Japan Gaming Guide

The Playstation 3 will get a new joypad which will rumble, according to Kaz Hirai, the President of Sony Computer Entertainment. The new peripheral will launch this November in Japan, and Spring everywhere else.

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Square Enix have been very busy lately – just look at this huge list of games they’ve got lined up for the Tokyo game show:

NDS
Final Fantasy IV
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Ring of Fates
Final Fantasy Tactics A2: The Sealed Grimoire
DS Style
Dragon Quest IV
Dragon Quest IX

Wii
Chocobo’s Dungeon: City of Forgotten Time

Multi
Final Fantasy 20th Anniversary Projects

Eight games? That’s alright with us as long as they really really concentrate on that Final Fantasy VII remake we know perfectly well they’re making.

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We get through a lot of gaming parephanalia here at JGG, and because we’re so astonishingly generous, we’ve decided to give some of this random crap unique gaming treasure away to you, our loyal and faithful readers. First up is this fantastic Pokemon fan. Featuring Pikachu on the front, with a few of his cousins behind him, this is just the thing for keeping yourself cool and attracting the envy of friends, neighbours and people with smaller Pokemon fans.

To win the fan simply come up with an answer to the following question:

Which Pokemon  would make the best U.S. President, and why?

Our favourite answer gets the fan. It’s that simple!

The latest Chocobo game is on the way – you’ll soon be able to guide your feathered friend through randomly generated dungeons and explore the City of Forgotten Time.

If you want to hear all about it (in Japanese) follow the link for some video footage and an interview with a couple of the devteam.

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Gran Turismo 5 Prologue is looking very nice indeed. The official website went live last month, and now features a ton of new screens. Famitsu recently interviewed Kazunori Yamauchi and revealed a few more details about the game.

Online community building will play a large role in the game. A myspace style page will be selectable from the menu which will include your friends list and ranking details. They also hope you’ll be able to walk around towns and look at cars, in addition to driving round in them. The in-car cockpit views are looking very nice – the dashboard looks pretty detailed and apparently you can look around using the d-pad. You’ll be able to customize the interior of your vehicle and the graphics are apparently so good you’ll be able to appreciate the quality of the leather seats in your shiny red Ferrari.

40 cars and 4 tracks will be included. Single player races will feature 16 cars, multiplayer numbers are unknown, but 12 is given as a minimum.

If you upgrade to the full Gran Turismo 5 you’ll be able to transfer your save data, including all that hard earned cash.

We’re also given a tentative release date of October 24th, just in time for the Tokyo Motor Show.

[Read, via PS3Fanboy]

Tired? Lethargic? On death’s door? All common problems – hard to solve in real life but very easy to deal with in the mystical realm of videogames. Take Final Fantasy for example – all you need to do to recover from a near deadly attack from a giant Cactuar is take a quick swig of potion. Wouldn’t it be great if you could really do that? Well now you can!

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Final Fantasy VII, Square Enix are releasing a limited edition potion-themed soft drink. The drink comes in a set with a book – ‘Final Fantasy VII 10th Anniversary Ultimania’ and will cost 3980 Yen.

It’s not the first time Square Enix have made a potion-themed drink, but their first attempt tasted like drinking sick whilst being hit in the face with a bag of potatoes. The new version is being made by Suntory – the world famous whisky brewers. How many hit points will it restore? We don’t know, but we’ll be at the front of the queue to find out on September 13th, when the drink goes on sale.

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Gran Turismo 5 Prologue will be released in Japan this October, and will be shown off at the Tokyo Motor Show. There’s now an official website for the game, featuring screenshots and a video. Apparently the game is going to feature some kind of Playstation Home interactivity, but we don’t know the details of that yet.

[Read, via Kotaku]

It seems you can’t please some people. Not impressed by the $100 PS3 price drop, Konami have dropped some hints that the long and happy relationship between Solid Snake and the Playstation may be about to end. Snake needs to see other people, he still loves Playstation, it’s just, life is short – he doesn’t sell like he once did and he’s not getting any younger. There’s no-one else, but hey, who’s that slender looking 360 gal? She may have a tendency to overheat, but beggars can’t be choosers. And what about that tiny new Nintendo Wii? Can she handle Snake’s demanding character and polygon count? She can sure try.

So, if you were planning on getting a PS3 for Metal Gear Solid 4, there’s a good chance you’ll be able to play it somewhere else soon.

Update: It seems Snake and the Playstation may have patched things up – they recently made a statement confirming their commitment to each other. Snake also said he wouldn’t be making any more games after Metal Gear Solid 4. Maybe there is a reason to get a PS3 after all..

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There’s a trailer up for The Last Remnant. This game could turn out to be very big indeed. Square Enix’s new IP will be released simultaneously in Japan and North America next spring. That’s a first for the company. It’s also the first of their games to use the Unreal 3 engine.

The trailer shows one of the game’s heros, ‘Rush Sykes’ and we get to see a bit of gameplay as well. Turn based battles feature up to 70 fighters and there are no random encounters. Keep your eyes on this one.

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