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Diorama My Darling: Virtually Visit The Halo 3 Museum
Don't want to wait for the Halo 3 museum diorama to possibly make its way to your town? You can do a virtual fly through of the impressive miniature display on the official Halo 3 site, right now. Even better than the online look at the diorama are handily informative pop-ups that are rich with information on Halo 3's bit players in the form of first person accounts, plus details on vehicles, weapons and enemy combatants.Believe [Halo 3 - thanks everyone!]

Clip: Dragon Tamer DS Uses Toilet To Train Dragons
There was always going to be a day when the DS's "novel interactivity" went one step too far. I'm trying to work out whether this is it, or just a stroke of pure genius.

Fake Shit: This Wee Plays DVDs
What better way to capitalize on a hit product? Rip it off! Ladies and gents, may I introduce the "Wee." It's not a game machine, but a DVD player that was discovered in at a Tokyo retailer. Hey, it may not play games, but the Wii won't play DVDs, so all is good!Thanks Landon!

Prepare Yourself: Pro Evo 2008 Dated For Europe
Mario, Orange Box, Halo 3, none of this matters to millions of gamers across the planet. They don't give two shits about a bee suit or finishing any fight, they just want to see if Lionel Messi's face looks OK, or if the free kick mechanic has been improved by 6%. That's right. They need their Pro Evo, and that's all they need. If that's you (and it's a small part of me), October 26 is the day Pro Evo 2008 is due to be released in Europe. That's the PS3, Xbox 360, PC, PS2 and mobile versions. PSP and DS are due in November, Wii is due sometime early next year. Warmly enthusiastic press release follows.October 26th kick off for PES 2008Konami confirms release date for its latest Pro Evolution Soccer titleKonami Digital Entertainment GmbH has announced an October 26th release date for its eagerly awaited PES 2008 title. The 26th will see the launch of the PLAYSTATION 3, Xbox 360, PC-DVD, PlayStation 2, and mobile versions of the game, with the PSP and Nintendo DS versions to follow...

Disclosure: PixelJunk In T-Shirt Form
Free clothes! Here's a PixelJunk t-shirt I was given at my visit to Q-Games. The back of the shirt says, well, Q. That logo excitement after the jump. Onwards!

Giant Riccitiello Face: EA Boss Says Game Violence Not So Bad
EA CEO John Riccitiello recently spoke at the Royal Television Society's Cambridge Convention. What'd he talk about? Guy took the time to...I guess defend violence in games. Showing clips from 33, Kill Bill, 24 and CSI compared to clips from games like GTA, he told British TV types that games were being "unfairly demonised" in the press, and that the industry actually does a lot to keep kids away from unsuitable content, citing things like parental lock systems on consoles. Not sure why exactly he was telling them, and not the press, but it's nice he's banging the drum somewhere.

Vroom: Bizarre Already Thinking About PGR5
PGR4 isn't even out yet, and already, Bizarre are thinking about PGR5. Where they've gone "wrong" with the current version, what they want to add to the next one, that kind of thing. Lead designer Ged Talbert: Obviously Gotham 4's about to come out and we're really happy with it, but behind the scenes we've already started ripping our game to pieces. We know where we failed in certain areas; for instance we wanted more trackside damage, more particles and smoke effects, a bigger damage system - and all of these things are being stripped out in a post-mortem. Other things they want to add next time are add off-road tracks and vehicles like quad-bikes. I'm down with quad-bikes.Bizarre: Deserts, ATVs for PGR 5 [CVG]

Rumor: Sony Signs New PS3 Manufacturer For "Low-Price Models"
A rather mundane report on the addition of Hon Hai Precision to the PLAYSTATION 3 supply chain contains some interesting rumors buried within. According to the oddly worded report, along with electronics manufacturer ASUSTeK, Hon Hai Precision (sometimes known as FoxConn) is reportedly working on planned "low-price models" of the Sony console in addition to the already price reduced PS3s on the market.Could these be the rumored stripped-down versions of the PS3, speculated to drop as low as $399 by April of next year by Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter? You may remember Microsoft's Andre "Ozymandias" Vrignaud also betting on a "low-end $399 PS3 SKU coming this holiday."If the rumors are true, it could certainly help Sony shift more than 130,000 PS3s a month. Wonder if we'll hear more at Tokyo Game Show next week.Hon Hai precision to deliver PS3 consoles to Sony [EMSNow via NeoGAF]

Sponsors: Sponsors Thanks
Craziness! Too busy. Our schedule is jammed pack, and our heads are spinning. Good thing our Sponsors have new schedule organizers. Good thing we have Sponsors! This week, Kotaku was kept organized by Comedy Central, Good Luck Chuck, GWEN, Heavenly Sword, TiVo, Verizon and World in Conflict. For that, we thank them!Interested in advertising with Kotaku? Click here to find out more.

Peekaboo: EA Trying Survivial Horror With Dead Space
EA are on a bit of a streak at the moment. An emphasis on new, "quality over quantity" IP has seen stuff I think will be good (Army of Two) and stuff I already know is good (Skate) emerge from their gaping maw. Now they're taking a crack at survival horror. Sci-fi survival horror. The cover of the next issue of Game Informer mag has the scoop on Dead Space, the only details we've got at the moment being that it's a survival horror game set in space and that "fans of the cult-classic film Event Horizon and straight-up horror aficionados aren't going to want to miss this one!" Wait. Event Horizon had fans?October Cover Revealed! [Game Informer]

Just Fabula: Square-Enix And The Closed Mega Theater Of Doom
Final Fantasy XIII is a long way off. We're placing bets on a 2009 release in Japan.Those of us attending Tokyo Game Show this year won't see much of it, that is, unless we wait in painfully long lines to watch the game's trailers. Square-Enix announced today via its official TGS 2007 web site that it would be showing trailers for Dragon Quest IX, Last Remnant, Final Fantasy XI, Dissidia: Final Fantasy and Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy XIII in two theaters. For fans of the Squenix brand of software, seeing the last two will require marathon style queues. They're only being shown in the company's Closed Mega Theater. So bring your copies of Crisis Core, kids. You're going to need something to keep you quietly occupied in line for a couple hours.Square-Enix Tokyo Game Show Theaters [Square-Enix]

Listorama: Warren Spector's 12 Favorite Top 10 Games
First, thanks to Simon of GameSetWatch for turning us on to Warren Spector's personal blog. Second, while we generally read top ten or top one hundred lists from gaming publications and scoff at their exclusion of our favorite games, it's hard to argue with Spector's top ten. The developer, credited with game series you might have heard of like Wing Commander, Ultima, Thief and Deus Ex, went on a list rampage, revealing his ten favorite games of all time. Unfortunately, it appears Warren's as bad as I am at picking favorites, so there are actually twelve. 1. Diablo 2. Guitar Hero 3. Half Life 4. Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past 5. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 6. Suikoden 7. Super Mario 64 8. Tetris 9. Ultima IV 10. Warcraft II 11. (Ico) 12. (Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess -- okay, so I cheated and went for 12 on the videogame list. So sue me.)Too safe? Too perfect? While I've played every game on that list to death, save for Suikoden, I might tend...

