Japanese more strict with gaming Famitsu Cube/Advance rated Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, giving it 9/9/9/8 (35). That's two points higher than Famitsu gave it! Partial bastards! Unsurprisingly, FFTA has sold over 225k units so far... In related news, the same Cube/GBA mag also rated Metroid Prime and Fusion, dealing out respectively a 37 and 35. Not bad. Famitsu itself rated Prime with a mere 33, and Dengeki, another crazy Japanese magazine, gave it 7/8/7/8. What were they thinking? Gamefront
Square EA: "So long, and thanks for all the fish" After 5 years of cooperation in releasing each other's titles with the purpose of increasing popularity in Japan (EA) and North America (Square), Square and EA will be terminating their publishing contract conveniently just before Square Enix comes into existence on April 1. "We believe we have reached this goal, and that is why we're ending the agreement," some dude at Square bullshitted. Everyone knows you're ending it because of the merger! Stop being so obviously irrelevant! Forbes
Buy Star Ocean 3, win land on Mars "Gamers who enter the sweepstakes online or through the registration card provided with the game have a chance to win deeds to 10 lots of real estate on the planet Mars." Gamers
Acclaim still not willing to stay down Pictures like this, this, or this indicate that Acclaim's new title "Beach Volleyball" (also: most creative title in history) is absolutely not out to monopolize on the tasteful taboo-pushing that Tecmo was recently found guilty of with is Dead or Alive: Xtreme Beach Volleyball. Maybe Acclaim should just resort to naming it "Beach Voyeurball" and get it over with. Gamefront
Unlimited SaGa set for US release Man, the headline says it all.. what kind of press release is this, anyway? Square has set the niche title for a "summer 2003" release. Unlimited Saga is basically unique because it has completely kickass music as well as sophisticated graphics technology that Square developed in cooperation with Adobe. Scalable sprites that don't actually animate, but are pseudo-animated using realtime filters like Spherize! Isn't that so totally badass?! Gamefront
Miyamoto says new GBA Zelda in the works According to Games Are Fun, Shigeru Miyamoto has confirmed that Capcom (assumably the Flagship development house) is working an a new Zelda title for the GameBoy Advance. The new title will reportedly be revealed this May at E3. Link
Pikmin 2 revealed Nintendo has revealed the first details of Pikmin 2, most likely the sequel to Pikmin. New to the title is split-screen multiplayer gameplay in addition to new enemies and environments. Media
Enix not developing for Gamecube or Xbox Enix has apparently mentioned to Japanese magazine Quiter that it will not be pursuing development of software titles for either the Xbox or Gamecube - planned games will only be released for PS2 or Game Boy Advance, and most will be for PS2. Whether or not this policy will change when they merge with Square to form Square Enix, however, wasn't mentioned. Quiter
Mr. Rogers dead PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- Fred Rogers, better known as television's "Mister Rogers," a cultural icon and kindly neighbor to generations of American children, died Thursday at the age of 74. Rogers' diabolical evil was surpassed only by the demoniacal acts of Hitler, Pol Pot, and Steve Urkel. CNN.com
Gamers now able to choose life and live on GameCube After months of rumours, a Konami official has recently confirmed that a Metal Gear Solid title is in development for the Nintendo GameCube. Other than acknowledgement of the title's existence, no other information about the game is known. The game was previously believed to have been a port of the first Metal Gear Solid, which appeared on the PlayStation and PC; however, this may possibly not be the case. Let the rampant speculation begin! PlanetGameCube
FFXI: Vision of Girat's Shiva very hot Square has further developed its Playonline Final Fantasy XI: Vision of Girat page, adding screens of new locations with descriptions that I can't read, as well as some pictures detailing the use of the three new character classes which are presumably summoner, badass samurai, and uh, something else. The summoner's page features some explanation as to how the act of summoning is executed, as well as some shots of the new Shiva, who is as scantily clad as ever. Yay! Playonline