming in the long run, arguing that their "Games for Windows" (a.k.a. "the PC isn't dying") initiative may be just a marketing push to help sell Vista. We weren't aware that people were still doubting that, but it's great to see that game developers are just as concerned about this, as gamers themselves. We should, nevertheless, give Microsoft the benefit of the doubt, and take joy in their latest announcement today. In it, they detail the launch of the Games for Windows Live service, together with the PC Vista version of Bungie's Halo 2 sequel, at long last, plus another couple of Live-enabled PC/Xbox 360 games - Shadowrun and the party card game UNO - set to debut later this year on the PC.

To start off, the Games for Windows Live service (the equivalent of Xbox Live) and Halo 2 for PC Vista will both launch on May 8 in North America, and May 18 in Europe. Although it should be noted that, even though Halo 2 is the first title to incorporate the new Games for Windows Live service, PC gamers and Xbox (360) gamers will *not* be able to play Halo 2 together. For that, they'll have to wait until the release of Shadowrun in June 2007. Shadowrun promises to be the first title to connect both Windows Vista and Xbox 360 gamers in cross-platform online matches of up to 16 players.

As a unified service with Xbox Live, Games for Windows Live will be available in every country and region supported today by Xbox Live, and will include the same features - such as voice chat, integrated achievements and dedicated servers. And, in turn, members of Xbox Live will automatically receive the functionality of Games for Windows Live, using the same gamertag and friends list at no additional cost.

And speaking of cost, the pricing of the Live service will be identical across both platforms. As such, PC gamers will be able to sign up for a Silver membership free of charge, while Gold memberships will deliver the premium online network experience for $49.95 / year. Also, current Xbox Live Gold members will automatically have access to Gold features on Games for Windows Live titles. And here are the main features for each kind of Live service:

Silver Membership Features

- Single gamertag

- Common gamer profile

- Common gamerscore

- Single player achievements

- Private chat via text and voice

- Common friends list and online presence

- PC only multiplayer including browsing a list of active PC games

Gold Membership Features

- All Silver membership features

- Multiplayer matchmaking with friends

- TrueSkill matchmaking

- Multiplayer achievements

- Cross-platform gameplay

Another noteworthy mention included in Microsoft's press release is that Halo 2 includes a Map Editor on the PC, which will allow for new content and greater game customization. Also, Halo 2 will be playable with mouse and keyboard or the Xbox 360 controller for Windows. And, to compensate for all the good stuff, it will only run on Windows Vista, as previously announced (ed. - I still can't get over it, though).

Looking further ahead into the cross-platform future, during an interview with Gamasutra, Xbox Live general manager JJ Richards offered a hypothetical example of mixed gameplay between the two platforms:

"For example, in a RTS you might have a PC player controlling the generals and making the upper level decisions, while the console gamer might control the foot soldiers from a more action type perspective."

Oh yeah, I like the sound of that: all your Xbox peons are belong to us!

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Barely did we find out about Koei's Opoona earlier today, and here we are now learning about yet another original - more or less - game heading for the Nintendo Wii console. This one is called Treasure Island Z, and if we were to take a wild guess (details are still scarce), it's likely that the game will share some similarities with Robert Louis Stevenson's classic adventure novel of the same name; minus the "Z", that is.

Treasure Island Z has so far only been revealed in the Japanese media, and thanks to the vigilent folks from NeoGAF, we can already see how the game looks like via a Japanese gaming magazine scan. As expected from the crazy japs, the art style is completely different from the usual Western take on pirate games, and it already looks like a lot of fun.

NeoGAF's summary of the article says that Treasure Island Z is an adventure, riddle-solving game coming from Capcom, produced by Hironobu Takeshita (Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins on PSP) and directed by Eiichirou Sasaki (Biohazard Outbreak 1+2). The game's main character is a trainee pirate (remember that fake-bearded pirate kid from The Curse of Monkey Island?), and as tradition would have it, he's after some sort of treasure.

Expect to use the Wii controller to solve puzzles and riddles, naturally, along with the usual pirate humour. Or unusual pirate humour - you never know what the Japanese can come up with when dealing with Western themes...

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Not long ago, publisher Empire Interactive decided it was time for them to step in the next generation of consoles, and announced their Xbox 360 debut with FlatOut - the franchise that practically saved them from bankrupcy last year. The new project is (tentatively) called FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage, and it's currently being developed by the same team from Bugbear Entertainment, with a June 2007 release in mind. That's one year after FlatOut 2 came out on the PC, PS2 and Xbox. The new Xbox 360 version is said to be a re-imagining of FlatOut 2, "rebuilt from the ground up and specifically developed to utilize and take advantage of the additional feature sets and improved processing ability of the Xbox 360".

