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Dragon's Dogma: The Kotaku Review We were hesitant to post this, but we can now reveal that we have indeed secured Sony Worldwide Studios bald boss man Phil Harrison’s minty fresh chewing gum and have it in our possession. This shot, confirmation of the gum’s retrieval from a clean ashtray at our makeshift workspace at SCEE’s press conference, was taken just moments after Phil deftly dropped it between our empties. We’ve already sent the sample to Kotaku Labs to root out traces of Phil’s DNA. We plan on creating an army of miniature well-spoken, high-level Sony executives to do our bidding—i.e. updating our PLAYSTATION 3 firmware every few weeks and tending to the collected dust on its piano black finish.
If we have any spares or irregular Phil clones, we’re willing to accept offers. Serious inquiries only.
Remember the ‘Cube’s Players Choice range? Maybe not, it was for the GameCube, you may have lost interest by then (but it’s been the name of Nintendo’s bargain re-release line since the SNES, so you really should). Cut-price classics. Sony’s got their Platinum line for the PS2, Microsoft have their 360 Classics, both do the same thing. The Wii, though, Nintendo aren’t even thinking about it (yet): We have no plans for a Wii budget label. Nintendo Wii software is performing very well at its current price points.
Sure is. Why would they cut the price on stuff when you’re all still paying full price for it? That’d be cuh-razy. And Nintendo aren’t crazy. They’re ruthless. No value label coming for Wii [MCV]
I am often fascinated by what the non-gaming press picks up on. Being as immersed in gaming culture as I have to be to write for Kotaku, it sometimes takes an outside influence to get me to see the shock value in certain titles. Boston’s Patriot Ledger explores one such game as they delve into BioShock’s Little Sister monsters, and the choice they give the player. Kill them, or free them? The game seems to reward killing them over rescuing them, presenting an interesting ethical choice to players. The goal was to present players with difficult choices, 2K Boston President Kenneth Levine said.
”As a piece of art, we want to deal with challenging moral issues and if you want to do that, you have to go to some dark places,” Levine said. ”And ‘BioShock’ certainly does go to some dark places.”
Not your average videogame movie, this. No, this one explores themes, and looks like it has actual money poured into it. Though I’m still a little unsure about Timothy Olyphant. Dude was badass in Deadwood, but then, everyone was badass in Deadwood. In this, he looks like the world’s meanest twelve-year-old in a suit.
[thanks hiltzer, via IGN]
Hardware numbers are in, confirmation that Nintendo of Japan is now the third-largest consumer of pure white plastic in the nation. The Nintendo DS and Wii bested last week’s sales, more so than anyone else, but it was generally an up week for hardware sales. Hell, even Xbox 360 sales saw a boost from the previous week meaning Microsoft’s plan for world console domination just got a little bit… nah, just kidding.
List follows:
Never one to rest on their Castlevania laurels, Konami and crew readying two new Dracula slaying adventures, this time on the platform everyone can agree on: the mobile phone. The previously mentioned Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow showing at the Leipzig Games Convention is simply a mobile phone remake of the Game Boy Advance release of the same name. However, Konami also announced it would be bringing an all-new original Castlevania, known as Castlevania: Order of Shadows, to mobile carriers AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon Networks, among others, this September.
The game follows the adventures of a new character Desmond Belmont, which means the Castlevania series entry on Wikipedia is just about due for an argument on canon. More details on the development and associate blog for the both of you interested in mobile gaming after the jump.
The PlayStation Store for North America has been updated with a slew… no, no a plethora of quality goodies for PLAYSTATION 3 owners to slowly download. In addition to the already mentioned Folklore demo, PS3 owners can enjoy a recently updated Folding@Home experience. The new Folding@Home adds two new weapons to the title, four new cars, and fixes a bug that allowed certain ball and stick wiggle motions to cause the console to crash.
The Ubisoft Montreal folks showed off some spectacular Far Cry 2 gameplay today touching on a laundry list of new features there shooter will have including the need to treat your own injuries, weapon jams, “Real Tree” technology and their thoughts on DX10, Games for Windows Live and the PhysX physics card.
The game takes place in a 50 kilometer open world set in Africa with view distances of about 850 metres. You drop into this world as a mercenary sent to track down and kill an arms dealer. Right off the bat the developers dropped into a jungle to show off the graphics.
“Far Cry is sort of known for its jungles… Jungles are not our signature location, but they do kick ass.”
At Games Convention’s press-only day, I got some hands-on impressions with Eidos’ latest Lara Croft, Karima Adebibe, the eighth proper sequel in the Lara Croft franchise. In short, she smells like a coconut, might be a little too tanned and ultimately melanoma-ridden before she turns 25, and is doubly intimidating dual-wielding an English accent and model good-looks. The only downside to being in proximity of the current-gen Lara is how the DNA-driven bad art on the left just don’t hold up in a side-by-side comparison.
Final score: A-
