Home / kotaku.com rss archive / October-04-2007


TV Spot Clip: ASH Delights Barefoot Japanese Lady
Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi's upcoming turn-based RPG ASH hasn't really been on my radar. But damn, it should've been! The Mistwalker game is sporting some of the best DS graphics I've ever seen. Just look how it impresses that barefoot lady in the above ad! This game is toe curling good. Another clip after the jump.

And Another Thing...: Tell Microsoft Where They're Going Wrong
Larry Hryb has posted a heads-up over on his community site. A little notice, saying that if anyone has any suggestions as to what Microsoft can do better, please, suggest them. Of course, he's talking about the company as a whole, but really, we couldn't give a rat's arse about Windows Media Player or the Zune. We give rat's arses about the gaming stuff. For starters, crap that works would be nice: my 360 charge pack died today, not six months after buying it, which between a dead wireless headset and a broken 360 means that out of my first-party gear only my steering wheel remains unscathed. And that's only because I haven't used it since this. I don't want to die in a fire.What would you say to leaders of services at Microsoft? [Microsoft]

And Still They Come: SingStar R&B Tracklist
You hear the word SingStar, you see the suffix R&B, you get a little hesitant. No, you get concerned. SingStar's tracklists can be, Rock Ballads aside, a mixed bag of crap at best, but the prospect of a whole disc full of men with girly voices singing about their girls, Friday nights and making love is a horrifying one. Thankfully, Sony have decided to get liberal with the term R&B, including tracks from actual, real old-fashioned R&B artists as well as a sprinkling of hip-hop. Though frankly the lack of an ultra-cheesy Boyz II Men track is unforgivable. Amerie - 1 ThingAmy Winehouse - Back To BlackAnastacia - I'm Outta LoveBeverley Knight - Come As You AreBlack Eyed Peas - Pump ItChris Brown - Yo (Excuse Me Miss)Christina Milian - AM 2 PMCorinne Bailey Rae - I'd Liked TooDestiny's Child - BootyliciousDiana Ross & The Supremes - Baby LoveDJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince - SummertimeEdwin Starr - WAREn Vogue - My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)The Four Tops...

Clip: ET: Quake Wars Teamplay Trailer
Sadly still haven't had a chance to play this, but I love this trailer. Why? Because the original Enemy Territory was as fantastic as a giant, fantastic box full of fantastic, so seeing the steps they've taken to not just maintain the teamwork aspect of it in Quake Wars but improve on it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Sequels, Lunchboxes, Pez Dispensers: Eidos Spending Big On Kane & Lynch, Sequel Already In Development
Kane and Lynch isn't even out yet. Too early to think about sequels? Pfft. Whatever. Eidos are full of swagger on this one: they've not only scored a film adaptation of the IP, they're spending more on advertising it than they did on Tomb Raider: Legend and they've already got a sequel in production. Kane & Lynch 2. Let's hope the final product's actually decent, or they're all going to look a little silly. Though how a co-operative Michael Mann movie couldn't be decent (and a lot lot more) escapes me.Eidos prepares for biggest ever spend [MCV]

Insomniac Dude Reckons: Mario Galaxy Just Ripping Off Insomniac's Games
The charming Brits over at Kikizo sat down with Insomniac's Ryan Schneider the other day. Asked him a bunch of questions about Ratchet & Clank, and it sounds like Insomniac are rightly proud of their franchise. Also proud of R&C on the PS3, which I must say is looking pretty darn good. They're also proud of their originality as a company, though, and proud that it's influenced...Miyamoto and Super Mario Galaxy. There's evidence all around us I think, of certain games that have borrowed from Ratchet and Clank. One that we're even extremely flattered by is Super Mario Galaxy, with their spherical worlds; we did spherical worlds in Going Commando, and Up Your Arsenal. It would be amazing to think that Miyamoto-san thought that was so cool that he wanted to incorporate it into Mario Galaxy. Granted, he's doing it in a different way, but it's still a spherical world, so it's flattering to see those sorts of things. That Miyamoto, he's nothin' but a hack.Ratchet & Clank...

Clip: PC-Exclusive Gears Stuff
A tight little montage of all the new new stuff you can expect on the PC version of Gears. Which if you're impatient basically boils down to a few minutes of shooting big aliens in dark ruins followed a robot dinosaur.

Giant Ken Levine Face Says: Crummy BioShock Endings Weren't My Idea
Admission: the ending to BioShock soured me. And not just the actual ending itself, the entire last third of the game, where it ceases being a wondrous exploration of a crumbling dystopia and becomes a tedious, run-of-the-mill shooter. That last bit, maybe that was just me, but the actual ending sequences definitely left people feeling cold. Even Ken Levine:..it was never my intention to do two endings for the game. It sort of came very late and it was something that was requested by somebody up the food chain from me. Interesting. Please, continue.One of the reasons I was opposed to multiple endings is I never want to do things that have multiple digital outcomes, versus analog outcomes. I want to do it like the weapons system in the combat in BioShock. There are a million different things you can do in every combat; you can play it a million different ways. Looking into the future for the franchise, that's something I want to [figure out], that by the time you get to the ending...

