This statement was issued following the ban of one of the game’s leading online players due to cheating. Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH did not elaborate on the details, but stressed its commitment to keep its turf clean.

An online tournament is currently going on to honor pre-order promises to the game’s customers. Under the pre-order promo, everyone who ordered the game in advance would receive an invitation to join the PES 2008 tilt. Finalists will be flown to Wembley on March 15th to 16th, 2008 for the grand finals.

At stake during the championship round is a whopping 50,000. Add to that the bragging rights involved, and it gives you an idea of what motivated some to do a bit of dirty work to grease the wheels.

The ace attorney is back! No, wait, we have a different ace attorney this time as Phoenix Wright retreats from the court room (kinda). This time around, it’s Apollo Justice who will be pointing the finger of justice at criminals, and shouting “Objection!”

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney was already released in Japan and America. European gamers will be getting to try their detective and court skills soon enough: the game will be released in the region come May 9.

For our European readers who are eager to get their hands on the game, and for the others who haven’t been able to get a copy yet, you can head over to QJ.NET’s review of the game, by our very own Sally B to see what’s in store. No spoilers on the story, we promise.

This statement was issued following the ban of one of the game’s leading online players due to cheating. Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH did not elaborate on the details, but stressed its commitment to keep its turf clean.

An online tournament is currently going on to honor pre-order promises to the game’s customers. Under the pre-order promo, everyone who ordered the game in advance would receive an invitation to join the PES 2008 tilt. Finalists will be flown to Wembley on March 15th to 16th, 2008 for the grand finals.

At stake during the championship round is a whopping 50,000. Add to that the bragging rights involved, and it gives you an idea of what motivated some to do a bit of dirty work to grease the wheels.

(Editor’s Note: Ah ha! Another major haul of news from the gaming industry this week. From highs and lows, and everything in between, QuickJump QuickPeek 37 is going to hit you hard - and it’s going to hit you good.)

Listen up, folks! Time for the weekly roll call of the hottest items that dropped in during the past seven days. And that’s with or without Kratos wreaking havoc through Tartarus. Put them Blades of Glory Chaos down for just a moment and start getting comfy. We’re in for quite a doozy here.

This week had some very flashy news from Sony, both for its handheld and Cell powered console. The Microsoft camp had quite a situation upon them - especially in the wake of the now-ended format wars. Nintendo, meanwhile, is rearing for the mighty punch that is Brawl.

There’s also been a couple of issues surrounding the whole EA-Take-Two incident that started last week, and this time, Jack Thompson himself wants to take part in the whole hullabaloo.

The gaming industry this week totally took the high road, no doubt. So grab your trusty QuickPeek walking stick, and let’s catch up!

And though Chains of Olympus might have only kept you busy for 5 or so hours, are you really complaining? Ready at Dawn studios seems to think that the short plat time wouldn’t matter much. It really depends on the person playing it. (anyone plan on doing speed runs?) For RaD director Ru Weerasuriya, calling the game “very, very short” isn’t really a well-founded statement.

Meanwhile, with Chains of Olympus out, the studio is already looking towards the future and what platforms they could be releasing their upcoming titles. They’ve got some big shoes to fill, but unfortunately, not part of the itinerary is a PS2 port of Chains.

Link: Ready at Dawn responds to reported brevity of God of War: Chains of Olympus
Link: Ready at Dawn: new projects for other consoles, debunks GOW rumors

As for rumors and whatnot, whispers of the supposed PSP phone have been rippling in and out again this week. This time, it’s another patent for the conceptualized mobile gaming phone. And one of the more interesting things in this patent is the detailing of full touchscreen support.

Link: Another patent for PSP phone surfaces, indicates use of touchscreen display

The PSP phone might still be up in the air, and for all we know, it might never get out of its “rumored” state and head into actual reality, but at least we get something else to chew on. Something concrete, and something free. (Hey, everyone likes free stuff.)

In light of the whole trend of RPG homebrew games coming out, we hear about RPG Warrior Quest - which is technically not homebrew per se, but indie-developed, nonetheless - a free-to-play RPG that will get a PSP version this month!

