We can't open the week without some speculation, now can we? Today we hear of the latest batch of rumors from UK's OPM publication. Though this batch of rumors come from the Official PlayStation Magazine, they do touch on some cross-platform franchises. (EA, I'm looking at you!). PSP 2 rumor, check. Rumors of sequels, check. Rumors of spin-offs, check.

Tetsuya Mizuguchi (of Lumines, Rez fame) just loves our news blog so much that he's decided to name his upcoming game after our site! (Or... not.) Whatever the case, Atari's recent press conference had former Sony bigwig Phil Harrison handle the proceedings. Some of the biggest news they've announced in the event involves Tetsuya Mizuguchi's latest rhythm game and the upcoming Ghostbusters multi-platform title's release window.

The official website of Japanese magazine Dengeki managed to grab a couple of screenshots and a few details about Taito's upcoming space shooter the Space Invaders Extreme.

Take note that these screenshots are for the PSP build of the game. It was only a couple of days ago when it was confirmed that Taito has finally decided to make the game available to Sony PSP owners. The screenshots and more details after the jump!

Game designer Tetsuya Mizuguchi comes into view again for the day, along with some interesting thoughts he's got for Lumines, Rez, and Space Channel 5. During a recent interview with GameInformer's Billy Berghammer, he (Tetsuya) was quizzed about the possibility of making Lumines III.

Tetsuya explained that for the game, they (Q Entertainment) would have to come up with a fresh game design, and that the its sounds and visuals would have to be "gorgeous."

Tetsuya didn't give any specifics regarding what platform Lumines III would most probably land on, although he hinted that if it were to hit the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, they would have to upgrade the game's effects and sound. He did point out that handhelds like the PSP and DS provided for portability.

Moving on, Tetsuya was also quizzed about the possibility of remakes for Rez, and Space Channel 5. While Tetsuya states that he's only started thinking about a Rez sequel, he did say he was interested in making a new Space Channel 5 game, for the motion-sensitive Wii console to boot. Here reads his answer when asked about Ulala making a comeback by 2008:

Maybe I should send her [Ulala] an e-mail—"Please answer sometime!" It would be really good timing to make a Space Channel 5 sequel, in general. I think the Wii would be a really good fit, with the special controls. The audience is wider, too. I think casual players would like it, too.

Space Channel 5's dance rhythm action with the Wiimote? Heck, why not? And while this interview doesn't appear to confirm if any of these possibilities are in the works, it appears that Tetsuya is very open to recreating his older classics. We'll get back to you guys if we can get some confirmations.

There's an international gaming expo currently being held in Perth, Australia: the GO3 Electronic Entertainment Expo. It's basically a gathering of video gaming enthusiasts to share their views on the industry and to partake on the latest buzz about the gaming community. Conference topics include problems facing the gaming industry, the future direction of the industry, latest technologies, licensing, publishing, game development and mobile gaming.

So far we've been able to hear word from the talk of Tetsuya Mizuguchi, creator of funky puzzle video game Lumines. Entitled "Inspiration led Creativity", Mizuguchi's speech centered on how certain moments of his life inspired creativity in him.

Mizuguchi talks of playing Pong as a kid, and listening to Beatles music on the background. According to him, "Pong was good - but with the music, it was awesome." We agree: certain sorts of music do get our groove on playing and winning games, right?

Apart from playing Pong and listening to certain Liverpool bands, Tetsuya talks of his childhood playing Sega, Hang-on, Stomp, Space Channel 5. All in all, he expresses his feelings of being inspired to creativity by music, and the creativity of others - of course, he worded his sentiments better than we could.

Now of this talk of "sponge" - well, Tetsuya says that "sponge" is his final inspiration; it's where the future lies. If he meant being sensitive to the innate creativity and poetry of ordinary everyday things around us, just like how a sponge is so absorbing, then we cheer him on.

Here's the latest from The PSP Show. It's now on its 33rd episode and talks of quite a lot of things you guys might be interested in. It starts with reminders of the Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror demo being released this week, as well as the Ratchet & Clank issues with some homebrew. While those were only mentioned in passing, the real bulk of the show concerns Every Extend Extra (recently released in UK).

The host playfully tries to pronounce the designer for E3, and to quote: "It's coming from... Mezuts... zume-zush... mezkiym, Tetsuya." Well, not bad. We're sure Testsuya Mizuguchi gets that all the time. But as for the game review itself, the host basically describes it as "a lovely, cute game" where your sole purpose is to go BOOM and get "oodles and oodles of points."

The gist is there, true. And for some of you guys (especially in North America) who have already played the game for months now, it's still interesting to hear this guy talk about the game from his perspective. And hey!, finally I know why the game is called such. Call me a dork, but I never figured it out that way. Anyways, as reviews go, he talks about the pros and cons. "It looks wonderful, it sounds wonderful" but you're pretty much under a lot of randomness. Well, to each his own.

Click the "Read" link below to head on over to the PSP Podcast Network and listen to The PSP Show #33.

When Lumines came out for the PSP, it was one of the best games out there. It was created by Q Entertainment, which Mr. Tetsuya Mizuguchi founded. Fast-forward to the present, Lumines II was released last Thursday in Japan. For Q Studios, it was a big step since the original Lumines was published by Bandai (in Japan) and Ubisoft (North America and Europe). Lumines II, however, is Q Entertainment's first self-published title.

