Joystiq has a gallery of some of the work appearing in the next i am 8 bit show.

Industry and multi-console news

New media: Armored Core for Answer trailer

• Lawyer Vincent Scheurer spoke at the 2008 Develop Conference and Expo about the dangers of the UK's ratings system. He notes that Manhunt 2 was banned for vague reasons like "unremitting bleakness and callousness of tone" without having humor or puzzle elements strong enough to alleviate it. "Call of Duty and BioShock could be banned under that criteria… The next game to be banned could be BioShock 2, and then where would we be?"
• Despite what the ELSPA had to say, it seem the British government does prefer the BBFC system.
• Activision is partnering with Logitech to make "premium" Guitar Hero World Tour instruments.
• The president of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences says "game reviewers are lazy." Namely, he thinks games should be played to completion before being reviewed.
• Dragon Quest V is still dominating the Japanese sales chart.
• The Rock Band Live tour has been announced, with headline acts like Panic At The Disco, Dashboard Confessional, and other acts perfect for 14 year olds.
• Apparently the Saints Row guys making Tera Patrick a "special producer" was so they could have her make promo videos for the game where she takes her clothes off.
• A job posting on Gamasutra suggests BioShock 2 could have multiplayer. Normally I'd think just seeing 2K Boston looking for multiplayer designers isn't much evidence to go on, but the ad then goes on to say: "BioShock had no multi-player mode. We don't believe in throwing in something that can’t go head to head with the big boys. No applicants will be considered who aren't able to demonstrate they've got the skills to build an industry-changing multiplayer design."
• Sega has filed a new trademark for Jet Grind Radio, but don't get your hopes up.You may recall they filed a new Dreamcast trademark a while back too, it's just a way of protecting their property. ..Or it's all a conspiracy.
• Following Colbert Nation's video of Rush failing out of their own song in Rock Band, they have a new video of rapper Nas giving it a try.
• Rolling Stone reports that Guitar Hero: Aerosmith sold 567,000 units in its first week. Though it may not be a fair comparison to make, their last album sold 160,500 its first week.
• Sony Pictures says the delay caused by the Ghostbusters game losing its publisher has presented them with an opportunity to possibly position its release to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the movie in 2009.

PC and mobile news

New GameTap titles: American McGee's Grimm, Alien Stars -- Remember that Grimm episodes are free for the first 24 hours
New content: Team Fortress 2 update

• A rating has appeared in the ESRB database for Guitar Hero World Tour on the PC.
• Design Lesson 101 looks at what can be learned from Barkley Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden.
• The official Battlefield Heroes website is giving away beta keys over the next four weeks.
• Scrabulous has returned to Facebook with a new name and design.
• The iPhone has gotten a pair of unofficial World of Warcraft apps.
• Voice chat is coming to Everquest II and Star Wars Galaxies.

Nintendo news

• The Japanese, European and American versions of KORG DS-10 will be compatible with one another to share data.
• Wii RPG Arc Rise Fantasia is being considered for an American release.
• The Wii version of Okami has sold 280,000 units in America and Europe since release.
• The company that helped develop the Wii MotionPlus device has a video demonstrating what it can do in conjunction with their LiveMove 2 toolset.
• Amazon's deal of the day is The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian for $29.99.

Sony news

• The Last Guy will be getting an American release. If you want to try the game yourself, the Japanese site has a browser version that autogenerates a level based on the website that you type in.
• Namco Bandai is putting a beta version of a new Namco Museum in the Japanese Home beta.
• The official Playstation blog has a list of trophies in PixelJunk Eden.
• An update for Gran Turismo 5 Prologue is coming this Friday. The Gran Turismo TV feature is being added in along with gameplay tweaks.
• Volition explains why the original Saints Row was canceled on the PS3: "We got about half way through the process and then we realised that we just couldn't get our heads around Cell."
• The PSP camera isn't coming to America. Sony feels it's not worth bringing over the 1.3 megapixel camera when most cell phones have at least a 2 megapixel camera built-in.

Microsoft news

New content: Madden NFL 09 demo, Facebreaker demo
New media: RACE Pro screenshots

• Edge looks inside the new Xbox Live.
• Microsoft says Europe makes up less than a quarter of Xbox Live memberships.
• The Ninja Gaiden II mission mode pack is back up on Live.
• The 60 gig 360 has now shown up at Wal-Mart and Amazon. That's okay though, because Major Nelson says the unit doesn't have a specific release date. He... he also says that when suffering from impotence?
• Microsoft has confirmed that the Castle Crashers and Braid prices posted yesterday are wrong, for both international and domestic markets.

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Kotaku has a large gallery of screenshots from SimCity Creator, which apparently now allows you to build Crystalgard.

