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Trucks And Trolls: World of Warcraft/Toyota Tacoma Commercial
There are no trucks in World of Warcraft? Well, There are now. The latest Toyota Tacoma commercial is set in the WoW universe and surprisingly it's actually pretty funny. I'm not a WoW-er myself, but I still got a kick out of it. In my mind I just mentally replace WoW with D&D and it's sort of the same thing.If you'd like to see a better quality version of the video just without the Toyota tag at the end, make the jump.

Grand Text Auto: Grand Text Auto Exhibit Opens
Just in case you blinked and missed it, the Grand Text Auto exhibit at UC Irvine's Beall Center for Art and Technology opened on Thursday, with opening symposiums and performances on Friday. Even if you missed the opening events, the exhibit will be open until 14 December. More information on the exhibit after the jump:Many blogs have become books - from The Baghdad Blog to Belle de Jour. But Grand Text Auto is the first blog ever to become a gallery exhibition. It opens October 4th and runs through December 15th at UC Irvine's Beall Center for Art and Technology. The exhibition features the work of Grand Text Auto members Noah Wardrip-Fruin, Mary Flanagan, Michael Mateas, Andrew Stern, Nick Montfort, Scott Rettberg, and their collaborators.Grand Text Auto is a blog about the potential of digital media, from literary websites to experimental computer games. At the exhibition, the blog members will put these ideas into practice, showing a variety of cutting edge works. Some...

Uh Oh: PSP Slim Doesn't Play Nice With Some SDTVs
Kotakuite Haroon sends in this rather upsetting photo for those of you with standard definition TVs. If you are planning on picking up a new PSP Slim and want to play games on your SDTV, you may want to rethink your purchase, check the back of your TV or at least decide how badly you really want to play PSP Slim on it. According to the photo, the only way you can do this is to play connected with a D-terminal AV cable or component cables and the content must be output in progressive scan. UMD movies seem to work fine, but games are a no go unless your TV supports progressive scan.I did a little research and according to the all knowing internet (which is generally about as reliable as a Magic 8 Ball), only about 20% of homes in the US have HDTVs so you'd think that these companies would try and cater a little more to the other 80%. Of course this opens up all kinds of conspiracy theories about the game companies helping to support the sales of HDTV's and vice-versa. Still, something...

Timewaster: Timewaster of the Day: Osmosis
Jay is Games has completed another casual game design contest, this one requiring entries to somehow incorporate ball physics into game play. My personal favorite out of the (numerous) entries? A charming and clever little game by Phillip Reagan called Osmosis. The goal is to get your puffy sheep to the goal by using gestural input. It's adorable, polished, lots of fun, and exactly what I needed after a weekend of writing fellowship applications and being up to my eyeballs in reading. If herding sheep isn't your thing, there are lots of entries - including one that features zombie nuns.

Path To Salvation: Master Chief Goes To Church
Kotakuite Joshua D. sent us a heads up about a New York Times article, this one on modern methods of getting kids into church: Halo 3. This raises some interesting questions: how do you differentiate between kids who are showing up to fellowship since it's Halo night and those who a really wanting to save their immortal souls? And how do people reconcile 'thou shalt not kill' with, uh, a first-person shooter? Is church really the most appropriate place for an M-rated video game? Do kids even care about potential allegorical features of the Halo plot, or is this just a cheap way to lure in impressionable teens? And aren't a lot of these people in the group who are frequently bitching about violent media in today's world?Witness the basement on a recent Sunday at the Colorado Community Church in the Englewood area of Denver, where Tim Foster, 12, and Chris Graham, 14, sat in front of three TVs, locked in violent virtual combat as they navigated on-screen characters through...

Weekend Warriors: What Are You Playing This Weekend?
Me? I got a ton of games thrown at me this week: NBA Live 08, Dementium: The Ward, NHL 08. In print, it doesn't look like a ton, but in time investment? Boggling! Add to that Jeanne d'Arc, Parodius Portable, Sin & Punishment and The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass and something's gotta give. Looks like the dog is gonna have to walk itself and we're going to need some day laborers to paint that bed room, sweetie—I've got important video games to play.Actually, my weekend will probably be packed with the Detour LA festival, watching my sister's labradoodle make mini-craps and other domestic fun. Thank God for the Nintendo DS and it's close proximity to my bathroom.With that lovely imagery in your noodle, what are you playing this weekend?

