News

Yes, you read that headline correctly. BioWare, the role-playing game ace developer behind Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, is making an RPG for the Nintendo DS starring Sonic the Hedgehog.

In a recent press release, BioWare CEO Ray Muzyka was optimistic: "as huge fans of Sonic ourselves, we're committed to delivering a truly amazing story-driven experience within the Sonic universe, focusing on capturing the character's broad appeal and placing him in a completely original adventure."

This untitled Sonic RPG is scheduled for an unspecified 2008 release, and also marks BioWare's first game on a Nintendo console (other than MDK2, all of BioWare's games are for either Microsoft systems or personal computers). Currently, BioWare is working on two much-hyped RPGs, Dragon Age and Mass Effect, for the PC and XBox 360 respectively. This BioWare/Sega/Nintendo partnership might seem strange, but those three companies have one hell of a track record, so it could turn out to be something special.

Source: Joystiq

No need to wait any longer, you can sign up to participate right now! We will be kicking off the actual participation in a couple weeks, but for now you can make sure your name is in the hat so we can assign you to your groups; plus, for us, we'll know what the prize pool is going to be earlier if we get all the signups early too.

To sign up, just go to the new special Quiz page — that's right, we're bringing back the quizzes this month for you guys to celebrate our Tenth Anniversary with us. But, like Laszlow said, this time you don't get by on your Final Fantasy knowledge. It's up to your knowledge of music, the staff, and some good old-fashioned detective work. Or random guessing, since you've got a 20% chance of guessing right every time!

Don't worry, though, because we're also giving you some hints, some cryptic, some not. To learn more about whose music you're angling for, have a quick look at our "About the Participants" page.

The more people we get involved, the more money we can guarantee will roll out of the contest. So get your friends involved. If they're not on CoN, bring them in, because anyone with an authorized Caves of Narshe account can play, not to mention participate in these very forums and use all the other interactive features of CoN.

Get started, and post in here to let us know you're in!

That's right! In honor of the Caves of Narshe's upcoming 10th anniversary, a second CoNtest (quite possibly the first of several) is coming up very soon! This CoNtest is going to be quite different from last year's, with concept by Del S and code by Rangers51 and Tiddles. I won't tell you exactly what it's about yet, but here are a few hints:

1) This CoNtest will use a tournament-style setup coded directly through the website; no more emailing in submissions.

2) Again, this CoNtest will almost certainly favor contestants that frequent the forums and chat more often than others; it's similar to the incognito CoNtest in that respect.

3) For the most part, this CoNtest will NOT be about video games, not even ones that CoN covers; if you have an extensive knowledge of video games, it isn't going to help much. If at all.

4) Bogut.

That's all I'm saying, so let the anticipation begin! This time there will be guaranteed prizes for the first, second, and third-finishing contestants in the form of Amazon.com gift certificates, so the stakes are pretty high. You can expect this new Contest to drop sometime in the next few weeks. Until then, prognosticate away!

Want to sign up? Signup should be available in the evening of 18 June or sometime on 19 June - it's as simple as clicking a button. To stay updated so you know when you can sign up, either subscribe to this thread or make sure you can receive email from board administrators.

From DS Fanboy

Strategy RPG Disgaea was a hit on the PS2 console, though not many gamers got a chance to play it, as it was in very short stock. Now, PR coordinator Nao Zook hinted towards a new Disgaea title that would be available on the DS. Though nothing concrete was announced, and it wasn't said whether it would be a remake or a new title, Ms. Zook did say, "Let me just say this... you can look forward to it!"

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I haven't played a Disgaea title, but many of my friends ranted and raved about it for months. I am a fan of the Strategy RPG genre, and would very much like to have a game like that for DS. I would expect that the game will likely be announced soon, as you wouldn't expect a PR coordinator to just run her mouth about something that isn't going to happen - that's exactly what she's there to prevent. Ms. Zook also works for Nippon-Ich America, so I would guess that the game will also be available in English. Nothing concrete here, but potential exciting news to come!

The first trailer for Final Fantasy IV DS has been released, so finally we've got some more visuals of the remake of Final Fantasy IV, easily one of my favorite games, and I'm fairly certain most other RPG player's as well.

The FMV looks incredibly beautiful, it's seeming that this will become the DEFINITIVE version of FFIV. I love 2D as much as the next old school gamer, but the kind of emotion and nostalgia that this game instills in me, i'm incredibly excited to play through it one more time in the full 3D environment.

Source: Game Trailers

Square-Enix let loose several new news tidbits in their recent end-of-fiscal-year statement that are of interest to fans of their two most popular series.

First of all, Final Fantasy XIII for the Playstation 3 will be released no sooner than the end of the current fiscal year (March 31st, 2008). Thus, the earliest that we'll see FF XIII on Japanese store shelves is Apri of 2008. FF XIII never had a concrete release date to begin with, but now we know at least when not to expect it.

Dragon Quest IX for the DS, however, reportedly is progressing along ahead of schedule. This could mean that the TBA 2007 release date is a guarantee rather than a mere estimation.

And according to the same end-of-fiscal-year reports, sales were around 32% up while profits were around 32% down. The sales jump was in large part due to excellent North American and European releases of Final Fantasy XII; this marked the first fiscal year in Square-Enix history where a majority of its sales came from outside Japan.

Source: RPGFan