Mizuguchi, known for his wild launch parties, did not disappoint. The launch event was held in Air. (It's a popular club just south of the Shibuya Station.) Mizuguchi was joined by different DJs, an MTV crew, people from Famitsu, and even a few guest artists. As expected, there were drinks all around.

The people from Famitsu started a simple tournament in which the loser would buy the winner a drink. Since Mizuguchi won the tournament, one can imagine the amount he drank that night.

As you can see in this image, Mizuguchi (in black) claims another drink:

 

Lumines II has already been released in the US under Buena Vista. We suggest you consider adding Lumines II to your collection if you even dabble in puzzle games.

The February 7 European release of Every Extend Extra is almost here, and for the UK fanbase, things are psychedelically lighting up with some goodies straight from Q Entertainment. They've just opened up a new section in their official (UK) site for EEE. They've got all these Every Extend Extra, err, *extras* for you guys: wallpapers, screenshots, tutorials, videos... You'll even be able to watch the recent video interview with Tetsuya Mizuguchi.

The game might have already invade many a PSP in North America, but even for the folks living in the States, you might also want to visit this UK site for the goodies. Those wallpapers are looking mighty trippy, and of course, you can either download a version for you computer or your PSP unit.

Just click the "Read" link below and beam yourself up to the official site. Enjoy!

CVG has an interesting interview with Rez ,Every Extend Extra, and the Lumines game's mainman, Tetsuya Mizuguchi. The interview is quite hefty and some questions were already answered in Mizuguchi's earlier interviews. So with that, we'll be shifting our focus to the meatier sides of the interview.

The Q Entertainment founder often said before that he would want to come up with a successor to Rez - now that's something we could all look forward to. When he was asked about the possibility of that happening in the near future, here's what he said:

No (laughs). I'm really aggressive to make the next game - It's a big motivation to me, to create something. I always have the concept and the ideas - I'm always thinking about what kind of game I should make if I get to make Rez 2...I don't know if the next game should be Rez 2 or some new title. I have a big reason to make that kind of new experience because technology is changing; hi-res, 7.1 surround. I'm ready to go.

We sure hope he comes up with the next Rez game. Whatever its title would be, we're sure that most Rez lovers won't mind. Of course when talking about this guy, a conversation about music-based games is always present. He then gave a sneak peek as to how they choose licensed tracks in their games:

Basically it depends on the game. We have to think about what kind of experience we want, so with Rez I focused on a trancey experience - using lots of sounds and effects to make you feel trancey...I think about what kind of effect I want to give the player first, then I decide the kind of sound of music I want and go out and get it. The priority is not to get a name or famous artist.

Although he believes that Nintendo is gonna be the force to reckon with in Japan, two or three years from now, he re-affirms his belief on the PlayStation brand. He mentions that "Sony has always had very good concepts, like with the PSP - it's not only a game console; you can listen to music and watch movies."

To read the word-per-word account of the interview, click on our read link below.

Q Entertainment's addictive, explosive, and hypnotic puzzle shooter follow up to Lumines II, Every Extend Extra should see a European release date of February 9 (or so Playfuls.com claims). And since anticipation for this game is arguably high, we're naturally curious about how this sound-trip of game came to be.

A few quick searches led us to a GameSpot UK interview with Tetsuya Mizuguchi, that reveals several interesting bits about the games development. Below are some of the things that Mizuguchi had to say about the game:

On how the game evolved from a free PC game to a full PSP release
Mizuguchi explains that one day, one of the younger members of Q Entertainment discovered Every Extend on the PC. It was so addictive and viral (eventualy the whole team was playing it), that eventually one of the staff came to Mizuguchi and suggested that the team concert it for the PSP and give it a Q flavor.

Mizuguchi adds that the game is a good fit with the previous games they've made. It's apparently an extension of the music is interactive theme that they've got in mind for the PSP.

On the visual style
Mizuguchi explains that he just leaves it up to the designers and he thinks that each should have its own individual style. Rez is Rez, and Every Extend Extra is Every Extend Extra. He says that Every Extend Extra (EEE) getting close to Rez in terms of style is something that he's "quite anxious about"

On synaesthesia
Mizuguchi explains that when it comes to his style if developing games, Rez in particular, draws a lot of inspiration from the work of artists like Kandinsky, the concept of synaesthesia (the mixing of senses hear a sound, see a color), and rave culture. Basically, he constantly tires to keep visuals, sounds, and game response intertwined. Interactively created grooves, or some-such.

On the Wii
Since we're going to get console specific now, and people are quite touchy about consoles, we'll let Mizuguchi's words do the talking. Here they are:

The Wii is really unique, really fun to play, but the graphics and sound technology is not gorgeous like the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. I think it's very fun, and they have style, but I think it depends on the idea for the game. If I have an idea that I need to use the [Wii Remote] for, then I will do that. But no particular ideas or projects yet!

And there you have it, folks, a whole lot on EEE from Mizuguchi himself. We'll keep you updated about this game as news becomes available. For now, If you're European and you want this game, mark February 9 on your calendars.