Square-enix: Square-Enix And The Closed Mega Theater Of Doom
Final Fantasy XIII is a long way off. We're placing bets on a 2009 release in Japan.Those of us attending Tokyo Game Show this year won't see much of it, that is, unless we wait in painfully long lines to watch the game's trailers. Square-Enix announced today via its official TGS 2007 web site that it would be showing trailers for Dragon Quest IX, Last Remnant, Final Fantasy XI, Dissidia: Final Fantasy and Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy XIII in two theaters. For fans of the Squenix brand of software, seeing the last two will require marathon style queues. They're only being shown in the company's Closed Mega Theater. So bring your copies of Crisis Core, kids. You're going to need something to keep you quietly occupied in line for a couple hours.Square-Enix Tokyo Game Show Theaters [Square-Enix]

John Woo Presents: PC Gamers Get A Stranglehold Demo, Too
Gamers who find themselves sans PLAYSTATION 3 and Xbox 360, but in possession of a beefy PC may want to check out the new Stranglehold demo, now available on FilePlanet. You'll need a FilePlanet account to download it sprinkled with a dash of patience, as the demo weighs in at over 2 gigabytes.The game's recommend—unfortunately mislabeled as the minimum specs—are available here, in case you don't feel like waiting for the download and installation to complete before finding out your PC can't handle it. For those of you itching to see what a $30 million game looks like, have at it.Stranglehold Demo [FilePlanet]

Rebel Scum: GameStop Manager Suspended For Not Selling Games To Stupid Kids
Score one for the dumb and lazy students of south Dallas! GameStop corporate has put the kibosh on store manager Brandon Scott's policy of selling video games to his underage employees, suspending him while the powers that be are "learning about and evaluating Mr. Scott's concept." We weren't the only to post on Scott's unusual policy and it appears the publicity surrounding his outlook on selling games to kids with good grades got him in hot water with the Man.Since I'm on board with Mr. Scott's policy of keeping games out of the hands our nation's half-wits and do-nothings, I'm off to the screen printer to have my FREE BRANDON SCOTT t-shirt made. Anyone out there know how to start an online petition?GameStop manager suspended after 'games for grades' policy [WCAA]

Breaking: Kotaku Tokyo Get Together Dated For Shipment!
We've got a date and a time! Heck, we've even got a mystery location (above). The Kotaku Tokyo get together kicks off Tuesday, September 18th at 8:00pm. It runs until they kick us out and turn off the booze. We'll have hand stamps at the door! Those who are definitely coming, shoot us an email to give us a heads up. Those who aren't, don't. The location is in town, and we'll reveal that soon-ish, along with directions. Can't wait!

Cold Dead Hands: New Jersey Parents Angry About "Bone Headed" Wii Zapper
Everyone loves the Wii Zapper. It's the best thing since the Super Scope and on par with sliced bread, but a few concerned New Jersey based parents and grandparents aren't on board with Nintendo's plans to release this deadly peripheral. In a post on the Parental Guidance blog hosted at the Star Ledger, readers complained that the Zapper was "irresponsible" and that "the marketing person who came up with this brain child of an idea should be fired."Most alarming among the concerns were that "toys guns of yesteryear were red, blue and whatever... no ligitimate [sic] reason to risk anyones life." Instead, Nintendo is letting our children run around with white guns, just like the real life ones. Are they mad?!I know what you're thinking. "Get a brain morans!", right? Not so fast.Unfortunately, the clueless Parental Guidance team posted the wrong photo of the Wii Zapper. Using the above picture, one that's modeled closely after an actual handgun instead of the Nintendo manufactured...

Do The Right Thing: Call Of Duty 4 Dev Ups Accessibility For Disabled Pro Gamer
A topic that all too rarely sees the discussion that some of us believe it warrants is one of accessible gaming. In general, most of our posts on the subject of making video games more available to those with disabilities simply bemoan the lack of it, pining for an accessible gaming utopia. While that will realistically most likely never happen, a recent development at Infinity Ward going the extra mile to ensure that Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is at least playable by one more person has definitely warmed the Kotaku cockles.UGO's D-Pad posted yesterday about pro gamer Randy "N0M4D" Fitzgerald's request for Infinity Ward to address a control scheme change for the fourth Call of Duty, one that limited his ability to control the game. Fitzgerald, who suffers from restricted movement as a result of Arthrogryposis, wrote to the developer of his issue with the game's beta control set up. Infinity Ward was quick to respond, telling Fitzgerald that they'd address the issue, then...

Premature Future: Ratchet & Clank Demos Hit Gamestop Way Before PlayStation Store
Forgive us for what may seem like yet another Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction aggrandizing post, but for those of you who simply can't wait for the awesome to drop on October 4th, reader BJ writes to tell us that a Blu-ray disc-based demo for Insomniac's PLAYSTATION 3 game are available now at Gamestop if you pre-order the game. Not a bad way to pass the time if you're a Ratchet & Clank fan.According to our current favorite Gamestop employee tipster, the demo consists of the first level of the game, just like the one due to hit the PlayStation Store next month. Thanks for the heads up, BJ!

Fine Print: Comcast Clarifies Bandwidth Banning, Around 90GB Limit Per Month
Stories of Comcast banning their high speed customers for excessive use have flooded the Internet this week, and many of us began to worry just how much is too much when online games are a mainstay of our existence, complimenting our interest in fully legal, fully decent movie downloads. Comcast clarified the policy a bit with GameDaily. And while we don't have exact numbers, we do know that Comcast deems "excessive use" to:...any customer who downloads the equivalent of 30,000 songs, 250,000 pictures or 13 million emails in a month.Given our rough computations of 3mb/song, that puts our monthly limit right around 90GB or so...which is pretty high, but not an absolutely inconceivable number to reach. So take note crazy download fiends. Comcast Clarifies High Speed Extreme Use Policy [gamedaily]

Love Love Love: We Love Golf! To Love American Style
Capcom announced today that the recently announced We Love Golf! will indeed hit North American Wiis. Developed by Camelot Software Planning—the Japanese developer whose video game golf pedigree includes Hot Shots Golf, Mario Golf, Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour and Mario Golf: Advance Tour, among others—We Love Golf! will bring the big-headed brand of Camelot virtual links to Wii-motes in 2008.If you've grown weary of Wii Sports Golf, Super Swing Golf, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 and find that Super Swing Golf Season 2 and King of Clubs aren't meeting your future golf needs, you now have another option. Golf clap-worthy press release follows.CAPCOM JOINS FORCES WITH CAMELOT TO DEVELOP WE LOVE GOLF! FOR THE WIIImmersive Golfing Experience and Flexible Tee Times Thanks to the Wii RemoteSAN MATEO, Calif -- Sept. 14, 2007 Capcom , a leading worldwide developer and publisher of video games, today announced a partnership with Camelot Software Planning to develop...

Taking Names: Reggie: Wii Holiday Hardware Supplies Will Be "Unprecedented"
Nintendo boss man Reggie Fils-Aime sat down with the San Jose Mercury News crack team of video podcasters to talk about everything Wii and Nintendo DS. For those who are going without a Wii—or are concerned parents who shudder at the thought of camping out at Toys R Us this holiday—Reggie says Wii supply this season will be "unprecedented." He promises that stock for the console will be "substantially more than the launch, substantially more than has been seen to date." That's the good news, says Fils-Aime.The bad news, which we knew was coming, is that according to Reggie, "given the level of demand and given the fact that the more we put in, the more we sell, it is still going to be difficult to get your hands on the Wii."Despite sitting atop the NPD sales throne, Reggie humbly tells the San Jose Mercury news that Nintendo "We're not taking our current success lightly." But that doesn't mean he won't comment on the competition from Microsoft and Sony.On...

Clips: Harvey Birdman Investigative Gameplay
We've seen the courtroom gameplay back during ComiCon, but the investigative side of Capcom's upcoming Harvey Birdman title feels even more like the show, with a complete lack of HUD and interactive menu screen popping up only on occasion. I want this exact game in ATHF format. You know, modeled after the episodes 0 to 1 when they had some semblance of being a group of detectives. Or freeform stoner style. It all works. Harvey Birdman Investigative Gameplay [gametrailers]

Tgs07: Sega Reveals Full TGS Line Up
Sega of Japan has revealed what it will be showing at next week's Tokyo Game Show, bringing a slew of new games for every platform. Not everything shown will be playable, however, with some marquee titles like Ryu ga Gotoku 3, wacko shooter Miburi & Teburi and Sega Rally appearing in video-only form. IN better news, NiGHTS for the Wii looks like it will finally be playable. PLAYSTATION 3 games before the jump, everything else after.PLAYSTATION 3Ryu ga Gotoku Kenzan! *Valkyrie of the BattlefieldImabi KisouSega Rally *The Golden Compass *WiiNiGHTS: Journey of DreamsFuurai no Shiren 3Ghost SquadMiburi & Teburi *The Golden Compass *Doraemon Wii: Himitsu Doguo Kettei SenXbox 360Sega Rally *PlayStation 2Jissen Pachi-Slot Hisshouhou! Hokuto no Ken 2Phantasy Star Universe: Ambition of the Illuminus *Seaman 2 *Sega Ages 2500 Vol. 31: Dennou Senki Virtual On *Jissen Pachinko Hisshouhou! CR Sakura TaisenNintendo DSSonic Rush AdventureSakura Taisen: Kimi ArugatameBLEACH The 3rd...

