Late Night Consoling

Shocking the world for the second time in a month, Sony today announced the PSX, a monolithic new console system that uses the PS2 core architecture, but adds several new consumer features, including DVD recording, a TV tuner, USB 2.0, a Memory Stick slot and TiVo-like timeshifting and recording. What's most surprising about this system isn't its existence per se, but rather that it contains so many features that were assumed would be part of the PlayStation 3. This would seem to imply (as Reuters points out in their report, and CNN/Money does as well), that Sony's next game system may be a standalone console like the PS2, while a second, more consumer-oriented product would be released. Of course, given Sony's odd naming of this new system, that would make such a system the "PSX 2," which confuses me to no end. For more information, here's a transcript of Ken Kutaragi's comments from the press conference, and there's also this PDF file of the announcement slide show, and if you just want to see the images without downloading a PDF reader, Games Are Fun has extracted them all. A few points that should be mentioned: this product is apparently coming from Sony's consumer division, and not SCE, which releases the regular PlayStation systems (again adding support to the theory that the PS3 will be just a gaming system), and speaking as a gamer, I find the decision to put the controller ports on the back of the system less than ideal. And jeez...will you get a load of all those logos on the thing? Freaky.

	PSP Info at Sony's PSX Announcement While there wasn't a whole lot of talk about Sony's upcoming handheld gaming system at their big PSX announcement today, there were some tidbits, including the boasts that there are lots of people banging down their doors to develop for the system, including movie studios, who are no doubt attracted to the system, thanks to the strong encryption and watermarking provided by the 1.8 GB media format it uses.
	New Unreal Championship Content Details Microsoft has posted details on the four new Unreal Championship maps that should be available via Xbox Live if not immediately, then shortly. There are details for all four, plus a pair of screenshots.
	Madden 2004 Interview A big ol' interview with Jeremy Strausser of EA Sports is up at The Sports Gaming Network tonight (thanks Slashdot Games). The interview is transcribed from a phone interview, and is extremely in-depth.
	3DO Files for Bankruptcy GameSpot is reporting that 3DO, the long-suffering-but-still-hanging-on publisher of games for all platforms, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. IGN is actually reporting that the company has shut down entirely, but seeing as how GameSpot has an actual quote from CEO Trip Hawkins, I'm inclined to believe them a bit more.
	Dead to Rights Goes Platinum Good news for bargain-hunting Xbox owners...Dead to Rights has joined Microsoft's Platinum line of Xbox titles. That means the price has dropped down to $19.99. Halo remains at full price.
	More SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos Revealed According to GameSpot, the latest issue of Arcadia magazine confirms that Genjuro from Samurai Shodown and Kim from Fatal Fury will be in the latest SNK vs. Capcom title on the SNK side, while Sagat and M.Bison have joined the the Capcom half.
	Resident Evil: Outbreak Details Some new details from Resident Evil: Outbreak, Capcom's upcoming online Resident Evil title, are up at Games Are Fun tonight. Specifically there is a confirmation that voice chat will not be supported (as this would ruin the atmosphere of the game), and there will be a ranking system, but no downloadable content.
	Mafia Console Bound Gotham Games announced today that Illusion Softworks' Mafia will be released for all three consoles later this year.
	New PSO Quest Released According to GameSpy Daily, a new quest is available for GameCube Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II gamers. Screenshots from the quest (which is known as "The East Tower"), should be up at GameSpy hosted site PSO World, although the site is down as I write this.
	New Releases This Week By popular demand, here's a list of new releases: Bloody Roar Extreme (Xbox), Brute Force (Xbox), G1 Jockey 3 (PS2), The Hulk (GC, PS2, Xbox, GBA), and Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Operation Resurrection (PS2) were all released in North America this week. This will be a weekly round-up, assuming I can remember to do it. Also, I'm perfectly willing to mention games from other territories, however someone will need to provide me with a source for that information.
	Misc. Media IGN has a new hands-on look at Go! Go! Hypergrind for GameCube, as well as new shots from Fable for Xbox. And over at Gameforms, they have some new shots from Final Fantasy X-2.