So Guitar Hero: Aerosmith comes out this week. Most of us also remember the arcade classic Revolution X, no matter how hard we try not to. But did you know there was a third game featuring Aerosmith? Did you know that's three too many?

The above is the German box art, as the American version is kind of dull. Or rather, more dignified.

Industry and multi-console news

New media: Soul Calibur IV gameplay footage

• MTV has announced Rock Band 2, which will arrive in September on the 360 and later in the year after an unspecified exclusivity window. IGN has an interview with the lead designer to get the first details.
• Meanwhile, the original game has exceeded 15 million song downloads.
• Speaking of which, Harmonix has said that Who's Next won't be coming to Rock Band because, as suspected, they can't find all the masters. Instead, they've teamed with Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey to create a 12 track best-of compilation pack, which will be available July 15.
• Smash Bros. Brawl beat out Battlefield: Bad Company to hit the top of this week's UK sales chart, while MGS4 continues to sit at number one elsewhere in Europe.
• The ESA has won $65,000 in legal fees from the state of Minnesota.
• The BBFC has rejected claims that the implementation of the Byron Review could lead to delays and higher costs.
• Shellshock 2 has been refused classification in Australia.
• Acclaim has announced the winners of Dave Perry's Project: Top Secret competition.
• Gamasutra has an interview with Monkey Island creator Ron Gilbert about his current projects and the state of the industry.
• 1up presents ten things you should know about Space Invaders.
• The American Library Association is initiating a project to track and measure the impact of gaming on literacy skills. They're also working to construct a model for a national library gaming system.
• A game violence researcher has criticized the book Grand Theft Childhood; the authors have responded.
• Street Fighter IV is officially coming to Japanese arcades July 18.

PC and mobile news

New content: The Political Machine 1.03 patch
New media: Atlantica trailer and gameplay footage -- a turn-based strategy MMO currently in beta

• Joystiq summarizes the new World of Warcraft info from Blizzard's Worldwide Invitational.
• EA veteran Neil Young has created a new iPhone studio.
• The guy who hacked into Valve last year, compromising Steam account information and credit card numbers, has been caught by Dutch police. But not before spending 13 million Euros on electronics and online poker.

Nintendo news

New WiiWare title: Magnetica Twist
New content: My Life as a King dungeons
New Virtual Console title: Fatal Fury 2

• A new Nester comic appears in the 20th anniversary issue of Nintendo Power (God, that thing's been around for 20 years). Apparently Nester has grown up, gotten married and has a kid, along with an unfortunate new quasi-anime art style.
• Majesco has announced Cooking Mama World Kitchen for the Wii.

Sony news

• Trophies and the in-game XMB are coming to the PS3 as part of the 2.4 firmware update, due July 2. The official Playstation blog has video walkthroughs for the media bar and the trophy system.
• The Dualshock 3 is finally coming to Europe this Friday.
• A single screenshot accompanies a rumor that PS2 game downloads could be coming to the Playstation Store.
• Gamestop's database shows SOCOM: Confrontation being delayed to October 14.
• Binary Fractal presents the theory that Solid Snake has no penis.
• Amazon's deal of the day is MLB 07 The Show for $8.99.

Microsoft news

• This week's Live Arcade title is Soul Calibur, along with new content for Wits and Wagers.
• Evidence continues to mount for a 360 price cut announcement at E3.
• According to a Wired preview, Too Human's campaign lasts 10 hours.
• An Opposable Thumbs source says the price drop is a means to make way for a 60 gig version.
• EA says they are aware that some players are having trouble connecting to the Battlefield: Bad Company servers.
• Just in case you ever wondered where J Allard disappeared to, he's apparently now Microsoft's Chief Experience Officer.
• Konami and Hori have teamed up to make an arcade stick with touch screen for the 360 game Otomedius Gorgeous.
• Too Human contains a KLOBB gun, last seen in Goldeneye and named for Ken Lobb (who was working at Nintendo at the time, and now works at Microsoft).

Posted by Will at 6:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

• Guitar Hero: Aerosmith (360, PS3, PS2, Wii) - Doesn't include I Don't Want to Miss a Thing? NO SALE. $59.99 on the 360 and PS3, $49.99 on the Wii and PS2. There are also the standard $100 guitar bundles ($90 for the PS2), and even a two-guitar bundle (PS2 only).
• Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 (DS) - Anime Surgery: The Sequel. $29.99 at Amazon.
• Gears of War (360) - A rerelease containing the original game and both map packs released so far. $39.99 at Amazon.
• Fading Shadows (PSP) - A puzzle-platformer with goofy-ass box art. I tried searching for it at Amazon, but they gave me Soul Bubbles instead.

A slow week with several of those games where no one can agree as to whether they're actually coming out or not. Gamasutra claims Hail to the Chimp is being released this week when they also said it was coming out last week. Thankfully these problems only affect games you don't care about.

Posted by Will at 6:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

If you've been stuck under a rock recently, Diablo III was announced over the weekend. 1up has a brief guide to catch you up on all that is known so far.

Industry and multi-console news

New media: Rainbow Six Vegas 2 trailer which explains the upcoming Fan Pack

• Mega Man 9 will be hitting Live Arcade, PSN and Wii Ware simultaneously.
• Valve says Half Life 2: Episode 3 will not being showing at E3.
• Firaxis has responded to the Cut Scene blog regarding their moral issues with the Civilization series. "As with all previous versions of Civilization, the game does not endorse any particular position or strategy - players can and should make their own moral judgments."
• Develop Magazine wonders if we'll see knighthood for Rockstar founders Sam and Dan Houser down the road.
• GameDaily talks to the director of Wall-E about whether games will catch up with Pixar's films.
• The latest issue of Edge has first details on DC Universe Online, an MMO coming to the PC and PS3.
• Kezins lists 51 different games that use the Wilhelm scream. If you don't know what that is... well, you do, you just don't know it.
• Apparently Catwoman is in Mortal Kombat vs. DC.
• A new marketing survey may have leaked more of the artists appearing in Guitar Hero: World Tour.
• Meanwhile Microsoft is busy asking Canadians if they play games naked. And 17% of men said yes.

