Industry and multi-console news:

• An obese player in China has died after a marathon of game playing. "Zhang spent almost all his time playing online games during the seven-day holiday instead of sleeping and visiting relatives, his parents said."
• Square Enix will be holding the Square Enix Party 2007 on May 12 and 13 in Japan, which, of course, has the possibility of new announcements along with it.
• The defense attorney in an Oregon murder trial is trying the video games made me do it tactic, saying games like Mortal Kombat and GTA may have blurred the defendant's ability to distinguish reality and the consequences of his actions. Prosecutors say he killed in revenge over a drug deal gone bad.
• Rockstar will be using NaturalMotion's Euphoria engine in their next-gen titles. You may remember the name from last year, when LucasArts announced they were using Euphoria in their next Indiana Jones game.
• David Jaffe says that the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences needs to stop trying to be like the Oscars with their award show. "To try to craft an awards show, or to even DESIRE to craft an awards show BASED on the Oscars, when the Oscars itself (not to mention award shows in general) is a tired old horse that needs to be put out to pasture, is a mistake."
• The first screenshots and a trailer for Stuntman: Ignition are available.
• A USC sociologist says that video games don't cause youth violence, and also points out the subtle racism involved: "White, middle-class killers retain their status as children easily influenced by a game, victims of an allegedly dangerous product. African-American boys, apparently, are simply dangerous."
• Sega has revealed the first details on their The Golden Compass game, based on an upcoming movie based on the first book in the His Dark Materials trilogy.
• Apparently today is Be A Jackass In The Comics Industry Day, because you've got a Marvel comics writer saying games are for pedos on one side and a 2000AD artist whining that the comics market is being beaten by video games in the other. The latter adds that comics "need to tell stories. They are not producing great literary works and I don't see why they shouldn't try. The Playstation will never tell stories." oh okay
• The producers of Famicom clones in Asia have taken to sticking a Famiclone in a box and calling it a PS3.

PC news:

• CompUSA is closing 100 stores, leaving only 129 remaining.
• GameTap is introducing an Indies label, in addition to sponsoring a new award at the Independent Games Festival.
• There's a trick to play as Nod in the Command & Conquer 3 demo.
• Xider will be releasing a retail version of Bone in Europe.

Nintendo news:

• SimCity DS has been confirmed for a worldwide release this summer yesssssssssssss
• Data Design Interactive has announced they are porting a dozen games to the Wii, unfortunately they're all bargain basement things you've never heard of.
• 1up has video of EGM's recent feature on taking a Wii to a retirement home. One can only assume their performance in ExciteTruck is because they're trying to find the way to Country Kitchen Buffet.
• A rumor is going around about a method to play NTSC Gamecube games on PAL Wiis without any modifications.
• 1up has a feature on their ten most wanted Wii games for 2007.
• Amazon has Splinter Cell: Double Agent on the Wii marked down to $26.99.

Sony news:

• Konami will be halting MGS3: Subsistence online service on April 2.
• Sony says they plan to "catch up on demand and have product fully in stock" by April or May. But.. don't they have that already?
• PS3 firmware has been updated to 1.54.
• The Final Fantasy Tactics remake on the PSP will be released in Japan on May 10.
• More Euro PS3 details: Downloadable games will cost GBP 1.99 to 6.99 or EUR 2.99 to 9.99. Release dates have been named for the first seven Playstation Network titles in Europe, including Tekken 5, Blast Factor and Gran Turismo HD on launch day.
• Next Generation talks to High Moon Studio's Clinton Keith about how and when developers will start unlocking the full power of the Cell processor.
• This is still a rumor at this point, but it's possible that the March PS3 firmware upgrade may still not allow you to play games while downloading. But it should at least allow you to use other features of the cross media bar.
• 1up has a feature on their ten most wanted PS3 games for 2007.
• The director of the Game Developers Conference claims that PS3 owners will be "very happy" following Phil Harrison's speech at the show.
• Amazon has Jak II marked down to $9.98.

Microsoft news:

• A vulnerability has been discovered that could allow homebrew on the 360.
• Battlestations: Midway will be getting new downloadable content tomorrow.
• Project director Casey Hudson says that Mass Effect will fit on one disc, but "just barely."
• 1up continues the series with the ten most wanted 360 games for 2007.

Posted by Bill at 5:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Industry and multi-console news:

• Former EA president and COO John Riccitiello is returning to EA as CEO, replacing Larry Probst, who held the position for 16 years. Probst will stay on as executive chairman of the board of directors.
• The Game Career Guide presents 10 Maxims Every FPS Should Follow.
• Cineplexes in Spain, Germany and Canada are testing the idea of gaming in movie theaters, with the possibility that it could come to the US to allow audiences to play ad-sponsored games before the movies instead of watching the same Coke ads and trivia about films from five years ago that we have now. The only problem is that LCD screens installed in every seat in an American theater would last approximately five days. The controller would be clogged with grease and rendered inoperable in half that time.
• The Parents Television Council has praised Senator Sam Brownback for reviving the Truth in Video Game Ratings Act.
• GameSniped is a great site for collectors that provides links to rare Ebay game auctions, from demo kiosks to prototype carts to Seaman promotional cans.
• Not directly game related, but this sure sounds familiar: New research sees correlation between violent Bible passages and aggression. This study is likely as big a load of crap as the ones on games, but how will the anti-game folks discredit this one while supporting violent game studies?
• There's a full episode up on YouTube of an old PBS series called Enterprise, focusing on the making of Atlantis for the Atari 2600 and Intellivision.
• Echoing the news from the UK earlier this month, Australian game magazine subscriptions are down pretty much across the board, with Australian GamePro closing up entirely.
• LucasArts is in a trademark dispute with Digg, claiming that The Digg is too close to their trademark of The Dig. They have not filed suit, contrary to earlier reports.
• Siliconera has a graph showing the number of employees at various game publishers. If the EA bar fell over, it would crush all the other bars.
• The mobile version of Project Gotham Racing is now live.
• If you think news stories on video games are bad where you are, watch one from Germany. Unless you actually are German, in which case.. turn on the TV?
• Video: Korean fans act out a King of Fighters match on stage.
• Also remember that the Captain N DVD box set goes on sale today. Amazon has it for $23.99.

PC news:

• World of Warcraft is getting some damage distrobution tweaking that will benefit rogues.
• A demo for Command & Conquer 3 is now available.
• Jesus, that's one detailed World of Warcraft cake.
• Joystiq is offering a free year subscription to Games for Windows.

Nintendo news:

• A Christian group in California is warning parents that the Wii can be a "portal to porno." The Kotaku article mocks them and calls it an "attack", but it's really not. I mean, it is a portal to porn. It's also a portal to Google and Zachary Ty Brian fansites, but that's the point. Many parents simply don't understand that game consoles can be used to browse the Internet, so someone needs to explain it to them in terms they understand.
• New Jersey Institute of Technology students stomp Mario art into the snow.
• I don't know that this was ever in question, but EA has officially announced their Sims game, now called MySims, for the Wii and DS in America.
• Destructoid has a hands-on preview of Kororinpa, a Wii title in the vein of Monkey Ball.
• Today's history lesson: Video of Nintendo's 1977 Duck Hunt game, which came with a lightgun rifle and a projector to display the image of a duck moving around on a wall or other suitable surface.