Industry and multi-console news

New media: Dark Void gameplay footage

• Ludlum Entertainment has reacquired the rights to make games based on the works of Robert Ludlum from Vivendi. Vivendi has been dropping a number of titles after its merger with Activision.
• Edge looks at the secrets of great menu design.
• Pre-orders are down for this year's versions of NCAA Football and Madden, but EA says that doesn't necessarily mean lower sales.
• EA has delayed Tiberium until the 2009-10 fiscal year.
• And Ubisoft has delayed HAWX until 2009.
• GameShadow is now offering a metrics service based on data taken from users of its free game patching system. "As examples, GameShadow announced that a very high percentage of gamers who played Call of Duty 4 also played games like Company of Heroes and Battlefield, while eschewing FPS entries like Crysis, BioShock and Quake 4—implying that a game’s subject matter is more important than its genre when it comes to gamer preferences."
• IGN lists the top 10 games for the Saturn.
• This week's Zero Punctuation video covers E3. Let me sum it up for you: "Everything sucks."
• THQ and Epic Games execs think we won't see a new game system for several years, possibly as late as 2018.
• The Telegraph reports that the UK government favors the BBFC over PEGI for game ratings. The ELSPA is denying any decision has been made.
• Joystiq gathers together the best of E3 awards from several sites, including 1up, IGN and Game Trailers.
• MSNBC has footage of Meredith Vieira, Matt Lauer, Al Roker and Natalie Morales playing Rock Band on the Today show. This video steals life.
• If you only rented Soul Calibur IV, you're missing out, because the instruction booklet comes with a coupon for fried chicken.
• GamesRadar returns to the familiar but always interesting well of comparing Japanese and American box art. Why did no one tell me Smuggler's Run was called Crazy Bump's in Japan.
• Street Fighter IV producer Yoshinori Ono was surprised to see Americans using Abel the most of the new characters. “With all due to respect to him, he’s a great character, but honestly we thought Crimson Viper would be a big hit here. We got a lot of marketing data and a lot of advice from our US branch in creating that character. She was kind of custom tailored for the States and we thought people would like her.”
• D3 has trademarked the name Onechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad. It could be an alternate title for Onechanbara: Bikini Zombie Slayers, or it could mean one of the other games in the series may come to America.
• I don't know why video exists of Denis Dyack being interviewed in bed by half-naked Penthouse Pets, but it does. Compare and contrast to Cliff Bleszinski doing the same thing.
• As long as we're mixing gentlemen's magazines with video games, a writer for Playboy denies that this year's E3 sucked. "Would you like to know what happens to a game like Flower at the old E3? It crawls into a corner and sobs until the pain stops because someone has curb-stomped it. The old E3 was all the worst parts of nerd culture mashed up with all the worst parts of frat culture."
• Richard Garriott wants to send a digital copy of your DNA into space. "A select few will have their DNA digitized and sent. And, theoretically, if anything happens to the human race, it could be their DNA that is used to resurrect humanity."

PC and mobile news

New content: Galactic Dream: Rage of War demo, Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI demo

• EA being EA: They say they'd "love" to sell Spore creature parts "as we do with The Sims store online."
• Hackers attacked the Scrabble Facebook app, forcing it to be shut down temporarily, presumably in response to the removal of Scrabulous. Those Scrabble fans are serious dudes.
• Morroblivion is a mod that, you guessed it, imports Morrowind files into Oblivion.

Nintendo news

• Ragnarok Online is coming to the DS.
• Despite its initial slow sales, Boom Blox has hit 450,000 units sold.
• Hudson has announced Tetris Party for WiiWare. The game will include 18 different modes, many of which using motion controls and the balance board.
• Tecmo has announced Nostalgia no Kaze (The Winds of Nostalgia) for the DS.
• DS sales have dropped considerably in Japan. Maybe there's finally no one left who doesn't already have one.
• Wii Brew has introduced the Wii Pack Generator, "a web-based utility that allows you to select from the most recent, up to date, and high quality homebrew for your Nintendo Wii and create a custom pack."
• Rising Star will be bringing Grasshopper Manufacture's Flower, Sun, and Rain to Europe in October.
• The Phoenix Wright manga is coming to America.
• An indie developer has created an audio-only sex game using the Wii remote. The link has video of it in action, along with a creepy guy just sitting on a couch and watching.

Sony news

• PS3 firmware 2.42 has been released.
• Atlus has announced Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The King of Abaddon for the PS2.
• Valve has denied rumors that Portal: Still Alive is coming to PSN.

Microsoft news

New Live Arcade title: Geometry Wars 2

• Castle Crashers features Alien Hominid as a playable character. He'll automatically be unlocked for anyone who already owns his Arcade game.
• Weta has released photos of their upcoming line of Halo 3 statues.
• Ron Carmel of 2D Boy has written an opinion piece on what Microsoft needs to change to satisfy indies.
• The official Japanese 360 blog has Castle Crashers listed for 1800 points and Braid for 1200. If these prices are carried over for North America, Castle Crashers would overtake Penny Arcade Adventures as the most expensive Arcade title to date.
• According to reports (well, a report), Microsoft has started using the Opus chipset in repaired 360s.
• There's a rumor that the tabletop game Zombies!!! is coming to Xbox Live Arcade.
• Teach your kids the proper way with the Halo corpse alphabet.

Posted by Will at 6:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

People are wasting no time making famous characters in Soul Calibur IV's character creation system.

Industry and multi-console news

New media: Midnight Club LA trailer

• Capcom and DC are teaming up to make Devil May Cry and Resident Evil comics.
• An Activision "realignment" seems to have left several games without a publisher, including Brutal Legends, Ghostbusters and 50 Cent Blood on the Sand. The developers of these games have been coming out one by one to remind people that despite this announcement, they're not dead.
• The Australian pricing for Rock Band sucks. As an unrelated aside, have there ever been any "big" Australian rock bands besides INXS? (Men at Work is not rock.)
• Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway has been delayed to September.
• Edge lists the top 20 publishers of 2008, "based on various criteria including revenues, profits, growth and publishing success."
• Blizzard has announced that tickets for Blizzcon 2008 go on sale August 11. The event will also be available for viewing through DirecTV.
• The Wall-E game isn't doing so well despite the success of the film. Which is odd, as Cars was the second best selling game in 2007 in North America, and the movie sucked.
• The ESA is circulating a survey to attendees of this year's E3, one assumes to determine exactly to what extent everyone hated it.
• The ESA raised $2.6 million for charity through sales of its yearly three-game compilation pack.
• Insert Credit pointed out this really nice Street Fighter III spriterip site. It goes beyond simple sprite sheets to provide a full menu of animations to choose from for each character.
• New playlists are coming to Call of Duty 4.
• A GameTrailers user has created a video highlighting the differences and similarities between Resident Evil 4 and 5.
• EEDAR analysts have done lots of number crunching to bring you the revelation that multiplayer modes can produce stronger sales. Or, just as likely, games without multiplayer tend to be more niche titles that naturally don't sell as much.
• Rooster Teeth has opened a new site to chronicle all achievements/trophies for 360, iPhone, PC and PS3 games.
• This is what Joker looks like in Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. He's very foldy.

