Gaming News Round-Up: March 24th, 2005

Author: by Nich Maragos, Simon Carless

Today's round-up includes confirmation of the latest Soul Calibur title, news of a plea from the European Games Developers Federation, as well as fresh information on a RPG-creating PSP game from From Software. - Namco has announced that Soul Calibur III, the next in its series of highly-acclaimed fighting games, is in development. The series, which began in arcades before appearing on Dreamcast and then the current generation of consoles, will be exclusive to the PlayStation 2 this time around, to such an extent that Namco has said nothing about an arcade release that traditionally precedes the home console version. Soul Calibur III will feature three new characters, as well as a create-a-character mode, several additional fighting modes, and a museum feature recounting the series' history. - The European Games Developers Federation trade body has petitioned the governments of its member countries, which include Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the U.K., to officially support the videogame industry as a culturally significant entity. As Antoine Villette, an EGDF board member, said: "Video games have become the cultural medium of choice of the younger generations for the past twenty years and has influenced every other medium, from cinema to music to graphical arts." The Federation's specific request to its respective governments is to enact legislation to ease the financial burdens of the gaming industry, to prevent it from being overshadowed by developers and publishers in other regions of the globe. - From Software has announced that it will be releasing Adventure Player for the PSP in Japan this summer, a RPG Maker-styled piece of software that will allow game creators to make a role-playing game title on their PC and then transfer their adventure to their PSP to play it. One of the default 'example games', according to the latest issue of Japanese magazine Famitsu, will be PlayStation 1 RPG Echo Night, and, most interestingly, game creators will be able to send their titles to other PSP owners over the Internet, using the PSP's Wi-Fi connection. However, a Western release for this title has yet to be announced. - Also updated on Gamasutra today (free reg. req.): a major feature on 'Development Platforms for Casual Games' by Phil Steinmeyer, discussing the multitude of options for casual game developers, as well as newly advertised jobs from Activision / Infinity Ward, Cranky Pants Games, Day 1 Studios, Demiurge Studios, Rainbow Studios, and more.