Late Night Consoling

Maarten mentioned Bethesda's acquisition of the Star Trek license earlier today, but one of the games announced is console only, so into LNC it goes. Star Trek: Tactical Assault is under development for DS and PSP by Quicksilver Software, the team behind the original Star Trek: Starfleet Command (PC). It is a realtime strategy title set in the world of the first Star Trek series, and features campaigns from the Federation and Klingon perspective. The game also features local wireless multiplayer. Early screenshots are available here

Star Trek: Tactical Assault will be available for DS and PSP this September.

Okay, did I call this or what, seriously. Last September, I reported on a Siren (PS2) movie adaptation being made in Japan. I predicted that maybe a year after that film's release we'd see an American version being produced by a director such as, oh, Sam Raimi. Today, Variety reports that an American film adaptation of Siren is in fact being made, with Sam Raimi in the producer's chair. The Japanese version is set for release next month, and the Raimi version will be shooting this year.

Raimi made his name with his Evil Dead series of films, and is now best known for directing the current Spider-Man movie adaptations. Rob Tapert, a frequent Raimi collaborator going back to Raimi's first film in 1978, Within the Woods, will be co-producing. The film will be written by Michael Gordon, writer of the upcoming 300, based on Frank Miller's graphic novel telling the story of the ancient Battle of Thermopylae. Gordon will work with Keiichiro Toyama, director of the original game. A director for the film has not yet been chosen.

The Siren film will tell the story of an American med school student looking for her sister, who is lost in Japan. While searching in the village of Hanuda, she will rather unsurprisingly come upon a horrifying evil of some kind.

Capcom announced today that it will be compiling the four Street Fighter Alpha games plus Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix (aka Pocket Fighter) as Street Fighter Alpha Anthology. The package will contain Street Fighter Alpha, Street Fighter Alpha 2, Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold, and Street Fighter Alpha 3.

Street Fighter Alpha Anthology will ship for PS2 this Summer. Capcom will also be releasing Street Fighter II (not the Alpha one) for Xbox 360 via Xbox Live under the name Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting. That game is due for release some time early this year.

Sony announced today that it has acquired development studio Zipper Interactive under its recently created SCE Worldwide Studios label. Zipper is behind the Sony-exclusive SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs series, which has seen entries on PS2 and PSP and appeared to be the biggest draw for gamers to get online with their PS2s.

In December, Sony purchased Guerrilla Games, the Sony-exclusive company behind the Killzone franchise, suggesting that the manufacturer might have designs to own the rest of its third party exclusive lineup. This would also include Insomniac Games, developers of Ratchet & Clank, and Sucker Punch Productions, developers of the Sly Cooper series. Other publishers, such as Midway, have also been on developer buying sprees lately. The gap between the worlds of independent development and publisher-owned development seems to be growing bigger and bigger in recent years, and with rising game production costs making it tougher for independent studios to compete in the high end development arena, don't expect it to stop any time soon.

Vivendi Universal Games has sent out a rather astonishing press release revealing that Genuine Games' 50 Cent: Bulletproof (PS2, Xbox) reached one million in sales during the months of November and December 2005. The statement noted that the number quoted was sell-through, that is sales to actual consumers rather than simply to retailers. What makes this so surprising is that the game was absolutely panned by critics (6.5 from IGN notwithstanding). It was widely criticized in just about every respect except for the inclusion of a great deal of 50 Cent content, which is only a plus for those who enjoy 50 Cent in the first place. The movie loosely based on the life of 50 Cent (aka Curtis Jackson), was also reviewed very poorly, yet unlike the game it didn't do as well as expected at the box office. Way to go, gamers.

Mother 3, the Earthbound sequel which has seen epic delays and cancellations dating back to pre-N64 days, was recently confirmed for GBA, and all of a sudden it has a real release date. The third game in Shigesato Itoi's classic RPG series will hit Japanese shelves on April 20. There is still no word of a release outside of Japan.