PC and mobile news

New content: Legend Hand of God demo, Space Siege demo, Time of War demo, Mass Effect 1.01 patch and DLC, Incredible Hulk 1.1 patch
New media: American McGee's Grimm trailer, Demigod first trailer

• The creative director of Warhammer Online says that successful MMO design is "corrupting," because it leads other developers to not think creatively.
• John Carmack plans to bring one of id's franchises to the iPhone in a "graphical tour de force."
• NCSoft is now selling game cards for City of Heroes, Tabula Rasa and Exteel at retail, which give you access to 30 days of play for a given game without having to use a credit card. Additionally, it also gives you a downloadable copy of the game itself.
• Facebook has shutdown Scrabulous on pressure from Hasbro. Unfortunately, it sounds like the official Scrabble replacement game isn't that great.
• DICE producer Aleksander Grondol admits that Battlefield Heroes is "an experiment" which "involves a certain amount of risk."
• Following up on news of the three teen girl movies turning into games: Pretty in Pink will be a hidden-picture-style game (whatever that means), Clueless will be similar to Jojo's Fashion Show, and Mean Girls will be similar to Puzzle Quest.
• EA plans to sell pre-built PCs in conjunction with the release of Crysis Warhead. The idea is that they can sell you a rig that is guaranteed to run Crysis at a particular graphics setting.

Nintendo news

• Nintendo and 54 game software companies have filed a lawsuit in Japan against companies which import and sell DS piracy devices.
• EA CEO John Riccitiello says they "made the wrong call" by getting behind the 360 and PS3 early on instead of the Wii.
• Comcast is offering a free Wii to new subscribers for people who sign up for their cable, phone and Internet combo package.
• Satoru Iwata doesn't hide the fact that Nintendo is working on a successor to the Wii, but he also doesn't find the topic particularly interesting. “We are always preparing for the next hardware. We are under development. … But the hardware is a kind of box that consumers reluctantly buy in order to play our games.”
• He also admits in his first year as president, he was worried he might be fired before the Wii got off the ground. "I was lucky that it worked so quickly."
• Gamestop is offering a statuette pre-order bonus for Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars.
• GTA: Chinatown Wars will have some kind of WiFi support. Who knows what, though.

Sony news

New media: Thunder Force VI video and screenshots

• Macross Ace Frontier will feature the ability to save replays and screenshots.
• Video has appeared showing a PSP running Shenmue in a Dreamcast emulator -- really, really, really slowly.
• Variety's Cut Scene blog talks to Hideo Kojima, who can't resist continuing to tease the fanbase. "I would like you to think that this good-bye to Snake is a good-bye to this era and represents closure to your old self. If there ever were to be a new Snake (might have a different name), he will be a Snake for a new era."
• GamePro lists their choices for the 36 best PS2 games, and fail right out of the gate for calling Escape from Monkey Island the "best" of anything.
• Sega has announced a Fantasy Zone collection in Japan.

Microsoft news

New content: Rock Band tracks

• Microsoft has confirmed that 360 Silver users are getting free online play for PC/360 cross-platform titles for a limited time. So, uh, if you for some reason bought Shadowrun despite only having a Silver account, this is your day.
• Lionhead has plans for three more Fable games.
• Some people are reporting that their local Target stores have started selling 60 gig 360s early.
• Valve says they will consider bringing other Steam games to Live Arcade.

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Cryptic Studios has officially announced that they're working on Star Trek Online. The game's official site mentions that it's being developed for consoles as well as PC.

Industry and multi-console news

New media: Rock Band 2 battle of the bands demonstration, Lego Batman screenshots, Lord of the Rings: Conquest gameplay footage, Spider-Man: Web of Shadows trailer featuring goofy symbiote Wolverine

• Capcom has provided a few more details on its Resident Evil: Degeneration CG movie.
• Gamasutra has a roundtable discussion with indie shooter developers responsible for games like Every Extend and Everyday Shooter.
• At Microsoft's recent Gamefest event, two BioShock designers gave a lecture on the process of designing Rapture.
• A Force Unleashed demo is coming in August.
• Gamespot has an interview with the creators of Penny Arcade looking back at the first episode of their adventure game series.
• GamePolitics lists off the ESA's political donations for the second quarter of 2008.
• The guy in the Fallout shirt asking about game ratings on the Australian panel show Q&A talks about the experience. It turns out he's an editor for the site GameArena.
• Jack Thompson is opening his own website. He has sent around a press release announcing the site despite the fact that it's no more than a parked domain at the moment.
• Siliconera has scans of the Mirror's Edge mini-comic given away at Comic Con.
• Mark Wahlberg apparently hasn't played Max Payne. "I didn't want to play because I have an addictive personality. I got more responsibility now than I've ever had with the kids and everything else. I don't want to be spending 14 hours on the videogame and then eight hours on the set."
• Bethesda says there is a neutral character path in Fallout 3 along with the usual paths of good or evil.
• Capcom's Christian Svensson says they'd need "a lot more people" buying the original Okami before they considered a sequel. Given the people who made the original aren't even there anymore, I'm not too bothered.
• Ed Boon explains how the Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe world works, namely how Scorpion can beat up Superman. "The quick answer is that Superman actually does have two weaknesses: Kryptonite and magic." oh god it was better before you explained
• MTV talks to the developers of Mega Man 9 about the challenges and benefits of making an 8-bit retro game.

PC and mobile news

New media: Stargate Worlds trailer

• Privateering has been added to Pirates of the Caribbean Online.
• In preparation for the upcoming open beta, EA has announced the system requirements for Red Alert 3.
• As you would expect, access keys to the Lich King beta Blizzard has given out at fan conventions are selling for high prices on Ebay.
• Gaia Online is launching an MMO, and they're calling it zOMG. Ugh.

Nintendo news

New WiiWare title: Pong Toss
New Virtual Console titles: Chase HQ, Art of Fighting 2

• Somebody has translated the Captain Rainbow trailers so we can start to make sense of them.
• Red Steel 2 will support the MotionPlus add-on.
• Unsolved Crimes has been announced for release this fall on the DS.
• The people working on the fan-translation of Mother 3 have asked for help giving the enemies appropriately creative names.
• Amazon has Manhunt 2 for $16.81.

Sony news

• Gamasutra has an opinion piece looking back fondly on Bushido Blade.
• PS3 Fanboy offers suggestions on which PS3 Greatest Hits are worth the money.
• EA explains why Red Alert 3 isn't coming to the PS3: "PS3 is a very powerful system but as you guys know it's very exotic and tough to develop for and our engine really at the time wasn't designed for PS3."
• Konami has a list of countries they won't take credit card purchases from, which is making it hard for some people to play Metal Gear Online.

