Ragnar’s Realms

Today,  

Filed under: Sony PSP, CES

Rumors, in the form of a decrypted firmware, cropped up last February regarding Skype on the PSP. In August, at the Leipzig Games Conference, Sony officially unveiled Go! Messenger - the newly branded suite of VoIP tools by British telecommunications giant, BT - which is due this month. On Sony’s event page for CES 2008, the massive consumer electronics expo kicking off in Las Vegas this weekend, they list a curious feature for their handheld: “Call friends, talk trash to fellow gamers or catch up with acquaintances via Skype for PSP system.” (Click on the controller and then on the PSP to bring up a list of the features, as seen above).

Could Sony finally show off the long-anticipated VoIP platform? And why isn’t it using the Go! Messenger branding? And why are we asking so many questions? We can’t be sure, but we’ve asked Sony to comment on their webpage.

[Thanks, Jorge]

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“Tabula Rasa” is billed as a new breed of online game: more action and less time required to progress. Ambitious, to be sure, but “Tabula Rasa” just isn’t compelling enough to keep me coming back for more.

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Today,  

Filed under: Culture, PC, Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, Interviews, Galleries

Sam & Max: Season One was one of the first real success stories of digital distribution, where folks could download episodes of the game from month to month, and then after everything had been released, pick up a DVD copy of all the episodes with some extra content. Season Two launches on November 8th (tomorrow, kids!), putting Sam & Max right back into the fray.

We sat down with Telltale Games founder and CEO Dan Connors during E For All to talk about all things Sam & Max, Bone, and what’s coming up for the young studio. We started off by waxing poetic about E for All or E3 possibly moving to Vegas, so we could have done this over drinks and then hit the tables. We’d like to think Sam & Max would have been proud.

Continue reading Joystiq interview: Telltalle’s Dan Connors tells tales

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Today,  

Filed under: News, Final Fantasy

Fear not, Europeans! It’s not just those pesky Americans who are getting some Crisis Core love this Spring. Square-Enix has announced that the EU version of the game will be shipping around that time too. We say “around that time” because good ol’ Square-Enix haven’t actually given us anything more specific than “Spring”. Our estimation would be that it arrives in March, maybe a couple of weeks later than in the US. Unless FF1 and 2 are anything to go by, that is.

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Filed under: WoW Insider Business, Contests

It’s been a few weeks since we wrapped up our 12 Days of Winter Veil contest in cooperation with our friends at Ideazon, and though we’re still trying to get in touch with some of our winners, there are a lot of WoW Insider readers who deserve congratulations! Winners of FragMat gamepads include: Melenor, Ragamuffin42, Mia, Wilkie, Ellyndia, SJPadbury, Nojj, Ed, Annai, Dachande, ceckjustin, Alu, Hostile, Stephen, Analogstd, pamoonbtc, Brian, TwhiT, Efigyuge, ArsenalFox, Rhiley, and ragecage. Winners of 60 day WoW game cards are Hostile, Stoney, and Vitasoy. Winners of GH-100 gaming headsets are Zoltargg and Jane. Winners of Zboard keyboards are Swarfy, Begonia, 1Adam12, and Chris. And, finally, G is taking home a class t-shirt and Leigh is taking home a Reaper gaming mouse.

Thanks to everyone for participating and a big congrats to all of our winners!

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Today,  

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, First Person Shooters

December is looking to be a most excellent month for PlayStation 3 owners keen on shooting things from a first-person perspective, with both Unreal Tournament III (shipping December 10th) and The Orange Box stepping onto the platform, albeit a bit later than expected. An EA press release politely reminds us that the latter will be released on December 11th in both the US and Europe, with French and German versions following in 2008.

In the unlikely case that you’ve not been exposed to Valve’s Orange Box and currently envision it as a crate full of citrus fruit, allow us to point out that it contains Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode One, Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Team Fortress 2 and Portal… too. One can only hope the tech people at EA used their 11th hour to rid the port of its alleged framerate issues.

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Today,  

Filed under: Contests and Giveaways

Okay kids, as of this posting, you have exactly two hours to submit your final (and hopefully third) entry in our Fanswag Weekly giveaway. Should you win, you will receive a brand spanking new copy of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. We know you all like shooting things and occasionally blowing them up as well, so we suggest you make your entry posthaste. To do so, simply head over to the official giveaway post and follow the super easy instructions. It’s so easy a highly trained monkey could do it.

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Today,  

Filed under: WoW Insider Business

Last December we put out a call for new writers. Breaking news bloggers, weekend bloggers and a Mage columnist were all on our list of positions to fill. After reading the hundreds of excellent applications (and a few very strange ones), we’ve made our final decision.

The new WoW Insider staffers include Adam Holisky and Alex Ziebart who have both already hit the ground running to boost our weekend coverage. Daniel Whitcomb, Amanda Dean and Heath Milo will be starting this week to cover breaking news throughout the week and Allison Robert will be following soon after.

The decision to choose which applicant would be our new Mage columnist was a tough one. The applications for this position were very, very good. However, one not only informed, but entertained in such a manner that we couldn’t say no. Very soon Arcane Brilliance will be returning under Christian Belt. Trust me, there’s no one quite like him.

Finally, one applicant who applied as a general writer turned out to be a specialist. We liked him so much that we are in the process of hiring him to write news, tips and guides specifically for AddOns, UIs and macros. Look out for his work to start in the next month or so.

If you weren’t chosen, there will always be a chance in the future to apply again. Until then, our sister site Massively, covering news for all MMOs, just put out their own call for bloggers today. Applications will be accepted until February 15th.

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Today,  

Filed under: Store

Wow! This is our first PSN Thursday update on PSP Fanboy! Following the tradition set by PS3 Fanboy, we’ll provide you an overview of all the new content that’s available on the PSP Store. As expected, beats headlines this week’s updates — but that’s not all!

Original Games:

• Beats ($4.99)

PS1 Classics:

• Wild Arms ($5.99)

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Game Videos:

• Heavenly Sword anime (free)
• Ratchet & Clank Future trailer (free)
• Uncharted trailer (free)

Wallpapers:

• Loco Roco holiday wallpaper (free)
• Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters wallpaper (free)

See you next Thursday for hopefully another great update to the Store!

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Today,  

Filed under: Nintendo Wii, Fighting

Did you hear that sound? If we’re not mistaken (and we only occasionally are), that was the sound of millions of fanboy heads exploding as they learned that Super Smash Bros. Brawl includes a level editor. It looks fairly flexible too, allowing you to place objects and choose their size, look, etc. You can even select your own music.

One-upping itself once again, SSBB is going to let you share those custom maps, and your friends won’t be the only ones seeing your work (though that is an option). You can also send your maps to Nintendo, who will then select one map daily to send out to all players. That’s right: You’ll not only have a chance at map stardom, you’ll be receiving a daily infusion of new content.

Be honest with us: Would a valentine to Nintendo be too creepy?

[Thanks everyone who sent this in.]

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