PC and mobile news

• Starcraft 2 won't be coming in 2008.
• Valve argues for why the PC is the future. "Team Fortress 2 designer Robin Walker weighs in, noting that the PC version of the shooter has had no less than 53 updates since its release last year - something that certification cost and time have prohibited for on console - and that this 'ship continuously' ethos is a key component to the success of the best multiplayer titles. Steam, he says, makes that process fast and transparent."
• The Federation of American Scientists have created Immune Attack, "an educational video game that introduces basic concepts of human immunology to high school and entry-level college students."
• Beyond the Diablo news, Blizzard's Worldwide Invitational also brought new Starcraft II details.
• The CEO of Crytek estimates that there are 20 pirates for every one legitimate buyer of a PC game.
• A parody fairytale MMO called Secondhand Lands is currently in closed beta.
• The New York Times has reported on a recently formed council of Eve Online players that were flown to Iceland to meet with the game's developer to make suggestions and air grievances. On one hand it's really interesting that CCP would be that open to feedback, on the other hand pretty much everything associated with Eve is embarrassingly sad.

Nintendo news

New media: Skate It trailer

• Nintendo is holding off on any plans of a DVD player Wii to focus on providing adequate supply of the current model.
• Samba de Amigo may contain maraca attachments for your Wii remote.
• The DS game Soul Bubbles is going to be available only at Toys R Us.
• The Smash Bros. Dojo has updated again with a new screenshot gallery, to mark Brawl's European release.
• A homebrew painting application for the DS uses the Guitar Hero On Tour peripheral for tool shortcuts.

Sony news

New media: Persona 4 trailers

• The solo version of Metal Gear Online has been dated for July 17 in Japan.
• Dark Alex has released his 4.01 custom PSP firmware.
• Sony has been granted a patent for a "hand-held device with touchscreen and digital tactile pixels."

Microsoft news

New media: Halo Wars screenshots

• In one of the behind the scenes featurettes on the MGS4 bonus disc, you can see a 360 devkit on the desk of someone at Kojima Productions.
• The Street Fighter II HD beta is having problems with freezing, but Capcom has no plans to patch it. "Resubmissions would cost a fortune and not go live for weeks. This isn't like the PC where a developer can make changes daily (for good or ill)." Sounds like they read the Valve article.
• The MyGamerPad rumor has been proven false.

Posted by Will at 8:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I suppose, given today's events, I'm obligated to make the first video in today's gallery this 19 minute run of Diablo III gameplay footage.

I could've used the debut trailer, but that doesn't really tell you much. Even less if you're like me and you've never actually played a Diablo before.

A clip from multiplayer Call of Duty 4 proves that perhaps the girlie magazine gimmick in the Metal Gear Solid series isn't so far-fetched after all.

Sim City, The Sims, Spore, et al creator Will Wright casually discusses being far cooler than you'll ever be. Wright won the 1980 US Express, an illegal cross-country street race created as the successor to the Cannonball Run.

Battletoads' infamous difficulty can prove a stumbling block to even the best of us.

A guy records his girlfriend's comments as she plays Team Fortress 2 for what I'm assuming is the first time. It's pretty much impossible to have a video like this without it fueling some misogynist debate, but I think a reasonable person can recognize that most of her problems come more from being unfamiliar with the game rather than some innate hindrance stemming from her vagina. Girls do seem to be more likely to feel bad when people get killed, though.

I don't know how impressive this will be to people who have never played Peggle. But if you have, do you think you could make 18 million points in one shot?

Now that everyone has gotten the penis monsters out of their system, it's time to move on to the next phase of Spore creature creation: copyright infringement. Above is a pretty decent Bowser, but there are also Half-Life creatures, Final Fantasy characters, and a lot more.

This is the trailer for a Japanese DS game which involves, among other things, poking girls' butts. I'd like to be able to say that there's a good reason for such a thing, but I think you and I both know there is not.

Finally, episode four of Destructoid's Hey Ash, Whatcha Playin' series. What does Professor Layton do in his off time?

Posted by Will at 3:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Well, the Wii is finally getting a Castlevania.. except it's a 3D fighting game called Castlevania Judgment. Ick. As long as they were deciding to do the opposite of what people want, they should have run with it all the way and made a kart racer.

Worth noting is that the character designs are being handled by Death Note artist Takeshi Obata, a man of unparalleled range. Judgment character designs on the left, Death Note characters on the right. I think.

Industry and multi-console news

• Harmonix has loosened the warranty restriction on Rock Band, meaning you can get a replacement for faulty equipment without providing a receipt showing a purchase in the last 60 days.
• New Japanese hardware sales numbers show the PSP back to being the top selling hardware in Japan, after coming in second to the PS3 last week due to the release of MGS4.
• The official E3 website has an entry for Half Life 2: Episode 3, which is a bit of a surprise as Valve hasn't said anything about it, much less gave any indication they would show it.
• Ubisoft has announced a Rainbow Six Vegas 2 fan pack, offering new multiplayer maps and High Stakes mode, coming in July.
• McFarlane Toys has revealed the first of their Guitar Hero action figures.
• Next week's Rock Band tracks come from Motley Crue, Papa Roach and Trapt.
• Game designer and Virginia Tech alumnus Manveer Heir wants to make a game about the aftermath of the Virginia Tech shootings.
• The Game Creators have announced the launch of the Game Creator Store, allowing you to buy assets for use in your game (as opposed to stealing them).
• The latest issue of Famitsu says Soul Calibur IV has tag team elements, though to what extent remains unclear.
• As part of the job cuts reported a while back, LucasArts laid off a number of key Force Unleashed personnel.
• Michael Pachter says "Around 90% of last-generation console sales were made at the $199 price point or below."

