Now aren’t those just darling? Reader Kyle made this Pika-Plane from heavy construction and even wrote an exciting dialogue to go with it.
“Kotaku One to Pika-Plane. Pika-Plane, please respond.”
“Copy, Kotaku One. This is Pika-Plane. Over.”
“Pika-Plane, please adjust your flightpath six degrees to the south. When it comes to Pokemon-themed aircraft, Kotaku Tower is a No-Fly Zone. Over.”
See? EXCITING. What’s going on? We’re doing a paper airplane contest for Ace Combat 6. We’ve got a bundle of goodies that includes: • Ace Combat 6 • Glossy, photo-quality screenshots autographed by the game’s producer and director • Ace Combat 6 Xbox 360 faceplates &null; The AC6 Flightstick set So what’s the contest? Paper airplanes! That’s right, to win this bundle you’ve gotta fold, cut, glue bits of paper together in hopes of creating a truly gnarly paper jet plane. They don’t have to actually fly, but hey, if they do, that’s a major plus. Be sure to snap a pic of your creation with something that says “Kotaku” and send it to kotakucontestATgmailDOTcom. Add “Ace Combat 6 Contest” to your subject line. Deadline is October 25th.
Dusted off my Japanese PSN account on Saturday morning to get hold of the GT5 Prologue demo. Since it’s demo code, one track and a handful of cars, there’s not much to say! Fans will still dig the ultra-authentic approach the series takes, critics will still hate on the sterility, ass-kicking adherence to realism and lack of damage modelling (no, despite earlier comments, smashed-up bits don’t seem to have made the demo). One thing everyone will agree on, though, is that the car models look amazing. And the in-car view? Worth all those polygons, it’s creepy-realistic. Anyone thinking of picking it up, all the necessary menu buttons are in English, you’ll be fine.
Microsoft Japan just shot us an press release announcing that the Xbox 360 would be getting a price cut. Starting November 1st, the 20GB bundle, which originally listed at ¥39,795 (US $346), will retail for ¥34,800 ($US 302). Likewise, the ¥29,800 ($US 259) Core System will sell for ¥27,800 ($US 241). A new, limited-edition 20GB “Value Pack” with Forza Motorsport 2 and Viva Piñata will also go on sale. It will retail for ¥34,800 and not include an HDMI cable. Not a bad deal if you don’t own an Xbox 360. Hey Japan, you listening?
…Of Spawn Baddies, as McFarlane’s bread-winner stands valiantly atop a rooftop while thousands of innocent thugs, henchmen and ne’er-do-wells plunge to their deaths. Embarrassing Moments in Game Design: Spawn Respawn [VC&G]
When you think of characters at Universal Studios, you think of characters connected to, well, Universal Studios. Characters like Woody Woodpecker or Beetlejuice. In recent years, Universal Studios Hollywood has licensed non-Universal character — for example, Sponge Bob, Marvel Comics superheroes and The Simpsons. Osaka’s Universal Studios Japan has licensed Hello Kitty and Crash Bandicoot. He’s even on the vending machines (pic after the jump). Not sure what a video game character has to do with USJ, but whatever! Someone, explain. Please.
Heads up, today is our favourite Kotakuday, Ban Monday. We LOVE Ban Mondays! While our hot line is open to ban recommendations at all times, we turn up the ban sensitivity on the Ban Hammer for this special monday. Here’s how it works: Send us the commenter page for anyone that should get the boot. If we agree (even slightly), we’ll swing. And swing hard. Though! No ban gloating. Gloating leads to Ban Hammer backfire, which could cause you to get the boot. Tuesday we’ll be back better, lighter, strong and faster. Know that today is a Surprise Ban Monday, so shhhhhhh. Don’t tell the other commenters — especially, those you want gone.
Finally, some uplifting news on the Australian game developer rebate front. Out of a recent meeting this morning between GDAA CEO Greg Bondar and deputy senate leader for the opposition Stephen Conroy, has come the promise that if Labor is elected, Conroy will “establish a high level committee to review the GDAA’s call for a 40% tax rebate for the games industry in Australia”.
Okay, it’s so-so news. There’s no guarantee that anything will happen under a Labor Government – a committee is something you form before a war, not during. However, we know conclusively that nothing will happen if the Coalition is re-elected, and for those hunting desperately for even a foal’s chance of a rebate, this is as good as it’s going to get.
You can read the full release after the jump.
Close watchers of the rumour mill will have noticed that the industry has recently acquired its own Deep throat. This oesophagus of privileged information has taken the form of a very innocent, plain-looking blog titled “Surfer Girl Reviews Star Wars”.
In the last few weeks, Surfer Girl has enlightened us on the progress of Team Bondi’s LA Noire, a Resistance: Fall of Man sequel and shared a few tidbits on Turn 10′s Forza Motorsport 3.
Are these rumours tasty? Yes. Varied? Certainly. Accurate? Only one person knows, and that’s Surfer Girl herself. As such, we kindly asked the knowledgeable lass for a moment of her time:
Logan: Would you say you’re directly involved in the games industry? Surfer Girl: I’m an insider. Insider.
Hit the jump for the full interview.
PS. If you’re wondering where exactly the name for Surfer Girl’s blog came from, she’s already done an excellent job of explaining it:
3) “Where the hell do you get a blog title like “Surfer Girl Reviews Star Wars” from?” The blog name comes from a Latvian tour guide who was on some sort of hallucinogenic and spoke random phrases.
4) “You never reviewed Star Wars, what did you think of Star Wars?” Boring. A step down from a classic like American Graffiti. George did science fiction much better with THX 1138.
Surfer Girl also took the time to interview me during our Q&A. You can read it over at the Reviews Star Wars blog. It’s mostly about Australian culture, which was awesome for me because I’m actually a Kiwi.
During the Assassin’s Creed demo down at the Australian Maritime Museum today, creative director Patrice Desilets (second from the right) commented on remarks he made two weeks ago on cramming all the game’s data onto the Xbox 360′s puny DVD format, and into the PS3′s questionable memory density.
According to Desilets, his boss (Raymond perhaps? Far right, above) called him the day after the comments were made and they exchanged a few words. All Desilets was willing to say today on the Xbox 360 issue was:
There’s no problem anymore. It’s gone.
And:
I learned my lesson.
Patrice is a nice bloke, so I hope whoever spoke to him wasn’t too hard on his tongue slippage.
