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Yesterday, the 2006 International Cosumer Electronics Show began its weekend-long run of exhibits of all of the latest and upcoming consumer electronics that will make noise in 2006. As all of the show-goers expected, Sony had a fairly extensive PS3 presentation, including both black and silver console designs and blu-ray technology demonstrations.

However, noticeably missing in the display was the PS3's controller (shown here). The absence of what was originally thought to be a finished product of the controller strongly suggests that Sony took it back to the drawing board. The PS3's controller was widely criticized for a probable lack of comfort and its bizarre shape (often mockingly referred to as a "batarang"), particularly when the PS2's DualShock 2 controllers were so widely popular and successful.

This move is surprising for anyone that made the reasonable assumption of thinking that the batarang was the final build of the PS3 controller. All of the negative criticism of said batarang and the widespread praise of the XBox 360 controller (shown here) appeared to cause Sony to panic somewhat and begin work anew on the controller for the enigmatic PS3.

The PS3 is scheduled for a 2006 release, but the second-quarter release date seems even more unlikely now, with rumors of buggy development kits and this new supposed redesigning of the controller.

Sources
Punch Jump, via digg.com

With the stack of holidays all but out of mind and the New Year's hangovers now long forgotten, it's once again that mystical time when one's forced to get things back in gear. And what better way for me to kick off the new year than with the latest details on every PC addict's revered fixation and second reality, often called EverQuest?

To be more specific, Sony Online Entertainment contemporarily stated that expansions for EverQuest and EverQuest II were soon on the way. The two new add-oners, Prophecy of Ro and Kingdom of Sky, are both expected to come out this February. However, this time around players will be exposed to more depth in the online RPG as they locate and make use of - or simply break apart for the sake of fun - various destructible items. There are dozens of extra zones and multiple new dungeons to explore, as well as over 30 additional missions to keep fans occupied, plus even more!

The story behind EverQuest II: Kingdom of Sky in particular, involves an area above the world of Norrath; a place among a series of floating islands together known as the Overrealm. Along with the ten brand new zones, higher level caps, and the umpteen creatures incorporated within the land are the tantalizing Good and Evil deathmatches held between characters - a feature made possible due to the expansion's "Player versus Player" functionality.

Kingdom of Sky will be out on the 11th of February. As for Prophecy of Ro, it will turn up in retail stores and online come the 21st, just shy of two weeks later.

Source: RPGFan

With Microsoft's XBox 360 priced at a record high of $399 (or $299 if you don't want to be able to save or play old games) and the Playstation 3 widely expected to follow suit with a pricetag in the same neighborhood, is next generation gaming out of reach for the underfunded? Not if Nintendo has its say.

Company president Satoru Iwata confirmed in an interview with Yahoo! Japan that the Nintendo Revolution will debut for less than the $299 price tag of the bare bones Xbox system. This also puts the new Nintendo console below the price range of the PS2's launch, and seems to indicate that the Revolution will be priced on par with the Game Cube, which initially sold for $199. Perhaps unfortunately, it's almost certain that this comparative discount comes at the cost of power and graphics technology that Sony and Microsoft fans can expect.

Personally, graphics aren't everything to me--especially when we're talking a difference of at least a hundred smackeroos between the Revolution and the PS3. Given that I'm underfunded and probably won't be able to afford more than one next-gen system (and I can buy the one thanks to the housing allowance on my scholarship), price is important to me. Besides, if the rumors are true, Nintendo is more than making up for their lagging in the graphics department with other innovative features, like the controller and the announced ability to download and play old Nintendo games.

Source: IGN

Like sequels to comic book-based movies, the new server rotation at CoN never seems to end. Maybe if we were turning a profit, we'd get there. But anyway, if you're seeing this, it means the new server is working for you. There may still be some oddness - we had some serious issues in getting the site databases in line with this move.

But if you're reading this at all, you're better off than you were before. The forums are now open. Please come back. We missed you.

Two days ago, Working Designs president Victor Ireland announced through the company's message board that Working Designs has gone the way of Ted Woolsey - a legendary localizer no longer in the business of video games.

Working Designs was a US-based game localizer that took many Japanese games - predominantly RPGs - and brought them to American shores. The small publisher gained a dedicated following and critical acclaim in publishing the English versions of Lunar: Silver Star Story and Lunar 2: Eternal Blue, in addition to Alundra, Dragon Force, Growlanser Generations, and many other small-time cult favorites. This "journalist" is particularly disheartened at the company's demise, for he has been praying for a Lunar anthology-style re-release for several years and also counts Dragon Force among his favorite Saturn games.

WD was rather notorious, however, for inflated prices and long delays for their titles, and a dwindling fanbase and increasingly poor sales for their games (notably the recent Growlanser Generations and Arc the Lad Collection) served as the final nails in their coffin. However, Victor Ireland has recently been in contact with Microsoft Game Studios in the interest of a Working Designs revival of sorts. Ireland is currently encouraging fans to write MGS directly telling them which Japanese older games they would like to see ported to the 360. It is difficult to tell if this Microsoft-Working Designs union will ever happen, however, so it's too early to rejoice (or despair, for you XBox haters out there).

Source: 1up

It looks as though Namco is next in line for bringing a flagship RPG series to the Nintendo DS, this time with the continuation to the developer's groundbreaking Tales saga, entitled Tales of the Tempest, unspecifically planned to release in Japan sometime in 2006. Namco has also provided fans with the newly launched Tales of the Tempest website, although it's exclusively in Japanese for the time being.

Tales of the Tempest places the player in the shoes of fifteen-year-old Caius Qualls from the village of Alleula. Sadly, he discovers one day that the man he looked upon as his adoptive father is not exactly human, but instead a beastman - a fact revealed in the midst of an attack on the village. The residents of Alleula quickly become wary of Caius and his father, thus refusing to aid the two in escaping from the chaos. Caius, however, succeeds in evading the enemy along with his friend Lupia, then sets out on his own quest to track down his real parents. According to Namco, the handheld title is sure to be packed with unique action-based gameplay, much like all the Tales games before it, thereby ensuring frequent use of the DS's touch screen.

As many gamers are aware, Tales of the Tempest was only one of four titles trademarked by Namco earlier this month; the three that remain shrouded in mystery are Tales of Doom Sign, Tales of Two Faiths, and Tales of Howling. Currently there's no further information available regarding these three proposed games.

Source: RPGFan