Square-Enix have recently released a new trailer for their forthcoming Wii RPG set in the Crystal Chronicles universe, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers.

It seems an interesting decision for Square to take a typically multiplayer centric series and set a single player game in the same universe, but if the game is half as awesome as this trailer is then it looks like they may have a winner on their hands. The combat looks unique and interesting, the story definitely looks epic, and the voice acting has that wonderful over-the-top Saturday morning cartoon energy to it. Also, chicks in bikinis.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers is due out November 12th in Japan, December 26th in the US, and February 2010 in PAL territories.

PlayDotA.com posted some very exciting news for fans of the Hero-based tower-defense inspired incredibly popular mod for Warcraft III.
It seems the leader of the development team for Defense of the Ancients, ‘IceFrog’, has been signed on to lead a team at Valve Software. No details have been given as of yet regarding exactly what the team he is leading are going to be working on, but here is what IceFrog himself had to say on the matter;

I have some really awesome news I’d like to share with you guys. I am now leading a team at Valve! I finally have all the resources needed to do some very exciting stuff that you guys will love. I look forward to revealing more specific details when the time is right.

Exciting stuff! Every time Valve picks up a developer like this, it always leads to fantastic results. If it weren’t for Valve’s ninja headhunting tactics, we wouldn’t have gotten to experience such delights as Portal, Team Fortress 2 or Day of Defeat. I can’t wait to see what comes from this!

Image shamelessly pilfered from the PlayDotA.com Fan Art section.

Anybody who happens to be a fan of last years wonderful re-boot to the Prince of Persia series is in for a treat today, as this weeks Deal of the Week on Xbox Live Arcade is Prince of Persia: Epilogue. Epilogue continues after the *SPOILER ALERT* catastrophic mistake at the *SPOILERS OVER NOW* end of Prince of Persia, offering around three hours of additional gameplay.

It is currently on sale this week for 560 Microsoft Points as opposed to the standard 800. Unfortunately, I am completely SOL as I have the PC version of the game, and Ubisoft have stated that the PC version will not be getting this DLC.

Let’s be honest, it’s been a slow weekend.

I’m going to take the path of arrogance here and say that Capcom released a new trailer that actually shows the new characters AND gameplay footage for Super Street Fighter IV simply because I complained about the last one.

It can be my own little fantasy world where I’m best friends with Capcom and they care about my opinion. Kinda like Mix, Aevan and Frozenbyte Inc.

I love horror games.

Let me rephrase that, I love well written, tripped out psychological holy crap what the hell did I just see out of the corner of my eye WHAT WAS THAT SOUND horror games. The kind that make you afraid to be in dark places alone for at least a week after playing them. Silent Hill 2 and 3 did this to me, the phenomenal Penumbra series did this to me, and for a time at least, Korsakovia did this to me. Full write-up after the cut.

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This week is a self-proclaimed awesome train wreck with fireworks… and ninjas.

Crit or Quit:
Aria of Sorrow, The World Ends with You, Eat Lead, Zombie Apocalypse, Touhou 6, Chaos Legion, Lost Planet 2

Level Builder
This week we break down “leveling up”! E.V.O., Demon’s Souls, Devil May Cry, and (of course) Fallout 3.

End Game:
We take a moment to focus on some of our favorite games from the developer Level-5!

Wii update 4.2 was released yesterday, with the release specifically targeted at shutting down systems running illegal homebrew applications using a modified console. For the most part, this update has been a success, though for the rest of you innocent Wii owners out there I warn you to hold off on updating your console for now.

The Nintendo Tech Support forums are currently flooded with posts from many unmodified Wii owners reporting that their console will no longer function since the update, stating that their console has been modified and will not boot anymore.

If you happen to be one of the unlucky who has had this issue happen to their mod-free system, Nintendo have issued a statement on the forums that you can send in your system for a free repair. Whilst the free repair is all well and good, this really sucks that the innocent users have to suffer because of a select few who have decided to circumvent the system.

I wish I knew who that hunter was. He was a true hero and a patriot.

You can watch Aevan and I fumble our way through the full Crash Course campaign on our Justin.tv page, or just hit play on the video in the right sidebar.