Galavanting about the galaxy in search of rebel scum can become too much for any man, let alone one horribly disfiguired and emotionally scarred following the death of his missus. So Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith, is as entitled to a bit of free time as any of you lot. And what better way to burn a couple of rostered days off than with a few heated rounds of Rock Band? Feel free to marvel at Vader throwin the horns above, and if you fancy some footage of the event, courtesy of Kotakuite Mark, a vid’s after the jump.
Wallets open! At a recent Namco press conference, it was announced that music idol managing sim THE iDOLM@STER has sold over 100,000 copies since going on sale last January in Japan. That’s not so impressive (it is an Xbox 360 game, though). Here is what’s impressive: It’s number 3 in the world for downloadable content, selling $US 3 million worth. That means the DLC per copy rate is VERY HIGH. What’s more, this is only Japan. Free downloadable demos also clock in at 1.2 downloads. The entire iDOLM@STER market size for arcades, merchandise (CDs, etc) and whatnot is supposedly around $US 56 million dollars. What’s THE iDOLM@STER? It’s nerd heroin. Press Conference [IT Media Thanks, muu!]
The December NPD top-10 contained a lot of big names: Call of Duty 4, Assassin’s Creed, Halo 3, Guitar Hero…but there were a lot of big-name titles that didn’t make the cut. Like Uncharted, and The Orange Box, and Mass Effect. Keen to know how far behind the pack these stragglers were, then? The simExchange got hold of some of NPD’s “leftovers” data, which show that while Mass Effect did pretty well for itself, games like the PS3 version of The Orange Box…did not.
One thing to bear in mind: these aren’t numbers 11-17 on the charts, they’re just random sales data.
Mass Effect (Xbox 360) – 401,000 Mario Party DS (Nintendo DS) – 385,000 Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune (PlayStation 3) – 206,000 Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles (Nintendo Wii) – 147,600 Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings (Nintendo DS) – 117,200 Half-Life 2: The Orange Box (PlayStation 3) – 56,500 TimeShift (PlayStation 3) – 25,000
The simExchange [via Next-Gen]
Dust is a problem. A big, big problem. Well, it is for my PS3. Those dust particles cannot be good when they get sucked up in the consle’s air vents. But, I can’t even seem to keep it dust free! Peripheral maker Hori has a solution: Dust Guard Kit 3. Guarding all four air vents, it includes a filter that prevents dust and things like cigarette smoke from entering the PS3. There are also covers for open ports, too! Sounds just like what the dust doctor ordered. Dust Guard Kit 3 [Hori Thanks, moogoat!]
I don’t mean the game. None of us have played it (or seen gameplay footage, thanks). Besides, it’s a squad-based shooter, so it’ll have a lot more in common with GRAW and, we suspect, Republic Commando than Bungie’s flagship series. But this trailer? Very familiar. Where have I seen that opening minute-and-a-half sequence before? Oh yeah. Here.
SCEE have got off their arses and given the PS3′s SingStore a long-overdue update. In total, 14 new tracks have been added, though unless you’re a fan of Blur or Supergrass you may be disappointed, since between them those two bands constitute half the new tracks on offer. The rest of the songs do little to pique my interest either (KT Tunstall? No. The Fray? No, thanks), but it’s not a total loss, as the update’s salvaged by the inclusion of…Arrested Development’s Tennessee.
Pretty sure there were meant to be more songs than this (18 were promised), but for now, here’s what’s new in the store:
Arrested Development – Tennessee Blur – Girls & Boys Blur – The Universal Blur – To The End Blur – She’s So High Cartel – Lose It David Bowie – Life On Mars? The Fray – How To Save A Life KT Tunstall – Suddenly I See Roxy Music – Avalon Supergrass – Pumping On Your Stereo Supergrass – Richard III Supergrass – Sun Hits The Sky Ten Sharp – You
Sony announces new songs for UK SingStore [GameSpot]
Wal-Mart tries to make good with Super Smash Bros. Brawl fans who feel cheated. After listing the Wii brawler for pre-order at $US 19.82, then unsurprisingly cancelling those orders, the mega-retailer is apologising. Sort of. They’re giving out $US 10.gift cards good for online purchases at WalMart.com to those who tried to get Brawl on the cheap. Feel better? Yeah. Thought so. Thanks to everyone who let us know.
It would seem that the ghost of Ion Storm hasn’t quite faded into the night, as two of its more prominent employees, John “Suck It Down” Romero, also formerly of id, and Mike Wilson, now at Gamecock, are engaged in a nasty war of words. Romero posted on his personal blog this week that Wilson was up to his usual “jackass stunts” and recalled his former co-worker’s time at Gathering of Developers/GodGames “where he pretty much just partied all the time and after the whole thing got reined in by Take 2 he went underground for a while, waiting for his next victim/investor so he could go hogwild all over again.”
In the same post, Romero also placed part of the blame on Wilson for the laughable “John Romero’s About To Make You His Bitch” print ads that ran prior to the release of the ill-fated shooter Daikatana.
Wilson responds in an open letter to Romero, sent to Kotaku, that he will “not allow you to rewrite the history of it all, more to your liking and to my public detriment, and I will in no way take the rap for what you did (or didn’t do) with your dream company”, going on to defend his character and refute certain claims.
It gets particularly nasty near the end of the letter, when Wilson says to Romero “your unparalleled work ethic and strong character has [...]left only a bloody trail of ex-wives, fatherless kids, and ill advised breast implants strewn across this fair nation.” Insert stunned silence here, then continue for the full “Dear John” letter.
Fans of Gears of War adult collectible merchandise, is this your week or what? Yesterday, the first shots of the upcoming Marcus Fenix figure. Today? A sneak peek at Augustus “I Miss Terry Tate” Cole. That, and confirmation that if NECA have got two things right with these figures, it’s that they’ve captured both the scowls and rampant steroid abuse of the post-apocalyptic future perfectly.
A Week In Comments
3:00PM January 19, 2008 | Brian Ashcraft
Sid Meier To Get GDC Lifetime Achievement Award Comment by: Maximus9 Nominated by: MaxS
He doesn’t want no stinking plaque or trophy! Send the man to space for God’s sake…that’s what he really wants! What Richard Garriott can go, but we can’t afford to send him? The guy is inspiring millions of kids to want to be astronauts and build things instead of destroy them.
Zero Punctuation Doesn’t Hate Crysis Comment by: dowingba Nominated by: geekgrrl
RE5 is racist because you kill black people. San Andreas was racist because you play a black person. Basically, if a game has any black people in it, it’s automatically racist.
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