Call The Popo: Dojo Dump: Respectful To Veterans
Some developers (who shall go unnamed) may have zero respect for our vets, but no one will make that claim about Nintendo. How do I know this? By today's reveal of veteran fighters the Ice Climbers for Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Popo and Nana cap off a week of solid updates that cover a pair of new assistants, one stage and the mystery of Stamina Mega Flower Curry Heavy Slow Angled Brawl. Thanks for checking out this week's Dojo Dump!Monday: Pokey-man assistant Munchlax profiled as a bit of a pig.Tuesday: Lyn of Fire Emblem fame shows a bit of thigh along with her assistant skills.Wednesday: Meta Knight's own stage, the Battleship Halberd, is detailed. Hello, Zero Suit Samus...Thursday: Want to add bunny ears to your brawler of choice? You need to read up on the Special Brawl option.Friday: The Ice Climbers return!

Everybody Wins: World In Conflict Game Off - Results
So the World In Conflict Game Off challenge has come and gone, and if you look closely in the smoking ruins of a small northwestern town you might catch a glimpse of mine and Crecente's battered bodies laying in pieces along a mile of crater-pitted roadway. Two rounds were played, one with Kotaku representing the US and the other representing mother Russia, and in both instances devs Vextor and Emma completely decimated our pitiful team in minutes. The third round we swapped partners, with Vextor and I facing Crecente and Emma. Showing what a difference a good partner makes, this time the game lasted until the timer ran out, and when the smoke cleared my team stood triumphant, waving the American flag while enjoying some hot dogs and apple pie. Remember, just because we were pathetic losers doesn't mean you have to be. Keep an eye posted for the aforementioned cool swag that we'll be giving away in the near future!

Tune In Tokyo: What Are You Playing This Weekend?
With a trip to Tokyo via Los Angeles just around the corner, I'm going to have to find something to keep myself occupied in between failed attempts at sleeping and demanding another serving of alcohol from the sky waitress on my long flight. Picross DS helped while away the 14 hour trip to Leipzig, but I'll be (finally) picking up Jeanne d'Arc for my next leg of travel. I don't expect this weekend will leave much time for gaming, so I'll probably only find a few hours to dedicate to Metroid Prime 3: Corruption in between packing, cleaning, brushing up on conversational Japanese and other obligations. Maybe some of this week's recently released demos will get some "me time."Anyone pick up a title from this week's releases? Any lucky PAL citizens enjoying the Hanabi Festival? Let us know what you're playing this weekend in the comments.

Clips: NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams Announces New Modes
newVideoPlayer("NightsTrailer_gawker.flv", 475, 276);In addition to dropping this new trailer for you enjoyment, Sega announced today that NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams for the Wii will feature two-player co-op along with "network support." They'll also bring back the sandbox A-Life mode with the ability to capture gene splice inhabitants of Nightopia. Live it up, NiGHTS fans (and just those who like random decapitalized letters). As for the video, wait until a little over halfway in for some decent gameplay footage. NiGHTS Trailer [gamevideos]

Get Juiced!: Juiced 2 Multiplayer Demo On LIVE
Still not sure if you should pick up THQ's Juiced 2 when it hits on the 17th? Then hit up LIVE Marketplace for a new multiplayer demo that has just become available for download. At 1.37GB, it's a small price to pay to check out the online capabilities...unless for some reason you have dial up. Does anyone reading Kotaku have dial up? And if so, would you mind letting us know what you do for your porn massive demo downloads? Juiced 2 Multiplayer Demo Hits Xbox Live [1up]

Meet And Greet: Tabula Rasa's Sarah Morrison
NCSoft has just released a huge character profile on Sarah Morrison from the upcoming Tabula Rasa. If she's familiar it's because you saw her in the teaser trailer we published not so long ago. And while I was seriously digging the teaser and the new CG stills are incredible, the in-game screens (minus the shot with all the computers and electricity) are a bit of a disappointment—even for an MMO. Am I crazy/blind/biased from the gorgeous prerenders? Hit the jump for the full "Sarah Begins" backstory that, despite not actually reading it through, has put that Counting Crows song in my head for the rest of the day. galleryPost('SarahBegins', 4, 'SarahBegins');Sarah Begins...The warmth coming from the embers felt good against her skin. Sarah Morrison was careful not to let the hot coals burst into flames, for anything but a slight glow might give away her position. She had searched for nearly an hour before finding this spot and she would be damned before she was going...

Feature: PixelJunk Is More Than Just Racers
By Brian Ashcraft"For the first few months of working here, my old boss at Lionheads Studios thought I was working with Mizuguchi," says Q-Games planner Rhodri Broadbent, lounging on a sofa in the developer's third floor Kyoto office space. There's a hi-def TV playing their latest, PixelJunk Racers. Whenever Q-Games is first mentioned, Rez creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi's Q? Entertainment is usually as well — though Q-Games had the "Q" before Mizguchi left SEGA to set up his boutique studio. Sure, Q-Games may not have Miz, but it does have Dylan Cuthbert, who helped create Star Fox while working for Nintendo, and Kenkichi Shimooka, who developed Ape Escape for the PlayStation. Dylan has the chicken pox and couldn't make it. Kenkichi? No clue where he is.I'm in a white meeting room, waiting for the interview to start. I peer down the street still slick with rain. There are traditional Kyoto-style houses across the street from the modern office building. In the meeting room,...

Stellar Deal: Empire at War Gold Pack Hits Shelves
INTERGALACTIC SAVINGS!! Star Wars: Empire at War is now bundled in a Gold Pack along with the Forces of Corruption expansion! That's two great games, one great box! But that's not all! Because customers who call in the next 5 minutes will also receive the Prima Games hint book ABSOLUTELY FREE!! That's a, I dunno, like $60 $600 value!!But you get two great games, Games for Windows support and all the bonus material from the original Empire at War Collector's Edition for the low, low, low price of $29.99. Now that's savings. Product Page

News: Halo 3 Xbox Coming This Sunday
The $399 Xbox 360 Halo 3 Special Edition will be available this Sunday, September 16th. And while it seemed like a more impressive hardware lineup at the time of its announcement, the Halo 3 console is now essentially the $350 Premium with a bonus paint job and special a gamerpics/theme pack. For those still interested, I will say that in person the console actually looks pretty good with some nice but subtle surface detailing. But the controllers mix glossy black and matte green paint, which looked a little weird.

Slapfight: Silicon Knights Counters Epic's Counter
And the battle continues. First Silicon Knights decided to sue Epic. Then Epic decided to slap Silicon Knights with a suit of their own in response. Now Silicon Knights is upping the ante even further, firing back at Epic's countersuit with something surely known in the legal world as a countercountersuit (the double dog dare of the legal world). Here's a chunk so you can get the idea:Epic also said in its August counterclaim that it is in its own best interest to fully support UE3 licensees in order to capture subsequent licensing deals, so, according to Epic, it wouldn't make sense to neglect or "sabotage" UE3 customers...[but] the profits Epic assured for itself by having Gears of War as the marquee title for the Xbox 360 dwarf any gain Epic would receive from Silicon Knights purchasing a subsequent licenses for the Engine.Oohh, is that a typo spotted in the Silicon Knights response? If so, this case has been broken wide open.Silicon Knights Blast Epic Games' Counter-Claim...

Clip: Geometry Wars Waves Trailer
Next best thing about a new PGR game after the driving? The Geometry Wars. Here's a clip for Geometry Wars Waves, PGR4's accompanying diversion, and it's looking...well, everything appears to be in order. As you can see, the enemies approach in waves.

