Did Hironobu Sakaguchi's classic Final Fantasy game get any sequels?... A few, yeah. Is Blue Dragon getting a sequel?... You bet! What about Lost Odyssey?... I don't see why not. Microsoft Japan seem to be happy with the game's 100,000+ sales there so far, and Lost Odyssey is also enjoying a lukewarm success over on this part of the world. It's only been out in North America for a couple of weeks, and releasing in Europe tomorrow, so it's still too early to tell exactly how well the game is doing on a woldwide scale.

But don't take it from us. Take it from the H&E Head of Microsoft Japan, what's-his-name, interviewed by Nikkei (loose Google translation, via AllRPG). He's the one claiming they're happy with the game sales in the territory, and he also says that the Lost Odyssey series will grow in time. Meaning one or more sequels are coming. Hardly shocking, but still nice to get an "official hint" on this.

Mass Effect’s PC ass is getting as hyped as hell, and that is a good thing. Too few good RPGs are coming out lately, and from what we’ve heard, the X360 version of Mass Effect was actually pretty good. BioWare and their co-workers at Demiurge Studios promised lots of improvements in the PC version, a brand new UI, blah blah, yada yada, and various other things.

The latest news concerning this Sci-Fi title came recently – the game’s final release date – so prepare your itchy fingers for a long gaming session starting May, the 6th. Personally, I can hardly wait, and it seems that not even my huge stash of anime porn is able to compensate for this. Must... play... lesbian... intergalactic... chicks...

Excellent. According to this here press release, the girls at ArenaNet are proud to brag themselves with more than 5 millions copies of Guild Wars, sold worldwide. Congratulations, it sure is a big chunk o’ players stuck in their virtual world.

Let’s see now… World of Warcraft – 10 millions registered users. Guild Wars – 5 million games sold. Lineage – a couple of million dudes getting spanked by big breasted Dark Elven chicks there, too. This sure leaves some gaming space for upcoming MMORPGs… Yaright. Call me a grumpy and hateful old bastard, but I bet my (second) WoW account that some extremely hyped online games that are supposed to hit the market soon, will get totally pwned.

"Champions Online is going to be unlike anything MMO fans have seen before"... You must be thinking - who could possibly be so self-centered, so out of touch with reality and with common sense, to make such an idiotic statement? I'll tell you who: Cryptic Studios. Since their previous project, that Marvel MMO was clearly too fucking awesome to be released (which would perfectly explain why it was cancelled), they decided they don't need Microsoft or any other publisher to tell them how much they pwn. So they took matters into their own hands, and are now planning to self-publish their next game, Champions Online.

Well, that much we knew already, but now we have some new details announced for this superhero MMO, along with some early screenshots.

"Champions Online, based on the popular pen-and-paper Champions RPG, will give players the power of total customization of their hero experience while they explore a vast universe of richly detailed 3D environments. (...) Champions Online is all about total customization - it will offer a near infinite amount of character customization so that all players will have a unique game experience. Gamers will be able to create their hero's name, back story, costume, powers and abilities as well as design their own personal arch-enemy and his or her back story, which will guarantee a truly unique experience."

If this sounds like your kind of game, then by all means, feel free to read more about it on its website. For the rest of us, the only other thing worth mentioning is that Champions Online should be released on the PC and Xbox 360 in spring 2009. Not that it will make any difference.

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 Continue reading 'Champions Online Details, Screenshots'...

- The PSP version of Need for Speed ProStreet is finally shifting into retail gear this week, on February 22. Time for another NFS soon, eh?... *sigh*... What a drag racing.

- Also on February 22, the PS3 version of Unreal Tournament 3 will be released in Europe. Other releases this week include Dragon Quest Swords (Wii), The Club, Dynasty Warriors 6, and Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney (DS).

- The Witcher Enhanced Edition was announced for May 2008, bringing changes in the game's mechanics, better graphics, a MOD editor, and two new adventures (comprising 8 new quests). In other words, they're trying to sell us a fucking patch.

- Second Life goes mobile, by "[reformatting] the online world to fit on mobile phone screens while mapping the keys on handsets to commands in-world". World of Warcraft should take a cue, instead of experimenting with shitty mobile chat features.

- JoWooD and World Forge (Sparta: Ancient Wars) announced a new strategy game called The Golden Horde, which "takes you back to a place in time where the heirs of Dschingis Khan were ready to fight for their honor and glory". Dschingis Khan?! What the fuck! Somebody fire that PR idiot who can't even spell Genghis Khan right. FAIL.