Sony news:

• Next Generation argues why Sony was right to remove backwards compatibility.
• Sony is planning to release a new standalone Blu-ray player for $599, a significant mark-down from the previous model priced at $999. Still, if you're going to spend the money, I don't know why you wouldn't just get a PS3 anyway.
• Final Fantasy XII has debuted at number one on the UK sales charts, even ahead of Crackdown, making it the fasting selling FF game in the UK so far.
• Monster Hunter 2nd has sold 700,000 units in its first week in Japan, making it a record first week for a PSP game and possibly setting it up to become the best selling PSP game ever in Japan.
• Mortal Kombat 2 will be hitting the Playstation Store next month.
• A few details on Final Fantasy Versus XIII have come out. Nomura plans to wait until Versus is finished to start Kingdom Hearts III, and has no plans to direct future FF titles so he can concentrate on the KH series.
• A spokesperson for Sony says that a PS3 price drop is unlikely for at least two years.
• The BBC has an article on PSP homebrew in which they talk to well known PSP hackers like Dark Alex and Fanjita.
• Resistance will be getting new downloadable content starting in April.

Microsoft news:

• Team 17 says Worms has finally passed certification, and should appear on Live Arcade within the next few weeks.
• Despite just being released today, Dance Dance Revolution Universe already has ten additional songs available for download, for either 100 points each or 800 points for the lot.
• The product manager for UFO Interactive has revealed that an American release of Raiden IV is coming to the 360.
• A rumor reported in OXM claims that Steve Vai's Halo Theme (Mjolnir Mix) could be a downloadable song for the 360 version of Guitar Hero II.
• Amazon has True Crime: New York City on the Xbox marked down to $4.99, and Star Trek: Legacy on the 360 marked down to $29.99.

Posted by Bill at 5:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Industry and multi-console news:

• Officials in Ontario have pulled a number of Konami slot machines for subliminal messages. Konami says the brief flash of jackpot symbols each time the game is played is a bug and not intentional.
• Ars Technica ponders whether the trend of games being sold exclusively at EB is a sign of things to come. On the other hand, one must wonder how many of the big box retailers would've stocked Chulip anyway.
• A survey of online gamers finds that 84% have heard the word "gay" used in a derogatory fashion during play. The other 16% are deaf.
• Ubisoft's sales rose 78% in January, thanks in large part to their Wii games.
• Climax's Santa Monica studio will no longer be making video games, but will stay open as a "business development hub."
• According to OXM, Shivering Isles is the first and last expansion for Oblivion.
• We've long since passed those dark days when NES games had pitiful translations because no one wanted to pay for it. But apparently, being newer and a smaller market, mobile phone games still fall into the trap.
• Speaking of the old days, surely your inner-eight-year-old has wondered at some point how many bits the next gen systems are.
• Bloodrayne got shut out at the Razzies.
• Insert Credit notes that Ghouls and Ghosts Online seems to have dropped off the face of the earth.
• There may be a new alternate reality game based around an upcoming Nine Inch Nails album ramping up. Quoth Reznor: "It's not some kind of gimmick to get you to buy a record - it IS the art form... and we're just getting started."
• Game Informer has an interview with the head of the i am 8-bit art exhibition, along with a few sample pieces from the 2007 show.
• GamePro predicts the likelihood of various announcements at GDC.

PC news:

• Shiny founder David Perry is working on a new MMORPG to be designed by players. The person who Perry judges to have submitted the best ideas will become the project's director.
• Gamers With Jobs has an anti-review of Vanguard: Saga of Heroes "because I am simply not willing to force myself to play long enough to construct a fully realized impression." This segues into a larger point about Vanguard setting a bad precedent for buggy, unfinished MMOs that use "the consumer as the third investor in the process of the development cycle."
• Why did no one ever tell me that there was a Shin Megami Tensei MMORPG.
• Three Rings' follow-up to Puzzle Pirates, Bang! Howdy, has officially launched.

Nintendo news:

• This week's Virtual Console titles are The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Chew Man Fu, and Bio-Hazard Battle.
• Nintendo executives requested that the Japanese government sell its stake in the company in order to increase liquidity and the number of individual shareholders.
• Elite Beat Agents has been confirmed for an Australian release.
• IGN's Matt Casamassina should know better than to say things like this. "I’ve seen some stuff that you simply have no idea even exists and frankly, if you did, you’d flip out."
• British Gaming Blog has a whopping 53 new Mario Party 8 screens.
• It seems Splatterhouse will be coming to the Virtual Console in March. I would think that'd be more of a Halloween title.
• Nintendo quietly revealed The Warp Zone last week, a "hidden area" in the UK Virtual Console featuring trivia and interesting facts about Nintendo characters and games.
• Teen Vogue has a two page spread on the Wii in their latest issue, with the system being played by bony-assed models. Eat a Goddamned sandwich.
• How to catch Mew in Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow without a cheating device. I'm assuming this is a big deal.

Sony news:

• Sony has announced first party PS3 titles will cost 59.99 EUR / 39.99 GBP. Or 99.95 Australian. or 109.95 New Zealand..ian.
• The Sony Three Speech blog has updated to answer some questions about the backwards compatibility change to PAL PS3s.
• When asked whether future American PS3s will have reduced backwards compatibility like their European brethren, Sony would only say that they have no announcement at this time.
• The Tekken 6 development staff says they'd like to start location tests for the game "before the weather gets hot."
• Phil Harrison says that Sony is under no pressure to drop the PS3 price, and that "the demand is unprecedented." He also mentions that rumble is a "last generation feature."
• Kotaku has a gallery of photos from the London FFXII launch event.
• Amazon has Bully marked down to $19.99.

Microsoft news:

• Alien Hominid will be this week's Xbox Live Arcade title.
• MLB 2K7 and GRAW 2 demos have hit Xbox Live, but you have to have Gold to get them.
• Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada announced an ongoing Halo comic at the New York Comic Con, with Brian Bendis and Alex Maleev working on it.
• Peter Moore says that Microsoft has "a few tricks up our sleeves" with regards to games that will broaden their audience. "From a first-party point of view, it's not just about E-rated games, it's going to be about the experience that, quite frankly, Nintendo has done a tremendous job in capturing, in bringing back fun—if you will—to the gaming platforms."
• Screenshots and a clip are being provided as evidence for rumors that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles the arcade game is coming to Xbox Live Arcade.
• GameTrailers has cam footage of the New York Comic Con panel about The Darkness, including a good bit of game footage.
• A Mass Effect prequel novel has been announced.