Link: Free RPG Warrior Quest to arrive on PSP this March

Speaking of venerable dev teams, RealTechVR of No Gravity fame seems to have gotten quite a big boost in their reputation. You guys might be a bit bummed out that the full version of No Gravity never came out yet. But what, what! No Gravity: The Plague of Mind will head for the PlayStation Network.

Thanks to NarooN for the tip!

Link: No Gravity: The Plague of Mind headed to PlayStation Network

Slipping through the end of last week - hence didn’t make the cut of last week’s QuickPeek drafting - is the release of PSP Emulator 2008-03-01 proof of concept. By the name alone, you can probably already assume what it is: a PC application that can emulate the PSP. Totally, wicked.

Yeah, it still might be a proof of concept and can only handle limited emulation, but it’s a worthwhile start.

Link: PSP Emulator 2008-03-01 proof of concept now out

And now, a whole spool of homebrew for you guys to download and try out. This batch of ‘brew caught the attention of the lot of you. So just in case you missed it, we’re spinning them through the weave and fleshing ‘em all out here: Arnookie’s take on SofiyaCat’s famous PSPTube application, Royale’s PSP port of Google Maps, and the 3D editor to let you create your own FPS environment.

Acknowledgments go out, respectively, to Arnookie

Link: PSPTube 010308 Arnookies Modified 4
Link: PSP-Maps v0.1 - Google Maps for the Sony PlayStation Portable
Link: PSP Dungeons: Assault Run released with 3D Editor
Link: PSP Dungeons 3D Editor update: Lighting functions improved

Rawr. If you got the time, you guys might want to check out our reviews that came out this week: Patapon and God of War.

- QJ.NET’s PSPUpdates team

Another heavy load of PS3 updates have rumbled by this week. And still, we’re feeling the tremors. Looks like this beastly Cell machine isn’t one to lose momentum.

One of the headlines this week is something that might be called a little whoopsie from Ray Maguire. Either that, or it’s something that he really intended to announce. In between glowing remarks of how the PS3 manages to hit 1 million sales in the UK, Maguire hinted at upcoming PS3 firmware 2.4. Yep. More than that, too, is that there’s also talk of in-game chatting dropping in sometime this summer. Sweet.

Link: PS3 breaks 1 million mark in UK sales; FW 2.4 coming, in-game chatting hinted

So, how much are you willing to pay for backwards compatibility on your PS3? If you had the chance to buy one, are you willing to pay double the price? Japanese market seems to think it’s a reasonable offer.

See, retail shops and even Amazon Japan itself are offering 20GB and 60GB units (the ones which support BC) are currently tagged twice as a few months ago when the price drops where introduced. Right now, these units are back in their original price backets when they were first released in the market last 2006.

Link: Japan: backwards compatible PS3s priced at double current model’s

Speaking of summer, we know of that one thing that most of you guys are already eagerly waiting for. Metal Gear Solid 4 is definitely riping up to be one heck of a release, and certain updates this week aren’t dropping the ball indeed.

One can’t deny that MGS4’s mastermind, Hideo Kojima, put a lot of effort in his latest brainchild. Part of that effort though is that he and his team had to find some way to compress certain things just so that the game could fit in the 50GB Blu-ray disc it’d come in. If only there weren’t this limitation, Kojima said that they could release the game with better quality.

SIXAXIS functionality for the game was also slightly expounded on this week. During development, the team had to minimize the tilt-sensing functions being supported in the game - thus leaving the player the “chance to use it in short bursts.” There’s also some details spilled about violence in the game - plus a surprising bit about MGS4 using the “F word.” And when they say “F word,” we don’t think it’s FOXHOUND.

Link: Hideo Kojima: Blu-ray doesn’t have enough space for Metal Gear Solid 4
Link: MGS4 uses SIXAXIS controls sparingly, and for good reason
Link: Kojima Productions Report 82: on cursing, violence in Metal Gear Solid 4

Sony’s online hub seems to be gearing up for quite a metamorphosis. The PlayStation Network is said to be getting its video download service - that much we’ve already heard of before. But the new bit we heard this week is that the service might actually roll out sooner than what most people are led to believe!

