Late Night with Conan O’Brien‘s Conan O’Brien said this about Grand Theft Auto IV in his opening monologue: In the past, Grand Theft Auto’s been severely criticized for being too violent. The new version, it’s been toned down a lot, I think in reaction to the criticism.
I’m not sure it’s better. Take a look.
Well, it’s certainly more polite. Conan Reveals [GameRush Thanks, CORN!] More »
It’s Friday, and the PlayStation Network’s up and running again after the recent overhaul, which means it’s time for SCEE to start updating the SingStore again. This week sees 48 tracks added to SingStar’s online store, with 23 english-language tracks joined by 25 songs for Danish, Dutch, Finnish, German, Portugese and Spanish fans. I can’t speak for the non-English stuff, but the English tracks, they’re still just bringing over songs already available on the PS2 versions. Who knows, maybe they’re saving the new stuff for the game’s US launch later this month.
Last we heard about the Clock Tower movie was way back in 2006. Chilean horror filmmaker Jorge Olguin was supposed to helm the pic and When A Stranger Calls scribe Jason Wade Wall was taking writing duties. Well, all that’s been scrapped it seems. Hollywood trade Variety is reporting that Senator Entertainment is set to produce the Capcom game adaptation for Weinstein Co. The script is being written by Eric Poppen (Borderland) and will be produced by Marco Weber and Martin Weisz (The Hills Have Eyes 2). Capcom’s President Haruhiro Tsujimoto is set executive produce. Shooting starts this July. Senator Adapting Clock Tower [Variety Thanks, jmh!]
Poor Britain. Your 360 Video Marketplace, it was so late! And is still woefully understocked! What could possibly make amends for this? How about…uh, five Michael Jackson videos? Bad, Billie Jean, Thriller, Beat It and Black or White are all available, all for 200 points, and all – sadly for the legions of Macaulay Culkin fans in Ireland and the United Kingdom – all in standard definition. No, before you ask, I don’t know why the hell they’re there either. Marketplace Roundup for May 1, 2008 [Microsoft]
Yes, yes. Japan wants a Final Fantasy VII remake. Maybe you want a remake, too. This we know! But is it possible? Well, of course, it’s possible. But what are the chances of it actually happening any time soon? Square Enix’s Yoshinori Kitase, director of the original FFVII, says: My feelings are that if a remake were to work well then all the core members of the original team must be reassembled, all the artists and designers.
The problem is that, although all of us have an idea of what a remake should be and how to do it, organising such a thing right now is logistically very difficult. All the different members are now involved in very new, very large projects like Final Fantasy XIII and those projects are going to take a while.
Maybe, when all those games are finished then we can look at doing something like that.
Of course, that said we came up with the idea for Crisis Core in just two days. It was a case of ‘this is what we want to do, so let’s do it’. So, you can definitely expect the probability of something spontaneous happening at some point, but it’s hard to predict. With the remake-happy way Square Enix is going these days, you can bet there’s eventually going to be a FFVII. Reassuring to know that Kitase wants to do it in-house with the original team. Kitase Interview [Bit-Tech]
Just as a quick follow-up to last night’s post, it looks like Rockstar have collaborated with a lot more than just RockersNYC when clothing the denizens of Liberty City. Players have since spotted some of the game’s NPCs sporting LRG’s “Dead Serious” hoodies, which means the game’s probably full of this kind of unannounced, niche-targeted advertising. Sneaky, and no doubt equal parts fascinating to marketing students and streetwear fashionistas alike. LRG Dead Serious Hoodie in Grand Theft Auto IV [Hypebeast]
Nice to see that Gran Turismo creator Kazunori Yamauchi isn’t pussy footing around. Dude is clearly able to drive. Fast. Here he takes to the wheel of the new Nissan GT-R and pushes it upwards of 190 mph. This is exactly the person you want making your realistic racing simulators.
Gran Turismo Creator [Auoblog]
Griffith University, with campuses spread across SE Queensland, Australia, love them some Portal. Or, at least their webmasters and/or design team love them some Portal. Because when the time came to design a new “gateway for student and staff services” on the university website, they called it a – yes – portal. Then updated its logo accordingly. [Griffith University, thanks Christian!]
