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 And there’s more! And it *might* be real, too!! Earlier, we brought word of Sonic Unleashed screenshots that were unleashed off of SEGA’s FTP server. Then this alleged Sonic Unleashed clip hit the internet. Now? This character art and more concept art work. We highly approve of this still-rumored-but-unconfirmed art. Apparently, SONIC TEAM as well as developers in the States and Europe are working on this title together. If this is their work, we appreciate them making Sonic not-sucky again. If it’s some random internet fakers, we likewise appreciate them making Sonic not-sucky again.
Sonic Unleashed Update [Sega Magazin]
The wait for more Final Fantasy VII is almost over for North American gamers, as this week’s biggest drop is arguably Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII for the PSP. It joins a pair of well known ninja in the week’s new releases, which is also heavy on action and real-time strategy. A slew of Wii shovelware hits, excluded from our list of new releases, but there’s something for everyone!
Let us know what you’re picking up this week in the comments.
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (PSP) This fanfic fodder prequel to the PS One classic Final Fantasy VII makes its way stateside.
Dark Sector (PS3, Xbox 360) Sci-fi. Third-person shooter. Black ops. Krull.
Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword (DS) Team Ninja brings stylus stabbing action to the DS.
Command & Conquer 3: Kane’s Wrath (PC) C&C 3′s first expansion features more units, more wrath.
Viking: Battle for Asgard (PS3, Xbox 360) Sega’s other axe-battler is steeped in Nordic mythology.
Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 3 (PS2) Kid Naruto, radical ninja, in his third fighting adventure.
Universe At War: Earth Assault (Xbox 360) The RTS harvests a 360 port.
Octomania (Wii) The waggle puzzler with a Puyo Puyo pedigree.
Harvest Moon DS Cute (DS) More farming, role-playing fun, with extra cuteness for girls.
To: Ash & Luke From: Maggie Subject: Like dogs, they can smell fear
So part of the “fun” part of being a grad student is that we wear two hats. We’re still students (with all the paper writing fun that implies), but we also have to muddle our way to teaching competence. I found out yesterday that I’ll be making my kinda-sorta teaching debut this spring, being left in charge of a class twice during the quarter. Up until this point, I’ve just wielded the red grading pen of doom, no lecturing or question answering required. I always imagine undergrads to be much like the Kotaku comments section: they can smell fear and will pounce at the first sign of weakness. I’ve managed to stick around Kotaku for a year (more or less), so surely showing films and leading the discussion of 60 enthusiastic undergrads won’t make me tuck tail and run.
We had a lot of chefs in the Kotaku kitchen this weekend, so here’s what you might have missed:
It being Easter and all, we offer up some of the best video game Easter eggs; An impostor Crecente reviews SSBB; Ian Bogost thinks Bash and Crecente = Hall & Oates; What classic literary works would you like to see in game form?
I’m finally on spring break, but my mum is here visiting, so I’ll be busy all week seeing a bunch of San Diego I haven’t seen yet. Hope y’all have a good week & thanks for helping out this weekend!
Leigh Alexander has another great Aberrant Gamer column up over at GameSetWatch, this one talking about ‘fanboyism’ and the inherent conflicts that crop up with the review system: I would like you to briefly indulge me by participating in an exercise. Remove all of the mascots and familiar faces from Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and replace them with original constructs. Notice, if you will, the somewhat clumsy user interface, the high percentage of total content that must be unlocked to be enjoyed, the complete lack of usability of the Wii controls, and the lack of significant graphical or gameplay progression over the previous generation. It’s true that even then, you’d have a good game. But would you have a 10 game?
The AIDS epidemic in China is huge and of serious concern to a lot of people (the best work I’ve seen to date is the wonderful and heartbreaking To Live Is Better Than To Die, an underground documentary by Chen Weijun on a hushed-up tragedy in Henan), but the Ministry of Education is using computers and ‘games’ of the quiz variety to fine effect: Launched by the Ministry of Education and sponsored by the China AIDS Roadmap Tactical Support Project, the contest ran for three months last year, yet its effect continue – the site remains up and nearly 19 million people have logged on.
I just about died laughing at this lengthy and vitriolic review of the Shenzhen Nanjing bootleg/grey market Titanic 1912. It’s long, it’s funny, it’s worth a read. The quality starts in the first few paragraphs: I have a hard time imagining what possessed anyone to make this game. The board meeting probably went something like this:
Commuters arriving at Shinjuku’s Kamiigusa Station in Tokyo see this: A large Gundam statue! Kamiigusa is home of Sunrise, Inc., the anime studio behind Gundam (among many other super famous anime series). Makes sense! Gundam Statue [Yomiuri via alafista]
I love the random stuff that occasionally pops up on Gamasutra, such as this combination how-to on doing winter field recordings and essay on why we need better ambient winter sounds in games. Part lavish love letter to snow and its various states, part practical considerations, Finnish game sound designer Tapio Liukkonen tells us why this stuff is important and why field recordings can trump studio technology:
A teaser site for upcoming Cave shooters Dodonpachi Daioujou Black Label X and Ketsui X have popped up online. There’s not much there to look at other than the above and a feeling of bullet hell excitement. Stay tuned! Dodonpachi and Ketsui [5pb via Arcade Renaissance]
Late last week was the annual “Nipponbashi Street Festa” in Osaka’s nerd village “Den-Den Town.” The main street Sakaisuji was shut down for foot traffic only and the event featured cosplaying, maids and general geekery. I’ve been several times in the past. Good fun! Street Festa Pics Here [Iza via Danny Choo]
