According to Kotaku, yesterday Square-Enix announced details of their offer to Tecmo for what they term a “friendly takeover”. The plan includes the purchase of a controlling interest in the company by Square-Enix by buying shares at a 30% premium. Tecmo has until September 4 to accept or reject the offer. If Tecmo accepts, the Tecmo brand may become affiliated with Square-Enix or merged with Squae-Enix’s 2005 acquisition, Taito.

Tecmo, probably best known for the Fatal Frame, Ninja Gaiden, and Dead or Alive franchises, has been struggling of late, with lawsuits filed on behalf of employees for unpaid wages in excess of 8 million Yen, and by former Team Ninja head Tomonobu Itagaki for 145 million Yen.

It is, if you think about it, a merger that makes some sense. Square-Enix is a true powerhouse when it comes to RPGs whereas Tecmo’s IPs a a bit more widespread in terms of genre. It would bolster Square-Enix’s already-impressive catalog significantly and at the same time bring to Tecmo association with the juggernaut that is Final Fantasy.

I’m admittedly not fond of Wolfenstein 3D and similar games. Of course I’ve played it… I just never got into it. But that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate the fact that someone out there took the time to create a Wolfenstein-inspired interface for Flickr:

WolfenFlickr 3D

Hells yes, that is awesome.

In Fable II, for XBOX 360, you create and mold your character from childhood into adulthood, your decisions affecting their personality, reputation and appearance. The game consists of a vast open world in which you have the choice of following the main story line, raising a family, or simply heading off on your own.

Everything I’ve seen about this RPG looks amazing, and the early previews have been very favorable. The game releases on October 21, and is available as both 360 Standard and 360 Limited Edition Editions.

The Limited Edition includes as bonus DVD, bonus downloadable content (including an additional dungeon and weapon), a collectable figure, five collectable cards, and a 48-hour Live Gold trial card.

It’s PS3 day over in the Amazon GoldBox…. Deals on PS3 games all day long.

The Deal of the Day is Gran Turismo 5 Prologue for $22.99. Additionally, there are six more lightning deals that will be coming up over the course of the day. The first is Blazing Angels 2: Secret Missions of WWII for $23.99. Later deals look to include Logitech Driving Force GT Racing Wheel, Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, Devil May Cry 4, and Haze… prices to be announced.

Happy shopping!

Finally, a week with a release list that doesn’t put me to sleep… Anticipated RPG? Check. New Disgaea sequel? Check. Open world blow-shit-up game? Check. Have fun!

For Consoles

Tales of Vesperia | 360 | 360 Premium Edition
The newest (and first next-gen) edition to the Tales RPG series, in Tales of Vesperia, a power sturggle has begun in a civilization dependent upon the ancient Blastia technology, and two friends are thrown into an adventure the likes of which they have never imagined. The Premium edition comes in a steelcase metal box, and includes a Tales 10th anniversary music CD, and a 72 page manual with exclusive artwork. The game also makes us of XBOX Live in the form of leaderboards and downloadable content.

Mercenaries 2: World in Flames | PS3 | 360 | PS2
The sequel to 2005’s Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction, Mercenaries 2 is a third person shooter, that takes place in an open world environment. Your job: profit from chaos. Online co-op mode is available, and the sequel adds 130 new vehicles, as well as the ability to interact with water environments. I don’t know yet how good the game is, but it sure has one hilariously kick-ass commercial.

Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice | PS3
Disgaea 3, the third in the popular stratgey RPG series, follows the decision of Mao, son of the Overlord of the Netherworld, to forsake his demonic heritage, become a hero, and overthrow his father. The first of the strategy RPG series on a next-gen console, the game’s story and endings evolve as you play the game, and there are over 270 customizable characters.

Mario Super Sluggers | Wii
Featuring two-player baseball games, and four-player mini-games, Mario Super Sluggers is intended as a fun social activity for the entire family. Build your roster of Mario characters, and use the Wii-remote to hit a grand slam. The game supports three control methods, including Wii-Remote in the tradition controller position, Wii-Remote and Nunchuck, and Wii-Remote swung as a baseball bat.

Vampire Rain: Altered Species | Ps3
The PS3 port of the 2007 XBOX 360 game, Vampire Rain is a stealth-action title in which, as a member of a special government unit tasked with defeating the vampire hoards preying on U.S. citizens, you must… well, defeat the hoards of vampires preying on U.S. citizens. By using you wits, and the cover of shadows and pouring rain, you must track them down and destroy them before they turn you into dinner.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 | PS3 | 360 | Wii | PS2 | PSP
The latest Tiger Woods-branded golf title, PGA Tour 09 gives you your own coach in the form of Wood’s real-life coach, Hank Haney, as you play the courses and go for the lowest score (which, people tell me, in golf is a good thing). The game features online play for up to four players, leaderboards, and an all new Club Tuner for customizing your clubs.

