Three Words I Said To The Man I Defeated In Gears Of War That I'll Never Say Again 
New Doom 3 For Xbox 360 And PlayStation 3 Supports Head-Mounted Displays 
Far Cry 3 And The Stranger In A Strange Land 
Why Robin Makes Batman Better 
Resistance: Burning Skies: The Kotaku Review 
Harley Quinn's Revenge Is Batman: Arkham City's Bad New Ending Australian director George Miller has teamed up with former God of War II director Cory Barlog. Which explains where Cory got to. Obviously, they’re going to be working together on games based on movies. Their first project? Sadly, it’s not a Babe MMO, nor is it a collection of Happy Feet mini-games for the Wii. It’s Mad Max. Yeah. Mad Max. Miller’s had a fourth Mad Max film – “Fury Road” – in the pipeline for a while now, and thinks that working with Barlog from such an early stage in the film’s development will result in a kick-arse tie-in. Indeed, so close are the film and game that pre-production on the film’s been delayed so that both the film and the game’s development cycles are “in sync”.
When we first heard Army of Two’s multiplayer was – in effect – region-locked, an EA employee guessed the decision had been made to cut down on server loads. Not quite. Army of Two senior producer Reed Schneider has told G4TV that it’s actually due to the game’s co-op animation routines, which just wouldn’t work properly if one player had serious lag.
The game works on a deterministic or peer-to-peer network setting. Because we have all these synchronised animations and the players are always doing things together, the only way to support that kind of model right now is to use a deterministic model for networking.
He notes that it’s the same deal for both platforms, not just the 360, and that they’re “looking at potentially going away from a region locked setting”. ‘Army of Two’ Won’t Play Across Regions [G4TV]
We got a blurry, scanned glimpse of new Street Fighter IV character El Fuerte last night. Tonight, here’s a better one, along with some info, courtesy of Capcom. Shockingly, he’ll be fighting Lucha Libre-style, and when not fighting, “divides his professional life between Lucha Libre wrestling and gourmet cooking”. So wait, he’s a Mexican wrestler, fights and cooks? Ladies, this one’s a keeper. Now… Fight a New Rival! [Capcom]
Melbourne-based developer Tantalus has two positions to fill, one for executive producer and the other for a business development manager. CEO Tom Crago thought Kotaku Australia would be a great place to publicise the roles. Not only did I agree with him, I jumped at the opportunity to help.
Tom says you shouldn’t feel intimidated or discouraged from applying just because you have no experience in the industry. There are plenty of jobs that equip you with the skills necessary to make it in games development. Says Crago:
I think people in film and television could look at the video game industry as a potential source of employment, along with anyone presently working in more traditional software development. Skilled project managers are always in demand, and of course there is a serious shortage of C++ programmers.
He believes the industry would benefit from some cross-pollination, so don’t feel you need to keep all those juicy, related skills to yourself.
Want some specifics about the roles and a bit of background on Tantalus? Read on!
Microsoft isn’t sorta behind Xbox 360 exclusive THE iDOLM@STER: Live For You! Microsoft is totally behind it. So much so that the company is using the virtual pop star sim idols for MS messenger. Windows Live now has an official iDOLM@STER theme pack, complete with cutesy icons. Word has it that apparently Microsoft will even be releasing “voice packs” for Windows Live using the game’s voice talent. Not sure if this will help, but okay!THE iDOLM@STER [Windows Live Thanks, Muu!]
And it’s about bloody time. Hudson have finally gotten around to announcing a Bomberman game for the Wii. For the console’s WiiWare service, to be precise. And it’s not some mini-game thing, either. It’s a proper Bomberman game. It’ll support up to eight players in the one game, and – according to Famitsu – should be out in Japan sometime in June. Can’t wait. Bomberman JAP Termin / Neue Bilder [gamefront]
Even though Derwent Howard is dealing with the loss of a number of its staple publications, including Official Xbox 360 Magazine, this hasn’t deterred it from populating newsstands with a new rag.
Ultimate Nintendo will fill the hole left by the short-lived Nintendo Gamer from Next Media, which lasted just four issues and went through two editors. The inaugural issue’s cover story is the Lego-powered Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures, as you can see from the picture here.
I wish Ultimate Nintendo all the best, given DH’s current situation, but I can’t help but feel launching a new magazine in an industry that’s fighting an uphill battle to retain readers is the wisest of moves. Sure, there’s a huge audience of Wii and DS owners out there, but how many of them go to the newsagents for their info and reviews? It’s also hard to ignore the fact that, along with Nintendo Gamer, both the Australia version of Edge and PC Games Addict have been pushed out of the market in recent years.
Stay strong, Ultimate Nintendo, you have a fight ahead of you.
[ITJourno, registration required]
Yeah, the Unreal Engine was once synonymous with cutting-edge PC graphics tech. Once. But in the future? With Unreal Engine 4.0? Well, it’s going to be geared towards consoles, not the PC. So says Epic boss Tim Sweeney:
There is a long life ahead for Unreal Engine 3. Version 4 will exclusively target the next console generation, Microsoft’s successor for the Xbox 360, Sony’s successor for the Playstation 3 – and if Nintendo ships a machine with similar hardware specs, then that also. PCs will follow after that.
Exclusively targeting consoles? PCs following after a Nintendo console? Egads. Epic and PC fanboys, let me get my boat and a paddle together before your salty tears cry me a river. Tim Sweeney, Part 3: Unreal Engine 4.0 aims at next-gen console war [TG Daily]
It’s no secret that Nintendo started out as a playing card maker — and still is one. Game translator Matt Alt spotted this reproduction set of “Osakana Karuta” (Fish Cards) that were produced by the Okuno Karuta Company and Nintendo back in 1937. Explains Alt:
Originally created in 1937 by a PR man named Hideo Hasegawa as part of a campaign to promote fish sales, the cards feature light-hearted puns based on the names and appearances of various edible sea-life. Above, a hungry anglerfish stuffs his huge mouth, yari-ika (“spear squid”) and a cuttlefish are compared to their namesakes, and a procession of hotaru-ika (“firefly squid”) light up the night. This being the 1930s, several cards featured military themes, while another portrayed a whale being harpooned at sea.
Hasegawa died on a New Guinea battlefield during WWII at age 35. Bummer. Osakana Karuta [Alt Japan]
