"Real news from the virtual world:

_BEST OF 2008 (SO FAR): E3, the video-game industry's big trade show, is next week, and you'll be hearing a lot about all the new software coming between now and Christmas. But there's a bit of a lull until Aug. 12, when "Madden NFL 09" unofficially marks the beginning of the fall game season. July is a good time to catch up on some of the games you may have missed. Here are the best of the year so far:

1. "Grand Theft Auto IV" (Rockstar, for the Xbox 3..."

"Videogame characters are lazy, forgetful, or just plain stupid. Cutscene after cutscene, they exhibit planet-shaking combat abilities and a level of indestructibility which would make God himself jealous. But as soon as you pick up the controller? The Incredible Hulk turns back into Bruce Banner and all of those showboating tricks and superhuman powers disappear into the ether.

They're constantly saving their best tricks until we've already done all the hard work for them, and even if not,..."

"The popular role-playing game Lost Odyssey™ has a new dungeon pack available for play. The Seeker of the Deep dungeon is available from Xbox LIVE® Marketplace for 400 MS points.

To access the dungeon, download the DLC pack. Then, once the Nautilus can fly, fly to the center of the gulf on the right of the inland sea on the north of the Tower of Mirrors (near Saman, the City of Merchants), and dive into the water. When the game displays either "Examine" or "Enter" at the bottom right corner..."

$2.50 USD (200 MS points) gets you the latest bit of Lost Odyssey downloadable content.

New content features a new dream ('The Shattered Bond'), the 'Killer Machine' ring, useful against magic-powered weapons, the 'Memory Lamp' which allows players to view Dreams in the Theater Mode, and more.

"When filmmakers and game designers are in the beginning stages of building a fantasy world and need someone to jumpstart the project with some breathtaking visuals, they often turn to Christian Lorenz Scheurer. The Los Angeles-based Swiss artist recently posted some of his sketches and early production art for Mistwalker's Lost Odyssey."

"So what does 2008, and beyond, hold for RPGs on the Xbox 360? There are certainly some tantalising prospects ahead. Mistwalker was up first with its second Xbox 360 exclusive, Lost Odyssey. The tale of Kaim Argonar, a man who’s lived for 1,000 years, it takes place over several generations, you could end up finishing the adventure with the great grandson of your original companion, bringing to the fore the theme of the loneliness of the immortal. You know, a bit like the Highlander, movie, on..."

""

""

With the latest exclusive for the XBOX 360, Lost Odyssey is racking up some decent points.

1up: 80/100
Eurogamer: (80/100)
Gamespy: (50/100)

Some pretty decent reviews aside from the 50% from Gamespy. North America gamers can already look forward to poor packaging, lets hope the game doesn't disappoint!

"So how did the critics like Lost Odyssey? Hit the jump for our Frankenreview to find out—an edition so good you may never need to read another review again.

IGN
Combat in Lost Odyssey is about as traditional as you will find in a modern-day game. It is completely turn-based with a menu system that seems taken straight from 1998. Everything you would expect is included. You can attack, use an item, cast magic, or activate a skill. Weapons in Lost Odyssey are pretty boring as none hold any ..."

"The game ships on 4 disc with a length estimated at around 50 hours."

"Final Fantasy fans - and there are millions of them - rejoice!

The game's grand-daddy, Hironobu Sakaguchi from Square-Enix, has created a new Japanese RPG which owes a lot to the magic of the hugely-popular Final Fantasy series.

An Xbox 360 exclusive out on Thursday, Lost Odyssey, is deep, complex, and touching with some jaw-dropping visuals.

It's the smoothest running game I have seen on the 360 and has absorbing twists in the plot that continue for what's said to be a total of arou..."

"Xbox 360:

Lost Odyssey

Jumper

Conflict: Denied Ops

Dark Messiah of Might & Magic

Ninja Gaiden Black (Xbox Originals)

Black (Xbox Originals)

Sid Meier's Pirates! Live the Life (Xbox Originals)

PS3:

Conflict: Denied Ops

Nintendo Wii:

Balloon Pop

Go Diego Go: Safari Rescue

Jumper

Virtual Console:

Lords of Thunder

Harvest Moon

PS2:

Jumper

Dora the Explorer: Dora Saves the Mermaids

Go Diego Go: Safari Rescue

Innocent Life: A Futuristic Harvest Moon Special Edition

Iri...

"

"Australian game site GamePlayer is reporting that if expectant consumers do not pre-order Lost Odyssey prior to release, they will not actually receive the game in its entirety.

