Aside from Halo and Halo 2, Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay was one of the few games that Xbox owners tried to brag about. With great graphics for its time, and surprisingly fun gameplay, we were able to forget about Vin Diesel's terrible movies and just enjoy the action and adventure in this first person shooter. According to the UK magazine MCV, a remake is in early development, with Starbreeze planning to bring it to both the Xbox 360 and PS3. On top of better graphics, players will also get to play through extendd single player campaigns and online multiplayer. Starbreeze also worked on The Darkness, which will come out next month for PS3 and 360, so we can use that to judge what they're capable of so far with next generation possibilities.

Also, is it time to start calling it current generation yet? Now that PS2 has finally peaked with several awesome games released in the last year, I think it's time to make the change.

You readers might start getting sick of all the Final Fantasy news this week and this weekend after the Square Enix Party. Squeenix refuses to abort any of their babies, even their clones are impervious to coat hangers. The new issue of Weekly Jump magazine brings news that Square Enix will be remaking Final Fantasy IV for the Nintendo DS in 3D graphics. It'll be handled by the same group of people who brought us Final Fantasy III on the DS, and even includes a few of the original Final Fantasy IV development team. That surprises me, I always thought you only worked on one Final Fantasy game and then quit into a rich retirement.

On top of the beefed up graphics, Square Enix will also be adding new "scenarios" to FFIV. FFIV isn't alone though, Square Enix decided they weren't going to wait to remake FFV-FFXI, and have also announced that they'll be re-releasing Final Fantasy XII in Japan on August 9th. All they plan to change is adding in twelve new License Boards, each pertaining to specific jobs, and to them that justifies this ridiculous gaudy title: Final Fantasy XII International: Zodiac Job System. And no, it won't be for the PS3 or PSP or Nintendo DS. Just a plain old PS2 clone. Lame.

From the depths of NeoGAF comes news that a Resident Evil 4 remake for the Wii has been confirmed thanks to new Famitsu page scans (seen below). That's not all though, there's also a new Resident Evil first person shooter game coming to the Wii, and just to make your jaw drop a little further, it's also an on rails game. The "Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles" FPS will focus on the destruction of the Umbrella Corporation. Basically a better looking Red Steel that will probably also suck. So how does the Wiimote work with the Resident Evil 4 remake? Translation from NeoGAFers:

"Beating the game adds Ada's "The Another Order"/"Separate Ways" from the PS2 version. Controls adapted for waggle, including Wiimote aiming. Waggle while holding down B to reload, waggle without holding to use your knife. Also comes with a trailer for Umbrella Chronicles."

So aim and shoot, hold B and wave it around to reload, and let go of B and wave it around for knife action. It's sad, but the Wii remake will probably manage to outsell the new Resident Evil game, even though most people who have Wiis already have Resident Evil 4 for the Gamecube.

Final Fantasy Tactics: The Lion War has a really interesting visual style that meshes together 2D and 3D graphics for its PSP remake. The cinematics combine rusty colors with credits that resemble A Series of Unfortunate Events for an artistic opening video. The game is known as Final Fantasy Tactics: Shishi Sensou in Japan, and still doesn't have a release date announced yet, but here's plenty of pictures showing what the remake will look like for PSP. Seems like Square Enix didn't alter the original game much, but the cinematic screenshots definitely stick out from the rest. Tactics is many RPG fans' favorite game of all time, so it's good to see it coming back, but there's still no new word on the FF7 remake everyone's waiting for.

Two weeks ago I reported that an interview with a character designer for Final Fantasy XIII revealed that FFXIII probably wasn't coming out this year. A bunch of other sites thought I was lying until the full interview transcript showed up and then they freaked out with FF withdrawal setting it. The interview also mentioned that a Chrono Cross sequel would be out of the question, but now we have another interview translation (with Square Enix vice president Hiromichi Tanaka) revealing that they are considering another Chrono game, although nothing is planned yet:

AR: *Ahem* Recently Chrono Cross was mentioned in an interview with you and you stated there would not be a sequel to Chrono Cross because it would be too difficult to get the original team together again…? Does this rule out any possibility for the Chrono series in the future at all? Because Nintendo fans are always asking about a Chrono Trigger remake…

HT: There’s still a possibility, but since the main director is not working for Square Enix now – he’s working on other titles in a different company, Namco Bandai, it’s a bit difficult to ask him to come back and be the head of a team again. And also, Kato-san is working on the fourth game in the Mana series. So there’s still a possibility that he might think he might want to make it again…

A lot of people get upset about games being remade left and right these days, but I actually really like it. If old school fans are willing to give their favorite companies more money, and newcomers to gaming get a chance to play a potentially great game they never would have known about, then everybody wins. Seeing classic games get remade is just a sign of how far the gaming industry has come to be established as a successful entertainment business. I'm not sure how they would handle a remake, but it it looks anywhere near as cool as the fan made Chrono Resurrection project that got discontinued by Square Enix, then it'll definitely make a lot of money.

If you live in America then the movie A Christmas Story is the narrative that fills your house every Christmas season relentlessly. From "Fra-gee-lay" to "Sons of bitches! Bumpersons!" you've surely seen it enough times to last you the rest of your Xmas days.

Well Epileptic Gaming recently remixed the video to contain audio that relates to this year's gaming Christmas needs. Screw that Red Ryder BB gun - Ralphie wants a Wii! And instead of Santa convincing him that he wants a football like in the original, he asks: "How about a nice PS3?" Ralphie is dazed and agrees, but then remembers: "Wait a second, there's no PS3s in America, he can't get one off eBay ... NO!" Now here's the part where he stops himself from falling down the slide and spews his undying love for the best Christmas gift of his dreams, but Santa has to wreak havoc on all his hopes. Can you predict the updated, more modern punch line? Watch the video to find out if you called the obvious reply from Santa if it was made in the year 2006.

I think I spent more time over all my past summers playing Goldeneye 64 in my friends' basement than I ever spent watching babes on the beach. Using Valve's source code, this mod team set out to completely revamp the Goldeneye game, and they plan on letting us play it on Christmas. Suddenly all the Xmas gifts I was hoping for don't seem as desirable as before. You can see more pictures and info here on their site. I can't wait to finally have a reason to yell "I'm invincible!" again as my DK mode Russian goes on a slapping spree for old time's sake.