It’s official. God of War III is “coming soon” to Sony’s PlayStation 3. The back side of the God of War: Chains of Olympus instruction booklet displays the series trademark omega symbol with “PS3″ stamped right in the middle. Under that is a small caption which reads “Coming Soon” in bold letters.

How soon? We don’t know! Our guess is good as yours. However, we suspect Sony has a different interpretation of the phrase “coming soon,” as all signs currently point to a 2009 release for God of War III. Hopefully that’s not the case. Hopefully, GoW III will be released this year.

God of War III Ad [IGN]

Tecmo today announced that Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword has officially gone gold and is off to manufacturing for its March 25 release on the Nintendo DS.

To celebrate the launch, Nintendo and Tecmo will host a special event from 12AM to 4PM at the Nintendo World Store at Rockefeller Center in New York on Wednesday, March 26. Those who attend will have a chance to demo the game and receive a signed autograph from producer Yosuke Hayashi.

Following word from NGamer magazine that the popular Macromedia Flash title Defend Your Castle would see a release on WiiWare later this year, developer XGen Studios today released screenshots and further details on the game.

According to the released fact sheet, the WiiWare edition of Defend Your Castle features unlimited levels, 4-player “jump-in” cooperative play, and enhanced physics and particle effects.

The game is scheduled to launch alongside WiiWare on May 12 for a total of 500 Wii Points, joining Square Enix’s simulation based RPG Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King.

Defend Your Castle Screenshots

Publisher Mastiff announced today that Major League Eating: The Game is heading exclusively to Nintendo’s upcoming WiiWare service later this year. In the game, players face off in an eating competition against competitive eaters, or “professional gurgitators.”

Players will be able to partake in burp-offs and hot potato challenges, using the Wii Remote extensively to perform a variety of disorderly eating techniques including the cram, toss, and “typewriter.”

Take warning, as Mastiff notes that the game is “not for the faint of heart, the slow of reflex, or those with an overly strong aversion to a Technicolor reversal of fortune.” There’s been no word yet on a release date or pricing. more »

Capcom sends word that the long-awaited Rocketmen: Axis of Evil is scheduled to hit both the Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network next week.

Developed exclusively as a downloadable title, the game is a top-down, fast paced arcade shooter featuring cartoon-like graphics rendered at 1080i. Up to four players can join in on the struggle to free the Solar System from the tyrannical grip of the Legion of Terra - online or offline.

The game will be available on Live this Wednesday, March 5 and on the PlayStation Store this coming Thursday, March 6.

Square Enix has confirmed that Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King will debut alongside the launch of the WiiWare service on May 12. The title will reportedly carry a price tag of 1,500 Wii Points (around $15).

Taking place after the events in the original GameCube title Crystal Chronicles, My Life as a King is described as a country building RPG in which players take on the role of Leo, a young king who is tasked with the responsibility of building his own empire.

Crystal Chronicles WiiWare North America Release, Price Revealed [The Wiire]

Archaemic has rolled out an update to PSPComic, a comic book reader for PSP that allows users to view comics in either CBR or CBZ format.

Version 1.0 includes a number of new features, including the ability to select different application themes and support for additional interface languages. Additionally, PSP Comic will now utilize the extra memory found in Slim units, allowing for larger images to be opened. Look below for the complete changelog.

v1.0 (2008-02-29)

* [Feature] Themes! You can now select different themes consisting of a background, font and text colors!
* [Feature] Languages! Now one can use the interface in a language other than English!
* [Feature] Directories can now be opened as if they were comic books. Note that previous/next comic book does not support opening directories
* [Feature] The Slim’s extra memory is now used, so much larger images may be opened
* [Feature] USB mode. One can now change around the files on the memory stick by pressing select in the menu. Changes are not automatically registered, and a menu must be reloaded by using the reload menu option
* [Bugfix] Fixed outstanding bug and memory leak if a filename is too long
* [Bugfix] 8-bit non-color-keyed surfaces no longer display black as transparent
* [Bugfix] Fixed an off-by-one error leading to a buffer overflow when resampling images
* [Bugfix] One no longer has to restart the program after attempting to open a comic book in a non-existent directory
* [Bugfix] Fixed minor bug with battery meter when battery is not inserted
* Further rotozoom optimization
* And many more minor changes…
* /!\ Caution! Comic books with bookmarks in them must be on the memory stick while upgrading from a previous version of PSPComic for the bookmarks to be retained.

PSPComic v1.0 is available in three separate packages. Inside of the bare bones package is the application itself, along with a few extra languages and the default theme.

The Theme and Language pack includes language sets for Polish and Chinese and the Unicode and CJK themes required to use each of the aforementioned languages. As for the mega pack, it includes all of the above, plus utilities No Bull Moose and FANG.

Download PSPComic v1.0 Base Pack / Theme and Language Pack / Mega Pack

PSPComic v1.0 [Archaemic]

As if the situation over at Eidos parent SCi Entertainment wasn’t already bad enough, the company today said that it expects to cancel 14 in-development projects and layoff nearly 25 percent of its workforce as part of an ambitious restructuring plan.

According to SCi CEO Phil Rogers, the company is moving from a centrally controlled development model to studio-led business similar to EA that focuses on core franchises such as Tomb Raider, Hitman, Championship Manager and Deus Ex.

Following our business review over the last six weeks, we are initiating a clear action plan based on three fundamental strands of activity: a radical change in our structure to a studio-led business, a top to bottom programme of product improvement and efficiency and a considerable cost reduction plan.

Additionally, the company’s production services will be relocated to Montreal as part of the restructuring effort. more »

Publisher Gamecock in collaboration with developer Replay Studio have announced an official name change for their upcoming World War II stealth-action title formerly known as Sabotage. The new name? Velvet Assassin.

Rather than a trite, overused, and generic working title like Sabotage, Velvet Assassin captures the heart of what we’re trying to accomplish. From the start we’ve wanted a game with a strong female lead that stays true to the history of Violette Szabo while pulling players into a world of dark intrigue.

Velvet Assassin is scheduled for a release in Fall 2008 on PC and next-generation consoles aka PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. more »

SouthPeak Games today announced X-Blades, a “dynamic third-person hack-and-slash” anime-style action title set to hit next-generation platforms and PC in late 2008.

The game follows the story of Ayumi, a heroine who battles enemies with her pistol blades, acrobatic ability and magic spells. Players will find themselves battling against hordes of demonic foes while traversing across a number of breathtaking landscapes. more »