“Nana-nanananananana Katamari Damacy…” Huh, oh yeah. Heard the news? If not, here it is!

Katamari is confirmed for 360!….and PS3…

Following rumors surfacing from retail channels last month, Bandai Namco’s next generation sequel to Katamari Damacy has been confirmed in the latest Famitsu. Beautiful Katamari Damacy, as it’s to be known in Japan, is in development for the PS3 and Xbox 360.

Thanks to IGN for this info! And Name Taker for noticing.
This means my fortelling was true!

Stop by the forum for the rest of the report and further discussion.

-Torbjörn

Starting today, both GameStop and Electronics Boutique announced an offer for Xbox/Xbox 360 trade ins. However, previously “leaked” data was not perfectly accurate.

“…the premium systems would be worth $250 (from $190), with cores fetching $200 and first-gen Xbox systems being worth $50.”

Turns out the trade-ins will be good on all merchandise in the store, not just the 360 Elite. No word yet on if the program is permanent or just until the Elite stock is sold out.

Source

Discuss in our forums.

-Brian

This item should have gone up last night, but somehow.. it didn’t. Anyway, I mightaswell put it up now. Obscure 2 has been announced for a Q4 release on the Nintendo Wii. Another survival horror? Sure, bring it on! Survival Horror with spontaneously joining co-op? Hell yeah! Check out the release:

‘Publisher Playlogic Entertainment, Inc. (OTCBB: PLGC) announces the acquisition of the survival horror game “Obscure IIâ€? from French development studio Hydravision. The sequel of the innovative Obscure© will be released in Q3 of this year on PC and PS2. The release for Wii is set for Q4.

Obscure II (PC, PS2, Wii) takes place two years after the gruesome events of the first game. The survivors have gone on to college and try to return to their normal lives. After the discovery of a beautiful but strange plant on school campus, events take a turn for the worse. Soon, the college students have to battle for survival once again.

Players of Obscure II can choose their character and one AI controlled sidekick. In total there are six playable characters, each with their own unique abilities. These can be switched at various points in the game. Due to the game’s unique co-op feature, friends can join at any time to team up and attempt surviving Obscure II together. There are many available weapons to keep the monsters that hunt you at bay. Light might be the players’ biggest ally because you never know what’s lurking in the shadows. ‘

Has anyone actually played the first game though? Noone seems to have heard of it! Discuss it over at the forums.

-Andy

It seems like Anime’s into 360 games is the hot thing to do this season! Just as soon as the announcement of a Naruto RPG, we now get info that a DB MMORPG is in development! From Gameswank:

‘Gameswank EXCLUSIVE scoop, back in March 2007 Bandai Namco announced that DRAGONBALL Online was in development, but what was not know to us untill now is that this title is also in development for the XBOX360! according to gamejob they are looking for a XBOX360 programmer for a Collection of MMORPG “dragon ball onlineâ€? which is to ship in 2007 Korea/2008 Japan. No mention of the US/Europe but its sure to follow as Dragonball has a huge following around the world. Looks like World Of Warcraft gone anime! Could this be the answer for the XBOX360 in Japan? ‘

Kudos to Kenny K and Xeoset over at the forums. They had quite the bloody battle to get this to us before each other!

-Andy

Earthviper has written up an extensive review of Super Paper Mario. It certainly deserves recognition, so here we go. Don’t forget to hit the forums to read the rest.

Super Paper Mario

Wii – Intelligent Systems / Nintendo
Platformer / RPG – 1 Player

Introduction:
It’s been over 25 years now since Mario made his original debut in the 1981 Arcade classic Donkey Kong and for most of those years he’s been not only the face of Nintendo but the biggest icon in the video game industry. Enter 2006, Nintendo is reaping the rewards of a unique approach with their newest handheld the Nintendo DS and looking to do the same in the console business with their highly unorthodox new system called the Wii. Amidst the clamor over the system’s most unique feature, the motion sensing controller, something else highly unusual is taking place with the launch of the Wii…it’s the first Nintendo system, console or handheld to launch without a new or at least remade Mario game. Now, four and a half months after the launch of the Wii, in early April of 2007, we finally have access to the first Mario game on the system (not counting the Virtual Console of course). The question now is, was it worth the wait?

Read the rest!

-Andy

 

From Bungie’s Weekly Update:

“It’s official – both Tombstone and Desolation will be available for purchase on Tuesday 4/17 starting at approximately 2:00 AM PDT. Remember these maps are old school so they aren’t available on marketplace. You’ll have to purchase them via the Halo 2 in-game downloader. Just select “Content Downloadâ€? from the Xbox Live menu and you’ll be good to go. They will work on Xbox 1 or an Xbox 360 – however, the downloads are box-specific which means if you play Halo 2 on two different boxes, you’d have to pay for and download them twice regardless of whether or not you use the same gamertag. Good news is that the maps are suh-weet and there’s never been a better time to dust off Halo 2 and dive back in for some online action.”

Box specific?  Bummer… looks like I’ll have to buy ‘em for both my Xbox (now) and my 360 when I get one in a week or two.  Regardless, both the maps look amazing and should keep me busy ’til the 16th.

Want to frag?  I’ll definitely be on.  Gamertag: Hard Pour Corn

Discuss in our forums.

-Brian

From IGN UK.

“We are really excited about the Wii game because there are so many options for the Wii remote. However, you will play the game with a guitar peripheral and it will be similar to a guitar you’ve seen in the past.”

He also confirmed that Guitar Hero III on Wii contains features included in other versions of the upcoming game - such as online play and downloadable music.

Thanks to BrainBoxLtd for finding the info.

More info can be found in the forum.

-Torbjörn

It seems the scratched disks weren’t caused by users after all.

 ”After more than a thousand complaints by Xbox-360 users, saturday night Microsoft finally admitted that there is a fault in the game console. This happened in the TV-show(?) Kassa. The fault causes damage to DVD’s and CD’s that are being played. The Xbox 360 can cause scratches according to a press release by Microsoft. The company originally denied that it was their fault. For months Microsoft maintained that the gamers were responsible for the scratches on the disks.

After some research on the Xbox 360 it was found that the scratches were caused by a missing component in the lens. According to the data from Kassa it would appear that there are about 1 to 2 million Xbox’s that do not have this component.

During the broadcasting of the TV-show, Kassa promised to aid Microsoft with customer complaints in the form of repairs. It is however not possible to receive a new console.”

Thanks, evestraw, for the tip.

Source

Discuss

-Ace

A recent video from Gamevideos.com show us alot of the first stage in the upcoming Rail-shooter Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles. I want to warn young viewers because the video contains material ment for mature audiences.

The video can be seen in the forum where you can discuss it with the other members.

-Torbjörn

Thanks to Knoxximus for the tip, recent news from Capcom tell us about another Street Fighter II (Yes that game with uncountable special editions) version will hit XBLA. Super Street Fighter II Turbo… …HD REMIX

With 13 years of competitive play under its belt and counting, Super Street Fighter II Turbo is widely considered to be 2-D fighting perfected. A high octane, extremely offense-minded fighter, how is it that Capcom plans to improve upon perfection? By bringing in the comic masterminds at UDON to redraw the entire game, pixel-for-pixel.

-Joystiq

Altough I personally don’t own a 360 yet, I can for sure say this is a game I’ll get as soon as I can!
(The Picture can be seen in it’s original shape here.
It’s a diagram shoing the differences in the graphics.
I deformed it and edited it to make it more eye friendly)

Care to discuss? Visit the forum.

-Torbjörn