Contest: Win the Full Halo Experience
This is it, the last day for you 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

Snake! Snake?: Dojo Dump: Snaaaaaaaaaaake!
Not sure if I've confessed this before, but I've never really sat down and played a Smash Bros. game. It's true. My only experience with the series has been a handful of hours with the Nintendo 64 original, Super Smash Bros. Just never really got around to it, as I perceived, with great snobbery, the fighting games I did enjoy, Soul Calibur, Street Fighter, as genuine, worthwhile fighters, with Powerstone my fighting guilty pleasure.This week's series of Super Smash Bros. Brawl updates, however, have made the Wii iteration a day one purchase. Snake's profile and the Shadow Moses Island stage update have sealed the deal. Read on, if you're only keeping up with the weekly Dojo Dump wrap up. It's worth it.Monday: Mother fans, your Lucas is here.Tuesday: The best ad campaign for Metal Gear Solid 4, the hero's inclusion in SSBB, is solidified by Snake's fighter profile and the Shadow Moses Island stage update. Do not miss the latter of the two.Wednesday: Hey! Excitebike! A fantastic...

Oh No: Your PSP Has Been Encased In Carbonite!
Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron hits next week for the PSP, exclusively, right alongside the Star Wars Battlefront Entertainment Pack bundle. That's the one that comes with a Darth Vader portrait screened on the back of a white PSP Slim. To celebrate the release of the game, Sony is hosting a launch party with Lucasarts at PlayStation Store at the Metreon in San Francisco, bringing with them the usual bunch of Star Wars cosplayers, prizes, fireworks, dancing bears, etcetera.The reason you might actually want to show up? They're giving away Han Solo-trapped-in-carbonite PSP cases to the first 200 folks who buy the aforementioned Entertainment Pack. You'll look at it, your PSP encased in Han encased in carbonite and say "I love you." It will respond "I know." I... I'm tearing up a little bit.More details and a full-sized pics at the official PlayStation blog.Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron Update [PlayStation.blog]

Car Vault: Epic Avoids the Wii, Can't Blame Them
Epic's UT3 engine brings them a lot of money in licensing. But there appears to be one oversight: Epic is making no money on the most popular next gen console on the market today. Mark Rein explains what gives.I don't think there's a lot of money on making engines for the Wii...because the big software dollars right now are being earned on Xbox 360 and they're going to be earned on PlayStation 3, and I think unless you're going to sell your engine to Nintendo, you're going for scraps on that platform.Subtext? Because everyone other than Nintendo will just be cashing in on beefed DS ports. It's too bad major engine makers like Epic aren't getting into the Wii, since we still need the system's graphics to be pushed to the max, even if that max is nowhere near true graphical maximums. Mark Rein: No money in Wii engines [cvg and gametrailers]

Meager Drive: ESRB Rates New Virtual Console Candidates
Four more Sega Genesis titles have been rated by the ESRB for the Wii, giving us a look at what the publisher may have coming down the pike. First, we have the kid-friendly third entry in the Ecco the Dolphin series, Ecco Jr. Next up, the kid-unfriendly Eternal Champions, Sega's attempt at an original, violent 2D fighter series that failed to take off.A pair of isometric games, Sonic 3D Blast and Light Crusader have also been rated. The former is a different take on the Sonic formula, with Sonic collecting Flickies in a clunky speed crippling space. The latter is Treasure's take on a Western-style action RPG. No dates for any of this high-quality 16-bit era gaming, but expect announcements from Sega soon.ESRB Game Ratings

Sorry Cliffy: Gears of War Movie Cancelled?
Sorry Cliffy. Here is the latest rumor from film site IESB:...the IESB has been informed [director] Wiseman is off Gears as well*** and that New Line Cinema will most likely not move forward with the film at all. Our source is saying that the studio has concerns with ballooning budget of the film.It's too early to tell if this is a load of BS or completely true. But remember, this is Hollywood we're dealing with now. Everything regarding game movies should be seen as rumor at best until you are actually sitting in a movie theater with a sticky floor, having just forked over $10 to see what we've been talking about. Confirmed: Ratner Replaces Wiseman on New York Plus an Update on Gears of War! [via gamingtoday]

