Along with some game called Ikaruga.

One of my fondest hopes for this generation was to see a sequel to Rez show up on 360 and/or PS3. Today, that dream seems a little more realistic with the announcement at Microsoft's pre-TGS press briefing that RezHD will be appearing on Xbox Live Arcade in early 2008. It's not a sequel, but no Rez fan can complain about playing the game in HD and 5.1 surround sound. Plus, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect at least one new level or two, Tetsuya Mizuguchi pretty much promised it:

Personally, Rez has been and will always be a lifelong concept. I hope to take what I learned from the experience of creating the original game and look forward to taking it to a whole new level in the future.

See that? "A whole new level"! OK, maybe that's not what he meant, but it does give hope for the possibility of a sequel somewhere down the line.

(more…)

Or maybe not. 

Most people have long forgotten that a remake of Final Fantasy VII (as well as VIII and IX) was actually announced almost seven years ago…for PS2. While they were all quietly canceled as a result of the tremendous money pit better known as Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, fans have never stopped begging Square to give them the opportunity to buy the game again.

As recently as June, FFVII character designer and Kingdom Hearts/FF Versus XIII director Tetsuya Nomura insisted that they were "absolutely not" making it while Crisis Core director Hideki Imaizumi has just intimated to Famitsu that they are "aware of consumer interest" but the current obstacle is the fact that the team responsible for the infamous 2005 FFVII tech demo are busy working on FFXIII.

(more…)

360 limitations necessitate external solution.

Thanks to Microsoft charging peripheral makers a fee to use their proprietary wireless technology, the 360 version of Rock Band will be bundled with a wired guitar instead of a wireless axe like the PS3 edition. As disappointing as this is, it presented another issue: four wired peripherals is one more than the three USB ports on the 360 can handle.

To remedy this problem, EA will be including a USB hub with the bundle. Great news, particularly if you have a wireless network adapter (or perhaps an HD-DVD drive) already occupying the rear USB port.

Now the big question is, do you buy the bundle and get stuck with a wired guitar or do you buy everything piecemeal and pay a premium? I had planned on using my GHII X-plorer as the bass for my Rock Band and save the $70-$80 on a second Strat, so I'd kind of like my main guitar to be wireless. Decisions, decisions…

[via Kotaku] 

23K users avoid slap on the wrist and receive a stern talking-to instead.

It was widely reported yesterday that 23,000 Xbox Live users were banned for 24 hours for using an account recovery glitch to gain entry into the Call of Duty 4 Multiplayer Beta without an invite.  Xbox Live's Major Nelson set the record straight, however, that not only was no one banned, but no one was going to be, at least not on such a major scale.

"…sharing accounts isn’t just a violation of the terms, which could get you banned, it’s actually not a good thing to do in general.  People can get details about you or content from you, or try to take action against you when you do something like that.  It is your responsibility to keep your account information safe.  Regarding the COD4 beta, the best advice I can give in a situation like this is try and be patient.  We know you all want to play, and we think that’s great, but if you break the rules, you can be banned. "

In less diplomatic terms: Cut the shit or we will ban you, or worse, make sure the only Beta you'll ever get into again is for Vampire Rain 2.

Naming contest pronounces a winner. 

Joining the ranks of the dozens of other games that begin with the word Project (and the countless more with Project somewhere in their title) Warner Bros. and Monolith announced today that the final title for the game previously known as "We Aren't Allowed to Call it F.E.A.R. 2", will be Project Origin. The name was chosen by fans as part of the Name Your Fear contest and beat out finalists Dark Signal and Dead Echo. I think Dark Echo would've been a great title if it wasn't already the Japanese subtitle for Metroid Prime 2.

Vivendi, F.E.A.R.'s original publisher and current trademark holder has yet to announce their own F.E.A.R. 2 but, as previously reported, a second expansion pack for the original F.E.A.R., called Perseus Mandate, will be available for PC this fall while a collection of both expansions will be released as F.E.A.R. Files for the 360.

Project Origin has no set release date but will appear on PC, 360, and PS3. 

[via Game|Life]