Monday News Roundup
RPG, IQ-measurer and horse-breeder titles for PSP, ELSPA catches some more pirates, Namco registers Tales trademarks, EA sings its own songs' praises, Day of Defeat source shots.
Sony is reportedly working on a trio of PlayStation Portable titles for release in Japan this May. The first of these is Gagharv Trilogy: A Tear of Vermillion, the follow-up to December's Gagharv Trilogy game on the same format. We suspect there may be another yet to come. The second, from Now Productions, is called Intelligent License and is an IQ-measuring puzzle game, which, in making its calculations, presumably overlooks the fact that the player spent 30 quid on a service freely available to anybody who can type "IQ test" into Google. The third, meanwhile, is a first-party horse-breeding game called Derby Time, although we would have called it "NeighneighneeeeeiiiiiEEEEEEEEEEEE! Slump. Flick. Drag. Aaaaah."
ELSPA has captured so many pirates in the past yar that the bandana making companies are starting to post disappointing financials... is roughly what the Association announced today as it rolled out its "2004 raid figures". An average of 10 raids took place every week, and director general Roger Bennett said the Association was "committed to increasing pressure on criminal activity that undermines the performance of not only our members, but the industry as a whole," which is bad news for just about anybody who gets through a lot of games without paying for them. [I'll put the escape pods on standby, shall I? -Ed]
Namco, meanwhile, has reportedly registered three trademarks in Japan related to its Tales RPG series. Tales of Harmonia, Tales of the Abyss and Tales of Mirage are all now associated with the publisher, and although there's no word on how (or even whether) they'll be used, we'd certainly be interested in an RPG where you had to hunt down the makers of Rise of the Robots. Bit obscure? The next one should drag us back to the middle.
Electronic Arts (who?) have revealed soundtrack details for forthcoming titles Fight Night Round 2 and FIFA Street. Digging out the fancy code for lists would be a bit page-breaking in a roundup, so here's a very concise list for anyone who cares [format is Bandname (Songs)]. FIFA Street: Artificial Intelligence (Uprising, Slam), Baobinga & I.D. (The Feeling), Criminal Mindz (Baptised By Dub), Crooked Stilo (Ya Lo Saben), Distortionz (Onion Ringz VIP), Still Reading? (Probably Not), Dizzee Rascal (Stand Up Tall), DJ Marky & XRS (Rudebwoy), Drumagik (Malandragem), Fatboy Slim (Jin Go Lo Ba), Max Sedgely (Happy), Ming + FS (Fish Eyes), Ozomatli (Ya Viene El Sol), Peshay (Ronaldo), Ramilson Maia (A Busca Da Vida), Roni Size (On And On), Shimano (Dope Style), SL2 (On A Ragga Tip), Sur-Choc (Fou Ho), We Could Write Pretty Much Anything At This Point (And No One Would Notice), TAISHAN (Shinjuku Drop), Timo Maas (Feedback Welcome). Fight Night Round 2: Czar-Nok (G.A.M.E.), Fabolous Feat. Pharrell (Tit 4 Tat), Geto Boys (Yes Yes Y'all), Jae-P (Ni De Aqui Ni De Allá), UTP Feat. Kango Slim (What's Up), MANHOOD Feat. O.G.B. (Ready To Fight), NASDAQ (TWAT), Ludicrously Obscure And Self-Indulgent References (Like That One), Pitbull (Back Up), Shells (Get Your Roll On), Yung Wun Feat. David Banner (Walk It, Talk It), Wasn't He The Hulk? (No That Was Bruce). FIFA Street's due out on 11th March, Fight Night 2's out on the 18th.
Finally, there are some screenshots of Day of Defeat Source running on this forum 'ere. No joke.