Posted by Bill at 5:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

• Major League Baseball 2K7 (360, PS3, PS2, PSP) - Features a new TerrorVision™ option that allows animated corpses to serve as Cardinals pitchers while staring into your soul. $59.69 on the 360 and PS3, $29.99 on the PS2 and PSP.
• Jade Empire: Special Edition (PC) - After two years, BioWare's Xbox action RPG makes it to the PC. $39.99 at Amazon.
• SSX Blur (Wii) - A Wii-exclusive entry in the popular snowboarding series. But still no Rahzel, dammit. $44.99 at Amazon.
• Bullet Witch (360) - A third-person shooter that is known to some just for being a Japanese developed game for the 360, although that's slightly less of a rarity nowadays. It's known to others for being that game about the hot chick with the gun. $49.99 at Amazon.
• MLB 07: The Show (PS2, PSP) - Not to be confused with MLB 07: Mr. Show and its David Wright eating mustardayonnaise minigame. $39.99 for either version at Amazon.
• Samurai Warriors 2 Empires (360, PS2) - An updated version of Samurai Warriors 2 with the addition of a turn-based tactical battle map. $39.99 on the 360, $29.99 on the PS2.
• Formula One Championship Edition (PS3) - An F1 racer featuring all the official drivers, cars, tracks, teams, and so on. $59.69 at Amazon.
• The Sims 2: Seasons (PC) - Is it a Monday? That means it's time for another Sims expansion pack! $29.99 at Amazon.

The full release list is here, if you're upset that I left Dance Dance Revolution Universe off the list.

Posted by Bill at 3:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Industry and multi-console news:

• The 2007 Leipzig Game Conference has been set for August 20 - 22.
• Team Ninja head Tomonobu Itagaki says he'll be revealing a new game based on new IP soon.
• Advocacy groups want to ban advertisements featuring M-rated games on public transportation in Denver.
• Activision has an unnamed Unreal Engine 3 game in the works.
• Ars Technica notes that several states are beginning to put video game bills on hold because of constitutional issues. This includes Indiana, which just a few days ago had sent their game bill to the Senate for a full vote.
• Shacknews has an updated preview of Shadowrun.
• Gamasutra has more in-depth coverage of the Call of Duty lawsuit between Spark Unlimited and Activision.
• The first official release of batari Basic is out, which is a Basic-like programming language for creating Atari 2600 games.
• CheatsCC.com is suing the owner of several game cheat websites because certain cheats and codes appear on those sites in the same order as they are on CheatsCC.com. The guy at the link seems to believe this is ridiculous, but I'm sure dictionary makers have sued people for the same reasons in the past.
• Reports say that Disney is gearing up for a Prince of Persia movie, hoping to turn it into a franchise.
• Gamasutra asks people in the game industry whether Doug Lowenstein was right in his farewell speech at DICE, where he lambasted developers for not standing up for their freedom.
• Destructoid presents the true story of one game tester's horrible work experience.

PC news:

• Gamasutra has added part two of its History of Computer Role Playing Games, focusing on the "golden age" (1985 to 1993).
• Sam & Max Episode 4 is now available on GameTap.
• The Russians -- who else -- have developed a USB shot glass so you can drink with friends over the Internet.
• GameSpy has a review of Project Reality, "the mother of all realism mods" for Battlefield 2.
• Characters in Second Life are protesting military action against Iran. I link it mainly to ask: You're in a virtual world where you can quite literally do whatever you want. Why the hell do you make your avatars hold signs?

Nintendo news:

• Japan's Virtual Console line-up for March includes Actraiser, which marks Square Enix' first entry to the service. Not being an RPG, it's one of those things you have to think about for a moment and say "Oh yeah, I guess that is a Square Enix title."
• Nintendo of Japan has announced that Neo Geo games are coming to the Virtual Console. Also the first two MSX titles, Eggy and Aleste, are coming to Japan in spring.
• Ocarina of Time is coming to the American VC on Monday. The UK got it today, along with Kid Icarus.
• IGN has a video explanation of the controls for Tiger Woods on the Wii.
• Nintendo has denied Perrin Kaplan's statement that they've ceased production of Gamecubes. They say they're still continuing "globally", which sounds like a sly way of saying they're still making Cubes for smaller countries while still leaving the possibility that they aren't making more for America.
• Someone has already uploaded the ending for Sonic and the Secret Rings.
• Amazon has Children of Mana marked down again to $14.99. I suggest you save your money.

Sony news:

• Sony has admitted that European PS3s will have limited backwards compatibility due to a change in hardware design. Only a "limited range" of PS2 titles will be compatible, along with a "broad range" of PS1 titles. What games this will affect won't be known until launch. Sony doesn't care about European people.
• But they insist this change will help lower PS3 manufacturing costs (mainly because they're not including the PS2's Emotion Engine chip but are instead emulating through software) which will, in time, lower the price. Emphasis on "in time" -- there's been no price change announced, nor is one expected.
• The soundtrack for Burnout Dominator has been announced.
• Kotaku has a gallery of Hot Shots 5 screens, looking far too pretty and well rendered for an anime golf game.
• Amazon has 60 gig PS3s in stock.

Microsoft news:

• A trailer is up for Wing Commander Arena. It's kind of a let down.

Posted by Bill at 5:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Industry and multi-console news:

• The worst kept secret in the universe finally breaks as it's officially announced that Mercenaries 2 is coming to the PS3, 360, PC, and PS2. Are you guys, uh.. sure about that last one?
• The NPD has released the chart of the ten best selling games for January, with Lost Planet on the top.
• 2K Games has revealed the soundtrack for MLB 2K7. Between the Nirvana, 311 and Sublime, you can enact elaborate fantasies in which 2007 players have been hurtled back in time to 1995.
• After being off last year, the Classic Gaming Expo is back in 2007, scheduled for July 28 and 29.
• The stepmother of the boy involved in beating a homeless person to death and saying it reminded him of playing a violent video game has written a long letter to Penny Arcade, explaining that the boy had severe problems that all the best parenting in the world couldn't control.
• Another network affiliate news show has done a report about online play and child molesters, this time focused on Xbox Live. But this one is a bit more even-handed than the "Pictochat will rape your children" stories of previous months.
• Hughes Johnson has a collection of scans from the video game section of the Sears catalog from 1988 to 1994. The CD-i has a category in its library labeled "Self-Enrichment", that's a warning sign right there.

PC news:

• A new star-studded trailer for Command & Conquer 3 has been released. "Star-studded," of course, meaning Michael Ironside and Billy Dee Williams.
• Two videos of CryEngine2 tech demos have been released.

Nintendo news:

• Game Daily has an interview with Nintendo's Perrin Kaplan on all sorts of subjects, from online gameplay to the Gamecube (which she confirms is no longer in production).
• Sega has announced four more Virtual Console titles to be added in the upcoming weeks: Sword of Vermilion, Vectorman, Sonic Spinball and Beyond Oasis.
• Sega has also said they're shifting portable development focus from the PSP to the DS.
• In reaction to the claims of a Wii games drought, Games Radar has whipped up a chart comparing the number of games available for the Wii to the N64 and Gamecube in their first four months of release. Though saying you have more early games than the N64 and Gamecube did is kind of like bragging that you punched a six-year old in the face.
• As an apology for the whole Bubble Bobble Revolution fiasco, Codemasters included a free copy of Rainbow Island when they sent out replacement copies of the game.

