Newsbriefs: Dragon Ball Z DS & PSP, Downloaders Polled, Crackdown Demo

Author: by Staff

[UPDATED: 3:38pm PST] Today's regularly updated newsbriefs include news of two new portable titles in Atari's top selling Dragon Ball Z franchise, a new poll about the content download habits of modern consumers, and a demo of Realtime Worlds' Crackdown coming very soon to Xbox Live. - Officials from Atari have announced the development of two new portable titles from the company's venerable Dragon Ball Z license. Set for release in March 2007, Dragon Ball Z Shin Budokai: Another Road is in development for the PSP, while Dragon Ball Z Harukanaru Densetsu is set to ship for the Nintendo DS this spring as well. Both games are being developed by Namco Bandai, and are being touted as taking advantage of each platform's capabilities. Another Road will be focused on multiplayer wi-fi battles in a new story arc following the future world of Trunks on his adventures against rival Majin Buu. Harukanaru Densetsu, on the other hand, will offer DS players a strategic card based RPG wherein players use cards to evolve characters, strengthen moves and create new moves. - A new poll taken by research group Harris Interactive on behalf of storage device manufacturer Seagate has looked at the content download and storage habits of modern consumers, finding that 81 percent of computer users are more likely to download digital content than they were just a year before. Specifically relevant to gaming habits, the Seagate poll also found that computer users in households with a child are nearly 10 percent more likely to download and store games, at 26 percent versus 17 without. The study also found that the 64 percent of adults with children under the age of 18 in their are significantly more likely to own one or more video game consoles, like, says the study, Microsoft Xboxes. - Xbox Live official blogger Major Nelson has posted that Microsoft will release a demo for the upcoming Xbox 360 title Crackdown over Xbox Live Marketplace on January 23, 2007. The Realtime Worlds developed M-rated action sandbox title will ship to retail in North America on February 20. Hailed as “GTA killer”, Crackdown will allow players to fully explore the hoodlum filled streets of Pacific City as they play as a genetically enhanced agent and combat crime either alone or cooperatively throughout a free-form campaign. - The latest updates on Gamasutra sister alt.gaming weblog GameSetWatch include a look at the Japanese indie PC title Gadget Trial, a discussion of random dungeons in roguelikes, and GameSetWatch equivalents in other media. - The latest updates from Gamasutra sister website Game Career Guide include a call for a full British Games Institute by UK based Pixel-Lab. - Also updated today: the latest Gamasutra job postings, including openings from Heavy Iron Studios, ITT Technical Institute, K2 Network, Riot Games, Stormfront Studios, and THQ Corporate.