You're probably heard that Luc Bernard's Eternity's Child is heading for the Nintendo Wii. That's true, except that it won't be a full-fledged Wii disc; instead, the game will be up for grabs on the WiiWare Download Channel.

More on the new direction that Luc Bernard's brainchild is taking after the jump.

Two gaming companies, Merscom (of Big Kahuna Words and Triple Word Play) and Gabitasoft, recently announced a deal to develop and produce a still unannounced WiiWare and Xbox Live Arcade title. More details in the full article!

It's a fact: gaming publishers will make more money if they will peddle games as downloadable content through any of the available "console storefronts": Wii's Virtual Console, Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade, and Sony's PlayStation Network. Before publishers choose which type of game to produce and for what console, here are some numbers that they need to chew on first. Click on full article to check them out.

We've got some interesting news today, courtesy of an IGN's "Wii-k in Review" podcast. They've given out some prime bits of information about Nintendo's WiiWare initiative, focusing on the limitations developers will have to contend with if they want to get their products on the service, such as file sizes, budgets, and the number of releases a developer can make each month.

File sizes, budgets, and limitations after the jump!

Publisher Sierra Entertainment sends out word that Kuju Entertainment's Geometry Wars: Galaxies for Nintendo DS and Wii has just hit gold status thereby making it ready for mass production. Sierra is also announcing that the game will be available beginning November 20 for Wii and on November 27 for DS.

The full article awaits after the jump!

With the advent of WiiWare next year, it's understandable if its rivals-to-be (Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network) are feeling threatened once it's released. However, it looks like Xbox Live is keeping a cool head on its shoulders even in the face of WiiWare's imminent launch, according to XBLA's portfolio planner David Edery in an interview with Develop Mag.

PlayStation Network's hefty 5GB download limit may also be used as a card against XBLA as well. But in spite of WiiWare's and PSN's pros, Edery is very confident that they will remain competitive in the downloadable content market.

"We aren’t seeing any reduction whatsoever in developer interest in XBLA, so we’re pretty happy with the current state of things," said Edery, adding that their online gaming service the ideal place to experiment with new types of games. Edery explained that games don't need to be as large as 5GB to be playable, and games with large file sizes would hinder the pick-up-and-play gaming experience.

He also pointed out that XBLA has an advantage over WiiWare since Nintendo is still working on their download gaming service, while Microsoft already had a headstart.

Edery mentioned that neither Sony nor Nintendo have their own counterparts to XBA Game Studio and Creator's Club, thus giving XBLA an edge over the other two downloadable content platforms.


Check out the entire interview in the Read link!

 

Together with the developers and publishers looking to show off their wares at the Tokyo Game Show 2007, SNK Playmore USA has released its list of titles for the said game show. Of course, the makers of The King of Fighters and Metal Slug has a number of titles lined up for this year's show, ranging from retro games for Xbox Live Arcade and Wii's Virtual Console to new ones for the consoles and handhelds.

And since SNK Playmore is still one of the coin-op kings, it also lists some titles coming to an arcade near you. Anyway, here's the list:

• The King of Fighters Collection: The Orochi Saga (Wii, PS2, PSP)
• Metal Slug 7 (Nintendo DS)
• SNK Arcade Classics Volume 1 (PS2, PSP)
• Samurai Shodown Anthology (Wii, PS2)
• Metal Slug 3 (Xbox LIVE Arcade)
• Samurai Shodown 2 (Xbox LIVE Arcade)
• Fatal Fury (Wii Virtual Console)
• World Heroes (Wii Virtual Console)
• Magician Lord (Wii Virtual Console)

New arcade titles:

• The King of Fighters XII
• The King of Fighters: Maximum Impact Regulation "A" 2
• Samurai Shodown Sen (Japanese Title)

Ben Herman, president of SNK Playmore USA, had this to say:

We're pleased to once again be bringing fans more of the quality fighting and great arcade games they've come to expect from us and with the addition of a number of downloadable console titles, SNK aficionados will have even more options available to them.

