This And That: Wednesday News Roundup

From gi.biz: Publisher BAM Entertainment has updated its release schedule, revealing that State of Emergency 2, currently in development at Scottish studio VIS Entertainment, has been pushed back in to 2005. The game is the sequel to VIS' original State of Emergency, published by Rockstar Games, which was billed as a riot simulator and sold over a million units in the wake of the enormous success of Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto 3. BAM acquired the rights to the title when it bought VIS in a takeover deal earlier this year. VIS had formerly been developing the game under the auspices of a separately funded subsidiary, with no publisher yet signed for the title.

From gi.biz: Publisher Square Enix has filed a new trademark for game software and related merchandise, with "Dirge of Cerberus" being the latest addition to the company's recent spate of filings. Other names filed recently include "Radiata Stories" and "Dawn of Souls"; however, Square Enix' track record show that the company has a habit of filing trademarks for names it never actually uses, a trait which has caused fans of the Chrono Trigger/Cross series to get over-excited in the past. Square Enix also develops for a host of platforms, including PS2, GameCube, PC Online, PSP, Nintendo DS and Wireless devices, so it's really anyone's guess where these trademarks will be applied - although the firm's new focus on polymorphic content makes it likely that any game appearing on one platform will appear on several. Our guess? This new filing may well be for the next Final Fantasy XI expansion pack, which would follow on from the similarly titled Rise of the Zilart and Chains of Promathia expansions.