2007 B.C.: SCEE Explains PS3 BC Backpedalling
By now, we're all aware of the price drop and feature drop of the PLAYSTATION 3 in Europe, resulting in a gimped 40GB model of the console. So why, exactly, was backwards compatibility dropped from the PS3? What was once a "core value" and "necessary" according to Sony Computer Entertainment's Phil Harrison—not to mention a boastful talking point when asked about the Xbox 360's BC— is now clearly not at all necessary, with the company's priorities on "developing innovative new features and services for PS3 and not on backwards compatibility."Yeah, we get it. There's an opportunity to save a couple bucks. But why remove the PlayStation 2 chipset altogether, after investing in software emulation and eliminating hundreds of titles from the PS3 library? According to an interview with SCEE reps at GamesIndustry BIZ a "reduced emphasis placed on this feature amongst later purchasers of PS3, as well as the availability of a more extensive line-up of PS3 specific...

Unconfirmed: Ape Quest Coming To PSP?
In addition to a four game assault of Sega Genesis games, the ESRB has given a rating to Ape Quest from Sony Computer Entertainment for the PSP. No game with that title has been announced by SCEA, but we can rather safely assume its the unreleased Ape Escape game Sarugetchu: SaruSaru Daisakusen that shipped in Japan in July of this year. That would make it the fifth Ape Escape game to make its way to the handheld, but only the third to eventually be published in North America.Like many ESRB ratings, especially ones from SCEA, it might not see the light of day for a long time, if ever.ESRB Game Ratings

Xbox 360: Puzzle Quest Theme, Picture Pack Hits 360
Both theme and picture packs for Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords are now available for download on Xobx Live Marketplace. Shhhh, don't tell Fahey. The theme pack runs for 150 points and the pictures will cost you 100.You know, no matter how much I like the themes or picture packs I have so far always regretted buying them. They tend to get annoying over time, I've found. Is that true with everyone or is it just me?

Gallery: Tekken 6 Screenshot Blow-out
After seeing Anna in a witch's hat kicking her heel at Hwoarang, I'm about 99.44% positive you're going to want to see the other 58 screenshots recently released for the arcade version of Tekken 6. It has pigs! And bears farting on kangaroos!galleryPost('tekken6oct', 4, 'Tekken 6');

Doa Extreme: Halo Movie: "Entirely Dead*"
*"In the configuration it was in," adds Neill Blomkamp. He's the director hired to helm the Peter Jackson executive produced film adaptation last year and who quickly saw his feature film debut hopes dashed upon the financial rocks by the suits at Universal and Fox. Blomkamp spoke to Creativity Online recently, confirming the film isn't just "on ice", it's chilling at the morgue.Blomkamp also reveals that the live action Halo shorts that were shown publicly at E3 this year weren't an attempt to jump start production. He tells CO:There was not even one percent of my mind in doing those short pieces to try and resurrect the film. And I think maybe that's because I'm closer to the film, I know how hard it fell, and I know that doing things like that was not how you're going to get it back on its feet. I never went about making those little pieces like I was trying to resurrect the film.It all sounds pretty bleak but Blomkamp later told the interviewer "never say never." Maybe there's...

Join Us: Bizarre Acquisition Phase One In Activision Global Domination
The buy out of Project Gotham Racing developer Bizarre Creations by Activision may just be the beginning of the second biggest third party publisher's plans to add to its collective. Activision Europe boss Joerg Trouvain says that the company isn't just interested in getting into the racing genre—some 10 percent of the market, they say—they're targeting growth... and more growth.It just makes sense really. Everyone who's anyone has a dedicated racing game studio these days—Polyphony Digital, Turn 10, SEGA Racing Studio, Evolution, Criterion—so Activision was just filling in holes. Don't be too surprised to see more and more currently independent studios brought into the corporate fold; not the other way around.Activision: 'Bizarre buy is just the beginning' [Develop]

Kane & Lynch: Kane & Lynch's Swell New Multiplayer Mode
Some of us are already pretty much sold on IO Interactive's Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, but when the rest of the crew learns of the game's fascinating new multiplayer mode, dubbed "Fragile Alliance", we may just have to form a clan. Going back to the Heat tap one more time, the blend of co-op and head-to-head multiplayer action makes team killing part of the strategy. IGN's hands-on with Fragile Alliance details the bank robbing, loot gathering, double crossing gameplay so well, we just wanted to turn you on to it.But in short, you're going to need to grab as much cash as you can and make it out alive. The rub is this: when all is said and done, the total loot is distributed evenly. However, the fewer players you have alive at the end, the more spoils the survivors net. You can see where this is going, right? If not, read on.New screens of men in ties with guns at the link below.Kane & Lynch Multiplayer Hands-on [IGN]

Clips: The History of Lego Zanzibar
Don't worry, kids. The Halo hype will die down soon and you won't have to roll those pretty little eyes every time we post something about the biggest entertainment event of the year(!!!). Once your eyeballs stop rotating and you're done vocalizing your disgust, give Alex Kobbs' clip some retina time. He's foregone years of healthy social interaction to spend time with his massive LEGO block recreation of Halo's multiplayer map Zanzibar. Give the man a hand.

