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Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride and Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume both received release dates for the United States: February 17th for Dragon Quest and March 17th for Valkyrie Profile, both in 2009.

Dragon Quest V is a DS remake of a SNES game that was previously remade for the Playstation 2. It chronicles the story of a nameless hero journeying to rid the world of an evil demon's influence while searching for the truth behind his heritage and finding love in the process. Covenant of the Plume is the third game in the cult hit Valkyrie Profile series made by longtime Enix collaborator Tri-Ace. The story is of a young warrior whose father died in battle and was subsequently taken by Lenneth (the protagonist of of the first Valkyrie Profile) to be one of Odin's Einherjar. The son strikes a deal with the queen of the damned, determined to exact revenge upon Lenneth.

Both of these games will give DS-owning American fans of Square-Enix something to spend their hard-earned money on before spring begins.

Source: Kotaku

BioWare announced today the project many people assumed they were working on: a Star Wars MMO (that isn't Galaxies). Essentially, it's going to take the setting, style, and basic principles from BioWare's popular Knights of the Old Republic duo of games and make it massively multiplayer. At a press conference in San Francisco earlier today, a BioWare representative labeled TOR (should we start calling it that?) as "Knights of the Old Republic 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12-plus." So far all they have is some concept art and a couple screens.



Source: GameSpot

Those dedicated (and SLOW) translators at http://mother3.fobby.net/ are nearing completion of their major project - a translation to Mother 3. The fan project has been in the works for over two years, and as a result of their hard work Earthbound fans the world over will be able to play the anticipated sequel without a detailed knowledge of Japanese. Rejoice!

Source: http://mother3.fobby.net/

In a press conference at the very beginning of the Tokyo Game Show, Nintendo dropped a few major bombs not even hinted at during their E3 presentation earlier this year. These announcements were made yesterday afternoon in Japan, which is the late evening or the middle of the night for most of the west.

First, the DSi. The DSi is a new model of DS with larger screens, stronger wireless capabilities, stronger, adjustable audio, a built-in camera, multimedia function, and capable of supporting Nintendo SD cards for greater DS-Wii interactivity. The new system will be able to play games exclusive for the DSi that the DS cannot. There is, however, no more GBA game slot. The DSi will be out in November in Japan and in 2009 for other areas. Check sources for pictures and more details.

In addition to this major announcement, the Wii was announced to soon be able to download Wii applications and games directly onto an SD Card rather than the Wii's limited memory. In addition, gamers will soon be able to download full Gamecube games onto the Wii, with one early release being 2001's Pikmin. There was no announcement for plans to create a Wii harddrive.

And lastly, a few new Wii games were announced, with two major revelations standing out: Punch-Out Wii and Sin and Punishment 2. The former is the third console iteration of the classic cartoony boxing game, while the latter is a sequel to a cult-favorite N64 rail shooter.

Now that's a lot of news. Nothing more to say here, check the source links for more details.

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The DSi
Wii games
Gamecube games on the Wii

After more than two years of vagueness, Square-Enix finally drops a bomb on Dragon Quest fans - Japan will be getting the much-awaited DS game on March of 2009. Very little is known about the title thus far other than there are customizable characters and it will take advantage of the DS's wireless capabilities, but since it's a Dragon Quest game it will probably sell like funnel cakes once it eventually comes out.

Source: Kotaku

Tecmo, the Japanese publisher of video games such as Ninja Gaiden, Tecmo Bowl, and Fatal Frame, has not had a very good year. After releasing XBox 360 action title Ninja Gaiden 2, game designer Tomonobu Itakagi and several other employees sued the company for unpaid overtime work relating to Ninja Gaiden 2. Other headaches included disappointing sales for Fatal Frame IV and the resignation of several top company officials.

But here comes Square-Enix to the rescue! According to Kotaku, Square-Enix is planning a friendly takeover of Tecmo in a similar manner to which happened to Taito in 2005. If the takeover is successful, Tecmo would become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Square-Enix, and if the wage issue is resolved, Tecmo's successful Team Ninja studio (Ninja Gaiden, Dead or Alive) would be making games for the big S-E.

Source: Kotaku

Also: wtf? Kingdom Hearts Gaiden?