Microsoft news

• The Live free weekend is over, and people are still reporting that they can play PC/360 cross platform titles for free on a 360 with a Silver account. Joystiq asked Microsoft about it and was told only that they will issue an official statement shortly.
• Major Nelson has revealed release dates for several big Arcade titles, including Geometry Wars 2 this week and Bionic Commando Rearmed August 13.
• A series of videos on YouTube are purported to show a 360 modder installing and using a leaked version of the new dashboard.
• Frank O'Connor says the plan is to "explore not exploit" Halo. "We have a really detailed story bible, we do really have it all planned out. There are so many areas of the universe to explore, the real challenge is picking which is the most exciting area for people."
• The Ninja Gaiden II mission mode pack released last week caused errors for some people and was pulled. The Gamerscore blog originally said they hoped to get it back up on Monday, but that's been changed to TBD.
• Amazon's deal of the day is Final Fantasy XI : Wings of the Goddess for $7.99.

Posted by Will at 6:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

• Soul Calibur IV (PS3, 360) - A game full of scantily clad women and Yoda, finally all your dreams are coming true. $59.99 on the 360 and PS3.
• Spectral Force 3 (360) - One of the rarest animals of all: A turn-based Japanese strategy RPG on the 360. $59.99 at Amazon.
• Summer Athletics (360, PS2, Wii) - Yes, summer is the best time for athletic competition. Better stay inside and play a video game about it. $29.99 on the 360 and Wii, $14.99 on the PS2.
• MLB Power Pros (Wii, PS2) - Not to be confused with Mark McGwire's seminal work, MLB Power Prose. $39.99 on the Wii, $19.99 on the PS2.

Aside from a couple more no-name DS and Wii titles, that's it for consoles. Gamasutra has a bucketload of PC titles listed, but almost all of them are games that have shown up repeatedly on release lists and refuse to actually come out. So if you really want to know the moment Art of Murder: FBI Confidential hits shelves, you're probably better off just checking the store yourself.

Posted by Will at 1:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A shaky-and-very-crooked-cam recording of the TR2N teaser trailer squirmed its way out of Comic Con over the weekend. Do the new light cycles remind anyone else of Extreme G?

Industry and multi-console news

New media: Afro Samurai trailer, Resident Evil: Degeneration trailer, Need for Speed: Undercover trailer, Bionic Commando Rearmed sing-along trailer, Dead Space trailer that was not approved by the ESRB, whatever that has to do with anything

• Prince of Persia creator Jordan Mechner is working on a follow-up to Karaketa, the first game he ever developed.
• The News & Observer reports the story of a Raleigh, NC boy whose parents let him quit school to focus on competitive Guitar Hero playing. But hey, don't think they're crazy, he's tutored at home instead. So he can focus on Guitar Hero.
• Develop Magazine has an opinion piece about "why game reviewers aren't in a position to demand anything."
• The AV Club has interview with Harmonix team members about what each of them do. "One of the things that's changed a lot with Rock Band is because the vocals are so key, we actually do have a responsibility to try to have songs that people have heard before, and know pretty well."
• When asked if a new Marvel vs. Capcom was possible, Marvel's president of production said "Yes. And maybe sooner than you think."
• Military contractor group Blackwater uses Guitar Hero to recruit troops. I hear they've got great scores on Through the Friendly Fire and Flames.
• Screenshots and even video are floating around showing Yoda and Darth Vader fighting each other in Soul Calibur IV, seemingly proving that they will be available as DLC.
• Meanwhile, Capcom assures you that there will be no console-specific characters in Street Fighter IV.
• OEDB offers 100 tips and resources for bringing games and gamers to your library.
• EA is working on fixes for NCAA Football 2009's bugs.
• Jax, Kitana, the Green Lantern and the Joker have been added to the roster for Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe.
• Game/AI talks about fixing the problem of pathfinding.
• Orlando's Local 6 News warns that online video games are leading to kids taking photos of themselves naked for points. I'm struggling to determine what game they think they're talking about.
• Wired has a retrospective on the WarGames for the movie's 25th anniversary. "Days after the screening, wrote Washington Post reporter Lou Cannon, Reagan held a closed-door briefing with some moderate members of Congress, wherein he sidetracked discussion of the MX ballistic missile program by bringing up WarGames. Had any of them seen the film? he asked, then launched into an animated account of the plot. 'Don't tell the ending,' cautioned one of the lawmakers."

PC and mobile news

• Realtime Worlds is expecting a mature rating for their MMO APB.
• A Cryptic Studios job ad reveals they are working on Star Trek Online. In addition, the schedule for the upcoming Las Vegas Star Trek Convention includes an event labeled "Star Trek Online Revealed." It doesn't sound like they're trying very hard to hide it.
• Will Wright says you can play Spore your whole life and never visit everywhere.
• PC Gamer provides a list of 365 free games for you to fiddle with.
• AddictingGames.com is rolling out a plan to pay the developers of the top 25 games on their site that generate the most plays.
• The editor of PC Gamer Malaysia says the cover mentioning GTA4 on the PC was just conjecture. However, the ESRB database also briefly listed GTA4 on the PC.
• EA's website lists a September 23 release date for Warhammer Online.

Nintendo news

New media: Transformers Animated screenshots

• Miyamoto has said new Mario and Zelda projects as well as Pikmin are underway. But he said it in a vague, "we're always working on a new Mario and Zelda" kind of way.
• Further, Satoru Iwata says they didn't go into detail about their hardcore titles at E3 because they're too far away. "We wanted to show what we are this year and [in] early 2009 on the market. ... We could not bring any [hardcore games] in the beginning of 2009, so we couldn’t show any at E3."
• A Mr. Bean game is coming to the DS and Wii.

Sony news

• The official Playstation blog lists the top 10 downloads this week from the PSN video store. Meet the Spartans at number 4? Really?
• Sony says Wipeout HD was delayed due to "many improvements we have been making and the numerous features we've added" like new ships and 8 reversed tracks. However, while they don't confirm it, they also don't deny that epilepsy tests may have been a factor.