Day Note: Travel Advisory
To: FlynnFrom: CrecenteGood lord it was a busy day. Ash was off Friday, Luke took a few hours off and Fahey was off. I snuck out for 30 minutes to take Tristan to school and when I got back I saw that Microsoft had announced their split with Bungie. A short panic later, having caught up I left to take the dogs for a short walk and when I got back I saw that Sony had confirmed the PS3 price drop in the UK.Sometimes it doesn't pay to take a break. That being said, I'm off to the parents' cabin in the mountains for the weekend, so expect all hell to break loose. Have fun!What you missed:Bungie Split ConfirmedPirates of the Burning Sea DatedSCEE Confirms PS3 Price DropSCEE: PS3 Nixed for UK TooBungie Owns Bungie: The Interview

Confirmed: 40GB PS3 Launches In Australia On October 11
Retailers never lie: SCE Australia have sent through word this morning that the 40GB PlayStation 3 will be launching in Australia on October 11, for the price of AUD$699. Hardware specs are obviously the same as everywhere else: no multi-memory card port (DEAR GOD NO WHY?), two less USB ports and no backwards compatability. SCE Aus boss Michael Ephraim: The introduction of the new PS3 has been the result of extensive research into the entertainment needs and preferences of the next generation of PS3 owners. It has allowed us to deliver an extremely advanced, yet incredibly affordable High Definition gaming and entertainment system, configured to the needs of the next generation of PS3 owners. $700's a start (it's AUD$30 cheaper than the 360 Elite), but affordable? Bit of a stretch. Sadly no news on a reduced price-point for the existing 60GB Starter Pack, but it's Saturday morning here, we'll get those answers on Monday.

Gallery: Ghost Squad... There Are No Words
Tekken 6 may have baby chicks, pig tossing and bear on marsupial battles, but Ghost Squad? Ghost Squad's got bikini girls with machine guns, swan boat chases, more tan lines than we've seen in a game to date and special tactical forces with dolphin squirt guns. This is watercooler stuff, people. Do not miss.Some of the game's bizarre design decisions were visible in the clip we posted a few weeks back, but it just keeps getting weirder. Good job, Sega. I like you again.galleryPost('ghostsquadwtf', 4, 'Ghost Squad');

Sponsors: World in Conflict Quick Draw Contest
First person to shoot kotakucontestATgmail.com an email with a list of twenty-five countries gets a copy of World in Conflict. Yup, that's it! Realize: As you are reading this, there are people, you know, who are sending emails — one of which will get a free game. Uh-huh, uh-huh. World in Conflict [Official Site]

Clip: Advance Wars 2 Gameplay
Taken from the recent MicroMania Games Show in Paris, here's some actual gameplay footage from the upcoming Advance Wars 2 for the DS. Still a little undecided on the new art style; it looks nice, yeah, but also a little drab compared to its yummier predecessors.[MGS 07] Advance Wars DS 2: Vidos et Images! [Nintendo Master, thanks Brian!]

Fibber Dibber: Gran Turismo PSP Resists Grave, Still Breathing?
Grab me by the legs, hold me over the edge of a rooftop and demand that I make a decisive judgement call on the future of Gran Turismo on the PSP, and I'll say "it's vapourware". Never coming, not going to happen, it was a big fat fib. And I'm going to stick to that call, in spite of the fact GamePro asked series boss Kazunori Yamauchi when we can expect to see the thing, and he asnwered: Probably after GT 5. We are working on it, and we will get around to it eventually. Eventually? In GT-speak, that's, like, forever. The PSP's not going to be around in 2012, least not in its current form.New features for Gran Turismo 5: Prologue; PSP version still in the works [GamePro]

