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 
High Scores And Egos: There's Always A Bigger Doodle When this trailer warns you it contains scenes of extreme violence, it’s not kidding around. This is the most gruesome thing we’ve seen all week. And yet, at the same time, easily one of the most entertaining.
Microsoft have just announced that the next original Xbox game to be granted a second lease of life will be BioWare’s Jade Empire. For a BioWare game it’s nowhere near as fondly recalled as some of their other, more laser gun-oriented titles, but it’s still an excellent game, especially its take on RPG combat. It’ll be made available on July 21, for the usual 1200 MS Points.
Jade Empire Coming to Xbox Originals [Gamerscore]
Ratchet & Clank: Quest For Booty is, at its heart, a PSN game. It’s meant to be short, it’s meant to be downloaded. And in the US, that’s how it’ll stay. As a PSN title. But in Europe, consumers will have a choice. They can download the game from the PSN, or they can buy it on Blu-Ray, as a disc-based version of the game will also be released. No reason given, but our guess is one of the versions will ship with only a handful of major languages, so it hits the market quicker.
Ratchet Booty coming to Blu-ray [Eurogamer]
The Wii’s new MotionPlus add-on should make frisbee-throwing a dream, but really, it doesn’t fit the mould of other Wii Remote accessories, in that it’s too subtle. A little white block? BORING. Other, shittier companies have already blazed a trail with their plastic tennis racquets and plastic shark guns, so it’s a shame to see Nintendo playing it so safe. French designer Rodolphe Dogniaux, however, is not playing it safe. Here’s some of his more practical ideas for Wii Remote add-ons, which the Cooking Mama team should be looking very carefully at. This one’s delightfully labelled “La wii-mélange”, with another after the jump.
That new Sony video download service sure looks neat! I wouldn’t know, though. Not American, you see. Seems I might not know for a while yet, either, with Sony’s David Reeves announcing that PAL territories won’t be downloading movies on their PS3s in 2008.
This will not come to the PAL markets this year, but Sir Howard Stringer has made the commitment that non-games will come to all regions in due course and it will. The dates for video content will come later this year. For us, and I think you appreciate most of you European, that local content is important, and that’s what working on right now.
A shame, but not a surprise, given the legal issues Microsoft faced with their service (which, incidentally, Australia still doesn’t have).
80GB PS3 coming to Europe, Australia on August 27 [GameSpot]
What do you do when E3 rolls around and you’ve got nothing to show? You fudge it, and you do what these guys did, and just go make something awesome. Be sure to stick around for the crotch zoom.
Know this before you read on: these charts are from the time that Diablo III was first hyped, then revealed. So seeing the Diablo Battle Chest at #2 is a surprise, because really, we’d have thought the sheer amount of Blizzmania in the air would have seen it shoot straight to the top. Then again, what chance does a collection of some of the finest games on the PC have against an unholy union between The Sims and a Swedish furniture giant?
BioShock on PS3 is going to get some exclusive DLC. Get your pissing and moaning out of the way now, if you could. Done? Wonderful. Because you can’t really mess with BioShock’s story by adding extra levels or bosses, 2K are instead adding some things called “Challenge Rooms”, which will be self-contained areas (ie, you access it from the main menu, not in-game) designed to get you using your plasmids to solve puzzles. Can’t see how they’ll work this in without it standing out like a sore thumb, but then, the market demands PS3 owners have to get something.
A mother with an eight-year old child decides to take her son to see a movie. Kung Fu Panda? Nope. How about Get Smart? Forget it. This mum decides that The Dark Knight is appropriate. Doesn’t matter that the film has an M rating, there’s Batman Lego, and kids play with Lego! Infallible logic there.
It’s a true story, according to an article by Alison Stephenson on News.com.au. Here’s a quote from the mum in question:
“I’m horrified, this movie is rated M and I almost feel it’s heavier than an R rated film. I had to cover his eyes and talk to him throughout to cover some of the dialogue.
“I mean these companies market Lego products to children like my son. This movie should definitely be rated higher. We’re going to go and get some sunshine and go somewhere happier!”
I’m not sure what the mother was expecting – an M rated movie is hardly appropriate for an eight-year old – but what is apparent is that her understanding of classification symbols is vague at best. Shame there’s no government initiative designed to educate her, isn’t it?
Films can be better regulated than games? Please.
The day I endured the Dark Knight [News.com.au, thanks Robert]
Chatting at a secret Europeans-only gig in Santa Monica, SCEE boss David Reeves has announced that the 80GB PlayStation 3 – unveiled at Sony’s E3 address yesterday – will be released simultaneously “across all PAL territories” on August 27. It’ll be priced at £299/€400, and as in the US, it’ll be straight-up replacing the 40GB unit (which Reeves says is almost out of stock, and will not be seeing a temporary price cut).
