Quake Wars is PS3 bound

One of the most anticipated titles headed to the PC is now also on its way to the PS3 (and the Xbox 360). Enemy Territory: Quake Wars is in active development for the PS3 from developers Z-axis (the same team that brought the very mediocre X-men: The Official Game to the market).

According to id Software's press release, "In this epic multiplayer-focused game, players can choose to defend humanity as a part of the Global Defense Force (GDF) or destroy it as a merciless Strogg alien invader."

Whatever. Let's blow some stuff up! Look for this one "sometime in 2007."

Sony rethinking cell processor strategy

For Sony, developing a new microprocessor from scratch didn't come cheap. In an effort to improve the razor-thin margins of their processor business, Sony appears to be breaking with tradition and is looking to outsource cell manufacturing while also foregoing the in-house development of more advanced (i.e. smaller) cell processors.

According to Sony Executive Deputy President, Yutaka Nakagawa, "When we first offered the PS2, there were no semiconductor companies that were able to make chips for the machine, so we did it ourselves. But now, there are companies that specialize in chip production. They are aggressively investing in cutting-edge technology. Our basic understanding is that we probably won't need to do everything by ourselves for next-generation chips."

In our minds, this is good news on a couple of fronts. First, this could help Sony become a more aggresive and agile player as they move away from their old-school "if it's not done by Sony, it's crap!" pride. Second, as their operating margins improve and they begin to realize savings and improved profitability, there is an increased chance that lower prices could be passed onto Joe Gamer (i.e. you and me). A PS3 that is less expensive to produce and purchase is a win-win for all of us.

Kingdom Hearts 3 visuals due out by year's end

Tetsuya Nomura sat down with Famitsu and, among other things, talked about that mysterious trailer unlockable at the end of Kingdom Hearts 2. You know, with the apparently more "Square-Enix" take on the franchise? Those knights seriously look straight out of the designs from Final Fantasy IV. We know that Kingdom Hearts 3 exists, but up until now we've had no idea what to even look for.

Nomura admitted that there are plans to give some visuals of the next KH before the end of 2007. You can speculate that the Tokyo Game Show will reveal a trailer, images, or just some printed information. Not much else to say, but feel free to toss in your theories or ideas here. I had a really good one, but... it's been a while and I've forgotten what it is.

Mist of Chaos trailer -- your first SRPG, PlayStation 3!

Historically, strategy or tactical RPG's aren't exactly the best-selling nor best-looking titles -- especially for a brand new "cutting edge of technology" console. While last year's Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance for the GameCube was a sweet release of strategy goodness (and the first of the FE games to make it to the states off of a handheld), it was over a bit too quickly... and a bit too linearly. Is that a word? It is now.

Enter Mist of Chaos -- a strategy game for the PS3 that looks somewhat like a mix of the Ogre Battle series, Der Langrisser, and Fire Emblem itself. There's a ton of kanji floating around in the trailer, but this much can be gleaned: there will be a large cast of characters and a massive amount of characters on screen at anytime (moving a single "unit" actually consists of groups of people... thus the Ogre Battle and Der Langrisser references). Will this be a good game to show off the power of the PlayStation 3? Not really. Will it even come to the states? Who knows. Will it make its way onto other systems? Probably not. Anyway, check out the trailer, see if this SRPG is something you could get into.

Gamefly's rental/request chart still has 360 on top

As long as Gamasutra keeps posting these GameFly rental/request charts, we feel obligated to do the same. Without further ado, here's what's on people's minds this week (hint -- 360 still takes the top 3 spots overall):

XBox 360

• Crackdown
• NBA Street Homecourt
• Lost Planet

Wii

• Sonic and the Secret Rings
• Mario Party 8
• Wario Ware: Smooth Moves

PlayStation 3

• Virtua Fighter 5
• Sonic the Hedgehog
• Major League Baseball 2k7

PlayStation 2

• God of War II
• Rogue Galaxy
• Ghost Rider

That should do it. Kind of surprising that Sonic is still on the PS3 chart -- not like we've really got much else to look at recently. That'll change soon, we hope and/or surmise. What about all of you? Been renting a couple of those listed here?

Casino Royale given out to first 500k European PS-Network users

A long time ago we said that it would be really neat if Sony packaged the Blu-ray of Casino Royale with the European PS3's upon launch. Well, that's not exactly the case, but a little birdie tells us that Sony has been listening! What's the deal, you ask? Well, SCEE (Sony Computer Entertainment Europe) came out the other day and announced that the first 500,000 purchasers of the PlayStation 3 who also register for the PlayStation Network will snag their own copy of the, arguably, best James Bond film in the last twenty or thirty years (some may say ever).

You guys in Europe got lucky! Casino Royale is going to have quite a few extra features (supposedly) and will, of course, be in full 1080p glory. We at PS3Fanboy would have loved to get this movie packaged in our consoles, but alas, we got to stare at Will Ferrell's pores. Not saying Talladega Nights was a bad movie... but... we'd rather have some Bond-like explosions.