Pre-ordered copies of the game will come complete with a special redemption card enabling the user to download two pieces of in-game content that will not be available to ‘regular’ buyers."

"Cheesemeister

01./01. [NDS] Mario Party DS (Nintendo) - 329,826 / 1,156,000
02./00. [NDS] Final Fantasy IV (Square-Enix) - 287,697 / NEW
03./02. [WII] Wii Fit (Nintendo) - 214,334 / 749,000
04./05. [WII] Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo) - 113,831 / 664,000
05./00. [PS2] Naruto: Shippuuden N-Ultimate Accelerator 2 (Bandai-Namco) - 108,717 / NEW
06./07. [WII] Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games (Nintendo) - 104,948 / 317,000
07./06. [NDS] Dragon Quest IV (Square-Enix) - 94,425 / 963,000
..."

"Cheesemeister

01./02. [NDS] Mario Party DS (Nintendo) - 180,042 / 826,000
02./01. [WII] Wii Fit (Nintendo) - 124,238 / 535,000
03./00. [PS3] Gran Turismo 5 Prologue (Sony) - 115,748 / NEW
04./05. [NDS] Prof. Layton and Pandora's Box (Level 5) - 74,378 / 444,000
05./09. [WII] Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo) - 74,113 / 550,000
06./06. [NDS] Dragon Quest IV (Square-Enix) - 73,061 / 868,000
07./10. [WII] Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games (Nintendo) - 64,228 / 212,000
08./14. [WII] Wii ..."

"Cheesemeister

01./02. [WII] Wii Fit (Nintendo) - 149,587 / 411,000
02./06. [NDS] Mario Party DS (Nintendo) - 106,995 / 646,000
03./00. [NDS] Tales of Innocence (Bandai-Namco) - 104,317 / NEW
04./00. [PSP] Hot Shots Golf Portable 2 (Sony) - 87,231 / NEW
05./01. [NDS] Prof. Layton and Pandora's Box (Level 5) - 75,609 / 370,000
06./04. [NDS] Dragon Quest IV (Square-Enix) - 63,447 / 795,000
07./00. [360] Lost Odyssey (Microsoft) - 54,581 / NEW
08./00. [NDS] Powerful Pro-kun Pocket 10 (K..."

""Barring a dramatic shift past the six hour mark, Lost Odyssey isn't going to blow people away with its visuals or presentation. But, aside from a few cliches here and there, all signs do point to an otherwise solid Japanese RPG.

Since Lost Odyssey's unveiling back in mid 2004, much of the attention has been focused on its storyline. To help flesh out the core concept of a character who lives eternally (or 1,000 years -- whichever comes first), Sakaguchi asked Japanese author Kiyoshi Shige..."

"1. (1 / 1) Dragon Quest IX NDS Square Enix
2. (2 / 2) Final Fantasy XIII PS3 Square Enix
3. (3 / 3) Biohazard 5 PS3 Capcom
4. (4 / 4) Metal Gear Solid 4 PS3 Konami
5. (6 / 6) Monster Hunter 3 Wii Capcom
6. (5 / 5) Super Smash Bros. Brawl Wii Nintendo
7. (7 / 7) Dragon Quest VI NDS Square Enix
8. (8 /10) Dragon Quest IV NDS Square Enix
9. (12/ 9) Lost Odyssey Xbox 360 Microsoft
10. (11/14) Final Fantasy IV NDS Square Enix
11. (9 / 8) Shin Sangoku Musou 5 PS3 Koei
12. (14/20) Dragon..."

"Tomorrow, Microsoft is having a pre-TGS press conference. The briefing will feature new trailers and a few surprises. I'll be on the ground covering the event. What can we expect? Rumor has it that third party companies like Square Enix, Bandai Namco, Koei, Konami and Tecmo will be showing their Xbox 360 support. Here's what will apparently be shown:

Square Enix
The Last Remnant
New Xbox 360 exclusive

Bandai Namco
Beautiful Katamari Damacy
Ace Combat 6
New Xbox 360 title

Koei
S..."

"In a recent, lengthy interview, FeelPlus president Ray Nakazato revealed several details about the upcoming Mistwalker RPG, Lost Odyssey. While the game is not yet fully complete, Nakazato did indicate that the developers were happy with what they had, and confirmed that the game would be released sometime in 2007.



According to Nakazato, Lost Odyssey will feature around 400 locations and 300 characters. The total length of all the cutscenes in the game comes to about seven hours, with ..."