Nintendo has posted up on their official UK website that Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros\’ Treasure is now set for a release in January 2008. This date should also be applicable to the rest of Europe.
According to IGN, Media Create has announced that the DS has surpassed the milestone of twenty million units sold in Japan. The achievement comes less than three years after the system\’s release which commenced on 12/2/2004.
In order to celebrate the first birthday of the PS3, Sony\’s PR folk has been sending out a number of butter cream frosting PS3 birthday cakes to the gaming press.
A MaxConsole forum member has reported back that he managed to complete Uncharted in 7 hours and 49 minutes in normal mode, although he didn\’t unlock everything. This has sparked some comments that the game is a little short and the bigger the cinematic the plot of a game is, the shorter the experience is. Share your thoughts here.
Trend Micro has launched software which aims to block malicious web pages and those putting out sex, drugs and violence. Trend Micro believes the software is the first of kits kind to grace console platforms and will be free up until April as part of a PS3 upgrade.
Sony has revealed that sales of the PS3 have surpassed 100,000 already in Australia, which is quicker than the rate that the PS2 reached the respective milestone.
Here we have two new and quite different homebrew items. The first is a new PSP custom firmware build and the second is a new build of popular homebrew application Filer. Check them out here and here respectively.
A French homebrew developer has released a program that allows for PSP owners to control the micro infrared helicopter Picoo Z via utilizing their very own PSP. The latest build adds 2 modes of driving modes, with version 3 in development which will add support for other Picooz models. Read more here.
Pacopad stopped by the MaxConsole Forums to post up a couple of videos of his software PicoozIr in action. What this allows is for a PSP to control a remote controlled toy helicopter. He states that the next release will integrate flight recording and replays. Read more here.
Microsoft\’s J Allard has commented that despite the Zune and Xbox products being completely separate entities, they are ultimately supposed to be connected up to the same central network. Video will be a crucial part of this vision and content providers will need to allow MS the creativity to handle all the technical details and marketing on the central network medium.
We\’ve seen a few user experiences and custom videos which indicate the XCM XFPS 360 Sniper is what FPS fans have been waiting for. The sensitivity is reportedly a lot smoother and there are no more dead zone issues. One user awards it a 5/5 himself while another states that his stats have simply gone through the roof thanks to the keyboard and mouse loving that this product brings to the Xbox 360. The product is available to buy now from Divineo.com / Divineo.co.uk / Divineo.de and Divineo.es. Read more here.
Bethesda\’s Pete Hine has revealed that Fallout 3 which is scheduled for a release in Fall 2008 on the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 platforms, will be using the Xbox 360 as the lead platform. Why is this the case? Simply because the team feels more comfortable with the development tools on the Xbox 360.
Barely an article goes by regarding Assassin\’s Cred in which Jade Raymond doesn\’t get a mention, particularly about how pretty she is. However, several sites are questioning her input into the game and whether she is nothing more than just a poster girl for the game. How can individual an rise to the producer of such a costly title in such little time is one of the arguments. So how about it, Jade Raymond, mastermind game producer or a Ubisoft poster girl to spice up press about the game?
VG chartz has released its first ever Xbox Live Arcade sales chart for the week ending 11/17/07. Carcassanone was available as a 48hr free download and tops the chart. Its increase in sales is literally a 50% boost in total users in a 48hr period. Carcassanone had sales of 54,257 units, making $542,568 out of a total revenue for XBLA of $850,000. Shrek N Roll and Screwjumper! had a poor debut at 24 and 67 respectively.
Infinite Interactive’s puzzle/RPG hybrid Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords has dominated Australia’s peak industry games awards, winning five categories at the Game Development Association of Australia’s (GDAA) annual awards.
At the GDAA Awards held in Melbourne overnight, Puzzle Quest was named Best Australian Game for 2007. The innovative title and its various formats also won for Best Gameplay, Best PC Game, Best Handheld Game, and Best Console Game. The GDAA Awards–which aim to recognise the best games made in Australia and New Zealand every year–were held to coincide with Game Connect Asia Pacific (GCAP), the Aussie industry’s annual developer conference. Judging for the Awards is performed by an independent panel of industry representatives.
The full list of award winners is listed below:
Best Audio
Viva Pinata Party Animals, Krome Studios
Best Gameplay
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, Infinite Interactive
Best Handheld Game
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, Infinite Interactive
Best Mobile Game
Fast and the Furious: Fugitive 3D, Firemint
Best PC Game
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, Infinite Interactive
Special Commendation: Fury, Auran
Best Graphics
Viva Pinata Party Animals, Krome Studios
Best Console Game
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, Infinite Interactive
The Adam Lancman Award for Best New Startup
Red Tribe
Best Game 2007
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, Infinite Interactive
* If Its Games AU editor Randolph Ramsay was a judge at the GDAA Awards for 2007.