Kotaku After Dark: Swinging Singles, The NSFW Arcade Game
The official MAME site contains a mission statement that speaks of the emulator's ongoing development serving "educational [and] preservation purposes" to "prevent many historical games from disappearing forever once the hardware they run on stops working." It's not just a way for pirates and ne'er do wells to laugh in the face of intellectual property. MAME certainly lives up to its mission by giving us a look at something few of us would have been able to experience in 1983, the adult arcade game Swinging Singles by Ent Ent Ltd. It make look like a crude Pac-Man clone, but when your instructions are "drive through maze and try to reach an orgy house" and "avoid V.D. and others get key and go to room for fun" you know you're in for a fun sexy time.Kanashimi Danny has a review of sorts on his LiveJournal, giving us a look at the very NSFW game that can only be discussed on Kotaku After Dark. You have to jump over pike-wielding herpes viruses and giant enemy crabs to engage in...

Day Note: Folklore
To: AshFrom: CrecenteRe: Live in Tokyo? Forget It.I spent the afternoon playing Folklore. I bet you didn't know that the game forces you to sorta replay through the plot from two perspectives? I kind of see what they were going for with the idea, but I'm not sure it's the best idea. Forced repetition, no matter the reason, is still repetitive. I still haven't made my mind up about the game. While I love the way it looks and the plot is fairly interesting, there is that repetition issue and the capturing of the fairies starts getting repetitive too. This is one of those games you have to spend a lot of time with before you decide whether you like it. I'm about six hours in now, so I'm hoping to beat it by the weekend.What you missed:Art meets games meet crime scenesHalo 3 made $300M in the first weekCliffy tried to hide, but we found himA Primer for Sony PRFrankenZeldaBest Wii Bowling Vid Yet

Vee Gee Chartz: Simple 2000: The Japanese Hardware Chart
The PSP extends its winning streak to week three as sales of the PSP Slim and the continued love-in for Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII make for strong sales. And look at those Xbox 360 numbers! Over 5,000! In a week, that is, not the total number of Xbox 360s sold to the Japanese. Blue Dragon may have outsold Halo 3 during its first week overseas, but Master Chief is moving consoles.The Wii was slightly down again, the PLAYSTATION 3 overtook its predecessor and some Game Boy micros were sold. Your sales chart awaits below.PSP - 102,809Nintendo DS Lite - 72,895Wii - 24,143PLAYSTATION 3 - 13,105PlayStation 2 - 12,980Xbox 360 - 5,215Game Boy micro - 229

Cake Pun Warning: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Caker
What hath a new video game cake post wrought? A flood of new video game cake submissions! While I certainly don't plan on making a habit of publishing daily posts on nerdy wedding desserts (or fashioning awful pun headlines), someone's gone ahead and done something awesome again, forcing my hand to set this post to "Publish" status. Reader Ash and her husband had this fantastic The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker cake made for their wedding day, writing that "this was the one way we could really express ourselves in the wedding without making parents go crazy." Full shots after the jump.Pretty, awesome and pretty awesome. Now I put my cake evaluation career on indefinite hold. It's been fun.

Contest: Win the Sack o' Halo Stuff
Just a reminder that you have until midnight tomorrow to enter to win our Halo bribe schwag. There are ten Fahey-centric questions on the official contest page that you need to answer and email to kotakucontestATgmail.com. Once we sort through the entries to find the people who answered correctly we will randomly select one winner. Hurry it up, my wife's starting to get sick of the casket-sized box sitting in our living room. Oh, and the contest is not limited to U.S. residents only. Now have at it.The Great Halo 3 Giveaway

Clips: Remembering Gunpei Yokoi
Today, October 4th, 2007, marks the tenth anniversary of the death of Gunpei Yokoi, the Nintendo engineer responsible for inventing the company's Game & Watch and Game Boy hardware. Yokoi also acted as producer on Nintendo-developed software like Metroid and Kid Icarus with the R&D1 and Intelligent Systems teams. For those who haven't yet watched RobotBling's fantastic piece on Yokoi titled "The Greatest Inventor", I highly recommend doing so.Great thanks to Eric for the reminder. RIP Gunpei.

Shmup With People: Nanostray 2 Officially Coming In Early 08
Shin'en's space shooter Nanostray was by no means a hit with critics, but apparently there were enough Nintendo DS owners hip to the first one to warrant a sequel. Today, Majesco officially announced Nanostray 2 will ship in "early 2008" and features some nice improvements over the first. Two-player co-op, two-player versus, traditional and touchscreen control options, even a swell VR Missions-like mode dubbed the Simulator have all been added.The DS doesn't have much in the way of shmups, so this horizontal and vertical combo shooter is a welcome addition to the library. The fact that it comes well after the holidays makes our wallets happy. More details at the official site.Nanostray 2 Official Web Site

Industry: NCSoft Grabs Dev Team
NCSoft today announced that Carbine Studios is working on an unannounced massively multiplayer online game for them. Carbine Studios is made up of 17 former Blizzard employees including the lead and senior developers from the World of Warcraft team."This is a dev team made in heaven," said Robert Garriott, CEO for NCsoft's North American business. "This group is as experienced as they come in the area of computer role playing and multiplayer game design. Making successful games is second nature to them. They are a very welcome addition to the NCsoft family. The gaming community should be excited to see what great things come out of Carbine Studios in the coming years.""NCSoft's established global infrastructure, commitment to their development studios and passion for online gaming makes them an ideal partner," says Carbine co-founder Kevin Beardslee. "In the coming months Carbine Studios will continue to grow and we look forward to bringing many more talented industry professionals...

