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 Koppa’s Farwell Foods are onto a novel idea. Sell groceries, but sell them in style, with not only an “out of this world” sandwich bar tucked away in the shop, but an Atari display that can only be described as museum-like in its attention to detail and historical authenticity. I mean, not only do you actually get to sit down and play real Atari games on a real Atari, but look at that wallpaper!
[via technabob]
Nintendo used to be bad for the environment. Now? Just sorta bad! Last year, Greenpeace singled the Kyoto-based game maker by giving it the lowest score in its “Guide to Greener Electronics” had ever awarded to a company — a 0/10. Part of the reason for this dubious honour was that Nintendo failed to provide any data about its environmental standards. Nintendo issued a response, and Greenpeace still wasn’t satisfied. (In comparison, Microsoft got a 2.7/10 and Sony got a 7.3/10). Zeina Al-Hajj, Greenpeace’s International Toxic Campaign co-ordinator points out:
Sony has a very good record in our ranking guide. They have committed to eliminating these chemicals from mobile devices. But why are we finding them in such high percentages in a console? This is a tool used by children in our homes. None of these chemicals exist in Sony’s Vaio laptop. So if they can do it for a laptop, why can’t they push this for the console also?
Greenpeace has taken things into its own hands. Literally. The environmental organisation has dissected each of the three major game consoles and examined how environmentally sound the consoles’ innards are.
Results, after the jump. Onward!
In case you missed it, the “new” N-Gage service is out. The one that makes the games available over a variety of Nokia handsets, instead of a single, dedicated unit. If you didn’t know that, it’s OK, it wasn’t that interesting. This might be. Konami have signed onto the service, and will be releasing a ton of their mobile games onto Nokia’s fledgling platform, including a version of Metal Gear Mobile that will supposedly “raise the bar with respect to graphical detail and made-for-mobile features”. All relative terms, of course.
Excited about Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride? Well, mister, take that excitement elsewhere. According to Japanese retailer Tsutaya, the DS remake will be in short supply when it goes on sale on July 17th. A Tsutaya notice reads:
An Important Notice From TSUTAYA Regarding reserves for DS title Dragon Quest (7/17 on sale), security the product is difficult as the shipment from the maker is limited. Therefore, we cannot guarantee the game for customers who pre-order from now. Please understand this in advance.
Huh. That sounds a lot like what happened last year at TSUTAYA when Dragon Quest IV went on sale. What a kwinky-dink. Can’t wait until the next DQ remake goes on sale at TSUTAYA. Wonder what will happen? Oh, the suspense, it’s killing me! 『ドラゴンクエストⅤ』発売を前にメーカーからまた出荷制限！？ [my game news flash]
To refresh: in 2002, Nintendo were hit with one of the biggest fines in the history of the European Union, when they were found guilty of colluding with their distributors to artificially raise the prices of their games and consoles between 1991-1998. It cost them €149.1 million. So, yeah, not small change. Anyway, Nintendo popped into the European Court of First Instance in Luxembourg on Monday, and argued that they shouldn’t have to pay that much, because – according to Nintendo’s lawyers – “the penalty was unfair, illegal, even shocking”. Unfair! Shocking! I’m sure a few million Nintendo fans in Europe could be counted on to testify they’ve experienced similar treatment… from Nintendo.
Hearing T-13/03 Nintendo v Commission [European Court of First Instance, via Bloomberg][Pic]
WiiWare’s in Australia. Fantastic news. But how about some pricing info? Not a problem – Nintendo Oz was able to supply us with the following:
Star Soldier R (800 Points)Toki Tori 2 (900 Points)Dr. Mario & Germ Buster (1000 Points)TV Show King (1000 Points)Lost Winds (1000 Points)FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES: My Life as a King (1500 Points)
As for Pop, according to Nnooo! creative director Nic Watt, the game is still undergoing localisation for Europe, Australia and New Zealand. It’s not so much English that’s the problem, but all those other fancy languages that are slowing things down. Watt says he’ll let us know as soon as there’s a solid date.
Like what you’ve seen so far from Platinum Games? Good, because bet your arse there’s going to be more. Sequels, even. Let’s let SEGA American boss Simon Jeffery explain it:
So these franchises will be built over a long term. What we’ve seen today is the starting point, but all of those games — Bayonetta, MADWORLD, Infinite Line — won’t be one-offs. They’re all uniquely different enough from everything in their space to build complete franchises out of. The whole foundation of PlatinumGames is built around that long-term strategy. They don’t just want to make a quick buck and throw out a few games. They’ve been in the business long enough to know what works, and they really want to pretty much establish themselves as gaming gods.
That’s good to know! Right after purchases these upcoming titles, we can looking forward to purchasing the inevitable sequels. Though, not sure how we feel hearing that from SEGA and all — especially because SEGA does own these IPs. You saw what they did to Sonic, right? Right?! Sega Brass Talk Platinum Games [GameSpot][Pic]
Condé Nast Snaps Up Ars Technica. The newest addition to the CondéNet family, by way of acquisition, is technology site Ars Technica. The Associated Press reports that the publisher will “combine it with the online operations of Wired magazine.” Wired, which republishes its print magazine content online and runs a stable of blogs such as Gadget Lab and Game|Life, seems to have a noticeable amount of coverage crossover with Ars, so we’re interested to see how well the two will combine.
Square Enix honcho Yoichi Wada (above, left) is worried. Western game companies are doing really well! Meaning that competition is getting harder. Yet, Wada hopes to capitalise on the Western market, aiming to increase the ratio of overseas sales from its current 50 percent to 80 percent in the next three years. According to the exec:
Bill Gates visited South Korea earlier this month, and as is the custom when rich people visit powerful people, he had some gifts made up for everyone he stopped in to say hi to. No lapel pins or expensive wine here, though. No, when Bill went around for tea and buscuits with the President of South Korea, Lee Myung-bak, he gave the man an Xbox 360. And a very nice one at that! Designed by Korean company Gookbo, the custom 360 is decorated with “mother-of-pearl ume flowers and butterflies”, and is called “Peace”. Oh, and it’s meant to symbolise, of all things, “patience and perseverance”.
Bill Gates gifts Xbox inlaid with traditional Korean mother-of-pearl to Korean President [Fareastgizmos, via Gizmodo AU]
