BitSnark

In a nice little bit of Final Fantasy news; Sony and Square-Enix have now confirmed that Final Fantasy VIII will hit the Japanese PSN service tonight.

While no western dates or details have been announced, it does seem extremely likely that FFVIII will hit PSN in the west sooner rather than later given the impressive sales numbers that the FFVII re-release generated.

Stay tuned for more.

One little tidbit that emerged from EA’s press conference in Tokyo a few hours ago was the reveal of the release date for the playable multiplayer demo of Left 4 Dead 2.

360 and PC gamers can get a taste of Valve’s upcoming survival horde FPS sequel on October 27th, so keep your eyes peeled.

And there was much rejoycing.

One of the more bizarre, but no less interesting, rumours of late is that Sega and Sony have apparently been in recent discussions to bring Dreamcast titles to the platform. The alleged deal would ensure that the titles would be exclusive for a ‘long period’ of time, in exchange for substantial marketing support from Sony.

Ok, hold the hell up.

Could we really see the likes of Shenmue and Jet Set Radio on PSN? A fangasmic dream no doubt and while certainly plausible, it reeks every so slightly of a hoax due to the fact that it is simply seems too-damn-good-to-be-true.

The next piece of related rumour however, does sound like its more tangible. The rumour goes on to say that ‘Sony want to sell all PS2 games via PSN’.

Interestingly, this rumour actually has some legitimite weight to it, as earlier this year, Sony filed a patent that would allow the Cell processor inside the PS3 to fully emulate the PS2’s processor and graphical architecture.

Additionally, mention is also made of allowing full Japanese PS2 titles on PSN with a ‘minimal amount of localisation: (read menus only)’. These titles would then be in their own ‘import’ category and marketed accordingly.

The source for these rumours was actually a marketing document, ‘discovered’ in a PR FTP folder, and whilst it all does reek of awesomeness, it does so of unsubstantiated rumour in equal quantity.

Expect a full denial by Sony/Sega in the short term.

For those interested a link to the document can be found below:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=17695474&postcount=1

In a nice bit of Monday morning news that will get the Yakuza faithful smiling again, 1UP.com has confirmed that Sega are in the midst of prepping the localisation their Japanese blockbuster hit for a Western release next year.

This is great news for me as in lieu of the second Shenmue sequel that will never be, the Yakuza series is perhaps the closest thing to Yu Suzuki’s Dreamcast opus that fans will ever get.

What I don’t understand is why the localisation is going ahead; especially considering the dire sales figures of the first two Yakuza titles in the West – as this reason was unofficially sited as why localisation wasn’t going to proceed in the first place.

Still, it would be churlish to look a gift horse in the mouth; especially one bearing the colours of a new Yakuza title.

More news as and when.

Now this is a good bit of news; all formats will get Bioshock 2 goodness on the same day in all parts of the world!

Mark it in your calendars PC, 360 and PS3 folk, we’ll all be returning to Rapture on Feburary 9th 2010.

Now, THAT is how you launch a game; hats off to the folks at 2K.

So, anybody getting excited yet?

When is an exclusive not an exclusive? These days exclusives only stay that way if companies pay extreme amounts of cash ($50 million for GTA DLC for example) to ensure that remains the case, but in pretty much all other examples you can expect a previously ‘exclusive’ title to arrive on the other console(s) within 6-9 months.

The latest example of this being Star Ocean 4. Previously an exclusive to the 360, the title is now wending it’s way to the PS3 early next year under the title Star Ocean 4: International. Unlike Eternal Sonata and Tales Of Vesperia, which were ‘exclusives’ also, no additional upgraded features or extra content has been announced thus far for the PS3 version of Star Ocean 4.

So there you have it PS3 owners, Star Ocean never left your console, it just took a little vacation.

Star Ocean 4 is tentatively due to hit the PS3 in Europe early next year.

In a mildly distressing bit of news for folks intending to grab a PSPGo at retail, Eurogamer is reporting that Holland’s largest videogame specialist Nedgame is boycotting Sony’s newest take on it’s PSP system.

The reasons for our dutch friends doing this are numerous, but they mainly center around the fact that they cannot justify the increase of at least 80 EUR over the PSP-3000 Series to customers and also all software for the machine is purchased via direct download, thus eliminating any software revenue that they may have gotten otherwise.

Additionally, not only have Eurogamer Holland gone on to make note of the fact Nedgame is not alone and other Dutch retailers are starting to follow suit, but also Eurogamer Spain have suggested that many Spanish retailers will be boycotting the format for the same reasons.

Ouch.

Just lower the damn price already.

A mere 10 minutes ago, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe have opened up the beta signups for their forthcoming ambitious 256-player FPS; MAG.

There are a total of 16,000 beta sign ups available, and they will be given out in weekly batches using a first come, first served rule. The MAG beta will span seven servers and shall be open for six hours a day from Monday to Friday.

Opening times are 5pm to 8pm and 12am to 3am BST (UK time).

The sign up link can be found below:

http://uk.playstation.com/psn/competitions/detail/item233506/Load-up-for-the-MAG-beta/

What are you waiting for? MAG SIGN UP BETA GET!!!

In perhaps one of the most putridly arrogant displays of corporate management gone terribly awry, CEO of Activision Bobby Kotick recent told folk at a German conference that he intends to ‘focus his company on profit and nothing else’.

In addition to this, the grinning executive went on to say that he has been instilling a culture of “thrift” by taking on staff that will “take all the fun out of making videogames”.

According to dear old Bob, an atmosphere of “skepticism, pessimism and fear amongst his workers” represents “mission accomplished”.

This was in addition to a new rendering technology showcased by Mr. Kotick which apparently allows for better mouth rendering on in-game models and lip synching.

It would be nice if this technology could be adapted to render his mouth shut.

Microsoft and Turn 10 have announced that the next installment in their magnum opus racing series has gone gold. Forza Motorsport 3 has gone to the presses and should now hit shop and e-shelves on October 23rd.

For those race fans who doubt what awesomeness lay in store for them, or simply for those who want confirm that very fact, Turn 10 and Microsoft have confirmed that a demo will hit the Xbox Live Marketplace ten days from now on September 24th.

Admittedly, I am not the world’s biggest racing fan but when a game promises a level accesibility not seen in its predecessor in addition to HD showcasing visuals, i’ll be more than happy to give the demo a test drive.