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 Poor PGR4. I think it’s easily this generation’s best driving game, but it was dropped onto the market and left to die by Microsoft, and then ignored by pundits during the Christmas 07 rush. So sad. It deserved better! Much better than the fate that awaits it this Christmas, with reports coming out of the GameStop Expo indicating the game will be crammed in a box with 12 months of Xbox Live and the 360 chatpad and stuffed in stockings for $US 70. Which, actually…OK, that’s a good deal. Especially if – and shame on you – you missed the game first time around. Plenty Of Rumours To Go Around At GameStop Expo [1UP]
Sony Malaysia has apparently announced it will be launching the PS3 in the region. On Saturday September 20th, an official launch event commences from 11:30am at the 1Utama shopping centre in Petaling Jaya. There will be 150 special launch bundles available at launch, which consist of an 80GB PS3, Soulcalibur IV, a limited edition PS3 tote bag and a Soulcalibur IV CD holder. The first hundred to buy the console even get special Sony cash vouchers. Local pricing for the console has yet to be announced.
Sony plans local PS3 launch [The Star Online Thanks, Issam!][Pic]
When Microsoft made Games For Windows – LIVE (ungh) free back in July, they also announced the impending arrival of a standalone client that’ll act as a marketplace for the service. Something to manage your downloads, transactions, that kind of thing. That service needs a name, and in an attempt at giving it one that doesn’t suck as hard as Games For Windows – LIVE (ungh) does, they’re turning the naming process over to you, Joe Public. Their “helpful” suggestions include such gems as “Games for Windows – LIVE Dashboard” (ungh) and “Games for Windows – LIVE Client” (double up ungh ungh), but surely you can do better. Losing the Games For Windows – LIVE bit would be a start. You’d then have to move onto giving it a name that actually sums up what the client’s doing. And no, you can’t use Steam. Can’t use Steam – LIVE either, you cheeky sod.
Help With Games for Windows Naming [GamerScore]
This Friday’s issue of Japanese game mag Famitsu announces that the DS is getting Phantasy Star Zero. The game’s characters are designed by Toshiyuki Kubooka (THE iDOLM@STER), and the scenario is mystery novel writer Teru Arai and former PSO quest honcho Tooru Shiwasu. The up-to-four-player game features multi-player over Nintendo WiFi. The cool part: The chat system supports stylus sketches. The game is slated for this winter in Japan, and if the big Phantasy Star Portable sales are an indication, this game should do very well.
Another scan after the jump.
In reality, the activation of the large Hadron Collider won’t end the planet. But reality is boring. Wouldn’t it be more interesting if it really did usher in our ultimate destruction? OK, maybe not interesting. More like…terrible. So terrible that, uh, actually, we’d better make sure it doesn’t mean the complete end of the human race. And what better way to ensure the safety of homo sapiens than to do what the gang at news aggregator site Reddit did, and send an emergency package to Switzerland. Who was it addressed to? The only man who’s been through this whole “catastrophic, world-ending physics experiment” thing before. Within? A crowbar, a book and a note.
“Get this to Gordon Freeman. He’ll know what to do”.
Crowbar, headcrab, and Half-Life strategy guide shipped to CERN [Reddit, thanks Timmo!]
According to “a number of sources close to the company”, the British offices of developer NCSoft are to be closed following the cancellation of an unannounced MMO currently in development at the studio. Bad news, yes, particularly in the wake of recent layoffs at the company’s Austin studio, but it gets worse: the same sources say that troubled MMO Tabula Rasa is on its last legs, and will be killed off in the next few months. A shame, that, since Lord Briitsh deserved better, but then with the game having failed to grab the attention of, well, anyone, it’s hardly a surprise.
NCsoft to trim European office? [GI.biz]
Ah, yes. Those were the days. It was a simpler time. Back when developers only really had to worry about one machine — the PS2. Everyone had one, and all the devs figured out how to develop games on that platform. Things were competitive, but straight forward and streamlined, even. But now, now is hard. Everything is complex! Says Koei president Kenji Matsubara:
In the PlayStation days, the platform was only one, but the competition was so high. For PLAYSTATION 3, we have to spend huge resources. In the PlayStation 2 days, we could just focus on one platform, but these days, we have to spend resources on handhelds, popular consoles like the Wii, and high-performance consoles like the Xbox 360 and PS3. It means that we have to spend too much money and many resources. That’s a challenge for us.
Hey, it’s a challenge for consumers, too! Honestly, picking just one platform to own these days seems very, very hard.
Koei President Matsubara Explains Third-Party Challenges In Japan [Gamasutra]
The NPD figures for the month aren’t out yet. We don’t know ‘em. Think that’ll stop EA Sports boss Peter Moore from calling the results? It won’t stop Peter Moore from calling squat. He’s disclosed EA’s own internal estimates for the game, and since we’re on a bit of a roll with internal EA estimates, we’re going to roll with these ones too. Mainly because, in all probability, they’ve already got hold of the actual figures. But also because of this quote from Moore: “In the month of August we may be bigger than a certain Eastern European gangster”. He’s basing that off “estimates” that the game’s done $US 133.5 million in sales, which is not only a 6% increase over Madden 08, but for those who like to think games revenue and movie revenue are somehow comparable is more than Tropic Thunder, Mamma Mia! and Pineapple Express did for the month at the box office.
Interview: EA Sports’ Moore Calls $US 133.5 Million Month For Madden ‘Vindication’ [Gamasutra]
The advertising campaign for Metal Gear Solid 4 was huge. The hype for that game, years in the making, was enormous. It was pushed hard before there were playable demos, and the game’s creator, Hideo Kojima, raised expectations with big promise after big promise. It’s curious that on the job announcement page for the Kojima Productions site, Hideo Kojima states:
The creativity of video games is now on the verge of crisis. Massive advertising campaigns are executed for games before their entertainment values are put into consideration all too often, resulting in sell-off tactics happening without hesitation.
And while Kojima and his team did deliver a first class title and while the game did provide a PS3 sales spike, the final product still hasn’t sold a million copies in Japan. That might be because MGS is as popular with the home team crowd or whatever. The irony is that Konami is guilty of the hype Kojima seems so critical of.
And apparently, Japanese stores cannot return unsold product to distributors…
小島プロダクション 制作スタッフ募集 [Konami via 2ch Thanks, Muu!]
Rock Band 2′s Ion drum kit is scratching our Phil Collins cosplay itch like you wouldn’t believe. But, uh, where can you buy it? The thing’s not only expensive, it’s huge, meaning you’re unlikely to find it stacked end-over-end atop a shelf at the local Best Buy. Well, it was confirmed today at the GameStop Expo that the specialist retail giant will be stocking the drums, albeit with a catch: not every store will have them. Instead, certain stores will act as “hubs”, where customers can order drums that are then delivered. If it’s not too hard, it’ll be delivered to the customer’s local store. If that’s too hard, they’ll be delivered straight to your home. That’s some blue-ribbon service from a place like GameStop, but then, it had want to be for a $US 300 peripheral. GameStop To Sell Ion Drums [IGN]