Microsoft news

• There's a rumor going around that Live Silver accounts can play online for free. It's been hard to test right now because this is a Live Free Weekend, which means all Silver accounts are playing free for the moment anyway.
• Gears of War achievements will unlock content in Gears 2. Also, the game is getting a $130 special edition which includes a miniature Lancer replica.
• If you want an easier way to unlock the characters in the Too Human demo, you can set your clock ahead. They're all time-released, apparently.

Posted by Will at 8:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Here's some trivia: There was a version of Mega Man released for DOS. Here's some more trivia: It was horrible. This video demonstrates that fact with startling clarity. I believe the full title for the DOS version was Mega Man: OH GOD DOGS

A fan-made level of Super Mario World designed to be as difficult as possible. Naturally, it's Japanese. This has gotten around, but I don't think it's been in a video gallery before, so there.

Speaking of Japanese Mario that everyone has already seen, this video was uploaded two years ago and has over two million views, so I'm surprised it seems to have passed me by. If you live under the same rock I do, here's the opening to Super Mario Bros.: Peach-Hime Kyushutsu Dai Sakusen!, an anime made in 1986. You can watch the full thing starting here.

I can understand why children used to be put to work in factories -- because otherwise their boundless energies are spent on markedly less productive, more terrifying pursuits. Like making a bevy of Halo weapons out of cardboard.

Part 1 of a tutorial on how to be a good spy in Team Fortress 2, arguably the class the most people have trouble being good at. Part 2 is here and part 3 is here.

Meanwhile, Dr. Kleiner learns how to defeat a zombie horde with class.

A carefully calculated strategy on how to defeat a level 9 Bowser in Smash Bros. Brawl.

Finally, the anti-strategy: how not to play Hitman: Blood Money. This is actually segment 4 of a 12 part series; the first is here and you can follow it from there. Watch them or just have 16 Horses stuck in your head for the rest of the day. The choice is yours.

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Will Wright gave a keynote at Comic Con about Spore. It didn't contain any major revelations (other than the announcement of an e-card creator thing that I'd rather just ignore), but it does give me an excuse to use this photo of him discussing weighty science matters with a kid at some dinner event last month.

Wright ended up talking with the kid for a few minutes, and then they moved outside to sit down on a bench and continue their conversation. They spoke for a good amount of time; the boy clearly hanging on Wright's every word. I snapped a picture and was impressed with just how Wright was able to speak to the child about the complex business of play. This wasn't a lecture, Wright got down and spoke on the child's level, taking the conversation seriously.

Industry and multi-console news

• Telltale Games will be making an episodic adventure series starring Wallace & Gromit.
• The Prison Service in England and Wales is banning 18-rated games, and also requiring inmates to buy their own consoles and games from now on.
• Peter Moore describes the most recent E3 as "soulless," arguing that the show should involve the community to "bring back some of the raw passion the event has lost."
• Midway is delaying The Wheelman to the first quarter of 2009.
• At a recent Comic-Con presentation, Street Fighter IV producer Yoshinori Ono said "You may remember a character from a previous April Fool's joke – so maybe you'll see something about that [in the console version]." Is he hinting that Sheng Long is going to be in the game?
• Gamasutra has an interview with Indigo Prophecy and Heavy Rain creator David Cage about maturity in gaming.
• Next week's Rock Band tracks will come from Scars on Broadway, Testament, Staind and The New No2. Man, just go back to the days when you were releasing Police tracks all the time.
• Bionic Commando Rearmed has seen a delay in Japan, but it's not yet known how or if this affects the game in other countries.
• YouTube has a clip from the Australian TV show Q&A in which an audience member raises the question of Australia's lack of an R18 rating. The questioner gets points for the t-shirt, then gets them immediately taken away again for agreeing with the host that Fallout 3 involves injecting drugs to kill more people.
• New characters have been announced for Tatsunkoko Productions Versus Capcom: Hurricane Polymar and Gold Lightan from the anime side, and Morigan and Onimusha's Kaijin no Souki on the Capcom side.
• Activision says the supposed leaked Guitar Hero World Tour setlist is "wishful thinking and pure speculation."
• The Street Fighter II HD beta has been extended to September 5.
• Porn star Tera Patrick has been named as a "special producer" on Saints Row 2. I don't know what that is.
• The Quixotic Engineer provides examples of bloom gone wrong.
• A short LA Times interview with a couple Frag Dolls suggest they make between $15,000 and $30,000 a year.
• Ars Technica talks about the Dark Knight and how it relates to game ratings. "Can you imagine what would happen if a game with similar content to the Dark Knight was released with a Teen rating? The government, using laws like the one in New York, could conceivably claim the ESRB isn't working, and take control over the ratings process, or pull the game from the shelves."
• In a speech last year that apparently no one until now has gotten around to noticing, a Republican congresswoman claimed that terrorists were "sending training and recruitment videos over Japanese video game Web sites."
• The AV Club has an interview with Mike Patton about his video game voice work.
• Stan Lee had nice things to say about games at Comic Con. "I marvel at the fact the games look as good, and in some cases better, as the most expensive movies. [Those] guys are just geniuses. Now you watch one of these games and it's like watching the greatest superhero movie, except you're part of it. It's indescribable."
• Sega says one of the reasons you haven't seen many System 16 and System 24 arcade titles on Live Arcade and PSN is because they have trouble finding the original source code and ROMs.
• Michael Ironside's manager says that no decision has yet to be made regarding his return to the role of Sam Fisher. He also claims that Ubisoft is still working on the script for Conviction.

PC and mobile news

New content: 1701 AD 1.04 patch
New media: The Sims 3 screenshots

• Nickelodeon has announced an online multiplayer game called Avatar: Legends of the Arena.
• The cover of the next issue of PC Gamer confirms a PC release for GTA4.
• A new Spore prototype has been released, called BIOME.
• Steam's player statistics have been updated to track every game on Steam. Now you can know that, at this very moment, exactly one person is playing Juiced 2.

Nintendo news

• Q Entertainment will be developing a port of Peggle on the DS.
• Wii Music is coming to Japan October 16.
• Koji Igarashi is considering the possibility of a 2D Castlevania on WiiWare. He says he's watching Mega Man 9 "very closely" to see how well it goes over.
• Harmonix says they considered air drumming for the Wii but dumped the idea because "we found that the tactile element of actually hitting a surface when you're drumming is a fairly critical part to the visceral feel of actually playing drums."
• Wired finds out how the WiiSpeak microphone works.
• Amazon's deal of the day is Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and Tower of Mirrors for $16.99. They also have Blast Works for $19.99.

Sony news

• The PSP continues to lead in the Japanese hardware chart, boosted by the release of the Metallic Blue value pack.
• A recent MGM press release says Brett Ratner is attached to direct the God of War movie.
• Midway has announced the Mortal Kombat Kollection for the PS2, containing Deception, Armageddon and Shaolin Monks. So, uh.. all the hits.
• Kaz Hirai would rather take a bullet to the head than pick a 360 exclusive to bring to the PS3. Or more accurately, he'd rather be shot than admit the 360 has exclusives worth having.

Microsoft news

• Bungie says they have three game projects underway -- "some familiar, some not."
• Ubisoft has announced Naruto: The Broken Bond exclusively for the 360.
• Microsoft's former XNA community manager says there is a concern in the lack of quality control with XNA games.
• Vehicle sharing in Banjo Kazooie is a possibility, "if we think it's a definite worthwhile improvement on it."
• Legendary Pictures will be co-financing and co-producing the Gears of War movie.

Posted by Will at 6:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Two posters promoting the upcoming Max Payne movie have been released. I prefer this one, as it more directly calls back the series box art, while the other one joins along with the trailer in making this look like a sequel to Constantine.

Industry and multi-console news

New media: Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 trailer, Dead Space: Downfall trailer

• 1up has more details on the Watchmen games.
• Brawl is on top again in the new Australian sales chart, while the DS Dragon Quest V remake debuted at number one on the Japanese chart.
• DC will be producing a limited series comic based on Mirror's Edge.
• Epic says Unreal Engine 4 will debut in the next console generation.
• EA producer Nick Channon says that an open-world approach to Mirror's Edge would have watered it down. "I think a lot of people think nowadays that open world is the way to go, and it's the next-gen thing. You know, I don't believe it is. It's clearly right for some games, absolutely, but you can actually get a lot more in at times with more of a level-based [structure]."
• Spinter Cell Conviction has been delayed until the 2009-10 fiscal year.
• The Parents Television Council has released another secret shopper report, testing retailers for how often a minor was able to buy M-rated games. The lesson is that if you're 12 and you want GTA, go to Circuit City.
• A Dragonforce track pack is coming to Guitar Hero III.
• A rumored Guitar Hero: World Tour setlist is floating around the Internet.
• The official Fallout website has debuted the first in a series of Fallout comics done by Penny Arcade.
• Ars Technica has an interview with some of the people from OCRemix about how their work got into Street Fighter II HD.
• The developers of the Quantum of Solace game acknowledge that past Bond games have been crap. “I’m sure the series pissed off a lot of gamers over the last few years as the games started to go downhill, but we have no control over that.”
• Alpha Protocol will have sex scenes, so Fox News, get on it. I can't decide if the following is unpleasantly chauvinistic or just indicative of how game developers continue to treat character relationships like levels to be completed: "In fact, he can 'get' all of the game’s women if he wanted to. Rucinski told me it was possible to have sex with all the females, and that the sex scenes were similar to how 'Mass Effect' treated its intimate moments. ... And although the women are integral to the story, there’s no need to interact with them beyond missions."

PC and mobile news

New GameTap titles: Fallout, Aveyond 2, Battle Chess

• Now that Games for Windows Live is going free, Microsoft will be refunding subscribers.
• Stropp's World looks at the issue of whether developer should open-source dead MMOs.
• Outspark has announced a free-to-play shooter called Blackshot.
• Hasbro is suing the creators of the Scrabulous Facebook app after requests to pull the game were ignored.
• Amazon's deal of the day is Neverwinter Nights 2 (Mac) for $22.99.

Nintendo news

New media: Dokapon Kingdom screenshots, Prince of Persia: The Fallen King trailer, Captain Rainbow trailers featuring Little Mac and some obscure Famicom Disk System character

• Reggie Fils-Aime notes the Wii storage issue "is becoming much more of a mainstream problem, which is why we have a sense of urgency to solve it."
• Despite the system being only 3 years old, VGPC can already name 5 rare DS games.
• KH Insider has translated whatever information there is to be had on the recently opened Japanese Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days website. An ad in the instruction booklet for Dragon Quest V also suggests that 358/2 Days is coming this year in Japan.
• Nintendo has debuted a bonus content feature in the Wii Shop Channel in Japan. It could be used to redeem codes for extra stuff in the future.
• Digital manga is coming to Wii Ware in Japan.

Sony news

New PSN titles: Siren: Blood Curse, 1942: Joint Strike
New content: Rock Band tracks, Guitar Hero tracks, PixelJunk Eden demo
New media: Final Fantasy Versus XIII leaked trailer

• Qore subscribers will be getting Resistance 2 beta invites. However, Insomniac says there will be several ways to get in. "The best way which will give you the earliest access to the beta will involve a pre-order program that should be announced soon."
• According to a Japanese magazine scan, Triggerheart Exelica Enhanced is coming to the PS2.
• A Facebreaker demo is coming August 7.
• Supposedly a "major" PS3 exclusive is being announced August 3rd. It's not an RPG, not an FPS, and not a new Twisted Metal.
• A Metal Gear Online tournament will be taking place at Comic Con.
• PixelJunk Eden will have trophy support.

Microsoft news

New content: Guitar Hero III tracks
New media: Gears of War 2 gameplay footage

• Geometry Wars 2 is coming next Wednesday, July 30, along with Ticket to Ride's European expansion.
• For the week of July 14, the Too Human demo was the seventh most played game on Xbox Live.
• GameSetWatch looks at the small but loyal fanbase keeping Culdcept Saga alive.
• The Cagney update for Burnout Paradise has been delayed again for the 360 version.
• IGN has first details on A Kingdom for Keflings.
• A Facebreaker demo is coming July 31.

