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An anonymous reader writes "BNET looked at some patents which suggest that Microsoft might be thinking about an integrated game console/set-top box. Quoting: 'Patent 20080167128 is for watching television on a game console, while patent 20080167127 covers switching a gaming console between various media, including television, video, music, and games, and even using the console as a set-top box. Clearly Microsoft has been interested in controlling the living room, and combining media, gaming, and set-top functions in a single device would make a great deal of sense.' There are also hints of mobile gaming that support the current round of rumors about a combination Xbox-Zune. "

With FASA studios closed and the Shadowrun IP now under better care, what remains of the disastrous Shadowrun FPS is now being swept under the rug. Team Xbox notes that the official forums for the game are going to be closed. This news comes with hope for a better tomorrow from the ex-FASA folks: "We're going to be closing down the Shadowrun forums in about two weeks. As many of you know, the old FASA crew has mostly moved on to other roles within Microsoft, and that means we don't have enough people to monitor and respond to posts here for the coming year. We'll eventually close down www.shadowrun.com and transition it to the folks working on the next generation of Shadowrun products."

That 'other' RPG hybrid, Too Human has been in silent running mode since their disastrous 2006 E3 showing. Thankfully, the game has progressed to the point where the team felt comfortable revealing the game. For the moving picture show, GameTrailers has you covered. For a more textual experience, 1up, Team Xbox, and Gamespot all chip in with their two cents. From Gamespot's post: "If you're familiar with the loot/drop systems in MMO games and action role-playing games, such as Diablo II, you'll have a reasonable idea of what you can expect from Too Human. Many of the enemies that you kill--most of which are robotic variations on classic fantasy goblins, dark elves, and the like--will drop weapons, armor pieces, or item blueprints for you to collect. Items are color-coded according to their rarity, and unsurprisingly, the most powerful items in the game are those that drop the least frequently. The rarest and most powerful items in Too Human can only be obtained by collecting a blueprint for their design from an enemy then spending a significant amount of money on having the item crafted."

Several pieces of Mass Effect information have come up recently. Eurogamer had the chance to get some hands-on time with the title and speak to BioWare's Greg Zeschuk. " When we started Mass Effect's development, we decided to do a big space epic, we went away and wrote the story, and we just felt it fitted better as installments. But a key thing for us is, we never want to make a game where the end of part one doesn't feel like the end. That's not to say we'll never have any kind of cliffhanger, but you've got to be satisfied with the ending." For more of a sense of the game, check out a video exclusive over at MTV: a tense confrontation between the protagonist and the bounty hunter Wrex. Finally, if you're the type to like extras, they've finally released details of what's going to be in the Limted Edition.

The much-anticipated spiritual successor to System Shock 2, Irrational Games' Bioshock, is finally starting to emerge from the depths of secrecy. The 360/PC title is due on store shelves at the start of August, and a bunch of sites now have previews available for perusal. Eurogamer, CVG, IGN, Team Xbox, and Gamespot all had hands-on experience with the title recently and now can report back. From Gamespot's writeup: "As you investigate Rapture's sprawling, doomed infrastructure, its crumbling art deco facades, and leaky corridors, you'll uncover the secrets of what went wrong. Stepping out of the diving bell, you'll see signs of a struggle ... We'd barely set foot onto the first platform of the city proper before running into a splicer, which is one of BioShock's common enemies and one of Rapture's former residents. As Atlas will quickly fill you in, it seems that overuse of Adam turns the subject into a crazed monster that fiends for--what else--more Adam. Imagine a crazed junkie dying to get his hands on a fix; only this junkie can throw fireballs out of thin air and move large objects with his mind. And those are just the basic enemies." For a more visceral experience, 1up has a video preview of the game, which looks as creepy as it sounds.

The Team Xbox site is carrying details on new downloadable content for Crackdown on the 360. Probably the most comprehensive downloadable content made available since the 360 launched, the new pack adds three vehicles, a number of gameplay modes, a 'cheats' mode, and ten more Achievements to the title. "For Crackdown, Realtime diligently follow the post-launch forum chatter and attempted to address all of the concerns with the base game, while at the same time adding new content to keep it all fresh. There are also some items that perhaps didn't make the final cut for Crackdown's original launch (time constraints will do that to a project of this magnitude) but have been prepared and thrown into the upcoming DLC code. However it actually came about, Crackdown's Title Update, 'Free-for-All' and 'getting' Busy' packs are a win-win for those allied to the Agency."