Buddy System: Psst! Wanna Buy A Halo 3 Friend?
Calling all losers! Calling all losers! Your new Halo 3 friend is waiting for your PayPal funds to clear! That's right, socially awkward gamers who need an Xbox Live wingman, your future best friend is currently whoring himself out on eBay right now, promising a "lifelong gamer friendship!" to anyone willing to pony up the cash. The best part? If bidding reaches $1,500.99, he'll even throw in a signed, sealed, delivered copy of Halo 3. That's value!Don't worry, it's all on the up and up. In fact, it's for a good cause. According to the auction, proceeds from the winning bid will go "to help raise money for the losses which a lawyer messed me over when I was entitled to a lot of money from being hit in a car accident." Harrowing, I know.I Will Be Your X-Box Live Friend On Halo 3 [eBay via Destructoid]

Free: Nintendo Giving Away Phantom Hourglass Feather Styli
Feel ever so slightly disconnected from Link when using a dull, stock Nintendo DS stylus? Friend, we have a deal for you. Simply buy a copy of The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, register it at Nintendo.com, burn through a quick online survey and a mere 4 to 6 weeks later, you'll be tapping touchscreens to your heart's content with this lovely little feather pen stylus.Sorry, Canada, you're going to have to wait a little longer for yours, but you can still partake. The rest of you? Out of luck.Nintendo wants to hear your thoughts on The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass [Nintendo - thanks, Tim!]

Baby Talk: Rockstar: Waaahhhhh!! (hypocritical sniffle)
The Simpsons, who doesn't love The Simpsons? Apparently Rockstar. Or at least that's EA's story since Rockstar has demanded that content be pulled from their new Simpsons game. Lead Designer Greg Rizzer elaborates further:I was always under the impression that when you do parody, it's a sign of respect... If we make fun of Grand Theft Auto, we're not going to hurt the sales of Grand Theft Auto... But yeah, we've definitely had some reactions - we've had to pull stuff from the game.He also adds that during Leipzig Games Convention, EA had to pull a GTA parody poster (Grand Theft Scratchy) from the floor due to a Rockstar-sourced complaint. Rizzer elaborated that it was probably a lawyer who's been the source of said conflicts, but that's no excuse in our book. Parody has long offered legal solace to those stretching the bounds of freedom of speech and social commentary, even in the light of potential profits—just imagine this classic SNL vid without such protection....

Clips: Yakuza 3 Features A Deep Turtle Racing Engine
Give it up. Give it up for Sega and Yakuza's main man, Toshihiro Nagoshi. Not only does Ryu ga Gotoku Kenzen—to be known as Yakuza 3 outside of Japan, we're guessing—feature extraordinary cleavage, it also features turtle racing. Yes. Turtle racing. Turtle racing that you can wager on. There's some other stuff in here, too, like amazing depth and breadth of detail, pretty graphics and all that crap. But those turtles. My God!

Episode V: Xbox 360 Registration Rewards Strike Back
Remember earlier this year, when Microsoft sent out a batch of Live freebies in the form of Joust and Frogger? Well, a second batch of free Xbox Live Arcade game codes are going out to Xbox 360 owners who invested in the past year, signed up for Live and filled out a registration form. Our tipsters who recently registered have been getting the updated gratis games in their inboxes, netting themselves a couple of free XBLA titles in Robotron and Joust. Again.So, if you made with the online registration, log into all your e-mail accounts, check your spam filters, and enjoy some Robotron. Thanks to everyone who sent this in. Again.

Tattoos: Leave Luck To Heaven tattoo
Dan sent this to me, sent in to him by the proud, female owner of this amazing back.Points to you, gamenerds, for being first to yell either the meaning of Leave Luck To Heaven or the full list of games featured. There aren't any prizes. Crecente ate all the cupcakes. Sorry. Leave Luck To Heaven tattoo [Bits, Bytes, Pixels & Sprites]

Hardware: The Ship Gets 3D Control Support
Merscom Games is teaming up with Novint Technologies to start putting 3D touch technology into some of their games. Normally I wouldn't be that interested in this news, what with Merscom churning out such titles as Terrorist Takedown and WW II Tank Commander, but they are also the publisher behind The Ship and, well, that kicked ass.What this news means is that you'll now be able to use the Novint Falcon controller in The Ship. The controller works like a sort of floating mouse. The device allows players to "feel weight, shape, texture dimension, dynamics and force effects" which is kind of cool, though also sort of unnecessary.CHAPEL HILL, NC and ALBUQUERQUE, NM - October 4, 2007 - Novint Technologies, Inc. (NVNT), the pioneer of 3D touch for consumer computing, has partnered with Merscom, a leading global publisher of computer and video games, to make a variety of titles available for the new Falcon game controller. Merscom will integrate Novint's patented 3D touch technology...

