Kingdom Hearts Tops 10 Million, More KH On The Way

There's nothing new about Square Enix working on further Kingdom Hearts games, since this is something that's been hinted by Tetsuya Nomura almost a year ago. And last December they shifted the rumour mill into gear once again, after ending a Hearts II Final Mix presentation at the Jump Festa show in Tokyo with the following message: "New Project Starting in 2007". But to think that the Kingdom Hearts series has so far been shipped in over 10 million copies around the world... well, the figure speaks for itself.

Albeit these are not actual sales figures (just shipped units), it's still pretty impressive, considering that all Kingdom Hearts games to date have been single-platform titles. As reported by GI.biz, Square Enix shipped around 5.6 million copies of the original Kingdom Hearts PS2 game since its debut in 2002: 1.5 million units in Japan, 3 million in North America, and 1.1 million in Europe and other PAL territories.

The following GBA variation from 2004, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, was only shipped in 1.5 million units (400K in Japan, 900K in North America and 200K in PAL regions). However the Kingdom Hearts II PS2 sequel reached 3.5 million units shipped since its 2005/2006 release (1.1 million in Japan, 1.7 million in North America, and 700K in PAL territories), and will likely continue to sell good for a while.

After all, there are still plenty of Square fans who never played a Kingdom Hearts game in their life (guilty as charged), but who might consider getting the originals, once the next title in the series will be announced - be it Kingdom Hearts III or something else... Producer Shinji Hashimoto did confirm that more instalments are planned, but instead of going into any detail, he only issued the following blank statement:

"When we first started developing Kingdom Hearts, we never imagined we would pass the 10 million mark so quickly. We are delighted and extremely grateful for the support from our fans around the globe. We hope to continue to provide games which fulfill your anticipation in the future."

We'll keep our eyes open and our neko-mimi ears peeled.

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We may have been bitching about the humongous size of demo versions lately (and rightly so, I still believe). But when the label reads "Supreme Commander", we're more than willing to turn a blind eye and welcome this new, 1.1 GB demo for Gas Powered Games' latest project. The package is available for download locally, and it lets you play an early section of the Cybran Nation single-player campaign in Supreme Commander, along with one skirmish map - called "Finn's Revenge" - with three difficulty levels.

In the included readme file, Chris Taylor greets the fans with the following note:

"Supreme Commander was more than a labor of love; it was the completion of a journey we started a long time ago and was a game that we've wanted to make for a very long time. To see the game complete is an incredible reward for us, especially because it delivers many of the goals we set for ourselves back in 2003. And now the journey is complete, and we will soon embark on another. From all of us here at GPG and the SupCom team, to all of you, we hope Supreme Commander brings you many hours of entertainment and delivers a new and exciting experience. And most of all, we hope it's everything you had hoped it would be... we worked very hard to make that happen.

All the best!"

Actual production on Supreme Commander may have started in 2003, but I'm sure that Chris Taylor has been envisioning it for a very long time prior to that. After all, he left Cavedog back in 1998, soon after the Core Contingency expansion pack was released for his most acclaimed game to date - Total Annihilation. I wonder if that's about to change...

As you may know, Supreme Commander has already reached Gold status last month, and the final version should be on store shelves in less than two weeks - on February 16 in Europe, and February 20 in North America. Between now and then, let there be more speculation about GPG's next project!

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In a sudden breakaway from the usual Warhammer Online newsletters they've been throwing at us on a regular basis lately, Mythic Entertainment EA Mythic took a moment (or two) of their precious time to give their fans a little present. Sorry for ruining the surprise there in the title, and yes, we're obviously talking about the Dark Age of Camelot: Catacombs expansion pack that came out a few years after the cult MMO's original release. Which, as of now, is free! (gotta love that word)

"EA Mythic today announced that "Catacombs", the fifth expansion for the critically-acclaimed MMO "Dark Age of Camelot", is available to all current and retired players as a free download. All accounts have been granted access to the expansion content.

The "Catacombs" expansion introduces improved graphics, five new character classes, three massive underground cities, and instanced dungeons to the world of Camelot. Players can download the "Catacombs" files at http://catacombs.darkageofcamelot.com/ downloads.php. Former players returning to the game can re-activate their account, regain their original characters and take advantage of the online availability of the expansion."

