Square Enix has just released their planned game line-up for this year's E3. While Final Fantasy XIII didn't pop up anywhere in the list, Square's PR indicates that the PSP's two Star Ocean titles are due for an English port. Details are available in the full article.

Parading down the QJ.NET blog avenues is our very own Fourth of July flotilla of Weekend Warriors! If you weren't able to catch the full coverage of all editions, here's QuickJump QuickPeek 54 to give you a recap of all them juicy recaps. We got some disappearing firmware updates, Chrono Trigger time-warping to current-gen handhelds, a meteor causing... dun-dun-dunnn! a 30-megaton blast, and holy frakkin' screenshots, Batman! Are those pics for MK vs. DC or what?

 The video game industry is undoubtedly dominated by males, but we do know that gaming is not just a big frat house. Female gamers do exist, and like the opposite gender, they come in different shapes, sizes and forms. If you do your homework, you'll also notice that girl gamers have distinct traits which allow us to divide them into several types (just like guys). In this QuickList, we'll give you a rundown on what these types are. Hit that jump!

Let's face it: Square Enix' current lineup of games is made up of entries to known franchises that promise good sales.  Sure, we're still waiting for Last Remnant and Infinite Undiscovery, but aside from those big names, the rest of Squeenix' promising games are either of Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest lineage.

In this list, we'll take a look at games that deserve their sequels Sit tight, and prepare to ride the nostalgia train! Find the list at the full article.

For those who haven't booked a flight to Australia yet, then the people from Eminence Orchestra would like to remind you that you still have some time left to go ahead and do so. After all, one of the most popular video game orchestral performances is headed for Sydney and Melbourne in merely a week. That's right, in case you forgot, Eminence Symphony Orchestra's A Night in Fantasia 2007 - Symphonic Games Edition, will be making waves in the Land of the Koalas, via their proven musical talent as well as their skill in performing the music from video games that we know and love.

Set to make an appearance in Sydney on April 20 and 21, then in Melbourne on April 27, the 60-piece orchesrtra will be accompanied by a 30-piece choir and will be conducted by Philip Chu. Meanwhile, tunes that fans can look forward to will include classic video game themes from titles such as Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy XII, FF Tactics and the rest of the FF series, Chrono Trigger, Xenogears, Shadow of the Colossus, Tales of Legendia, Metal Gear Solid, WoW: The Burning Crusade, Super Mario Brothers and Legend of Zelda, to name just a few.

Those who want a seat for the show can either order their tickets online via TicketMaster, or those who will be seeing the Sydney performance can simply drop by the local Kinokuniya store.

Now, there's just one song request that I'd like to make... please, please, please play Radical Dreamers from Chrono Cross. Either that, or I'll be happy with whatever Chocobo theme that they put in there. So with the days ticking away until the performance begins, what song would you want to hear the Eminence folks play?

 

"Crono. Crono! Wake up, Crono!" psp_jono has released his NeoFlash entry in this year's spring coding compo. And y'know what, for a Lua homebrew game (an RPG built on Lua, no less - would you believe?!), it's quite impressive. You can really see the effort he's put into Legacy RPG.

To the SNES kids, you might find the sprites in this 'brew familiar. Some of them are from classic RPG Chrono Trigger. But that's where the similarity ends. For one, your character is named Chrono, not Crono. Whether that was deliberately done or not, we don't know. The game is actually strange; it took me quite a while to get used to the fact that it's something built like a chop suey dish of the Chrono- and Evangelion-universes.

You'll be meeting characters from both fandoms. But as to how it's possible for a Marle battle sprite to equate to an Asuka Langley map sprite (not to mention, the same character having a Rei Ayanami look-alike dialogue icon), it just totally escapes me. If what I just said doesn't make sense to you, you'll just have to see it for yourself. It's actually interesting, in a comical sort of way, to see how it all plays out in the end.

