All things considered, not such a bad week for the normally-awful British sales charts! Usual suspects Mario & Sonic and Brain Training are still hovering in the top half of the charts, but they’re also joined by a bunch of games most of you lot would actually play. Like Army of Two, and Lost Odyssey, and Bully and, amazingly, a PC title. Yes, a PC title! I forgot the British charts even included them.
With all the Street Fighter IV hype, it’s time to take a look back at embarrassing SFII dolls from the early 1990′s. Here’s Hasbro Street Fighter II “Hall of Fame” figures. We just wanted to post this because “Blanka’s gonna bonk ya” makes us giggle.
Thanks Dale North for adding this to YouTube and thanks Santa for the tip!
SCEE have announced a pair of release dates and a price for Gran Turismo 5: Prologue’s European launch. The Blu-Ray version of the game will hit stores on March 28, while the downloadable version will arrive a day earlier as part of the week’s PSN update. Those worried there will be discrepancies between the version’s needn’t, as the only difference is one comes in a box and one doesn’t. The game will retail for ₤25/€40, and is joined by the GT5 PS3 bundle (₤300/€400) we mentioned the other week, which will also be appearing on March 28. Presser follows if you’re at all interested.
Fresh from Apple’s SDK presentation last week, here’s footage of Spore running, in real-time, on the iPhone. Appropriate use of accelerometer, restrained employment of touch-screen technology, nice graphics…yes, yes, this all appears to be in order.
Bad Dick! Bad! That’s a page from Australasian electronics retailer Dick Smith Electronics. The happy, solitaire kid is holding up two games: Gears of War and Halo 3. Perhaps they are games other children want! Perhaps. But both are games that children can buy, and there’s not a parent in sight. In Australia, Halo is rated “M (Recommended for mature audiences)”, but can be purchased by younger customers. Gears of War legally can’t! It’s rated M +15, meaning “Not suitable for people under 15. Under 15s must be accompanied by a parent or adult guardian.” No wonder this kid’s so happy! So if you are 10 years old, Dick Smith will totally hook you up.
Thanks, Christopher! Close-up after the jump.
The name, it could do with some work, but the premise, well, it’s downright intriguing. Developers Obsidian, who brought us KOTOR II, are at work on Alpha Protocol, a game they’re describing as an action-RPG and which will be appearing on the tried and tested triumvirate of PS3, 360 and PC. You play the role of a James Bond-type character, who plays his way through an RPG (it’s got skill classes, etc) flush with Mass Effect-style combat sequences. It’s also got Mass Effect-style dialogue (though you can only ever speak to an NPC once), with the added bonus of James Bond-style romancing, with alluring, deadly ladies across the globe ready and available for conquest. Excited? Don’t be, you’ve got to wait until at least Spring 2009. [via Game Informer Magazine]
Another PS3 tattoo! Not as crappy! Still kooky! While man who goes by the handle MobileTone may be the first person with P53 PS3 inked on his bodice, that doesn’t mean he’s got the first PLAYSTATION 3-themed tat. It seems that SCEE Omar Siu claims that prize (lucky him) with his “This is Living” shoulder art. Fingers crossed he doesn’t ever changed companies! He got the tattoo on December 22, 2007 — coincidentally, the same day that Omar apparently changed medication. Another PS3 Tattoo [PS3 Fanboy]
Nintendo have priced the first lineup of games for the Wii’s WiiWare service, due to launch in Japan on March 25. While the most prominent title, Squeenix’s Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles game, will cost 1500 points ($US 15), the other games are a little more affordable, ranging from 500 Wii Points (eg. Tenshi Solitaire) to 1000 Wii Points (incl. Dr. Mario, Pokemon Ranch). The full list of titles, for those of you who’ll actually be partaking in the service come March 25, is at the link below. WiiWare [Nintendo]
New York Gov. and critic of video game sex Eliot Spitzer has been linked to a prostitution ring. He apparently paid for sex. Federal investigators caught Spitzer via a phone tap in which the Governor planned to have a prostitute travel from New York to Washington, where he was on business, away from his wife and family. It’s against Federal law to bring someone across state lines for the express purpose of prostitution. As game site GamePolitics points out, during his 2006 campaign, Spitzer uttered these now ironic words:
