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 I’ve heard the Christian rock industry in the US is worth millions. (Pause for irony to sink in). You’d think, then, they could have spared more than a couple of bucks on the production values for this Guitar Praise trailer. Or spared more than a couple of bucks on the production values for Guitar Praise.
Developers BioWare and LucasArts are once again joining forces, this time for MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic. The still undated game is underdevelopment at Bioware’s Austing studio, the both BioWare and LucasArts hope to put out a World of Warcraft killer. Both must be daunted by the task. “Daunted? I don’t know if I’d use that word,” said LucasArts online boss Tom Nichols. I’m bullish, I’m optimistic… It is, in a sense, overwhelming sometimes when you think about it, when you think about the amount of work that we have to do, and the amount of content that we’re building, all the things you have to have in place to successfully launch a large-scale MMO: that’s a lot of work, absolutely.”
KOTOR MMO is “overwhelming,” says Lucas boss, but the opportunity is “huge” [VG247]
Get a look at this guy! Atari, long expected to run itself right into an early, second grave, are showing signs of life. Partly thanks to games people actually wanted to buy – like Alone in the Dark and Dragon Ball Z – and partly because of the influence of a certain cloned, well-dressed gentleman, the company have seen sales for the last six months jump by 145% to €36.3 million ($70.56 million). Course, parent company Infogrames still lost a bit of money, but hey, things are looking up!
Thanks to the NPD Group and, uh, Deutsche Bank, we have a lovely graph that shows the current install base for each of the three current-gen home consoles. Being a graph, it’s more fun than just the numbers, since we can track each console’s performance in the months/years since it launched. The 360, it’s taking things nice and easy at 11.6 million. The PS3 is taking things perhaps a little too nice and easy, at 5.7 million. And the Wii, well, that sharp red line is telling you that it’s sold 13.4 million consoles in only two years.
Wii U.S. Installed Base Now Leads Xbox 360 by Almost 2 Million [GameDaily]
In March of last year, British English teacher Lindsay Hawker was found murdered in a bathtub full of sand on an apartment balcony. The suspect, Tatsuya Ichihashi, has since gone missing and has evaded arrest. Software maker Famista has created an online pachinko slot machine game called Slot Detective that publicises suspects of high-profile cases like Hawker’s. Instead of trying to line up cherries, players try to line up mug shots. Jackpots turn up details about the suspects, police tips and reward info. Famista’s Takashi Saito points out, “We thought this could be a way to contribute to society. If you play the game, you’ll remember their faces.” Japanese police are less than thrilled — same with Hawker’s family. “We have not been consulted about this – the first we heard about it was through the Sky News website and we are not happy about this,” said Julia Hakwer, Lindsay’s mother. “I also want to know if this is a commercial venture, as if it is, then it is in extremely poor taste. The whole thing is distasteful and not befitting Lindsay’s memory.” According to Famista, some players have been “scared by the fierce look of the murder suspects.”
Time for the NPD Group’s monthly recap of the PC gaming world’s sales trends. While this data only covers bricks-n-mortar sales – and as such doesn’t give us the whole picture – with so many high-profile PC titles being released in the month it looks a lot more, well, respectable than normal. While previous months have seen NPD’s charts looking like a Maxis/Blizzard reach-around, October is full of new, “proper” games, like Fallout 3, Far Cry 2, Red Alert 3 and Crysis: Warhead.
A modder turned a DS Lite into a DS Light by outfitting the portable with LED lights. We were doing multiple fist pumps IN THE AIR while watching this. Fist pumps. Make sure you stick around for the blinking at around the 4:40. It’s NUTS and so DESERVING of CAPS.
Over the weekend, I stayed at home at waited for the baby to fall out of my wife. (It didn’t, but rather, hung around in her womb and listened to my Prince albums.) On Saturday and Sunday, Osaka played host to the Games Japan Festa 2008. (Like I said, I was at home, with the wife, Prince records and a catcher’s mitt.) The event is nowhere near the size of TGS, but Famitsu was there, reporting long lines for Metal Gear Online: Meme Expansion. The wait reached 90 minutes — compare that to the brisk 15-20 minute lines for The Last Remnant.
Microsoft have quietly launched their own online store. Believe it or not, it’s the first time the world’s #1 software company has ever done so, despite it being 2008 already. Crazy, we know. Anyway, aside from the obvious stuff like Windows and Office, the store is also selling quite a number of games. Both PC and 360 titles are on offer (ie most of the company’s first-party lineup) though you have to wonder why they’re bothering, since the games end up costing more than they do in a store, with Microsoft charging rrp plus $US7 shipping.
Guitar Hero, the arcade game? According to rumours, an arcade version is incoming from developer Raw Thrills and publisher Konami. Konami is of course no stranger to arcade music games with its successful Beatmania, DrumMania and GuitarFreaks titles. A source has apparently told game site bemanistyle.com that the Guitar Hero arcade game is 100 percent true. “So far, our source has stated the cabinet is going to feature 8-10 speakers,” bemanistyle.com writes, “more than 500 LED lights and a 32″ monitor. The cabinet is also reportedly slated to take advantage of Internet connections to provide online cash tournaments sometime starting in 2009.” If true, this arcade title will be unveiled at the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions exhibit in Orlando, Florida on Tuesday.
RUMOR: Guitar Hero “Arcade” a Little Less Rumory [bemanistyle.com via Arcade Heroes]