Here’s something sure though: there really is a scheduled redesign of PSN sometime in April. Yeeeap. SCEA director John Hight confirmed that the PS Store will be getting some changes - mostly involving improvements with simplification and readying the store to be more capable of handling content. And of course, there’s also that bit about the Warhawk expansion too…

Link: PlayStation Store video download service nearing completion?
Link: SCEA: PSN redesign in April, Warhawk expansion, more

More on eagerly anticipated games… We hear about more details on upcoming Resistance 2. Ted Price was kind enough to point us to the direction of what we could expect from the sequel.

R:FoM protagonist Nathan Hale will still be taking the leading role, only now, Price says Hale’s character will be fleshed out some more, with him undergoing an “evolution” of sorts along the way.

Link: Ted Price talks more about Resistance 2, possible handheld version

Hold it! We’re not done yet with the updates! Yet another game that’s causing many a PS3 owner fidgety in anticipation is Gran Turismo 5 Prologue (yeah, the supposed “demo” that’s not a demo). We got a press release this week that outlined pretty much anything and everything that you needed to know to grease up your turbines.

Link: GT 5 Prologue North American release: vehicles, tracks, new features, screenshots

And finally, finally, finally. We come to the last entry for the seemingly un-ending list of PS3 updates this week. (Well, technically, it’s not the last since there’s still GTA4 to be had, but we’ll explain in just a sec.)

Rumors of Crysis coming to the PS3 may be old-hat right now. But, as Sally B. states, “hearing about the PS3 version which could possibly be a new game is quite new.” Because indeed, if all this proves to be true, the supposed PS3 port won’t be portly after all.

Link: Crysis coming to PS3, not direct port of PC game?

Now, we reach the end of this week for the PS3. Sort of. Because as we said, there’s still some GTA 4 updates for all you sandbox-loving gamers. And since we’ve already spammed up this edition with PS3 news, we’re once again handing the GTA4 news to the Xbox 360 team. You’re in good hands with them, don’t worry. They don’t bite.

- QJ.NET’s PlayStation 3 team

Ah yes. More more more Grand Theft Auto 4 details drove by this week, and they aren’t anything to be taken lightly either. The EGM edition for April spilled some beans about the game - SIXAXIS details, the differences in color levels on the PS3 and Xbox 360, cheat codes, among other. Even some talk of a possible MMO game for the GTA franchise.

We also heard about the updates straight from Rockstar’s official GTA4 website. There are a couple of videos in the new update, a cool little quiz on how well you know of Liberty history, and some introductions to the radio stations as well. You guys can plow through all that over the weekend at your own leisure.

Meanwhile, there’s also been some talk of the difference between frame rates in the Xbox 360 and PS3 version of the game. Wait. What difference? Apparently, there aren’t any. Both versions will be running at constant 30 frames per second.

Thanks to ct-boy for tipping us off on the 1Up podcast, and Paul Her for the site updates!

Link: New details for Grand Theft Auto 4; possible MMO, episodic content, more
Link: Grand Theft Auto 4 update: constant 30 FPS, PS3 dev’t slightly behind
Link: Grand Theft Auto 4 site update: videos, radio stations, history quiz, more

If you thought that’s it for GTA 4, think again. We actually got some 360-specific news for you guys. Microsoft is pulling out all the stops in giving GTA 4 a grand welcome onto the Xbox 360 with a sweepstakes program to reward the fans.

The Xbox Live GTA 4 Sweepstakes could bag you a trip to New York for one huge launch party, and if that doesn’t take the cake for you, a hundred Xbox 360 Eltie units are also up for grabs. Gold subscriptions and Microsoft Points are also offered as prizes, so you better make sure your XBL account details are accurate down to the T.

Link: Xbox Live Grand Theft Auto IV Sweepstakes

Now, in the wake of the very much over and done with format wars, Microsoft has some pressing matters to attend to. What will happen to the HD DVD add on? Last we heard, it was getting a slash in its price. As for the HD DVD emulator, it’s a different story.

Microsoft has announced that the downloadable emulator is now available for free. No purchase required; totally and so utterly F-R-E-E. What’s more is that those who purchase the emulator don’t need to feel ripped off. Microsoft is giving full refunds to those who bought the HD-DVD emulator before.

