Gaming Console Platform

Flying Lab Software’s Pirates of the Burning Sea Preboarding is finally live, and for those of you who need more information or want to share accounts of your adventures in the high seas can do so in the newly-opened forums. Do take note that the Preboarding Keys are needed to access the forums.

If you’re interested in joining the PotBS Preboarding, you should pre-order the game in order to receive a Preboarding key. Once registered, you may gain early access to the game, the forums, and some bad-ass pre-order bonus weapons.

Think it’s just about trying to outpace the competition when you play Nitrobike from Ubisoft for the Wii? Courtesy of four new videos, we found out this isn’t the case, and that there are certainly more ways than one to enjoy a good run through the game’s dirt-ridden courses.

So, what else can you do with a rocket-propelled bike? For one, there’s always a good bout of bowling, except you’re the bowling ball. You can also try a shot at jumping through rings. It sounds routine, but not when your wheeled vehicle of choice spends half of its lifetime in the air.

The “Smashy Smashy!,” “Nitrobike Bowling,” “Tough Corners,” and “Boosting Into First” videos are available below. Enjoy!

When games are blamed for the ills of the young, the said groups doing the blaming are often concerned parents, lobbyists, and politicians. Based on this recent report we picked up, we’ll also be adding fast food chains.

The topic came up during a recent interview with Steve Easterbrook, the UK CEO for the McDonald’s franchise. Easterbrook discussed the measures they had taken to “slim down” their menu in light of growing awareness of childhood obesity - a problem often tied in with fast food. Quoting Easterbrook’s statement regarding the matter of obesity:

I don t know who is to blame. The issue of obesity is complex and is absolutely one our society is facing, there’s no denial about that, but if you break it down I think there s an education piece: how can we better communicate to individuals the importance of a balanced diet and taking care of themselves?

Then there s a lifestyle element: there’s fewer green spaces and kids are sat home playing computer games on the TV when in the past they d have been burning off energy outside.

That aside, Easterbrook did state that tackling obesity was something that the individual was responsible for in resolving, alongside the government and food and drink groups:

The Government has a part to play, individuals have a responsibility and so does the food and drink industry. These are the three pillars that need to work together and demonstrate that they have a commitment to solving the issue. We re front and centre of the diet piece of the debate and, as a large business with a big influence, it is a responsibility that we accept as a leader in our sector.

As previously reported, IGG is set to release new expansions for their MMORPG Tales of Pirates. While we were given a sneak peek on what to expect in terms of upcoming gameplay additions, here are some more details for your perusal.

Aside from owning wings, Rebirth will let gamers choose secondary professions which are considerably more powerful than the regular job classes. Check out the cool skills given to the following classes:

• Champions - summon ancient beasts
• Crusaders - heightened attack power
• Sharpshooters - ability to melt steel
• Seal Masters - ability to wield powers from Hell itself
• Clerics - greatly increase defenses of allies

As for the Sacred Wars, the brawl fest will run everyday, with the Sacred Wars map able to accommodate 90 players at a time. The objective of the Sacred Wars is to destroy the Hero Statue of the opposing forces to win.

We’re also sure that Tales of Pirates players are thrilled about the upcoming Marriage expansion, so here’s the dibs on what in-game couples can expect in their wedding bash: a romantic date, special invitations to be given to guests, fireworks, a ceremony goblin to officiate the wedding, and other events. If you’re interested, you and your sweetie can go to the Church NPC to make reservations and prepare the tickets and invites.

There will also be other cool events to be held in Tales of Pirates on Valentine’s Day, as well as the Costume Contest that will be held in the near future. Better check this space back for more updates, especially on the Books System and 12 Golden Palace.

News of the Hajime no Ippo anime coming to the PSP has been around already for sometime, but news about the great portable boxing title - Hajime no Ippo Portable: Victorious Spirits - is hard to come by. However, we finally managed to get hold of a video showcasing how nice the game will come out for the PSP.

The Japanese trailer for Hajime no Ippo Portable (also known as Victorious Boxers) demonstrate the smooth yet hard-hitting action that’s going to hit the Sony PlayStation Portable. So smooth, you’ll want to witness it for yourself instead of reading our raving impressions.