In order to play Catacombs, you still need the original DAoC and the Shrouded Isles expansion, though you can also get these as a 14-day free trial, at www.darkageofcamelot.com/downloads. Also, do note that the Catacombs download is only compatible with US / Mythic servers.

As one of the genre's pioneering trio - along with Ultima Online and EverQuest - Dark Age of Camelot was still holding about 1% market share in the field of subscription-based MMO games as of June 2006, according to MMOGChart.com. Ultima Online and EverQuest were also in the same area (1.1% and 1.6% respectively), while World of Warcraft had already conquered more than 50% of the market by that time. We'll see where it's at in 2010...

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Speaking of violent games, Jack Thompson's arch-devils from Rockstar are at it again: by summer of this year, they will challenge us with even more stalking action, in a sequel to their 2004 Manhunt game. The new Manhunt 2 is being developed for the Wii, PlayStation 2 and PSP platforms, by several of their studios. The Wii version, which we're obviously most interested in, is being put together by the Canadians from Rockstar Toronto, while the PS2 and PSP versions are created by the veterans from Rockstar North (once upon a time DMA Design) and the newcomers from Rockstar London. This will actually be Rockstar London's debut title, after the British studio's formation was announced in late 2005.

At this point, to say that "details about Manhunt 2 are scarce" would be a gross understatement. Because, quite frankly, we known absolutely nothing about it, other than its planned platforms, and the Summer 2007 release date. And so far the devs are doing a great job in keeping us in the dark, with blank statements such as this:

"With Manhunt 2 we have tried to create a game that stays close to the original concept of chilling suspense and stealth, whilst pushing the game design and storytelling forward," said Sam Houser, founder and executive producer of Rockstar Games. "We are also excited to have our newest development team, Rockstar London, working on the title alongside our two established UK studios, Rockstar North and Leeds."

As expected, early reports about Manhunt 2 were quick to remind people about the Stefan Pakeerah murder case from 2004, which at the time was stupefyingly linked to Manhunt. Nevermind that the game was actually found in the victim's room, not the murderer's!

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It's been a while since we last talked about everyone's favorite anti-(violent-)games attorney, Jack Thompson. And it's not because he kept silent for all this time - which would be statistically impossible - but mostly because we were hoping that he'll eventually go away, if we ignore him long enough. Well, that didn't work. But he might still be going away, if the Florida Supreme Court finds him guilty of several charges of "professional misconduct", brought against him by the Florida Bar. The worst case scanario ("worst" for him, best for us) would be to lose his right to practice law or argue cases. Even so, however, he would probably continue to be supported (and financed?) by inapt politicians who think they can win some easy votes by picking on video games. And waste some public money in the process.

Until now, we were always used to seeing Jack Thompson on the offence, against the likes of Take-Two, Rockstar, Hot Coffee and Common Sense. But as GamePolitics reports, the time has finally come for dear mr. Thompson to defend his abusive actions from recent years, in an upcoming Florida Supreme Court disciplinary hearing:

"The pending judicial review follows a recent recommendation by the Florida Bar that five counts of professional misconduct against Thompson should proceed to the state's high court for action. If the charges are eventually upheld, Thompson could face disciplinary action up to and including disbarment."

GamePolitics' report goes on to detail each count of misconduct that Thompson faces, and most of them are directly related to his anti-gaming crusade from the days of the "Strickland vs. Sony" lawsuit he brought against several video game industry defendants in 2005.

In response to these charges, Thompson did what he does best: he filed suit, against the Florida Bar no less!

Asked to comment by GamePolitics, Thompson said:

"A referee is appointed and we have a trial. The Supreme Court reviews it later. The trial isn't going to happen, however. I have sued The Bar in Circuit Court. It's in far more trouble than I am."

And in other news, a group of monkeys from the San Diego zoo is demanding that their lot be proclaimed a sovereign state.

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To this day, Red Faction remains a great game (at least in multiplayer) that introduced one of the most breakthrough technologies in 3D gaming history - allowing you to literally blast your way through walls and such. And yet, Volition's "Geo-Mod" technology never really broke through the age-old convention of static game environments. As much advanced physics as today's shooters claim to feature, when was the last time you were able to blow up a feeble (yet indestructible) door? Or even crack a single brick in a half-bombarded (yet equally indestructible) wall in any WWII shooter?... My point exactly.

