Late Night Consoling

Nintendo literally pulled out a big surprise at their press conference. Executive Vice President Reggie Fils-Aime yanked out of his coat pocket and proudly displayed their newest system, the Game Boy Micro. The device is tiny, measuring 4 inches wide, 2 inches tall and 0.7 inches deep. It also weighs only 2.8 ounces, the same as 80 paper clips. The two-inch screen is the finest yet on a Game Boy and will feature adjustable brightness. Overall, the reasoning for this GBA is to make it more attractive to image-concious invididuals. It's tiny, so it fits anywhere and its faceplate can be changed, making it quite customizable.

Months ago, there was a big rumor that Halo 3 for the Xbox 360 would release at the same time as the PS3, thus taking away some of the spotlight from Sony. Well, that rumor was confirmed in Time Magazine by none other than Bill Gates. "Note to the hard-core faithful: the next version of Halo will not, repeat not, be ready in time for the launch of Xbox 360. It will be part of the all-important second wave next spring. 'It's perfect,' Gates says, radiant with bloodlust. 'The day Sony launches [the new PlayStation], and they walk right into Halo 3.'"

It was officially confirmed that Epic Games will be releasing Gears of War for the Xbox 360. Gamers have been familiar with this title ever since the announcement of the Unreal Engine 3 as all the visual assests used were from this game. GoW pits humans against an alien race called The Locusts. The game will feature both coop and deathmatch online multiplayer. A teaser site can be found here and we'll have a ton of information on this title at the start of E3.

At the Nintendo conference, the Big N announced four new GameCube titles for Mario and his merry crew. Mario Baseball, Super Mario Strikers, Mario Party 7, and Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix. Strikers is a party soccer game while the rest of the titles are pretty self-explanatory. They should all be released by the end of the year.

However, the real shocker were two new portable Mario games for the Nintendo DS. Although they never really mentioned them and you only saw quick clips during different video montages, the Nintendo DS will have Mario & Luigi 2 and a new Super Mario Bros. I'll definitely dig up more info on these two at the show.

2K Sports announced their batch of titles including five for the Xbox 360. Amped 3, Top Spin 2, NBA + NHL + College Hoops 2K6, and World Poker Tour 2K6 were named. Amped 3 and Top Spin 2 are Xbox 360 only (TS2 will hit GBA and DS) whereas the rest will find homes on the PS2 and Xbox. WPT2K6 will also release for the PSP and GBA. Release dates weren't mentioned.

As if there was any doubt, 2K Games announced that they will be publishing the SCEE-developed title in the United States. "Many key actors and actresses from the series will provide their likenesses and voice talent to 24: The Game, including Kiefer Sutherland, Elisha Cuthbert and Carlos Bernard. In addition, the game's storyline has been written in collaboration with series writer Duppy Demetrius and the music has been composed by Sean Callery, an Emmy award-winner for his work on 24."

The latest Xbox 360 title announced is THQ's The Outfit, being developed by Relic Entertainment. Described as "an explosive squad-based action game," the game is set in World War II Europe. "With their squad leaders, players will guide two squads of battle-forged soldiers on missions ranging from reconnaissance-and-rescue to search-and-destroy across immensely destructible battlefields. Players can switch between squads at any time and can strategically use squads separately, in tandem or as one super-unit." There will be both coop and versus online multiplayer when the game arrives sometime in the holiday season.

Last year, Blizzard turned over the reigns to StarCraft: Ghost from Nihilistic Software to Swingin' Ape Studios. Now today, Blizzard announced it has acquired the console developer. It appears that Blizzard was happy with their progress on Ghost and will have them continue to develop console titles after they finish. "With Swingin' Ape's talented designers, programmers, and artists, we're confident we'll be able to create console games that meet the quality standards we've established for every Blizzard title," said Mike Morhaime, co-founder of Blizzard.

Capcom revealed at their E3 press event that they are resurrecting the Final Fight series on the PS2 and Xbox for release this winter. Final Fight: Streetwise ditches Cody, Hagger, and Guy for Cody's brother, Kyle Travers. You see, Cody is kidnapped by an underground gang and it's up to Kyle to find him. Respect will play a big part in Streetwise as you'll need to acquire it to build a posse, unlock weapons and moves, and unravel the story.

Konami has created a new internal studios to be headed up by Hideo Kojima, appropriately named Kojima Productions, which will initially focus on three new titles in the Metal Gear Solid series. First, Metal Gear Acid 2 will arrive on the PSP with a new cel-shaded style. MGS3: Subsistence will be an improved version of MGS3, much like MGS2: Substance was to its original. Lastly, Metal Gear Solid 4 is in development for the PS3. It'll continue the story after MGS2 and there will be some sort of online battle mode, yet Kojima wouldn't go into it any further.

2K Games silently revealed that Human Head's Prey will also release on the Xbox 360. Combine that with rumors generated by TeamXbox that the Xbox 360 will use a keyboard and mouse for Unreal Tournament 2007, it appears that the Xbox 360 will be a poor man's PC gaming rig!