Hell Yes: Contra 4 Dated And Box Arted
Wayforward's Contra 4 is bringing back old school, Red Falcon ass-kicking action to the Nintendo DS and it looks like they're doing it next month. Marketing materials look to have made their way into the hands of one NeoGAF member, listing a launch date of November 13th and showcasing Contra 4's exceedingly masculine cover art. Guns, flames, rocket launchers, chiseled pecs—how much more manly could it possibly get? Check out the full sized version, which also features a burning skeleton! If I weren't sporting an intense hangover, there would be lots of head-banging and home office trashing. I'm that pumped up.Contra 4: Release date, box cover art #1 [NeoGAF]

Clips: Erickson Sports' Wii Bowling Championship
Erickson Retirement Communities recently hosted a national Wii Bowling Championship at their different locations, handing out a Erickson Sports Trophy to the winner. A trophy that will get moved from winner location to winner location year to year. That in and of itself is pretty damn cool, but to top it off, Erickson put together this pretty damn funny video production of the first game of the championship playoffs.I'm rooting for the Highland Springs Sidewinders.Erickson Sports' Nintendo Wii Bowling Championship- Game 1 [Erickson Sports]

Stats Feed: Today's most popular headlines are Simple ...
Today's most popular headlines are Simple 2000: The Japanese Software Chart Where Halo 3 Does OK (8,769 views today), CliffyB on Halo as Bathtubs of Combat (6,618) and Frankenreview, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS) (6,405).

Clippy: ThinkGeek's 8-Bit Tie Goes Gold
The kids at ThinkGeek have made good on their promise to create the April Fool's Day joke turned real product, the 8-bit tie. The tie is now in stock at ThinkGeek's online store for the low price of $19.99. The handmade polyester will make you the envy of your dorky friends and the shame of whatever family function for which you're forced to dress formally. For extra nerd cred... it's a clip-on!Halloween is just around the corner, with Christmas and Hannukah closing in. Perfect for the tie-wearing rebellious nerd in your life.The ThinkGeek 8-bit Tie [ThinkGeek - thanks, xenovis!]

Oddities: Koopa Sand Sculpture
Australian Kotakuite Andrew sends us a shot of how he spent his Wednesday while at the beach. That's right, they built a Koopa out of sand and seaweed. I'm actually heading out to Australia for a bit of a vacation next month. I'm going to be hitting up Surfers Paradise for a week too, so I'll have to try my own hand at a gaming sand castle. Any suggestions?

Tear: Jade Raymond Squashes Dreams For Assassin's Creed Demo
Bad news, readers: there will no demo for Assassin's Creed. From Ms. Raymond herself:No, we're not making a demo. This game is more like a sandbox style game where there's a lot of things, so it's not a linear mission where you can say, OK, we're making a demo and we're giving you this mission...there's no way to say, OK, we're going to cut up this square of the city and give that to you in a demo because then you can't run around or do the gameplay. There's no way to really make a demo and i think that's the same reason game's like GTA don't have a demo...To be fair, sandbox titles Saint's Row and Crackdown both had demos and a GTA title hasn't yet hit a next gen online platform. We think we speak for everyone when we say that even Jade's alleged "hotness" cannot fill the void this leaves in our hearts. Jade Raymond confirms there will be no Assassin's Creed demo [maxconsole]

Politics: Pandemic Responds to Angry Venezuelans
It looks like The Venezuela Solidarity Network crowing over the Mercenaries 2 delay didn't go unnoticed.Josh Resnick, president of Pandemic Studios, took a second to shoot out this quick response about the VSN and their claims that the game's plot has been made more fictional due to pressure from the group and part owner Bono:Pandemic Studios never has and never will be intimidated by tyrants.  Our invasion is on schedule: Mercenaries 2 will be released in early 2008.See what he did there? He aped the story in the game, the whole overthrow-of-the-Venezuelan-government-by-a-drug-lord-turned-dictator dealio. Cleaver! Personally, I don't care if it's set in my house, as long as I can level entire neighborhoods with explosives.

Hardware: J Allard Talks Zune Gaming, We Talk Zune Improvement
So the Zune 2 launched. And while the new models are a definite improvement on the last version of the Zune (and by the way, Microsot made all the Zune 2 features available through software updates on old Zunes, which was super classy), I was hoping we'd see new Xbox 360 integration with the device. But we did not. J Allard had this to say when asked about actual gaming on the Zune:I love games and maybe for someone with a 40-minute commute, it might be an interesting scenario. Thus far, the market really hasn't proven out that it is a great scenario. Customer satisfaction with what has been done isn't that high. The other challenge is with the platform. The games that you bought in your fifth generation don't run with your sixth generation. ... The rate of innovation, turnover, and variety of form factors makes it a tricky proposition. That said, we have a lot of flexibility and a lot of magical software. What we've done with XNA is an incredibly portable environment designed...

