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Earlier today Nintendo announced that the Wii Virtual Console would support Neo-Geo and MSX games in future releases. There is no such announcement for the release of MSX or Neo-Geo games in Virtual Consoles of any other regions, but it may only be a matter of time at this point.

SNK's Neo-Geo is a very expensive cult-favorite system, with specs almost identical to SNK arcade machines; the Neo-Geo was probably most notable for featuring iterations of SNK's chief franchises such as King of Fighters, Metal Slug, and Samurai Spirits. The MSX was a personalized home computer borne from Microsoft's Japanese branch that had four different versions between 1983 and 1992; the MSX had a great deal of early successes but soon fell behind Nintendo and Sega's early systems in the 1980s. However, its legacy is significant, as several storied series such as Metal Gear, Dragon Quest, and Bomberman all had their debuts on MSX technology.

In related news, earlier today the European Virtual Console received the iconic N64 game The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. It's probable that Ocarina of Time will become part of the North American Virtual Console when it undergoes its scheduled update on Monday.

Source: Japan's Virtual Console website

Around four months ago, Capcom dissolved its Clover Studios development team, citing financial reasons. Clover Studios had been behind Capcom's Viewtiful Joe series, as well as the 2006 hits Okami and Godhand.

However, we may have seen a new beginning for Clover Studios in the form of SEEDS - an independent studio run by Shinji Mikami (the mastermind behind Resident Evil), Hideki Kamiya (creator of Devil May Cry and Viewtiful Joe), and Atsuhi Inaba (of Steel Battalion fame). Those three developers, all of whom have produced blockbuster titles as part of Capcom's production studios and the late Clover Studios, announced yesterday that they were leaving Capcom to work as a freelance developer - given the track record of those three producers, and the fact that they are essentially severing official ties with Capcom, this is some pretty big news.

Also of interest is that they haven't assembled a team yet. The revealing of their new studio also came with sort of a casting call. Here's a translation of their announcement:

Sounds a little self-indulgent, doesn't it? Of course, even though they are no longer iwth Capcom, it isn't out of the question for any of these designers to work on Capcom games, or even further sequels to their signature franchises. If Nobuo Uematsu can still provide musical numbers to FF games (he was credited as Smile Please Inc. for his work on FF VII: Advent Children and his contributed song to FF XII) and Masahiro Sakurai can direct and design SSB: Brawl despite leaving Nintendo and HAL Laboratories nearly four years ago, then the SEEDS team can still work for Capcom, but not as part of Capcom.

SEEDS hasn't revealed any games in development, as they are still working on personnel, after all.

Sources:
WIRED
SEEDS official website (Japanese)

Jack Thompson, scourge of the first amendment and enemy of personal responsibility, might finally be facing some legal repercussions for his questionable behavior in legal matters involving violent video games.

Thompson, who has made a legal career out of blaming violent behaviour on video games such as Grand Theft Auto, has recently been involved in several lawsuits against the companies that produce these games. He is also known for his hyper-sensitivity regarding any coverage of his involvement in these matters, threatening parties that criticize him with lawsuits, threatening ethics complaints when judges don't rule in his favor, and even calling the police to file harassment charges against websites.

Finally, someone is fighting back. The Florida Bar Association, of which Thompson is a member and which he has previously sued, has filed a forty-page complaint alleging numerous violations of professional conduct and protocol. The complaint recounts many of the hilarious episodes in Jack's legal sagas, such as the time his temporary license to practice law in Alabama was suspended for misconduct, making inflammatory and unfounded statements about opposing lawyers and the judges that presided over his cases, and of threatening ethics charges because he wasn't getting his way in a civil case.

Thompson, of course, has already counter-filed with motions to force mediation and stay any disciplinary proceedings the bar association may bring against him.

Personally, I'm rooting for Jack. After all, if he gets disbarred, the comedy would come to an end!

Source: GamePolitics.com

If a Final Fantasy Tactics remake wasn't enough to make you want a Sony PSP, maybe a Castlevania compilation will do the trick.

Konami is planning a special remake of Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, originally for the Japanese counterpart of the Turbo-Grafx16, and never before released for English-speaking audiences. The remake will feature updated 3D graphics but retain the original's 2D gameplay.

Unlike the Castlevania Chronicles release for the PlayStation, the original version of the game isn't in the spotlight, but it can be unlocked through completion of the remake. And if that's not enough, Konami is including a second unlockable game: the best Castlevania game ever, Symphony of the Night. This will be the same version of SotN that was made available for the X-Box Live download service, which had a few graphical improvements and other slight adjustments from the original release.

Source: GameSpot

Sony have announced that Playstation 3 will release in Europe this March the 23rd, with one million consoles available at launch, roughly a quarter of those said to be for the UK alone. The same date applies to those of us in Australia and New Zealand. And according to at least one source, the million consoles are spread amongst Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Australia.

European gamers with possibly more money than sense and presumably a large amount of patience to go with that can expect to pay either 425 GBP or 599 Euros for the 60GB version of Sony's latest console, with the smaller 20GB variant only becoming available later on. Irish gamers will however pay a steep price of €630 for the 60GB console due to the 21% VAT in the Republic of Ireland. Australasians shall pay around A$1000 or NZ $1200.

Sony have stated 30 titles will be available at launch. Sadly, they're all the same ones out for the US and Japanese launch mostly plus ports from last-gen consoles and the occasional Generic Sports Game 2007 title thrown in for good measure.

Europe seemed to have been struck hardest by the various delays of PS3's launch, from the Spring 2006 issues with the blu-ray copyright, followed by the manufacturing issues with the blu-ray devices themselves led to Europe's launch being delayed, Sony claiming that the 27 nations of the European Union plus those who have had the brains to stay out of aforementioned corrupt political union presented a logitically more complex launch area than the US or Japan, and to avert failure in all three markets chose to delay the PAL launch. Though having shipped 2 million consoles to Japan and the US, failure is hardly what has occurred. The only troubles are those ones sitting unsold and the fact Wii gained a 700,000 sale head start last December alone. On the bright side, at least it wasn't 60 consoles (425 GB variants) available priced at £1,000,000...

Sources: The BBC, Wikipedia and the Herald Sun..

After endless months of hubbub surrounding the various next-gen (this-gen?) console launches, complete with fanboys of all flavors proclaiming their console the winner and predicting at least one complete loser, the numbers are finally in. Which console really did the best in its launch period--and which did the worst?

With similar year-end launch windows for each of the three consoles, it seems fair to compare their sales from launch until year-end. In 2005, the X-Box 360 sold 607,000 consoles. By the end of 2006, Sony had sold 687,300 PlayStation 3s for a narrow launch-window victory. But, wait! In the slightly smaller 2006 window Nintendo gave the Wii launch, it sold 1.1 million consoles, vastly outstripping either of its competitors.

Of course, no one likes to be declared the loser in any kind of race, and Sony and Microsoft have been swift to point out a few caveats before taking these numbers at face value. While the Wii was in short supply throughout the holiday season, Nintendo managed to overcome the supply hurdles that kept Microsoft and Sony in the dust. With an infinite supply of each of the three consoles, it's hard to say which brand would have come out the winner. Also, Microsoft's 360 was the top console seller of this holiday season, claiming a 51% market share in North America.

So what do these numbers really mean? I'm inclined to agree with the analysts. It's too close to call. There aren't any clear losers as of yet, and I think it's going to take at least another year to see if Sony ever solves its production problems or if the Wii fans knocked unconscious by wayward Wiimmotes ever recover from their comatose states. So, shut up, fanboys. Or at least start basing your predictions on the market a year from now.

Source: GameSpot