Late Night Consoling

The latest Game Over column at CNN/Money suggests that the PS3 and other next-next-generation console systems, may not be released until 2006. His reasoning is all sound, at least for Sony. We do know that not one developer has seen PS3 dev kits yet, because they don't exist. Without dev kits, you can't have games, and without games, you can't have a console launch. And given how ridiculously complex the PS3 is shaping up to be...well, you can certainly understand why it will be a while before we see any games for the thing. But as I thought about it a bit, I couldn't deny that Microsoft does have the upper hand with their next system (affectionately called the "Ybox" by some). If this next system from Microsoft is just a hardware upgrade, as it most likely will be, then Microsoft really can go around and tell people what the base specs are likely to resemble, allowing developers to start working on these games now. The Xbox 2 is likely to be centered around a video card one step up from the current generation of PC cards, either from ATI or NVIDIA. The audio tech probably won't change much, if at all, and the CPU, storage and memory will all get hefty improvements as well (along with the sort of home media stuff that's superfluous as far as I'm concerned), but as long as Microsoft sticks to their PC-based development concept, they have the definite advantage here. What will be interesting to see, is if this forces Sony to rush the PS3 to market in order to compete with Microsoft. Where Nintendo fits into all of this, I don't know, but you can never tell with those guys.

	FFX-3? According to one source, thanks to the exceptional sales of Final Fantasy X-2 in Japan, SquareSoft is already planning Final Fantasy X-3. This is somewhat surprising, given that they've already denied this rumor once, but that was before the game sold like hotcakes, and to the new SquareEnix, X-3 might prove to be an irresistible way to improve their all-important bottom line.
	Final Fantasy X-2 Preview Second sequels aside, the first one's out in Japan already (and flying off the shelves) and so GameSpot has posted their hands-on preview of Final Fantasy X-2.
	Buffy Sequel Revealed? The ever-watchful archon spotted this product description at Dark Horse Comics' official site for Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds, which is due out in June, and apparently ties into an upcoming console game of the same name.
	Nintendo's upcoming schedule Nintendo today revealed their upcoming schedule: for GameCube, Wario World will be released on June 23rd, Mario Golf on July 28, and F-Zero on August 25th. For GBA, Donkey Kong Country will be out on June 9th and the long-awaited Advance Wars 2 will be out on June 23rd.
	FF: Crystal Chronicles Details Square announced that Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, the first Square game for GameCube, will be released in Japan on July 18th. Along with that are some new plot details, which can be found at GameSpot, along with word that a "big announcement" about the game will be made at E3 in May.
	Capcom vs. SNK 2 EO Patch Released Capcom has released an update for Capcom vs. SNK 2 EO, which will be downloaded automatically when you next connect to Xbox Live. This is said to fix some bugs, although any anti-cheating measures are unknown at this time.
	Jak & Daxter II Preview This was previously subscriber-only, but now it's available for everyone...PS2.IGN has the first hands-on look at Jak & Daxter II, the recently announced sequel to last year's well-received platformer.
	John Tobias Interview Mortal Kombat fan page TRMK has posted a six-page interview with MK co-creator John Tobias, talking with him about his just-released title Tao Feng, as well as his departure from Midway.
	Fear Effect: Inferno Lives! They're small and crappy, but PS2.IGN has posted the first screenshots from Fear Effect: Inferno, well...ever, and the first we've heard from this game since the very vague trailer back at E3 last year.
	Misc. Media IGN has posted more goodies from Soul Calibur II: there's a new Japanese promo for the GameCube version that showcases Link, along with shots showing off Heihatchi in the PS2 version. Also at IGN are new shots from Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel, new shots from Resident Evil Online and lots of shots from Red Faction II for GameCube. Over at GameSpot they have new shots from Resident Evil 4 and shots from Painkiller.