Notes from the developer for Legacy RPG include:

• This is my submission to the contest.
• It is a rpg engine call legacy, the art and content have been quickly added to show what it can do.
• The controls are:
• X - to move forward in the menus and accept.
• Y - to move back in the menus.
• SELECT - save screen shot.
• DIRECTIONAL PAD - move around.
• The graphics are created by me, except for chono, the battle background and the battle character sprites.
• There is a battle demo down in the lower right corner of the town map.
• Screenshots are included in the attached .rar file.
• The game files are in firmware 1.5 format.

Download: Legacy RPG

In the dark, early days of the Internet, when BBS boards and gaming magazines made of combustible paper still ruled supreme, videogame myths enjoyed a healthier existence. What videogame myths you ask?

Ever heard from a friend of a friend that he had a friend was able to play Leisure Suit Larry 4? Remember the rumors of the existence of the notorious Cow Level before the release of Diablo II? Yeah folks, videogame myths - rumors that have passed from mouth to mouth and are now part of gaming lore.

Below are infamous videogame myths that immediately come to mind. The first three are old ones - and legendary ones at that. The last game is a bit more contemporary and stands as an example of how quickly videogame myths get busted nowadays.

The full article awaits after the jump! (No really, unlike most of the games about to be mentioned, this is no wild goose chase, it's really there. Just click on the" Full Article" link below.)

 

We've posted about that rare Chrono Trigger Rom listing on eBay earlier this month, and it seems that some of you folks appreciated it, so here are more tales of gaming awesome on eBay.

Here's the the story: 30 year old gamer Kris Kling, is selling his huge 24-system console bundle on eBay. It has stuff from the ancient-yet-classic Atari 2600, all the way to the PSP. The bundle has systems from Sega, Sony, Microsoft, Atari, and Nintendo. It even has the rare Sega Nomad.

What's nice about this auction is that 10 percent of the proceeds are going to the Child's Play Charity that the Penny Arcade guys set up. So bidding just to up the price, as annoying as that is (sorry, bid-spammers are just irritating at times), is a good thing in this case. At the moment of this writing the highest bid is US$ 405.00. You can get to the eBay listing via our "read" link below.

The ultimate video game system collection? Well, we'll leave the "ultimate" part up to you guys, we'll go busy ourselves with bidding.

The U.S. Copyright Office has recently specified new rules on allowing cellphone owners to hack software designed to prevent them from using their phones on competing carriers.

How will this affect gaming?

Well, one will also be a bit surprised to know that folks are now also permitted to crack copy protection on abandoned software titles for "archival" purposes. Here's what the rules say about abandon ware:

Computer programs and video games distributed in formats that have become obsolete and that require the original media or hardware as a condition of access, when circumvention is accomplished for the purpose of preservation or archival reproduction of published digital works by a library or archive. A format shall be considered obsolete if the machine or system necessary to render perceptible a work stored in that format is no longer manufactured or is no longer reasonably available in the commercial marketplace.

The rules also allow teachers to copy "snippets" from DVDs for educational compilations. Also for the blind you're now free to have third-party software read copy-protected electronic books.

Get the rest of the article after the Jump!

Back in 2005, Sony released Monster Kingdom: Jewel Summoner in Japan. While we weren't quite able to follow the title's development and what happened after the launch, we kept on hearing things than can be summed up in one sentence: "That game is Sony's take on Pokemon." It was unfortunate that, back then, we had to take people's words for it because there was no mention of a U.S. release date at all.

This piece of news could give the Cozy Okada-created title a chance, maybe even some justice. We we learned that developer-publisher ATLUS U.S.A. just acquired the rights to publish the game here in North American shores. The game is expected to come out by early 2007 and as of now, it is slowly building steam.

Aside from the gameplay and storyline that is somewhat reminiscent of the great Pokemon series, Monster Kingdom boasts of a phenomenal soundtrack designed by music composers of titles Ridge Racer, FF XIII, Chrono Trigger and others. And of course, you will always have the assurance that the game was originally developed and created by Okada, the master of the Shin Megami Tensai series.

Sounds promising, already? Still not that good for you? Oh well, let us all wait and reserve our judgements until the game finally hits this part of the world.