Night Note: One Small Change For People with Funny Names
To: CrecenteFrom: AshcraftRemember a while back when clothing retailer UNIQLO didn't have enough spaces for people with line names to enter in the computer? If not, read here! Anyway, today I got an email from UNIQLO. They have changed their online store's data entry system. It's now possible to enter 24 characters instead of the previous w/e. So, good for people with long names like "Ashcraft." Somewhat of a nice feeling, seeing this changed and all. It's small and perhaps meaningless, but it's progress.What you missed last nightMy Xbox died. Again Spidey, Simpsons PSPsCrisis Core Crushes BallsMGS4/MGO playable

Ubisoft: Assassin's Creed's New Box Art
Not sure if I really like the Limited Edition art, but the standard box art is pretty nice.galleryPost('acba', 4, 'Assassins Creed');

Color Blind: Shiny Silver DS For Europe
With over 14 million units sold, the Nintendo DS is the best-selling games console in European history. With sales of More Brain Training from Dr. Kawashima: How Old Is Your Brain verging on the one million mark and The Phantom Hourglass just around the corner, Nintendo is looking to boost those handheld sales by introducing a brand-new color to the DS stable. Come October 12th, European gamers will be able to choose between black, white, pink, or silver when they head down the shops to pick up a new handheld. Mind you I see no mention of a metallic finish, so I'm not sure why they just don't call it gray other than the fact that silver sounds much more attractive. While I'm not sure how long the color will stay a Euro exclusive, the DS isn't region specific, so importing is always a possibility if you're a big fan of gray. NINTENDO DS LITE GOES PLATINUM!-Nintendo DS Lite hardware & software sales reach all-new highs as Nintendo DS Silver makes its debut-13th September 2007...

Whoops: FIFA Demo Hits Live, Misses Europe
Two new demos popped up on Xbox Live early this morning, Spider-Man: Friend or Foe, which I will talk about a little later, and FIFA 08, the latest installment of EA's annual soccer title. The 702MB demo is now available in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, and the United States. Good thing there aren't any soccer fans in Europe, huh? They can wait a bit then, right Larry?EA has told me this demo is coming to Europe 'very soon'. The moment it is released in Europe I will make a post. I don't know the exact date.See? Very soon! In the meantime, I'm sure my American brothers will be glad to fill you in on how the game plays. How do you score a touchdown in soccer again? Demo:FIFA 08 Demo [Major Nelson's Blog]

Impressions: Spider-Man: Friend or Foe Xbox Live Demo
When Spider-Man: Friend or Foe was first announced, I had hopes that the new offering might be a means of redemption for the shoddy piece of work that was Spider-Man 3. If the demo released on Xbox Live this morning is any indication, what we are getting instead is a game that tries to be a cartoony, trimmed down Ultimate Alliance but ends up feeling more akin to the Spider-Man beat-em ups of the SNES era. The plot of the game revolves around Mysterio creating an army of Phantoms using a piece of the Venom symbiote and then kidnapping Spider-Man's greatest foes, using mind-control to get them to battle the webcrawler despite the fact that in the opening cinematic of the demo they are all attacking him anyway. Apparently forcing villains to do what they were going to do anyway is abhorrent to the bad guys, and as Spidey frees them they join his side as playable characters. The demo takes place on the rooftops of Tokyo, as Spider-Man teams up with either Venom or the original...

Hijinx: EA Tiburon Employees Are So Crazy
So what do the employees of the development studio responsible for yearly Madden goodness do to let off steam? The same thing most office workers do, only slightly bigger. The Orlando Sentinel has a story on the proud pranking tradition at EA Tiburon, detailing such capers as disassembling and reassembling a golf cart inside of a manager's office, filling a conference room with thousands of dollars worth of plastic balls, suitable for diving, and my personal favorite, brining in a contractor to plaster over a boss's door with drywall so it looks like it never existed. My favorite part of the article is when artist John Taylor explains how the insurance company that shares their office park feels about the pranksters."They hate us because we have fun and they don't and their bosses would never put up with the kind of crap we do," Taylor said. "They are all grownups. They are weak. We are cool. They're not."Ooo, burn!No time off from EA's cool capers [The Orlando Sentinel via...

Gallery: Halo Diorama May Tour Country
As I mentioned earlier this week, I spent Tuesday and Wednesday at Bungie Studios hanging out with Frank O'Connor and crew and playing through Halo 3 (in Heroic). I can't talk about that yet, but I can talk a bit about the advertising campaign that Microsoft kicked off yesterday. They showed us most of the ads that they plan on running for the campaign and I had a chance to sit down and talk to Frankie about them. While I suppose some could view the ads as tasteless, I didn't really find them offensive. If you haven't seen them, the concept is drawn from the same sort of evocative documentaries that have been made about real wars. There is, in the teaser ad, a lone man, a veteran, standing in an empty and mostly darkened museum talking about his experiences in the war. The difference, of course, is that the battle he speaks of is totally fictional. War is a serious thing, and real veterans should be honored for their sacrifice, but using that subject matter in a fictional...

Clips: Meet Delgado Of The Jericho Squad
newVideoPlayer("delgado_gawker.flv", 475, 376);Now here is a much better Jericho trailer than that generic piece of ass they tried to pass off last month. These aren't just random soldiers now...they are The Jericho Squad from the Department of Occult Warfare, and they are here to take some ass and kick some names or something. Funny, I wouldn't have pegged Delgado as the flamer of the group. Sure it's no Team Fortress 2 character introduction, but it adds a little bit of personality to what up til now I've imagined was a rather bland FPS. Much improved.

Thinking Caps Required: Archetype vs. Stereotype, The Dealio
In Activision employee James Portnow's weekly column, he justifiably calls out the gaming industry for creating stereotypes where they mean to create archetypes.we tend to end up with stereotypes when what we're looking for is archetypes. If you look at almost all of the most memorable videogame characters...they are all archetypical. The problem is that the line between an archetype and a stereotype is very subtle and, as established above, conveying that subtlety in the limited context of a videogame is often too much to ask.But Portnow might be giving the industry a bit too much credit, as many games are clearly the result of developers with Hollywood hard-ons who are packing too much in...generally in the form of clich (Gears of War, though a ton of fun, is totally guilty of this). I also think subtlety is another word for restraint, and it's often the silent types who transcend to archetypes: think Mario or the Clint Eastwood cowboy. Videogame characters often play silently...

Swag: The Halo 3 Hoodie
Bungie folks handed me one of these hoodies, made exclusively, I'm told, for the writers who attended the Halo 3 review event, as I left their office for the airport yesterday. On the front is an emblem with the letters UNSC and on the back is a giant image showing the outlines of a bunch of Halo 3 weapons. Pretty cool. I love the obscure stuff.

Two Years Later: My Xbox Live Diamond Card Arrives
Back before I was a regular poster at Kotaku I was a regular reader of Kotaku, and back in December of 2005 when Crecente posted a story about the Xbox Live Diamond card, I was right there when the program launched to sign up. Stories of happy gamers receiving their shiny plastic cards started surfacing around the middle of last year, but sadly I was not among those shiny happy people (holding hands). Soon my dream of owning a relatively useless piece of plastic faded. Then yesterday, while rifling through bills, I noticed an envelope trimmed in green and gold, with the words 'Diamond Program' beneath a large, friendly Xbox Live logo. Yes friends, today I am a man. I'm not sure why it took the better part of two years, but finally the Platinum Card and accompanying burrito coupon are mine. People really do win!galleryPost('faheydiamond2', 4, 'Today I Am A Man');

Free Speech: Jaffe On Halo, Not 'Getting It'
In response to our Halo 3 'Museum' post yesterday, David Jaffe published a refreshingly frank discussion about Halo (an AIM conversation between him and Sony designer Adam Orth) in which he...oh, we'll let Jaffe tell the story! We're getting the popcorn. It's a decent ad I think. I just don't get HALO. I don't think the story is all that special, don't think the world or characters matter much. I don't know if I am simply not 'getting it' and it really is all that...or Microsoft has simply purchased rabid fan reactions for what is a great game but nothing more.Oh, but there's more!I don't dislike Halo at all and really liked parts of Halo 2 alot...I am in minority who felt single player halo 2 was better than halo 1 single player. I mean, I hear people talk about the flood and shit and I'm like: what? Who gives a shit.I couldn't have said it better. Well, maybe I could have. But it would have taken some work and you wouldn't have read it anyway and if you did you'd probably...