PC and mobile news

• 1up has a video interview with Will Wright about Spore.
• Duke Nukem Forever isn't going to be at E3 because 3D Realms thinks E3 is irrelevant. "In fact, I wasn't even aware it was coming up." Yeah, that tends to happen when you're not invited.
• Blizzard's splash page, which has been changing day by day, is really driving some people nuts.
• No doubt those people will be hammering the live streams of Blizzard's Worldwide Invitational this weekend.

Nintendo news

New PAL Virtual Console titles: Super Fantasy Zone, Pac-Attack, King of the Monsters, Cybernoid, Summer Games 2 -- Why do they keep getting so many VC games?

• The Mega Man Network has updated with some clearer scans of Nintendo Power's Mega Man 9 screenshots.
• Hudson is working on a new Adventure Island, which will "probably" be for WiiWare.
• DSes are being used to help Japanese students learn English.
• 2K has signed a deal to use Havoc physics in several upcoming Wii titles, like, uh.. Carnival Games: Mini-Golf. Woo.
• Metal Slug 7 will hit the DS in America on November 19.
• Wired has a lengthy interview with Shigeru Miyamoto.
• Sunsoft is developing a digital comic viewer for the Wii. This will allow players (presumably Japanese only) to buy manga through WiiWare.
• Nintendo has announced its Japanese Virtual Console line-up for July.
• Crave tells you how to cheat at Wii Fit. I'm more bothered by the douchebag host with his terrible hair and hispter t-shirt.
• Japanese people have apparently run out of ideas to jerk off to, as they now have a Brain Training parody porno movie.
• WiiHD has a guide to Wii homebrew.
• Remember that all Amazon Gold Box deals today are Nintendo games, while the deal of the day is Smas Bros. Brawl for $25.99.

Sony news

New PSP game: Medievil Resurrection
New content: Pain character, Guitar Hero track, Rock Band tracks, Top Spin 3 demo
New media: Dissidia: Final Fantasy trailer

• Level 5's PS3 RPG White Knight Story is due sometime before April 2009. What happened to when it was called White Knight Chronicle?
• Gamasutra has an interview with Nippon Ichi. about Disgaea, the PS3, and their success in America. I had no idea they had made a Pilotwings-esque flight game.
• While we continue to wait for the game to show up here, Japanese gamers get Disgaea 3 content packs.

Microsoft news

New content: Lego Indiana Jones demo
New media: Soul Calibur (XBLA) gameplay footage

• Today is Bill Gates' last day at Microsoft as CEO.
• Scans of a K-Mart flyer show a new $299.99 price for the 20 gig 360. Obviously, it's not guaranteed the scans are legitimate.
• Microsoft says they have some "fantastic surprises" for this year's E3. That's right, two new editions of Buzz!
• Microsoft is concerned that the recommendations of the Byron Review might make games more expensive in the UK. Lord knows they've been dirt cheap up until now.
• Screenshots floating around the Internet claim to show Microsoft's answer to Home, called My GamerPad.
• Three N+ map packs are on their way, totaling an addiional 750 levels.
• Amazon has Fatal Inertia for $15.88.

Posted by Will at 6:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

NeoGAF has new Final Fantasy: Dissidia screenshots. Or Dissidia: Final Fantasy. No one can agree on how it's formatted.

Keep 'em in their respective games and they're alright, but start mixing and matching them and.. boy, they look silly. Has Ultimecia always been Sephiroth with tits?

Industry and multi-console news

New media: 20 minutes of Far Cry 2 footage, Blood Bowl trailer -- basically Mutant League Football with more of a fantasy bent

• The 2009 Leipzig Games Convention is still on track despite a new rival event in Cologne.
• Gamasutra has an interview with Ubisoft on the rise of the Petz series.
• Super Robot Wars A Portable has pushed Metal Gear Solid 4 out of the top spot on the new Japanese sales chart.
• American McGee has an interview on his official blog with producer Scott Faye (currently working on the Max Payne movie) about the status of the Alice movie.
• Next Generation looks at the making of Carmageddon.
• Edge catches up with the people who got their start using the Net Yaroze (an official homebrew PS1 development kit) and talks about how it affected their careers.
• New York police claim that six teenagers were emulating GTA when they robbed a man at a supermarket.
• Opposable Thumbs has a list of the exhibitors at this year's PAX.
• A new Breath of Fire game is a possibility, if enough people want it.
• Sega of Europe is backing a fan venture to hold the first full Sonic the Hedgehog convention in London on August 9.
• MTV Multiplayer presents a a guide to video game comics.
• There's been another stabbing in Akihabara, but this one wasn't nearly as bad.
• BioShock programmer Chris Kline denies rumors that the BioShock team hates Ken Levine.
• Variety's Cut Scene blog asks, "am I the only one who think it's morally disturbing to make a game that celebrates COLONIZATION?"
• GameSetWatch looks at the future, or lack thereof, for new print gaming magazines, from the perspective of someone just laid off from the recently cancelled, short-lived entertainment magazine PiQ. "Going through the experience of launching and maintaining a brand-new, nerd-oriented print magazine in this modern era has taught me a great deal about how to survive in that marketplace. To be more exact, you can't. Forget about the return of GameFan or Next Generation or anything else you may've liked in the past -- the video-game realm will be lucky if it sees any sort of new magazine launch in America at any time in our lives."

