Nathan Blades looks at the polarising RPG for PS3 & 360.
Jason Rose brings us a buyers' guide to smartphones available this Christmas.
Nathan Blades covers some console and industry-defining titles for the Sony PlayStation
Nathan Blades burns rubber in Mario kart 7.
Monday:
Microsoft have announced that they will not be releasing a "Super Elite" Xbox 360 which is not part of some limited edition bundle. The console is similar to the existing Elite console, but with a 250GB hard drive instead of the usual 120GB. We have so far seen this version as part of Forza 3 and Modern Warfare 2 limited edition bundles, and a Final Fantasy XIII package is due in March. Spokesperson Aaron Greenberg stated that Microsoft are "always evaluating, but for now we feel like the 120 is serving us very well as the standard offering, and then having the 250 as a limited edition is a good balance."
Tuesday:
More revelations from Microsoft today at the Mobile World Congress. There the company unveiled the latest version of their mobile operating system, Windows Phone 7, and announced that Xbox Live users would be able to access many features of the service on future mobile devices. This includes the ability to play some as yet unknown games (with Achievements), manage your friends list, view leaderboards and use your Avatar. Many gamers have been waiting for Microsoft to come up with something to rival Sony's PSP and Nintendo's DS. Could taking the smartphone route be their way of breaking into the portable console market? We'll just have to wait and see.
Wednesday:
EA will be shutting down online services for a number of their old games in March and April. The games include Def Jam, Godfather, Lord of the Rings: Conquest and The Simpsons. For the full list see [1]. The publisher states that these changes will affect only 0.3% of their online players, allowing them to concentrate their time and resources on more popular titles. The end of support for original Xbox games such as Battlefield 2: Modern Combat and Burnout 3: Takedown were inevitable due to the previously announced shutdown of Xbox Live for original games.
Thursday:
HMV's Oxford Street store is to host the UK launch of Final Fantasy XIII on 9th March. The free event will be held from 5:30pm until 7:30pm and will include guest appearances from the game's producer Yoshinori Kitase and art director Isamu Kamikokuryo. Fans are encouraged to wear Final Fantasy costumes, and the first 50 people to do so will get a free soundtrack for the game. There will also be other prizes for people to win. It's not quite the movie premiere style launch enjoyed by Modern Warfare 2, but it's sure to excite the true Final Fantasy fans out there.
Friday:
Many people think that the age of going to a shop and picking up a copy of the latest game is coming to an end, and digital distribution is the way forward. However Steve Perlman, CEO of OnLive, thinks that "download media is past its peak" as well. According to him, the future lies in on demand services which, ironically, is what his company provides. The OnLive service allows users to play the latest games through their TV or computer without needing to buy an expensive console or high-end hardware. All the hard work is done by the OnLive remote servers, which are apparently much more powerful than an Xbox 360, and stream the game to users. It's a nice idea, and good for people who don't want to spend the amount of money required for modern gaming, but I'm not convinced that it can compete with the wide range of features offered by services like Xbox Live. Many gamers also still like to get their hands on a hard copy of a game, and be able to trade it in and get some of their money back once they're finished with it.
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