Roundup: Frankenreview, Heavenly Sword (PS3)
Lair took a really bad beating last week, breaking the hearts of PS3 fanboys around the world. But it would be OK because there was another Chosen One that Sony had been flaunting for months: Ninja Theory's Heavenly Sword. We nicknamed it Goddess of War during E306, but even with the its chainsword-driven action, the game seems to have blossomed into its own entity at this point—for the good or the bad.So hit the jump for our Frankenreview: the one review that will dictate whether or not the PS3 is good for something other than big screen porn. That is, if you don't consider a beautiful redhead kicking royal ass in skimpy clothing to be some logical extension of pornography.GameRevolutionI can not remember the last time I cared so much about the characters in an action game, and not just the heroes, the villains as well. Like Gollum, even the bad guys have complex motivations. The facial expressions, body language, and the lip synch are so spot-on it's uncanny. I found...

News: PGR4 Goes Gold, RACING To Store Shelves
Despite E3 rumors that Project Gotham Racing 4 would see delays, the game has gone gold and will hit store shelves on October 2nd. And hopefully beyond the potential bonus of Bizarre Creations freeing up more resources for The Club, they'll find it in their hearts to make another Fur Fighters. Because let's admit it, even though cars are kind of a big deal, there's more money made in cute kitten posters alone than all of Ford and GM profits combined last year. The truth is a cold, kittenless void, isn't it?

So Sad: OJ Simpson Got $50,000 Cut From 2K, Loses It
2K Sports paid OJ Simpson a sweet $50,000 to lend his likeness to All-Pro Football 2K8 along with the promise of another $50,000 if he renewed his contract for an additional two years. It seemed like a pretty good deal for Simpson until the Los Angeles court ordered him to hand over any affiliated licensing fees to murder victim Ron Goldman's estate. It just goes to show how much videogame money is on the table for famous pro sports players, you know, if they aren't liable for wrongful death. (Or maybe only if they are.) O.J. Simpson Got $50,000 for Take-Two Game [maxconsole]

Tourney: The World in Conflict Game Off
The Massive folks have challenged Team Kotaku to a little game-off in World in Conflict this week. They will be pitting two of the guys who helped create the game against myself and Fahey, in other words we are going to have not just our asses, but just about all of our body parts handed to us.In exchange for this online pummeling we've agreed to undertake, Massive is going to send us videos of our digital disgrace for posting on the site and whether we win or not we take home some prizes. Not prizes for us, no, all we get is the public humiliation, the prizes will be for you, dear readers.The Massive folks are going to hand over several copies of World in Conflict, some sort of autographed World in Conflict swag and some uber prize, perhaps a World in Conflict Skateboard or track jacket. I'm hoping to get you guys the board, because I've seen it and it kicks ass. No promises yet on what exactly we'll be getting for you, but it's going to be super cool.Check back Friday evening...

It's A Start: Microsoft Acknowledges Phishing on LIVE
Microsoft has gone on the record and admitted that phishing scams are occurring on Xbox LIVE. Well, technically they are admitting that phishers are trying to get LIVE account information while ignoring that there's more on the line, like personal credit card numbers. Offering reimbursement to customers, they also wanted to make clear:This was not a failure of software technology. We want to reassure our customers that there has been no security breach of the Xbox LIVE network or of Bungie.net.Isn't a phishing scam occurring on a closed and thereby safe network precisely framed as a failure of their technology? There's only so much any company can do to protect customers who are willing to re-enter personal info at the drop of a hat, but for all the sacrifices we make on the closed LIVE platform, it's supposed to be an experience free from the everyday burdens of a PC. Their full statement after the jump.Microsoft has confirmed reports of certain individuals taking over subscribers'...

War: World In Conflict Q&A
In World In Conflict's latest Q&A, the developers hint at things to come.Q: Will there be an 'Army Creator' feature where you can create your own faction with your own units in-game, define bonuses etc?So will there? Short answer, no. Long answer...no. Seriously, that may be the most deflating question ever to ask an RTS developer: "So, does your game do all this awesome stuff that you've never, ever hinted at or alluded to?" But there's some good stuff here if you are interested in Word in Conflict. Q&A with David Polfeldt [massgate]

Gallery: The Bungie Studios
We weren't allowed inside the warehouse-looking space meant for developers, but we were able to check out the Bungie studios, home of a wall-length display case filled with some pretty choice awards. I particularly like the golden monkey given to winners of the Spike TV Video Game awards... wait a second, we wont of those. Where's our monkey!!! galleryPost('bungiestudios', 4, 'How much is a gold monkey worth on eBay?');

Psn Thursday: PlayStation Store Update: Demolicious
This week's PlayStation Store update will be one of its biggest, with the already announced duo of PixelJunk Racers ($6.99) and High Stakes on the Vegas Strip: Poker Edition ($9.99) leading the assault. Fortunately for fence sitters, a demo for PixelJunk Racers will be available to try for free.Four other playable demos, including ones for Tony Hawk's Proving Ground, NHL 08, FIFA 08 and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix will also be available for download tonight.In addition to those playable options, a healthy portion of video content, wallpapers and even a track from the Lair score will be available. Here's the full list:Everyday Shooter trailerWarhawk trailerLair Behind the Scenes videoFeel the Noise trailerJuiced 2 trailerHigh Stakes on the Vegas Strip: Poker Edition trailerSoul Calibur IV trailerHigh Stakes: Poker wallpaperPixelJunk Racer wallpaperFolklore wallpaper

Oddities: The Heavenly Sword Letter Opener
I love letter openers, especially game-themed ones... and now I have three. A King Arthur sword, a Link sword in stone and this very nifty Heavenly Sword sword on a nice stand. Now off to flail the paper from my bills and slit the lids of unsuspecting packages.galleryPost('hss', 4, 'The Heavenly Sword Sword');

Clips: Tekken 6 In Motion From JAMMA
The Japanese Amusement Machine Manufacturers' Association (JAMMA) expo is throwing down in Japan right now in the Makuhari Messe, the same location that will house next week's Tokyo Game Show. The GameVideos gang is on the show floor securing silent clips of games like Tekken 6 in eye-popping obscure-o-vision. How's it look? Like Tekken with a new coat of paint. Surely, the intricacies of controlling a boxing kangaroo or rotund lumberjack will present themselves when we finally get our hands on it. For now, enjoy the graphical prowess of Namco Bandai.

Steam Poke: Steam Community Goes Public
Valve announced today that the Steam Community program has graduated from voluntary beta to public release, just in time for Monday's beta release of Team Fortress 2 for The Orange Box pre-purchasers. The online social networking additions to the Steam client let PC gamers create in-depth user profiles, track their friends gaming habits online and chat with other Steam users via any game in the Steam platform. Facebook who again?In light of this news, I'll be spending the rest of the day posing in front of the bathroom mirror, looking for that perfect Steam ID photo. A press release will keep you occupied in my absence.STEAM COMMUNITY OPEN FOR TF2 BETASeptember 13, 2007 - After a successful trial period, Valve is proud to announce the public launch of the Steam community features, an expansive set of social networking and online multiplayer features available for free on Steam, as it prepares for the launch of the Team Fortress 2 beta, which is scheduled to begin on Monday,...