PC and mobile news

New GameTap titles: Civilization IV: Warlords, Descent 3, American Deer Hunting

• Microsoft has written an open letter to PC gamers.
• The virtual world Habbo has reached 100 million avatars. And only 2 million of those are Genos.
• Blizzard has announced the Blizzard Authenticator, a keychain dongle intended to add extra security to World of Warcraft logins.
• Duke Nukem Forever isn't going to be at E3. Take a moment to recover from the shock.
• Speculation is certainly mounting that Diablo 3 will be announced at E3.
• An internal Microsoft e-mail from a few years back shows that even Bill Gates gets frustrated with Microsoft's usability. "So I gave up and sent mail to Amir saying - where is this Moviemaker download? Does it exist? So they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipated."
• Cliff Harris goes around testing the power usage of various computer components, just for the hell of it.
• Sign-ups are now open for the Jumpgate Evolution beta.
• Science Magazine reports on the experience of holding a scientific conference in World of Warcraft.

Nintendo news

• According to scans from the next issue of Nintendo Power, Mega Man 9 is coming to WiiWare.
• Guiness World Records: The Videogame has been announced for the Wii and DS. It'll be as exciting as watching your fingernails grow, because the game will actually involve watching your fingernails grow.
• Ubisoft has revealed a Prince of Persia title for the DS, subtitled The Fallen King.
• Marvelous Interactive has announced Arc Rise Fantasia for the Wii.
• The lawsuit against Nintendo over an old Gamecube ad that allegedly used music without permission has been dropped after Nintendo proved they did get permission after all.
• EA has announced Boogie SuperStar for the Wii, which will be targeted specifically at girls.
• A 13 year old boy hung himself after an argument with his parents about wanting to play his new Wii.
• EA has detailed the All Play branded sports games coming to the Wii.
• On Friday, Amazon will have a full day of Gold Box deals featuring "Nintendo icons."

Sony news

New content: Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds demo

• The PS3's video rental service is coming in summer. They've also announced an upcoming news service for the system somewhat like the Wii's News Channel.
• PS3 Cell processors have shifted to a 65nm process, and the RSX graphics chip will follow this fall.
• Dissidia: Final Fantasy is being released in Japan this year.
• Sacred 2: Fallen Angel is coming to the PS3 along with the 360 and PC.
• 1up has new details on the PS3 port of Eternal Sonata.
• Amazon's deal of the day is WTF: Work Time Fun for $9.99.

Microsoft news

New content: Top Spin 3 demo, Guitar Hero track
New media: Leaked Gears of War 2 beta footage, Street Fighter II HD gameplay footage, Otomedius Gorgeous trailer

• The Content License Transfer Tool is now available to help sort out your DRM issues. Joystiq has a Q&A with Marc Whitten on how it works.
• Pages for Schizoid and Soul Calibur have appeared on Xbox.com. This could be important, as the trend has been for pages to appear on the site immediately followed by the game being released to Live Arcade.
• Microsoft is bringing IGN Strategize to the Live Marketplace. Because, once again, you'd much rather watch video of people talking about tips and strategies than just look up a FAQ and then get on with your life.
• Denis Dyack has called upon Internet trolls to state their opinion on Too Human. If they post in a NeoGAF thread saying they're against the game and it turns out to be good, they get an "Owned by Too Human" name change. If the game turns out to be crap, Dyack's account gets an "Owned by GAF" name change. Congratulations on being a child, Denis Dyack!
• EGM's rumor column claims that Microsoft may allow other companies to produce 360s.

Posted by Will at 6:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

If you're going to mod a PS3, this is how you do it.

Industry and multi-console news

New media: Fallout 3 screenshots, Mortal Kombat vs. DC screenshots, Mercenaries 2 screenshots

• EA says that proposed changes to the ratings system in Britain will result in delays to UK release dates.
• Next Generation talks to Pixar about how video game technology affects their work.
• Lawyers who won the Hot Coffee class-action lawsuit are shocked there aren't more claimants. It's.. It's almost as if no one cares! Why does this case exist to begin with, then? Maybe it has something to do with the $1.3 million they're asking for in legal fees.
• Gamespot has an interview with Ed Boon about Mortal Kombat vs. DC in which he clarifies the whole fatality thing: "All of the MK characters and all of the DC villains will have fatalities. The DC heroes who don't kill that often will have brutalities that will function just like fatalities but don't actually kill the opponent."
• Tomorrow will see a World of Warcraft song available for Guitar Hero III. The song, I Am Murloc, is performed by Blizzard's house band, Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftain.
• Next Generation talks to Harmonix about their hopes and fears for music game user-generated content. “I think a lot of the first user-generated content is going to be very questionable versions of Stairway to Heaven."
• The New York game bill mentioned yesterday has passed the New York State Senate and is now going to the governor for consideration.
• Meanwhile a Connecticut State Senator is upset about a rape scene in GTA4 that doesn't exist.
• The next Assassin's Creed isn't coming right away, as Ubisoft wants to give both it and the Prince of Persia series "breathing room."
• The Wall Street Journal suggests that Japanese gamers aren't comfortable with playing against strangers on the Internet. This, they say, is why the Monster Hunter series succeeds on the PSP, because people can play it with friends.

PC and mobile news

New content: Death Track: Resurrection demo, Wall-E demo

• 2404 has an interview with American McGee about his upcoming episodic game Grimm.
• Gamasutra has a feature on getting western MMOs to succeed in Asia.
• 3D Realms has done it again, attaching a tiny, nondescript Duke Nukem Forever screenshot to a help wanted ad.
• Novint is bringing support for their Falcon peripheral to a number of Valve titles.

