Labels: Chrono Cross, Chrono Trigger, Dragon Quest, excruciating localisation delays, Final Fantasy, J-RPGs, Square Enix

Square Enix have announced that Chrono Trigger, the seminal SNES (Super Famicom) RPG will be hitting the Nintendo DS later in the year, in America at least. The only changes for the port will be a new dungeon and a Wireless Multiplayer mode, as is de rigeur with DS games nowadays.

Anyone who played the original Chrono Trigger knows how good it was, and anyone who didn't should probably buy the revamp and find out. Whether or not this will be a port of the original original or the PSone version with added cutscenes remains to be seen, but bearing in mind Square's ability to cram FMV sequences onto cartridges (look at FF3 and FF12: Revenant Wings), it's a decent bet to say it'll be the latter.

Whether or not the game will get a European release also remains unclear at this time, but fingers crossed, or otherwise I'm going to be mighty upset.

You can check out the teasing clock image here

July the 7th sees the release of the latest multiplayer map for Halo 3. Entitled Cold Storage, the map is a revamp of a classic Halo map, and will cost avid fraggers nothing whatsoever. To celebrate "Bungie Day", which I didn't realise was an official holiday, the map is being released for free and shall remain free for the foreseeable future. As well as the map, Halo 3 gamerpics and a theme will be free, but only on that day, so don't get them the day after because you'll be stupid.

Also, as per usual with the release of some new DLC, the price of the previous, Legendary, map pack will drop from 800 to 600 points, which is nice if you haven't got it yet.

Source Videogamer.com

Details are slithering their way onto the interwebs about Harmonix follow up to to the rather splendid Rock Band. Much to the surprise of no one, the game will continue with the same rhythm action on a plastic instrument style that's made Harmonix a household name. Well, in my house at least, although I don't think we're exactly representative of households internationally. There'll obviously be spit and polish, but don't expect a reinvention of the gazillion pound making wheel.

Also unsurprisingly, instruments purchased for Rock Band the first will still work with Rock Band the second, as will DLC, like those songs you forked out for. Fair play to Harmonix then for not shafting our wallets too much, well, too much more anyway. Sadly though, no music creation element this time round. I say sadly, but the slippery slope towards music being replaced by the clack clacking of plastic in front of a TV is one that's edging a little too close in my opinion.

Source PS3blog

One of the finest brawlers ever made, Soul Calibur, is now available for download from the Xbox Live Arcade. For the miserly sum of just 800 points, you can now play the game that cost me most of my teenage years. Even now the visuals stand up, proving almost conclusively that the Dreamcast is indeed the greatest console ever made.

Insane personal bias aside, Soul Calibur is a brilliant game, and certainly worth 800 points, however much that is. Or you could just dust off the DC. If you ever bought one. And if not, shame on you.

Source Game Spot

Oooh, cinematicy.

It was a Diablo 3 announcement. Well, probably best not to listen to me ever again. To sum up, Diablo 3 is coming out, it looks a lot like Diablo 2 and if you care about Diablo right about now you will be going mental with joy. If you don't, you'll probably be feeling a wee bit disappointed. Still, Blizzard make awesome games, so expect Diablo 3 to carry on that tradition. The game was demoed at the Worldwide Invitational in Paris this morning, and pics, videos and all sorts of other things can be found right here. Fingers crossed for a Lost Vikings redux next.

In other Blizzard news, the company have introduced a new security device for World of Warcraft, a sort of key chain that creates a user specific code every time you log into the game, meaning only someone with the key chain can access your profile. It's an extra level of security over the usual Username and Password but, inevitably, you have to pay for the device. Whether or not it'll catch on remains to be seen, but a move towards physical security devices for use on the internet is an intriguing one.

Another rune has emerged from the ice in this ongoing and frankly ludicrous story, and this is the best one yet. In the top right corner of the image, you can now clearly see a ;) smiley. Utter genius. Blizzard, my metaphorical hat is off. Well and truly.

Expect whatever is to be announced to be announced within the next two days, and don't be too surprised if it's something to do with Wrath of the Lich King.

Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix has opened its Beta doors and can now be played by anyone who downloaded the new Commando game from Xbox Live. The game, with the single least memorable title since records began, is a rehashing of the classic Street Fighter 2 Turbo, with new sprites drawn by Udon, who's pretty good at the old artwork malarkey, having done an awful lot of work on the Street Fighter comics.

Only Ken and Ryu are playable at the moment, but quite frankly, why would you want to play as anyone else? The game's looking good, and if you were me, then you would be excited.

Source Totally360.com

Far be it from me to point out quite how simple it is to get gamers riled up, but Blizzard, creators of Diablo, World of Warcraft and Starcraft have made the internet go INSANE by posting a picture of some ice on the front page of their website.

You can go and look at it if you CLICK HERE

Apparently there are runes in the ice, representing the three different games mentioned above. Such teasing has whipped fanboys and girls into a frenzy of postulating, rumour mongering and making things up.

Of course, none of this has anything to do with gaining publicity for the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational which is happening this weekend in Paris. Oh my no. Still, you can bet your bottom dollar that something is going to be announced over the weekend, and that when it is, vast swathes of people will be disappointed that Justice League Task Force isn't getting a next gen revamp.

Stay tuned for more developments in the Blizzard ice picture rune story as and when we get them.

Source IGN

Two gobbets of Spore news today, firstly EA and Maxis have announced that alongside the regular, common or garden version of the game, they'll also be releasing a "Galactic Edition", chock full of extra features, in a nicer box, shinier and with more coolitude. Expect Art, videos, and other "backstage" kinds of things, and will set UK buyers back an extra fiver, which isn't too bad at all really.

The second, and probably more important bit of news is that the sporepedia, mentioned in a newspost below, now houses over one million creatures. That's right, in a week, 1,000,000 affronts to nature have been created in bedrooms and lounges around the world, uploaded and shared with a by now no doubt terrified populous.

Hats off for the marketing strategy EA, you've got people talking, blogging and generally getting excited over Spore, whilst creating an online community that must by now rival most other games based ones out there. You can get hold of Spore on PC, Mac and DS on September the 5th.