Square Enix has announced both Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest games for the Nintendo 3DS, as well as a new Chocobo Racing 3D game. But the most developed 3DS title announced is Kingdom Hearts 3D, an entirely new Kingdom Hearts game starring the characters Riku and Sora.

Altus has also announced that it will release some of its Shin Megami Tensei games on the Nintendo 3DS, including the original Shin Megami Tensei, as well as Devil Survivor and Persona. The Shin Megami Tensei series is very popular in Japan, after Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest.

Nintendo will also release Paper Mario 3DS for the new handheld, taking the series back to its roots with turn-based RPG battles. And, of course, a new Pokémon title is on the way for the 3DS as well.

Not quite an RPG in the traditional sense, but The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time will also be remade for the 3DS.

The original DS got some love, though — Golden Sun: Dark Dawn was announced for the Nintendo DS.

It looks like the Nintendo 3DS will be friendly to the RPG gamer. More on this new handheld as we get it.

Microsoft just had its E3 media briefing, and has unveiled Kinect, its controllerless control system for the Xbox 360.

Previously known as “Project Natal”, Kinect is a camera/microphone system for the Xbox 360 that’s capable of tracking full body movements. With Kinect, games can be controlled by voice and body movements, while simple vocal commands and hand gestures can now control menus and media on the Xbox 360.

No RPGs for the system yet, but we do have a number of other titles including a dance game and a Star Wars game. I wonder how RPG menus would work. I expect problems if developers all jump on the Kinect bandwagon at once, without thinking about how the controls will actually work for other genres than those already seen.

Kinect will be out on November 4, 2010. Microsoft also unveiled a smaller model of the Xbox 360 with a 250 GB drive and built-in WiFi, which ships today for $299 U.S.

Kinect for Xbox 360 unveiled at E3 | Xbox Living

It seems that BioWare’s hit action-RPG franchise Mass Effect is on its way to the big screen.  Legendary Pictures, which has rights to produce the film, is getting everything together to put Commander Shepherd on the big screen.

Screenwriter Mark Protosevich, who wrote I Am Legend and the upcoming Thor movie, is currently in talks to write the movie.  The film will be co-produced by Legendary and Warner Bros.

Mass Effect isn’t alone, with other video games like World of Warcraft and Gears of War also making the attempt to transition into film. Meanwhile, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is on its way to theatres this Friday.

We’ll have to wait and see what this becomes, but Mass Effect certainly has the rich story and world mythology that could easily translate into film — if the right team is behind it.

With the holiday shopping season gearing up, RPG video game makers are beginning to make promises for the future of their games.  After all, gamers love the immersive worlds that RPGs deliver, and the promise of expansions can be tempting.  Three game makers are promising upcoming content for their games, The Last Remnant, Fable II and Fallout 3.

Square Enix is first up to bat.  The Last Remnant has only been out for about a week on the Xbox 360 and already the developer is promising new content within a month.  In fact, there will be four seperate downloadable content packs in December alone.  On December 1, two packs will be released: Purgatory’s Sins and The Key of Ancient Ruins. Both of these initial packs will be free.  On December 15, the next download, March to War Set, will be released for 150 Microsoft points.  Then on December 22, players will be treated to another free download, Price of Lies.

Lionhead has announced a release date for its Knothole Island Pack DLC for Fable II.  The pack will be released on December 22 for 800 Microsoft points over Xbox Live.  A free update will also come for the game, so that co-op won’t be broken when joining players who have the DLC.

Bethesda has also promised downloads for its Fallout 3.  There will be three downloadable content packs released in early 2009.  Operation: Anchorage will be out in January, with The Pitt following in February and Broken Steel out in March.  No prices have been announced.  For PC users, the game’s official editor will be made available in December, allowing the mod community to develop new material for the game.

Nintendo has announced one Super NES RPG that’s making its way into the Wii’s virtual console. For 900 Wii points, you can download and play Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars.

Super Mario RPG, which was later succeeded by the Paper Mario series, was a joint project between Nintendo and Square (now Square Enix).  It blends the general RPG style of the Final Fantasy series, with the fun and wacky nature of Mario games.

It’s one of my favourite RPGs of all time.  When I was a kid, I played through this game several times.  It’s just plain fun.

No date has been set, as far as I know, but it won’t be too long, I hope.

The use of drugs by characters in Bethesda’s upcoming RPG Fallout 3 has been deemed too realistic, resulting in a ban on sales of the game in that country.

The gameplay of Bethesda’s upcoming installment in the Fallout series relies on the use of “chems”, chemical enhancements that affect the player.  The chems are essentially drugs that affect player’s stats, with both positive and negative effects.

