The PSP Weekend Warrior: Cid-tastic Final Fantasy, Q1 2008 sales, and Dissidia for the holidays
Ready for another serving of QJ.NET’s PSP Weekend Warrior? This week’s top news items include a wrap-up of the recent PSP-3000 speculation, and news of Sony‘s Q1 2008 sales for the PSP and PS3. Don’t take our word for it though – the rest of the details are available in the full article.
Welcome to our latest episode of QJ.NET’s PSP Weekend Warrior! Hot news for this week include our post-mortem on the recent PSP-3000 rumor, a new trailer for Capcom’s new Resident Evil movie, and a special feature on one of Final Fantasy‘s most memorable recurring characters.
On the more serious side of gaming, there’s also the matter of the PSP’s first quarters sales, publisher mix-ups from Activision Blizzard, and a public copy of Senator Wicker’s new gaming bill.
More Dissidia news arrives this week as more characters are confirmed for its growing roster. In the mean time, some new details have also come to light for Kingdom Hearts’ latest iterations on the DS and PSP platforms. And lest we forget, Square has also unveiled when each of the games for these franchises will be arriving on shelves. Now would be a good time to start finalizing your Christmas shopping list.
Link: DKS3713: Kingdom Hearts titles and Dissidia: Final Fantasy release dates
Link: DKS3713: Kingdom Hearts trailer tidbits, Dissidia PSP bundle and additional characters confirmed
Link: Japan blog reveals details new for Birth by Sleep and 358/2 Days
Link: New Dissidia characters confirmed: Cloud of Darkness, Onion Knight of FF3
Speaking of Final Fantasy, fellow blogger Gino D. has written up a feature piece covering one of the franchise’s longest-lived personalities: Chocobos Cid. From a swashbuckling (and potty-mouthed) airship captain to a pudgy school headmaster, Cid’s certainly seen his share of action.
Link: Celebrating 20 years of Cid in the Final Fantasy series
For the guys who’d prefer something from Square not related to Final Fantasy or Kingdom Hearts for a change, we’ve got the revelation of a new Parasite Eve title under works for Sony‘s handheld system.
Link: DKS3713: Final Fantasy Agito 13 and Parasite Eve 3 coming to PSP
While Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight may have been among the gloomier episodes in the caped crusader’s career, the same can’t be said of Traveller’s Tales’ upcoming Lego Batman game. For one, Man-bat is just begging to get turned into a collectible plushie.
Link: More Lego Batman screens show a cuter Gotham posse than ever
With Activision and Vivendi’s merger now a done deal, it appears the two companies have now gotten busy planning for the near future. Unfortunately, the early confusion regarding the fate of a couple of their higher-profile titles gave us quite a scare.
Link: Activision Blizzard: Ghostbusters, Brutal Legend, and other games in publisher limbo *Update 2*
The PSP-3000. While all the data on it is questionable at best, it does make for some amusing speculation and wishful thinking. Join us as we attempt to condense the more recent rumors regarding this handheld, and some of the features it might carry.
Link: Sony PSP-3000 speculation: hard drives, touchscreens, possibilities?
More details have appeared for Macross Ace Frontier and No Gravity: The Plague of Mind. While Macross’ multiplayer bouts are shaping up with several interesting options, No Gravity‘s latest video promises some even more polished visuals for the handheld’s screen.
Link: No Gravity: The Plague of Mind – release date, trailer, and new screenshots unveiled
mode
Link: Macross Ace Frontier: details for character and mecha roster, replay mode, and ad-hoc battle mode
The good news: Capcom unveiled a new trailer for their upcoming Resident Evil: Degeneration movie. The bad news: Given the PSP’s yet to get its own RE port even as the Wii gets Dead Rising 2, the movie may rub some fans the wrong way.
Link: New trailer, Japanese screening date for Resident Evil: Degeneration out
Sony is particularly happy with the first quarter sales results for their entire PlayStation line, with the PlayStation 3 getting twice as much sales for Q1 2008 as compared to Q1 2007. The PSP was no slouch either, attaining 3.72 million sales within the last quarter.
Link: PS3 flying high in EA’s Q1 2008 results
Link: PS3 sales double from last year’s Q1, PSP also doing well
Like it or not, advertising is one essential way for game companies to earn cash. While bad product placement has a habit of ruining your gaming immersion, Google is readying a solution that may make adverts just a little more tolerable. At least in theory.
Link: Google cooks up AdSense for Games
While Senator’s Wicker’s gaming bill on capitol hill definitely left a bad taste in our mouths, consider it a reminder that we need to stay updated regarding what goes on in the courts. After all, an informed gamer is a better gamer.
Link: Read all about it: Wicker’s Video Game Rating Enforcement Act of 2008
With the PSP’s GPS attachment now set for an eventual release for North America, our attention shifts to another peripheral: The PSP Camera. Is Sony still planning to bring it over to the U.S.?
Link: Comic-Con 2008: Sony iffy on PSP Camera, DLC for GPS under consideration
I have to be honest – I am seriously hoping that Sony America finds the heart to port Macross Ace Frontier into English. The Macross series as a whole enjoys popularity even outside Japan, with Frontier in particular getting high marks for remaining true to Shoji Kawamori’s formula of transformable fighters, love triangles, and sickeningly cute pop divas.
Speaking of pop divas, the Parasite Eve announcement was certainly another big news for a lot of us. No further details are available for the moment though, leaving us to wonder about the sort of misadventures our favorite heroine will be getting into in with this installment. Seriously, Square – you’re not giving Brea the air time she deserves!
That aside, the readable copy of Wicker’s legislation certainly deserves a bit of time from all of us. After all, we owe it to ourselves to be aware of what this bill seeks accomplish, and to make our own critical analysis based on our own personal observations, rather than by what we’re told. And if you do find yourself tempted to mail your local representatives regarding this matter, do remember to be polite and factual.
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