QuickJump QuickPeek 55: Of pre-E3 madness, Square Enix’s Phoenix Down for FF7 fans, and dyslexia over a very large Hadron Collider
It’s another week – another time to recap all of the happy Weekend Warriors right before we jump into all the E3 updates (which are actually already slowly picking up now!). So before all the madness sets in, make sure you’re prepared to cheer for your team with the latest scoop on the industry: from the Activision Blizzard merger to Square Enix‘s big announcement (about another announcement), and when artificially created blackholes get delayed. Dig in!
Hey hey hey! E3’s already begun! We’re just starting to roll in with the E3 news, and right about now, things are just starting to heat up as the press conferences progress down the schedule. If you’re interested to check out E3’s schedule (know when to cheer for your camp, why not?), we’ve posted a useful outline to plot down the key events down at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Clicky clicky!
Link: E3 2008: schedule of press conferences from Sony, Ninty, MS, more
Now, before all hell breaks lose (in a mildly orderly fashion, we hope), let’s take a quick breather and bring in all of them pre-E3 updates, now, shall we? QuickJump QuickPeek 55 will be bringing along all those Weekend Warriors and whatever speculation each of them might have for the coming days.
Think of this as a calm before the E3 storm! …or not. As some of us may know, unfortunately, in the video game industry, having a calm week is an overrated thing.
We’re finally rolling out two specific Weekend Warriors for the PSPUpdates blog – one for commercial updates for games, announcements from Sony, and other third-party news, while the other Warrior will take on the brew.
What’s got everyone a-buzz this week in the PSP scene? Why, only LocoRoco 2 and Patapon 2, of course! We got quite a hefty update on these two new sequels, and yes, even the first batch of screens for the singing blobs! Then there’s Dissidia. You might want to join us for a quick recap of all of the things we know so far, just in case Square Enix drops a mother of a bomb on us come E3.
As for the PSP homebrew scene, we got more developers catching up with the latest CFW 4.01 M33, with newer versions of some good ol’ apps now being made compatible with Dark AleX‘s custom firmware. PSP Dungeons and Wolfenstein 3D have also gotten quite a spruce up for all those who can’t get hold of enough games.
Link: The PSP Weekend Warrior: Of mergers, roly poly revelations, and two oceans
And what do we have for the PS3 blog? Hey! Fire up those Network Update icons and bump your system up to FW 4.01! After being taken down, it’s now back up, and now, we even know what caused the ruckus too.
We’re also enlightened on what caused Fallout 3 to be banned in Australia, and if you remember the mysterious mercenary revealed for Resident Evil 5, we finally know who she is now too. And what’s this? CliffyB giving Metal Gear Solid 5 a compliment and Square Enix about to announce something big for FF7? Yeouch. A scorching hot summer indeed!
Link: The PS3 Weekend Warrior: 2.40 issue addressed, E3 looms large, and a bummer from down under
It’s been a long time coming, but we finally get to lay the rumors to rest now: Microsoft has officially announced a price cut! Yeah, it didn’t make it in the current issue for the 360 Warrior but hey! – big news as the come in, right?
Meanwhile, Jade Raymond’s supposed to announce her new game during the E3: I am Alive. And while we’re hoping, we may see something for almost-vaporware Hydrophobia too. But what’s sure for E3 this year? Get ready, folks; we’ll be getting a Too Human demo on XBL like… right now!
Link: The Xbox 360 Weekend Warrior: some pre-E3 lineups, tons of updates, and Jack Thompson
Nintendo’s E3 press conference won’t happen until tomorrow, so until then, we got a day to have a bit of a breather. After all, Reggie’s been saying all this time that they’ll be giving us quite a big blow during E3.
Other than Animal Crossing 2 and Wii Yoga being confirmed, we’re still all ears on what other titles Nintendo might reveal in E3 (a sequel to Twilight Princess, we hope!). Other third party developers are already rolling out some punches to throw out: Fatal Frame Wii‘s revealed its characters in their website, and we got some new assets for Castlevania Judgment too. And a big whopping hurrah for some Mega Man 9 footage!