Gallery: Project O Concept Art
While chatting about Project O with producer Yoshiro Kimura at TGS, the topic of the game's art design came up. For a Japanese game, it's got a very Western aesthetic. Which is not accidental! The game's art style is designed to match the tone of the story: they want the game to feel like a Western fairy tale, so it has to look like one too. galleryPost('POconcept', 4, 'Project O Concept Art');

Rumor Smash: Halo DS Was An "Unsolicited Pitch"
Finally, we can put "Halo DS" to bed. There's been rumours, "proof" and heresay flying around the place for years now, culminating in this week's "footage" of the game. Thankfully, during his little chat with Crecente earlier today, Bungie's Community and Franchise Director Brian Jarrard clears up the whole mess once and for all: This rumor has been circulating for a while and as you know we even saw some real life screens and assets this week. Ultimately it's up to Microsoft to decide if and when they take Halo to a different platform. That particular demo was in fact created and I believe it was an unsolicited pitch a long time ago but nothing ever came of it. Done. Finished. It may have been "real" in the sense you could touch it. But not real in the sense it had nothing to do with Bungie, and was little more than elaborate, digital fan mail.Bungie Owns Bungie: The Q&A of Bungie

Original: Kotaku Originals: From The Bungie Split to Itagaki
With the Cons over and everyone taking days off, it was a short and sweet week here at Kotaku Originals. Bungie split from Microsoft to stand on their own two feet, McWhertor chats with Itagaki and the PS3 drops is price in Europe.Win the Full Halo ExperienceWhat Are You Playing This Weekend?Bungie Owns Bungie: The Q&ASCEE: PS3 60GB Nixed for UK TooSCEE Confirms PS3 Price DropSony's New...POP?Pandemic Responds to Angry VenezuelansCliffyB on Halo as Bathtubs of CombatSega Trademarks Golden Axe: Beast RiderThe Holiday Season - Now How Much Would You Pay?40GB PS3 To Hit Australia On October 11 For AUD$699God of War: Battle of Attica DemoSecond Hand Smoke With Team Ninja's Tomonobu ItagakiPro Evo Wii Screens, Details

Clips: Mass Effect Character Spotlight Pt. 2
With BioShock and Halo 3 behind us, the next big epic game (not to be confused with Epic Games) is Mass Effect, set to hit shelves on Nov. 20, just in time for Thanksgiving holidayers to have something to play whilst trapped at various relatives homes. (Don't forget to bring your 360) This clip introduces us to some of the denizens of Mass Effect you'll meet throughout the game and shows off some of the gorgeous character animations that will likely set this game apart from other RPG shooters. If you missed Part One, I have included it for your viewing pleasure after the jump.

Arcade Flyers: TAFA October Update
It's the beginning of the month so it must be time for another Arcade Flyer Archive update! As usual TAFA graces us with another hundred flyers in each of their three categories: video games, pinball games and arcade amusement games. This month in video games we get Dead or Alive, Burger Time, House of the Dead 4 Special and Metal Slug X just to name a few. Pinball and Arcade Amusement also get their fair share with some new SMB Pinballs and Ashcraft's favorite Love and Berry Dress Up Dance. So, head on over to TAFA and see what all the hub-bub is about.

Bioshocked: Win Your Own 7'2" Big Daddy on eBay
Kotakuite Louis S. gave us the heads up for this auction on Dutch eBay, with proceeds benefiting the World Wildlife Fund (as far as I can tell, which is not much, not reading Dutch): a 2.2 meter Big Daddy statue constructed out of fiberglass, weighing in at 44 kilos (around 97 lbs). Bidding ends on 8 am Sunday, CET and as of earlier this morning, bidding was up to a mere 600 Euros. If you can't live without one of these in your living room, bid here. I'm just glad creepy, life-sized fiberglass Little Sister isn't included.

Is It Over Yet?: Manchester Cathedral Still Beating The Resistance Horse
It seems like money and apologies aren't enough to satisfy the great Church of England. BBC News is reporting that the Dean of Manchester Cathedral is calling for arch nemesis Resistance: Fall of Man to be removed from a list of games that have been nominated for a British Academy Video Games Award after an unseuccessful bid to have the game removed from th UK's store shelves. Says the Dean:It is a disgrace that Resistance: Fall of Man has been shortlisted... Sony has admitted that they did not have permission to film or use Manchester Cathedral in their computer game... Bafta should not be seen condoning such behaviour unless they are saying it is acceptable for producers to walk into historic buildings and film interiors - ignoring contracts, rights and liability. Bafta (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) has stated that the award which Resistance is up for, the PC World Gamers' Award, is public voted. Although they didn't say it outright, I'm assuming this means...