Freeness: New Angel Love Trailer, Miz's Free MMO in Motion
newVideoPlayer("angellove_gawker.flv", 475, 276);Q Entertainment's upcoming free MMO Angel Love (for PS3 and PC) isn't getting anywhere near the press it deserves. Yes, that's our official biased take based upon little more than the Q? name and the word "free." Our one complaint? Why does every Japanese trailer use the same horrid female voice over? Ash, we're looking your way for an explanation on this one. Angel Love Online [gametrailers]

Blood Required: Cliffy Goes To Hollywood, Talks Gears Movie Rating
During the same media open house that brought you our recent Gears of War feature, Cliffy B. spoke more about the coming Gears of War movie, and more specifically, why the film needs an 'R' rating to work.My concern is that Hollywood has this love-hate relationship with rated R movies. They go through phases where they're convinced that they can't make a rated R movie that will sell well because it will cut out that whole audience. But any time a new Saw movie or a 300 comes along, it proves them wrong. As long as it's a good movie, people will pack in the seats. The fact that Gears is an M-rated franchise and involves people getting chainsawed in half, it's got to be a pretty f***ing hardcore movie.I can't see a faithful Gears movie without an 'R' rating, either. Here's hoping we don't see some last second recutting. And here's hoping even more that the Gears movie is actually good and can break the generally poor critical showing video game movies encounter at the box office....

Roundup: Frankenreview, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS)
Since the last scene of the GameCube's Wind Waker, we've been craving cel-shaded Link at the lust level we generally reserve for booze, pantsu and headshots. So his triumphant return in The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass for the DS had us...how can we put this gently...playing the DS without a stylus. So hit the jump for our Frankenreview on the newest Zelda title—offering almost enough time savings for you to finish school, get a job, become rich, buy the game and retire early to play it—because you don't need to click around and fight all the ads. EurogamerPhantom Hourglass follows the events of the GameCube's Wind Waker, and does an unbelievably successful job of aping its visual style too, wisely focusing on creating expressive and beautifully-animated characters rather than effects, or environmental detail. As happy as most fans were to see Twilight Princess revive Ocarina's epic mood, the immense charm and polish of Wind Waker's art deserved better...

Lovin' It: Japanese Blue McDragon
Halo 3 may be a current (hit?) Xbox 360 game in Japan, but it's Blue Dragon that is getting the coveted McDonald's attention. Now with the Japanese equivalent to a Happy Meal, blooming eaters can get one of five Blue Dragon cards based upon the animated series. OK, we'll admit it, all Blue Dragon news puts us asleep even if culturally relevant, and we just wrote this whole post to show you one of our favorite pics from Japan after the jump. The McPork. They don't sugarcoat it in Japan or waste time with catchy marketing bs. You came to eat some pig, then it's pig that you get. Blue Dragon invades McDonalds [siliconera]

Gallery: NiGHTS Into Screenshots
I continue to be generally unimpressed with NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams graphics, and I don't know why. I mean, they are certainly passable, but years of waiting and hoping for a sequel to the magical Saturn game plus an overactive imagination pictured something much greater than what I've seen. Sega isn't helping either, releasing screenshots of people looking into boxes, or rock walls with a ring between them. The most exciting screenshot release ever. galleryPost('nights104', 4, 'Lets get those boxes open people!');

Indiiiieeeee: IndieGames.com Launched, Now Steal Some Free Games
The CMP Game Group, the bigger company behind sites like Gamasutra and GameSetWatch, as well as the Games Developer Conference...(the list goes on), has launched the new website IndieGames.com. To those who don't really follow independent media, just know that attaching "indie" to any art form implies depth, importance and loads of subsequent associated personal worth. Because let's face it: Gears of War is a great game, but playing it won't get you laid by an intellectual chick (though if it does, please hit our tips line asap, photographic proof preferred). We recommend IndieGame's Top 50 Game Guide, which includes plenty of free downloads to heal your currently blockbuster-violated pocketbook. Want Games? An In-Depth Indie Game Guide [via gamasutra]

Rumor: PS3 Price Drop Imminent?
OK seriously, why does every Playstation 3 pricing announcement have to turn into an enormous clusterfuck of confusion?Let me lay it out for you, generically speaking:1. First come the rumors about something.2. Then come the general denials from Sony.3. Then come more rumors in bigger publications.4. Then come the categorical denials from Sony.5. Then comes the statement the contradicts the categorical denial.6. Then comes the announcement.Apparently we are currently at step number five with this latest PS3 price drop rumor. At least if Thomson Financial Services (a competitor of Bloomberg and Reuters) and CNN Money is to be believed we are. In the latest story about the price rumor, Thomson reports the rumor as written about by a French newspaper and then follows up with this dandy of a Sony statement:A Sony spokesman would not confirm the figures cited by Les Echos but said an announcement was 'imminent'.OK, so correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't that slightly contradict Sony...