Unfortunately, not even the Red Faction II sequel didn't capitalize on the Geo-Mod's potential, and was quickly dismissed as an inferior title. So even if a new Red Faction III game would have been announced a few years ago, it would have probably suffered the same fate. But what about now? Surely, Volition must have had enough time to ponder their mistakes, and to come up with a better way of bringing Red Faction into the next-gen era. Because their technology is well worth it!

With that thought in mind, check out what THQ's CEO Brian Farrell had to say during the company's latest investor conference call, as reported by Gamasutra:

Specifically, when asked by an analyst to list out the six major THQ-owned brands that the company would be concentrating on in the next year, Farrell commented: "As you mentioned, Saints Row, Stuntman, which will be released this year, Juiced, which is a sequel to the product we launched a couple years ago, Destroy All Humans, MX, and my favorite, Red Faction."

Sure, this may be just a vague mention of some obscure game set in the Red Facion franchise, which we known absolutely nothing about: there's no platform, no release date, no title. Hell, for all we know, it might not even use Geo-Mod anymore! But I sure hope that won't be the case, since Red Faction without Geo-Mod is nothing more than a mediocre shooter, at best.

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Next-gen N-Gage This September, Gameloft And EA Sign Up

Shortly after we reported about the next generation of N-Gage devices that's expected to be announced at GDC 2007 next month, the N-Gage blog posted (and then quickly removed) a story in which they revealed the first two gaming companies that have committed to support Nokia's upcoming platform: Gameloft and EA Mobile. Oddly enough, however, the story in question - titled "Growing Publisher Support for N-Gage" - is no longer listed on the blog's front page right now, and even though it still exists in the website's archives, it's slightly different than the one cached by Google.

In case they're going to take down the story for good, you can find a comparison between the two texts below. See if you can spot the difference...

Original story:

"We expect EA Mobile and Gameloft to bring a number of top-selling, award winning titles to our platform between our launch in September and the end of 2007."

Edited story:

"We expect EA Mobile and Gameloft to bring a number of top-selling, award winning titles to our platform between now and our launch."

Ahem... so, the new N-Gage is launching in September, huh? Sorry Nokia, you can't hide your PR mishaps when God Google almighty is watching!

As for the rest of the story, they say that more announcements are on the way, and throughout the year other leading publishers will be adding their games to the (next-gen) N-Gage catalogue. "By early 2008", they say, "we expect to have some of the biggest franchises and hottest mobile games included in the N-Gage experience. Stay tuned, the best is yet to come!".

Of course, this still leaves us with the main question unanswered: will there be a new, dedicated N-Gage gaming device or not?

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Mercenaries 2 Hired By Electronic Arts For Deployment In 2007

Venezuela, be afraid... be very afraid! The game that spread invasion fears among paranoid supporters loyal to Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez last year, just got one step closer to release, with Electronic Arts' announcement that they have reached an agreement with developer Pandemic Studios. The deal will see EA co-publishing the next-gen action game Mercenaries 2: World in Flames sometime later this year, on Sony's PlayStation 3 console. So for now, the rumoured Xbox 360 version remains just that - a rumour - and it looks like Activision won't be the ones publishing the game, after all.

Adding to the word-count of the press release, Pandemic Studios CEO Andrew Goldman said:

"Pandemic Studios is excited to join forces with EA Partners to give Mercenaries 2: World in Flames a spectacular global launch. Mercenaries 2: World in Flames will set the bar for explosive, open world action games in the next generation, and everyone at Pandemic is excited that fans will be able to get their hands on it later this year."

Sequel to Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction, the best-selling new intellectual property of 2005 (according to NPD Data), Mercenaries 2 promises to be an explosive open-world action game set in a massive, highly reactive, war-torn world, with support for cooperative multiplayer. A power-hungry tyrant messes with Venezuela's oil supply, sparking an invasion that turns the country into a warzone.

The game features the latest and most dangerous in civilian and military tech, everything from shiny new sports cars, to the future-tech satellite-guided bunker-busting mini-nuke. Tanks, APCs, boats, luxury automobiles - you name it, you can have it delivered to you in real time. And if you run out of cash you can always 'acquire' the gear you need in the field. Basically, "if you see it, you can buy it, steal it, or blow the living crap out of it".