Nintendo news

New media: Samba de Amigo trailer, first Major Minor's Majestic March screenshots -- from the designer and artist behind Parappa the Rapper

• Nintendo has officially announced three new games: Wario Land: Shake It!, Kirby Super Star Ultra, and Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir.
• Aeon Genesis has released version 2 of their Live A Live fan translation, with new fonts and a fuller script. The game isn't a masterpiece, but it's worth playing as an unusual piece of Square history.
• Amazon's deal of the day is Monster Jam for $15.99.

Sony news

New media: Infamous screenshots

• EGM reports the rumor that Kratos will appear in the PS3 edition of Soul Calibur IV.
• Square Enix is releasing 12 of their PS1 games on the Playstation Network in Japan, with the first six available now. Several of them are import-only titles you've likely never heard of, but the list does include Xenogears and Einhander.
• This week's Zero Punctuation review is for Metal Gear Solid 4.
• "Sources in Japan and Korea" tell Marketing Week that Sony could launch a Playstation-branded phone as early as Christmas 2009.
• Fans have created an English patch for Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G.
• Next Generation Gamers suggests ten Metal Gear Online survival tips.
• CVG has what is supposedly the final list of features for PS3 firmware 2.4.

Microsoft news

New Live Arcade titles: Happy Tree Friends False Alarm, Ticket to Ride
New media: Too Human co-op "serving" feature, Gears of War 2 screenshots, Gears of War 2 multiplayer footage and interview with Cliff Bleszinski

• The Street Fighter II HD beta is now live.
• Xbox Addict has opened a faceplate database. Unfortunately, right now their idea of a "database" is 1000+ entries lined up on a single page.
• A marketing survey is going around that gauges interest in a number of Halo spin-off possibilities, from Halo squad-based games to Halo MMOs to Lego Halo.
• Amazon's deal of the day is Monster Jam for $15.99. They also have Enchanted Arms for $19.99.

Posted by Will at 6:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Having the somewhat disturbing realization that Pokemon is old enough that its earliest fans aren't kids anymore, the Pokemon Company has created a brand for adults. They're kicking it off with a set of four t-shirts featuring stylized representations of Hypno, Cubone, Articuno and Mewtwo.

Industry and multi-console news

New media: Dead Space "strategic dismemberment" feature, Red Faction: Guerilla gameplay footage, Alone in the Dark trailer

• EA is planning a line of sports peripherals to debut in the next 12 months -- or as early as E3.
• The UK's Trading Standards Institute says that 90% of retailers will sell age-restricted games to minors online.
• Ubisoft has opened its first production studio in South America, meaning that the company now has studios on five continents.
• EA says there are five Battlefield titles in development, "which is more than you'd expect." Yeah, no shit.
• Crispy Gamer looks at the history and evolution of games journalism.
• Harmonix' invites to their Rock Band Bash at E3 look somewhat similar to one of the concept covers for Rock Band 2. This could mean the sequel will be at the show, or it could just be a company reusing assets.
• The Abstract Factory argues that video game apologists are looking for art in the wrong places. "Likening video games to cinema is a fundamental error. Video games may borrow the aesthetic language of cinema, in the same way that architecture can borrow painterly or sculptural gestures, but the nature of a game is that it is an abstract state space through which the player moves. Indeed, video games, like computer code in general, can be viewed as simply the abstract version of architecture."
• A new survey finds that gamers spend roughly $30,000 between the ages of 18 and 48 on games and hardware.
• Konami believes that all music game instruments should be compatible with one another.
• As expected after that Retro Game Master thing, Game Center CX DVDs are getting subtitled in English, with the company behind them currently looking for a US distributor.
• A new video game bill is working its way through the New York legislature that would legally require console makers to add parental controls and mandate that ESRB ratings be displayed on game packaging. Boy, just imagine if they.. did that.. already?
• The producer for Call of Duty: World at War has tried to explain why it isn't called Call of Duty 5, but it doesn't make much sense.
• Joystiq has a look back on the Alone in the Dark series.
• Atlus will be hosting a Shin Megami Tensei panel at the Anime Expo in LA.
• And for those of you on the other side of the country, old school Final Fantasy character designer Yoshitaka Amano will be a guest of honor at the New York Anime Festival.
• N'Gai Croal and Stephen Totilo have posted the final segment of their GTA4 debate.
• MTV contrasts and compares the Rock Band, Rock Revolution and Guitar Hero drumsets.

PC and mobile news

• The people who made Limbo of the Lost have finally gotten around to responding to accusations of plagiarism. They claim it all came from outsourced talent and they had no idea it was stolen.
• Linux Game Publishing is introducing copy protection.
• DICE says Battlefield Heroes is targeted at "frustrated restricteds" -- "people who really want to play full games, and aspire to be gamers, but they're restricted in some way, and this makes them frustrated. Maybe they're restricted by money, time or skill?"
• Blizzard says that World of Warcraft was originally going to be free and ad-supported.
• Spre is getting an $80 "Galactic Edition" that includes a making-of DVD, art book and more.
• The Sporepedia database has surpassed one million creatures.

Nintendo news

New media: Final Fantasy IV DS screenshots

• Sim City Creator on the Wii allows for curved roads, what a concept.
• EA has announced Brain Quest for the DS. It sounds like another Brain Training rip-off, but it's actually based on a series of children's learning books that have been around for 15 years.
• Nintendo is being sued by Morgan Creek Productions, who alleges that they used music from the 1993 film True Romance in a Gamecube ad without permission.
• Super-NES.com has an interview with Secret of Evermore lead programmer Brian Fehdrau, looking back on the development of the game.
• 2006 PC adventure game Safecracker is coming to the Wii.
• EA is considering shipping Skate It with a skateboard form that fits onto the balance board.
• Amazon has Battle of the Bands for $19.85.