Pick of the Week Wiibrew game is Guitarfun – a Wii port of the opensource Guitar Hero clone for the PC. It’s got support for a USB keyboard, the Wiimote, and even the GH3 guitar! Wii Linux is making waves as it’s no longer in proof-of-concept status: a real implementation of the Linux system finally lands on the white waggler.
Link: The Wii Weekend Warrior: more games coming in just before E3
Link: The Wiibrew Weekend Warrior: GoldenEye 007 injected, media players, Linux Wii, heck of a lot more
The DS is getting some yellow feathered loving from Square Enix again, with two new Chocobo titles confirmed. They’ve also shown a quick trailer for Chrono Trigger DS – sweet! – and Konami’s announced an Elebits sequel too!
All is not sweet for the DS community though – in the UK, ELSPA is considering to take some action against retailers who sell flashcart-related hardware due to its potential use for piracy. Meanwhile, Nintendo’s facing charges (again!) for supposedly infringing on some touchscreen patents.
Link: The DS Weekend Warrior: more R4 troubles and more helpings of Chocobo
Blizzard and Activision are making waves: they’ve finally completed their merger. In other news, Crysis is now for US$ 30, MySims is heading to PC, and whole bunch of other big games landing on E3!
Link: The PC Weekend Warrior: in the shadow of E3 2008, we yearn for revivals, Battlefield Heroes
Big names in the MMORPG industry this week dropped in. Going massive by another 44% is Second Life‘s population, but on the other hand, Hellgate London‘s Flagship Studios experience quite a massive exodus.
Wrath of the Lich King is going to be soaring high, what with flying mounts already confirmed – at a bit of a price. But there’s more: WotLK might be dropping by earlier than we think, if rumors hold true. As expected, Age of Conan gets more patches this week too – one of which is the biggest one yet!
Link: The MMORPG Weekend Warrior: Warhammer’s removed features, Second Life grows, more
Link: The World of Warcraft Weekend Warrior: Falcons on your desktop, Lich Kings boxed, and Actizard
Link: The Age of Conan Weekend Warrior: patches, Godager’s open letter, and recruitment
End of the world much? Well, Switzerland’s large Hadron Collider “go live” deadline has been pushed back to August. But wait. Better read that right: it’s HADRON. The D comes before the R, ok? Not the other way around.
Link: The Science Weekend Warrior: science, politics, and a delayed black hole
iPhone 3G is lurve! And Apple is making sure to deliver the 3G love this week – along with the new FW 2.0 and iTunes 7.7. The deadline for the App Store is already set, and Square Enix rolls out an iPod RPG title!
Link: The Apple Weekend Warrior: Apple gaming, App Store and iTunes updates, the usual homebrew suspects
Comment of the Week: The Butterfly Effect in a Crisis Core-less world
We wanted to make sonofken’s little confusion over a certain science article’s title the Comment of the Week, but some people may be… scandalized. So, this week, we look over to something quite different and yet familiar.
Most of us have our own preconceptions of what makes or breaks a remake. Or a sequel. Or a spinoff. And trudging along those thoughts, most of us almost always have our own judgments of whether or not creating one would be good or bad for the franchise.
Well, we’re sure all of our arguments are valid – and true enough, we’ve seen the same argument being recycled again and again over time. This week, trigger surprised us. With a big announcement from Square Enix soon, speculation over an FF7 remake once again flooded all over us.
At first, it seems as if trigger’s replying directly to what some of the other commenters said, but when you think about it, it’s as if trigger’s just making a general comment about remakes and the risks (and rewards!) of making one.
Here’s trigger’s take on the matter – some of you may or may not agree, but you can’t deny that this comment (two comments, actually) builds a very solid argument indeed:
