Late Night Consoling

Last July, Dragon Quest VIII (PS2) developer Level-5 unveiled an upcoming strategy RPG for PSP. Entitled Jeanne d'Arc, the game uses the visions of Joan of Arc as a touchstone to place the legendary historical figure into a fantasy context. Today, Sony Computer Entertainment America announced that it will be publishing Jeanne d'Arc, previously only announced for the Japanese market, in North America.

Despite the fantastical creatures featured in the game, players are still thrust into a historical conflict, defending France from English oppression. Characters can be upgraded with some 150 different skills as well as eight different upgradeable weapon types over the course of the game's 40 environments. Sony sent over some new gameplay screenshots as well as a few cutscene still shots.

"With the introduction of Jeanne d'Arc for PSP, Level-5 now brings their high standard of game development excellence to the portable world," said SCEA software marketing director Jeff Reese. "The team has managed to create an action filled, mythical adventure that RPG fans and gamers alike will take anywhere they feel like playing, further adding depth to the ever expanding lineup of PSP software."

This does not in fact mark Level-5's entry into the portable world, though it may be the company's entry into the North American portable market; the company also recently released the adventure game Professor Layton and the Mysterious Village (screenshots) in Japan.

Sony expects to ship Jeanne d'Arc for PSP this August.

PlayStation 2 owners who happen to be fans of zombies, ninjas, action, adventure, cart racing, combat, golf, and Aqua Teen Hunger Force are in for a rare treat. With a feature film based on the popular Cartoon Network Adult Swim cartoon en route in April, Midway Games today announced that protagonists Frylock, Master Shake, and Meatwad are also due to star in an upcoming "epic, action-adventure combat golf, cart racing game" entitled Aqua Teen Hunger Force Zombie Ninja Pro-Am.

The game features...those things, as the trio of food-based characters become embroiled in a series of likely preposterous conflicts after attempting to gain admittance to the classy Jersey Pines Golf Club. No screenshots are yet available, but Midway did send over this appealing preliminary cover artwork.

"This golden chalice represents a new age in gaming, the likes of which has never before been seen on this planet. The weak will tremble at the awesomeness of our full color, hand-made graphics!" said Aqua Teen Hunger Force creators Matt Maiellaro and Dave Willis.

Midway expects to ship Aqua Teen Hunger Force Zombie Ninja Pro-Am for PlayStation 2 this fall.

Publisher Codemasters today confirmed that the next edition in the Colin McRae rally racing franchise will indeed be titled DiRT. The company expects the game to ship for Xbox 360 and PC this June, with the PlayStation 3 version to follow soon after. New screenshots are available here.

Namco Bandai Games sends word that BEC's Eureka Seven Vol. 2: The New Vision has gone gold and is ready for its PlayStation 2 release on April 17, 2007. New screenshots are available here.

Newsweek's always astute N'Gai Croal takes a look at some of the tribulations facing Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PS3 with the statistic-laden Redmond, We Have a Problem and the more reflective Tokyo, We Have a Problem. Don't worry--he'll be moving onto problems in Kyoto next.