Nothing wrong with McFarlane’s Halo 3 toys. Then again, you don’t have to put much work into them either. You exchange currency, you receive the goods, that’s it. Where’s the fun in that? Nowhere, that’s where. So custom toy creator Jin Saotome decided to come up with his own custom Halo 3 Master Chief, cannibalising a GI Joe, an old Halo 2 toy and then a whole bunch of custom sculpting.
Boy oh boy, I am excited about Kane & Lynch: Dead Men. And with the massive flood of games, that’s saying something! Here the game’s director Jens Peter Kurup talks about how the game and the characters evolved. So watch it! Great stuff, can’t wait until November when the title is released.
Namco Bandia got a couple of 360 games coming up. One is Beautiful Katamari. The other is Ace Combat 6. Katamari, it’ll be released in the US on October 16 for the “budget” price of USD$40. Ace Combat, it’s coming along a little later on October 23 for $US 60. It’s also a little more interesting, at least for collectors of meaty peripherals, because you’ll also be able to pick up a bundle pack that includes AC6, an AC6 faceplate and a Hori 360 flight stick for $US 150. Ace Combat, Katamari 360 debuts locked down [GameSpot]
Remember Ubisoft’s propagation of female gaming stereotypes Imagine series for the DS? Sure ya do! According to French publisher Ubisoft, in-house research showed that pre-teen girls were interested in things like fashion, cooking and caring for animals and babies (and probably baby animals). The Imagine series is aimed at 6-14 year-old females. According to Ubisoft’s Shara Hashemi:
We did research, and we are studying the market… that’s what the girls actually like, so we should try to fulfil their needs… Those games were really designed for young girls who are just looking for fun games and ways to explore their favourite hobbies… From what we’ve seen, [the girls]didn’t mention anything about being a police officer.
Thus, later this month will see clothes deigning and photo shoot coordinating Imagine: Fashion Designer, cooking with gas Imagine: Master Chef, sick animal vet sim Imagine: Animal Doctor and baby-sitting title Imagine: Babyz. (See that? See how they changed Imagine: Babies to Imagine: Babyz?) Next March, Ubisoft will release another DS title, Imagine: Figure Skater, and there are plans to expand to the Wii. According to Hashemi, “The games are built on ideas and concepts that every girl can relate to and they allow girls to expand their creativity while they’re learning real facts and real-life concepts.” Can’t wait for Imagine: Glass Ceiling! Ubisoft Talks Imagine [Multiplayer]
Gizmodo AU’s source for their story on the $699 40GB PS3 is looking even more legit. Australian Kotakuite Musky just dropped us a line with the following information:
Thought you might like to know, I picked up a 60GB PS3 in JB Hi-Fi in Sydney today and was told by the shop person that I was lucky to get this one as it’s the last shipment of the 60GB versions they are being sent, their next shipment will be the 40GB version without card reader and missing two USB ports which will retail for $699 AUD.
Seems like full steam ahead for Sony.
Japan Industrial Design Promotional Organization (JIDPO) has announced this year’s Good Design Award or the so-called “G-Mark”. Design-wise, this is a pretty big deal. Almost 3,000 products were screened, and this year a total 1,043 products were given the coveted G-Mark. Out of those, there is a Good Design Award Best 15. Think of it as the cream of the crop, best of the best. The Nintendo Wii (and Wii-mote and Nunchuk) snagged a spot in that 15. The Wii wasn’t the only gaming entry as Second Life also made it into the Best 15. Congrats Nintendo and Linden Lab! G-Mark Best 15 [Official Site via Jean Snow]
Hausmann, Sony’s external PR company, just sent through a games release schedule for the PlayStation 3. According to the schedule, Sony expects to have Eye Of Judgement on Australian shelves by October 25th. Well, there’s a TBC next to that date, but it’s better than just the “October” we were playing with before.
If the date sticks, it means EoJ barely makes it as an Oct release; we’ll be waiting the better part of this month for it.
In other news, I still haven’t been able to track down a shop that’ll be stocking the booster packs, and Sony has yet to get back to me about this small oversight…
The PS3′s taken its fair share of smacks to the mouth over the past year. Some were well-deserved, others less deserved, but this? This is below the belt. GamePro have dug up some old NPD figures, taken a look at some new NPD figures and drawn up a pretty little graph which shows the PS3 is selling slower than the GameCube. Ouch. Low blow. But is that really fair? The Cube’s launch wasn’t too bad, as you can see – it was the next 3-4 years that killed it. And it’s a bit hard to chart the next 3-4 years of PS3 sales when, you know, they haven’t happened yet. Still, it is a pretty graph, and I’m a sucker for pretty graphs, so up it goes. At current rate, PS3 may sell less than GameCube [GamePro]
Mitsubishi showed off Sonic the Hedgehog on this enormous 140 inch LED Resolia TV at CEATEC in Japan. How big is 140? That’s like 11 and a half feet — aka HUGE. There’s a booth companion there for handy comparison. Shame they choose the human kissing Sonic game to show off, because that’s one of many things I wouldn’t want to see at 140 inches.
Hit the jump for a clip of the TV.
