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Koei president Kiyoshi Komatsu, who recently spoke to the Tokyo press of an unrelated issue, noted at the time that a Sony Computer Entertainment press conference is scheduled for the 15th of this month, suggesting that "some details about the PS3 might be announced there." Sony Europe, while not implying whether or not Komatsu's prediction was true, later confirmed that a largely important announcement will indeed be made at the conference next week.

With the company's fiscal year soon coming to a close, and the San Jose Game Developer Conference only a scant week away, a major announcement made by Sony on Wednesday - perhaps even regarding a definite target date for the PlayStation 3 release - would occur at the perfect time. By revealing the revised info as public knowledge, the head of Sony Computer Entertainment's worldwide studio, Phil Harrison, would greatly benefit by being provided with several topics to divulge during his essential GDC speech; the local press and businesses in Tokyo would also receive a head start on any related news prior to the San Jose conference.

On the other hand, although Sony's recurring stance is that their spring launch schedule will continue on despite difficulties with production, a more realistic viewpoint would be that these problems can indefinitely hold back the console's release from their projected time frame, thus resulting in a possible lack of any new information of the sort in the near future. Probably even less assuring is the latest word concerning COMPEQ, the manufacturer of the circuit boards for the PlayStation 3: As of now, the system allegedly will not be ready for launch until this fall at the earliest, seeing as COMPEQ reportedly plans to do their crucial part in either June or July.

Source: EuroGamer

Famitsu Magazine, reputed to be the #1 gaming review magazine in Japan has recently reviewed and ranked Final Fantasy XII giving it a perfect score across the board, which apparently is a rare thing, when you consider that with this game included, they've only ever given 6 games a perfect 40 points.

The game looks, appears, and sounds better and better with every morsel of it I hear.

Source: Imgup (Thanks to Phunbaba for the link)

Head of the Mother series of quirky RPGs, Shigesato Itoi, has updated his Mother 3 website with a handful of new features, including screenshots of various scenes throughout the anticipated GBA game.

Judging from the screens, it appears as though the isometric view present in Mother 2 (EarthBound) has been replaced with the more standard overhead, fixed perspective used within most 2D role-playing video games. The three scenes also point out a small but satisfying amount of characters and locales, such as a blond-haired boy and his dog at a town park and museum, and a cowboy standing near a forest in the rain. At the moment it could be speculated that the game may contain some sort of day/night cycle and possibly changes in weather.

As for the additional updates to the site, there are a total of sixteen "gifts" displayed on the main page - each leading to new media. A different box opens on a particular day - about every week or so - up until the Japanese release of Mother 3, in a way similar to an Advent calendar.

There's still been no official talk of a North American or European release.

Screenshots

The wait that has been put upon fans of this game appears to be nearing it's end. Itoi himself confirmed that today Mother 3's definite launch date in Japan will be April 20th. With the release date set, they no longer plan to really work on the game, which in other words means the game is complete, and just waiting to release. With a nice long wait to keep people salivating over it. The game is also a GBA game, which just sweetens the deal moreso, as you can play it on the DS as well.

I can't wait for a US release, myself. I just hope that this one doesn't have the pulsating battle background which gave me migraine after migraine, limiting my ability to play to about two hours a day, if even.

Source: Joystiq

Shonen Jump magazine recently offered a more in-depth look at the RPG based on Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King, starring a much younger (and much thinner) version of the hero's ex-bandit sidekick named Yangus, aptly but oddly entitled Dragon Quest Yangus.

First revealed visually at Jump Festa in December, the prequel - in league with Square-Enix's Mysterious Dungeon series - will fixate on the childhood adventures of Yangus and the trials which molded him into the, uh, "hero" he became. The story kicks off with Yangus insolubly appearing in an alternate world where he begins his quest through the true meat of the game - the ever-changing dungeons.

Just like the Mysterious Dungeon titles it takes after, Dragon Quest Yangus will contain ample dungeons to tackle and traverse that are generated randomly with each playthrough. That is, their regeneration would be limited as such if not for a new feature implemented within the game: To be blunt, this time around the dungeons will also regenerate with a purely chance outcome each time they're exited and then re-entered. Players will be forced to think twice before stepping outside of one; it will be as if a new dungeon took its place upon returning back inside.

Update! Dragon Quest Yangus is now scheduled to hit the PlayStation 2 in Japan on April 20th, 2006.

Screenshots

Source: RPGamer

I wince just writing this, but there has been some heavy speculation that Sony will soar to new heights with a $499 pricetag on its Playstation 3.

Sony has been pretty quiet on the topic, stating only that "it will be expensive" and not even directing that comment to the general public, but given what we know about the technology Sony intends to include and how much that technology costs, the previous assumption of something around the 360's $399 seems naive. For instance, Sony has been widely touting BluRay DVD technology, and will obviously be using it to read discs. A recently debuted BluRay DVD player was priced at $1,800.

Are they doing us just to scare us, so the $399 that they've been intending all along seems like a real bargain compared to the numbers we've been imagining? I guess they'll have to tell us sooner or later.

Source: cnn.com