Late Night Consoling

There's this tidbit over at GamesAreFun that says Mario Kart DS will be a launch title for the Japanese release of the Nintendo DS, which takes place roughly two weeks after our release. It appears to be a move by Nintendo to help secure themselves a victory in the handheld wars that's soon to take place over there; I would imagine with the PSP and NDS launching so closely together, many Japanese gamers are having to make the decision on which one to purchase. As the "bona fide gamer" in my friendship circles, I'm often asked, "PSP or DS?" and they're never satisfied with my answer of "both!" I think with the two launching four to six months apart, picking up both isn't an impossible option, but I'm not going to declare a winner until I get some serious playtime with both portables, something I think many others should consider as well.

	San Andreas Smashes UK Sales Records The release of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas in the United Kingdom set two new records for itself. First, it totally obliterated the record for opening weekend sales by selling 677,000 copies, which is two and a half times that of the previous record-holder, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Secondly, in its first two days of sale, it broke the all-time movie box office record in the UK, surpassing the opening weekend revenue of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
	ILoveBees Madness Two new developments have occurred recently in regards to Microsoft's "alternate reality game," ILoveBees.com. Last night, it was announced that a "training mission" will take place at four movie theater locations: in Chicago, Austin, San Francisco, and New York City. Saying that a "special training exercise...utilizing squad-oriented combat simulation LIVEware" will take place leads us to believe Halo 2 multiplayer goodness may be coming to a theater near you. The blog for the site revealed 27 movie theater locations across the U.S. where gamers can attend, say a special code phrase, and receive a DVD. The contents of the DVD are unknown. Both events take place tomorrow between 6pm and 9pm PST.
	PSP Battery Life Not So Hot? Ken Kutaragi spoke to Japanese website Impress PC Watch and cleared up a few details regarding the PSP's battery life, basically saying the quoted four to six hour window will fluctuate from game to game. He said, "A puzzle game will last longer, but Ridge Racer will probably be shorter than that." He added that the short life span will be addressed in later revisions of the device, saying "in the future, we'd like a single charge to last for a flight between Narita and New York." That's about a fourteen hour flight.
	Delays, delays... A couple delays to tell you about tonight. First, Kameo: Elements of Power is being pushed back to an unspecified date. Developer Rare said the reason for delay is "to incorporate several changes and new features (some minor, some not so minor)." Also today, Atari mentioned that the Xbox version of Godzilla: Save the Earth will see a minor delay, now set for release on the 22nd. The PS2 version is still shipping the 9th.
	Misc. Q&As/Features GameSpy talks with Marty O'Donnell and Joe Staten about their involvement with Halo 2.
	Misc. Media/Previews
	The Magic Box gives us screens of Dirge of Cerebus: Final Fantasy VII. More shots of Shadow of Rome at Game Informer. GameSpot has an updated hands-on of Death by Degrees. IGN has video of both Shining Tears and Shining Force.
	One of the last previews of Halo 2 before its release is at 1up. Also, listen to a track from the upcoming soundtrack at TeamXbox. They also have impressions of Ghost Recon 2.
	IGN shares a bunch of direct feed footage of Mario Power Tennis. The Magic Box has some of the first shots of MC Groove Dance Craze.
	1up has a few details on Ridge Racers (PSP). IGN has all the DS stuff we need with screens of Asphalt: Urban GT (NDS) and hands-on of both the new Kirby (NDS) and Harvest Moon DS (NDS).
	Game Informer has a media blowout for Dead to Rights II (PS2, Xbox). TeamXbox sticks up a few shots of Destroy All Humans! (PS2, Xbox). GamesRadar has a look at The Punisher (PS2, Xbox). HomeLAN Fed gives us their take on Backyard Wrestling 2 (PS2, Xbox). IGN has a few bits of media for TimeSplitters: Future Perfect (PS2, Xbox, GCN) and Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks (PS2, Xbox).