Xbox Live: Bee Movie Demo Pollinates Xbox Live
Don't tell anyone, but here at Kotaku we've been generally impressed with the Bee Movie Game, based off of the DreamWorks movie in which a disillusioned bee realizes that humans have been taking their honey for centuries and decides to sue us. Not only is it a movie-based video game, but it is an animated feature aimed towards children and adults the likes of which have produced countless mediocre console titles in the past. We've a feeling this game could break the mold, and now Xbox 360 owners can find out for themselves. The Bee Movie Game demo is now up on Xbox Live, all 445 or so megabytes of it - enough to give you a taste of life as a small bee in the big city. See for yourself what the buzz is all about. Yeah, I actually wrote that last line. Can't believe it myself.

Game Tester: Help Capcom Help You
Capcom is looking for some gamer volunteers to help them playtest what sounds to be beta or a near gold version of Lost Planet: Extreme Condition for the PC.Experienced PC first-person shooter gamers living in San Francisco who are able to hit up Capcom's office for an afternoon during working hours should shoot your info over to capcom at CONTEST at capcom dot com. Capcom is partnering with Intel for the "focus test", so they plan to five away a bunch of goodies.If you apply send the following in your email:--Name--Age (you must be over 18 with valid ID to participate)--What are the system specs of the machine you play on?--Which titles have you played in the last 6 months?--Approximately how many hours per week do you spend playing?--Phone number at which you may be reached during business hours--Email address

Beta Watch: Savage 2 Enters Beta
S2 Games is developing and publishing the sequel to their ambitious online action RTS , Savage: The Battle for Newearth independently, so the sequel will go into beta when they say so. They say so. Savage 2: A Tortured Soul is now entering the beta testing stage for pre-order customers. What this means is that if you put money down on the game, you'll get a chance to participate in the final testing stages before release. This isn't a try before you buy situation at all - you pay full price and commit to buy the game upon release, going on to help them tune the game for the general public. An odd sort of arrangement, but with S2's focus on community involvement, not a surprising one. They want committed fans with an interest in seeing Savage 2 be the best it can be. I'm just glad the game is nearing release, as I've been looking forward to it since GDC back in March. S2 Games Announces Savage 2: A Tortured Soul BetaHighly Anticipated Sequel to Acclaimed PC Game Now in Testing...

Under The Influence: Drunk Driving The Video Game
Ever since Atari released Night Driver, gamers have been looking forward to what we expected was the natural progression of the title. Unfortunately we never got Drunk Driver, but a team of fine arts students at the University of Calgary have come up with a reasonable facsimile. "The Booze Cruise", the end result of over ten months of work from the students, is a PC game that simulates driving with a blood alcohol percentage three times the legal limit. With blurry vision, you have to drive home in 90 seconds without killing anyone. I hope there's more to it than just blurred vision, or it could very well be called "Driving Home From The Eye Doctor After Being Dilated Without Wearing Those Silly Plastic Sunglasses Cruise", which is entirely too long a title for a student project. Police plan to use the game as a teaching tool, while students plan to giggle while they crash into people, places, and things. Students develop drunk driving video game [Canada.com]Image courtesy...

Feature: CliffyB on Halo as Bathtubs of Combat
By John GaudiosiRALEIGH, NC--While Cliff Bleszinski is still mum on anything regarding Gears of War 2, the lead designer of the game franchise that has sold over 4 million copies on Xbox 360 was more than happy to discuss the new PC version of the game. Bleszinski was the centerpiece of attention at Epic Games plush digs in Cary, NC--which is just down the road from my home and is part of the Raleigh/Durham Triangle area. Microsoft and Epic hosted a small group of journalists to offer hands-on time with the five new single-player levels of the campaign game as well as new multiplayer offerings for the online game.After driving to lunch around the corner at Bentley's in his new red convertible Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder (the rest of us took a shuttle bus), Bleszinski took some time away from checking out journalists' reactions to playing the new PC version of Gears of War to discuss the impact the game has had on the shooter genre."My Google alerts say it all," said Bleszinski,...

This Is Madness: Halo 3 Makes $300 Million, Console Sales Double
The first week of Halo 3 has passed, and as Kotaku editors recover from various jaunts around the globe and begin playing each other in earnest, Microsoft makes with the impressive statistics, giving us something to tell you people in between rounds. After announcing $170 million in sales in just the U.S. alone on launch day, the end of the week tally has risen to an impressive $300 million worldwide, with the game topping the charts just about everywhere that you find charts. Even estimating a modest average of $90 per game, that's over 3 million copies sold - with over 2.7 million Xbox Live members having played online so far for a total of 40 million hours. The effect on console sales has also been amazing, with initial reports showing double the weekly worldwide average of 360s sold. That's insane...so insane that I took the above picture of myself in Second Life to commemorate the occasion. Ponder its greatness, and then calm your pounding heart with a lovely Microsoft...

Clips: Inverse Forensics
John Paul Bichard continued to push the envelope of games as art. He first started blending crime scene forensics with video games and art more than two years ago and with my background in police reporting I was fascinated. I remain fascinated.His latest works moves from the static world of photo and screen capture to performance art. Inverse Forensics was performed at Mejan Labs in Stockholm on Aug. 30 as part of the Game Art exhibition curated by Bjrn Norberg and Peter Hagdahl. In it the performer takes on the role of a player character in a generic shooter, following a set of rules that is supposed to reenact a typical FPS moment. What's interesting is that the enemies are never show, rather the viewer has to fill in the void by observing the reaction of the performer and the blood left by her actions.It's an interesting idea and the title is more than fitting, essentially this allows the artist to create something by filling in all of the information around it. Forcing the...

