Harley Quinn's Revenge Is Batman: Arkham City's Bad New Ending 
High Scores And Egos: There's Always A Bigger Doodle 
The Last Moments Of GAME 
How Bad User Interfaces Are Ruining Video Games And Other Wonderful Things 
She Tried To Make Good Video Games For Girls, Whatever That Meant 
The Story Of Doodle Jump: Brotherly Love And Digital Snacks The MGS4 delay isn’t just bad news for you. It’s bad news for Konami investors, because once word got out the game had been pushed back, shares in the company fell nearly 7% to Â¥3,160, their biggest drop in four years. Why the decline? The game was supposed to sell a whole bucketload of copies, see, and with the game slipping out of the current financial year that’ll take some of the shine off Konami’s financial results. Any MGS fanboys with a buck or two lying around, now might be a good time to put your money where your mouth’s usually at.
UT on a high-end PC is amazing, but we’re slightly concerned how UT III runs on the PS3. There might be lags and a slower frame-rate. That, dear reader, would be a huge drag! Sucky, even!! We wonder if Unreal Tournament III on the PS3 will be any good? Let’s ask Epic honcho Mark Rein. Mark?
I was playing the PS3 build for a few hours tonight and it is really, really fantastic…　amazingly smooth and solid. I think you PS3 users are in for a huge treat with UT3.
Whew! We were worried. Well, as long as the guy who runs the company likes the game, then we have absolutely nothing to worry about. You know what’s really smooth, Mark? That chocolate-colored suit. Mark Talks PS3 UT III [Epic via CVG]
No greater testament to the great Australian sense of apathy than the continued presence of Halo 3 at the top. Instead of the mad rush to the register seen elsewhere, Australian 360 owners are more “Ah, bugger it, I’ll get it next week”. Still, lazy or not, enough copies were bought to keep newcomers The Orange Box and SingStar RnB from the #1 spot.
1) Halo 3 2) Crash Of The Titans 3) The Orange Box (360) 4) SingStar RnB 5) Phantom Hourglass 6) Drawn To Life 7) Buzz! Hollywood Quiz 8) Juiced 2 9) The Orange Box (PC) 10) FIFA 08 (PS2)
[charts courtesy of GfK]
Xbox Japan just dropped word in our mailbox that the first and second Blue Dragon cartoon episodes will be coming to Xbox LIVE. For free. From November 15th to January 1st, the episodes will be available for download. This generosity is a promotion for the game’s ¥ 2,940 ($US 26) budget priced edition, which goes on sale today in Japan. Later this month, Konami will also put release the fourth volume of the Blue Dragon anime on DVD, along with the volumes already on sale. The fourth volume is limited edition and includes cards from Konami’s BD card game. Konami is also having a giving away a Blue Dragon Core System to one lucky winner.
Before popping in Super Mario Galaxy this afternoon, I had to dust my Nintendo Wii. Besides the occasional Wii Sports game, the machine hasn’t gotten much use. It’s kinda just sat there in the living room, waiting for games — not mini-games, but games. After an unnecessarily long drought, the games are finally starting to hit. Third party-wise Zack & Wiki, which is fantastic, dropped, and today sees the release of Super Mario Galaxy in Japan.
Shocker! A Nintendo DS Final Fantasy game tops the weekly Japanese sales charts! Alongside Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Fuuketsu no Grimoire‘s impressive weekly sales, the rest of the top ten features uniquely Japanese releases, mostly new. Winning Eleven, Imabikisou, Sega’s horrific sound novel game, DS Bungaku Zenshuu, the Nintendo literature collection, and all sorts of other things I don’t recognise round out the top ten. Even Sega’s wacky Ghost Squad debuted strong.
While Sega had a good week, it seems Japanese gamers have had their fill of Seaman, as the PlayStation 2 release dropped from number 1 to number 21 in its second week. Oh well! Media Create’s sales figures for October 22 to the 28 are below.
01. Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Fuuketsu no Grimoire (DS) Р142,000 / NEW 02. Ar Tonelico II: Sekai ni Hibiku Shoujo Tachi (PS2) Р72,000 / NEW 03. World Soccer Winning Eleven DS Goal x Goal! (DS) Р29,000 / NEW 04. Imabikisou (PS3) Р23,000 / NEW 05. DS Bungaku Zenshuu (DS) Р21,000 / 54,000 06. Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch (DS) Р20,000 / NEW 07. Ghost Squad (Wii) Р20,000 / NEW 08. God of War II (PS2) Р17,000 / NEW 09. DS Nishimura Kyotaro Suspense Shin Tantei Series: Kyoto Atami Zekkai no Kotou РSatsui no Wana (DS) Р17,000 / 98,000 10. Pok̩mon Mysterious Dungeon: Time Expedition Party (DS) Р16,000 / 537,000
Super Mario Galaxy went on sale today in Japan. Here is the instruction booklet — which has kept the Mario falling on his arse picture art. Same goes for the actual game disc, but the box art is the better version. We’ve taken pics of the instruction book, which is, not surprisingly, in Japanese. Some pics after the jump! Click through if you’re excited about Mario, the Japanese language or instruction books.
…between November 23-26. Hey, don’t look at us, we’re not gift horses, and our mouths are firmly shut. The deal’s part of *groan* Xtival 07, a bash Microsoft is holding for European Xbox Live users. Expect competitions (definitely expect Pro Evo & Halo 3 to feature there), copious self-promotion and even some exclusive downloads to be offered. But only for Europeans. Which all sounds very pleasant, so to all our old world friends, don’t forget. November 23-26. Microsoft announces Xtival 07 [Eurogamer]
It’s not enough Crysis had some DX10 workarounds lurking inside its demo code. No, they had to go and leave (or place, for your convenience? Who knows) more neat stuff in there. Stuff like weapons, vehicles and bad guys from the full version, which you can easily get hold of with a bit of a code cut ‘n’ paste. Once cut ‘n’ pasted (instructions at link below), the next time you fire up the demo you’ll find every gun in the game just sitting there, waiting for you, along with some tanks and an attack chopper. Which should guarantee you a few more good times between now and November 16.
Crysis Crisis Deepens [Rock, Paper, Shotgun]
Josh Hartnett in a horror flick? That’s a miscast. Melissa George in a horror flick? I’m all for national pride, despite my status as the spawn of Kiwiland, but no.
Those were my impressions before seeing the film. Afterwards? I’m a little more confident in Hartnett and George. At the very least, they weren’t part of the problem.
30 Days of Night is based on the graphic novel series of the same name by Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith. I’d like to say I’ve read the series, but I haven’t, so don’t ask for a comparison. What I can tell is whether 30 Days succeeds at being a scary vampire flick.
Well it, uh, has vampires…
