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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

Grandia III, the long-awaited and quick-to-become-a-hit RPG following its launch in Japan this past August, only recently received a massive hint through the ESRB in late October at a North American release, helping end months of dispute over whether or not the game would ever get here - although most figured it would. Yesterday evening, in response, Square-Enix USA finally put the finishing touches on the game's official domestic website, opening it to the hoards of eager fans inhabiting the partial western world. If anything, it serves as undeniable proof that Grandia III is currently in the localization process.

In actuality, the Flash based site doesn't display too much in the way of features at the moment, consisting of little more than the Grandia III tagline ("Claim the power of the gods... before your enemies do") along with the promise of a brand new trailer on December 22nd. In the meantime, the latest gameplay trailer - now in English - has been let loose, yet appears to be somewhat sparing in terms of new material.

Grandia III is expected to cross North American shores around the first part of March, 2006. It's unknown if the reported timeframe is set in stone, therefore delays remain likely. Thus far no word on a potential European release has been made, but considering past installments it's probably only a matter of time.

Sources:
IGN
RPGamer

BioWare, the folks behind several hit online roleplaying games such as Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and the upcoming XBox 360 title, Mass Effect, is holding a contest that could land you a job as a professional writer for the popular game company. How so? As part of their search for fresh and creative ideas to help inspire their future releases, BioWare is asking anyone interested in having their work noticed on a far grander scale to come up with unique concepts for a new Neverwinter Nights module using the Aurora NWN Toolset and Dialogue Editor. If your written work is chosen, you could soon find yourself as a part of the biz!

According to the contest parameters, the module description must contain a maximum of 3500 words or less, including all settings and dialogue in the story; the time period itself must be set within a medieval era, yet possess a fantasyesque atmosphere. Also, no more than four characters are allowed to be present in the module, with only one of which being playable. Additional requirements, guidelines and links to the downloadable tools needed to create a module are listed on the official site's contest page.

A panel of judges on behalf of BioWare will select three of the best submissions as winners, and five more winners will be selected by the Neverwinter Nights community at NWVault. These final eight entries will then be reviewed by Kevin Barrett and James Ohlen - both of the development company's senior staff - with the ultimate prizes in mind: Rewarding the very best writers with an assortment of BioWare merchandise as well as the possibility of hiring the most talented participants as official writers for the company. "BioWare needs good writers to make the best games we can and we are asking all of you to tell us a story."

The contest's submission deadline is January 30th, 2006.

A long time overdue addition, we now have a few more game reviews on the site.

You can check our new additions in our Final Fantasy Review section.

Dark Paladin was kind enough to provide reviews for both Final Fantasy 1 and Final Fantasy 4, while Djibriel did the same for Final Fantasy 6.

If you feel like adding your own opinion on the subject, feel free to post your own review for any game we cover in the Site Submission Forum. If you do, please remember to follow our guidelines on the subject, so that they'll be entered properly. Thank you all in advance.