So Much E: GameTrailers Covers E For All
Adding to their stellar lineup of Electronic Arts, Konami, Nintendo, and a slew of companies you could care less about, IDG World Expo has just introduced two brand new exhibitors to the E For All Expo hall. GameTrailers and Xfire now join the ranks of the few, the proud, the actually showing up. The two MTV brands will be bringing the show home in true GameTrailers style, with interviews of industry insiders, videos of events, and on-location shoots of GT originals Bonus Round and Game One. The brands have contests and promotions lined up for the event, including ticket giveaways for those too cheap to pay for a ticket. This is great news for the gaming press and the gaming community in general, as it pretty much means we can sit home and watch GameTrailers' coverage instead of actually attending. Huzzah!E for All Expo Adds MTV Networks' GameTrailers and Xfire to Its Growing List of Leading Industry ExhibitorsGameTrailers and Xfire Make Presence Felt through Onsite and Broadcast...

Night Note: Live in Tokyo? Forget It.
To: CrecenteFrom: BashcraftRE: CellsTomorrow, gotta catch the bulletin train bound for Tokyo tomorrow. Again! In the last two months, I have been to Tokyo a total of something like five or six times. Tokyo is the country's capital and a lot is concentrated there work-wise. Sure, there is a lot in Kansai — there's just more in Tokyo. Thing is, I just don't want to live there. Like, at all. No offense to Tokyo or the fine people who inhabit the city. It is a truly great metropolitan city and has so much to offer. Saying that, living there would cause me to go mental. Forget that I prefer the food, the dialect and the people in Osaka, so much has happened to me here personally that I can't fathom living anywhere else in Japan or outside it. Even when I go to Kyoto or Kobe, both cities which closely neighbor Osaka, they feel like other planets. Tokyo's can be like another universe at times, especially how the people act and whatnot. Osaka is the city where I fell in love,...

Ryan Payton Explains Why: MGS4 Has Two Control Schemes, The Monkey Has Pants
According to Kojima Production's Ryan Payton (and really, the guy should know), Metal Gear Solid 4's going to ship with two completely different control schemes to choose from, one for "Japan", one for the "West". Why the difference? Payton says while the Japanese are used to more complex control schemes, they can't shoot. Which is kinda necessary in a game that's one pixellated money shot away from being gun porn. He also explains why there's a monkey in pants (PANTS, not diapers), so this is definitely worth a few minutes.

Controversy: Wii Covered in Bloody Stickers
Soooooooooo scary. With all that Manhunt 2 controversy, it's nice to see Rockstar focus on the important things — like giving away a Wii covered in blood splattered stickers. (That's not all, the company is also giving away a 50 inch plasma TV.) The toned down and M-rated reworked Manhunt 2 is out in the U.S. on Halloween. Click below to enter Rockstar's contest.Win a Wii with Bloody Stickers [Rockstar via Games Radar]

Not Final Fantasy: Square Enix Branches Out to Yoga
Square Enix doesn't *just* do Final Fantasy re-makes and spin-offs. It also does Dragon Quest remakes and Kingdom Hearts spin-offs. And, erm, yoga games. Even though Konami has moved on from yoga to Pilates, Square Enix is offering DS de Hajimeru Tipness no Yoga, which was developed in connection with Japanese health club Tipness. Sadly, the in-game characters look decidedly normal. Frosted hair, leather capes and yoga posing could've really worked! Square Enix Yoga? [Game Watch Impress]

Cross Their Hearts: Valve Promise You Won't Be Paying For Steam
Right now, Steam is free. Which is lucky, since for all its benefits, it can still be a pain in the ass! Luckier still, Valve have committed to keeping it that way (the free part, not the pain/ass part), stating that not only are they planning on keeping Steam free, they've got a perfectly valid reason for doing so: We will not charge for The Steam Community and its features. Never even entered our mind. Part of it is to address the fact that when folks first bought Half-Life 2, Steam didn't offer many reasons to stick around. It didn't do enough for customers, and it didn't justify itself. So I suppose we're paying off a debt now. Awfully big of them to admit that. Well played, Valve.Valve 'Will Not Charge' for Community Features [1UP]

2UP: Mario, Luigi Keep Your Air Fresh
My "office" doesn't smell. OK, it does, but depending on the season it smells of potpourri, sandalwood or vanilla bean. Not stinky feet. And between...well, the tons of crap strewn across my house I've got more than enough Mario merch. Let's say for a moment, though, that neither of those things were true. In that case, these would be perfect! Mario, Luigi and fresh, clean air? That, readers, is a win.The Fresh, Invigorating Scent Of Mario And Luigi [Uber-Review, via Giz]

Big In Japan: PSP Slim Inches Close to 600,000 Sold
Japan has PSP Slim and Lite fever! In its first two weeks on sale, the redesigned portable sold 500,000 units. That's a lot! The total count as of October 3rd is 580,000. Likewise, a lot! The PSP Slim is even outselling the original PSP when it was launched back in 2004. And with Hot Shots Golf Portable 2 hitting the PSP this December, the Slim and Lite juggernaut shows no signs of slowing down. Yup, year's later, the PSP is gaming's comeback kid. PSP Sales [Famitsu]

Clip: WoW Brewfest Trailer
Attentive readers may already be aware of this, but I don't like WoW. Don't like MMOs at all, actually. This, though, this is the kind of thing they need to start getting me onboard: Oktoberfest-themed celebrations. Because while monthly subscriptions may irk me, there's something about orcs in lederhosen that's just irresistible.