Link: HD-DVD Emulator for Xbox 360 now free

Given this, the question is still there: will the Xbox 360 embrace Blu-ray technology? Yeap, that seems to be the question that sticks out like a sore thumb. This question has been answered now, with Microsoft putting their foot down saying that Blu-ray will never arrive on the 360 console.

This, however, doesn’t necessarily mean that Microsoft will turn a blind eye to the victorious high-def format. They will be embracing Blu-ray technology, however, on a different arena. To find out how, just scroll down to the Science and Technology section where plans have already been set into motion for Microsoft to support Blu-ray.

Link: Sony, Microsoft in talks over Blu-ray on Xbox 360
Link: Microsoft: There are no plans to introduce Blu-ray to Xbox 360

We got some other cool news in the other sections below, too. Remember poor Nathaniel whose sentimentally graffiti’ed 360 console got wiped clean by customer service? Ah well, there’s a bit of an update on that story. Oh and what’s this? EGM’s April Fool’s prank? Interesting times…

- QJ.NET’s Xbox 360 team

Smash is here! Smash is here! Smash is - well, depending on when you’re reading this - finally here! It comes out Sunday - a rare release window if there ever was one - and that’s just a few hours away. But first, before you guys get the game and lock yourselves inside your rooms, on to some Wii news!

Folks keeping tabs on Team Twiizers’ development might want to hear about the recent interview they had. Though we learn of a lot of interesting details that went into the development of the Twilight Hack, what caught the eyes of many a reader was this group’s respectability as hackers.

See, they just revealed that they don’t want to step on Ninty toes when they’re out and about “messing with their system.” And with that, they’ve decided that they won’t be releasing any ISOloader in the future. It’s their move to tell the whole world that, hackers as they might be, they do not support piracy themselves. An admirable decision, guys!

Link: Twilight Hack’s Team Twiizer: No ISOloader in the future

Meanwhile, the Proof of Concept for the Wii-Linux homebrew has been bumped up to version 0.2. If you guys remember, this feeds off of the Twilight Hack as well, and doesn’t require any hardware modification of the Wii unit. All you need is an SD card, and from there, the Linux world opens up before you. Err, in a proof-of-concept sense, for now, at least.

Link: Wii-Linux Proof of Concept version 0.2: enabled classic pads and audio

On a related note, those who are interested to know how Detal pulled off their magnificent feat of coming up with the Freeloader disc might want to hear this. Because really, some of you might be asking, how was it possible for the Freeloader disc to bypass region-locking issues? The concept behind this is that the disc basically disables the console from running an update.

Link: Datel explains how the Wii Freeloader works

Let’s get on with some official busniess now. Nintendo Japan also finally revealed the TV Guide Wii Channel. It’s looking mighty purtee, that’s for sure, but there’s still no word as to when it will (if it ever would, to begin with) show up on other regions.

See, the cool thing is that the Wiimote could be used as a TV remote, and through the interface, you can highlight shows you’re interested in. Via network, Nintendo would then be able to rate shows that get high numbers of users’ “votes.”

Link: Nintendo releases details on Japan’s Wii TV Guide
Link: Nintendo Wii TV Guide Channel in action

Here’s a sure channel that we’d be getting though, and something we know some of you guys are revving your waggly Wiimotes for. Details on the Mario Kart Channel have raced to our blogosphere finish lines this week.

You’d have to log on to the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection network first, of course, and from there, you can get behind the wheel and race through the Mushroom Kingdom. Among other options to choose from, you can race in three various levels: Friends, Continental, or Worldwide. Heck, we hear you can even join in on the fun even if you don’t have a copy of Mario Kart Wii inserted into your disc tray!

Link: Nintendo reveals details of Mario Kart Channel for Mario Kart Wii

Now. The moment you guys have been waiting for since forever… it’s time for Super Smash Bros. Brawl! This week, we’ve got some last minute updates prior to the game’s release: from DK and ROB’s special moves, the item encyclopedia, a move set swapping hack (whaaat?!), tourney rules, and more.