Breaking: Halo 3 The Ride, The Car
We've shown you the ride—now drive the car. Planned for the Dover NASCAR race, it's encouraging to see the Halo 3 The Ride finally making its way car form. We hope to get a hands-on sometime in the future, but given the media blitz that this news will become, we hope that Bungie's latest creation is not endangered in the process. For this we can only hope...and pray. Halo 3 + NASCAR + Target + Hype = Dover 400 Nextel Cup Race? [olgn]

Fifth Of A Billion: Analyst: Initial Halo 3 Sales Should Hit $200 Million
No one expects Halo 3 to walk away with anything but gargantuan success. Microsoft is aiming for day one sales of the Xbox 360 shooter to the tune of $155 million, a considerable jump from Halo 2's $125 million single day take. With the $10 next-gen tax imposed for the third, that doesn't seem that unreasonable. Adding to that a $129 Legendary Edition version makes it sound like a lock.Lazard Capital Markets' Colin Sebastian says that's a conservative estimate, putting "initial" sales at $200 million. Unsurprisingly, Sebastian predicts that the release of Master Chief's next gun-fest will push lots of Xbox 360s. What no one seems to be discussing is what I predict will be a massive rush for Spartan flavored Mountain Dew beverages.Analyst: Initial Halo 3 Sales to Push $200 mln [Next-Gen]

Game 3.0: Sony Planning Slow Home Roll Out
The GamesIndustry.biz team sat down with Sony's Jamie Macdonald, VP of Worldwide Studios, to chat more about the status of Home for the PLAYSTATION 3 recently. And while MacDonald may think Home "might be one of a number of reasons why a consumers might buy a PlayStation 3 in the first place" he says that gamers (and non-gamers) shouldn't expect a traditional, full featured "big bang launch." He tells GI.biz that we should expect more production "beta" behavior, a la Web 2.0 apps like Gmail.With Home still in closed beta testing, and newly rumored updates creeping out this week, it would appear that the social networking platform still needs some time to incubate. Looks like that other rumor of a mid-October release date is looking less likely. Surely we'll know more after TGS.I'm checking my account for an invite, just in case.No Place Like Home [GamesIndustry.biz]

The Horror: Halo 3 'Museum'...Reimagined
newVideoPlayer("Halo3MuseumNew_gawker.flv", 475, 276);Without giving anything away, let us simply say that this clip is very much worth a watch. Just make sure you've seen part 1 first. Halo 3 Advert - Consolevania [youtube]

Boom: NPD: Madden 08 Dominates U.S. August Software Sales
August software sales figures have just been released by the NPD Group, showing that EA's venerable football franchise shows no signs of slowing down, just like John Madden at a buffet table. The Xbox 360 SKU crushed the competition, beating out the PlayStation 2 version by an additional 250,000 units sold. Some 2 million-plus units of Madden NFL 08 were sold across all platforms.Sales of the Xbox 360 critical darling BioShock outsold its first person competition Metroid Prime 3: Corruption by more than two-to-one during the month of August. Keep in mind the latter was on the market for one less week than 2K's insta-hit, but it still bodes well for a BioShock sequel.The top ten selling games in the U.S. for August are listed below. More after the break.01. Madden NFL 08 (Xbox 360) - 896,60002. Madden NFL 08 (PS2) - 643,60003. BioShock (Xbox 360) - 490,90004. Madden NFL 08 (PS3) - 336,20005. Wii Play (Wii) - 256,80006. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Wii) - 218,10007. Mario Strikers...

Excellent: NPD: Monthly Xbox 360 Hardware Sales Bypass PS2 On Price Drop
It would appear that Microsoft's strategy to issue a price drop in time for the release of Madden NFL 08 has unsurprisingly worked to their advantage. One can only assume that the boys in Redmond are observing August's Excel spreadsheet from the NPD Group from their thrones amid bouts of maniacal, power hungry laughter. With no hope of beating the Wii's untouchable 400,000-plus units sold last month, the Xbox 360's trouncing of all things PlayStation was no fluke. It's smart marketing.Hardware sales in the U.S. for the month of August are below, with lifetime-to-date sales after the jump.Wii - 403,600Nintendo DS - 383,300Xbox 360 - 276,700PlayStation 2 - 202,000PSP - 151,200PLAYSTATION 3 - 130,600Total video game hardware sales for August were at $384 million, up 94.1% over the previous year.The following list shows current U.S. console and portable gaming device sales from launch date to September 1, 2007.PlayStation 2 - 39,100,000Nintendo DS - 12,700,000PSP - 8,300,000Xbox...

Rumor: PAL Virtual Console Gets Japan Only Games
GoNintendo is reporting that a pair of former Japan exclusive Nintendo games Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels for the NES and Mario's Super Picross for the Super Nintendo are now available for download via the Wii Virtual Console service. The two tiles would represent two of the first Nintendo published games that were Japan-only releases to make the transition to the service. In fact, GoNintendo also writes that Mario's Super Picross contains unlocalized Japanese language text.The news comes with another unusual move on Nintendo's part. It would appear that Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels is available only for a limited time, with the title scheduled to disappear at the end of September. Could this be more evidence that Treasure's Sin And Punishment will also leave its native Japan?Our resident PAL-region Oceanic editor Luke Plunkett tells me that he doesn't yet see the two games on the Australian VC, meaning this could be for Europe only.Euro/Aussie VC update - Special...

Bumpy Road Ahead: Bumpy Trot 2 Trots 2 PS3 At TGS
NeoGAF member "Massive Attack" used his falcon-like web site watching skills to dig up a tidbit of PLAYSTATION 3 news for next week's Tokyo Game Show. It appears that R-Type developer Irem will be showing a sequel to the original Bumpy Trot for Sony's next-gen console at the Makuhari Messe. While the original Western mech game, which came to the U.S. of A as Steambot Chronicles, didn't exactly light up the sales charts, it was fairly well received.Don't count on a European or North American release just yet, but we'll hopefully get our hands on it in Tokyo next week.Bumpy Trot 2 [Irem via NeoGAF]

Clips: Death Smiles, Cave's New Shmup
September's Shooterfest continues as side-scrolling arcade shmup lovers will be pleased to see Cave's new gothic horror effort Death Smiles. Like Tekken 6, it's on display at the JAMMA expo in Tokyo. A much longer, but less clear video of the game on display at JAMMA is available at YouTube. It's a good time to be a shmup fan, no?

Numbers In Motion: Sony Applies Spin To August NPD Sales
With the Wii, Nintendo DS and Xbox 360 sitting pretty atop the NPD hardware sales charts and Madden NFL 08 taking the numero uno spot in the software sales charts, you'd think that Sony would have nothing to sing about. Guess again. Sony's official statement on the subject called August 2007 "a strong month for the PlayStation brand" citing $340 million in sales.With the PLAYSTATION 3 in last place for the month, admittedly without Game Boy Advance figures, Sony says of the next-gen contender that it " finished off the summer by maintaining a steady increase in units sold over pre-July numbers, with 130,623 units sold at retail for the month" boasting of a "61% lift at retail over the past two months."The company points to "some out of stock situations" at retail for the month-to-month decrease in PSP sales. While some potential PSP buyers may have been simply holding onto their cash waiting for the PSP 2000 revision, Sony says that decreased supplies of the current PSP were...

Too Good To Be True: Nintendo Begins "Hanabi Festival" For PAL Virtual Consoles
The earlier reports were right on the money. Nintendo have officially announced (and I've been officially playing) the first "Hanabi Festival" for the European and Australian Virtual Consoles, which will over the next three weeks see games "never before released" in these markets thrown up on the VC. You ready? This isn't a dream. Week 1 is Mario week, and has seen the original Super Mario Bros 2 (Japan-only version) and Mario's Super Picross (WARNING: tons of Japanese text) made available. Next week (21 September) is Ninja week, with the NES's Ninja Gaiden and Ninja JaJaMaru-Kun showing up. Third and final week (28 September) is Sci-Fi week, which sees the release of Sin & Punishment and Gradius III. Somebody hold me.galleryPost('marioweek', 8, 'Mario Week On PAL VC');

Giant Jack Tretton Face Says: PS3 Movie, TV Download Service Coming, But Not Anytime Soon
The Xbox Live Video Marketplace is doin' alright for Microsoft. People like the convenience, they like the easy access to stuff in HD. You'd think Sony would be right on top of a similar setup for the PS3, and would have been there since launch, but they're not. They are working on it, though, and Jack Tretton has been out speculating on what the service might look like: Everybody in the world has rightly pointed out that Sony is uniquely positioned with having a great heritage in hardware, and a great heritage in software -- they own a music business, they own a successful movie studio and a successful gaming division. So just based on our internal resources alone we should be able to take advantage of synergies. We're working closely together to come up with a service that we think will be of benefit to the consumer as well as not just the PlayStation brand but potentially across all Sony properties.It's a grand vision, one with not just Microsoft but also iTunes firmly in...

