BitSnark

Game of the year 2012 incoming.

Just watch:

January 11th 2011.

That is the date that Squeenix has pigeonholed for their official reveal for their long in development Final Fantasy Versus XII and Final Fantasy XIII Agito titles for the PS3 and PSP respectively.

Final Fantasy Versus XIII was actually first announced shortly after the original Final Fantasy XIII was confirmed to be in development. Presumably, the bulk of development work at the time was prioritised for FFXIII instead of Versus, since some four years after the confirmation of it’s existence we’ve seen little to assure us that the game is anywhere close to a demonstratable state. Boasting a more violent, contemporary setting and darker (read: Brooding/Emo) characters, Versus XIII is alleged to have a world map (sorely missing from FFXIII) to allow for extensive exploration and a real-time combat system in a similar vein to Kingdom Hearts.

Final Fantasy Agito XIII on the other hand, was originally announced back in 2006 as an exclusive title for mobile phone platforms only. Fast forward two years later to August 2008 and Squeenix had moved development to the PSP, quietly discontinuing development on the mobile phone versions in the process. Thought to be a battle card based RPG with action and online multiplayer elements, little has been heard or seen of the game since it’s shift to the PSP back in 2008.

The JRPG giant has also mentioned that they intend to unveil a number of ‘surprises’ at the conference too.

No, it won’t be Final Fantasy VII Remake/HD/Butchering.

Keep em’ peeled.

Namco Bandai have today announced Tekken Tag Tournament 2 for release in the arcades in 2011.

No dates or platforms were mentioned for a home release, but it is likely that the title will arrive on the PS3/360 before the end of next year.

Predictably the game places the emphasis once again on tagging and mixing up fighter swaps within combos.

The debut trailer for the title can be seen below:

It’s unlikely that this is the ‘Tekken 7’ title that Namco Bandai have had in development since the late part of last year, given the fact that it appears to reuse a lot of the assets from Tekken 6.

With that in mind however, i’ll be sure to keep you folks posted on developments for either title.

When Nintendo unveiled their shiny new 3DS handheld to the world, it wasn’t really the new Kid Icarus or StarFox that wooed the attending massive. It was Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater: The Naked Sample; a demonstration of PS2 quality graphics running flawlessly on the handheld system with full 3D effects worked into the code.

It looked truly impressive but rumours began to swirl that the title itself was nothing more that a tech demo unlikely to see the light of day as a fully featured retail product.

Thank the powers then, that series maestro Hideo Kojima today confirmed at the Tokyo Game Show that Metal Gear Solid for the 3DS is very real and will be arriving in 2011.

/cheer

In an effort to perhaps stem the tide of casual titles for Kinect, Microsoft today announced in conjunction with Capcom that a new installment of the dormant Steel Batallion franchise would arrive on the 360 sometime next year; and would be built from the ground up for the upcoming motion control system.

It’s official title is Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor.

When it launched in 2002, the original was a decidedly hardcore mech sim that gained substantial noteriety by being playable only with a terrifyingly large controller made specially for the game which encompassed two control sticks and forty or so buttons.

Yep it was crazy, it was expensive but it also felt decidely… authentic. With that in mind it’ll be interesting to see how Kinect support will work for this.

If they are looking to recreate the complex control system from the previous games, presumably there will have to be some kind of on-screen interface for the player to interact with.

Speculation at this stage is all we have to go on, as outside of a release date and the promise of Kinect support, the only other thing we have to go on is this pre-rendered, detail-bereft trailer:

More on this soon.

At the Tokyo Game Show today, perhaps the single most impressive looking title to arrive this generation has finally recieved a date.

The Last Guardian, from ICO and Shadow Of The Colossus developer Team ICO, will arrive worldwide for Christmas 2011.

Below is the new trailer, and it looks fucking sublime:

Mind = Blown.

Sony have today confirmed the existence of the ICO/Shadow Of The Colossus HD Re-release for the PS3 which has been rumoured for months now.

Boasting both titles and of course HD visuals, this upcoming twin pack represents a HD spit and clean of two of the PS2’s landmark titles. Additionally, the HD release will also come with 3D support and the now obligatory trophy support.

The twin pack is tentatively due for release on the PS3 in April 2011.

A trailer for this can be seen below.

2011 can’t come soon enough.

It was only a matter of time until we would see a third Ninja Gaiden title and as luck would have it, that time was at this year’s Tokyo Game Show.

Eschewing a big, glamorous unveiling in favour of a behind closed doors demonstration, Ninja Gaiden 3 supposedly will be upping the gore stakes once again and will endeavour to show players more of the ‘human side’ of franchise hero Ryu Hayabusa.

Very little else is known regarding the title, except for the fact that echoing earlier comments, it will be a multiplatform title released on PS3 and 360 simultaneously.

More on this as it develops.

Yep that’s right.

For you PS3 owners who have been itching to try out the next game from Heavenly Sword developer Ninja Theory, your wait is over.

Namco Bandai have confirmed that a demo of Enslaved: Oddysey to the West is available to download from the Playstation Store.

Win.

For what seems to be months and months the rumour mill seemingly wouldn’t let it die that Heavenly Sword and Enslaved developer Ninja Theory would be at the helm of the fifth Devil May Cry title.

Well, the stubourness of that rumour to come to terms with it’s mortality has been validated; Capcom have announced ‘DmC’, a brand new entry in the Devil May Cry series that is being developed by UK Developer Ninja Theory and is being overseen by none other than Hedeaki Itsuno, who has worked on all of the previous titles in the famed sword and gunplay series.

The aforementioned hallmark sword and gunplay that the series is famous for will be complimented by new weapons, all new powers and what Capcom are mysteriously referring to as a “revitalised gameplay system”. The star of the series, Dante, also appears to be reimagined, sporting darker colour short hair and a much younger look.

‘Dark’ and ‘brutal gameplay’ will also apparently feature.

Well, that’s a relief then.

The trailer can be seen at the link below:

Stay tuned folks.