Sony news:

• The PS3 version of Spider-Man 3 will get exclusive content of both the non-interesting (cast interviews) and interesting (playable "New Goblin") varieties.
• Okami has won the grand prize for the entertainment division at the Japan Media Arts Plaza awards.
• Retailers in Greece have raised the price of the PS3 to 659 Euros. Man, the five people in Greece who are going to buy a PS3 will be pissed.
• A new blog post from 1up's Sam Kennedy says that the rumors were true: Warhawk has become a downloadable title focused on multiplayer-gaming.
• The Japanese Playstation Store has been updated with seven more titles, the most notable among them being R-Type Delta.
• IBM will be hosting a session for Vivendi's game developers to teach them how to better use the Cell processor.
• Eurogamer has the Patrick Stewart FFXII ad online. You can't get more generic writing than that.

Microsoft news:

• IGN has an interview with the Forza 2 team.
• It's also been revealed that Forza 2 will feature online auctions and tournaments.
• A German website has started a rumor that a new software update has been sent out to journalists with debug units that reduces 360 drive noise. Believe it when you see it. Or hear it.
• Microsoft has expanded the Platinum Hits line with eight new titles, including Burnout Revenge, Fight Night Round 3, and GRAW.
• Electronic Arts has announced Wing Commander Arena for Xbox Live Arcade.
• A GRAW2 multiplayer demo will be hitting Live February 26.
• Dean Takahashi reports on a "fanboy" who had seven 360s fail on him, to the point that he had to go to Peter Moore himself to get a replacement. Apparently I got really lucky, because everyone else whose 360 has failed complains about overseas call centers.
• The first screenshots of Rare's Jetpac Refueled have surfaced.
• From November 2006 to January 2007, 4% of people shopping for the 360 looked at Gears of War compared to 12% for Halo 3, suggesting that Halo 3 is driving more 360 sales than Gears even before it comes out.
• You've become a little too concerned with earning Achievements when you build an automated button masher just to get 60 points worth of them.

Posted by Bill at 5:55 PM | Permalink

Industry and multi-console news:

• Human Head is partnering with Marc Ecko's newly formed game company on a new game.
• The head of the ESRB explains the switch to full time game raters.
• Guitar Hero Mobile has been quietly cancelled.
• Hardcoreware compares power consumption between the three major consoles doing various tasks.
• Sonic Team has attempted to offer some explanation for why Sonic the Hedgehog is so glitchy. Basically, they were rushed and trying to do two console versions with one team.
• Ken Rolston, lead designer for Morrowind and Oblivion, has signed on to make an RPG for Big Huge Games.
• Circuit City has decided to dabble in the used games market.
• The newest NPD console sales numbers are in. The Wii sold 426,000 units in January, followed by the 360 with 294,000 and the PS3 with 244,000.
• Gay.com has taken issue with a recent "humorous" Games Radar article questioning if certain game characters are gay. I doubt they meant any harm or discrimination by it, they're just really, really dumb. Frank West can wear a dress! Ho ho! Faaaaaaaaggg!!
• A teaser trailer is up for Resident Evil: Extinction.
• Shacknews has an interview with one of the developers of Def Jam Icon about this weird attacking with music thing.
• CNN has a report on the recent rise in "sport killing" of homeless people, with one teenager involved in a 2004 murder remarking that it "reminded him of playing a violent video game."
• A handful of images based on Brothers Grimm fairy tales have appeared in American McGee's Flickr photostream. Not much is known about them, other than the caption saying they're for "the Grimm project."

PC news:

• A demo is now available for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
• Indygamer names twenty of the best freeware adventure games of 2006.
• Shredz64 is a project to, of all things, bring Guitar Hero to the Commodore 64.

Nintendo news:

• Hotel Dusk will be coming to Europe in April.
• Japan will be getting a new Panel de Pon on the DS in April. If and when it makes it over here, God only knows what it will be called -- previous installments have come under the names Tetris Attack, Pokemon Puzzle League and Pokemon Puzzle Challenge.
• Famitsu.com has the first screenshots of Super Paper Mario on the Wii. The graphics haven't changed from the Gamecube version, but they are in 16:9 now.
• A sequel to Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan has been announced for Japan, with the mouthful name of Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Tamashii Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2. That first bit translates to "Burn! Hot Blooded Rhythm Soul!"
• ABC News Now is taking questions (that have to be submitted in video format for some reason) about the Virtual Console, to be asked of a Team Nintendo product tester in an upcoming episode of Ahead of the Curve.
• For the style-conscious (who also happen to be good with soldering), there's a guide up on how to mod your Wii to have internal Wavebird receivers.
• Elsewhere in the DIY world, you can mod wireless NES and SNES controllers for use with the Wii.
• The Chicago Tribune reports on a retirement home overtaken with Wii Sports mania. It's gotten so popular that they've started a bowling tournament in the lounge.

Sony news:

• Turns out the "new Tales game" Namco Bandai was preparing to announce is Tales of Fandom Vol. 2, meant to be a treat for the fans more than a true new game in the series. As with Vol. 1, it will likely never get outside Japan.
• Jalopnik reports on the process to scan a car for Gran Turismo.

Microsoft news:

• Chopin RPG Trusty Bell is set for a June 14 release date in Japan.
• Retailers in the UK are starting to cut prices on the Core unit.
• Gamers will get their chance to play Gears of War against the Epic team this Saturday.
• The CEO of Bioware has described Mass Effect's story as "Jack Bauer in space." That actually makes it sound dumber than I would hope. I mean, he's mainly making reference to the need for "complex moral choices," I just hope those choices don't include things like destabilizing a passenger jet with your bare hands.
• Amazon has Splinter Cell: Double Agent on the 360 marked down to $29.99.

