This week's Famitsu magazine revealed several things about Namco Bandai's anticipated fighting game sequel, Soul Calibur 4. The magazine not only revealed that the latest installment has Katsuoshi Sasaki as director and Masaki Hoshino as lead programmer; it also noted that the focus in the sequel is still "cool action" fighting.

On the technical side, it was reported that while Namco Bandai is considering supporting 1080p, the developers feel that a frame-rate of sixty frames per second in of utmost importance.

Story-wise, Soul Calibur IV is set some time after Soul Calibur Legends. This tale of swords and souls is set to move around the story of a father who used the legendary Soul Edge to become a hero, only to end up killing his own son and fall prey to the Soul Edge's corruption.

The cast in the game is set to be larger, and so far only a CG shot of Ivy is being shown by Namco Bandai. We do know from the teaser trailer though that Mitsurugi and Nightmare are probably in it too.

It was not noted if Soul Calibur 4 will include a continuation of the "Chronicles of the Sword" mode found in Soul Calibur 3, or if the latest installment will implement the massive customization options found in Soul Calibur 3. Soul Calibur 4 is set to be released for the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 in 2008.

Now that a new teaser another Soul Calibur is out, fans of the franchise are eager to compare what's known about the new installment (Soul Calibur IV) from the previous versions in the franchise. Since there wasn't much shown in that short teaser, folks turn to the previewed character art and lament/rejoice that it seems that with each passing Soul Calibur title, the appearance of the ladies become more and more "gratuitous" (for lack of a more politically correct term).

Games Radar has a rather lengthy musing on the state of mammaries in the Soul Calibur franchise, even going through images of other female characters in the game (like Tira and Setsuna) and analyzing their glands. While it's good cheesecake and all that, we believe that the video below that we found on GameTrailers better illustrates the clothing/mamary situation in Soul Calibur IV.

Should we attribute this advent of cheesecake to the rise in popularity of the Dead or Alive franchise? Or should we just think of this as Namco Bandai recognizing the "needs" of their fanbase? Anyhow, the video's below, click play and er, enjoy. (For the morally concerned, don't worry, there's nothing here that you didn't already see in the teaser video. Think of this as video game "Baywatch".)

It appears that the folks at Bungie are doing something similar to the I Love Bees viral campaign at the moment, only this time it's supposedly for Halo 3. What's the viral campaign? A special user account on the Bungie.net forums that goes by the name of Adjutant Reflex is leaving messages that hint that something will happen on June 14 1AM PDT.

What's curious about Adjutant Reflex's account is that unlike other people on the forum, who are classified as "member", Adjutant Reflex is classified as "CompoundIntelligence"

Rapture at The Hushed Casket has gathered several bits of info on the mysterious AdjutantReflex. First off, it was revealed that there was an Xbox Live profile for the account. That profile no longer exists. If you want to understand more on why we say "was", here's YouTube user triplestunt's videos:

More on Adjutant Reflexes' communications on the Bungie.net forums after the jump!

Comic book artist Todd McFarlane - yes, the guy responsible for "Spawn" - has agreed to work with Bungie and Microsoft in order to spawn a pair of Halo 3-themed Xbox 360 wireless controllers.

Two controllers were made, one with a covenant theme and the other with a spartan theme. Both controllers come with a free McFarlane Toys Halo 3 figurine (oooh, that should be pretty). Both items are already listed by GameStop to cost around US$ 59.99. The controllers should be available by early September, supposedly in time for the actual game.

The images of the two controllers follow; ogle them at your leisure. For the actual GameStop listing, feel free to head to it using our "read" link below.

 

Speaking to Bloomberg, Microsoft group product manager David Hufford noted that Microsoft is aware of the "sweet spot" when it comes to console pricing. He said: "We are well aware that the sweet spot of the market is really 199 bucks"

This is in light of the revealed plans of the company to present a more family-oriented marketing push for their Xbox 360 console. This strategy is the one that Nintendo's Wii is using at the moment.

As for Microsoft's take on Nintendo's "let's target moms" strategy, Hufford  says: "When Mom walks into the store and sees she can get a console with a game for US$ 250, she sees it as a US$ 300 value. They've done a good job."

Microsoft has attempted to expand its user base before, and despite Viva Pinata's less than stellar performance, Microsoft seems quite determined to expand their user-base. It was reported that UBS AG Analyst Heather Bellini expects an Xbox 360 price cut come the holidays and that this may help Microsoft woo mothers who are looking to get games for their children.

As to how this strategy will benefit the 360, Microsoft boss Peter Moore notes that expanding their user base is important to them. "If we don't make that move, make it early and expand our demographic, we will wind up in the same place as with Xbox 1, a solid business with 25 million people... What I need is a solid business with 90 million people," he says.

Other Microsoft execs have supported that sentiment, Albert Penello, director of Xbox global platform marketing has even said: "If you don't start building that content and reputation it never comes. I don't want to be pigeonholed as a hard-core machine."

Having said all that, it must be noted that Microsoft claims that they are winning over the female demographic with their title, Guitar Hero 2. Will that in tandem with a possible price cut help win over mothers and families and help grow the Xbox 360's user base? Supporters of the console certainly hope.

It can be recalled that Japan's Nikkei BP has quoted Square Enix's Shinji Hashimoto as saying, "As for Final Fantasy on the Xbox 360, it's currently a completely blank page." Now this may sound like a ruling out of Final Fantasy titles on the Xbox 360, however, a Square Enix spokesperson says that the mentioned interpretation of the quote isn't that accurate.

Speaking to Games Industry, the Square Enix spokesperson clarifies: "Hashimoto-san was talking about the current situation." What does this mean? This means that the possibility of Final Fantasy titles on the Xbox 360 isn't ruled out entirely.

