Square Enix's Wada Sees New Nintendo Console coming 2011

Nintendo looks like they will be upgrading the Nintendo Wii match the competition with HD graphics and more horse power. Square Enix boss Yoichi Wada expects Nintendo to release a new console by 2011.

Wada told the Financial times he feels Microsoft's Project Natal is "fantastic and could become standard," the exec feels new motion control devices from Sony and Nintendo are unlikely to have a major impact.

"Present game machines already have a lot of functions: they are a network terminal, a Blu-ray or DVD player, and a gaming machine," said Wada. "Compared to these three pillars, the [new motion] controllers are quite limited, so the impact may be small. They are an extension of the gaming function."

Final Fantasy XIII Could Move 500K+ PS3s In Japan

Will it's no surprise that the PS3 slim has been selling like a dream around the world and especially in Japan. With Sony selling 150,000 PS3 in the first week coinciding with the release of a new Gundam Game.

Enterbrain prez Hirokazu Hamamura said at today's Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan that he expects the PS3 to sell around 500,000 units over the year end sales period.

Square Enix and Sony's plans for a PS3 bundle with Final Fantasy XIII packed in is sure to help that number, which, for the record, would represent about 15% of the PS3's sales to date in Japan.

Final Fantasy XIII will ship on December 17th in Japan, a date just recently confirmed by PlayStation supreme commander Kaz Hirai.

Can Video games surpass Movies in Storytelling ?

A few days ago, Star Ocean 4 designer Yoshinori Yamagishi ranted on about how video game storytelling could exceed books or film. Yesterday, it's Mad Max director George Miller. According to the filmmaker, "Games were the poor cousin to feature films when it came to storytelling but I think it's flipping. Games allow you be much more like a novelist." George Miller is currently teaming up with God of War II director Cory Barlog to make a Mad Max game.

Miller continues, "I'm curious how much you can engage with the characters through the game-play," "It's the opportunity to make a novel." George Miller has a great point with a few games this generation merging the power of storytelling and great graphics, with such games being Bioshock and Heavenly Sword.

Star Ocean 4 producer game developer Yoshinori Yamagishi thinks game storytelling can eventually superseded other mediums. According to Yoshinori, "But in a game developer's case we always have to think about how players might react to each depiction of a character or storyline, and that's the part we can't predict," Yamagishi continues. "Nevertheless we have to make these predictions to a certain degree, and incorporate this into our work." He adds that this is more of a challenge.

"But if we manage to get over this hurdle," Yamagishi says, "then I regard video games as a greater medium to provide people with deep emotional and exciting experiences."

Bioshock with it's great twist at the end has shown developers that an engaging spellbinding tale can be woven for a console if done right. Heavenly Sword for Sony PS3 also prove you can have complex acting in a game to drive it's story while merging advance graphics. Killzone 2 has used advance graphic and sound as a weapon of immersion. Video games is currently in it's infancy and has unlimited possibilities for growth and advancements, as technology evolves at the current pace Video Games one day will surpass movies and other mediums in it's ability to tell a story and engage it's audience.

Square Enix Makes $117 Million Bid For Lara Croft

Gamasutra is reporting Square Enix has offered Eidos Interactive $117 million to sell. Square Enix has been very serious about being a major player in the western gaming market due to declining market share on it's home turf. "Eidos' products are highly complementary to our business and will accelerate our aggressive expansion into Western markets," says Square Enix president Yoichi Wada.

Could this mean we will soon be seeing Lara Croft in a future Final Fantasy? How will this affect the Tomb Raider series? Could we finally see a Tome Raider anime?