Sony news

• Sony says they need to "revitalize the developer community to get behind the PSP."
• Sony has supposedly lost $3 billion over the last two years by pricing the PS3 under its production cost.
• There are some images floating around the Internet that are claimed to be leaked shots of the PS3 trophy system, but there's no way to confirm it.
• There's a rumor that God of War III will be seen at E3.
• Amazon has Gangs of London for $11.91.

Microsoft news

New content: Don King Presents Prizefighter demo, Rock Band tracks
New media: Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise screenshots, Tales of Vesperia gameplay footage -- this is actually just taken from the Japanese demo, which you can play yourself if you have a Japanese alternate Live account

• The number of people killed in Halo 3 matches has now surpassed the current population of Earth.
• In a new Fable II developer diary, Peter Molyneux is seen drawing a box around what looks like the word October. Maybe that's a hint at a release date, or maybe it's nothing.
• Amazon has Universe at War: Earth Assault for $21.84 and Sega Rally Revo for $15.88.

Posted by Will at 6:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Retronoob has a gallery of game sprites placed into real world settings. Maybe.. maybe you should look at it?

Industry and multi-console news

New media: Left 4 Dead gameplay videos

• The Financial Times reports that Activision and MTV are vying for the rights to Beatles' music.
• Lego Indiana Jones is back on top of the new UK sales chart after briefly being knocked down by MGS4.
• Call of Duty: World at War will have four-player online co-op.
• At the Paris GDC, 2K's Chris Kline talked about why BioShock should have failed.
• GameCareerGuide's Ask the Experts column tackles the question of whether your school's reputation reflects poorly on you.
• Crave Entertainment is the latest company to leave the ESA.
• Joystiq has the full setlist from Guitar Hero: Aerosmith.
• There's a rumor that New Zealand's retail chain Gamesman is being taken over by Gamestop.
• An ESA study finds that the use of video games for employee training is increasing. It can even teach prison guards.
• BlazBlue, the new arcade fighter from the Guilty Gear team, will get its first location test in the US at the Anime Expo in Los Angeles July 3rd through the 6th.
• Rick Moranis won't be in the Ghostbusters game for the same reason he hasn't been in anything for the past several years. "He made so much money off of Honey I Shrunk The Kids that he retired. He just doesn’t want to work anymore."
• Wall-E is notable for being the first Arabic-localized game on current gen systems.
• 61 Frames Per Second looks at 10 games that should have been controversial.

PC and mobile news

• Blizzard has a new splash page that some people thought might be a teaser for Diablo III, but WoldofWar.net has determined it's something Warcraft related.

Nintendo news

New WiiWare title: Gyrostarr
New Virtual Console titles: Alex Kidd in Miracle World, Burning Fight
New media: Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels trailer

• Gamasutra has excerpts from the My Life as a King postmortem in the new issue of Game Developer magazine.
• Capcom’s Christian Svensson says you shouldn't hold your breath for a Zack and Wiki sequel.
• Thank God the Twilight Hack was reinstated, now you can run homebrew Wii vibrator software.

Sony news

New content: Hail to the Chimp demo, Grand Theft Auto 4 patch

• PSN cards are finally showing up in retail stores.

Microsoft news

New content: Frontlines; Fuel of War free map, Grand Theft Auto 4 patch

• This week's Live Arcade titles will be Happy Tree Friends False Alarm and Ticket to Ride.
• Amazon's deal of the day is Tony Hawk's Proving Ground for $14.99.

Posted by Will at 6:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I am very late, so this is the speed version of the new releases post.

• Battlefield: Bad Company (360, PS3)
• Guitar Hero On Tour (DS)
• Alone in the Dark (360, PC, PS2, Wii)
• Rock Band (Wii)
• Final Fantasy Tactics A2 (DS)
• Hail to the Chimp (360, PS3)
• Hellboy: Science of Evil (360, PS3, PSP)
• Top Spin 3 (360, PS3, Wii, DS)
• Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath (360)
• Wall-E (360, PS3, Wii, PSP, DS, PS2, PC)
• Operation Darkness (360)
• Overlord: Raising Hell (PS3)

Gamers are also faced with the agonizing choice this week between Mega Man Star Force 2: Zerker x Ninja or Mega Man Star Force 2: Zerker x Saurian, which is bound to keep you up at night. People looking to buy Alone in the Dark on the PC may care to know that it contains SecuROM. See the full release list at Gamasutra.

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

oh god it's 5:00 am

This isn't so much a weekend post as a really early Monday post

Industry and multi-console news

New media: Call of Duty: World at War trailer, UFC 2009 Undisputed trailer, Lord of the Rings: Conquest trailer, Spider-Man: Web of Shadows combat trailer

