Today's wrap-up includes news on the
Tekken franchise for the PSP, official confirmation that the PlayStation 3 will see release this year, a new
MechAssault game for the DS, and highlights from Capcom's annual press event, as well as the latest GameSetWatch posts, product news, and Gamasutra job postings.
- Namco has officially announced
Tekken: Dark Resurrection for the PlayStation Portable. The PSP game will feature new characters Lili and Dragunov, as well as rotate back in some fighters who have been absent for a few games. "We are very excited that the action-packed fighting world of
Tekken is coming for the first time to the PSP system," said Namco Bandai Games America business unit director Yoshi Niki. "Having the furious fighting action online through the multiplayer wireless connectivity will enhance the
Tekken experience and make it the must have PSP system title in Summer 2006."
- Sony officials have stated that the PlayStation 3 is still on track to be launched in 2006, despite widespread rumors reported elsewhere that the system would slip back to a 2007 date. The system made another non-playable appearance at the Taipei Game Show, where Sony Computer Entertainment Asia managing director Tetsuhiko Yasuda confirmed that while the system has no set release date or price yet, it will be released later in 2006. One thing that seems nearly certain, however, is that the system will not meet its original plan for a spring 2006 release, given that no playable games have yet surfaced.
- Majesco Entertainment has announced
MechAssault: Phantom War, an action game based around giant robots, for the Nintendo DS. The game will be developed by Backbone Entertainment, developers of
Death Jr. for PSP, and released later in 2006. "
MechAssault: Phantom War fuses the best game play elements from the series with new features that take advantage of the unique mechanics of the Nintendo DS," said Majesco VP of marketing Ken Gold. "The touch screen lets players intuitively 'touch' the cockpit controls to hack into giant 'Mechs, eject pilots, switch weapons and check battle techniques."
- Capcom yesterday held their annual press event in Las Vegas. Highlights include Clover Studios president Atsushi Inaba discussing the gameplay mechanics of
Okami in vague detail; Hironobu Takeshita showing off
Ultimate Ghosts 'N Goblins and the freshly announced
Power Stone Collection for the PSP (a compilation of both
Power Stone and
Power Stone 2, fighting games originally available for the Dreamcast); the localization of Japan's best-selling
Monster Hunter Portable, renamed
Monster Hunter Freedom, also for the PSP;
Street Fighter Alpha Anthology for the PlayStation 2; details on Capcom's next-gen output, including
Dead Rising and
Lost Planet; and perhaps most surprising of all, the announcement that the lawyer sim/adventure game
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney franchise will be seeing a mobile phone incarnation, complete with new case downloads on, they claim, a monthly basis.
- The latest posts on Gamasutra sister weblog
GameSetWatch include a look at
Xbox 360 'official' blogs, Monk's
interactive obsessive-compulsive adventure, and the
undisputed king of Xbox Live Achievements.
- Also updated today: product news on
Gnomon Workshop's newest video, and the
latest Gamasutra job postings, including openings from Sucker Punch Productions, Rockstar San Diego, LucasArts, and Webzen America, Inc.
