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E3: Xbox gets lips, Final Fantasy XIII

Monday, July 14, 2008 | 10:07 PM ET

By Mathew Kumar, Special to CBCnews.ca

LOS ANGELES - The Electronics and Entertainment Expo (E3) doesn’t kick off until tomorrow, but companies are trying to steal the early spotlight today with advance annoucements. They ranged from the actively exciting (a sequel to classic arcade title Galaga from the team behind the superb Pac-Man Championship Edition with Galaga Legions), to the utterly boring (we really don’t need a Banjo Kazooie sequel, honestly).

But my heart was captivated by the announcement of Lips, a new karaoke game from iNiS, the team behind the brilliant Nintendo DS game Elite Beat Agents. Promising to allow you to use your own music collection to sing along to (a claim that was notably not explained in any way), Welsh popstar Duffy appeared on stage to sing a spirited version of her song “Mercy.” It looked exactly like Sony’s competing karaoke brand Singstar, but the promise of being able to use my own music (finally a chance to karaoke sing Dethklok’s Bloodrocuted!) is a promise too thrilling to overlook.

lips400.jpg
Inis founder Keiichi Yano introducing Lips

Surprisingly, Square Enix appeared to steal the whole show with a reaffirmation that despite Microsoft’s attempts to capture the casual gamer, they haven’t overlooked the hardcore: The eagerly awaited Final Fantasy XIII is to come to Xbox 360. Though it’s not going to be an exclusive, for many in the auditorium this was huge news.

Though arguably not as huge as the news Nintendo Canada sneakily text messaged me during Microsoft’s press conference – that they’re releasing a new addition to the Wiimote, the MotionPlus, which is to allow the Wii to truly understand the movement of the Wiimote in 3D space. That’s an astonishing development, and I’ll have more on that after the Nintendo press conference tomorrow.

(The author is a Canadian freelance writer blogging for CBCnews.ca from the Electronics and Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles.)

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Comments

Carolyn

Wii has gone above and beyond what many expected from it and if it's working on improving the Wiimote's range and recognition features then I'm all for it!!

Posted July 15, 2008 10:22 AM

matt

Ontario

Agreed Carolyn, currently the wii stil has to unlock its full potential, games like Mario galacy and onyl a few other exceptions took full use of its capability, unfortunately with the bad refirbished old game titles, and poor programming for simple wii gestures, it may take a while..

The games I'm really looking forward to be featured are Spor and Resident Evil 5

Posted July 15, 2008 01:04 PM

Claudio

Windsor

Agreed Carolyn, this will no doubt raise the interactive element of Wii games to a whole new level. Great stuff!

Sadly, I lost interest in the FF series when Sakaguchi left (...or should I say wrongfully removed from) the helm. THOSE were good FF games.

Posted July 15, 2008 01:48 PM

Tracy

Edmonton

Square, I'm not sure if I'm unimpressed or just in shock. The last 2 years I've been to TGS that's how you've always pimped it and always emphatically stated that's how it will be. I'm shocked/stunnded that it's going onto the XBox as well. I love my PS3 to utter bits and I was tickled to think that FFXIII would be a PS3 exclusive. Maybe I sound a little bias cause I'm not an XBox fan. Not that I think it's fair to deny the game to the entire market - because it's visually stunning and would be good to branch out to the other systems (and good lord, that PS3 is expensive) but it was kind of a nice perk of thinking that Playstation would, yet again, get Square's premier franchise. I feel sorta jipped, I guess.

And those are the selfish thoughts of a girl who spent a whole whack of money on a PS3 and is a big FF fan. Dissapointed muffin.

Nintendo, you're so innovative! It makes me happy to see so much outside of the box thinking from what console games traditionally are. So much fun!

Posted July 15, 2008 09:34 PM

Monkey

Winnipeg

Agreed Carolyn (I had to do it)

And never fear my dear Tracy, the FFXIII isn't an exclusive to the 360. That said your investment in the PS3 wasn't a loss.

I wonder what new controllers will come out in the future for the Wii, they already have guns, steering wheels and more. Is it possible that they'll do something that we may all dread?

Coming soon to the Wii: Mii of all Trades!

Build your fantasy home, yard and life! Comes with a Wii-rake and Wii-shovel for yard work, a Wii-hammer and Wii-paintbrush for home repairs and lets not forget the Wii-chamois to wash the Wii-car!

As a pre-order bonus you also get the Wii-dog, Wii-dodo and the Wii-friggin-annoying-neighbor!

Posted July 16, 2008 12:05 PM

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