Thursday, December 6, 2007
Time Crisis 4 Supports Multiplayer, But You Can’t Buy Seperate Guncons
11:29PM Luke Plunkett | Namco Bandai’s upcoming lightgun extravaganza Time Crisis 4 supports 2-player, splitscreen play. Yay! Oh, wait…belay that yay. Rather than let you enjoy some good times with your friends, Namco Bandai would instead like to hold a knife to your throat. See, instead of allowing consumers to purchase a second, individual Guncon – for multiplayer, as a replacement, whatever – they’ve decided the only way you can get additional guns is to…buy additional copies of Time Crisis 4. At $US 60 a pop. Way to screw over your loyal fanbase, Namco Bandai. Real smart. [Consumerist] More »
Check Out This Reader’s Xbox 360 Underwear
11:29PM Brian Ashcraft | Game cakes? Regular occurrence. But game underwear, now that’s special. And personal. Longtime reader Scazza gave us an intimate look at what covers his, erm, stuff. Scazza writes: I know Kotaku has a very unhealthy obsession with cakes (can’t blame you), however I think your apparel coverage is lacking, but I was out shopping today and stumbled across Xbox 360 Boxers in Zellers, I think they are a canadian only store. The fanboy inside me screamed and I picked up a pair, or three. I looked around but did not see any other gaming related ones, but I think the Wii boxers would have been a little odd anyway. So next time you see Scazza around the comment section, try not to dwell on the fact you’ve seen his underoos and be happy that you haven’t seen him in his underoos. Thanks Scazza for the pic! More »
Forget The Bunny Girl, Bust Out The Puffy
11:29PM Brian Ashcraft | How do you promote Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 in Japan? You put a girl in bunny ears and heels apparently. Meh! That’s kind of stuff is so old and trite. Though, Ubisoft did do something very cool for Japan: There’s a rhythm mini-game in the playable demo that’s to the tune of Puffy’s Kore ga Watashi no Ikiru Michi. And that is a fantastic little pop tune! Rayman Raving Rabbids Promotion [Famitsu] More »
News
Harmonix On The History Of Guitar Hero (And Copying Guitar Freaks)
11:29PM Luke Plunkett | There’s a great excerpt up over at Gamasutra from Iain Simons’ book “Inside Game Design”, which focuses (the excerpt, not the whole book) on Harmonix and in particular the history of the Guitar Hero franchise. All of it’s interesting stuff, but none more so than this, which should please embittered Guitar Freaks fans upset the Guitar Hero games have stolen their thunder: [Red Octane] was interested in making a guitar game as they’d seen Guitar Freaks, which Konami had done. So they came to Harmonix with the request, “will you make us a great guitar game for our new piece of guitar hardware?” They could. They did. The rest is history, proving once and for all that all Guitar Freaks needed to succeed in the West was to make death incarnate a playable character and include a more sensible, appropriate tracklist. Inside Game Design: Harmonix Music Systems [Gamasutra] More »
Dragon Quest V DS Remake Dated (For Japan)
11:29PM Brian Ashcraft | Sick of those Dragon Quest remakes? Square Enix isn’t! Mark your calendars because Dragon Quest V: Tenkuu no Hanayome will go on sale in Japan Spring 2008. The game was originally released for the Super Famicom back in 1992 and got a PS2 remake back in 2004. The game follows over twenty years in the life of the main character. Interesting innovation: Monsters could join the main character’s party. So, if you missed the Super Famicom or the PS2, Square Enix has you covered with this DS remake! That’s sure kind of them. DQV Remake [Dengeki Online] More »
We Love Golf Loves Capcom Cameos
11:29PM Luke Plunkett | Think Capcom would pass up the chance to throw some licensed characters into We Love Golf? Like hell they would. These mag scans show some of the Capcom characters that will be making guest appearances in the cartoonish golf game, including Arthur, Jill Valentine, Chun Li and that new attorney bloke who’s not Phoenix Wright. Aren’t they just so cute you could smoosh their little cheeks? Well, except Chun Li. She’s wearing pants for some reason, and to be honest, it’s freaking us out. [Go Nintendo] More »
Spain Celebrates Christmas In Style
11:29PM Luke Plunkett | We always thought Spain celebrated Christmas with presents, then lunch, then an afternoon nap, followed by a late dinner then some boozing. Boy were we wrong. They actually celebrate with enormous, animated Pac-Man Christmas trees! This is sitting in downtown Madrid, is made up of thousands of LEDs, Pac-Man actually moves and, really, it’s just the best damn Christmas tree ever. [TechnaBob, thanks Kdawg!] More »
Wii Fit’s Gray Market Shaping Up
11:29PM Brian Ashcraft | No surprises here. A new piece of hardware is released right before Christmas, and scalpers put it up on Yahoo! Auctions. In its first two days on sale, Wii Fit sold TK units. Impressive! Retailers don’t know when the next shipment will be arriving. However, there are already plenty of Wii Fit sets available via online auctions. The MSRP for Wii Fit is ¥8,800 ($US 78). Though, Wii Fit is selling below that. At the time of posting, the average price was between ¥8,000 and ¥10,000 ($US 72 ~ $US 90). This is great. And no, we’re not implying that Wii Fit is some horrible failure as early numbers prove that it’s a casual hit. But rather, it’s always nice to see scalpers get screwed over. Perhaps customers got wise after the DS Lite, PS3 and Wii craziness of before? Perhaps they’ve decided to wait until they can buy it instores. Perhaps stuff like this will encourage hardware makers to do a better job of meeting demand with supply. The ironic part: Those unable to locate Wii Fit can readily find it online at nearly MSRP. Wii Fit Auctions [Yahoo! Japan] More »
Street Fighter IV First Screenshot
11:29PM Brian Ashcraft | 2D or 3D? That’s been The Street Fighter IV question that’s been kicked around the internet. First details about the DIMPS developed fighter reveal that the graphics are polygonal, but the gameplay is apparently 2D. Game site 1Up (via EGM) reports that there will be new moves, locals and game play. Things that will be the same? The six button control scheme. Returning characters include Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li and Dhalsim. No word on who will round out the rest of the fighters, but we honestly hope that Capcom doesn’t take a page out of Super Smash Bros. Brawl PR handbook and let info trickle out until release. (Though, we’re actually cool with infinite Street Fighter IV spin-offs.) What’s more, we don’t know which platforms the game will be on. Looking at Capcom’s recent M.O., we’re guessing Xbox 360/PC/PS3. And since it’s a Street Fighter game, it should pop up in Japanese arcades. So, let’s cut the gibble-gabble. What do you think of the first released screenshot? SFIV Unveiled [1Up] More »