Posted by Will at 6:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

The best tie-in merchandise is the kind that works equally on the informed and uninformed level. To those with no knowledge of gaming, this is just a nice WWII throwback design. To everyone else, they'll know you're geeky enough to have two Capcom references on one shirt.

Industry and multi-console news

• E3 will return in 2009 despite everyone apparently hating it.
• EA wants to bring its game properties to the big screen. Buy your tickets now for Madden: The Movie.
• Kotaku tries to determine why the E3 no-shows weren't there.
• An episodic Watchmen video game series is in the works for Live Arcade, PSN and PC.
• Street Fighter IV will make its first public appearance in the UK this weekend, with six cabinets available to play at the Battle of Destiny tournament in London.
• This week's Zero Punctuation review is for Age of Conan.
• The CodeBreaker line of cheat devices is being discontinued.
• Video site Vimeo has decided to no longer host videos of gameplay footage unless it's machinima. They argue that walkthroughs, strategy videos, replays, etc. don't count as "creative expression" and can expose them to liability from the game creators.
• The BBC has warned that unsafe third-party charging devices for game systems and mobile phones are "flooding" the UK.
• Joystiq has a Nyko FrontMan guitar compatibility chart.
• Aliens: Colonial Marines is being written by a pair of Battlestar Galactica scriptwriters.
• Atlus has an ad in Famitsu teasing some kind of August 1 announcement. But it's not clear what.
• Though Tomonobu Itagaki said he was leaving Tecmo on July 1st, it's been revealed that he was actually fired on June 18. It's possible he was fired in retaliation for the suit he had just filed earlier that month. Among other developments in said currently-ongoing suit, a voice recording of Tecmo's president has been submitted as evidence that Itagaki's bonus claims are valid and the president knows it.
• Colbert Nation has video of Rush playing Tom Sawyer in Rock Band prior to their appearance on the Colbert Report. They fail out, but they were on expert.

PC and mobile news

New content: Sword of the Stars: Born of Blood 1.5.3 patch, Frontlines: Fuel of War 1.1.1 patch

• Has Namco stepped in to save Hellgate: London? "In the short term, please do not worry. The game is up, the servers are not going away in the short term and any major changes to status will be communicated in advance."
• A Battlefield Bad Company stats application has been released for Facebook.
• Amazon's Gold Box deals are all Blizzard games today.

Nintendo news

• Nintendo has partnered with Fujifilm to release the Digital Camera Print Channel in Japan. The service allows users to order prints of digital photos stored on their Wiis, or Mii business cards. There's no better way to be taken seriously than with a Mii business card.
• Aspyr has announced an SAT prep DS game.
• And Konami has announced Time Hollow for the DS, a story-driven adventure game.
• The upcoming Wii Wario title will be called Wario Land: The Shake Dimension in Australia. At this rate every region will have a different name for it.
• Nintendo has sold 500,000 Wiis in Australia, making it the fastest selling home console to sell through 500,000 units in the country.
• Satoru Iwata says there is no guarantee of Wii stock this holiday. What else is new.
• Iwata has also apologized for this year's E3 briefing, "...specifically for those who were expecting to see Nintendo show something about Super Mario or Legend of Zelda. However, the fact of the matter is the so-called 'big titles' need a long, long development period. [...] We really didn't think this year's E3 media briefing was the time to do so."
• Capcom will be selling those Mega Man 9 t-shirts sometime soon.
• The president of Sega mentioned a Wii version of Resident Evil 5 in a Kotaku interview, but said later it was just a "slip of the tongue."
• GoNintendo tried asking some people at Nintendo about Fatal Frame IV, only to find that they weren't aware of its existence.
• A company that has made a TV remote for children called the Weemote since 2000 is struggling with the popularity of the term Wiimote. They're not looking to sue Nintendo, but they do claim sales have dropped considerably due to trademark dilution, plus they have to spend time and money sending C&Ds to retailers.
• Third parties are feeling annoyed and betrayed, according to Game Informer, by the surprise announcement of the Wii MotionPlus add-on. They found out about its existence at the same time we did.
• The producer of Taiko no Tatsujin says a US or European release is undecided but "we would release them if we receive a lot of requests from US and European customers!"

Sony news

New media: First MAG screenshot

• Sales of Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli have been hampered by poor distribution in the UK.
• It was reported recently that Wipeout HD was being held back by a "specific technical problem." It turns out that problem may be that the game has failed epilepsy tests and has to be re-engineered to avoid making people froth at the mouth.
• Penny Arcade Adventures is coming to the PS3 this fall.
• Amazon has R-Type Command for $18.89.

Microsoft news

New Live Arcade titles: Go! Go! Break Steady, 1942: Joint Strike

• At the company's recent GameFest event, Microsoft how DLC can be used to fight the used games market.
• Horror directors like Saw's James Wan and 30 Days of Night's David Slade will be producing short films for the Xbox Live Video Marketplace. Strangely, they're going to be comedies.
• Ars Technica has an interview with Dennis Dyack.

Posted by Will at 6:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Image source. Yes, the post-E3 news void is so boring I can't think of anything more interesting to say than "image source." Hey, did you hear Estelle Getty died?

