December 2006

Just when I thought Microsoft had forsaken me with BC, they go and release an update that inches me closer to not needing that original Xbox I have in the bedroom. Here are the newly supported titles:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Burnout 3: Takedown UPDATED
Conker: Live and Reloaded
Dead Or Alive Ultimate
Destroy All Humans!
Dynasty Warriors 4 / Shin Sangokumuso3
Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick
Ex Chaser (Japan Only)
Family Guy
Far Cry: Instincts
Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy
I-Ninja
Leisure Suit Larry: Magna *** Laude
Mortal Kombat: Armageddon
MotoGP
Incredibles/ Mr. Incredible (J)
Muzzle Flash (Japan Only)
MX Unleashed
Open Season
Pariah
Plus Plumb 2 (Japan Only)
Psychonauts
Psyvariar2 Extend Edition (Japan Only)
Rainbow Six: Lockdown
Rapala Pro Fishing
Rent-A-Hero No. 1 (Japan Only)
Scarface
Shark Tale
Shenmue II
Soul Calibur 2 North America only
Splinter Cell: Double Agent
Tenerezza (Japan Only)
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie
Ultimate Spider-Man
Wakeboarding Unleashed: Featuring Sean Murray
Whacked!
Winback 2: Project Poseidon
Xiaolin Showdown

The complete list is always available [url=http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/backwardcompatibilitygameslist.htm]here[/url]. If you don’t have live, but want the update, grab the ISO [url=http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/backwardscompatibility.htm#download]here[/url].

Source: [url=http://www.majornelson.com/archive/2006/12/14/december-06-back-compat-update.aspx]Major Nelson[/url]

Not one, but two new games in the Tactics series are coming. A remake of the PS1 game, Final Fantasy Tactics, is coming for the PSP, and a sequel to the GBA game, Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced, is coming as well, to an unnamed platform. Here is a scan from a Japanese magazine regarding the PSP remake:

Since it’s launch last Friday through Sunday, over 325,000 Nintendo Wii systems were sold across Europe. This means that the Wii has become the fastest selling (non-handheld) system in the old continent. Obviously there are shortages, pretty much everywhere, but Nintendo confirmed they are working on remedying that soon. Also, half a million Nintendo DS Lites were sold in the past week, bringing the total to 8.5 million Nintendo DS systems sold in Europe to date.

GameTap sent word yesterday that they had launched the [url=http://www.gametap.com/home/myst/index.html]website[/url] for their upcoming game, Myst Online: Uru Live. They also published their first podcast on the upcoming game which can be found [url=http://www.gametap.com/home/myst/media_downloadables.html]here[/url]. The podcast features Rand Miller, the co-founder of Myst, explaining how Uru Live is different from the combat-focused style of other mmo games.

Myst Online: Uru Live blurs the lines between adventure and MMO in a world that is familiar to PC games who have enjoyed the Myst universe for years.

2K sent over a new batch of screens for the upcoming release of Jade Empire on the PC. The game is slated for a 2.26.2007 release date.