Mark Rein, of Epic Studios, told the folks over at Team Xbox that sooner or later Gears of War will be heading for the PC. With Microsoft's 'ownership' of both the 360 and PC platforms, it's a no-brainer that Epic's epic will make its way there eventually; the question is one of keeping quality high and satisfying fans of the franchise. They also discuss the hopeful-looking future for the game, as a part of the Marketplace download ecology and in future games. Rein states: "The big challenge is to make a game that was designed solely for the console, to take advantage of every last little corner of that console, to fill every little crack and run as many threads as we could and do as much to exploit the power of that machine, and make it run well on enough PCs to be worth releasing. That's a challenge." For another look back and forward on the game, 1up has a chat with CliffyB up on their site.

With some brand-new content, modern classics, and old favorites thrown together, Microsoft has announced the details for 10 new Xbox Live Arcade titles. Starting with the first week of February, a series of games will bring some new blood back to Xbox Live Wednesdays. While it's nice to see them announcing new titles like Eets and Band of Bugs, some of these titles have been vaguely expected since the middle of last year. Catan, Alien Hominid, and Worms have been expected for months now, so it's definitely gratifying to see these slated to be released in the near future. Here's hoping the company keeps up this initiative moving forward into 2007.

Now that all three consoles are competing in the online market, regular news about the three systems is beginning to be regularly released, as Virtual Console tries to top Xbox Live which in turn tries to overshadow e-Distribution. Sony's online offering is still being finalized now that the console is on the market, and limits on the system are still being decided upon. 500 MB is apparently going to be the cap for downloadable content via the service (much larger than Live's 50 MB limit). The company has also confirmed they'll be offering new version of retro games, to compete directly with Microsoft's service. Speaking of which, Double Dragon will be joining the other classic games on Xbox Live sometime in the future. This week's update was a patch for Texas Hold Em' , while the week before saw the much-anticipated (and well reviewed) Small Arms released to fans. Related to Microsoft's service, the much rumoured Xbox Live Arcade joystick was formally announced by MadCatz this week. Not to be left out, Nintendo's Virtual Console grew by three titles this week; gamers can now download Super Star Soldier, Golden Axe, and Genesis classic Ecco the Dolphin. Like Microsoft, Nintendo has plans to release new content every week for the forseeable future.

Now that all three consoles are competing in the online market, regular news about the three systems is beginning to be regularly released, as Virtual Console tries to top Xbox Live which in turn tries to overshadow e-Distribution. Sony's online offering is still being finalized now that the console is on the market, and limits on the system are still being decided upon. 500 MB is apparently going to be the cap for downloadable content via the service (much larger than Live's 50 MB limit). The company has also confirmed they'll be offering new version of retro games, to compete directly with Microsoft's service. Speaking of which, Double Dragon will be joining the other classic games on Xbox Live sometime in the future. This week's update was a patch for Texas Hold Em' , while the week before saw the much-anticipated (and well reviewed) Small Arms released to fans. Related to Microsoft's service, the much rumoured Xbox Live Arcade joystick was formally announced by MadCatz this week. Not to be left out, Nintendo's Virtual Console grew by three titles this week; gamers can now download Super Star Soldier, Golden Axe, and Genesis classic Ecco the Dolphin. Like Microsoft, Nintendo has plans to release new content every week for the forseeable future.

Via VoodooExtreme, an article on Team Xbox covering a panel at X06 on the future of storytelling in games. Along with Mr. Jackson, industry veterans Peter Molyneux and Greg Zeschuck weigh in on this issue. The meat of the article is a video of the presentation, which is regrettably in .wmv format. The Escapist has some highlights of the conversation up in their news section. "'I've got to the stage now where I just end up catching something on DVD and I'm more excited about games coming out in the next 2-3 months than films,' said Peter Jackson, director of Lord of The Rings and founder of Wingnut Interactive, an offshoot of his movie studio. 'That created an awareness in me of the shift in entertainment options out there, and if I'm feeling that others are too.'"

There was a lot of buzz this weekend about the possibility that EA would be buying Crytek, the company currently working on the uber-shiny Crysis PC game. IGN checked in with the mammoth publisher and, at least according to EA, there are no plans for Crytek to join the EA family. Crytek did have some news to share at the Leipzig Games Convention, though: Crysis won't be on the next-gen consoles. It's just too intensive for even the likes of the 360 or PS3, apparently.