Posted by Bill at 5:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Industry and multi-console news:

• The ESRB has placed an ad looking for full time content reviewers.
• Gamasutra has an interview with Harmonix about the MTV acquisition, working in Boston, and what's next for the team.
• Video Games Live has a show scheduled for GDC's closing ceremonies which will include a performance from Zelda and Mario composer Koji Kondo.
• The Indiana Senate has approved a bill to impose a $1000 fine on retailers selling M-rated games to minors.
• An Irish newspaper is reporting that Activision has acquired middleware developer Demonware.
• A recent study finds that gamer doctors did better in laparoscopic surgery tests, but there are a few issues with the results.
• Sega has opened a community site for Armored Core 4. A few different games have used this kind of site before, where you sign up and complete challenges for points that you can then spend on various game merchandise.
• Vivendi has purchased Wanako Games, developers of the Xbox Live Arcade title Assault Heroes.
• Syndicated columnist John Rosemond recently recommended to a parent whose child was falling behind in school and has an Xbox that they "take that nefarious device and toss it." He notes that almost all failing male students are involved in video games, whereas most failing female students are using instant messenger. They also all tend to wear shoes and breathe oxygen, this is clearly a contributing factor.
• Bethesda says they have no plans to do anything but RPGs.
• Capcom wishes to point out that while the three key figures at Clover left to form Seeds, the rest of the Clover team was folded back into Capcom. Some of them are working on RE5 right now. The question is how much of the goodness in a game like Okami can be attributed to those three guys versus the rest of the team.
• Racketboy provides a handy list of the best undiscovered games on the SNES. There are a couple personal favorites that aren't on the list, but I'll end up writing about them myself eventually.
• Two developers at Insomniac left the company after finishing Resistance to form Balanced Games in China, a studio with the goal of balancing work and private life. Oddly, China is the stereotypical location for sweatshops, but they started the company there because working "crunch time"-type hours is illegal.
• I will wrench the gaming connection out of you if I have to kill you to do it! A friend of the Salt Lake City mall shooter says he did play violent video games. "Combat games, fighting games, Super Mario..." Further investigation will find Jack Thompson in the back with his hand up the boy's ass, working his mouth.
• A man convicted of selling modded Xboxes is currently living in a halfway house for federal cons, bunking with robbers and murders while he isn't allowed to even touch video games. "They consider that a part of my crime, like I’m gonna be in a halfway house modding Playstations." Admittedly, he got bumped to there from probation for getting caught smoking weed, which wasn't a brilliant thing to do.
• Distellamap turns Atari code into art.
• 1up's Retronauts have a video visit to Akihabara. The production quality is really kinda crap for a professional news website (was a second microphone so far beyond their budget?), I just link it to point out how much Jeremy Parish looks like Randal Graves.

PC news:

• Steve Ballmer admits that sales forecasts for Windows Vista were "overly optimistic." He also promises that "we won't go five years again" before another Windows release, and that Microsoft could extend its anti-piracy measures even further, saying they'll "really ferret through how far we can dial it up."
• PC World names the most annoying things about Vista.

Nintendo news:

• Japanese toy company Tomy has blamed the DS and Wii for a cut to its profit forecast, saying the systems "stole demand for traditional toys."
• Indie developer Persuasive Games claims that Nintendo has said their Independent Developer Program is currently on hold because Nintendo doesn't have enough dev kits to go around to the smaller studios.
• A new study finds that the Wii can help you lose weight; up to 27 pounds a year with regular use.
• Zombies Ate My Neighbors, Gradius III, Castlevania and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have appeared in the ESRB database for the Wii, hinting at future Virtual Console releases.

Sony news:

• An EB Games ad is circulating the Internet for being a bit more on the nose than retailers usually allow. The ad calls the GBA, original DS, and PSP "the past," and encourages gamers to trade up to "the future", which is a DS Lite.
• New details and a new trailer have been released for Crush on the PSP.
• A Japanese blogger has noticed that Appleseed EX on the PS2 seems to reuse animation and design elements from an earlier, unrelated game from the same developer.
• Despite rumors that the game wasn't selling, Virtual Fighter 5 has become the PS3's first top ten title in Japan, hitting number one this week.

Microsoft news:

• 1up theorizes that Microsoft may have downgraded their 360 shipping numbers in order to clear inventory to make room for their (still-rumored) revamped 360.
• THQ has announced Tetris Evolution for the 360.
• A recent Internet marketing survey has asked people about whether they'd like to see Metal Gear Solid 4 on the 360. Obviously someone's putting out feelers.
• Xbox Live Arcade's Worldwide Games Portfolio Manager will be leaving Microsoft at the end of the week to head over to Sierra Online. If you recall, XBLA general manager Greg Canessa left the company for PopCap Games a couple weeks ago.
• A free update for Crackdown has been released, adding four new agents.
• Tesco in the UK has ditched their refund policy of giving you an item free if you're overcharged at the register, after people have started coordinating on the Internet to deliberately take advantage of it. This included many people getting free 360s that were mispriced by a little over two pounds.

Posted by Bill at 5:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Industry and multi-console news:

• Tech journal Red Herring is reporting that Google's deal to buy in-game ad company Adscape has been completed, but there's still no official source on the matter.
• A Texas A&M International University researcher has conducted a meta-analysis of the various studies on video games and violent behavior, and finds the connection remains tenuous at best.
• Face of Doom is an video game art installation in which the face of the Doom guy is projected onto the ruins of the Hotel Europa in Sarajevo. "As the energy level decreases from 100% to 14%, Flyn's expression becomes increasingly tormented and anguished, a metaphor for a city that suffered so much destruction during the war."
• The winner of the Perplex City alternate reality game explains how he found the cube.
• I hear you really know how to move in four new Shivering Isles screenshots.
• The Player One podcast has a new interview with Ted Woolsey, famous/infamous for the translations of 16-bit Square titles like FF6 and Chrono Trigger. There's also a transcription if you don't feel like listening.
• Shocking developments! The 18 year old boy who went on a shooting spree in a Salt Lake City mall didn't own any video games. He must have passed by a Babbages, had his mind taken over by evil radiation, then opened fire.
• Then again... A Japanese university student has admitted to murdering a man and his mother for arcade money.
• Patent Arcade has an archive of various game lawsuits over the years. Not people suing game makers, but companies suing each other, like Capcom's famous beef with Data East's Fighter's History.
• Ars Technica does some shopping around to compare HDMI cable prices. It seems no one can decide how much they should cost.
• A new Spider-man 3 gameplay trailer is out, proudly boasting that all its footage is in-game. I've run some tests and found it to be sexy.

PC news:

• Jade Empire: Special Edition is now available for pre-loading on Steam.
• Blizzard and Vivendi have filed suit against the makers of WoW Glider, a program that plays your World of Warcraft character for you. There's an unusual amount of hate towards Blizzard from gamers on this issue. I guess when you get big enough, no one's your friend anymore. Except lawyers?
• John Edwards 2008 campaign has set up shop in Second Life.
• Irrational games may be developing an X-Com title.

