When I was a kid, my mother often told me that I had eyes bigger than my stomach, which resulted in a couple of years during which I thought that I could let anyone punch me in the gut because, hey, my stomach was the size of an eyeball and wouldn’t get hurt. The poing being: The Xbox Live Arcade. Microsoft seems to have a "coming soon" slate larger than they can handle, since among the scads of other great titles recently- and not-so-recently-announced, we can now add Wing Commander Arena. The game appears to be something of a remix of the older shooters, so no Mark Hamill. Comment in our thread, and honk if you love Kilrathi.
Ms. Right Hand, meet Mr. Left Hand. As soon as he’s done down there. Nintendo’s various continental branches are having something of a disagreement over facts in the case of the demise of Mr. G. Cube. Nintendo of America executive Perrin Kalpan was reported to have said that the company was no longer producing GameCube hardware, nor first-party games. Today, Eurogamer reports that Nintendo UK has contradicted that statement, replying that they "can confirm that globally, Nintendo is still continuing production of GameCube hardware and GameCube software." So there you have it. Eat your heart out, Philip Marlowe.
Solid evidence of the reversal Wii’s post-release drought is beginning to appear on the web. GameKult, via Jeux France, has posted a number of screenshots from releases confirmed for the months ahead, including the new Mario Party title, Fire Emblem, Disaster: Day of Crisis, Forever Blue, and Battalion Wars 2. Veruca Salts in the readership are going to have to throw a tantrum, however, because these games aren’t set for release outside of Japan for a while, yet.
I am a Catan evangelist. Sometimes, I dress up in a sandwich board that reads: "I’ll trade two ore for your sins," and then I wander around downtown. Which is why I’m beyond giddy at the latest cocktease regarding the abovementioned XBLA: Joystiq contributor Scott Jon Siegel’s interview with Brian Reynolds of Big Huge Games, who are developing the boardgame adaptation for the Microsoft service. My favorite tidbit of news is that original game designer Klaus Teuber assisted in the creation of the Live title’s AI. The PC version of the game had easily exploitable computer opponents, so I’m very excited at the opportunity to play a game without having to drum up at least two other players (preferably five).
By way of the Gamerscore blog, EvilAvatar reports on the latest batch of Xbox 360 titles to receive the platinum edition treatment, meaning that in the states they will be sold for $29.99. The list includes probably-ought-to-haves such as GRAW and Fight Night Round 3, among others. The full list is here.
Sony is copping Microsoft’s attitude regarding backwards compatibility of the PAL version of their PS3. In other words, Sony of Europe is diminishing the importance of being able to play PS2 games on their new console. Kotaku has a lovely blow-by-blow of the dramatic rise and fall of this news, progressing from mild skepticism to outright denial, to grief, anger, and eventually resignation.