After leaving Capcom due to undisclosed issues (mostly to do with the stagnation of the Japanese gaming industry), Keiji Inafune remained mostly under the radar as his new companies Concept and Intercept seemed to be content with releasing social games and Inafune himself always being happy to lend himself to cameos in Hyperdimensional Neptunia Mk 2. This guise was abolished today with the announcement of Concept’s latest project: King of Pirates.

Inafune describes King of Pirates as an intended trilogy with over 300 characters that will be based of the classic Chinese novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. While the game isn’t exactly the first game to be based of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, It is most likely the first one to involve pirates. The game is set for a release in Japan for the 3DS next year and a trailer can be found after the jump.

Source: (Siliconera)

For the most part, Sony should be commended for their work on the choice of PS1 games available on their latest games console. While the NA market is dwarfed in comparison to the amount of title that JP PSN has to offer, good titles continue to enter the system in a steady stream that Nintendo should take note of (EU PSN is still awful though).

This is why it is a nice surprise to see that Sony has released a new section on their HUD indicated “rare classic games”. This feature is currently represented by Odin Sphere, Grim Grimoire, Maximo: Ghosts and Glory, Ring of Red and God Hand, all PS2 games which will mark the first PS2 games to be seen on PSN in any region. It’s nice to see Sony recognising all the niché games the PS2 had and also marketing them so they can reach a new audience (My personal recommendations go to Grim Grimoire (A really well crafted RTS with a charming aesthetic to it) and God Hand (The manliest game ever made)) and I hope this move ends up paying off for them. The games are available from the North American PSN for $10 and here’s hoping to more great releases to the service (Fingers crossed for Sword of Etheria!)

Source: (Siliconera)

Ever since L.A Noire was released, Team Bondi, the guys and gals who helped Rockstar make the game, have been hit with scandals, shocking allegations of working conditions and how staff are treated, but now it seems they will be closing their doors forever.

All the paper work for getting the money owed to the creditors have been handed into the Australian Securities and Investments Comission, including a liquidator. The International Game Developers Association were keeping tabs on the team following credit omissions and other mistreatment of staff, but with them looking to not see Hallowe’en, let alone Christmas, any further punishment and investigation may be dropped.

This will not effect the PC port of L.A. Noire, which is being done by Rockstar Leeds, with the copyright of the game laying with Rockstar themselves, so a sequel is also still possible.

(Source: Gamespot )

With Xenoblade Chronicles being met with a smile and warm welcome into European gamers Wii’s, news that will delight the American supporters of the game, Nintendo of Europe have decided to use that as a push for the other two games that have been the focus of Operation: Rainfall.

Embracing the Let’s Play community with a competition entitled “Let’s Play Xenoblade Chronicles” , Nintendo have asked players to create a video showing something the player really enjoyed, like a sidequest or area, or something along those lines – one person wins a voucher for both Last Story and Pandora’s Tower, while the four runners up gets a choice of which one they get. The contests is for those sixteen and over, finishes on October 18th and can be found here.

The contest does show that NoE really want all three games to do well, especially with Reggie stating that they were watching Europe carefully. If the momentum keeps up, then the organisers of Operation: Rainfall may yet be claiming a success.

(Source: siliconera)

The new version of flash released yesterday does more than plug security holes the last version created as it makes new ones according to Epic Games, also bringing support of the industry favorite Unreal Engine 3.

What this means is that games will support ‘full’ 3D, and it’s going to become a lot easier to port games from consoles, programs, and smartphones to your browser and vise-versa.

Flash gaming’s about to get a lot more hardcore, people…

Anyway, check out the source link for some pretty pictures of Unreal Tournament 3 running in a browser.

(Source: VG24/7)

Portal 2′s Co-Op mode just got a little larger with the release of Valve’s free “Peer Review” DLC, which adds more to the story of Atlas, P-Body, and everyone’s favorite passive-aggressive homicidal AI, GLaDOS.

In addition, the DLC pack adds challenge maps to both single player and co-op, as well as leaderboards so you can show off how great you are. Valve also decided to put Portal 2 on sale on Steam for just $14.99 until October 6th to celebrate, so get it if you don’t have it already.

(Source: Destructoid)

DreamWorks Animation SKG recently announced that it has joined the ranks of content producers for Nintendo’s 3DS Video app, starting with the immediate release of a Halloween-themed “Monsters vs. Aliens” short, with another short coming at the end of this month starring the Three Little Pigs from “Shrek” with both titles being in full 3D, like all other content in the Video app.

Anything other than more “Blue Man Group” is fine with me, if I can say so myself…

(Source: IGN)

Final Fantasy XIII-2 is on the way, but there’s been talk of download content in the works. The items will be on sale in Japan sometime after the games launch. In North America, they come as pre-order bonuses from different stores. Amazon, Best Buy and Gamestop all have some delectable DLC for fans to choose from.

Amazon – Boss Monster Omega
Best Buy – Collectible Hardcover Novella
Gamestop – Serah Costume

So depending on where you choose to shop, you can pick up some if this pretty awesome stuff.

In recent news, it’s been said that Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception will include an “online pass”. Which means, the game will include a code which is used to access the online features of the game. If a person buys the game used, they have to pay an additional $10 USD to purchase their own online pass to access the features. Sony has confirmed that future Sony titles will incorporate the online pass feature.

“Online Pass will be incorporated into Uncharted 3 and future Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios (SCE WWS) games with online functionality,” the company told Destructoid. “We will provide further information in the future. “

Looks like the used gaming market is going to take a little hit.

(Source:Destructoid)

It was announced that Chrono Trigger would be hitting PSN a couple weeks ago, but apparently the PR guy tweeted something wrong because later that day it was shot down. Square Enix will be releasing it this Tuesday. There is no word of which version it will be or the cost, but I assume that it’s going to be the PS1 version and it will be sold in the Play Station Classic section of the store. Square Enix has a tendency to sell their bigger name RPG’s for about ten dollars instead of the average six. Check it out if you love Chrono Trigger or perhaps if you just never got around to playing it and want to check it out. While I don’t put Chrono Trigger on the pedestal that most do, I still recognize that it is one of the finest 16-bit RPG’s you can choose to play.