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It didn’t suprised me anymore to see Japanese developers to license engines and toolsets from Epic Games. Square Enix popularly known for their Final Fantasy game franchise have announced that they have entered into an agreement with the Unreal Engine 3 and Gears of War developer, gaining a platform for use in their upcoming games.

General manager of R&D at Square Enix, Taku Murata, explains that the deal will help them speed up the creation process and allow developers to spend less time working on the technology.

The complexity of next-generation game systems featuring HD graphics and multi-core parallel processing poses a number of technological challenges to our game development. However, we can expedite our game development process significantly while allowing extra time and resources to be spent on game design and mechanics by establishing an effective technology platform.

Source: TeamXbox

If you own a Nintendo DS and are looking for something simple and fun, check out this review of 42 All Time Classics. They everything from simple card games to board games rolled up in one cartridge. (more…)

Having problem with your Sony Playstation 2 not turning on? No standby indicator or no response at all? Then you might have a faulty power supply. Rashiken, one of the members of TipidPC made a nice PS2 mod using a PC power supply.

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The epic struggle between the Global Defense Initiative (GDI) and The Brotherhood of NOD continues…and the third Tiberium War is about to begin. Welcome back, Commander. Electronic Arts today announced that Command & Conquer, the groundbreaking series that put the Real-time Strategy (RTS) genre on the map, is returning in full force with Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars. This highly-anticipated next chapter takes the popular series back to its roots in the Tiberium universe and features the fast, fluid gameplay that Command & Conquer is known for and a gripping story that will redefine storytelling in RTS games.

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Fight an all-out war for survival in the year 2142. Electronic Arts and Sweden-based developer, Digital Illusions, today announced development of the next installment in the award-winning Battlefieldâ„¢ franchise, Battlefield 2142â„¢. The highly anticipated first-person shooter is scheduled to ship worldwide this winter for the PC.

The year is 2142, and the dawn of a new Ice age has thrown the world into a panic. The math is simple and brutal: The soil not covered by ice can only feed a fraction of the Earth’s population. Some will live, most will die. In Battlefield 2142, players will choose to fight for one of two military superpowers in an epic battle for survival, the European Union or the newly formed Pan Asian Coalition. Armed with a devastating arsenal of hi-tech assault rifles, cloaking devices and sentry guns, players will also do battle using some of the most imposing vehicles known to man. Massive battle Mechs wage fierce combat on the ground, while futuristic aircraft rule the skies. When facing one of these new behemoths, players will need to use their wits and an arsenal of new countermeasures like EMP grenades to level the playing field.

“Battlefield has long been synonymous with innovative, best-of-breed online multiplayer action,” said Sean Decker, Executive Producer, DICE. “By stepping into the future with Battlefield 2142, the team at DICE has reinvented the rules of engagement for the next century.”

Team play features allow up to 64 players to enter the action on the front lines as part of a formal squad, or work behind the scenes in Commander Mode to direct the strategic assaults of their teammates. With in-game success, players increase their rank and unlock awards, including new weapons, medals and more, delivering the most comprehensive and flexible persistence in the Battlefield universe to date.

News Source:  GamesIndustry.biz

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Suited up and ready for action, Activision, Inc. and Lionhead® Studios today announced The Movies™: Stunts & Effects, the expansion pack to the 9th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards’ “Simulation Game of the Year.” Building on The Movies’ critically acclaimed gameplay, The Movies: Stunts & Effects ups the ante on movie production with the addition of stuntmen to the lot, a movie-making toolset, a diverse selection of dangerous stunts, astounding visual effects, impressive new sets and a number of brand-new techniques and technologies that can be used when making a movie. Currently in development at Lionhead Studios, The Movies Stunts & Effects will be released Spring 2006 and has not yet been rated by the ESRB.

The Movies: Stunts & Effects allows players to hone their movie making skills with features that can turn an ordinary script into an extraordinary blockbuster. In addition to stunts and effects, the game introduces new backdrops, costumes and props, as well as upgrades to the Advanced Movie Making mode that lets players take control of even more movie features. Players are further immersed into the Hollywood lifestyle as they train and manage stuntmen, as well as compete for industry awards and achievements by uploading their movies to www.themoviesgame.com for the entire world to see.

The online community for The Movies continues to grow with new movies being posted daily. The website, www.themoviesgame.com, has attracted more than three million unique users, has received more than 300 million hits, and currently features more than 60,000 user-created movies, available online for anyone to view.

News Source:  Shacknews

At Tokyo’s 2006 PlayStation Business Briefing Sony Computer Entertainment have announced that they are delaying the release of their long-awaited PlayStation 3 console till November due to technical difficulties.

Despite not providing a more detailed release date, the company have said they will ship one million units per month after the launch and plan to have produced six million PS3s before the end of 2006. Not only will the unit be completely backwards compatible, but will rely on a 60GB Linux-based hard drive unit which Sony is now reporting may or may not be included in the box.

Ken Kuturagi, Sony’s PlayStation guru, said: “The hardware was developed with the hard disk in mind.”

Sony also let slip their plans for the online element of their new console, which will be free to play via the “basic” package and include community tools such as a lobby matching, voice chat and commerce features incorporating software bootable directly from the PS3’s hard drive.

Games will come in the form of Blu-ray in the hope to minimise piracy, though the machine will of course play movie DVDs and PS2 DVDs. SCE also said that developers will get their hands on the console’s software development kit (SDK) not in June as first announced, but July.

The news marks the first time Sony plan a global release for their PlayStation hardware.

Link:  IGN’s PS3 Portal