If the multiplatform title The Last Remnant performs well in Japan, particularly on Microsoft's Xbox 360, then perhaps in the future, we may see more Square Enix titles  made for the console - perhaps even a Final Fantasy. Why so much caution though regarding console releases from Square Enix? Here's Wedbush Morgan's Michael Pachter's analysis:

Square Enix faces a dilemma: put the next game on the 360 only and alienate Japanese fans, depart with tradition and make it multi-platform, or go with PS3 as an exclusive and deal with the backlash from the west.

I view Square Enix as a tradition-bound company, and expect the last alternative to be chosen...

Perhaps The Last Remnant is Square's attempt to hit two birds with one stone. For one thing, it can be argued that the title tests the waters when it comes to future title performance on specific consoles. Also, as previous reports have said, the title does target both East and West.

This blogger certainly hopes that things pan out well. More titles on more consoles is always a good thing right? At least we get more options, right?

Cinema Blend's gaming section CB Games reports about a rumor that Frank Miller's 300 will soon be made for Sony's PlayStation 3 and Microsoft's Xbox 360.

Not much word yet on what genre the game will be or which studio will be developing it. What gives this rumor some sense of credence is that even EGM's resident rumor monger, Qurtermann, is seeing it fit to spread the word on this rumor.

CB Games' Rich Knight hopes for a strategy title, We at QJ however hope that it builds on what the PSP version has done so far. We're not asking for a concept by concept remake though, but a decent next-gen action title would be nice. It would also be pretty amazing if the next-gen game managed to adopt the graphical stylings of the Frank Miller graphic novel, but that's just us getting a bit ahead of ourselves.

We'll update you as soon there's any official word that confirms or denies this rumor. Keep reading.

Latinoreview.com is a site known to videogame movie fans because around a year and a half ago, they managed to acquire an early draft of the Halo movie script and gave it a review. The site's latest victim, er, script review? Prince of Persia.

Last month, we reported that a movie version of Ubisoft's Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time managed to get a director despite it's being delayed 'til the Summer of 2009. However, you're all probably curious about how the movie will treat the beloved franchise of Jordan Mechner, right? Fortunately the scripts reviewer notes that it "reads and feels" like a 9th century Indiana Jones. That's a good thing, right?

What's revealed so far is that the concept of time manipulation, and the concept that a limited amount of sand consumed by a Dagger of Time, is included in the movie. The script review also gives out a few characters' names, but since we wouldn't want to spoil anything for you folks, we'll just hide all that behind our "read" link below.

Aside from odd names, the script for the movie seems like a step in the right direction. Unfortunately we'll have to wait a bit more to see if the movie will be worth our money.

Dutch website, Vara, reports that a Dutch TV show called Kassa aired a segment that claims that Microsoft's Xbox 360 damages media. More importantly, it was noted that the European Commissioner for Consumer Affairs, Maglena Kunevam, want Microsoft to explain themselves - fast.

Microsoft has noted that they will look into the problem of the Xbox 360 scratching disks. However, it seems that this isn't enough for the European Commissioner for Consumer Affairs. She has ordered Microsoft to detail how they have handled that DVD scratching problem in the Netherlands and, more importantly, how widespread the problem is in other regions.

The Dutch site notes that this is what can be found in the website of Commissioner Maglena Kuneva:

During her visit to the Netherlands Commissioner Kuneva spoke with the Dutch Radio Consumer Programme "KASSA". Following concerns raised by the KASSA programme in relation to the use of the Microsoft X-Box by Dutch consumers, Commissioner Kuneva confirmed that she had written to Microsoft to ask for more information concerning:

(1) details of the actions Microsoft has taken in The Netherlands to resolve the problems relating to the use of the X-Box there;
(2) details of whether the same problem has occurred on other markets.

The Inquirer reports that there are already around 1,000 complaints in the Netherlands alone. Consequently, the Commissioner wants a response from Microsoft in a week's time.

A mostly English language interview from Kassa radio with Commissioner Kuneva can be had using our "read" link below. Feel free to access it if you're curious for more on what she's said. As for the disc scratching, since that isn't a surprising phenomenon to any long-time Xbox 360 gamer, perhaps this old article could help enlighten the uninitiated.

IGN reports that while speaking with Famitsu, Square Enix's Hiroshi Takai, Kimihiko Miyamae, Yusuke Naora, and Noboyuki Ueda (all of whom are involved in The Last Remnant team) revealed several details regarding the background of Square Enix's multiplatform game, The Last Remnant.

Said the team, while the battle system may be similar to your standard RPG - command input first, actions later - there are some differences. For example, because of the large number of units in the battle, you can issue commands groups ("unions") of five characters. It was also found that you can freely change the groupings of your units.

Moreover, depending on how you grouped your characters (and the context of the battle), your command options will change; it's possible to be presented with a whole bevy of attack options, or just end up with the option to "flee."

As for that tension gauge that people have noticed on the screenshots, it fills depending on the commands/movements you've made. Even if you're outnumbered, if you manage to make enough "effective commands" (like defeating two "unions" with only one), then the tension will favor your side, and victory should follow.

Playtime, for now, is expected to be around 30 hours.

As for the game's art style, it was noted that Square Enix wanted The Last Remnant to look European to Asian gamers, and Asian to Western gamers.

When it comes to taking advantage of the online networks of the Xbox 360 and the PS3, Square Enix isn't considering multiplayer, but they are thinking of providing future downloadable content for the game.

Although there isn't an official date for the title yet, it was hinted that localization is being taken seriously. So unlike previous Square Enix titles, we won't have to wait the extra few months for the translations of The Last Remnant to get done.