Gearbox: The Wii U Will Get The Best-Looking Version Of Aliens: Colonial Marines 
Microsoft Responds To Reports Of Xbox Live Account 'Jacking' 
GAME Australia Lays Off 281 Employees, Closes 60 Stores 
How Diablo III's Always-On Internet Requirement Makes It A Better Game GAME: No Buyers Yet, Crisis To Drag On For Another Month 
Have Your Say On Video Game Pricing Either my teeth are rotting from the sugary, sugary visuals, or my heart is hurting because they went for the fat-headed cartoon look instead of the sweaty Eliza Dushku look. Either way, this trailer hurts.
Some details to go with the raw announcement from the other day. The Dead Rising Wii port will be known not as Dead Rising Wii, but as…drum roll…Dead Rising: Zombie Sacrifice. Brilliant. The changes extend past the name, however. For starters, Otis’ real-time missions are gone. Instead, you’ll get 3-4 sub-missions to tackle before taking on one of the major “plotline” quests, a much more linear – and less frustrating – system than that found on the 360 version. The camera’s also been changed, from behind-and-above-Frank to the view/style employed in Resident Evil 4. Because of this, they’ve removed the photo mode, as apparently it just wasn’t working. Finally, they’ve added new enemies, new weapons, and new waggle controls to make the most of both of them. And that’s it! No release date info or anything like that, so for now, that’s all you get.
Using a rather clever browser hack, someone’s programmed a playable Defender clone into a favicon. If you don’t know what a favicon is, it’s that little 16 by 16 pixel graphic that appears in address bars and browser tabs. See that pink and chartreuse “K” up there? That’s what I’m talkin’ ’bout.
And if you don’t know what Defender is, it’s a classic sidescrolling arcade shooter released in 1980. Head on over to the Defender of the Favicon site to check it out. Won’t take but a minute and fellow web developer types might just get a kick out of it.
Most of us at Kotaku were busy worker bees when Microsoft and Silicon Knights unleashed the Too Human demo on the Xbox 360 owning masses. Speaking to Microsoft Games Studios folk at E3 this week, we heard nothing but glowing reception to the game. Universal acclaim we did not expect, so I was personally curious about the Kotaku readership’s opinion of the demo.
Looks like some of you have already weighed in with your opinion in the comments of the original post, but for those who’ve spent a bit more time with part one of the planned epic adventure, tell us (dammit) what you think of the Too Human demo.
Remedy’s Alan Wake was noticeably absent at E3 2008, a void left even more dark and encompassing by the inclusion of titles like You’re In The Movies. Fear not, fans of mysterious mysteries, as the Xbox 360 and Windows Vista title is going to make its next public appearance at Tokyo Game Show at the latest, according to one web site.
A Windows branded contest — one that actually dates back to March of last year(!) — tells us that we’ll be seeing Alan Wake in Tokyo, at least in trailer form. It’s entirely possible that we’ll see the title as Games Convention, PAX or some other big gaming get together. But for now, pencil in a date with Mr. Wake for October. That’s pencil, not pen.
“WOW” Be A Face In The Game [Microsoft - thanks, SS!]
We had a hard time finding anyone overly excited about this week’s E3 Media and Business Summit. From lackluster media briefings from the Big Three to a booth babe count that numbered in the single digits, it was hard to find much in the way of raw thrills. Even the highly paid executives hated it!
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that EA CEO John Riccitiello said “I hate E3 like this”, hinting that a return to spectacle or the complete abandonment of the show were two viable options.
Laurent Detoc, president of Ubisoft North America is quoted as likening the event to a “pipe-fitters show in the basement”. He may have just been referring to the Imagine, Petz and Ener-G portions of his own company’s press conference, though.
Event may try to recapture luster [SF Gate]
You’ve seen images, but for the dim-witted, images may not be enough to get across just how the 360′s new dash update is going to work. So here’s a couple of videos, showcasing not only what it looks like in motion, but what Microsoft’s Larry Hryb looks like in a snappy Xbox 360 track-top. There’s another longer, drier, more informative clip after the jump if sitting through Microsoft’s own special brand of miscued lifestyle commercials isn’t for you.
Before Kojima Productions and Konami get Hideo Kojima that editor he so desperately needs, perhaps the company should hire someone who knows how to launch an online multiplayer game. The Metal Gear Online “Gene Expansion” was released yesterday and promptly melted Konami’s servers, resulting in the closure of the game’s MGO Shop and Reward Shop and difficulty logging in to the service. Some MGO players have reported paying for the new expansion and getting nothing in return.
Konami’s solution to some of these issues was to restrict random IP ranges from accessing the shops, in an effort to lighten the load.
The company has also cancelled all Metal Gear Online “Survival” battles planned for this weekend, promising to have a new hamster wheel installed to power the servers as soon as is technically possible.
Metal Gear Online Support [Konami - thanks, Shakir!]
newVideoPlayer("/ff13trailer.flv", 506, 423,""); We were mere feet from Messrs. Mattrick and Wada wrapped up the Microsoft E3 2008 press conference with a bang. I believe Leigh’s words, at the time, were “HOLY SHIT!” when it was revealed that Microsoft had chipped away at the PlayStation exclusivity armour and Final Fantasy XIII was announced as an Xbox 360 release (in North America and Europe). There was laughter, tears, applause and so much more. We’ll never forget we were there.
Whilst sitting in on an official demo of Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts at E3, one narrated and directed by Microsoft Games Studios’ Ken Lobb and Rare’s Mark Bettridge, I found it impossible not to be impressed by the platformer. The sheer number of parts, contraptions, and options, combined with what appeared to be a straightforward interface — a challenge when building something in 3D — made it clear that there’s lots to do in the third proper Banjo Kazooie game.
The thing that appealed to me most was the game’s Leaderboards implementation. It essentially lets players download replays of the game’s challenges, letting other players improve upon, for example, the ideal way of moving a giant ice cube man up a slippery slope. That feature reminded me of my obsessive Diddy Kong Racing days, in which I was racing against ghost data and fighting the Nintendo 64 analogue controller to shave seconds off my time.
That kind of community driven perfection, letting others watch your best time at scoring goals on an oversized soccer pitch, with the most creative vehicle implementation possible, may be Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolt‘s most appealing feature.