Final Sale: Simple 2000: The Japanese Hardware Chart
It's already been an intense day for followers of video game hardware and software sales, but we've got one last set of figures to drop on you. This week's Japanese hardware sales charts, courtesy of Media Create, help to illustrate the difference in sales trends. As is the new norm, Nintendo reigns supreme in Japan, but the stark contrast between Xbox 360 sales in the U.S. and Japan is harshly illustrated when one compares Media Create sales to NPD.In general, hardware sales were down across the board, with Wii hardware selling at an all-time summer low. Hardware sales for the week of September 3rd to the 9th are below.Nintendo DS Lite - 77,488Wii - 29,088PSP - 15,564PlayStation 2 - 13,360PLAYSTATION 3 - 13,248Xbox 360 - 1,286Game Boy micro - 428Game Boy Advance SP - 122

Bad For Business: Gamestop Manager Won't Sell Games To Stupid Kids
A Gamestop store in South Dallas is breaking corporate policy by refusing to sell games to schoolkids who can't prove they're doing well at school. Managed by Brandon Scott, he's got a store rule that unless an adult can verify that a child is getting good grades at school he won't sell a game to them. Any game. Even Pony Friends. Scott: I'm probably going to get in trouble for this, but to me it's worth it, because the kids understand that somebody cares. Brandon, your heart's in the right place, but the kids won't think somebody cares. They'll think you're being a total ass. Especially if they're not bright kids , and all they want to do is buy a videogame from your videogame store.Store only sells video games to kids with good grades [WFAA.com, thanks everyone]

No Dice: Nintendo Have "No Plans" To Release Silver DS Lite In Australia
When it comes to Nintendo, as with most gaming matters, European and Australian release dates are often in-step. Sometimes they're the same day, other times within a few days. So if Europe's getting the silver DS, it's safe to assume Australia's not too far behind, right? Haha. NO. Nintendo Australia have told us that: We have no plans to release the Silver DS Lite in Australia at this stage. Bummer. Doesn't mean it's not coming, just means we shouldn't expect it in October.

Official: Harrison Has Left The Nintendo Building
After months of chatter, Nintendo of America's marketing chief George Harrison has confirmed that he will be leaving the company. Nintendo has decided to relocate its sales and marketing sales from Redmond to San Francisco and New York. Many top employees are apparently unhappy with this decision and have decided to resign rather than relocate. According to Harrison:I have confirmed to all employees that I will be leaving at the end of December and not making the move to California.Harrison has been with Nintendo since 1992. No word on what his future plans entail. So, wonder who's next... Harrison is gone [Reuters via eXophase Games Network, Thanks shadow!]

Youtube It: XNA Wants To Be A "Youtube For Games"
Chris Satchell is heading up Microsoft's XNA plans, and he has big ideas for the service. He's not content with people just being able to design and build games using XNA. No, he and everyone else at Microsoft also want a top-shelf online service which can host, display and share people's creations. We use a music analogy - you know, it's like we've given the instruments so they can go and play music now, but what's the radio station where they can reach everyone? It's cool that they can invite people around and play in front of them, which is sort of the Creators Club, but hey, they want to play to the world. To this end they're working on a Youtube-esque service, which they're unwilling to show off just now but are claiming is the "next really big step" towards making games development more accessible for regular Joe Schmos. Still sounds awfully complicated to me, though.XNAbling everyone: Part 1 [Develop]

Clips: Yazkuza 3 Kicking It Old School
As indicated by this GS trailer for the game, Yakuza 3 seems to be going back in time a bit. You can visit the official website for more on the story, setting, and cast of the game. If you don't read Japanese you can at least take in the pretty pictures lurking amongst the indecipherable squigglies.

Announcements: Capcom Dropping 3 Bombs at TGS
Capcom has divulged to Game Player that they will be making "three huge announcements" next week at TGS. All the publication will say about the news is that:Capcom have some of the biggest franchises in gaming history tucked away in their stable, and not a few smaller ones that deserve more attention.Hmmm...that short and sweet explanation is PLENTY of fodder for us to BS about Capcom's coming announcements for at least the next ten to fifteen minutes. My guess for one of the possibilities? Capcom is dropping Devil May Cry 4 for Devil May Cry 5. The game will be the same, but since the product is turning out to be so awesome, Capcom felt it necessary to skip 4 entirely in favor of a more polished extra sequel. And it will be an absolutely brilliant maneuver that sets the videogame world on fire. And every game from there on out will at least start at part 2, and maybe even part 3 if it's really, really promising. And yes, this picture is random but I thought it was a funny version...

Pachter Watch: Pachter: Sony to Pricedrop-Cockblock Halo 3?
Everyone's favorite Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter thinks that there is a good chance of Sony announcing a 40GB PS3 and a $99 PS2 at TGS. Both of these ideas have merit...[and] we cannot think of a better forum for making such an announcement, given that the event is less than a week before the launch of archrival Microsoft's Halo 3.While there's no doubt that pricedrops and cheaper (but non-gimped) SKUs could help spur Sony's sales, I'm not sure if there's any good time to make a videogame announcement that's Halo 3 time. I mean, unless you can get a cheap PS3 on a Taco Bell cup or something...and then get it running Halo 3. Pachter: Halo To Sell 3 Million In 12 Days, $99 PS2? [gamasutra]

Rhythm Games: iNiS Working On 360 Title
I'm a big fan of rhythm games, so the developer of Elite Beat Agents and Gitaroo Man working on a title for the Xbox 360 is pretty big news to me. In an interview with Gamasutra and Microsoft's Gamefest, iNiS co-founder Keiichi Yano confirms that there is a 360 game in the works. However, when if there were Xbox 360 games that iNiS itself is in development on, Yano guardedly confirmed: "Yeah. We are currently working on a title. I can't really get into it more than, 'Yes, we're working on something!'" No further details on publisher or genre were available for the game.Considering the most successful games iNiS has created have been rhythm games, I'm going to go ahead and put my money on another one of those, which would be simply peachy. iNiS' Yano Confirms Xbox 360 Project, Engine Development [Gamasutra]

Gallery: Costly Kwari Screenshots
Late last month I wrote about Kwari, an FPS coming out from a company of the same name that involves players putting up real money that they win or lose by shooting other players during matches. All we had to show you back then was some concept art, but now Kwari has released some twenty screenshots into the wild. My opinion? Looks to be about what you'd expect from a title trying to revolutionize competitive gaming. Hardly beautiful, but it should run smooth enough to keep people from complaining over money lost due to lag kills. galleryPost('kwari914', 4, 'Killing In The Name Of Cash');

FFVII: Voices Of The Lifestream
Final Fantasy VII: Voices of the Lifestream is a massive labor of love. It's a 45 track musical tribute to Final Fantasy VII, featuring the work of 42 different remixers and spanning almost ever genre of music imaginable. Produced by Andrew Aversa, Voices is the 9th album release from OverClocked ReMix, in my opinion on of the internet's best sources for video game music. The music is broken up into 4 discs, each with a theme matching a Final Fantasy VII universe release: Crisis Core, Dirge of Cerberus, Advent Children, and Last Order. The album's web page lets you download individual tracks or the whole shebang in a giant 2.32GB torrent. I've downloaded a couple of songs while the torrent is running, and what I've heard so far of the compilation is truly amazing. It always amazes me how some of the best musicians I know wind up remixing video game music. Hit the link below to listen for yourself!Final Fantasy VII: Voices of the Lifestream, An OverClocked ReMix Album [OCRemix]

Clips: Tabula Rasa Logos Academy Video
newVideoPlayer("TR_LOGOSACADEMY_090507_gawker.flv", 475, 376);Last week I was given the chance to visit Richard Garriott's estate and tour his house as part of the Logos Academy event to promote Tabula Rasa, NCsoft's upcoming sci-fi MMO. While I covered the event as best I could, some parts of the evening just didn't translate well into pictures. Luckily for me, NCsoft was on hand with video cameras, and they cut together this little clip for your viewing enjoyment. If you pay close attention, you might catch a glimpse of my giant shaved head in several scenes.