Although we already had a couple of images from Flatout: Ultimate Carnage more than a month ago, today Empire issued a new batch of "first screenshots", as they call them, showing even more destructive madness a la FlatOut. Accompanying this release is a brief description of the game's basic features, as follows:

"Some of the many brand new design and gameplay components featured in FlatOut Ultimate Carnage include 12 cars racing on screen up from eight in FlatOut 2, five all-new single player and two all-new multiplayer game modes over Xbox Live, over 8,000 dynamic objects per track up from 5,000 in FlatOut 2, widescreen High Definition resolution (720p), dynamic lighting and shadowing all with proper real-time environment mapping on all vehicles, downloadable content via Xbox Live, and 20,000 polygons per car up from 7,500 in the previous generation."

Even if the content will be similar to that from FlatOut 2, we're hoping to see this visually-enhanced version of the game crashing on the PC as well. Figuratively speaking, of course.

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"What the world needs right now is not another Wii game" - I'd love to live in a world like that, really. But as it stands now, our playful little world needs a lot more Wii games, and if at all possible, original Wii games. The Japanese company Koei has also come to realize this, at last, and they're now ready to unveil their first original Wii game - called Opoona (don't these Nintendo games have the quirkiest of names?).

The first thing we got our hands on is a batch of character artworks, promptly added to our fresh new gallery. But since the actual press-release seems to be running late around this part of the world, we'll take 1UP's word for it:

"Opoona is not only the game's title, but the name of the main character, as well (ed. - this guy here). Opoona, a descendant of the brave Cosmo Guards, is visiting the planet Landroll with his family, when he's separated from them and find[s] his parents in the hospital for [a] series [of] injuries and both his brother and sister completely missing. What happened? In Opoona, it's your job to earn a license to travel to other colonies and find out. These licenses are different jobs - rescuer, idol, detective - and players pick and choose what they'd like to become."

Ok, so it doesn't sound particularly exciting. But what if we tell you that Opoona doesn't even use the Wiimote, at all? Apparently the combat system ("Active Bombom Battle") is controlled entirely by the Nunchuck, by snapping it to fire projectiles, and moving it to change their trajectory. Too bad you have to plug it in the Wiimote, anyway, so there's not much of a gain.

Finally, 1UP also notes that among the people taking part in Opoona's creation is Hitoshi Sakimoto, whose task will be to come up with the music for the game. If the name doesn't ring a bell, Sakimoto is the composer of Final Fantasy XII's soudtrack. And that's about it for now, we're still waiting for Koei to provide a release date and some more decent media.

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Sony continues to play hide and seek, and serenely confirms something they have been vehemently denying until last week. Just yesterday, we were talking about some new rumours that appeared on Kotaku, regarding a redesigned PlayStation Portable, and now, for the first time ever, we finally have a confirmation from a Sony official. More precisely, from SCE UK managing director Ray Maguire, speaking at the British launch of Sony's "PSP in Education" initiative yesterday afternoon.

According to today's report on GI.biz, Maguire told an invited audience of press, teachers and education specialists that the current PSP is just the "first iteration" of the console.

Much like the first PlayStation was followed by a smaller PSOne, and the PS2 received a highly successful redesign as well, it seems that the PSP handheld will also go through a similar treatment in the future, becoming smaller and lighter. However, Maguire warns that, no matter the changes, one thing that will certainly remain the same is the screen's generous size - the PSP's pride and glory.

In theory, a smaller PSP should translate into a smaller price, which is currently placed at GBP 179 in the UK. But don't rush with those savings just yet, because we may be up for a long, long wait for the new PSP model. At least considering that the redesigned PSOne and "slim" PS2 came out some 4-5 years after the original models, and that the PSP is still rather young - having been launched in the West during 2005.

At least they made the first step: getting out of the denial phase.

UPDATE: Oh noes, not another denial! Actually they don't deny that a redesigned PSP may be coming in a couple of years or so, just that "There are no immediate changes planned for PSP". [14.03.2007, 14:06]

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Why on earth does a brand like Naruto keep on having such an insane success, I may never understand; or care. But there are obviously throngs of kids out there who are crazy about the manga and anime series, so it's the game publishers' financial duty to keep on exploiting the franchise, by expanding it on as many platforms as possible. And if we put two and two together, it immediately becomes apparent that Nintendo's Wii console was bound to be the next target for the Naruto over-hype.

As of today, the first Naruto game for the Wii has become a certainty, after D3Publisher of America issued a press release confirming the rumours and announcing the upcoming Wii release of Naruto: Clash of Ninja MVZ (working title) - "a head-to-head fighting game with content created exclusively for the North American market!", they say, adding:

"Naruto: Clash of Ninja MVZ is based on episodes from VIZ Media’s hit anime series Shonen Jump Naruto and will include characters that have never been featured in the hit Clash of Ninja game series. The game will take advantage of the Wii Remote in fast-paced ninja action for up to four players in nine different gameplay modes. (...)

