Playstation Zone News Section

PS Zone News

Atlus has announced that they are developing titles for Playstation 2, also under development is a new Playstation 2 compatible arcade board, after the PS2 arcade board is completed, they will port over some of their PS2 titles to arcade.

In a recent interview from PurePure, Sony's spokesman Mr. Yamauchi mentioned that the PS2 Gran Turismo demo we saw several months ago, was actually taken from the current Playstation version of Gran Turismo and recompiled for PS2, it already looks so much advanced than the Playstation version. He claimed that it is "easy high picture quality".

Sony has confirmed that the US Playstation hardware retail price will be dropping for 25% to $99 US, effective on August 23. Along with the price cut, SCEA has also added several titles to their $19.99 Greatest Hits series, including A Bug's Life, Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped, Gran Turismo, Spyro The Dragon, Cool Boarders 3 and Twisted Metal III.

Capcom will release their highly anticipated horror adventure game Biohazard 3: Last Escape for Playstation on September 22 in Japan. This game will have several new features not found in the previous versions. First, this time certain enemies will attack you with weapons, like the mysterious boss class character can use portable cannons to attack you. Jill will have a new rolling move which enables her to evade enemy's attacks, and she will have a number of new weapons, such as the M-16 machine gun, and guns with fire / ice / explosive bullets that can cause massive damage to opponents. Other than Jill, you will be able to play as Carlos in the middle of the game, to search for medicine to cure the zombie poison that infected Jill. Other than Carlos, a number of BH1 and BH2 characters will show up in this game as well, such as Brad. In addition, this game will have the Dual Event System (branching events that lead to variable storyline and endings) and Random Set System (random item locations and enemies), which largely extend the life of the game.

Square has confirmed that they will release at least one title for Playstation 2 at its launch, currently two Square PS2 titles has been confirmed, the first is Ehrgeiz 2 from Dream Factory, and the second is a racing game from Escape, both are subsidiary companies of Square.

989 Studios will release Cool Boarders 4 for Playstation in November in US, the 4th edition of the popular snowboarding series. This game will feature enhanced graphics, and new features such as the Trickmaster Mode and multiplayer tournament mode; the fighting mode has also been improved with more brutal hitting.

EA Square has confirmed that the US version of Final Fantasy VIII for Playstation will not contain the anti-modchip protection in the game, people with a modified Playstation will not have to worry about the game won't run on their systems. FFVIII is coming out in US on September 7.

Alias WaveFront will release its Playstation 2 development tool kits Maya to developers by the end of this year. It enables developers to create cinematic quality renders in real time using advanced game engines, the works can be exported directly to PS2. (From FGN)

Infogrames / Digital Illusions are working on Test Drive Rally for Playstation, PC and N64, a new rally racing game in the Test Drive series, originally called Rally Master, this game will feature over 22 cars, each with selectable color schemes; over 23 drives and 51 unique tracks. There are 4 championship game modes and a custom championship editor. This game will feature the new reflection mapping technique on the cars to make them look more realistic.

Sony's upcoming Playstation RPG Wild Arms 2nd Ignition is scheduled to release on September 2. This game has a multi opening scenario system, you can choose to begin the game with one of the 3 main characters, each will have slightly different storyline the story takes place in the same world as Wild Arms, but at a different era. Each of the 3 characters will have their own set of weapon and attacks. During the battles, there is a new power gauge, it will slowly build up when been hit by the opponents, and you can use the power points to perform special techniques. Other than techniques, you can also summon the elemental guardians to assist you in battles, like fire attacks or healing your party. When the characters gain levels, they will receive skill points, which you can distribute into the character's status such as strength or agility points.

Enix has released new info and screen shots for Dragon Quest VII: Warriors of Eden. The game begins on an island with a town and castle, you will be able to discover new continents that are sealed by traveling back to the past, and use Stone tablets on the pedestals to unseal the lands, and new continents will show up when come back to present. The battle system will remain the traditional DQ style, while the monsters will have much superior animation than the past. The enemies AI will become stronger, as they will learn to arrange themselves in different formations. There are also rumors that you will be able to negotiate with monsters, and let them to join your party to fight with you, a concept that was first introduced in DQ5. One last thing, there will be no PocketStation support and CG movies for this game.

Enix / Tri-Ace have released info on their new Playstation RPG Valkyrie Profile. In this game you play the role of the Goddess of War Valkyrie to battle against the gods in the heaven, you need to search and raise human souls to battle for you. The combats are in a special semi-turn based system, with real time and action elements in it. Similar to Star Ocean the Second Story, this game features 3D CG backgrounds, sprite based characters, and voice acting for main characters.

Sony has announced Jumping Flash 3 for Playstation, scheduled to release on October 14 for 5800 yen, this will be the real sequel to Jumping Flash 2, with the return of Robit and MuMu, the game will be dual shock compatible.

Sony will release their highly anticipated Playstation SRPG title Arc the Lad 3 for Playstation on October 28, for 6800 yen.

Capcom will release their arcade fighting game Jojo's Venture for Playstation on October 14. This game will have dozens of new elements not found in the arcade. First there are several new characters, some of them will be presented in different mini games and events, while some other will be new playable characters in the game; new playable characters include Dio, Shadow Dio, Youth Joseph, Mariah, Hol Horse, J.P. Polnareff, Vanilla Ice. There is a new Super Story Mode in which you can travel to different places on the Map Mode, and go through different events, mini games and battles. So far 4 mini games are revealed, they are Deathmatch Playing Cards battle, VS Strength action game, VS Sun shooting and VS Lover side scrolling action shooter.

Jojo's Venture VS Strength

According to Konami's KCET release schedule, Konami will release their most wanted love simulation game of all time Tokimeki Memorial 2 for Playstation will be released in Japan in November, and the other love simulation title Want to See You ~ your smile in my heart has been delayed from August to mid September.

Enix is planning to release a new Playstation RPG called Valkyrie Profile, scheduled to release this winter, the game is developed by Tri-Ace, based on the Northern Europe myth, you play the role of the Goddess of War Valkyrie, to search for souls of dead warriors who wander on the ground, raise and train them, and send them to battle with the other gods in the heaven. The graphics style will be similar to Star Ocean The Second Story, but it will use an ARPG style side scrolling graphics. The battles will feature a unique control system, each button on the joypad will represent a different soul fighter, pressing the buttons will make the corresponding characters to attack, while pressing special combination of buttons will generate combo attacks from various characters.

Square EA will release their classic RPG collection title Final Fantasy Anthology for Playstation on October 13 in US, for $39.99, both FFV and FFVI, plus a music soundtrack CD will be included in the package.