East Versus West: East vs. West: On Gaming Preferences
Oh, what would good ol' Eddie Said say? From Sexy Videogameland comes a rather interesting discussion by Rick Luebbers of Midway's Surreal Software on differences in Japanese and Western game design and gaming preferences. Some (most) of the generalizations are sweeping at best, and many of his examples aren't exclusively Western problems, they're industry problems - I don't care where the game is coming from. Square hasn't exactly been wowing me with fresh, inventive, and wickedly original narratives. To sum it up - most of this comes down to personal opinion and taste in games. Leigh Alexander brings it back to reality:Is it safe to say, though, that Japanese games are more fantastic while Western games are more realistic? What would a realistic Japanese game look like? Moreover, is Western fantasy doomed forever to Tolkien derivatives? If you prefer one to the other, what does that indicate about your personal taste?My game shelf is mostly full of Japanese titles;...

Drip, Drip, Drip: Assassin's Creed Comic Leaked
At the yearly EB Games conference, store managers were given this Assassin's Creed comic book after seeing a thirty minute demo of the game. The comic shows a lot about the plot of the game and it's basic concepts, so as not to give away any plot points or spoilers I have just posted the cover here for you to see. If you would like to see the comic in it's entirety and possibly ruin the entire game for yourself, you can peruse it at sircuddlesGHII's Photobucket gallery of the pages.Assassins Creed Comic [Photobucket]

War Games: Gamers: 1, Soldiers: 0 (For Now)
Militaries using games as training tools is nothing new; but here comes one account of a group of five gamers taking on five soldiers from the Netherlands in 'Virtual Battlefield System 2,' and scoring a resounding win (the author points out that the gamers were way ahead the soldiers in terms of familiarity with the software, which helped). It's entertaining, but also contains some musings on the future of such war games and gamers and the military. If you can forgive the typos, it's an interesting little piece on current applications and perhaps where this might lead:Many people have been saying this for a long time, and i think we approach the point that more armies will see that 'Gaming' is not only fun to do. you can learn from it. - just like we did today. In the last years, technology has taken an enormous jump. the current weaponry has been benefiting from this fact, and its inevitable that normal troops will be trained with special simulation equipment. this can...

The Sounds Of War: Sony Offers Free God of War MP3
Playstation Underground members were given a special treat with this week's newsletter. With the arrival (or imminent arrival. I still haven't gotten mine...) of the God of War: Chains of Olympus demo disc, Sony decided to offer gamers a little bonus in the form of a downloadable MP3. So, if you have a hankering to hear the epic music from the demo's "Battle of Attica" click the link below and be transported to the mythic world of Kratos and his monster massacring badassery (yes, I just made that up).Download "Battle of Attica"

Narrative Design: Games Are A 'Backward-Looking Medium'
It's nothing that hasn't been noted in a million blog posts over the years, but in an op-ed piece in the New York Times, Daniel Radosh is saying it again. Too much emphasis on graphics, not enough emphasis on narrative - and sometimes those purty cut scenes can be a hindrance to a satisfying game experience (Radosh points to Halo 3 as an example, picking up on something our very own Crecente pointed out in his review of Halo 3).Teenage boys (of all ages and genders) need not worry that mindless games will become obsolete. We will always love action movies, and Hollywood blockbusters will always be more popular than quiet, character-driven films. But gamers have a right to expect more than what the medium now has to offer.Video games are still emerging from their infancy. The first 35 years of motion pictures, from 1895 to 1930, yielded a handful of films that are considered masterpieces for their technical innovations, but the following decade was when cinema first became...