• It seems a lot of places make reference to VGChartz sales numbers these days, but GameSetWatch is the first place I've seen really look at how they arrive at their numbers.
• This week's release of the Pixies album Doolittle on Rock Band will be joined by a three-pack of Weezer songs from their latest album.
• Gamespot talks to the author of Game Boys, a new book about the world of professional gaming.
• The composer for Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 will be Frank Klepacki, who worked on a number of past games in the series but wasn't available for C&C3: Tiberium Wars.
• To celebrate the game's 25th anniversary, for the next week you can get a copy of Dragon's Lair signed by its creators for the PC, or on DVD or Blu-ray.
• A preview in X360 magazine reveals more of the fighters appearing in Mortal Kombat vs. DC.
• Guitar Hero III downloaded songs will work in Guitar Hero: World Tour.
• GamesRadar has a guide to console releases broken down by decade, in case you need a reminder of which systems came out in 1976.
• Tomb Raider: Underworld will involve Lara seeking to "uncover the secrets of the Norse underworld."
• David Jaffe writes an open letter to the people who make Marvel games. "Please stop putting Spiderman games in big open sandbox environments where you swing around and do oh so slight variations on 4 pretty dull mission types (chase/race/collect/etc) and then once in a while toss in a boss fight and/or a somewhat unique mission."
• Racketboy lists the rarest and most valuable Genesis/Mega Drive games. A special edition box of Maximum Carnage that was sold on QVC, that's hilarious.
• An LA Weekly blogger claims that Fox, which owns the rights to the movie title Grand Theft Auto (a 1977 film directed by and starring Ron Howard), has a deal with Rockstar. They can't make a game out of the movie and Rockstar can't make a movie out of the game.
• GameTrailers has uploaded episode 5 of their Star Wars retrospective.
• Tale of Tales has an interview with Silent Hill 1 and 2 artist Takayoshi Sato about his past work and his new job working on serious games.
• The Brainy Gamer draws parallels between Birth of a Nation director D.W. Griffith and Hideo Kojima, and one feels safe in assuming this is the first time anyone has done that. "I believe both artists suffer from a particular aesthetic blind spot - one that emanates from their inabilities or unwillingness to shed the limiting conventions of a pre-existing dominant art form that clouds their visions and restricts their power. For Griffith it's the Theater; for Kojima it's Film."
• I'm not sure I get the reasoning here. Somebody from Infinity Ward is reported to have said the developer is working on a sci-fi title. Various blogs have taken this to mean that Call of Duty 6 will be set in the future. Hell, the source goes on to say it may be revealed at E3, and I can't imagine they'd announce Call of Duty 6 when Call of Duty 5 has just barely been revealed to the public.

PC and mobile news

• Now that they've settled in to regular updates, Valve has started a Team Fortress 2 blog.
• Rock, Paper, Shotgun talks about the experience of visiting a Pyro achievement whoring server. "I didn’t feel good about it. It wasn’t that I felt like I’d cheated. I was sad because I was not in a place where a team-mate would congratulate me for achieving the unlock - on this server, I was just one more feckless dope grinding away."
• A series of Hardy Boy adventure games is coming to the PC.
• The system requirements for Alone in the Dark have been released.
• Since some people have been curious, following the plagiarism scandal, Richard Cobbett plays Limbo of the Lost to see what the game is actually like.
• Some retailers have started displaying a December 3 release date for Starcraft II, though who knows where they got it.

Nintendo news

• Atlus has announced dungeon-designing RPG Master of the Monster Lair for the DS, to be released in America September 2.
• A producer on Call of Duty: World at War says of the Wii version: "For all intents and purposes, it’s the same game" as the next-gen versions.
• Guitar Hero World Tour will allow players to store downloadable songs on SD cards as well as use the internal memory.
• A workaround for the Wii Menu 3.3 patch has been released to make the Twilight Princess hack work again.

Sony news

• Sales of the PS3 in Japan jumped from 10,856 to over 75,000 for the week of MGS4's launch, which itself has sold 464,926 copies in Japan so far.
• PS3 Fanboy talks to the developers of LittleBigPlanet on the game's current status.

Posted by Will at 11:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

This year's New York Asian Film Fest will feature showings of the Onechanbara movie as well as the US debut of Game Center CX, subtitled in English and retitled Retro Game Master. I don't know if this is a one-off thing or a lead-up to a possible DVD release or what. But it certainly wouldn't be out of place on Spike or G4.

If you have no idea what Game Center CX is, this page should explain it to you.

Industry and multi-console news

• IGN has a lengthy preview of Guitar Hero: World Tour, with details on the game as well as a first look at the new guitar and its weird touch pad. They also reveal the first three tracks confirmed for the game: Everlong by the Foo Fighters, Santeria by Sublime, and Rebel Yell by Billy Idol.
• There's some sort of mess going on with several European review sites who say that Atari claimed their Alone in the Dark reviews were based on pirated copies. Atari has no comment.
• The CEO of Pop Cap says the company has a collaboration with a major console developer in the works.
• British game developers are facing a skill shortage. One industry insider blames consoles for contributing to the loss of "bedroom coder culture."
• EA' head of European talent acquisition has an opinion piece on making the game industry an attractive place to work.
• Gamasutra has a feature on piracy in Korea.
• London mayor Boris Johnson has drawn a connection between violent video games and knife crime. You know those deadly knifing simulators they have.
• Two new characters have been announced for Tatsunoko vs Capcom: Batsu from Rival Schools and Tekkaman from the Tekkaman The Space Night anime series.
• Computer World talks to researcher Sylvia Ann Hewlett about why women quit tech careers.
• Hifumi Kouno, designer at Steel Battalion and Infinite Line developer Nude Maker (a company which has also made a number of adult PC titles over the years), talks about making both hentai and mainstream games. "As part of writing scenarios, it's very important to understand human behavior. The sexual urge and sexual motives are really a core part of human behavior and a really primal urge, so I think we can't forget that. I don't want us to forget that part of ourselves."
• New consumer research finds that price is still the number one consideration in the purchase of new consoles.
• Sellers of pirated games in Singapore are getting a little more wary, often requiring convincing before they'll show you their pirated inventory.
• Chewing Pixels talks about the difficulties with interviewing Japanese developers. "Often, when speaking to Japanese directors and producers from large software houses there will be at least one or two company chaperones in the room checking what is asked by the interviewer and vetting the interviewee’s responses, stepping in when a question steps outside of the accepted boundaries of conversation."
• Vidoegaming247 lists their top ten most influential game journalists in Britain today.
• N'Gai Croal and Stephen Totillo have posted part two of their GTA4 debate.