Nintendo news:

• This week's Virtual Console releases are Donkey Kong Country, The Legend of Kage, New Adventure Island, and Streets of Rage.
• As with George Harrison's recent comments about Japanese games possibly coming to the US VC, Nintendo has also said that America-only games could see release on the PAL Virtual Console.
• A homebrew port of Quake is now available for the DS.
• EA has opened their official SSX Blur site.
• Gameplay trailers have been released for Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings, so we can finally see the battle system in action.
• Reggie Fils-Aime notes that "we have a tremendous amount of old Nintendo Power content that we could present to consumers as a way to get smart about Virtual Console." Countdown to Saturday Scan cease and desist starts.... now.
• Kill time and trees with Zelda papercraft.
• Ubisoft has announced Totally Spies for the Wii, though only for PAL territories so far. They can keep it.
• IGN has a new interview with Suda 51 in which he promises to try to make No More Heroes "as violent or even more violent than Manhunt 2." The man has his priorities in order.
• Zelda Reorchestrated is a project dedicated to creating "orchestrated" versions of all Zelda soundtracks. I put it in quotes because they're using high-end sequencers rather than a real orchestra, but hey, these people aren't made of money.
• Someone has uploaded an old Silicon Graphics Ultra 64 tech demo video to YouTube.
• The Wii straps thing is nothing compared to 1982, when Nintendo provided stickers with Game & Watch units to go over the battery cover and prevent babies from eating the batteries.
• A mechanical engineering student has built a clip to attach the Wii remote to the classic controller.
• First4Figures continues with their Nintendo characters series by offering up a Zero Suit Samus figure.
• One Wii modchip maker is claiming their chip will enable DVD playback, ut there's no proof as of yet.
• Gamecube shooter Radio Allergy has been delayed to March 20.

Sony news:

• This isn't a Sony doom and gloom thing, just amusing: For a time, the SNES was ranked higher on Amazon's sales charts than the PS3.
• AOL names the PS3 among Five Gadgets You Shouldn't Buy. Okay, that's a little bit of a doom and gloom thing.
• Brian Crecente says that recent images of the set-up screen to use your PSP as a wing mirror in F1 Championship Edition are false. He says he has the retail version and it doesn't have the feature, despite the fact that it was demoed at E3.
• Phil Harrison has revealed that Sony is planning to make movies available on the Playstation Network.
• The first screenshots are up for a PSP game based on the upcoming 300 movie.
• Sony has let Harmonix know that they're permanently taking down Amplitude's online server on the 26th. Harmonix is planning some sort of send-off/funeral on the 25th.

Microsoft news:

• Xbox Live will be down for maintenence tomorrow, the 20th, from 2 to 5 am PST.
• Bungie has released a teaser image for Halo 3 with a Fall 2007 date on it.
• The first map pack for Lost Planet will be available on March 9 for 400 points.
• An auction to be a cameo voice in Halo 3 mentions Halo 4, but Bungie says it was a "sad clunker of a gag" added by "the 'wit' who wrote the eBay copy."
• 2old2play notes that once you use a credit card on an Xbox Live account, it becomes tied to that account indefinitely.
• A developer at Rare briefly talked about Banjo Kazooie 3, saying "It's still the same characters and the same thing. It's a game for the people who appreciated the game years ago and also for new people that are coming to the 360." I don't know if the same thing is really where you want to go with that.

Posted by Bill at 5:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

All the news sites said Monster Kingdom: Jewel Summoner was coming out last week. Now they show that it's coming out this week. Why is it so damned hard for anybody to keep this crap in line?

• Crackdown (360) - Hey, this Halo 3 beta invite comes with a game! Lol guys, lol! $59.99 at Amazon.
• Sonic and the Secret Rings (Wii) - Sega provides a brief respite from the Wii dry spell with a Sonic game that might not suck. $44.99 at Amazon.
• NBA Street Homecourt (360) - "Creates a hyper-real world that merges legendary courts with the hometown courts of your favorite NBA stars into one seamless city of streetball moments." We built this city on streetball moments. $59.69 at Amazon.
• Virtua Fighter 5 (PS3) - Features two new characters: Monkey Kung Fu master Eileen and Mexican wrestler El Blaze. Any game with a Mexican wrestler is an automatic buy. Children are pure. They know who's the strongest. $54.99 at Amazon.
• Supreme Commander (PC) - A futuristic real time strategy title considered an unofficial follow-up to Total Annihilation. $46.99 at Amazon.
• Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja (DS) - A hardcore dungeon RPG with "impossible levels and gruesome bosses", at least according to its product description. $29.99 at Amazon.
• Trioncube (DS) - Another odd looking puzzle game from the producer of Mr. Driller. $19.99 at Amazon.
• War Front: Turning Point (PC) - Another alternate timeline WWII game, this time looking at what would've happened if Hitler had been assassinated early in the war. You'd think that would end things quicker, but apparently it inspires Germany to put weird superweapons into development. Oh God Hitler is dead what willWE NEED JETPACKS $39.99 at Amazon.
• Metal Slug Anthology (PSP) - Metal Slug, Metal Slug 2, Metal Slug X, Metal Slug 3, Metal Slug 4 and Metal Slug 5, all with wireless two player. $39.82 at Amazon.

There are a few stragglers left off the list, mostly PC games with thrilling titles like UFO: Extraterrestrials. The full release list is here.

Posted by Bill at 2:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

First, a programming note: I'm going to try changing the schedule a bit starting next week. The Saturday Scan will no longer be a weekly feature, but rather I'll try to have some sort of original content on Saturday. Sometimes scans, but also articles and features and all that other crap I've been putting off doing.

But now on to a more important issue: Why are athletes always having earth-shattering orgasms mid-game?

Oh.. Oh God I'm gonna DUUUNNNKKKK

Admittedly, this guy may have just realized he crapped himself. It's one or the other.

HA HA! I'm playing HOCKEY!

Of course, sometimes it's less an orgasm and more of an angry zombification.

Hey, it's that guy from the first one again. Maybe he just walks around looking like that all the time.

And then, sometimes, there's this.

JIMMY MITT-ARM LIKE BASEBALL

Posted by Bill at 4:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Industry and multi-console news:

• The best way to get scared is to be surrounded by sweaty, overweight nerds: Konami has released the first images of Silent Hill: the Arcade. But wait! That raggedy curtain looks even better in person!
• A man in the UK caused a fatal car accident shortly after he finished playing Gran Turismo in his parked car. You can make the connections from there.
• A writer for the Black Voice News has an article about racial stereotypes in video games. San Andreas is always a popular example in this type of argument, but that game was based on the early '90s gang scene in southern California. It may not be a precise historical document, but it's also not just "all black people must be in gangs!"
• Spiderweb Software developer Jeff Vogel explains why he hates RPGs. He also makes them for a living, which you can imagine is kind of a conflict.
• Gamasutra presents a history of Electronic Arts.
• Darwinia and Defcon developer Introversion says they're working on titles for consoles, and that they'll most likely be downloadable.
• Gamasutra has an interesting article on why failure is important in gaming.
• Australian video game TV show Good Game is holding auditions for a new presenter.
• The increasingly interesting Japanmanship blog provides a translation of what many Japanese company names actually mean.
• Modojo presents some examples of ridiculous handheld peripherals.
• Uncommon Loot has introduced Headshot, the energy bar for gamers, and I pre-emptively hate everyone who buys it. Hey jackass, your constant guarana infusions are why you feel like crap all the time and are going to die of heart failure at age 32.

PC news:

• Gamespot has an interview with Joe Kucan, the actor who plays Kane in the Command & Conquer games, asking what it's like to come back to the series.
• The trailer for Sam & Max: Episode 4 has been released.