- QJ.NET’s Nintendo Wii team

Leaving a rather minty and fresh after taste on many handheld beholding gamers’ tongues, the PSP has pushed through to the top of the Japan hardware sales charts last week. The last time this happened was when Crisis Core was released. This time around, it’s because of the mint green model.

Link: Turnabout: PSP first place in Japan thanks to mint green model

In corporate and courtly affairs, ace attorney Jack Thomspon has expressed his willingness to lend his hand to EA in their attempts to take over Take-Two. Thompson gave his reasons, but Electronic Arts, however, had to turn down the lawyer’s offer, stating that JT’s “past statements - including false claims about content in our games - make any collaboration with [him] impossible.”

This, in turn, was responded to by Jack Thompson, who imparted his knowledge of how Take-Two goes about its business in dubious ways.

Link: Jack Thompson is ready to help Electronic Arts with Take-Two’s takeover bid
Link: EA rejects Jack Thompson’s help in Take-Two take over
Link: Jack Thompson lashes back at EA

As established by the Xbox 360 team, Microsoft does have some pressing matters to attend to. They’ve already put their foot down in saying that the 360 will never get Blu-ray, but by other means, Microsoft will still be supporting the format.

This will be evident in their support for Blu-ray on the Windows platform. They’re moving on, the format wars are over. No sense in crying over dead formats, as some say. And via their OS, they could release Blu-ray drives in the future.

Link: Microsoft: we will support Blu-ray

So, what did the Halo team get him? Oh, probably anything and almost everything Halo that you could think of, that’s what. A Legendary Edition helmet signed by most, if not all, of the Bungie staff, an autographed soundtrack, some Halo-themed doo-hickies, and a heck of a lot more.

Link: Bungie responds to lost autographed 360; sends kid lots of swag and love

Speaking of Halo… We all know how successful the franchise is. But pair it up with another successful franchise, say… something like Lego… and you get… an EGM April Fool’s joke. Whether it really is a joke or not, the prospect of a Lego Halo does sound appealing. And EGM’s April issue made sure that it would catch the attention of many readers.

Link: Lego Halo slated for Fall 2008?

James Montgomery Flagg’s famous poster showing Uncle Sam proclaiming the historic “I want YOU” tagline just might have to be revised in this generation. Now, (for the US Air Force, at least) it’s also.. “and we want PS3s too!”

About 300 PS3 units, to be exact.

Their reasons, aside from “research,” seem to be up in the clouds as of the mo. Here’s what spicyhamster thinks though - a comment that gave us some much-needed ROFLs after this week’s good haul of news news news:

Link: U.S. Air Force wants 300 PS3 units for cell processor research

Originally posted Mar 08, 2008 at 02:15PM

Heads up, shinigami lovers! Sega recently announced that Bleach: Dark Souls will be making its way to North America this summer.

As far as we’ve been able to figure out, this will be a localization of developer Treasure’s Bleach DS 2nd, which means that not only will you get to play as the shinigami of your choice, but you’ll also be able to don the mask of a Menos Grande and take on the Soul Reapers.

Here’s the list of features we picked up from the press release:

• Exclusive Single-player Storyline. Bleach: Dark Souls features an exclusive storyline that takes place in between seasons 1 and 2 of the animated series. Fans of the anime will have to play Bleach: Dark Souls to uncover story plot points that are sure to shed new insight on Ichigo s quest to save Rukia.
• Exciting Multiplayer fighting action. Up to four players will enjoy the fighting action via Wi-Fi connection. This game supports the Download Play feature where one player has a cartridge and transmits the game to another player s Nintendo DS which allows them to play head-to-head.
• Variety of multi-plane 2D fighting arenas. Players can switch between the foreground and the background battlelines to chase after or escape from opponents.
• Large cast of popular characters. Players will select from 44 of their favorite characters who are all voiced by the actors from the anime series including the Hollows.
• Special attacks to master. Players can inflict massive damage on opponents with special Combos and Super Power Attacks taken directly from the series.
• Seven thrilling gameplay modes. Story, Arcade, Versus, Training and Challenge modes along with two unlockable modes which will provide hours of replayability and keep players coming back for more.
• 30 New Power-up Cards and Power Crystals to Customize Spirit Card Deck. On the lower screen, players can customize and manage their deck of Power-up Cards for boosts to Health, Attack and Defense, and much more. 
• New Bleach Encyclopedia. Contains fun and interesting facts about the entire Bleach universe. Fans of the series are sure to use this as a reference for to expand their Bleach knowledge.