Night Note: Don't Put Your Cell Phone in the Washer (Don't!)
To: CrecenteFrom: BashcraftThis is going to be a short one. I have no cell phone. I accidently put by super thin phone in the washing machine. Cell phones and washing machines are a BAD COMBINATION. Needless to say, it's beyond repair. It's beyond beyond repair. In short, it's fucked. And right before TGS. Great timing, huh?Ungh.Oh, did you tell the people when our Tokyo party was? You should! What you missed last night:Vote for Red!George Harrison quitsGamestop won't sell to stupid kids

Pokemon: Pokemon Global Trading Station Launches Today
Pokemon fans around the world rejoice! At 5PM Central European Time today, Nintendo is launching the Global Trading Station website, allowing you to stay up to date on the latest Pokemon trading trends across the globe. The site will feature a bevy of stats on Pokemon trading, including most traded, most wanted, and most deposited, and they will be able to bookmark any Pokemon they discover via the site for when they use the GTS in game. The site will also feature a spinnable globe that will let players check out trades around the world while learning facts about the various countries, such as capital cities, population, native language, etc. See? Pokemon isn't just about a deep-seated love for Mudkips - it's about learning as well. Should be online later today, so bookmark the link below. Pokemon Global Trading Station Website [Nintendo - Online Now!]DISCOVER THE ULTIMATE POKMON TRADING DATABASE!- Brand New Pokmon Global Trading Station Website To Launch -14th September 2007...

Hyper Multi-tap: A Week In Coments
Microsoft's Super-Long Tokyo Press ReleaseComment by: TiberianNominated by: WitzboldI don't know why some people are getting so worked up. Yeah the 360's sales in Japan are beyond poor but honestly, do you want MS to just not bother?Getting developers to work with them does not only benfit Japan.... Most of the games we are getting as well. I can't believe some of the stupid replies "oh just give up MS".Exploring Castle Shikigami IIIComment by: KuraudoNominated by: boxmythDid scrolling shooter fan unite and sell their souls to Satan this week?CliffyB Talks Gears of the RingsComment by: ToasticusNominated by: WitzboldThe only way to snipe at things that are critically hailed and publicly adored are to call them "overrated," since such a claim is impossible to refute empirically. Should anyone disagree, one can simply label their tastes inferior and/or uninformed and call it a day. Those who do not enjoy a particular work of pop media often feel compelled to rationalize their...

Rumor: 400,000 Mario Galaxy Preorders At GameStop?
Hardly concrete evidence this, but when multiple sources tell someone the same thing it's at least worth a look in. Kevin over at Go Nintendo is reporting that GameStop employees are telling anyone who'll listen that Mario Galaxy has already clocked up over 400,000 pre-orders. Which is none too shabby! Whether this comes from an internal memo or is a mass hallucination is unconfirmed, so exercise a pinch of caution before blabbing this all over your hate-filled internet forum of choice.Rumor - Super Mario Galaxy hits 400,000 preorder mark [Go Nintendo]

Contest: Vote for The Red
Voting time! We've got ten (count 'em, ten) finalists in our use-red-win-Heavenly Sword contest. Tons of entries poured in for this, and we had a bastard of a time picking these finalists. All the entries were fab — much love and respect to all who entered. So, without adieu, the best of the best! It's up to you, Kotakuland to pick the winner, which will be announced on Monday. You may vote once. Make sure to write down the finalist's number that you've selected. And remember, those who slip into little Mr. (or Ms.) Critic territory will feel the brunt end of the banhammer. Voting ends tonight at midnight EST. Onwards! To the finalists!!Finalist #1Lawrence writes:The model in the photo is my girlfriend Kristen, and we shot it in my house against some silk sheets as a backdrop. She came up with the idea and carved the apple herself (it wasn't a photoshop job or anything). Legibility is a little tough when carving apples, but hopefully our "sign" is readable enough.Finalist...

Clip: Crysis SP Gameplay
Small embedded clip like this doesn't do the graphics justice, but you get the idea. As for the combat, though...let's hope this "pre-release software" is very, very old, because that looks very, very boring.

No Stone Unturned: Halo Beverage MADNESS Continues
Did you know Halo 3 is coming out soon? If you didn't, Microsoft are expecting these strange-looking cans of Mountain Dew to keep you in the loop. Yes, they're cans. I think they look like bottles, but Kotakuite Jonathan promises me they're just strange-looking cans. And he should know, these appear to be taking pride of place in his own private Halo 3-themed drink container collection.

Clip: Zack & Wiki Awesome Watch: Watch The Awesomeness
No better way to illustrate Zack & Wiki's awesomeness than to see an innocent Japanese family fall victim to it. Look at them. They're overcome by it!

Anyone Remember Winamp?: New Winamp Will Stream Songs To Your Wii
Wow, Winamp! Forgot all about it. Presumed it was dead. Seems it's not, and it's making a big comeback. Most of it involves various iTunes-killing ideas, but one should be of interest to you: the new version will stream your music library to your Wii. Just in case you're the type who'd actually use that kind of feature.Winamp's 10th Anniversary Version Edition Will Challenge ITunes [Wired, via Boing Boing]

Somewhat Popular: Nintendo DS Sells Over 14 Million In Europe
The DS cares not for your colour or creed. Japan, America, doesn't matter, everyone loves the DS. Take Europe, for example, where Nintendo have announced that over 14 million of them have been sold since launch. That's a lot! It's also an odd number to celebrate, so either they needed something to spruce up their DS Lite Silver announcement or it's the last set of numbers they could pry out of GfK or ChartTrack or whoever it was that was clutching the numbers tightly to their chest.

Death Of The Collector's Market: TurboGrafx CD & TurboDuo Games To Be Released On Virtual Console
The TurboGrafx-16 is a nice addition to the Virtual Console. Don't get me wrong. But it'd be nice to have more. Hudson know what I'm talking about! They've announced that, starting next month, they'll be rolling TurboGrafx CD and TurboDuo games onto the Wii's retro catalogue. Games from both systems will set you back 800 points, and the plan is to make them available across all regions. Yes, Europe and Australia, that includes you as well. As for games, Ys Book I & II and Chou Aniki will be amongst the first available. Took them long enough, but between today's other announcement and this Nintendo finally seem to be coming around to just why we were so excited about the Virtual Console in the first place.Wii[Game Watch]

Ask And You Shall Receive: Big European PSN Update
Hey. Europe. Don't look now, but there's new stuff on your PSN. Shhh. No sudden movements. You'll frighten it all away! While European 360 owners have to wait until 9pm GMT tonight for their FIFA 08 demo, PS3 owners can go right ahead and download it now. That and a whole bunch of other stuff. There's two pieces of DLC (A Ninja Gaiden Sigma weapon pack and a Motorstorm vehicle pack), NBA Live 08 and Harry Potter demos and trailers for Heavenly Sword and LocoRoco PS3. Should keep you busy enough.

Niche Genre: Nelly Cootaloot Is A Hoot
Should have been doing a ton of pre-TGS stuff this morning, but couldn't. Half the time I was playing Mario. The other I was playing this. "This" being Nelly Cootaloot, a delightful little adventure game put together by Alasdair Beckett. It's 15MB, it's free, it's well worth the deviation from your hectic schedules. Plot summary is as follows: Nelly Cootalot, fearsome pirate and lover of tiny and adorable creatures, is charged by the spirit of a dead buccaneer to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a fleet of birds known as spoonbeaks. Her adventure will bring her face to face with the nefarious Baron Widebeard as she uncovers corruption and wanton punning in the Barony of Meeth. Baron Widebeard? Brilliant.Nelly Cootalot: Spoonbeaks Ahoy! [AGS, via TIGSource]