StocDred writes "GamesIndustry.biz has an interview with Microsoft's Robbie Bach stating that Halo 3 may not be out in time to smackdown the PS3 after all, despite what Bill Gates said to Time Magazine in May." He also had things to say about the Live marketplace and MMO plug-ins and their hopes for Japanese success. From the Gamasutra article: "Finally, Bach gave details on anticipated MMORPGs for the Xbox 360. The already-announced Final Fantasy XI will have a large beta test, such that any Xbox 360 owner with the necessary hard drive will possibly be able to participate. Apart from that, Bach said there would be no new MMORPG in the launch window due to the logistics of setting up a new service, but there would be a new entry in the genre two to three years after launch." Several MMOs are planned, though, such as the MMOFPS Huxley.

TimCrider asks: "TeamXBOX is running an editorial about how console game developers can get the gaming communities more involved in the games themselves. Does anyone have any suggestions on how console developers can help build a gaming community?"

TimCrider asks: "TeamXBOX is running an editorial about how console game developers can get the gaming communities more involved in the games themselves. Does anyone have any suggestions on how console developers can help build a gaming community?"

dividedsky319 writes "The Inquirer (as well as a more biased Team Xbox) is reporting that the PlayStation 3's GPU will be a little less powerful than a GeForce 7800, which would also mean it's less powerful than the Xbox360. If true, what could this mean for the release of the PS3, a year later than the Xbox360 is released?" From the article: "It's all awfully confusing we know, though it is an interesting tech mystery to try and get to the bottom of. Of course Microsoft and Sony engineers all know exactly what's in the difference between the two consoles, but the marketing people want to tell us that their console is twenty times better than everyone elses, so we must wait until someone rips the two boxes open and benchmarks them..."

MaxConsole writes "The Xbox hacking group smartXX has managed to unofficially get their hands on three Xbox 360 development kits. As if this wasn't enough, they have completely dissected the inner workings of the Xbox 360 dev kits, showing exactly how the Xbox 360 will work revealing all the details on the various hardware components."

TeamXbox has the news that (squee) there may be a new Shadowrun videogame coming to market with the Xbox 360. From the article: "I have worked on many projects, ranging from PC games to console, FPS to role-playing. Right now, I am animating for an Xbox 2 project called Shadowrun. It's a first-person shooter based on an old paper RPG of the same name from a couple decades ago." Sounds like fun....but an FPS? Where's my SR MMOG?

Team Xbox is covering a Worldwide Halo 2 tournament with contestants from around the globe. The tourney is nearing completion, and the contestants for the global championship are being finalized. The event is to take place on June 10th via Xbox live, with participants from all 24 time zones. From the article: "The United States and Japan regional contests are currently underway, with the winners being determined by the end of May. The winners from each locality will vie for the honor of being crowned Xbox Live Halo 2 World Champion, playing entirely online via Xbox Live."

You may or may not have caught the Xbox 360 unveiling on MTV Thursday night, but the internet will provide. A plethora of sites have photos, videos, commentary, specifications, and interviews about the new system. Your fellow readers have pulled together to provide links to: 1up.com, Joystiq, Gamespot, The BBC, CNN, NYT, Gamespy, Team Xbox, Voodoo Extreme, Anandtech, and eToyChest. The official Xbox 360 site opened last night as well for word straight from the source. For more official images Ourcolony.net has been 'solved', and now features an OurColony specific video preview. Finally, for commentary on the event, the Video Game Ombudsman provides an alternative to the press releases. From the post: "Kyle Orland (9:28:42 PM): The future of gaming is a girl in a blue dress? Dan Dormer (9:28:47 PM): The future of gaming is a girl with a bag? Kyle Orland (9:28:57 PM): She's the Xbox! OMG!"

Via eToychest, an interview at TeamXbox with Kijong Kang, executive producer of the upcoming Xbox Live enabled MMOFPS game Huxley. The game will exist within a persistent world which draws inspiration from several game genres, and is slated to use the Unreal 3 engine to bring the shiny. From the article: "Compared with Planet Side, there are some common features such as MMO, PW, and FPS. However, the biggest difference is the level of action. Planet Side is an enjoyable game, but it is a strategy-focused FPS game rather than an action-focused FPS game. With outstanding features, Huxley is an absolute action game such as Quake or Unreal."

tivarius writes "Teamxbox is running an article to get the gaming community's opinion on having the developers of games provide feeds of stats for their games, ala Halo 2. This will allow gaming clans and other groups to keep up with their stats on their own sites." From the article: Note that many on-line PC games have had leaderboards available for a considerable number of years. Specifically, I remember several friends and myself writing Battle.net daemons that allowed us to not only play StarCraft/Brood Wars together, but also enabled us to track stats for every game that we played... that seems like eons ago, especially considering the technological progressions that have been made circa 1998." We have discussed this topic previously.