Industry and multi-console news

• Midway is merging its LA and San Diego studios, with most employees offered the opportunity to transfer.
• Take Two's Strauss Zelnick says the company can be profitable in non-GTA years.
• When asked why EA's stock hadn't gone up in response to better review scores, CEO John Riccitiello said “I don’t think the investors give a shit about our quality. They care about our earnings per share. They wait for it to happen."
• Scholastic has announced Goosebumps Horrorland for the Wii, DS and PS2.
• This week's Guitar Hero III DLC is the Virtuoso Pack, featuring songs from Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and Buckethead.
• Paramount has announced video games based on Clueless, Mean Girls and Pretty in Pink.
• Writer Sande Chen talks about adding emotional intensity to games to make them more meaningful.
• Remedy has shot down the rumor that Alan Wake will be showing at TGS.
• GamesRadar names the top seven lazy character cliches.
• The governor of New York has signed a new video game bill into law.
• New Zealand's Society for the Promotion of Community Standards has been given the go-ahead to appeal Grand Theft Auto IV's R18 rating.
• Christer Ericson looks at ways of determining the prevailing wage for game industry jobs.
• GameSetWatch has an opinion piece on the subject of when games should end. "A television season consists of a predetermined number of episodes with those episodes at a fixed length. A movie is somewhere between 90 and 180 minutes. No such guidelines with video games. They lack an intuitive metric: it'll fall between one and one hundred hours."
• GamesRadar's Tom Francis is tasked with the job of finding love in an online game. "'Orite ^^ & yea i am Lol :p'. Wow, I got an eyebrow raise, a laugh with a capital L and a protruding tongue. Picturing this salvo of facial responses was confusing, but I think the overall impression is positive."
• GameTrailers has updated with episode 7 of their Star Wars game retrospective.
• Kristen Kreuk will be appearing at Comic-Con at Capcom's booth.
• Gary Oldman has revealed that a Dark Knight game is in the works, though he probably wasn't supposed to.

PC and mobile news

New content: Pro Cycling Manager 2008 demo, Empire at War 1.05 Rev A Mac patch, Lost Empire: Immortals 1.05 patch
New media: Dragon Age: Origins screenshots and gameplay footage

• Microsoft has announced that all Games for Windows Live multiplayer features are now free.
• And they released the first details on DirectX 11.
• GameTap is adding THQ games to its service like S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Company of Heroes, Red Faction and Saints Row 2.
• Gamasutra has an interview with the co-founder of NetDevil about their upcoming Jumpgate sequel and the failure of Auto Assault.
• Hot Hardware has a review of the Neural Impulse Actuator, the first "brain-computer interface" brought to the retail market.
• Starfeeder has an interview with TossGirl, Korean Starcraft pro-gamer and "one of the most famous female gamers in the world." I'll take their word for it.
• Amazon's deal of the day is The SimCity Box for $25.99.

Nintendo news

• Nintendo is facing a ban on some of their controllers after they lost a bid to overturn a $21 million patent-infringement verdict.
• Wired talks to Cammie Dunaway -- aka the crazy lady from Nintendo's E3 conference -- who assures us that "I'm really a genuinely smiley, nice person." I don't think being nice was really the concern. She also mentions that we have now seen the extent of Nintendo's 2008 holiday line-up.
• Stephen Totilo looks at the failure to communicate between Nintendo and its fans. "Who is right and who is wrong? When the sides are this sharply divided it’s usually safe to assume that each side’s points have their merits. That’s not necessarily the conclusion that anyone will draw in this case, though, because both parties — Nintendo and its fans — have been used to being totally right about each other’s mistakes in the past."

Sony news

New media: The Last Guy gameplay footage

• 2K won't be improving the visuals for BioShock on the PS3.
• There are photos floating around that are claimed to show a new PSP model which will include a microphone.
• Sony is bringing the full two seasons of Xam'd: Lost Memories to the Playstation video service. It's an anime series from BONES, the makers of Fullmetal Alchemist and Eureka Seven.
• It's all over, pack it in guys. CNBC writer Jane Wells provides "the ultimate proof that Sony is winning:" Her 16 year old "ultimate expert on the video game industry" son traded in his 360 for a PS3 and MGS4. Listen: He participates in chat rooms about games. On the Internet.
• Amazon has Hori's Soul Calibur IV arcade stick for $41.99.

Microsoft news

New content: Rock Band tracks

• Capcom is planning to patch the Street Fighter II HD open beta after saying they wouldn't.
• The Puzzle Quest expansion pack Revenge of the Plague Lord is coming to Live Arcade July 23.
• It seems people have figured out how to share porn through Halo 3 filesharing.
• The XNA Creators Club tells you how you can make XNA games and sell them for cash.
• If you'd prefer to buy XNA games instead, they will be ranging in price from $2.50 to $10.
• Geometry Wars 2 will not have online co-op.
• Major Nelson says you can keep using the blades if you don't like the new dashboard. "We've taken those blades and moved them to the Guide. Every single function that you can do today in the Dashboard you are going to be able to do in the New Xbox Experience in the Guide."
• Marc Witten explains why the dashboard change was needed in the first place. Basically, it's too hard to find things, to the point that many 360 owners were completely unaware of some features.

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

Legomancer Steve Barker has created a sentry gun out of Legos. The next Girl Scout who tries walking up the drive is going to be screwed.

Industry and multi-console news

New media: Rock Revolution gameplay footage with added cringe factor

• In addition to World Tour being compatible with Rock Band instruments, World Tour instruments will also work with the first Rock Band. Isn't it better when we all get along?
• Continuing from comments made by execs from EA and Ubisoft, David Perry has criticized E3 as well, calling it "broken", "expensive" and "an embarrassment."
• Speaking of being an embarrassment, EA has extended the time limit on their Take Two offer yet again.
• 18 of the 20 titles in the new sales charts for Germany and Spain are on Nintendo systems.
• British Gaming Blog has a list of what games were no-shows at E3. I had forgotten that I was kind of expecting a second Beyond Good & Evil trailer.
• Gamasutra has an interview with Reo Yonaga, aka the designer at Q Entertainment that isn't Tetsuya Mizuguchi.
• Peter Moore has had his face scanned in for the game Facebreaker, in case you've ever wanted the opportunity to punch him.
• Australia's ratings database refers to Too Human as "multiplatform." Could always be a mistake, of course.
• Forbes picks eight must-see travel destinations for gamers.
• One of the cars in GTA4 is named after a game violence researcher. She doesn't seem bothered.
• An armless UK mayor is being motion-captured for an upcoming video game. Must have been a ping-pong ball shortage.
• Joystiq has an interview with Todd Howard about Fallout 3.
• If you're annoyed with Mercenaries 2 for having in-game ads, there are missions where your goal is to blow them up.
• MTV talks to the producer of Resident Evil 5 about the setting, controls, and early reactions of racism.

PC and mobile news

New media: Quake Live debut trailer

• With the Wrath of the Lich King NDA expired, WoW Insider has a summary of all the new information coming in about the expansion.
• Fla