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Dragon's Dogma: The Kotaku Review It’s been a while since I posted a good papercraft and this one definitely deserves the spotlight. Artist (and presumably Halo fan) Mike McDermott created and put together this really amazing Master Chief papercraft model using PePaKuRa, a program that creates paper model patterns from 3D model information. He stands an impressive 13″ tall and is made up of 42 pieces. Not a model for the faint of heart! You can download instructions and patterns on Mike’s DeviantArt page. Now you’ll have something to do until the game comes out. (Note: This is not part of the Halo 3 hype machine but merely a really excellent papercraft.)
[Thanks, Ben]
The week so far has been about prepping for the show and doing a few early interviews but tonight, tonight the Tokyo Game Show really gets underway with the week’s first official press conference, followed by Sony’s Party.
As you read this Mike McWhertor, Mark Wilson and Luke Plunkett are all on their way to Konami’s headquarters where they’ll take their place among a room full of journalists in the Konami Hall to get a bit of eye time with MGS4 and other things gamey. The press conference officially starts at 2:30 p.m. local time, or 12:30 a.m. Eastern.
Then about four hours later Sony’s official mixer/party gets underway, hopefully with a chance for some hands on time with games, though we’re not sure yet if that will be the case this time around.
For those of you who have missed it, here’s what we’ve covered so far from the show:
Remember those three “bombs” that Game Player reported Capcom would be dropping at TGS later this week? Well they’re bombs all right. Capcom’s TGS page has updated to apparently reveal three Playstation 2 games will be dropped on the unsuspecting audience during the show.
Grand Theft Auto Vice City Stories for the PS2 and PSP, Arcana Heart for the PS2 and MotoGP for the PS2 are all listed as “new” titles for the publisher on their page.
Not so very much exciting, let’s hope they have something else in store for us too.
For those who couldn’t make it to our little shindig in Tokyo, crack one open and spend some time in our TGS party gallery. Highlights include Ash staring creepily at the passed out McWhertor (while eating), Flynn’s orientation disappointing eager fangirls and, of course, full-throttle drunken karaoke. And a special thanks to Bartek for beefing up my blurry (but surprisingly fitting) photoset.
So last night, we held a party! No. Two parties. See, so many people turned up that we filled cozy Tokyo bar Mother to its proverbial brims, meaning we had to open up an auxiliary party at Mother’s nearby sister bar, Mother’s Ruin. So, for those unable/unwilling to make it, how was the night? It was wonderful.
As mentioned, Mother was cozy. Excellent nachos, excellent fried chicken, jugs of beer served with peas. Little different, then, but by God it got the job done. The booze flowed freely all night, with a nice mix of readers, local industry types and crazed stalkers turning up. As did the police. Like, five of them. On pushbikes! Apparently they were there to enforce Japan’s strict no-drinking-outside-the-pub laws, but I figured they were just big TDIG fans, and wanted to pop in and say hi. They really were lovely. They even waved goodbye! Other highlights: a karaoke evening where Johnny Cash was belted out and Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody was “murderized”, an appearance by Phil Collins and waaaaay too many G&Ts. Good, good times. Big thanks to all who braved the Tokyo streets and made it such a special, special evening. Especially you, Phil Collins.
Despite the fact that their online store has a rather large catalog of games for sale, to me Radio Shack has always been the place my dad took me as a kid to buy crappy toys. According to Pacific Crest Securities analyst Evan Wilson, however, that’s all set to change next Tuesday as the company plans to use the launch of Halo 3 to launch itself into the retail gaming business, carrying software and hardware in their stores. The GameSpot article cites several other analysts calling the move a bad idea due to GameStop’s dominance of the sector as well as lack of space to dedicate to a serious selection, and I have to agree. Unless they are willing to dedicate a large percentage of floor space to gaming, this won’t work. Carrying a limited selection of popular titles only works at the airport *hides his $60 copy of FFIII DS*. At least we now have a good idea of where to go in case Halo 3 sells out everywhere next week.
RadioShack reorganizing retail outlets to sell games [GameSpot]
Konami just confirmed their official line-up for the week’s Tokyo Gaming Show, set to kick off in just days.
Besides having Metal Gear Solid 4 playable on the show floor, the publisher will be unveiling two other MGS titles, a new Winning Eleven and a batch of fitness games for the Wii and DS.
This will be the first time anyone outside of Konami gets to go hands on with Metal Gear Solid 4, but gamers will also get a chance to check out Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops + for the PSP, Metal Gear Solid Online 2.0 and Metal Gear Solid 2 Bande Desinee, the digital graphic novel.
The publisher will also be showing off titles Pilates, Yoga and Skin Basic for the DS and Wii Fitness and Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party for the Wii as well as Big Head Baseball, Big Head MLB, Winnng Eleven 2008 and Winning Eleven 11, which I think they should just call Winning 22. Finally, Konami will have Time Hollow for the DS and Silent Hill Origins Zero for the PSP on hand.
Sounds like that’s one must-see booth. Hit the jump for the release and remember we’ll be (hopefully) live-blogging from Konami’s official press conference in about five hours.
We’ve all been caught in the tsunami of Halo 3 hype, and it continues to flood us with no floaties in sight. If it’s not clothing, it’s a branded beverage, or a racing car, or even fancy toys. One would think with this diverse range of stuff that Microsoft’s marketing department simply went berko one day and slapped the words ‘Halo 3′ onto anything they could sell.
Well, it’s good to know this is not necessarily true. This Reuters story detailing Microsoft’s Halo 3 marketing bonanza mentions a few oddities that never saw the ink of the giant branding machine.
Items that did not make the cut were a “Halo”-themed lottery ticket, lingerie modeled after a female hologram character and toy guns based [on]the game’s weapons.
Lingerie? It may not have sold well, but I wouldn’t have ruled it out entirely…
If you’ve ever played NetHack, ADOM or Angband, then you have a fair idea of what to expect from Dweller. It’s essentially a roguelike you can play on your mobile, as long as it has enough horsepower to run it.
There are two versions available: one with graphic tiles (pictured here), and the other with more traditional ASCII. Sufficed to say, the ASCII version stands a better chance of running without a hitch.
When you’re bored on the train, it sure beats the heck out of Solitaire.
Dweller [roguelikedevelopment.org]