The use of the chemicals is represented through pills, syringes and a pipe.  Morphine can also be heavily used by the player to ignore pain.  The representation of the drugs in the game is far too realistic, according to a statement released by Australian officials:

“In the board’s view these realistic visual representations of drugs and their delivery method bring the ‘science-fiction’ drugs in line with ‘real-world’ drugs.”

The board also describes its discomfort with the incentives provided for players who use the in-game drugs.

Australia bans a small handfull of video games every year.  The highest rating available is “MA15+”, meaning that some games that would be rated “M (17+)” or “AO (18+)” in North America are simply banned down under.

Many Australian gamers are calling for a similar 18+ rating to be introduced in Australia to allow the sale of high-profile titles, such as Fallout 3, to adults.  Critics of the ban also point out inconsistencies in the Australian censorship board, namely their willingness to rate Bioshock, which also featured injection of “plasmids” via a syringe.

Fallout 3 has not yet been rated by North American or European censors.

Square Enix first put up a Japanese site, and then a similar North American one, that sent a very clear message.  Now, the news has also been made official (via press release) — Chrono Trigger is coming back.  The game will be released in North America for the Nintendo DS this holiday season.

Like recent reincarnations of old Final Fantasy titles, Chrono Trigger will make use of the Nintendo DS’ improved graphics and touch-screen functionality.  The story, battle system and styles of the game will remain unchanged.

Chrono Trigger sold some 2.5 million copies worldwide, and became a favourite for many fans.  It only makes sense that it should be part of Square Enix’s recent strategy of remaking/re-releasing classic titles.

Fans of the Chrono series were disappointed when Chrono Break, which would have been the fourth installment in the series, was cancelled.  Perhaps renewed interest in the series will prompt a new Chrono game to appear in the next couple of years?

Many Final Fantasy XI players are aware of a rash of account hackings that occurred over the past couple of months. A number of players saw their account passwords suddenly changed after their gaming computers were compromised. Square Enix has been unable to help most of these players, who saw hours of game-work disappear when their characters were stolen.

One 20-year-old has taken it upon himself to seek justice with his local police department, reports a Minnesota newspaper. Geoff Luurs reported the crime, in which 75 million Gil worth of virtual items and coin that belonged to his character were stolen. Although Square Enix prohibits players from participating in real-money trade (RMT) between game items and real currency, the gil is worth about $4,000 U.S. on the FFXI “black market”.

The police, however, refuse to investigate the event. According to them, virtual items have no monetary value whatsoever and no crime has taken place. The response angered law professor Joshua Fairfield of Washington and Lee University:

“What happened here is somebody stole almost USD 4000 and got away cold. This is just a matter of zeros. The first time IBM loses USD 10 million, we’re going to see some police action. The argument that a magic sword isn’t real, that doesn’t make sense to me. You can ask the question, why would somebody buy that? But you can’t say it’s not worth real money.”

Putting aside the fact that swords in Final Fantasy XI aren’t normally magic, Fairfield brings up a good point. Despite the fact that it’s against the rules, RMT is a common thing in FFXI as well as in most other MMO games, some of which allow and even participate in the trade of virtual items for real-world money.

Recent hackings involved exploits on some Final Fantasy XI information sites that were finding back-door entries into players’ computers, but in the case of this player, it’s also suspected that he gave out his information at some point. Luurs named another FFXI player as a former friend and current suspect, raising the question of whether or not he actually gave out his password in the past. This is a somewhat common practice, although it’s also forbidden by Square Enix due to security risks.

So what’s your take? Is this a case of the law being behind the times, or is this FFXI player crying over spilled milk? Having spent hours in Final Fantasy XI myself, I can certainly respect the amount of time and energy it takes to build up a character — there’s certainly a value to what was stolen, even if it’s hard to quantify.

Psychology/self-help writer Cooper Lawrence, who recently appeared on Fox News, has apologized for taken back her criticism of the Xbox 360 game Mass Effect. Lawrence’s appearance on the program was to comment on the game’s alleged nudity and its effect on children. If you’ve read this blog recently, you’re probably familiar with my thoughts on the matter.

In the segment, Lawrence accused the game of objectifying women and depicting full nudity. When asked during the interview whether or not she had even played the game, she answered no. But in an interview with the New York Times, Lawrence explained her situation and took back her remarks:

“I recognise that I misspoke. Before the show I had asked somebody about what they had heard, and they had said it’s like pornography. But it’s not like pornography.”

My comment earlier was that worse content regularly appears in film and on network TV… and it looks like Cooper Lawrence agreed with that, too:

“I’ve seen episodes of Lost that are more sexually explicit.”