BlueMoon writes "It has now been confirmed that Halo 2 will not include support for co-op mode on Xbox LIVE or LAN play. The co-op mode will remain for offline play only. Bungie made all attempts to implement it however with the complexity of the game it was simply impossible to have a worthwhile co-op experience." You may not be able to play together, but as consolation, check out the Halo 2 Ads pointed out by an anonymous reader.

NiteStar writes "Major Nelson, the Xbox Live Director of Programming, has released a statement stating they have initiated additional security measures on the Xbox Live service. These measures are aimed to block out cheaters who used modifications to gain an unfair advantage over other players, such as faster cars in Project Gotham Racing 2. He also says "Modified consoles will be banned, and information about those banned machines will be tracked to prevent them from connecting to the service again." Thanks also to BlueMoon who wrote in to mention that "The Xbox enjoyed 53% market share among consoles in the UK last week."

Thanks to TeamXbox for the news that the Times Square Toys R' Us is going to be hosting a Halo 2 Launch Party. The event is set to start at midnight on Tuesday, November 9th. The enormous store will be hosting special guests "and prizes will be awarded for gamers showing off their Halo 2 enthusiasm." To those of you about to dress up as Master Chief, I salute you.

HunterX writes "Lik Sang took the videogame community by storm this weekend by announcing a new entry in its product catalog. The SmartJoy FRAG is an adapter that allows Xbox and PlayStation 2 owners to connect a mouse and a keyboard to the console and replace the standard controller with the well known PC combo that has been the envy of many console gamers for years. TeamXbox.com has more on the story, and there is plenty of commentary on Lik Sang's Forums."

Thanks to 1UP for its interview with Japanese game developer Naoto Ohshima, who "gained notoriety at Sega's Sonic Team for creating characters and playing integral roles in the development of games like Phantasy Star, Nights, and Sonic Adventure", and now "heads up developer Artoon." Ohshima discusses topics such as being a Japanese developer making Xbox titles (the Blinx series) for Microsoft ("I basically like challenges. If there's something hard or difficult to do, it's something that gets me excited"), how the Blinx sequel will differentiate itself from other Xbox games ("In Blinx 2, that's what I'm trying to do, to get the full range [from kids to adults], whereas when I look at Conker I think it's targeted at an adult -- a more hardcore audience"), and licensed games ("I look at that as almost a new genre of games -- these licensed games or movie games or whatever. When I see that they're selling well or that they are hits, it's really hard to evaluate whether or not it means it's a good game.")

Thanks to IGN Xbox for its article documenting the history of Tecmo's Dead Or Alive fighting game franchise. The piece discusses the "series that brought [Ninja Gaiden developer] Tecmo from an underrated developer to one of the most popular companies in the industry", focusing on titles including Dead Or Alive 2 ("...introduced many concepts that have yet to be fully utilized in other fighting games") and the forthcoming Dead Or Alive Ultimate ("All the buzz is around the online play at this moment, and whether or not Team Ninja will be able to pull it off successfully.") TeamXbox also has an interview with Tecmo's delightfully deranged Tomonobu Itagaki, who declares: "To be thrown off of a cliff by an ugly opponent might make you feel bad even if the fight was fair, but to be thrown off by a beautiful woman... that should make you feel good about losing."

Thanks to Yahoo for reprinting the press release revealing Midway has announced a multi-product agreement with Epic to publish three new Unreal franchise games. The deal is "including Unreal Championship 2 [originally to be published by Microsoft], an Xbox exclusive title scheduled to ship in 2005, and two future installments of Unreal Tournament [previous versions published by Atari] on PC and upcoming next generation consoles." In related news, Midway announced financial results for Q2 2004, with some slightly positive news (the company "expects to have shipped over one million units of NBA Ballers through 2004 Q3"), but disappointment in a "loss [of] $9.0 million", and news that Midway "has moved one of its major releases, Area 51, from 2004 into 2005."