Contest: One more day left! Don't forget that our ...
One more day left! Don't forget that our great Halo 3 contest closes its doors October 5th at midnight EST. In case you missed them, click here for the rules and the questions. Happy Fahey stalking!

It's Shu Time: McDonalds Luring Japanese Children Into Blue Dragon Honey Pot
Normally, a McDonalds Happy Meal is designed to lure children to McDonalds. Cash in on a popular brand name, sell some burgers, make some kids happy. Not this one. McDonalds Japan are running Blue Dragon Happy Meals, where kids can pony up their parent's hard-earned yen in exchange for a burger, fries, drink and...Blue Dragon card. Seems odd, since Japan hates the 360 (and thus by extension almost every game it touches), but hey, if shifting some burgers and cards onto unsuspecting kids gets them thinking 360 I'm sure it'll be mission accomplished for Microsoft.Blue Dragon invades McDonalds [Siliconera]

Dirty Game Too: Dead or Alive Jubblies Plundered for CD
Hey, I've seen those clothes before. That's Kasumi from Tecmo fighter Dead or Alive. Doujin circle C-CUBE put out a game, this non-Tecmo NSFW game, during the past and have also released a CD of "100 simulations of boob action voice" as well as 14 of the game's songs. What does those "boob action voice" simulations sound like? Dunno! But here's a sample: AaAaAaAa,NnnKyunnnnDyuuuuu, jyuuchuuNAAAAAAaaaaaaaa!So sexy! Of course, these are uttering during various "simulations" like squeezing, biting and poking. For those who haven't had enough (and who has really?), the CD's backside is right after this.DoA Sex Game Music [Akiba Blog]

Fan Service: Uncharted Nearly Done, Now Supports 1080i
Naughty Dog president Evan Wells says Uncharted: Drake's Fortune is just about done. Which is good news, partly because it's a promising PS3 game that's not being delayed, mostly because I was about the only person at TGS who didn't get to play it and get their rainbow-coloured, individual-toed socks blown off. The good news doesn't stop there: Wells also rolls up his sleeves, trawls through the comments on the post and decides that due to fan feedback they'd go ahead and implement 1080i support, where previously they'd only been gunning for 720p. Swell gesture!Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (Update) [PlayStation.Blog]

Crime: Manila Mayor Hates Games (Basketball and Hookers, Too)
Retired cop and current Manila mayor Alfredo Lim is cracking down. On everything. Shortly after the incumbent took office the summer, he demanded that internet cafes prohibit children from accessing games from 7am to 6pm in hopes of preventing children skipping school. Now, he's out to ban games he views as violent altogether. Says Lim: I have asked the city council to study a possible ordinance to ban these violent computer games at Internet cafes and arcades in shopping malls.His hardline has earned him comparisons to Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry. So far, Lim has destroyed cafes and night spots in Manila's tourist district as well as dismantled basketball courts, tightened up on prostitution and drugs, and imposed harsh punishments on petty crime. Next up, watch as he tries outlawing masturbation or something. Manila Mayor [ABS-CBN, Thanks Arbet!]

Serious Business: Sony Looking To Offload PS3 Graphics Chip Factory
Reuters are reporting that Sony are in discussions with Toshiba over selling their PS3 graphics chip production facility in western Japan's Oita prefecture. Why? It's another step on the road to cutting costs at the company's semiconductor unit, and comes right on the back of the announcement of a new DRAM chip manufacturing deal Sony made with Infineon Technologies AG the other day. If the sale goes through, it'd be the second time this year the two companies have been linked; in September Sony were also keen to sell Toshiba their Nagasaki production facility, which was making the Cell chip. All of which is terribly fascinating to business followers, but what does this mean to you, the idle, slightly disinterested observer? Means the PS3 has cost Sony a lot of cash, cash they're now trying to recoup. Also means you're hopefully another step closer to a cheaper PS3, because this is all about cutting costs.Sony may sell graphic chip line to Toshiba-sources [Reuters]

Well Bred: PS2 Looking PS3 Game Hits Japanese PSN (Hooray)
Japan-based, PS3-owning, Kotaku-reading humans rejoice! Some new content has popped up on the Japanese PlayStation Network, including a demo of the "soul breeding" Record of Agarest War. Definitely going to check it out tonight. Hopefully, it looks better than the cruddy clip we posted recently. Thanks iamhitori for the tip!