Ftw: Sony's "Create A Folk" Contest Winner Revealed
You may remember a few weeks ago we announced Sony's contest for players to create a Folk for the upcoming Folklore. Well, the big winner has been announced and her name is Lisa (no last name given) and her creation, Quasarilli, will be available for download in an expansion pack soon after the game is released. For her efforts, Lisa will be receiving a free copy of Folklore and a limited edition art book. Congratulations, Lisa![via PS3 Fanboy]

Imagine That: Bogost on Imagine: They Aren't New, Y'All
With all the press (mostly of the incredulous variety) swirling around Ubisoft's line of DS games for girls (featuring such scintillating titles as Imagine: Babyz and Imagine: Fashion Designer, as Ashcraft mentioned earlier this week), Ian Bogost is here to set the record straight and chastise us all for having short memories and no sense of history (ouch!): the series isn't new, and Babyz was first released in 1999. I think Bogost is being a little disingenuous here - is it any wonder that many of us have no recollection of minor software toys targeted towards adult women released in the mid-to-late 90s (and do interactive desktop pets really count as a 'game'?)? I'll concede that a more complete historiography makes for some more interesting observations:Petz and Babyz were software toys for adults, not for kids, at least not explicitly. They ran in a process on top of the Windows desktop, and the pets and babies literally moved around in the foreground, as you worked....

In Glorious Technicolor: The Assassin's Creed Collector's Edition Figure: Now In Full Color
A few weeks back, our good friend Cheapy D revealed that the Assassin's Creed Collector's Edition would include a nice little collectible Altair figure. Unfortunately, all we had at the time was a simple black and white photo. But thankfully, German website cynamite.de has gotten a nice color photo of the whole set for us to check out, although truthfully, his outfit is mostly white anyway. I love that these collector's editions are getting more and more elaborate. Pretty soon they'll just come with a little game dev inside to help you through the game.[Thanks, Phil]

Now That's An Elf: Immortals USA Hits 30,000 Beta Accounts
Immortals USA is a MMORPG I haven't heard much about, but they announced last week that they've hit 30,000 new accounts in the past month and are still signing up accounts through the game's expected late October launch. The game is based on '5,000 years of Chinese mythology,' though apparently my anthologies of Chinese fables are lax in not mentioning 'sexy elves of the Xia Dynasty,' and I don't see any evidence of my favorite sexy bad girls of Chinese fables, the fox spirits. Basically, it looks like a sexed up version of WoW with the potential for some fascinating uses of Chinese fables and mythology - any Kotakuites played it and care to report back? Full release after the jump.New Game World, Inc. Announces the Immortals USA Open Beta sees 30,000 new accounts in One MonthCharacters created during open beta will not be deleted.Manhattan, New York, October 03, 2007. Since the Immortals USA open beta started sign ups, over 30,000 new accounts have been created to take...

It's A Party!: Evites Offers Wii Invites
Evites, the invite site for all your party needs, has now added Nintendo and the Wii to its roster of pre-made internet invites. Birthday parties, family reunions or just a simple Wii Sports or Mario themed party, all your bases are covered. So get with the hip internet set and send a Wii evite today. Or you could just embarrass yourself by sending a terribly outmoded Party City invitation over snail mail. The choice is yours.Wii party invites at Evites [Evites]

Grand Opening: Ben 10: Protector Of The Earth Website Opens
People seem to really love Ben 10. The Cartoon Network show crosses the lines between kids and adults and when I saw the game demoed at Comic-Con, both sets of ages were there, enjoying the game with equal abandon. I tried it out myself and even though I wasn't terribly familiar with the show, the game was pretty fun. With the game's launch not far off, D3 Publishers has premiered the game's website which is now open and ready for your rather stringent approval. I'm sure you'll have plenty to say about it.Ben 10: Protector of the Earth Website

Clip: Too Human Trailer
Silicon Knights hits us up with a brand spanking new trailer for their upcoming sci-fi adventure. Looks pretty interesting if not a bit standard as far as space operas go. Will this be any sort of competition for Mass Effect? We'll find out come early next year.

AFAS: Arcade Flyer Art Saturday: The Classics Edition
After last week's Arcade Flyer Art Saturday, I promised you something a little different this week. I went through TAFA and dug up the flyers for some of the more seminal and popular games that took video gaming from arcades and into our homes. Sure, a lot the art for these is not what you might consider terribly interesting but sometimes it's good to go back to your roots. You can peruse the gallery at your leisure and after the jump, check out some short explanations of each flyer.galleryPost('afas2', 4, 'Arcade Flyer Art Satuday');Pong:The granddaddy of them all. The flyer art is minimal, just a single Pong machine being ejected into the void. But then, when you were the first and only thing going, you didn't need a fancy flyer to sell your wares.Asteroids:Atari strikes again with Asteroids. Who knew blowing up rocks constructed from simple lines could be so much fun. When it made the leap from arcades to consoles, the asteroids went to color to make them more interesting...