Blu-ray movie releases for the week of February 12th

Well guys, if you can't find a Blu-ray you like this week, I don't know what to tell you. This is one of the best selections we've ever seen! I highly recommend The Departed, really good film and a great cast.

Blu-ray Movie Releases

• Broken Arrow
• Chain Reaction
• Chronos
• The Departed (two-disc special edition also available)
• Entrapment
• Ladder 49
• Marine
• Phone Booth
• Planet of the Apes
• Reign of Fire
• Sentinel
• Usual Suspects

As always, availability is subject to manufacturer delivery.

The Oblivion rumors are sent to, well, oblivion

Ever since we reported on IGN's preview of Oblivion for the PS3 and how many aspects of the game had been tweaked and optimized for the system, a flood of rumors buried most of the good news in its wake. To send these rumors back out to sea, IGN approached Pete Hines, VP of Marketing and Personal Relations at Bethesda. Here's what went down.

Rumor: There is a lack of downloadable content because of the PS3's technical limitations!!1!11!

• Hines: Nothing could be farther from the truth. There are two reasons why Orrery and Mehrunes's Razor will be absent from the get-go on the PS3. There's a concern about the balancing of the game and giving players access to the thieves den or wizard's tower right from the start of the game. The expansions may hit the PS-Store later, but not at initial launch.
• The other reason is that the designers haven't tested the PlayStation Network Store and the mechanisms for getting the content out there. The designers were rightfully concentrating on making the game itself much better and glitch-free. The PS-Store was low priority.

Rumor: Everything that's getting amped up on the PS3 is going to transfer over to the 360 and PC anyway.

• The shader function that re-renders low-res textures will indeed get to the 360 and PC versions, but that's it. The other optimizations are specifically available on the PS3. Why? Because it's awesome.

Can we stop the rumor-mongering now? This isn't Sony saying this stuff -- it's Bethesda. Why would they lie on Sony's behalf? They wouldn't. In any case, look for the PS3 version of Oblivion in March. It should be super cool, if you're into that sort of thing.

Let's crunch Japan's hardware sales numbers: 1/29 - 2/4

At long last! The PlayStation 3 is selling better than the PlayStation 2! At least, for the week of 1/29 - 2/4. Still far behind the Wii and DS, even the PSP, the PlayStation 3 is at least moving. The official numbers are below.

• DS-Lite: 146,073
• Wii: 65,740
• PSP: 31,216
• PS3: 18,727
• PS2: 17,540
• XBox360: 6,130
• Game Boy Micro: 1,050
• Game Boy Advance SP: 724
• GameCube: 306
• DS: 119
• Game Boy Advance: 28

Well, if Nintendo knows how to do anything, they definitely know how to phase out prior incarnations of their handhelds pretty fast. It's one of those cases where cannibalization of your own products is necessary and even desired. Heck, if Sony cannibalized all those PS2 sales into PS3 sales, that would be fantastic. Maybe someday, Sony, maybe someday.

Virtua Fighter 5 supports 720p, but who read the latest EGM?

No, really, who read the latest EGM? We're going to have a paragraph to gloat. The PS3 Virtua Fighter 5 received game of the month, with a 9.5, 10, and 9.5 as its score. It's competition for the month was Crackdown, which fell a way's behind. Now, correct us if we're wrong, but aside from Twilight Princess for the WiiCube (which we technically shouldn't count for this claim, but will anyways) this is the highest score any next-gen game has received in the last six months. Even Gears of War was scored lower in the mag. What are we trying to say? Well, come Spring, you 360 owners will have a fantastic fighting game to enjoy. Until then, find a friend with a PS3 and try this bad boy out.

So, what's the deal, then, Sega? Why are we only getting 720p support? The Japanese version had 1080i and 1080p support... even though Japanese gamers believe those are simply upscaled resolutions and not "truly" supported. In truth, it doesn't matter. This game is probably going to be the highlight of February and perhaps most of March. We'll be back with our very first PS3 game review before the end of the month!

Star Wars: Force details emerge... metachlorines, seriously?

No offense, Mr. Lucas, but that's probably why you should hire some darn good writers instead of spearing your own child into the ground with your lackluster pen. Seriously... metachlorines? Terrible. Which is exactly the word we hope won't describe the upcoming Star Wars: Force Unleashed game. Since it's been quiet for a few months, you know some serious gameplay elements were being built and now we can take a peek at them. Behold:

• Timeline wise, the game is between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope (III and IV). Darth Vader is training an apprentice who he plans to use to destroy the Emperor. Guess who you play as? The apprentice.
• One of your main tasks is to assist Vader in hunting down any surviving Jedi. Have fun with that.
• Force abilities are being tweaked to better represent their power. Some stronger ones will require a bit of charging, whereas simpler ones will be nearly instant.
• For the Star Wars enthusiasts out there: Rancors. They will eat you.
• You can play as Vader... somehow.
• Multiplayer is planned, so we should expect something good.

All right. That's really about all we could garner about this game. It sounds like it should at least be as exciting as those Knights of the Old Republic games -- you just don't have to worry about being good or bad. You're just bad. Badass.