This Friday (today!), SEGA is location testing new street racing game from its famed AM2 division. Dubbed R-Tuned: Ulimate Street Racing, the arcade game runs on SEGA’s Lindbergh arcade system board and supports up to four players. Apparently there is also a home version in development, but that’s unconfirmed. The location test kicked off today at 10:00AM Japan Time at the Shinjuku Club SEGA and will wrap up next Monday. Stop by, check it out. Tell ‘em Kotaku sent cha!
R-Tuned [Official Site via Game Watch]
Let’s find out! Das Gamer was in attendance at Madden 09′s launch party the other night, and seems about the only interesting thing that went down was a mass confession from some of the game’s previous cover stars, spilling on their more eccentric Madden betting habits. Daunte Culpepper, Madden 2002′s cover star while with the Vikings, “won and lost a few mortgage payments on a game of Madden”. Exorbitant, yeah, but some of the other guys were a little more creative. Marshall Faulk (Madden 03) had to let somebody else drive his Bentley for a month. And Ray Lewis (Madden 05) used to play Madden for on-demand push-ups, which he’d then hold in reserve, and cash in while he and his teammates were out at restaurants, etc. Ah, must be tough, these lifestyles of the athletic and mega-rich, eh?
Madden Cover Stars Reveal Their Madden Betting Habits, Deny Curse At EA Event [Das Gamers]
We. Are. Confused. 2008 was supposed to be the last year the Games Convention was held in Leipzig. Starting next year, we were meant to get a bigger, badder European show in the more travel-friendly city of Cologne. We were happy with this news, we’d accepted it, were reading up on Cologne seeing who does the best fry-up breakfast. But now the organisers of Leipzig have announced that they’ll be staying on, and will be holding another Games Convention in 2009. Which, if we’re not mistaken, will give us two tradeshows in Germany next year. And we all know that, in the interests of good business, there can (and shold) be only one.
Leipzig Games Convention Not Moving [Next-Gen]
Eidos’ Shellshock 2: Blood Trails has become another casualty in the fight for an R18+ rating for games in Australia. On June 20, it was handed a Refused Classification by the OFLC, banning its sale in the country.
For the Shellshock series, it is a case of history repeating. Back in 2004, Shellshock: Nam ’67 was also given an RC, however, it was later resubmitted and managed an MA 15+.
Today I contacted Atari, which publishes Eidos games in Australia, to find out if it plans to take a similar course with Shellshock 2. The answer was no, which means like Digital Extremes’ Dark Sector, it’s doubtful we’ll see it in stores ever.
I’m following up with Atari to find out exactly what the OFLC drew issue with.
Shellshock 2: Blood Trails [OFLC, via PALGN]
Once again Blizzard completely screws with my sleep schedule! After a day of cursing under my breath at all of the people sending in photoshatted pictures of the damned Diablo II box art superimposed over yesterday’s splash, the latest splash image gives me the satisfaction of knowing all of it was in vain. This, my friends, is not the Diablo II box art. Between the eyes and the small bit between them, it is one of two things. A Protoss from Starcraft, or the Death Knight from Wrath of the Lich King.
Hit the jump for comparison pictures and decide for yourself, and get a look at the full secret pic revealed!
Oh Sega. Spotted in some run-down Boston arcade by a UK:R reader, this is Sega’s Wack-A-Doodle-Do. In which “animated roosters & hens raise their heads, gobble, squawk and cluck as the player races to wack each egg yolk to finish a sequence”. Note: these are not regular roosters & hens. They are gangster, robot chickens. So, yeah. Bad chickens. So don’t feel bad about crushing their eggs/unborn young. The machine’s flyer is after the jump if your hunger for ridiculous Sega arcade machines isn’t quite satisfied.
Spotted in Akihabara retailer Toranoana and burned into your brain forever! That PSP is covered with stickers and running a demo for PC ero-game Dokodemo suki shite itsudemo suki shite (“Love me wherever, Love me whenever”). Keep in mind that this game is for the PC and not the PSP, and the shop created this sticker covered PlayStation Portable to promote this computer game. It’s working!
Full display after the jump.
As savvy a piss-take on modern America as the Grand Theft Auto series has become, it’s always worth remembering that it’s not an American series. It’s a British one. Rockstar are a British company (as were DMA), their founders, British. And with the GTA series nestled securely atop the gaming world in terms of both critical acclaim and popularity, Develop are wondering…when can we expect the series to start getting some serious recognition? Sure, they may have their tongue resting gently inside their cheeks when pondering how long til we see “the inevitable coming of Sir Sam Houser, or Dan Houser OBE”, but the point itself is still valid! France are down with bestowing major recognition upon noted game developers, you can’t help but wonder when places like Britain (and the US) will start doing likewise.
Knights of the Sandbox City [Develop]
Okay folks, just click here for me. Now, tell me – is that a forum template for Diablo III? It sure looks like it!
For the past few days Diablo III has been hinted at, but not revealed. This is pretty much confirmation that the company plans to announce the game very soon.
Hit the jump for a full resolution shot of the above image.
[Thanks sid!]
Update: Watch me getting all excited. Seems it goes all the way up to Diablo V as well, so it’s probably just a placeholder.
Apparently erotic computer game White Album will find a new home on the PLAYSTATION 3. The risky romance simulation title from ero-game developer Leaf was originally released in 1998, so this PS3 version sounds like a complete overhaul. The game follows a young college student that’s involved with a rising pop star. Game mechanic: The focus is on a current relationship and not making a new girlfriend. Don’t expect the PS3 incarnation to be as saucy as the PC version. Oh! A new anime adaptation is planned as well. Still waiting on official confirmation, though.
WHITE ALBUM」アニメ化＆PS3移植決定！？ [Moon Phase via AnimeNewsNetwork]