Ferrari Challenge | PS3 | Wii | PS2
Also Available on: Nintendo DS
Hurtle around the track in one of several world-renown racing venues, and experience the Ferrari driving experience in the comfort of your own home (and for a lot less money than buying one of the damn things). Two-player split screen head-to-head competition is available if you’d like to bring a friend along.

WiiWare

Helix (1000 Wii Points)
An innovative music-rhythm games designed specifically for the Wii console. Use the Wii-Remote for dozens of movements (rather than button presses), including punches, circles, back fists, and hooks. The game features 26 unlockable songs and 3 difficulty levels.

For Handhelds

Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness | Nintendo DS
When your ship is destroyed in a tropical storm, you find yourself stranded on an island. Having no other option, you and your fellow castaways must grow your own food, build your own shelter, and turn your island home into a paradise. Touted as the biggest portable Harvest Moon ever, the game also allows you to compete against others online.

The Sims 2: Apartment Pets | Nintendo DS
When your sim moves into a very animal-friendly apartment building, he or she must run their own pet spa, groom and dress the pets, and keep them happy.

From the Abyss | Nintendo DS
In this action RPG, Rubenhaut is a small country that has always been ruled by peace-loving queens. Its towns and villages overflow with energy Long ago, the Dimensional Abyss was created, to seal away all the evil in the world, and to protect that seal, the Saint of Light created the Abyss Gate. As time passed, the seal weakened, and monsters began to pour through the Gate to attack Rubenhaut. Now, the queen has called upon anyone willing to stop them.

Digimon World Championship | Nintendo DS
A legendary Digimon tournament has been announced, and as a new Digimon Tamer, you must explore the Digital World and capture the creatures in order to compete. Train them to be the best and prepare them for over 50 competitions.

My Chinese Coach | Nintendo DS
Learn the ins and outs of the Chinese language on your Nintendo DS. The games strives to teach proper pronunciation, calligraphy skills, and vocabulary.

PicoImage | Nintendo DS
Show off your drawing skills. PictoImage features battles for up to 8 players in which you must be the first to guess what the image being drawn is, Pictionary-style.

This week’s game: Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
Released in 1996 for the SNES

Before the ever-popular Paper Mario series brought a touch of RPGness to the Mario world, there was Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. Developed by Square (now Square-Enix), of Final Fantasy fame, and with guidance from Mario creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, It was the first RPG in the Mario series.

I met with mixed reactions to this game back in the day. Most people seemed to like it, but every once in a while you’d come across someone who couldn’t stand it. Nowadays, it seems to have been elevated to near cult classic-status with copies selling for upwards of $30 once all is said and done.

The game centers largely around a character named Geno and his quest to collect seven Star Pieces… fragments of the Star Road, where he lives. Mario and company, meanwhile, have had to contend with the mysterious Smithy Gang, agree to join Geno on this quest, hoping that the outcome will be beneficial to them all.

Super Mario RPG’s gameplay is, much like the later Paper Mario games, something of a combination of platforming and RPG-style turn-based battles. Unlike previous Mario games, the action did not take place in a side-scrolling environment, but rather in an approximation of a 3D environment (which was pretty unique at the time). The five playable characters each have their own attacks and special techniques, adding some variety to battles.

The game has recently been released on the Wii Virtual Console in Japan and Europe… here’s hoping it makes it to the U.S. Virtual Console as well.

The new keypad add-on.

So… what has Games Convention 2008 in Leipzig brought us so far? Well, several interesting tidbits, actually, and it’s only the beginning of the second day of the convention proper. Eat that, E3.

Sony, for one, has let some details slip about the new PSP model. The PSP 3000 will hit North America this October, in plenty of time for the annual post-Thanksgiving shopping orgy. It will be shipping bundled with Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters, and also as a “Core Pack” that will retail for $169.99. On the technical side of things, the PSP 3000 will feature an improved screen with a wider color gamut, higher contrast ratio, and anti-reflection technology that will make it easier to see in outdoor lighting.

They also added that they’re releasing a 160GB model of the PS3. The new PS3 model will be introduced in North America as part of the limited-edition Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune bundle some time in November for a whopping $499.99. The North American bundle will include the game an console, as well as a DualShock3 controller and a PSN voucher for PAIN.

Sony has also announced a new Bluetooth enabled keypad add-on for PS3, that snaps onto the controller, due to ship sometime late in November. According to their press release, the keypad will be compatible with all typing situations you may encounter on the PS3, including chatting in the upcoming Home, and can even be used as a touch pad to move the on-screen pointer.

