Late Night Consoling

Konami held their Gamers Day earlier today and with it came announcements of new games. As reported earlier, Castlevania: Curse of Darkness was the big headline but there were a few other surprises. For instance, Konami is aggressively attacking the handheld market, showing off plenty of PSP and NDS titles. Two new NDS games were shown; Dragon Booster, a racing/action game based off the cartoon of the same name, and Lost in Blue, a "survival RPG" that has two lost teenagers deserted on an island, doing what they can to survive.

Another new title was TMNT Mutant Melee, a fighting game based off the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon series. Twenty playable characters are available and it does allow for 4-player battles to take place. Konami also confirmed they are publishing Death Jr. For information on the other titles shown, check out the press release they sent out here.

Uh oh, I better tread lightly here; don't want to upset you Euro gamers like I did last night. Nintendo announced that European game stores will have the Nintendo DS in stock on March 11 at the price of 99 pounds/149 euros. Fifteen titles will be available at the launch, including WarioWare Touched!, Pokemon Dash, Rayman DS, Feel the Magic, and Super Mario 64 DS. Prices for games will fluctuate between 29.99 and 39.99 euros.

Nintendo was happy to announce that they will release a new baseball game exclusive to their GameCube system. It's called Nintendo Pennant Chase Baseball and will be available April 4. It's not clear how much of a true simulation it will be, as the press release says things like this: "'Nintendo Pennant Chase Baseball' will feature new game modes that combine the authenticity of Major League Baseball with the great game play that consumers have come to expect from Nintendo." Nonetheless, it will have all the teams and players as well as commentary by some of the sport's best. Remember, Take-Two only has exclusivity on third-party titles; Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft are free to develop games for their consoles.

Well, since Bill Gates didn't talk Xbox 2 at CES, it was expected he'd do it at GDC. Well, that doesn't appear likely as J Allard will be the keynote speaker. While his keynote topic is "The Future of Games: Unlocking the Opportunity," the big announcement will most likely be handled by Gates at a later time. Also, during an earnings report today, Senior VP and Chief Financial Officer John Connors said, "In term of the next Xbox, we haven't announced a release. I think they'll talk about that at E3 Los Angeles in May."

Another racing game is heading the PSP's way as Codemasters announced it plans to release TOCA Race Driver 2: Ultimate Racing Simulator for Sony's handheld. The company said to expect "real performance cars, real damage, real physics, and real driver AI that adapts to suit your level of racing expertise." It will take advantage of the PSP's WiFi capabilities and allow races of up to eight players. It will release sometime in Q2.

Electronic Arts announced that it will ship Need for Speed Underground 2 for the Nintendo DS on March 21. They also revealed some of the special features for the NDS; for instance, the Design Studio which allows gamers to paint their cars with the stylus. Wireless multiplayer is good up to four players.

Namco revealed in their Namco Nation Newsletter that the company will pack a demo of Tekken 5 with Death by Degrees when it ships early next month. No details, such as selectable characters, was available. Hey, remember when everyone bought Zone of the Enders for that Metal Gear Solid 2 demo? I couldn't believe I did that.

EuroGamer was on-hand at an event in Paris where Nintendo demoed Mario Kart DS. Nintendo execs and members of the press battled it out in a eight-player race over the DS' wireless connection. EuroGamer found the graphics to be completely on-par with the N64 version and said even rivaled the GameCube. The typical Nintendo stable of characters were seen: Mario, Wario, Luigi, Peach, Toad, Bowser, Donkey Kong and Yoshi. No release was announced.

GameSpot caught a brief statement Nokia made about its N-Gage sales. In an earnings statement for October through December 2004, Nokia managed to sell 1.3 million units of their N-Gage platform. Not much else was specified except that a few titles went on sale. (Stop the presses!)

Midway announced that gamers who pre-order their edgy game NARC, they will receive a special 2-disc soundtrack when they pick up the game. The soundtrack features classic songs by Lynyrd Skynryd and DMX while featuring original songs by a bunch of groups I've never heard of before since I don't really like music.

Ever wondered if it'd be any fun to play over Xbox Live with celebrities? Well, Microsoft hooks you up by revealing who they have lined up for the month of February. Stack up against NFL sack leader Dwight Freeney of the Indianapolis Colts or rock it with 3 Doors Down. If you want to know more, such as games and times, check out the site here.

GamerFeed talks with THE John Romero about his involvement at Midway. GameSpot goes developer interview crazy, talking with devs on WrestleMania 21, MotoGP 3, Juiced, and Full Spectrum Warrior.