GamesBloggo - Your source on game news! January 2009

After the awards of “Best PS3 Game” and “Best studio of the year” from the last Video Game Awards, the LittleBigPlanet’s sackboys receive yet another big recognition from the prestigious Edge magazine.

Giving enormous credit to the incredible innovation behind the development concept from Media Molecule, Edge has literally swarmed LittleBigPlanet with awards, thus giving the possibility for the PlayStation 3 exclusive to pick themselves up after the disappointing November sales.

While many expected a confirmation about the PlayStation 3 version, Square Enix has announced the release of The Last Remnant for PC, fixing the launch date for the Spring of 2009.

“The Last Remnant represents a significant step in bringing our titles to a global audience and to all fans regardless of the platforms that they own. Following the Xbox 360 release, we hope to reach a new audience with the Games for Windows version of The Last Remnant and I hope that fans enjoy this exciting new adventure”, says John Yamamoto, Square Enix’s president.

In fact, he mentions a “new” adventure, even though it’s not literally new. But, as usual, this new version of The Last Remnant will feature new implementations that aren’t present on the XBox 360 version. No further details have been shared, however.

With a press release, Square Enix confirmed that the Nintendo DS version of Chrono Trigger will arrive in the PAL territory on February 6th, 2009.

It’s the remake of the original Chrono Trigger, first launched in 1995 on SNES, but that never arrived for the PAL format in Europe. The game is considered one of the best (if not the best) Japanese RPG of all times, that surprised many, back at the original launch, for the complexity of the plot and the possibility to travel in time and to visit the world in different historical eras. The history features young Chrono and his friends in temporal trips to save the whole world from an evil force.

Rather faithful to the original one, the remake for Nintendo DS brings animated, behind-the-scenes cutscenes created by Akira Toriyama’s Bird Studio that were inserted on the PSone version, new controls via touch-screen, a new dungeon and an adapted view for the double-screen.

Lionhead has confirmed the launch date for Fable II’s expansion, “Knothole Island” today.
Correcting what had been previously reported by XBox’s official site, the launch date for the additional contents will be December 22nd, and not 12th.

“It’s on December 22″, said the spokesman of Lionhead to Eurogamer.net, “I believe that someone has said on the 12th, which is inaccurate, and as usual, the error has spread. We have always spoken of a mid-December launch”

A demo of Sonic Unleashed is now available on the XBox Live Marketplace. The pack is presented in rather reduced sizes, only 187 MB, and it features one of the first game levels. Thanks to the new XBox site structure, it’s possible to program the file download by going directly to the page dedicated to the new Sega game, that was launched last month.

For those who want to program the download, click on this link.

The DICE developers have announced that the first downloadable content for Mirror’s Edge will be available online on January, for XBox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. When it comes to the PC version, the official launch date is scheduled for January 16th (13th in North America).

The new pack adds 9 races in Time Trial mode, inside 7 new scenarios, apart from the city environment present in the main story mode. There won’t be guns or police: only obstacles, scenary elements and time.

The pack will cost 800 Microsoft Points or $10 on the PlayStation STore, with a free additional map for the PlayStation3 users.

It’s only a rumor for now, taken from the January issue of EGM, but it’s certainly interesting. The rumor in question talks about the possibility that Dragon Quest IX: Protectors of the Starry Sky, the new chapter on the famous RPG series from Square Enix that has recently been announced for Nintendo DS, will also be available on the Wii.

It remains the question on, should this version be confirmed, whether it will feature the same connectivity between the two consoles as in the Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, and how the multiplayer mode will be managed.

It seems that Square Enix has the intentions of releasing Dragon Quest: THe Hand of the Heavenly Bride for Nintendo DS next Spring for the European market.

IT’s a remake of the famous Japanese RPG’s fifth episode, reviewed and corrected in order to better adapt to the features present on Nintendo’s portable console, and it’s the first time that the game will officially reach the European markets.

First released on 1990, this chapter is one of the most loved by the Japanese public, and in this new version, it features graphic and sound enhancements, and also other options related to the wi-fi connection.

The Hand of the Heavenly Bride is part of the so-called “Zenitha Trilogy”, which features the previous fourth chapter, Chapters of the Chosen, and the next Dragon Quest: Realms of Reverie, which will arrive soon, always for Nintendo DS.

Tiki Games is a label that has already worked with the digital delivery system, with the previous title Novastrike, and now decided to follow the same road by developing a new title for XBox Live Arcade.

The game’s called Interpol, a graphic adventure in which players fill the role of a detective searching for international criminals. The game structure allows players to find clues and details hidden inside many game screens, a sort of “pixel hunt” with enigmas to be solved, which resembles greatly the classic structure present on adventure titles, up to the final capture of Dr. Chaos. A particular feature seems to be the possibility of a multiplayer mode for up to 4 players.

Interpol is expected to be launched this winter on XBox Live Arcade, for 800 Microsoft Points.

As many players were hoping, the long odyssey lived by Ghostbusters has come to an end. The game has indeed been acquired by Atari, that will be distributing it on June 2009, according to what was referred by Phil Harrison during the press-conference held yesterday.

Ghostbutsers had made many fans dream about it when it first appeared as an internet rumor, preannouncing itself as a videogame adaptation of the movie, using the modern technologies of today’s gaming platforms. It’s been developed by Terminal Reality for a while now, but it had been blocked due to the fusion between Activision and Vivendi, which didn’t really find a place to the game in their roster. With Atari’s acquisition, the development can now be completed and the game will reach the markets next summer.