Nintendo news:

• Semi-obscure PS2 title The Adventures of Cookie & Cream is getting a DS version.
• The ESRB has added ratings to its database for Galaga, Mighty Bomb Jack, and Romance of the Three Kingdoms IV: Wall of Fire, among others. None of them have yet been officially confirmed for a US Virtual Console release.
• The first details and screenshots have been released for Destiny of Zorro on the Wii.
• Capcom is asking fans to fill in a Phoenix Wright comic to "plead your case for Capcom to bring Ace Attorney 3 to America." As Joystiq notes, the fact that they're doing this is pretty solid evidence they're going to bring it over.
• Senior VP George Harrison says that Nintendo is open to releasing Japan-only games on the US Virtual Console "if we can get them translated properly."
• Game Informer has revealed the first story details for Sadness on the Wii. It's not much, but it's more than we've gotten in the last year or so.
• In an interview at DICE, Reggie Fils-Aime tries to reassure the public that Nintendo is making as many Wiis and DSes as it can. He also sidesteps the issue that his claims of "no Nintendo drought" turned out to be... well, completely wrong.

Sony news:

• Namco officially revealed Tekken 6 at AOU 2007.
• Q*Bert will be added to the Playstation Store on February 22.
• An Aqua Teen Hunger Force game is being planned for the PS2. Be careful, it may be a bomb.
• Genji creator Yoshiki Okamoto explains why you can attack a certain giant crustacean at its weak point in his game: He's allergic to crabs. He eats just one and he's hospitalized with massive damage.
• Hideo Kojima has an idea for an online multiplayer zombie game.
• Eric Williams, one of the guys on the God of War II team, made a bet with his fellow developers that if GoW2 sells 500,000 units by April 1, he has to lease a Maserati Quattoporte for a year and drive them all to lunch every day. He asks that, if you are a nice person, you buy the game after April 1.

Microsoft news:

• Bungie says that the Halo 3 beta will reveal the function of the mysterious X button. But "it won't be all that surprising." This information is part of a larger FAQ explaining how the beta will work and what it will contain.
• The deadline for the Old Spice Experience Challenge (you know, that thing where you're supposed to increase your Gamerscore by 1500 points) has been extended by a few days to make up for time that their server was down. They've also added more rewards.
• The Blue Dragon anime will begin airing in Japan in April. Studio Pierrot, responsible for Naruto and Bleach, is producing the series.
• This YouTube video previews the new Lost Planet maps.
• Being reported by numerous sources (including being confirmed by a writer at Kotaku), Game Crazy has a black 120 gig 360 listed in their point of sale system for the price of $479.99. This seems confined to Game Crazy so far, so don't take it as hard evidence the thing exists yet.
• According to a job listing, Arkane Studios is porting The Crossing to the 360.

Posted by Bill at 5:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Industry and multi-console news:

• Okami developer Clover has been reborn in a new independent studio called Seeds. Among its ranks are Viewtiful Joe producer Atsushi Inaba and Devil May Cry director Hideki Kamiya (who both left Capcom last year) and Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami (who still works for them as a contracted producer).
• GRAW 2's official website is up and running.
• Namco has announced a new Tales title will be unveiled next week.
• Harvey Smith, the man heading the sequel to Area 51, said that the original game "bored the shit out of him," so he's turning the story into a political metaphor.
• The Pensive Gamer looks at the state of homebrew games on each of the three big systems.
• New sales stats for the UK show that print magazines are seeing further decline.
• Gamestop relies so heavily on used games sales that they've taken to calling people who've bought games from them, asking to sell them back.
• GamePro debunks 14 gaming myths, though most of them are kind of "duh." Then again, this is GamePro's audience we're talking about.
• When I was a kid, I would've so gone for Tetris furniture. Hell, I'd still go for Tetris furniture.
• If you have control issues, you can bid on this lot of 161 Atari, Amiga and Commodore joysticks on Ebay.

PC news:

• In the wake of Ebay's new "no virtual property sales" rule, a new peer-to-peer market for trading game gold called Sparter has opened.
• Valve has released a flood of new images from Half Life 2: Episode Two, Team Fortress 2, and Portal.
• For all the recent crap about developers taking blueprints and allowing players to run confidence tricks in-game, at the very least the EVE Online guys have a sense of humor.
• The people behind Postal have put out a press release claiming the "Postal Dude" could be the father of Anna Nichole Smith's baby, because apparently being randomly offensive with no provocation is hilarious.

Nintendo news:

• CNN has only today gotten around to translating and posting a Talk Asia interview with Shigeru Miyamoto from just before the Wii's launch last year.
• It seems Level 5 is already working on a sequel to Professor Layton.
• Keen Games has become the first German Wii developer.
• Ars Technica's Opposable Thumbs blog has handy screenshot comparisons between an NES, two NES clones, and the Virtual Console.
• One blogger relates his unusually helpful customer service experience with Nintendo and a busted Wii.

Sony news:

• Play.com is taking six times the pre-orders for the PS3 than it got for the 360, and 15 times what it got for the Wii. And they're still claiming to fill all pre-orders on day one.
• A demo for Full Auto 2 and Destruction Derby for the PSX are both now available on in the Playstation Store.
• One Harvey Norman PS3 display turned out to be a 360 with a picture of a PS3 hanging on it.
• Patrick Stewart has been tapped to provide the voiceover for UK and Australian FFXII ads. Your long-standing nerd convergence dream of hearing Captain Picard say "Final Fantasy" is about to come to fruition.
• But don't leave yet, nerds! You can also own a God of War replica sword! And it's attached to a chain the same gauge as your little sister's heart necklace, just like the real thing!

Microsoft news:

• Along with the announcement of the European release date for Forza 2 (May, same as everywhere else), Microsoft has released a list of the Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Maseratis and Porches that will appear in the game.
• Red Octane says they plan for Guitar Hero II to have "more online content than anyone has ever seen in a game to this date."
• Microsoft is providing refunds to some people who were incorrectly charged tax when buying Microsoft Points.
• The first Halo 3 tournament has been announced.
• In addition to revealing the likely existence of Ikaruga on Live Arcade, JetPack Refuelled has also been spotted on the Partnernet debug service. GameSetWatch explains what the service is and why it's a problem for companies trying to keep these games under wraps.
• Japan has gotten the first round of Blue Dragon Marketplace content. It's free, providing extra difficulty levels for players looking for a new challenge.

