Square Enix’s experiment in downloadable gaming may also turn into an experiment for the company in microtransactions. When you attempt to download Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, which launched with the Japanese version of the WiiWare service today, you’re given a message warning that some parts of the game, including expansion packs and other services, may require extra Wii Points.

This is just a general warning that appears to be attached to any WiiWare title that may get paid content in the future. Outside of Cyrystal Chronicles, Mojipittan and LonPos also display the notice when making the download from the Wii Shopping Channel. The other six games do not.

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New premium content is now available for Ubisoft’s Dark Messiah. For 400 Microsoft Points (US$5), you can gain access to new weapons, classes and multiplayer maps. We know you’re excited!

Dashboard description: Extend your quest on Dark Messiah of Might and Magic - Elements with new maps, classes and weapons from Xbox Live Marketplace. Use these new weapons to crush your opponents. According to your character’s type, either Undead or Human, you can use exclusive powerful weapons such as bows, swords, or staffs. Also included, two new classes for the single player mode: Paladin He will subsequently use his powerful Charm and Shrinking spells to gain the upper hand. Warlock The Warlock will seek to weaken his enemies from a distance with his spells before moving in for the kill using his sword.

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Paradox Interactive, in cooperation with FilePlanet, aims for the stars with the exclusive launch of its Lost Empire: Immortals demo.

Budding galactic warlords can experience a host of game features within this limited version of the full game. Play as the Humans against the Megalanians and Horde factions. Explore and colonize across the boundaries of a single galaxy, for a massive 350 turns. Players are limited to constructing destroyers only, while multiplayer, custom options and main game storyline are disabled.

Lost Empire Immortals will be available for download on GamersGate from March 11, 2008

Read more about Lost Empire: Immortals on the official website
Release: US March 11, 2008, Europe March 14, 2008
Suggested retail price: 29.99 USD/ 29.99 EUR

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Let’s just call it the same ol’ same ol’. The top five games from last week remain unchanged. Once again COD 4 tops Halo 3. Two new entries, likely to climb the charts next week are Army of Two and Frontlines: Fuel of War. Surprisingly, N+ is the best-selling XBLA game for the third week running.

The Top Live Titles, as reported by Major Nelson, list ranks unique users playing Xbox games while connected to Live. The Top Arcade Titles list is based on the number of full versions sold in a given week.

Xbox 360 Top Live Titles

1. Call of Duty 4
2. Halo 3
3. Guitar Hero III
4. Gears of War
5. Rock Band
6. Army of Two
7. FIFA 08
8. Madden NFL 08
9. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas
10. Frontlines: Fuel of Wa

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Outspark today unveiled Pi Story as the first title to join its rapidly growing virtual playground through the Outspark Publishing Platform. An exciting free online role-playing game for the PC, Pi Story will be available to the Outspark community during the second quarter of 2008.

Developed by NCONY, Pi Story is a 2D side-scrolling game featuring beautiful anime-style imagery, story-based gameplay and a suite of community features. Players create a character, battle through treacherous dungeons and gather lost Pi on their quest to reunite a shattered universe.

“We’re excited to bring Pi Story to our growing community of social
gamers as we build a new online entertainment destination for players of
all ages and experience levels,” said Outspark CEO and founder Susan
Choe. “Developer partners joining the Publishing Platform share
Outspark’s vision of the future of online entertainment, and Pi Story is
the first of many partnerships that will bring even more great games to
our community.”

Community features in Pi Story include a party and guild system for
cooperative gameplay, personal web diaries featuring text and photos and
a unique housing system that lets players customize their own dwelling
and visit those built by other players. Outspark and NCONY will release
additional details about the game in the coming weeks and months as they
work together to make the game part of Outspark’s virtual playground.

“NCONY couldn’t have chosen a better partner than Outspark, who is the
leader in game management and operations. With their full understanding
of the game market and extensive experience in working with Korean
developers, we are confident that together we will make Pi Story a
phenomenal success,” said NCONY Founder and CEO Gregory Lee.

