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.