News

At a special Sony event a few hours ago in Japan, Sony debuted their sleek, sexy new PSP. Boasting a 5-inch screen (a PSP 3000 has a 4.2-inch screen), two analog sticks, 3G network connectivity, an OLED touchscreen, a touch-sensitive back panel, front- and rear-mounted cameras, tilt-sensitive SIXAXIS controls, backward compatibility with downloaded PSP games, and no UMD drive. Instead, the NGP (New Generation Portable, the current acronym of choice for the unit) will use a new memory card that stores games and game data with a large amount of flash memory.

Uncharted, WipeOut, Resistance, and LittleBigPlanet will each have games on the new platform, plus new games Little Deviants, Reality Fighters, Gravity Daze, and more. Even though the system cannot read UMDs, I assume that it can still read Memory Stick Duo cards, as it would take a major hit in the backward compatibility claim if it were not the case (I was unable to pinpoint this information). To demonstrate the NGP's backward compatibility to downloadable PSP and PS1 games, a Capcom representative played the recently-released Monster Hunter Portable 3rd on the system.

Many of you probably heard some leaked info about the "PSP2" a number of months ago. While much of that information has turned out to be true (dual analog sticks, touchscreen), none of the leaked pictures were accurate and several of the leak sources claimed that the PSP2 would have a UMD drive.

The new PSP will be out in Japan this holiday season. There is no current news on a release date anywhere else in the world. So plenty of time to save up, right?

Source: Basic info (Kotaku), Hands On (Kotaku), Additional info (Kotaku [again {sorry}])

Announced early this morning at TGS, Disgaea 4 will be available for Japanese PS3 gamers on February 4th, 2011. The sprites and visuals are HD-quality (one of the major knocks against Disgaea 3 was its muddy visuals), tower attacks are crazier than ever, and D4 looks to further expand the SRPG insanity of Nippon Ichi's signature series to new heights. The game will also boast unrevealed "network features" that could be anything from leaderboards to versus or co-op multiplayer. No specifics on the network features were disclosed at the presentation.

The main character's a vampire named Valbadose, who's trying to overthrow his Netherworld's Overlord. Other characters shown at the end of the trailer are a man with a wolf's tail, a teenage girl and young boy wearing Prinny hats, and Axel from Disgaea 2. The presence of the vampire and wolf-boy have led some fans to suggest that Disgaea 4 could contain a parody of the Twilight film series in some way (God help us).

Expect more information to come from Nippon Ichi as the game nears its Japanese release date of February 4th, 2011.

Source: Disgaea 4 trailer (YouTube)

Yes, you read that correctly. Pokemon will officially begin its fifth generation this fall with Pokemon Black and Pokemon White for the Nintendo DS. A worldwide release is inevitable, but for now has no official date. Nintendo will reveal more in a press conference on 15 April.

The second source listed here is an unconfirmed leaked image of the Pokemon found in the game. It seems genuine, but it should not be assumed true as of yet.

Source: Kotaku, The Black & White Pokedex

Media Vision, developers of the Wild Arms series of RPGs, are working on an RPG for the iPhone entitled Chaos Rings, which looks way too damn pretty to be an iPhone game. Joining Media Vision on this project is Yusuke Naora, who worked as an art director and character designer on several Final Fantasy titles, including Final Fantasy VII and multiple entries of the Compilation thereof.

The game looks like it wouldn't be out of place on the PlayStation in the late 90s, or perhaps today on a DS or PSP. The game's storyline revolves around a fighting tournament and intrigue and drama surrounding it. You can check out a trailer at the end of the newspost.

Basically, if you own an iPhone or iPod Touch and are fans of Wild Arms and/or Final Fantasy (some of you, maybe?), then you should probably keep this on your radar.

Trailer

Source: Kotaku

Gaming mega-giant Activision Blizzard had a major news conference less than an hour ago. While most of it was a pissing contest (look at all the money Call of Duty and World of Warcraft are making!), there was one relevant blip for consumers: the highly anticipated Starcraft II will begin its worldwide closed beta "before the end of this month."

So you know what that means. Blizzard will be looking over thousands of gamers' shoulders as they try to find ways to nerf the new Zerg rush and find the right energy cost for an EMP and what have you. What's most important is that we'll finally have a way to play Starcraft II without going to Blizzcon.

Source: IncGamers

For years, Final Fantasy VII fans have come to verbal blows over a simple question: was Cloud in love with Aeris or with Tifa? Well, nearly thirteen years after the release of Final Fantasy VII, this debate could be over, shot to hell by canon-fire.

Found in the Final Fantasy 20th Anniversary Ultimania Scenario, a picture of Cloud and Tifa sitting together under the Highwind with the following caption, translated by The Lifestream translator Tres Dias:

For the one I love
Through the long journeys, the love of the protagonists develop. Occasionally they become separated, but the two's value to one another gives them the great strength to overcome whatever crisis may come.

If that doesn't sound like Cloud x Tifa, I don't know what does. Although this will probably do little to quiet the legion of Aerith fans that insist that she was Cloud's one true love, this is probably the first truly conclusive item of evidence for either party.

Caves of Narshe is officially taking a neutral position on the validity of this information as well as the debate itself. Personally, I don't really have a horse in this proverbial race, but I have been annoyed and frustrated by Tifa vs. Aeri(th/s) debates for many years. This translated caption could very well be one localizer's opinion, but it's pretty compelling.

Source: The Lifestream, photo evidence