SCEE have announced a new PS3 bundle for the European market (bear with us, for the moment we’ve only got UK pricing). While a standalone 40GB PS3 will at the moment set you back £299, for £350 you can get a “Pick N Mix” bundle, which contains 40GB PS3 and two games. And no, not two rubbish games, either! You get to choose from a list, which while including stinkers like Genji, Formula 1, Lair, and previous bundle stars MotorStorm and Resistance, also includes SingStar (the expensive one, with included mics), Ratchet & Clank, Folklore, Warhawk and, best of all, 2007 NQGOTY Uncharted. Two top-shelf first-party titles for 50 quid? Expect this bundle to go down very well when it’s launched on January 18. Sony launches new bargain PS3 bundle [MCV]
Ah, summer. When you frolic in the fields, whisper sweet nothings in your summer girl’s ear and…play the stuffing out of Valve’s upcoming co-op zombie shooter Left 4 Dead. Speaking with Shacknews, the company confirmed the title – whose devs Turtle Rock have just been absorbed into Valve’s Combine – will be shipping to the PC and 360 in “late summer”. We’re collectively holding our breaths for this game, which will no doubt cause us many a sleepless night with its mix of running, screaming, more running, shooting and relentless hordes of the living dead. Left 4 Dead Rising in Late Summer [Shacknews]
Rumour has it that Disney is considering using the DS as a platform to run park maps. So, the DS would be an interactive map and guests could click on certain areas of the park, check wait times, etc. A limited trial is expected in the next few months. This isn’t the first time Disney has brought DSes into the park: Back in summer 2007, guests could access customised content from the Magic Kingdom’s Pirates of the Caribbean. If this is true, we’re sure this will go over big in Japan, where everyone has a DS and everyone likes Disney. Well, not everyone. DSes Used? [WDW News via DS Fanboy] [Pic]
The latest issue of Nintendo Power features a cover story and 7-page feature on BioWare’s role playing game for the Nintendo DS that stars Sega’s Sonic the Hedgehog. Titled Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, the portable RPG is said to be a stylus-controlled affair a la The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass by NeoGAF member giggas, who already has a copy of the mag and is responsible for the scan of the cover.
According to details from the newest issue of Nintendo Power, the game has a hand-drawn watercolor style. Each member in your party—which can total four of the eleven available characters—will have special abilities (we’re betting the farm on Sonic being fast). Battles are turn-based and attacks are said to follow an Elite Beat Agents model.
There’s more to read at the message board post linked below.
Bioware’s Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood in new NP [NeoGAF]
This isn’t Prince of Persia. It’s not Assassin’s Creed, either. No, if you want to pull off some crazy-ass moves in Bionic Commando, you’re not going to get a generous “auto-aim” system helping your acrobatics. You’re going to have to do all the hard work yourself, by literally aiming the claw in mid-air. Sounds hard, but you’ll be all the prouder when you get your act together and get those hot dogs flying through the air with the greatest of ease.
Poor Microsoft. Square Enix just *might* throw you a bone. If you are nice and there is “merit.” Yes, merit. Things are only slightly better for the PS3, which Square is finding “challenging.” For the Wii and the DS? Nothing but love. Over at NeoGAF, forum member farnham translated an interview with Square Enix boss Yoichi Wada. Highlights include:
If there is a merit cooperating with Microsoft we will do this. We might give some projects to separate studios and make games for the X360. The main platforms for Square Enix are the Nintendo platforms and the PS3. The lion-share of the developers and our infrastructure as well as our capital is for NDS, Wii and PS3, and this is not going to change… We are astonished by Wii’s success and the Nintendo dominance. We thought that the PS3 and the Wii will coexist due to the difference between both strategies, but in the end the users will decide which platform we develop on. The SCE platforms at this point are a bit of a challenge… We think we can do much on the Wii. I talked to Iwata to exploit many possibilities and cheer him on.
What’s with all the Microsoft hate, Square? Wada Interview [NeoGAF via Go Nintendo]
Wal-Mart cancels too-good-to-be-true Super Smash Bros. Brawl pre-orders. As many of you have noted via comment or e-mail to our tips mailbox, the massive retailer won’t make good on $US 19.62 pre-purchases of Super Smash Bros. Brawl for Wii, with Wal-Mart sending cancellation notices via e-mail to cheap ass gamers. Those who attempted to capitalise on the pricing flub will get nothing and like it. Oh, I’m sure they’ll get SSBB eventually, they’ll just have to fork over fifty bucks.
Yeah, a lot’s been made of the PS3 losing Sony money. As impressive a machine as it is, it costs a ton to manufacture, and the more Sony sell, the more money they’re losing. Or are they? We know the 40GB model was – at least partly – an exercise in cost-cutting on Sony’s part, and now we’ve got an idea on just how much they’ve cut. A BusinessWeek report on the recent Blu-Ray news claims a PS3 now costs Sony $US 400 to manufacture, which while still being a lot, is down from the $US 800 they were costing at launch. Those are some handy savings. As a result, Japanese analysts predict the machine may actually start breaking even in…late 2009, which is a little later than Kaz was hoping. Sony’s Blu-Ray Breakthrough [BusinessWeek]
To: Ash From: Crecente Re: On Using Chopsticks
I remember learning to use chopsticks when we first moved to Thailand. It was at a restaurant in Bangkok and they gave my brother and I a peanut to pass back and forth so we could practice.
I saw Sweeney Todd with my wife yesterday. What a great movie. Gory, but great. It got me to thinking. Has there really ever been a video game musical? Like a game that features music or singing as both a way to tell the story and a gameplay mechanic. I don’t think there has, but wouldn’t it be a cool idea. Like maybe an action game that uses the Guitar Hero or Rock Band controllers to dish out damage to foes in a rock opera. Maybe Tommy the Video Game. See that is one of about a million reasons I’m not a game developer.
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A Week In Comments
5:00PM January 12, 2008 | Kotaku US Edition
Ban Kids From Games Til They’re Seven? Comment by: deathbunny
My dad started playing chess and Avalon hill wargames with me as early as he thought I could understand them. I like that I have an understanding of history and strange things like principles of sailing (napoleonic naval warfare game 4tw!) from playing them. Plus my dad and I are really close.
If I’d been parked in front of mario, I wouldn’t have learned much. I mean that sincerely. Mario, as cute and fun as it is, just teaches you how to play mario.
The kidn of game I’d sit a kid down in front of is Sid Meier’s Pirates. It’s not just a straight-up historical simulation with tedium and cumbersome nerdstitics like bore size and formations–but you’d get that there was a conflict in the carribbean between the colonial powers… that the dutch used to be a big deal… that royalty wasn’t completely hereditary–it could be bestowed… names and purposes of different vessels… that the winds in the carribbean blow mainly from east to west… that there was alot of gold being mined and stolen from mexico… names of islands and places that still exist today… etc etc.
Content is important. What you should never *ever* do is park a kid in front of a final fantasy or an MMO. They need to spend the time while they’re still sponges for information sucking up all the cool things that are out there. They can decide to become sedentary later when they’re in college.
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