Another Tuesday, another edition of Hey! Look! Listen! for your reading pleasure. I’m your host Oliver Motok, and… you knew that already.

I started Ultimate Alliance 2 last night. I wasn’t blown away, but then, I only played the first hour or so. I’ve yet to even reach the start of the “Civil War” storyline, which is the main thing about the game that interests me. (Any other Marvel Comics nerds in the crowd who know what I’m talking about?) Of course, any game hot on the heels of Arkham Asylum is going to suffer for it.

Anyway. Let’s move on to the NEWS.

Ouch.

Hey, Yakuza 3 is Being Localized After All
I’ve never played Yakuza so I really don’t give a crap, but I imagine there’s plenty of people out there who do. So, to all the fans of Sega’s mafia-glorifying beat-em-up, REJOICE. According to 1UP, a “source close to the project” has informed them that the game is, in fact, being localized for North America. While this should still be taken with a grain of salt, it’s believable for two reasons: first, Sega hasn’t come forward to speak against the rumor, which only adds credibility. Second, it’s not completely out of left field – just last week, Sega of America assistant community manager Aaron Webber said that a North American release was not out of the question, as had been previously rumored.

“The original news story that went around about Yakuza 3 being declined for the US was false, and localizing the game still remains a big point of discussion for many people here at SEGA, and especially those of us on SEGA’s community team,” wrote Webber on the PlayStation Blog

I’m gonna go ahead and venture a guess that this is legit. Look for an official announcement at the upcoming Tokyo Game Show.

PlayStation 2, Dreamcast Titles May be Coming to PlayStation Network
Well, it was only a matter of time I suppose. Perhaps you recall a patent discover by Siliconera back in June, related to a technology that would allow the PlayStation 3 to emulate the Emotion Engine, and hence, play PS2 software. However, it’s been a number of months since we’ve heard any further developments

However, with a leaked document discovered by French site Objectif-Sega, the rumor mill is turning yet again. The document is apparently a list of notes from a meeting between Sega of America and Robert Dyer, senior vice president of publisher relations for Sony Computer Entertainment America. Among many other notes (take a look at the full article, it’s quite intriguing) is a brief mention of a PS2 emulator for the PS3 – which is listed as “confidential.” In addition to that is a note entitled “DC Digital Titles,” stating that Sony is interested in providing Dreamcast games for download.

MmmmHM. Interesting, very interesting. And it makes complete sense. Regardless of how trustworthy this particular “leak” may be, I have no doubt that PS2 games will be available on the PSN at some point in the future. There are, after all, over 1800 titles in the system’s library; offering them as digital downloads would only be another way for Sony to milk that cash cow. While it’s not quite as welcome as disc-based backwards compatibility would be, I’ll be happy to take what I can get at this point.

Ooooh!

Valkyria Chronicles Trophies Still Possible
Again, this doesn’t really interest me, as much as I love Valkyria Chronicles. However, I’m happy to see that it’s (possibly) still receiving some support from both fans and its publisher. Also, I happen to know that dear Ethos would be a happy little Trophy whore if this were to come true.

Last Ranker May be Coming to North America
You familiar with Capcom’s upcoming RPG, Last Ranker? No? Me neither. In fact, I’d heard nothing about it until I learned that it had been trademarked in the US. And, while I still know nothing about it, I was intrigued by the names attached to the project – among them being Kazishige Nojima and Yoko Shimomura of Kingdom Hearts fame. Nojima was one of the chief writers of the Kingdom Hearts series, while Shimomura composed the music.

And that’s all I have. Other than a few bombshells, news has been relatively slow as of late. A calm before the storm of the Tokyo Game Show, methinks. ‘Till next time, dear readers.