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SEGA announced today that the company will bring Bleach: Dark Souls for the Nintendo DS to North America this year. Dark Souls is the sequel to Bleach: The Blade of Fate, and will continue the multiplayer card-enhanced fighting game genre that The Blade of Fate started.

“With an exclusive storyline, an expanded playable character roster and spectacular new Bankai moves, Bleach: Dark Souls is set to build upon the critical success of Bleach: Blade of Fate,” said Don Mesa, director of marketing for SEGA of America, Inc.

Bleach: Dark Souls features an exclusive storyline that takes place between the first and second seasons. According to SEGA the characters will have individual storylines within the main story’s arc, and that the game will offer insight on Ichigo and his quest to save Rukia.

“The Bleach franchise continues to gain momentum with anime fans and gamers alike in North America and SEGA is there to create a robust and exciting gaming experience that stays true to its anime roots,” Mesa said.

The sequel increases the roster of playable character to 44, each with voice acting from the North American cast. Included in this roster is the first opportunity to play as Hollows, though SEGA did not mention if this means playing as generic Hollows or whether the Espada will be included in the game.

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Jess Sterzl, design/project manager for High Impact Games, recently posted information on the official PlayStation blog regarding Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters. The port will apparently contain not only the original multiplayer modes that the PSP version boasted but will also feature a new mode, Iron Lombax. This gameplay type will task players with completing specialized objects that vary depending on which multiplayer stage they choose to play on.

The blog post breaks down several of the available objectives. Island Escape has you collecting radioactive cores to launch a rocket, while Danger Valley tasks you with finding homing beacons to plant on your opponent’s base, which will trigger hover mines to glide towards their target.

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 Disgaea DS was recently announced for the Japanese market, and today NIS America has revealed that the company will release the game stateside later this year.

Disgaea: Hour of Darkness is an original strategy role-playing game based upon the series released on the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable.

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Meridian4 and Frozenbyte are pleased to announced that they have signed an agreement to publish the critically acclaimed, top-down shooter; Shadowgrounds Survivor in the UK.

After much success in North America, both with fans of the game and the press, giving it an average rating of over 80%, Shadowgrounds Survivor will be available to the many UK fans in April/May.

“We are thrilled to get this great game over to the UK market. Many of the UK press have already played and reviewed Shadowgrounds Survivor and had nothing but high praise for the game.” said Andy Sher, CEO at Meridian4, “We know that Shadowgrounds Survivor will be a huge success with the UK fans.”

About Shadowgrounds Survivor

In Shadowgrounds Survivor, gamers are dropped on Jupiter’s Ganymede moon as one of three surviving humans in the midst of an all-out alien onslaught. It’s up to them to take up arms and blast through legions of alien scum to save their own lives and humanity itself, increasing their skills and weapons through the game’s RPG-like character-upgrade system. The mighty Mech and devastating Sentry Gun will help players mow through hundreds of bloodthirsty extraterrestrials in the campaign or the all-new Survivor mode.

Gear Up and Get Ready!

About Meridian4

Meridian4 is an interactive software publisher located in Montreal, Canada. A new publishing company, with new ideas and a different approach to forming partnerships with developers, Meridian 4 aims to actually form a partnership – a true relationship characterized by mutual cooperation and responsibility to achieve the best possible performance for developers’ products. For more information, visit http://www.meridian4.com.

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It’s Friday and, of course, that can only mean one thing - drowning our brain cells in cheap ale after work as we try and forget all the bad things we’ve done this week. Oh, that and the obligatory Virtual Console update.

It’s Kirby that’s perking up the Virtual Console this week, with the N64 game Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards being the solitary offering from Nintendo. There’s something about Kirby we’ve always found deeply disturbing – maybe it’s his supernaturally large gob or his eerily silent yet cheery demeanour - and it wouldn’t be a surprise if he was found hoarding a fine collection of corpses under his patio.

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