Posted by Bill at 5:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Industry and multi-console news:

• Former Take-Two CEO Ryan Brant has plead guilty to making a false filing as part of a stock-option backdating scheme.
• Marc Ecko has opened Marc Ecko Entertainment, focused on "originating, funding and developing interactive properties." Appropriately, his company shortens to MEE.
• Planet Moon has announced they are no longer PSP exclusive.
• Eidos has sold the movie rights to Kane & Lynch to Lionsgate.
• Game Informer reports that Nihilistic is working on an action game based on the Conan franchise for the 360 and PS3.
• Presidential hopeful Sam Brownback is reintroducing the Truth in Video Game Ratings Act, which would require the ESRB to fully play every game they rate.
• The ESA wants to add Canada to a blacklist of countries that don't adequately enforce intellectual property laws.
• Shortly after the unveiling of the next gen title Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, the game's official website has opened.
• It's been revealed that Mercenaries 2 will have online co-op.
• Handmade goods online shop Etsy had some neat retro drink coasters on sale, but they look like they're sold out now.
• A tow truck driver called in to pull the wreckage of a car in which an eleven-month old girl died has been accused of stealing $700 worth of game items, including a PS3, from the vehicle.
• A Russian company has designed a pop-up thumbstick for use in cell phones to make gaming easier. It's just a concept at this point, but I imagine they'll find someone to buy it.
• Game People offers some theories on what makes some people choose inverted controls and others not.

PC news:

• Epic has finally admitted that they'll "get around to a PC version" of Gears of War, they just don't know when.
• It's the battle of the stained glass PC cases. The former goes for the classy look, whereas the latter... has Meatwad and a bottle of Bawls. ..Yeah.

Nintendo news:

• Nintendo has launched the Everybody Votes Channel for the Wii, which presents regularly updated (currently rather insipid) survey questions for, well, everyone to vote on.
• A "concerned parent" speaking on NPR derides games like Wii Sports for giving children a "false sense of what it's like to compete in the world." Hey, look over there, the world just got dumber.
• Crave Entertainment has announced Brunswick Pro Bowling for the Wii.
• IGN's Tuesday Topic discusses the Wii's FPS controls -- where they are now, and how they can be better.
• Banpresto in Japan is selling squeezable SMB mushrooms. I want one.
• Here's a marketable skill to put on your resume: Video of a guy beating Super Mario Bros. with his feet. This is why you should always wash any used controllers that you buy.

Sony news:

• The production team behind Ico and Shadow of the Colossus is looking for programmers for an upcoming PS3 project.
• The head of Sega Racing Studio isn't terribly fond of the Sixaxis, saying "the whole tilt control thing is rubbish. It's no compensation for rumble."
• Play.com claims that they'll be able to fill every PS3 pre-order come launch.
• Australian discount retailer JB Hi-Fi has announced they will only stock Blu-ray discs.

Microsoft news:

• Files on the Xbox 360's closed debug network suggest that Ikaruga could be coming to Live Arcade.
• BioWare says Mass Effect's main quest should take 20 to 30 hours to complete.
• For what it's worth, Microsoft has responded to the BBC Watchdog program on broken 360s, saying there is "no systemic issue" with the console.
• Crackdown is shipping with only 900 possible Achievement points, with rest being determined by how people play the game. The developer will monitor what the most popular Achievements are, then create the other 100 points worth based on that.
• At least one CompUSA store has broken the Crackdown street date.
• GWN shows you how to tell if you have the quieter 360 drive. All 360s made after November 2006 have it, which makes me all the more annoyed that the manufacturer's date on my replacement 360 is 10-22-06.

Posted by Bill at 5:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Just in case you were curious, and I know you weren't, I got my replacement 360 from Microsoft yesterday. January 26th to February 12th isn't a horrible turn-around time. Certainly much better than I was expecting.

Industry and multi-console news:

• Enemy Territory: Quake Wars is coming to the 360 and PS3.
• Popular Science has a long interview with Will Wright.
• Electronic Arts has acquired online karaoke community SingShot. It isn't entirely clear yet what they plan on doing with it.
• Jeremy Parish argues how Sega can save Sonic. Unfortunately, I think we've all been saying this for at least six years.
• GameDaily asks Ubisoft's CEO just exactly what they have planned for their new CGI studio.
• Age of Conan 360 and PC players might be able to play together. Might. It's an issue the developer is still feeling out.
• In case you're getting confused by all of them coming out in such short order, this blog post sorts out the five documentaries about arcades in the works or out already.
• The video game bill introduced in Mississippi that would've fined retailers $100 for selling M-rated games to minors has died in committee.
• Students of Loyola-Marymount University will be debating First Amendment issues and video game violence tonight in Los Angeles as a part of the school newspaper's First Amendment Week.
• After their game franchise dried up, apparently Billy and Jimmy opened a Chinese restaurant.

PC news:

• The non-disclosure agreement on the beta test has lifted, so all sorts of sites are chiming in with impressions of Lord of the Rings Online.
• There are ten new screenshots up for Battlefield 2142: Northern Strike.
• In a press release announcing the release of Myst Online: Uru Live, GameTap provides a short history of the Myst series.
• New screenshots are up for Unreal Tournament 3.

Nintendo news:

• When buying Kid Icarus through the Virtual Console, players are warned that the VC version does not support the game's "secret passwords." Some say it's because the original game used a seperate module to handle passwords, but even if that's true, I don't see why they couldn't figure out a way to emulate it. Does anyone know if Kid Icarus ROMs used with emulators support these passwords?
• IGN says a "reliable industry insider unaffiliated with Capcom" claims Capcom could be working on a Wii version of Okami. Seems rather shakey.
• Microsoft's Shane Kim says that "a Kameo or a Viva Pinata on the DS makes a lot of sense."
• This summer, those bankrupt of imagination will be able to better visualize their sporting activities with the Nerf Sports Pack for use with the Wii. If nothing else, having a big wad of foam on your remote may save your TV screen.
• Capcom's Senior Director of Strategic Planning & Research says that most of their games coming to the Wii are not mature titles, adding "I don't see the Wii being home to a sizeable mature playerbase outside of some of the early adopters."
• Level 5 has provided a web demo of Professor Layton. It's in Japanese, but you can figure it out.
• Once again, 4 color rebellion has provided Nintendo-themed Valentine's cards for the dork in your life.
• Apparently the BBC gets their news from the Wii News Channel.

Sony news:

• IGN has retracted the statement about God of War 2 in 720p on the PS3. The game will run in 480p on the PS3, but not 720p.
• Sony has confirmed that Gran Turismo 4 HD will be available for download at launch in Europe.
• A Sony exec has revealed that the company plans to cut back on chip spending, and may decide to no longer produce the Cell processor in-house.
• Sony Computer Entertainment UK's Commercial Director has left the company five weeks before the PAL PS3 launch.
• Karaoke game SingStar Pop is coming to the PS2 April 3.
• Of course, video of God of War 2's sex minigame has to circulating around the Internet before the game's release. And I'm linking it too! OH GOD I'M PART OF THE PROBLEM

Microsoft news:

• This Wednesday's Live Arcade release will be Paperboy.
• Microsoft has announced that the last Phase 2 Halo 3 beta invitations have been sent out, so if you didn't get one, buying Crackdown is the only option you have left.
• Microsoft's Phil Spencer says all 360 games should have matchmaking like Halo 2.
• BBC program Watchdog will be looking at the 360 red ring issue (and how the UK gets screwed out of Microsoft's extended warranty on early 360 units).
• Gamespot has the details on the new Rainbow Six Vegas downloadable content pack.