next rnd items off plz

Industry and multi-console news

New media: Alpha Protocol screenshots, Street Fighter IV screenshots focusing on El Fuerte

• Studio president Don Daglow says that Stormfront is only mostly dead. He admits they've laid off "virtually everybody", but they have a couple outstanding negotiations on new projects still in the works. If those go through, they could bring people back in and start work again.
• Saints Row 2 has been dated for August 26, Mercenaries 2 has been dated for August 31.
• Grand Theft Auto IV has been edited for release in Australia to receive the MA15+ rating.
• Josh Larson, VP of games at CNet and the man many blame for the firing of Jeff Gerstmann and the increased pressure of the sales team on the editorial team at Gamespot, is leaving the company. Not by choice.
• Gamastura has an opinion piece on why gamers need to step away from a militant defense of the artform. "Organized around worship sites like Kotaku, 1UP, and Penny Arcade, the Church of Gamers congregates in Internet forums and online games, rallying against the Great Satan of Jack Thompson. Smitten with near-religious fervor over their hobby, these so-called gamers increasingly treat digital games as a devotional object, a thing morally good in itself."
• Interview round-up: Next Generation talks to Epic's Tim Sweeney and 2K Marin creative director Jordan Thomas, Gamastura talks to Greenpeace's Zeina Al-Hajj about making consoles greener, and GameDaily talks to New York Times writer Seth Schiesel about how the paper covers games.
• Infoaddict lists 30 things that suck about Call of Duty 4.
• The ESRB has rated what looks to be a sequel to Rocketmen coming to the 360 and PS3.
• Spectre Collie has kind of a summary of the recent debate over the necessity of writers in the game industry, along with additional thoughts.
• Comcast has launched 50mbps broadband for a mere $150 a month.
• Conservative commentator Phyllis Schlafly has weighed in on the game violence debate: "Legitimate free speech expresses violence in a rational context, rather than displaying it graphically to evoke an immediate emotional reaction. It is not a First Amendment right to cause panic on an airplane by shouting that someone has a bomb; nor is it legitimate free speech to evoke violent reactions in children through graphic video games."
• MCV reports that SCi could again be looking at an acquisition, possibly by Time Warner or Ubisoft.
• Eidos Montreal hints that their second "AAA project" (the one that isn't Deus Ex 3) is a game that starts with the letter T. Could be Tomb Raider, could be Thief, could be something really boring.
• Hardcore Gaming 101 has a new article covering the Streets of Rage series.

PC and mobile news

New content: World at War: A World Divided 1.020 patch

• Rock, Paper, Shotgun has an article on the making of System Shock 2.
• EA has shut down a number of modded Battlefield 2 servers that were used to artificially inflate scores.
• Nickelodeon has plans to make new virtual worlds in addition to their existing Neopets and Nicktropolis properties, including one based on SpongeBob Squarepants.
• After a number of delays, the N-Gage platform has finally launched.
• Free racing game Trackmania Nations Forever will be available for download starting April 16.

Nintendo news

New PAL Virtual Console title: Yoshi's Cookie

• Telltale has confirmed rumors that Sam & Max: Season One is coming to the Wii.
• A sequel to Avatar: The Burning Earth is coming to the Wii.
• IGN was so impressed by their fake Legend of Zelda movie trailer for April Fools Day that they also have a making of featurette to go along with it.
• Nintendo's Iwata Asks column has moved from Brawl to talking about Mario Kart Wii. Among other things, you can see pictures of some of the 30 different prototype wheels they came up with.
• Legend of Zelda and Phoenix Wright manga are coming stateside.
• Amazon has NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams for $29.99.

Sony news

• The ESRB has added a listing for R-Types for the PS3 and PSP, suggesting a future download release. R-Types originally came out for the PSX and contained the first two games in the series.
• Gran Turismo 5 Prologue will be getting a car damage patch -- "maybe by fall."
• Eurogamer has an interview with Gran Turismo creator Kazunori Yamauchi.
• In addition to the Master Chief and Gears of War models linked a while back, now you can get a Samus character mod for Unreal Tournament 3.
• Amazon's deal of the day is Mx Vs ATV Untamed for $44.99.

Microsoft news

New content: Call of Duty 4 map pack, Armored Core for Answer demo (Japan and Korea only), Rock Band tracks -- the three that were in OXM, $1 each

• MyGamerCard.net is holding a sweepstakes in which you can win Battlestar Galactica stuff. The downside is that you have to play the Live Arcade game.
• Amazon's deal of the day is Mx Vs ATV Untamed for $44.99.