That PlayStation Portable is showing dangerously high levels of usefulness. Take this new Talkman game. Forget the old “translator” Talkmans, this is a new Talkman, a travel guide that gives you all kinds of verbal and written help with the local lingo, as well as serving as a tour guide. Would be perfect, if not for two shortfalls. One, it’s in Japanese. Two, it only covers three locations: Taiwan, South Korea and Shanghai. Fix those, though, you can get back to us. We’ll definitely be interested. Especially in finding out where we can buy those yummy, fluffy treats. ã“ã‚Œ1本ã§æ—…è¡Œã¯ãƒãƒƒãƒãƒª!? 『TALKMAN TRAVELã€[Famitsu]
Since BioShock lacks multi-player, it’s not exactly the type of game you expect downloadable content for. Yet, 2K Boston’s Ken Levine hasn’t given up on BioShock DLC by a damn sight. No siree! Here’s what Levine has to say:
Diablo II, to me, was a great model for an expansion, because it enhanced the original game, but also extended the game, too. I’m not a really big fan of expanding things just by linearly adding to the experience, adding a new campaign, as much as I am of enhancing the original experience and adding replayability to that experience. I think that certainly BioShock‘s combat experience is great, but it could be broader. I’m a little more confused as far as how to expand the narrative experience.
No word on when this will happen, but it’s nice to know he hasn’t forgotten about DLC. Ken Levine, he’s gaming’s good guy! DLC Interview [1Up]
Last week, the 40GB PS3 was introduced into the British market. Last week, PS3 sales went up 178% in Britain. So, what, a stunning debut for the new 40GB model? No idea! Thanks to ChartTrack’s cunningly selective stat-releasing, we haven’t the foggiest how many of those sales were the new 40GB model, and how many were people going a little mad trying to secure one of the last backwards-compatible 60GB models. So your guess is as good as ours. But ours is pretty good. PS3 sales rocket by 178 per cent [MCV]
A Kotaku reader didn’t send this in, but SHOULD HAVE. Found over at game site Infendo, here is wonderfully diabolical Wario pumpkin. Nightmare inducing! Remember, if you have amazing game Jack-o’-Lanterns on your hands, send them to tipsATkotakuDOTcom. Screw cakes, we’re gunning to be your number one source for gaming pumpkins.
Wario Halloween [Flickr via Infendo]
It’s going to be a dual-screened Christmas down here this summer. I can feel it. So can the charts: just look at all those DS games! Phantom Hourglass is kept out of the top spot only by some Halo game, Drawn To Life miraculously enters at #3 and in total six of the top ten games are for Nintendo’s handheld.
1) Halo 3 2) Phantom Hourglass 3) Drawn To Life 4) Juiced 2 5) Brain Training 2 6) FIFA 08 (PS2) 7) Pokemon Diamond 8) Pokemon Pearl 9) SingStar Rock Ballads 10) Brain Training
[charts courtesy of GfK]
SEGA isn’t the only company disowning vintage consoles. Starting October this Halloween, Nintendo Co., Ltd. will no longer provide hardware support for the Famicom. The console was originally launched in Japan back in 1983, and Nintendo continued to service the machine all these years. With the rise of the Virtual Console and original Famicom parts becoming harder and harder to locate, Nintendo had decided cease repairs. What’s more, Nintendo Co., Ltd. will no longer repair the Super Famicom, the Nintendo 64, the Gameboy and the Gameboy Pocket. Virtual Console or not, this strikes me as sad. No more support [IT Media via Arcade Renaissance]
This year’s Pokémon Festa may be long over, but its memories live on! Especially those memories involving inflatable Pikachu’s netherregion being pulled and penetrated. We didn’t know Pika was female. Did you? Embarrassing pics involving Pikachu and humans safely stored after the jump. Depending on your feelings for Pikachu, these images just might very well be NSFW.
I know the Petz series is old. I know that the title, once translated, is harmless. Still. I chortled. Even guffawed a little. Petz – Katzenfreunde [Amazon.de, via GAF]
Onsens AKA hot springs AKA bathing with naked people are quite popular in Japan! Coed baths are rare these days (or are filled with old people), and private baths are on the pricey side. And those few onsens with monkeys? Monkeys crap in the water! Still, families do enjoy heading out of the city to take relaxing outdoor baths and eat delicious Japanese food. DS game Onsen Techo helps find the perfect hot springs for your next vacation. Self-proclaimed “Hot Spring Professor” Tadanori Matsuda oversaw the title, which provides info about 2,000 onsens as well as the beneficial effect of the various springs. There is also information about Japanese inns and hotels. With fall and winter being a great time to hit hot springs, I’d totally pick this game up — if I could use it more than once or twice a year. DS Hot Springs [Japan Today via Fucked Gaijin]
Warhawk seems to have gone down quite well. Time for an expansion, then? Magic 8-ball says “probably”. Rumblings abound that the game’s first expansion will be out in December, and while there’s no word on pricing or stuff like new maps, it’s rumoured a new vehicle, the Dropship, will be added. The Dropship will not only be able to carry vehicles across the map, it’ll also come packed with missile launchers. Should be handy in a fight, that. Rumor: Warhawk Expansion Pack in December [Shacknews]
