More than a rumor, less than confirmation. Argh.

A few of the guys from 1up did a phone interview with Masaya Matsuura (Parappa, Vib Ribbon, Musika) and gently brought up the topic of a new Parappa game. It would seem from this casual conversaion that not only is Matsuura-san interested in making the game, Sony would love to see it happen as well (no surprise there).

It doesn’t hurt that rhythm games are finally making some headway in the states, and the PSP port of the first game. Hopefully we’ll get some sort of confirmation one day. Until then I “just gotta believe!”

Check out these scans from the latest Famtisu. First Mario’s going to be a bee, and now it looks like he’s going to be a Boo. I figure a sheep is up next, that way he can go “baa” and not wreck their little word game.

No confirmation yet from Nintendo that Mario will be playable as a Boo, but as my grand-pappy always taught me, “pictures speak louder than words.” He was also a big fan of “don’t trust whitey.” Weird words from an albino. Weird words indeed.

[via Nintendo Gal]

Aeropause was pointed in the direction of this thread on Midway’s site where a moderator (notice I didn’t say developer) posted the minimal PC requirements for their upcoming Hard Boiled sequel (in video game form) Stranglehold. To say that they’re ridiculous is a bit of an understatement:

• Dual Core Processor
• 2GB of RAM
• Nvidia Geforce 7800 or ATI Radeon x1300 or higher
• 15GB of HDD space

Keep in mind, those are the minimal requirements. By comparison, here’s the minimal and recommended requirements for Bioshock: Continue Reading »

It’s rumor for now, but if there ever a place for Ubisoft to start talking about their supposed Heroes game a place like the San Diego Comic-Con would sure as hell be a good place to do it.

Variety is reporting that Ubisoft is close to closing a deal to work on a game version of the hit show, but I have to wonder if turning that show into a game is a good idea. Don’t get me wrong, I love the show but there’s not really a ton of action going on. Of course that’s not to say Ubisoft needs to make an action game, I’m just hoping that they don’t try to force heavy action into the Heroes world, I just don’t see that working.

Of course this is all rumor until we get an actual announcement, but I for one have my fingers crossed. I’d love a well-done Heroes game.

File this one under rumor with an asterisk of *sad but probably true. IGN is reporting that “Insiders close to development studio NST allege to IGN that the software company’s Wii action title, tentatively titled Project H.A.M.M.E.R., has been terminated by publisher Nintendo.”

It gets worse. The article goes on to say that those involved in Project H.A.M.M.E.R. have already moved on titles that fall under the “expanded audience” style games; ie Brain Age-Wii Sports-Mario Party-doesn’t-scare-your-grandma-kinda-crap.

No word from Nintendo yet as they hadn’t gotten back to IGN by press time. Considering the media blackout on the game since E3 2006, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised about this — what I would be though is disappointed. This was one of the few kick-ass balls-out action titles announced for the Wii and the only first-party one. Everything about it looked solid. If this was cancelled for any reason other than “the controls were broke/the game was crap,” I’m really going to have to rethink my position on Nintendo. Furry little animals and Italian stereotypes with blue collar jobs are fantastic, but they’re not everything. Sometimes you just want to hit things with a hammer.

(And yes, I would love to make the “Stop! Hammertime” reference, but Press the Buttons beat me to it.)

[IGN via Press the Buttons]

Man I wish I had some way to confirm this now, but sadly until we hear more this’ll have to stay in rumor-ville. But it certainly looks like another Monkey Island game might be headed our way!

2 very different pieces of news from 2 different places seem to be stoking the rumor fire right now.

First we have a quote from The Guardian quoting an unnamed source inside Lucasarts:

“…the fifth Monkey Island is coming. I know some of the guys who worked on the music compositions for the original PC classics, and they say that it is currently being planned amidst rumors. However, LucasArts has so many things on its belt right now, including a Wii title that has yet to be named. Don’t expect any revitalizations of its classic graphic adventures until 2008 at the earliest.”

Second is an email from Monkey Island illustrator Steve Purcell to Monkey Island fansite worldofmi.com including some concept art that is “in no way connected to any existing or canceled piratey project..”.

With the resurgance of pirate popularity, coupled with their status as the chosen ones (at least to believers of the Flying Spaghetti Monster) it’s not out of the realm of possibility to see a new Monkey Island. It doesn’t hurt that people are beggin for one and Ron Gilbert is back in the spotlight with his work on the Penny Arcade game.

Please let this be true.
[The Guardian Via Kotaku]

(big picture of the Captain above after the jump.) Continue Reading »

Every now and then a news story pops up that tells us about the ESRB rating another title for the Virtual Console or a publisher letting slip the names of a few of their upcoming VC releases. Over at The Virtual Console Archive they’re keeping track of all of those little tidbits so you don’t have to.

The VC Archive’s Coming Soon page lists a whopping 44 titles that have in one way or another been confirmed for upcoming release on the Virtual Console. Check it out and tell us what, if anything, you’re most excited about.

For me it’s got to be Zombies Ate my Neighbors, Uniracers and Devil’s Crush. I’m getting a little moist in my ladyparts just thinking about it.