Monday, December 3, 2007
Southwest Airlines Remind All to Fasten Wrist Straps
11:00PM Brian Ashcraft | Leave it to an airline to make a smart Wii parody. We laughed out loud. More »
NiGHTS PS2 Remake “Japan Only”
10:00PM Brian Ashcraft | If you enjoyed the original NiGHTS, the next couple of months will be grand. Team Sonic USA head and original NiGHTS designer Takashi Iizuka spearheaded NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams, which is out later this month in North America and Japan. Next year will see the original NiGHTS into Dreams… getting a PS2 remake for Japanese release. What are the chances of that getting an international release? Or what about a Wii port? Iizuka says: There are currently no plans for the PS2 version to be released outside of Japan, and no plans for a Wii version either. It is being released in Japan, due to the high demand for the game. So there are no plans for a worldwide release… so far. So those who really want to play NiGHTS into Dreams… either import or dust off your Saturns! Iizuka Interview [Sega Nerds] [Image] More »
Why Is The Wii More Expensive This Year?
9:00PM Brian Ashcraft | Thought inflated console prices was so 2006? Wrong! Once again, Nintendo’s little white gaming box is in high demand. According to website and online retailer I4U, the best price for a Wii last December was $US 476.11. This year it’s $US 538.80. Third party Amazon sellers are asking $US 548, and it’s possible to get a Wii on eBay for around $400. Of course, if you can find one in stores, the machines costs $US 249.00. From I4U: This is crazy, products are supposed to get cheaper with time. The Xbox 360 and Sony PS3 actually did get cheaper this year. That is crazy. Our advice is always “wait.” The console will eventually turn up in stores so why line the pockets of profiteers and scalpers? And Nintendo really needs to figure out that supply and demand thingy. First the DS hit shortages in Japan and now the Wii is hard to come by. We’re starting to see a trend. A very bad one. Wii is MORE Expensive [Gizmodo] More »
The Chinese Wii Rip-off TV Spot
8:00PM Brian Ashcraft | Not only does the Vii rip off the Nintendo Wii, but it also rips off the Nintendo Wii’s target customers and the movement of the “ii” in the intro. Now that is brilliant. Vii Commercial [Danny Choo via Japan Probe] More »
Will There Be Activision Blizzard Branding? No.
7:00PM Brian Ashcraft | As we announced last night, Vivendi Games (which includes Blizzard Entertainment) and Activision have merged after Vivendi bought a majority share in the company. Like with any merger, things will obviously change. Things like the name, which will now be Activision Blizzard. Say that a couple times: Activision Blizzard, Activision Blizzard, Activision Blizzard. Seeing that on a game box just might frighten customers. Thankfully, we won’t ever see that corporate moniker on a game box. Blizzard President and CEO Mike Morhaime explains: In fact our games have never been branded as Vivendi. The Activision Blizzard brand will not appear anywhere as a consumer-facing brand. Basically it is a corporate brand for the overall company. If you want to buy stock in the company, the stock is called Activision Blizzard; the central shared services for the company, such as the sales and distribution force, will be Activision Blizzard. But Blizzard Entertainment will continue to be a publishing label… You should not see it [Activision Blizzard] on anything. It will not be associated with any product. Thank goodness, because it sucks. Actard or Blizzivision would’ve been pretty sweet, though. CEO Talks [1Up, Thanks Andrew!] More »
Wii Fit On Sale, Unboxed and Touched
6:00PM Brian Ashcraft | Over the weekend, Wii Fit went on sale in Japan. Most stores were selling one-Wii Fit-per-person, and it did brisk business with long lines. (With the current health craze in Japan, we imagine that it will continue to do well.) This shouldn’t come as a surprise as Nintendo’s been advertising Wii Fit pretty hard in primetime here. Hit the jump for CheapyD’s unboxing. More »BRIEF
11:30AM Logan Booker | Early birds may have noticed that the overnight US content has yet to come through.
We’re experiencing a few difficulties with our refeed system, which is preventing me from bringing the Kotaku US stuff across. Don’t worry, we have our super-smart IT team working hard to make it all right again.
Hopefully, we’ll have things sorted within the hour. More » 
Last Chance To Have Your Fury Questions Answered
11:30AM Logan Booker | Today’s the final day we’ll be taking questions for our Q&A with Auran, the Australian developer behind the MMO Fury. If you’d like your query to be considered, head over to the original post, and submit it via the comments system. Feel free to suggest improvements, changes or new features. Auran wants to know!
As a bonus, the two best questions will snag themselves signed copies of the game, so don’t dilly dally.
Ask Auran Anything You Want About Fury [Kotaku AU] More » Busy, Busy Bees
11:16AM Maggie Greene | To: Ash & Luke From: Maggie Subject: Am I allowed to write these things? So Flynn and I have been busy people the past couple of weeks – both my grandparents died a few weekends back, and Flynn graciously held down the fort for two weeks while I was taking care of family business. Now Flynn is off for two weeks so he can make a cross country drive out to San Francisco. I did the same kind of drive back in September, but Flynn’s trip sounds a lot more fun than my frenzied dash to get to San Diego – I hope he’s having a fun trip, because weekend work at Kotaku Towers is decidedly less fun without him to talk to. Now I’m busy with the end of the quarter crush, and looking forward to the holidays and a nice, long break. I’ve got two big papers to crank out for both my major field and this year’s minor field, modern Japanese history, plus some undergraduate term papers to grade. In about 7 months, I’ll be more or less qualified to teach Japanese history from the late Tokugawa up through the immediate post-war period – which is a frightening thought. Here’s what you might have missed this weekend: EA is apologising for the long wait to get replacement Rock Band guitars with a free EA game. Crecente reported on 1Up’s show of support for Gamespot reviewers and asked reviewers to send us their own experiences regarding pressure for good reviews. And Vivendi Games and Activision are merging to form Activision Blizzard, which we all agree is a pretty crappy name. Flynn’s off again next weekend, but I’ll be here keeping an eye on the place while working feverishly on papers, papers, and more papers. More »
Interplay Wants Attitude, Skills For Fallout MMO
10:30AM Logan Booker | GameBanshee has up an interview with an enthusiastic Jason D. Anderson, talking about his move back into the games industry with none other than old employer Interplay. It masquerades as a chat about Interplay’s widely known plans (thanks SEC!) to build an MMO based on Fallout, but ends up being a catch-up with Anderson. Which isn’t so bad.
According to Anderson, Interplay wants employees with attitude and skills:
As I am interviewing potential employees for Interplay, I am not only taking a hard look at people’s skills, but at their overall attitude on game making and the gaming industry as well.
He doesn’t specify which is more important, however.
I also found out that Leonard Boyarsky’s over at Blizzard Activision Blizzard now.
While I’m wishing Interplay all the best in its endeavour to make a Fallout MMO reality, it was not by a random act of God that the company almost went bankrupt and had to sell the Fallout IP to Bethesda.
Interplay MMORPG Interview – Part One [GameBanshee, via Blue's News] More » 