Thanks to GameSpy for its article analyzing Banc Of America's in-depth report on videogame prospects for Christmas 2004. The report, previously referenced on Slashdot earlier this month, is now available for download [PDF link], and GameSpy explains the report "[isn't] trying to predict what the best games of the holiday are going to be. They're predicting what the best selling games are going to be, and which ones will meet expectations set by company leaders." The Banc analysts predict that Halo 2 "will be the second-best seller of the holiday season, just behind GTA: San Andreas", and suggest that certain titles, specifically "Bloodrayne 2, Terminator 3: The Redemption, The Red Star, 100 Bullets, Crash n' Burn, Predator: Concrete Jungle, and Shadow Hearts 2", should be moved beyond the holiday season entirely, to "avoid big-name products coming out on the same time-frame."

Thanks to TeamXbox for its story discussing issues requiring some Xbox Live players to switch their GamerTag name IDs, since, according to Microsoft: "There are many names on the Xbox Live service that are extremely similar to other Gamertags (in most cases differentiated by only a single space.)" Some gamers who have had the same nickname for almost 2 years are understandably upset, though Microsoft is offering "a free game... [and] 1 year subscription to Xbox Live" by way of compensation. An official Microsoft spokesperson on the Xbox.com messageboards indicated: "This problem has nothing to do with the way we code...it's what we need to do to normalize data as we connect to other partners that need to work w/ [Xbox] Live... We are very upset that we had to do this" - some commenters claim (though it's not been specifically stated) that EA's upcoming Xbox Live debut has helped precipitate the name switch.

Thanks to TeamXbox for its story discussing issues requiring some Xbox Live players to switch their GamerTag name IDs, since, according to Microsoft: "There are many names on the Xbox Live service that are extremely similar to other Gamertags (in most cases differentiated by only a single space.)" Some gamers who have had the same nickname for almost 2 years are understandably upset, though Microsoft is offering "a free game... [and] 1 year subscription to Xbox Live" by way of compensation. An official Microsoft spokesperson on the Xbox.com messageboards indicated: "This problem has nothing to do with the way we code...it's what we need to do to normalize data as we connect to other partners that need to work w/ [Xbox] Live... We are very upset that we had to do this" - some commenters claim (though it's not been specifically stated) that EA's upcoming Xbox Live debut has helped precipitate the name switch.

Thanks to TeamXbox for its interview with Andre Vrignaud from Microsoft's Xbox Live Platform Strategy Team, in which he discusses topics including user numbers (they're "on track" for 1 million subscribers by now, and "on average people are playing three hours a day (which is up from the 2.5 hours we saw a year ago), and the average number of people on Friends lists continues to climb - it's a little over 13 right now."), as well as the Xbox Live alerts through MSN Messenger ("In fact, you can look at these as being the first pieces of Xbox Live on Windows. If anything, people are pushing us to release more of Live on Windows as quickly as possible - and we're working on it!")

Thanks to TeamXbox for its interview with Andre Vrignaud from Microsoft's Xbox Live Platform Strategy Team, in which he discusses topics including user numbers (they're "on track" for 1 million subscribers by now, and "on average people are playing three hours a day (which is up from the 2.5 hours we saw a year ago), and the average number of people on Friends lists continues to climb - it's a little over 13 right now."), as well as the Xbox Live alerts through MSN Messenger ("In fact, you can look at these as being the first pieces of Xbox Live on Windows. If anything, people are pushing us to release more of Live on Windows as quickly as possible - and we're working on it!")

Thanks to Yahoo!/Reuters for its story revealing videogame publisher Acclaim Entertainment has announced a quarterly loss of $25.4 million, and warned of possible bankruptcy, since "needs new cash to replace a financing agreement... that expires on Aug. 4." Apparently the company "has signed a letter of intent with a different lender to borrow up to $30 million but the deal has not yet been completed." The long-standing publisher has also recently been sued by the Olsen Twins, although it still lists upcoming titles as including 100 Bullets, The Red Star, Worms Forts: Under Siege!, and Interview With A Made Man. Update: 07/03 01:34 GMT by S : Acclaim's 10-K financial statement reveals "notification from The Major League Baseball Player's Association (MLBPA) that we were late in making certain royalty payments and our license was terminated", and "due to failure to make certain royalty payments relating to the videogame title Turok: Evolution... our [Turok intellectual property] license agreement with Classic Media was terminated."

