Game Announcements - 24th to 30th Jan

"ICO 3", Prince of Persia, more.

Image credit: Eurogamer

News by Robert Purchese Associate Editor

Updated on Jan. 31, 2008

Thank goodness Gizmondo is coming back, having been freshly snatched away from the liquidators and currently undergoing redevelopment. Apparently the reason no one wanted the GBP 200 GPS/game machine/corkscrew originally was because "it was not fully brought to the market". This meant huge losses, though not huge enough to stop staff buying sports cars and hiring Sting for their parties. Ellie summed it all up very well back when we nearly cared. Yes, with the DS and PSP selling so badly there is definitely room for another.

But not all returning trends have to be bad - I quite like 80s Reebok trainers, for instance. Ubisoft must like a bit of retro too, because it has decided to rekindle Prince of Persia. Good news, especially as the Assassin's Creed team is making it.

Excitement abounded when Team ICO threw out a job advert online mentioning a new game for PlayStation 3. Kristan was fidgeting an awful lot. One image accompanied the advert and fans stared for hours and came up with their ideas of what the game was about.

We know what Fatal Frame is all about though; it's scary and filled with suspsense and a nice lady. If you like that, you should be excited that Tecmo revealed Fatal Frame 4 for Wii. Perhaps a bit of an unexpected Nintendo exclusive, given its roots on Xbox and PS2, but Goichi Suda and Grasshopper and Nintendo are all excited.

Eidos is hoping it can drum up the same enthusiasm for its Just Cause sequel. Initial indications look promising, as developer Avalanche reveals it has used your criticism to build it. It should have more padding and focus, and as it's being made only for PS3 and 360 hardware it has more power to call on.

Codemasters Online Gaming is calling on NetDevil to help with its space MMOG Jumpgate: Evolution. Its features read like a fact sheet for what you can already do in EVE Online, but we are assured this is no RPG but a space flight combat game based on "twitch" action.

Blueside is also moving away from role-playing with Kingdom Under Fire 2. This is a real sequel, apparently, and will have an MMOG focus as well as single-player mode. Think tactical action like Dynasty Warriors and Bladestorm.

Elsewhere Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami said he was leading a new project at Platinum Games, the studio populated by lots of ex-Clover Studios staff.

Which is considerably better news than THQ binning the Juiced series of games, although Juice Games (confusing) is working on two new projects for the publisher.

We should probably tell you about a new Live Arcade racer from SouthPeak called Things On Wheels too, which is due out this summer - Tom called it a cross between Micro Machines and Midnight Club. Oh, and not to forget new Namco collections from Atari on Wii and DS.

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