A trailer has been released for Bionic Commando Rearmed, the PSN/XBLA remake of the NES classic. It can be seen here, since the embedding code doesn't seem to be playing nicely.

Industry and multi-console news

New media: Turok "Awakening the Giants" video documentary part two, Viking: Battle for Asgard screenshots

• A couple of Capcom's minisites seem to suggest that the Devil May Cry 4 demo is coming January 31.
• Word of upcoming Rock Band releases were leaked on Xbox.com yesterday. Next week will see an Oasis pack, with the week after seeing Smashing Pumpkins, another Rush cover, and Coheed and Cambria.
• Sega and Emaar Properties will be developing theme parks in the Middle East.
• A new trailer for Uwe Boll's Postal movie has been released, and once again I just feel sad for Dave Foley.
• Retro Studios programmer Mark Haigh-Hutchinson has died following a battle with pancreatic cancer. He worked on a number of games over the years, most recently all three Metroid Prime games.
• Infogrames lays out how they plan to recover.
• A survey of Japanese gamers finds that most want a system with the best games, while only 6 percent responded that price was the biggest factor.
• Sierra and Team 17 have announced Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust for the 360, PS3, PC and mobile phones, featuring actors like Jay Mohr, Jeffrey Tambor and.. uh.. Peter Graves. IGN has an interview with the game's executive producer about the last game's failure and how they're taking the series in a new direction. "The last game was torn apart and I think it was just the wrong approach for this franchise. Most of the criticisms of the game were not off base."
• Red Octane has teamed up with music trade group NAMM to encourage people to try out real instruments.
• GameCareerGuide presents a feature explaining the differences between types of game designers, from lead designers to level designers to technical designers.
• Gamasutra has the results of a game designers' think tank on story.
• Cosplish claims to be Japan's first Cosplay English school, and I really don't think you need to know any more than that.
• The Hollywood Reporter has an article on the current state of the Prince of Persia movie. Oddly enough, PoP creator Jordan Mechner asked around about creating a movie back in 1993, but was met with resistance due to the similarity to Aladdin.
• The official Rock Band blog talks about the process of breaking down and mixing songs for Rock Band, and the occasional secrets those old masters contain. "Listen carefully to the bit in 'Suffragette City,' where David Bowie says 'Ah, hit me' before the guitar solo. You can hear Bowie giggling after he says it, like he knew how silly it sounded and liked it anyway."
• Replacement Big Daddy figurines are in the mail for those who got broken ones.
• GameSetWatch looks at the pluses and minuses of WYSIWYG game design, where interfaces and indicators are replaced with in-game, more natural elements. An example would be having your character look more injured and the screen turning red instead of using a life bar.
• MSNBC has an article on parents playing games with their kids.
• Actor Michael Rosenbaum has been chosen to voice the protagonist in Dark Sector.
• Error Macro, International Games Are Awful For You Edition! First: The Chinese government plans new regulations to crack down on online games.
• Second, a member of Parliment in New Zealand says "These teenagers are thriving on a diet of alcohol and drugs and their main entertainment is playing violent video games before they head on to the streets looking for trouble."
• And third, Labour MP Keith Vaz questions UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown on the subject of violent games.
• Hopefully this is sorted out once and for all: Alone in the Dark is coming out in May for the 360, Wii, PC and PS2. The PS3 version, for reasons unknown, is still without a date.
• Some guy at Gizmodo got banned from CES for going around and turning off TVs with a remote. The main problem is that they seem to be scrambling for some illusory moral high ground here. "So, I can assure you, everything is going to be OK once the companies find their clickers between the couch cushions of our prank and your obedience. Will our critics find it as easy to turn their integrity back on? I doubt it." OH MAN ZING

PC and mobile news

New content: Starcraft 1.15.2 patch, Depths of Peril 1.007 beta patch, Advanced Tactics: World War II 1.10L patch

• The final Enemy Territory: Quake Wars SDK is available now.
• Hewlett-Packard sold more PCs than Dell in 2007.
• Hasbro has sent DMCA notices over Facebook game apps such as Scrabulous and Bogglific, both fairly blatant copies of Hasbro board games.
• Free Korean MMO Mabinogi is coming to the US, starting with a closed beta on January 30.
• GarageGames has announced their browser-based FPS Fallen Empire: Legions. I take it this is the Tribes-like game shown in leaked video last month.
• A clan rivalry in Lineage II in Russia led to one man being beaten to death.
• A man with no medical training aside from medic certification in America's Army helped attend to victims of a car accident until help arrived.

Nintendo news

New media: Trailer for Rondo of Swords, a newly announced DS RPG from Atlus

• A new study finds that surgeons perform better after playing the Wii.
• Majesco has announced Toy Shop for the DS. "The concept for this unique simulation is like Santa's workshop meets retail tycoon."
• Nintendo has sent out a release calendar for the first half of the year, showing that Okami and Ninja Gaiden DS are coming on March 25, and Wii Fit is somewhere in the second quarter.
• Destineer, a name I guess we'll be seeing a lot of, has announced Summer Sports: Paradise Island for the Wii.
• Amazon's deal of the day is Luxor: Pharaoh's Challenge for $19.99.

Sony news

New content: Motorstorm tracks
New media: Final Fantasy XIII screenshots (scans), Resistence 2 video interviews

• PixelJunk Monsters will be hitting the Playstation Network on January 24.
• Sony has responded to complaints about SingStar on the PS3, promising new content on January 18 and more in February.
• Japan again proves they are leagues ahead of us by promoting Yakuza 3 with Yakuza 3-themed instant udon noodle packaging.
• Japan will be getting the Phantasy Star Complete Collection in March. The disc includes Phantasy Star I – IV plus the eight Phantasy Star II text adventures Sega released online in the 90s.
• Supposedly Sony is looking for an engineer to handle backwards compatibility for the PS3 and an unspecified next-gen console. This is an American report on a German report of a Japanese job ad, so hell, the original text might have shown Sony was looking for a caterer or something.
• Amazon has Scarface on the PS2 for $9.99.

Microsoft news

New content: Pinball FX expansion (Nightmare Mansion table), FIFA Street 3 demo

• Xbox Live portfolio manager David Edery has a blog post on how to improve Live demos and sell more games. "It’s surprising how many developers don’t think about their game’s trial experience until the very last minute of the development process. A downloadable game’s trial is everything! If someone doesn’t enjoy your trial, then they probably won’t buy your game."
• The lawyer representing the case tries to explain the $5 million class action suit over Live's holiday outage. It's not about the money guys, for serious.
• Microsoft has issued a statement on the "strange signal" reported to generated by the 360, saying it could be anything.
• The Guitar Hero III Rock Your Party Sweepstakes has begun. Entering consists of downloading a free picture pack.
• The National Entertainment Collectibles Association has announced official Gears of War action figures.
• The conservative jackass who wrote all about Mass Effect's digital sodomy has backed off and apologized. Somewhat, anyway.