Thanks to Kikizo for its newly posted mammoth collection of freely downloadable E3 Expo-related game videos, recapping (if a little late) games and press events from "this year's massive Los Angeles event." Especially notable is Xbox press conference spoof 'The Novice' (58mb WMV) [there's a much better-quality 8MB WMV version at TeamXbox], which 1UP.com described at the time as "a send-up of reality show The Apprentice... portraying [J.] Allard, fellow vice president Peter Moore, and chief Xbox officer Robbie Bach trying to curry favor [regarding online gaming] with the real-life Donald Trump." Somewhat lost in the E3 rush, the spoof is worth re-visiting, not least for the ending, where the losing Sony team (with "actors portraying Sony vice-president Ken Kutaragi, SCEA head Kaz Hirai and SCEA vice president Andrew House") collectively get fired, at which point "none other than Bill Gates himself ducks under them and steals the cab before they can get in."

Thanks to Kikizo for its newly posted mammoth collection of freely downloadable E3 Expo-related game videos, recapping (if a little late) games and press events from "this year's massive Los Angeles event." Especially notable is Xbox press conference spoof 'The Novice' (58mb WMV) [there's a much better-quality 8MB WMV version at TeamXbox], which 1UP.com described at the time as "a send-up of reality show The Apprentice... portraying [J.] Allard, fellow vice president Peter Moore, and chief Xbox officer Robbie Bach trying to curry favor [regarding online gaming] with the real-life Donald Trump." Somewhat lost in the E3 rush, the spoof is worth re-visiting, not least for the ending, where the losing Sony team (with "actors portraying Sony vice-president Ken Kutaragi, SCEA head Kaz Hirai and SCEA vice president Andrew House") collectively get fired, at which point "none other than Bill Gates himself ducks under them and steals the cab before they can get in."

Thanks to TeamXbox for their review of Crimson Skies: High Road To Revenge, as the long-in-development Xbox sequel to the cult FASA/Microsoft PC flight game finally ships today, and, according to the reviewer, "...has added a whole new feel to the genre." 1UP also like the results, mentioning the "decent, but nothing worth getting too worked up about" version that showed at E3 2002, and lauding the year's delay which led to such massive improvement, noting "...the Xbox Live modes extend the lifetime of Crimson Skies several times over all by themselves." Finally, GameSpy join the others in giving the game a thumbs-up, suggesting: "This game exemplifies the sleeper hit; its unique feel, solid gameplay, and great aesthetics offer up something a little left of center, but it's something that anyone who's remotely interested in the genre should be checking out."

Thanks to Reuters for their story confirming the official Xbox Wireless Adapter, now locked in for an October 5th release for $139. Details of this 802.11b/g device were inadvertently leaked by the FCC a couple of weeks back, and TeamXbox has a first look at the adapter, but this announcement also reveals the new Xbox Live bundle deal, as Microsoft "...will offer a $40 rebate to people who buy both the adapter and the $69 Xbox Live Starter Kit, which offers a one-year subscription to the company's online gaming service, a headset for voice communications and a copy of the game 'MechAssault.'"

Thanks to TeamXbox for their round-up of the new Japanese-developed titles Microsoft is showing at this year's Tokyo Game Show, which starts September 26th. They include first-party titles like Phantom Dust, which Gamers.com describes as "...an action game in the Devil May Cry mold [from] Yukio Futatsugi, who in a past generation was the director of Sega's Panzer Dragoon", as well as Magatama, portrayed as "...a 3D action game set in a fantastic version of ancient Japan - comparisons to Onimusha wouldn't be too far of a stretch." A notable non-Japanese Xbox title that will also debut at TGS is BioWare's Jade Empire, "an action-RPG from the creators of Star Wars: KotOR [in which you play] a young martial arts student, trying to gain the respect and admiration of your teacher and the townsfolk."

Thanks to TeamXbox for their round-up of the new Japanese-developed titles Microsoft is showing at this year's Tokyo Game Show, which starts September 26th. They include first-party titles like Phantom Dust, which Gamers.com describes as "...an action game in the Devil May Cry mold [from] Yukio Futatsugi, who in a past generation was the director of Sega's Panzer Dragoon", as well as Magatama, portrayed as "...a 3D action game set in a fantastic version of ancient Japan - comparisons to Onimusha wouldn't be too far of a stretch." A notable non-Japanese Xbox title that will also debut at TGS is BioWare's Jade Empire, "an action-RPG from the creators of Star Wars: KotOR [in which you play] a young martial arts student, trying to gain the respect and admiration of your teacher and the townsfolk."