The next generation in Naruto games will include all new character animations, new special attack animations and for the first time new interactive environments. Developed by Eighting, Naruto: Clash of Ninja MVZ takes advantage of the Wii system by allowing players to launch attacks with the Wii Remote using Ninja-like movements, and features special mini-games created exclusively for use with the Wii Remote.

Naruto: Clash of Ninja MVZ will include 14 characters - including some that have yet to be featured in the Clash of Ninja game series. The fast-paced ninja action for up to four players will have nine different gameplay modes including Story Mode, Single Player and Multiplayer modes."

If I were to draw an unusually objective conclusion, I'd say that Naruto is certainly one fighting game perfectly suited for the Wiimote. As for my subjective opinion... you don't wanna know! Fans can look forward to this first Wii Naruto launching in autumn 2007.

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God of War II Out, GoW PS3 With Rumble, GoW PSP Detailed

Judging by early review scores, God of War II is nothing short of a phenomenal sequel to a phenomenal PS2 game. God of War II was released today in North America, and to celebrate this, Sony held a little launch party for a select audience in San Francisco last night. On scene was also director Cory Barlog, who - as alawys - couldn't resist the temptation of spilling a thing or two about his next God of War projects. That's right, as in multiple projects, because the PSP version was recently confirmed as being developed by Ready At Dawn (makers of Daxter for PSP), and the PS3 version is pretty much old news by now.

IGN has a liveblog of what was said at the event, and one of the first things that struck them was that the next God of War game will have... *gasp*... "VIBRATION functions" on the PlayStation 3 - surely thanks to Sony's recent cease-fire agreement with Immersion, and the subsequent speculations about a new PS3 controller with rumble. IGN's story also says that God of War (PS)3 will be displayed in glorious 1080p, if your screen can handle it.

Moving on to the PSP version, Barlog insists that this will be a completely new game: "It is its own story that connects to the overall story. God of War, God of War 2, and then if all the stars align God of War 3 will be the telling of a trilogy. This PSP story will be a further fleshing out". It will certainly not be a port of the first God of War or anything like that, he says, and it will not reuse any of the previous levels (though it may take players through some familiar looking areas). A teasing flyer included in the God of War II game box also indicates that the PSP version is due for release sometime in 2007.

God of War II will only be out in Europe on March 30. And according to Gamespot, Sony has already shipped 1 million units to meet the huge demand in the US; so there should be plenty left for us back on the old continent. And they also have a brief mention about the upcoming God of War movie, which is now entering development. Let's hope it makes it out, too!

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[GDC] CryEngine2 Terraforms Mars MMO, HeroEngine License x3

It may seem strange that the Germans from Crytek have kept their jaw-dropping CryENGINE2 technology all to themselves, prior to GDC 2007. But even more bizarre is the fact that the first CryENGINE2 licensing agreement announced at the event was for a project that doesn't even sound like a game at all. Terraformed Mars, as it's called, was recently introduced as a massively multiplayer virtual world (MMVW), by Avatar Reality - "a new development entity dedicated to the advancement of online community building".

Aside from being the first company to license Crytek's new game middleware, Avatar Reality also stands out as a studio formed (in December 2006) by a couple of imposing guys: Henk Rogers, founder of The Tetris Company (among others); and Kazuyuki Hashimoto, former higher-up at Electronic Arts and at Square - where he oversaw CG development of Final Fantasy VII and the first Final Fantasy movie. Among Avatar's board members are also Alexey Pajitnov (the father of Tetris) and Minoru Arakawa (former Nintendo of America president).

As for Terraformed Mars, the game virtual world is said to feature "stunning graphics, realistic characters and endless social bonding opportunities", leaving everything else about it to our wild imagination. Too bad we can't see how "stunning" it will look like yet, for obvious reasons (it would be quite something to put Crytek's technology to work overnight).

In other GDC licensing news, Simutronics' HeroEngine - used in their upcoming MMORPG Hero's Journey - was also quite successful at the event. Last year, the HeroEngine was picked up by BioWare, to use in their secretive MMORPG currently being developed by the young BioWare Austin studio. And last week, according to Gamasutra, Simutronics signed three more licensing deals!

The most prominent new licensee is publisher Virgin Games, who plan to use the HeroEngine in their recently announced 3D virtual world platform / download service, A World of My Own. The other two companies to adopt the HeroEngine are Texas developer Stray Bullet Games (who are also working on a MMO), and California's Colony studios. No further details about these are available at this time.

And finally, you might want to check out this Ten Ton Hammer page, where they have the first in-game footage of Hero's Journey since E3 2006. It's a bit shaky and skewed, but you'll get the picture.

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