PC and mobile news

New content: Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor 1.95 patch

• All activation restrictions have been removed from the PC version of BioShock.
• WoWInsider offers a guided tour to World of Warcraft's 2.4.3 patch.
• According to a PCGames.de interview, Crysis Warhead will run at 30fps on a $600 computer.
• The Witcher Enhanced Edition has been dated for September.
• While everyone continues to wait for the developers of Limbo of the Lost to explain the blatant theft in their game, people have been digging up old interviews with them. "Between the three of us we researched, wrote, designed, animated, scripted and developed the whole game from home."

Nintendo news

New media: Mario Super Sluggers gameplay footage

• Remember that this weekend is your chance to go to Gamestop and get a Deoxys Pokemon.
• Homebrewers have already found a way around Wii menu update 3.3, which had blocked the Twilight Princess hack.
• Wii Fanboy's Revolutionary column explains how to use the Wii Wheel and balance board to make a racing rig.
• Ghost in the Shell director Mamoru Oshii's new movie The Sky Crawlers is being made into a Wii air combat sim by the team who makes the Ace Combat games.
• Amazon's deal of the day is Rondo of Swords for $17.99.

Sony news

New game: Fatal Inertia EX
New content: Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds course, Incredible Hulk missions, Guitar Hero III tracks, Rock Band tracks
New demos: NCAA Football 09, Hail to the Chimp

• Howard Stringer says Sony's top priority is to "restore profitability in our television and game businesses." Might be helpful.
• An Experian Consumer Research study finds that the PS3 appeals most to those 45 and older.
• Japan will be getting a stand-alone version of Metal Gear Online.
• The next issue of EGM will have a Killzone 2 cover story.
• An Italian Playstation magazine reports the rumor that Dark Cloud 3 is in development for the PS3. It Goddamned well better be.

Microsoft news

New content: Tales of Vesperia demo (Asia only)

• GamePro talks to CliffyB about Gears of War 2 details.
• Frontlines: Fuel of War is getting a title update that fixes bugs, adds features and allows every multiplayer map to support up to 50 people at once.
• IGN has details on some of Fable 2's NPCs.
• Amazon has Time Shift for $18.91.

Posted by Will at 6:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

There was a dog here. It's gone now.

Industry and multi-console news

New media: Dead Space screenshots, Quantum of Solace first screenshot

• A new game in the Driver series is in the works.
• The estate of Mario Puzo is suing Paramount Pictures, claiming to be owed at least $1 million from sales of the Godfather video game.
• Using the ESRB database to get early word of unreleased games may be a thing of the past. A new ESRB publisher contract adds the option to choose when a game's rating is uploaded to the website.
• LucasArts says they're still attending E3.
• Neil Young has left EA to manage his own company.
• Metal Gear Solid 4 has debuted on top of the new Australian and Japanese sales charts.
• Saboteur will be arriving in early 2009.
• THQ says Saints Row 2 is very different from GTA4, which was "more character- and story-driven" whereas Saints Row 2 will be about "tongue-in-cheek ... silly, over-the-top gameplay."
• Graphics processors from game consoles are being used to calculate financial data on Wall Street.
• A new political ad for John McCain uses music from Medal of Honor: European Assault. This has annoyed the composer a bit, as he's an Obama supporter.
• Forbes talks about the games Europeans like to play by making lots of generalizations. "Guns and gore also don't sell as well in Europe because Europeans like short, so-called casual games, rather than the long, epic tales that keep gamers pounding on their consoles for hours at a stretch." Hey, it turns out Europeans are women!
• Ben Heck, who apparently does absolutely nothing but mod game systems, is back with a new creation: a portable Atari 7800.
• Warren Spector believes "100 hour games are on the way out." They've never been that in, really, other than RPGs.

PC and mobile news

New GameTap titles: Cosmic Osmo, Descent II, MDK
New media: Oregon Trail gameplay footage
New content: ATI Catalyst 8.6 drivers, Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword Patch 3.17 patch

• World of Warcraft is getting level 30 apprentice mounts.
• There's some concern over the Spore Creature Creator demo phoning home, with some suspecting the demo contains SecuROM. It doesn't make a lot of sense to put in a demo, but it's been done before.
• Over 360,000 creatures have been made using the demo so far. At least 250,000 of those have involved penises in some way.
• But at least one person managed to get over their juvenile tendencies long enough to make a living Xbox 360 controller.
• Dragon Age will be released in early 2009.

Nintendo news

• Ugggghhh. Ubisoft has created a whole new brand dedicated to mini-game collections and party games for the Wii.
• Gamasutra has an opinion piece talking about Nintendo's training games as modern day snake oil. "Dr Kawashima (Brain Training) and Dr Kageyama (Maths Training) are figures that act as endorsements from the scientific community of each product, shifting Nintendo’s output from entertainment to something closer to medicine. But the science behind the sell is at best misleading, at worse, televangelical in its deceit."
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars games have been announced for the Wii and DS.
• Amazon's deal of the day is Baroque for $25.99.

Sony news

New content: Pain features

• The Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots Database has been added to the Playstation Store. It's a free download that features storylines, character profiles, relationship diagrams and more.
• Square Enix denies reports that Final Fantasy Versus XIII is on hold. "The truth of the situation is that when free, some staff from the Versus team have been helping with the XIII team on development of Final Fantasy XIII. Development for both titles is continuing as originally scheduled."
• Square is holding a private event in Japan on August 2 and 3. The new Final Fantasies will only be there in video form, but Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days and Birth By Sleep will be playable, as will Dissidia Final Fantasy and Sigma Harmonics.
• Sony admits that the PSP's piracy problem helps fuel hardware sale