While many of you have probably read up already on what comes after the “Rescue Rukia” story arc, it’s still one of the more exciting portions in the series, and one that definitely deserves another look-see, if only for the chance to to shout, “BANKAI!”

Seeing as it’s a gamebook, you actually control it as if you were holding a book, which means you hold the DS sideways while using the stylus to pick out choices, access the inventory, and fight.

In any case, feel free to understand it better by viewing the video embedded below. As for us, we’ll be trying out this handsome piece of homebrew on our respective handhelds. Just remember to check the readme for additional instructions on using the actual game. Enjoy!

Download: LoneWolf DS: Flight from the Dark RC6

Boy, oh boy! This update we have for you guys is surely a whopper. Not only do we have screenshots on some of the old faces that will be making a comeback in Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, but also four brand new character videos of Cloud, Aeris/Aerith, the Turks and Cissnei herself.

Do take your time in taking in all the familiar faces that have appeared here, like Tifa, Yuffie, Rude, and Reno. It’s been awhile since Final Fantasy VII was originally released. The familiar faces, above and below, sure can make fans reminisce scenes from the original RPG.

There’s no doubt that having this huge cast of characters only whets the appetite of fans. With the release date really drawing near, enjoy the screens and videos that we have for you.

Nippon Ichi fans don’t have to envy the folks in Japan anymore after the announcement of Disgaea: Prince of the Demon World and the Red Moon for the Nintendo DS, since NIS America revealed that the handheld Disgaea title will see release stateside. Disgaea: Hour of Darkness is packing the features previously added to Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness for the PSP.

Aside from the inevitable return of Prinnies, the Geo Panels, Geo Cubes, and Transmigration are back. To mix things up a bit in Disgaea DS, there will be Demon Gadgets which are randomly generated items on the field that have various effects such as leveling up your unit by 30 at once.

Disgaea DS is scheduled for release this summer in North America with improvements intact. Up to two players can go head-to-head as they vie for victory by utilizing Geo Cubes like in Disgaea’s PSP iteration.

Let’s put violence on the shelves for now and take a look at this new study from Herber Gintis, Economics Professor at the Central European University. The research studies behavioral patterns by using games. Introversion, in particular, was given attention.

The study collected data from 15 countries with varying levels of economic development, having its subjects play cooperative games.

The study used the cooperative games as a tool to show how economic and social institutions influences a person’s willingness to cooperate with others. The study showed that:

university students in democratic societies with advanced market economies rarely exercised a type of antisocial punishment featured in the game, while this behavior was commonly exercised by students in traditional societies based on authoritarian and parochial social institutions.

The study has no solid conclusions as of yet, but the findings are interesting nonetheless. Here, games were used as a tool to show how the economy influences introversion. It would be interesting to see if they could also show if video games themselves influence human behavior as well.

The interesting thing is that Take Two Interactive management recently sent an interesting e-mail message to its employees regarding changes in their severance plan.

In a nutshell, Take Two Interactive informed its employees that the new Employee Severance Plan will provide for “minimum levels of compensation” in the event that someone else takes control of the company and fires the employees.

While Take Two pointed out that it wasn’t assuming that the Electronic Arts buy-out would actually occur, the company did mention that the purpose of the plan was to address “understandable concerns” that employees might have regarding the possibility of such an occurrence.

A relevant excerpt of the Take Two e-mail message follows:

Our “Change in Control Employee Severance Plan” provides for minimum levels of compensation for all employees in the event that an employee’s position is terminated as a result of a change in control of the Company. These types of plans are fairly common for publicly traded companies. In fact, both Electronic Arts and THQ have change in control severance plans. If you have any questions about our plan, please speak with your manager, local HR director or Courtney Kelley.

We hope that this benefit will alleviate some of the concerns you may have, and allow you to remain fully focused on your responsibilities. You are critical to the success of Take-Two. The most important contribution each of us can make during this period is doing our jobs with the same focus, skill and creativity we always have.