- THQ and Blue Fang Games (Zoo Tycoon) are banding for a new game, in development for the Wii, DS and PC. More zoophilia?

Ah, the distinguished Game Developers Conference... now there's an event we won't be attending (although we might hold a prolongued "editorial" meeting at the local pub tonight). But no worries, that's why we have the internets, to bring us various stuff from this week's GDC 2008 in San Francisco. Such is this new pack of screenshots from Age of Conan issued by Funcom. I'd rather not comment on them, though - we might lose our last two Conan-fans readers who drive our earnings through the roof.

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 Continue reading 'GDC 2008 - Age of Conan Screenshots'...

Today we have the first screenshots from BioWare's most dubious project to date, that Sonic RPG for the Nintendo DS now officially known as Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, coming from SEGA during 2008. It doesn't look bad or anything, but I sure wish they had picked another franchise. No, not Mario!

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 Continue reading 'Sonic RPG Screenshots'...

About time Square Enix did something other than good old Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts or Dragon Quest titles. Don't get me wrong, I am a HUGE fan of everything mentioned above, I, like any normal human being, have my periodical Tifa / Aeris / Yuna wet dreams, but playing the same games over and over again tends to get a bit boring after a while. Especially when you end up, like me, to get disgusted by almost every modern title and resort to the forever awesome SNES emulator and the bunch of cool JRPGs out there.

And so... Square is making yet another move on the RPG front, this time on Nintendo DS, with a new action RPG entitled The World Ends With You. We get to play the role of an underaged, unsociable and probably completely retarded when it comes to women kid which, caught in a modern-day Tokyo, receives a strange SMS - telling him “bye bye cruel world if you don't do my bidding”. Sounds interesting, sounds Japanese enough, but it also sounds rather costly, being priced at 39,99 USD. Here are some of the game's features:

- Distinctive modern art style created by a team of artists led by Tetsuya Nomura, world-renowned character designer of the upcoming FABULA NOVA CRYSTALLIS project which includes FINAL FANTASY XIII and FINAL FANTASY Versus XIII
- Innovative Stride-Cross Battle System allows players to control two characters simultaneously, unleashing special attacks with the stylus
- Collect a vast array of custom-designed pins, each with a powerful psychic ability that can be activated with the right touch or sound command
- Customize characters with Shibuya's coolest fashions and exchange items with other players via Mingle Mode
- Experience an amazing soundtrack combining a fusion of musical influences from hip-hop to rock to electronica
- Battle with up to three friends in Tin Pin Slammer, an exciting and fast-paced mini-game, via local wireless connection

And here is the press release, for your reading pleasure.

In a bit of a contradiction to this week's press release announcing the PC version of Mass Effect - which credits no other studio except BioWare - it appears that indie developer Demiurge Studios is actually the one doing the dirty work of porting this Xbox 360 RPG to PCs. As spotted on FiringSquad, the Massachusetts-based developer has revealed on its blog that it "began working with BioWare during the final stretch of development for the Xbox 360 version", adding gameplay and performance enhancements for the PC version. And they also let slip a few specific details.

"Mass Effect for the PC features a third command wheel so players can access squad members separately, a new inventory system, customized key mapping and a brand new minigame. Extra attention was focused on visuals, offering higher resolution graphics for an enhanced gaming experience for the PC."

Don't forget to check out the first screenshots from Mass Effect PC, if you haven't yet.

- The world of Fallout 3 will be much smaller than Oblivion, Bethesda's Pete Hines told some aussies, "but packed with stuff to do". Stuff to do is good, mkay.

- "For Sims 3 there will be new information soon", Sims Studio head Rod Humble let slip in a forum posting. And guess what: they are "actually launching less [Sims games] this year than last". Oh, and "the Sims Label was created to innovate, make original games and take creative risks". I loled.

- Aion: The Tower of Eternity is coming in 2008. How exactly is that a novelty, beats me!

- Naruto: Ninja Destiny went gold, and is now destined to launch on February 26 for the Nintendo DS. Naruto sucks dragon balls.

- April 22 was announced as the day Square Enix will release its new DS action-RPG set in modern-day Tokyo, The World Ends With You. No U.

- Unreal Engine 3 got licensed by yet another Korean developer - Dragonfly (Karma Online, Special Force), who will be using it to make a new... something, whatever.