Some fans of Mass Effect were angered by the original broadcast and hundreds went to Amazon.com to give negative reviews of Cooper Lawrence’s book. Some of these attacked Lawrence’s character, while others sarcastically pointed out that they don’t need to read the book to know it’s ignorant (referencing how Lawrence commented on Mass Effect without having played or even seen the content she discussed). Amazon deleted most of the reviews that didn’t directly discuss the book, but several remain. It’s unknown whether or not this pressure led her to retract her comments.

Personally, I say good for her for admitting her mistake and putting her neck out there to fix the problem. Hopefully she, and others, will think twice about reviewing content you’ve never seen — or having a knee-jerk reaction to anything Fox News says. Meanwhile, Fox continues to refuse to apologize or clarify its remarks about Mass Effect, as EA continues to request a retraction.

So what’s the deal, Fox? There were actual lies in that segment (not a difference of opinion — lies), and anyone who’s actually played Mass Effect knows it.

Anyways, thanks for helping to set the record straight, Cooper.

Fox recently aired a segment about BioWare’s Mass Effect game. In the segment, which is labelled “SE”XBOX, they talk about how the game contains graphic nudity and sex scenes. They talk about how Mass Effect carries a Mature (17+) rating, but how at the same time it’s marketed to kids. They talk about how, in reality, kids will play it. And finally they talk about how children and teens are apparently stupid, and can’t tell fact from fiction.

I honestly can’t help but to get angry when I watch it. It’s difficult for me to express, in words, just how much I disagree with nearly everything they said about this game.

Look, I’m all for good parenting. Kids shouldn’t be watching sex or shooting people in video games at young ages. But that doesn’t mean that total censorship is the answer, or that anyone wanting a realistc video game is a horrible person. You just need to put some of the responsibility where it lies. Parents need to decide what their kid can and can’t handle, and do their job.

In truth, Mass Effect contains a few seconds of partial nudity. The game itself takes some 30 hours to play. The nudity in the game isn’t any more graphic than what you might expect from a movie that’s rated PG-13, or 14-A in Canada.

I have no idea what these people actually propose. I’m not sure if they want to ban video games from having any nudity (ie censorship), restrict games like this to adults-only stores or… well, what?

EA, which took ownership of BioWare this year, responded with a letter claiming, truthfully, that FOX’s portrayal of Mass Effect was absurd and inaccurate.

FOX has apparently just come back with a statement asking why EA won’t come on the air to give its argument. (I think EA should come on FOX to point out all the questionable material FOX has ever shown on its channel.)

Let’s go over some quotes from what was said in the discussion at the end of the segment. I’d give these people’s names, but I don’t respect them enough to record that information at this time.

“You have to pick up the box, look at the back for the rating.”

Incorrect. It’s on the front and back, more prominently than it is on most films.

It says on the back: “Blood, Language, Partial Nudity, Sexual Themes, Violence”. That’s accurate. The game does contain some sexual themes. The game does contain a little bit of partial nudity.

The game absolutely does not contain “graphic sex” or “full nudity” as claimed in this segment.

“Who can argue that Luke Skywalker meets Debbie Does Dallas is a good thing…. it’s not. It’s just not good, and I’m definitely not going to let Mass Effect in my house.”

Uhm…. Debbie Does Dallas is a pornographic movie. You’re insane if you’re serious about that comment. If you don’t want Mass Effect in your house because of your kids, fine. It’s a violent game and it’s supposed to be 17+. That’s fair. But it’s not porn.

One woman goes on to explain that the “reality” is that a kid can’t be controlled.

“‘I wanna play my dad’s video game while he’s not here.’”

First, your saved game shows up on the Xbox and is attached to your profile. Dad can go and see anytime if it’s been played. Second, parental controls are available. Third, the sexual encounters in the game take a while to get to. So if Dad really wants to control what the kids are up to, he can. It’s called parenting.

At the same time, if the kids want, they can get hardcore pornography in about 2 minutes on any PC. Mass Effect is hardly hurting things here.

“…Adults Only — that’s the highest rating it can have. First of all this board that rates them has to have its head examined.”

Mass Effect is rated M for Mature, which means 17+. AO games are 18+ and not carried by most stores.

You see about a second of a partial bum and a little bit of side-boob. Depending on who you go after, that body might be blue and alien. Seriously. That’s it.

“What happened to Atari and Pinball and Pacman?”

Industries evolve. This didn’t happen overnight. Gamers aren’t interested in playing games from the 70s exclusively. Should developers stop making games that use current technology? That tell real stories about emotional people, in the way that films do? You’re not big on video games, I get that. Why are you on a panel talking about them?

The last guy came across with some sensibility, at least.

“It’s up to parents to control what their kids are seeing.”

Finally, someone with half a brain.

Here’s a clip of the whole thing:

(Sorry for the rant, folks… but this insanity needs to be kept in check.)