Yes, we definitely wish that this gem will be published in other regions. More updates as we get them!

How’d you like to work for the minds that put together games like World of Warcraft and Starcraft 2? Blizzard has recently updated their site with two new job openings: One for a Associate Producer for Platform Technologies, and one for a video editor.

The AP in particular will be needed to help produce core technology for Blizzard’s games. skills include the ability to interact properly with technical personnel.

The video editor will require applicants to work at Blizzard’s DVD video production department. Those signing up will need five to eight years of experience in TV production.

Think you’ve got the skills sets needed for either of these new openings? Full details are available at Blizzards official site via the source link.

Things are currently looking up for Sony, now that they were able to recover from their initial doldrums and garnered a lot of numbers in the recent holidays. Sony’s CEO Howard Stringer acknowledged the headway they gained in the holiday season, but also said that there are still some unanswered questions left. Quoting Stringer:

The fourth quarter is full of strange unanswerable situations related to unemployment, related to GDP, related to everything else. So it’s too soon for us to be pessimistic, but I read the papers.

Aside from the good PSP and PS3 turnout, numbers garnered from Sony’s Bravia TV line and camcorders further helped in improving their sales. Because of this encouraging output, Stringer said that they will forge on with their aggressive marketing stance and will not be perturbed by the current general economic woes.

If you’ve been keeping tabs on the ongoing Consumer Electronics Show lately, you’ll know that Sony’s PSP is set to pick up some major updates for the year.The PSP’s senior product manager, John Koller, was picked up for an interview regarding just what sort of plans the company had for their handheld.

Koller started off with some extra details regarding the launch date for the PSP’s Skype feature: It’s currently expected to be released in three to four weeks, and with a little luck, by the end of this month. The VoIP service will be available via a firmware update.

Koller moved on to describe their more general plans for this new year, such as how to correctly hit the right gamer demographics for their handheld. Koller elaborated:

Whether it’s snack-size or bite-size content that we put on the PSN store or larger, broader content like a Final Fantasy: Crisis Core that you put on UMD, we want to make sure we target against those demographics appropriately. I think in the past we’ve had a whole lot of games and a different variety of different demographics and different genres, but for us, we want to hone in from a marketing perspective on who these people are that we’re talking to. I think we’re getting to a good place with that; the teen demographic’s been a big thing for us this last holiday.

As for the matter of upgrades, Koller reiterated that they would be more focused on adding new features via firmware updates (like the Skype feature). Koller explained that they already had hardware revisions to the system last September (we imagine he means the PSP Slim’s debut).  That’s the gist of what Koller had to say for the moment at the CES 2008. You can pick up on the full interview via the source link.

The Australian Virtual Console game library keeps getting better and better, and Wii gamers from down under may get to enjoy more epic games from years past now that SNES title Do Re Mi Fantasy: Milon no DokiDoki Daibouken and Smash Ping Pong from the Famicom Disk System has finally been rated by Australia’s Classification Review Board.

If you’re wondering why you haven’t heard of these titles before, don’t worry. Do Re Mi Fantasy and Smash Ping Pong were not released outside of Japan. Do Re Mi Fantasy looks like it’s geared towards the younger set, but it’s a great title for those who don’t mind plowing through a cutesy adventure game.

Smash Ping Pong, on the other hand, is known for being produced by Nintendo’s legendary Shigeru Miyamoto. Also, if ever this title will indeed hit the VC, then Smash Ping Pong will become the first Famicom Disk System title to hit the Virtual Console.

If you’re a fan of LittleBigPlanet, then we have some interesting news for you. Sony has just confirmed the release month for LittleBigPlanet, and it’s coming sometime in September this year.

Kyle Shubel hinted at an Autumn release date for the PS3 game when he talked about the possibility of a demo coming to the PS3. Color us surprised, of course, when we found this little tidbit of news this morning over on CVG.

LittleBigPlanet casts you in the role of a lowly sack puppet thing, affectionately called SackBoy, who has the ability to move around, jump, and grab onto objects. Players can use these abilities to shape the environment around them to make little worlds of their own, which they can then share through the PlayStation Network.