Cool eh? Better heat up your Wiis and 360s, fighting games are on their way.

Most of us simply couldn't wait for the Tokyo Game Show to start, so some just jumped the gun and started interviewing game developers about their Tokyo Game Show entries. One such interview has 1UP chatting with Treasure's Masato Maegawa, talking about Ikaruga, a secret Wii game, a certain Xbox 360 shooter title, and others.

Treasure will have a silver bullet to fire through XBLA's gun, namely Ikaruga. What's good about this already-perfect shooting game is that they are working on adding more features, such as leaderboards, online co-op play, and even sharing video clips of brag-worthy moments within the game with your friends.

If you're excited about the shooter game's arrival in XBLA, then check this out: Treasure is developing an Xbox 360 shooter similar to Ikaruga and Radiant Silvergun, but the bad news is that it'll be a while before the game sees the light of day. The reason is that they're busy working on the Xbox Live Arcade version of Ikaruga at the moment.

There's also a possibility that the said game will be available as another downloadable title for XBLA. Will it be a Radiant Silvergun title, perhaps? Maegawa has confirmed that they are thinking about developing Radiant Silvergun for Xbox Live, after Ikaruga is over and done with.

As for other consoles, Maegawa also mentioned that they are working on a Wii title, and it's going to an action title. He didn't say anything else about this "secret" action game, so better sit tight for more news about this one.

Lastly, how about the PlayStation 3's online store? The PlayStation Network won't get some love from Treasure for the meantime, at least, what with all their resources poured into other games already.

Do stick around for more pre-TGS updates!

Sega fans in the know are shaking their legs in anticipation for this year's Tokyo Game Show, and they have a pretty good reason why. Korean website Ruliweb dished out what is supposedly Sega's TGS 2007 lineup which seems to be more of a Sega fan wishlist.

Said to have cost US$ 70 million, Shenmue and its sequel easily became the biggest and most expensive series at the time. No thanks to the Dreamcast's early demise, many have missed the epic tale of Ryo in his quest to avenge his father. Still, Yu Suzuki's masterpiece created a following of zealous fans. Rumors have come and gone, and all hope is almost lost, but the list posted Shenmue 3 for the Xbox 360.

Other noteworthy titles coming from the classic archives include Fighters Megamix 2 and Virtua Fighter Kids 2. Some Dreamcast hits are also said to make a return, like ChuChu Rocket!, Skies of Arcadia 2, and Jet Set Radio Next.

Before this blogger throws fits, we'll have to say that the list is yet to be confirmed. Down to the rumor mill we go, but our ears are open for any official word.

Find the list after the jump!

Some of you might know of Kenta Cho - you might remember how his PC creations were later adapted and ported onto the PSP by homebrew developers. Mr. Cho's got bigger things to fry now, especially after Majesco Entertainment's E3 announcement of bringing one of his shoot-em-up creations, Tumiki Fighters, to the Wii (which is now called Blast Works: Build, Fuse & Destroy).

Siliconera was able to hook up with Kenta Cho, and in an interview about Blast Works, they also touched on other matters that concern game development as a whole - more specifically digital content up for download on WiiWare, PlayStation Network, and Xbox Live Arcade.

He does express interest in developing games for the consoles, and right now, he's working on some XNA projects. They're just prototypes for now, but only time will tell... Here's an excerpt from the interview:

Siliconera: Which digital platform is the most appealing to you?

Kenta Cho: I like Xbox Live Arcade because it has many small good action games such as Geometry Wars and PAC-MAN CE. I haven't owned Playstation 3 yet but recently one PS3 E-Distribution game, Star Strike HD (Super Stardust HD), is on my mind.

Yeah Super Stardust HD is, indeed, on quite a lot of people's minds. And you can't count out Geometry Wars either, as one of the games which further pushed the shmup genre (in a sense) to a different direction. Lots of casual games are available online. But how does Kenta Cho stack up to the big stackers?

You can click the Read link below to see the full transcript of Kenta Cho's interview with Siliconera.