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Ubisoft was the first big Western publisher to fully commit to Nintendo's Wii console early on, that much is true. But now their arch-rivals from Electronic Arts are aiming to become the #1 third-party publisher on both the Wii and the DS. Or if you will, the #2 publisher after Nintendo - who, they admit, will always be number one (how humble of them). This bold statement was made by EA's chairman and CEO, Larry Probst, during the conference call following the company's financial results announcement from a few days ago:

"On the Nintendo platforms, we think that we can be a very strong number two. Clearly Nintendo will always be number one on the Wii and Nintendo DS, but we think we have a realistic goal of being number two, with a market share goal of 15-20 percent."

During that same conference, EA also confirmed several DS/Wii projects that they hope to serve their aforementioned purpose. One is the DS version of Spore, the one that Will Wright himself acknowledged nearly one year ago (after a job listing revealed it in advance). There were no actual details disclosed about the DS Spore, such as WiFi functionality, and all we know for now is that the handheld version is expected to be released in EA's next fiscal year, ending on March 31, 2008.

Also confirmed was a DS version of The Sims, which according to GameSpot will be ported from the Wii. Both the Wii and DS versions will be titled My Sims, and should also be released during EA's next fiscal year.

Speaking of sims, SimCity for the DS (based on the PC Sim City 3000) will certainly play a big part in EA's strategy for the Nintendo platforms as well. And, of course, there's no doubt that the Wii and DS will continue to receive more of those ubiquitous EA Sports titles. You don't expect them to conquer Nintendo's platforms without these, do you?

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Konami Lines Up Dewy's Adventure And More Wii, DS, PSP Games

Our previous story about Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles was just the tip of Konami's playful iceberg drifting into 2007. That title alone may have been enough to get our utmost attention, but they also have a lot more in store for this year's portable and Wii releases. Dewy's Adventure, for starters, is a new (working-)title they annonced for the Wii, coming this year from the same producer behind Elebits - or Eledees in Europe. Being based on a similarly weird idea, Dewy's Adventure will see you control a cute water droplet, on a quest to save its colorful world from the evil Don... well, why don't you just read Konami's story:

"The game is set on a world where pure water and green forests have flourished, and which once enjoyed centuries of peace and prosperity under the careful watch of the Elder Tree. However, the evil Don Hedron has seized control of the Elder Tree and transformed the world into a gloomy world smothered by Black Water. Using the last of its remaining power, the Elder Tree has created a small droplet of water (the titular Dewy) and granted it the power of the elements with the hope that it could eradicate the Black Water and restore peace to the world."

You'll be able to do all sorts of crazy elemental things in the game, with the help of the Wiimote: shake it to cause an earthquake, wave it to create a windstorm, or become a rain cloud to summon bolts of lightning upon your enemies. Furthermore, the game will also feature an edit mode, "wherein users can create play areas for friends to enjoy and swap with others", Konami tells us. Feel free to inspect this first batch of screenshots, and get more details about Dewy's Adventure in our gamespace.

Regarding Konami's other console / portable titles planned for release in 2007, the company outlined around 15 more games at last week's Gamer's Day in San Francisco. Gamasutra has a more detailed report, but we summarized them in the list below:

- Winning Eleven Pro Evolution Soccer 2007 (Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, DS, PSP, PC) - February 2007

- Hellboy (PS3, Xbox 360, PSP) - 2007

- Dance Dance Revolution Universe (Xbox 360) - February 2007

- Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party (Wii)

- Wing Island (Wii) - Q2 2007

- Kororinpa: Marble Mania (Wii) - Q2 2007

- Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles (PSP) - Q4 2007

- Brooktown High: Senior Year (PSP) - Q2 2007

- Coded Arms: Contagion (PSP) - Q2 2007

- Death Jr. and the Science Fair of Doom (DS) - Q1 2007

- GoPets: Vacation Island (DS) - May 2007

- Konami Classic Series: Arcade Hits (DS)

- Lost In Blue 2 (DS) - Q2 2007

- Lunar Knights (DS) - February 2007

- Honeycomb Beat (DS) - Q2 2007

- Time Ace (DS) - Q2 2007

From these, Lunar Knights deserves a special mention, since it will be the first one to be released - tomorrow! - in the US, and it now boasts a fresh new official webiste. This Action-RPG is developed by Kojima Productions, and it features animated cinematics made by Studio 4 Degrees (The Animatrix, Memories). So yeah, it's a pretty big deal.

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