Additionally, they’ve announced EyePet, a virtual pet game for use with the PS3’s Playstation Eye camera peripheral. The game features a simian-like pet that lives in an on-screen version of your room, captured by the camera. The pet will be able to interact with it’s environment, recognizing objects and people. EyePet will be available in late 2009 in the PAL market… release dates for other regions haven’t been announced as of yet.

Microsoft had at least one interesting bit of news… and that was the new limited-edition green wireless controller. Not exactly big news in and of itself, but apparently the thing, in addition to being really butt-ugly, has an enhanced D-pad that can register movement in 32 directions. Unfortunately (and bizarrely), it’s only releasing in Europe as a tie-in with Pro Eva 2009, and only for a limited time, starting October 24.

On the actual games end of things, Komani has a new action title in the works for PS3 and 360 called Lords of Shadow, described as a “dark fairy tale” in which the player takes on the role of the mysterious Gabriel in an epic battle between good and evil. It’s scheduled for a 2010 release, and definitely sounds like my kind of game… I think I’ll keep an eye on this one.

EA has given a release date of February 20, 2009 for The Sims 3. They’re planning a simultaneous global release (has anyone actually managed that yet?).

Quantic Dream showed a nifty trailer for Heavy Rain that even includes some gameplay. I’m not sure what I think of the gameplay itself yet, but the game certainly is looking very nice. See it here.

Capcom’s Dead Rising port for Wii (subtitled “Chop till you Drop”) also got some screen time with the debut of its trailer, which includes gameplay footage. See it here and see some more here.

Ubisoft showed a nifty playthrough of the entire first area of the next Prince of Persia title (which was playable at E3… but now us lesser non-industry people can see it first hand). See it here.

So there you have it… the most interesting bits and pieces from GC 2008 thus far. The convention continues through the 24th, so expect more.

There are only a handful of new releases this week, the most promising of which looks to be Too Human for the 360. And so the summer drags on…

For Consoles

Too Human | 360
An action-RPG that features a modern take on classical Norse mythology. You play as the cybernetic god, Baldur, a cybernetically-enhanced human who’s duty it is to protect the human race from the machines who seek to eradicate them. Online co-op play is available, and the game is the first installment of a planned trilogy.

Smash Court Tennis 3 | 360
Tennis on your 360, with gameplay designed to accessible by players of all skill levels. Smash Court features a variety of customization options and play modes, including online multiplayer.

Falling Stars | PS2
In Falling Stars, you play as Luna of Dazzleon, a young girl who must stop her uncle, possessed by an evil presence, from turning animals into monsters. This is an RPG suitable for, and aimed squarely at, children, and as such may be a little too simplistic for hardcore RPG fans.

Shepherd’s Crossing | PS2
In this rather blatant attempt at riding the success of the Harvest Moon series, you start your own farm, raise crops and animals, and do quite a lot of trading so that you can… raise more crops and animals. Which may sound fun to fans of Harvest Moon, but from the few early reviews of the game I’ve read, it doesn’t sound very promising.

WiiWare

Midnight Pool (800 Wii Points)
For 1 to 2 players, Midnight Pool is, as you may have guessed from the title, a pool and billiard game, that makes use of the Wii Remote in the obvious way.

For Handhelds

The Cheetah Girls: Passport to Stardom | Nintendo DS
Picking up where the most recent Cheetah Girls movie ends, in this DS game, you compete in dance-offs while traveling the world. And of course there are plenty of fashion-related unlockables.

Parodies are always fun, and Fridays always need a little fun. I stumbled across one today, called Legend of Neil. Three guess which game it’s spoofing. Be warned, it may not be 100% safe for work.

Episode 1: The Legend of Neil
“Hello… uh… Old Man.” “You may call me OLD Man.” “I just did.”

Episode 2: First Blood
“You can kill the creature, Link, by taking it’s life”

Episode 3: The Fairy’s Obsession
“Princess Zelda… You’re black?”

Episode 4: The Skeletons in Link’s Closet
“Silence fool! Your insolent logic angers Ganon!”

Legend of Neil Index Page

New episodes are up every Thursday.

It’s coming next week, in fact. Running from Aug. 21 through the 24th in Leipzig, Germany (with the developers conference running the 18th through the 20th), this years Games Convention will hopefully have something more to offer than what E3 did a few weeks ago.

But don’t expect to see a whole lot from the Big Three. Nintendo is opting out entirely, and Microsoft isn’t bothering with a press conference. That doesn’t mean that the show isn’t going to have anything to show, though… it’s going to be all about the third parties. Which given the boredom we encountered at E3 with the first parties may not be a bad thing at all.

Especially with more than 400 exhibitors.

I’m looking forward to seeing more of such games a Mirror’s Edge, Heavy Rain, Little Big Planet (which is rumored to be playable), and, with any luck, another look at Beyond Good & Evil 2 (pretty please, Ubisoft?). I may even have a PS3 by the time these games are released.