To: Crecente
From: Ashcraft
RE: Busy Day

Yah, had a bit of a busy day myself. I spent most of the morning translating that interview I did. I combed through my notes for that article as well. Then! I called a foreign country for another big mag article I've been trying to set up for months. Literally. Like I kinda feel like either they're A) too busy to talk or B) too lazy to talk or C) both. It's been kind of frustrating, but I spoke to someone there in that country who can help out. And tomorrow, I must call for another mag article. Boy, this note is vague as hell! And ranty. Boo me.

This morning's Japanese breakfast was GOOD. Like not too heavy at all, and I was totally full from like 8am to 2pm. Tomorrow, we'll probably eat donuts. Yippie.

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As mentioned earlier. So if you don't have a television or live in a country with foreign TV, watch away.

You can show a lot of things in an ad these days. Bums, bits of tits, it's all fair game. One thing that's not cool to show, however, is a little bald European man sitting in a bathtub, especially when said European is a mercenary, holding a gun and saying he listens to Puccini. Britain's Advertising Standards Authority have banned an internet ad featuring Kovac, one of Sony's "This is Living" PS3 ad campaign characters (you may also be familiar with half-naked girl sitting on the can). In the short ad, some text is shown that reads:

You on my side? Listen up, I've killed for less. The music plays Puccini in my head.

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The Stranglehold demo has hit Xbox Live. I'm a really big John Woo fan, so downloaded the 1.3 or so GB demo. And waited for three hours as the thing downloaded. (Is it just me or do some demos take way too long to download?) Played through the whole thing. Looks good! Slow-mo is fun! And was tickled to see John Woo as the bartender serving Chow Yun Fat a drink. Nice touch. Thing is, I'm on the fence about getting the PS3 or the Xbox Live version. I'd sure like to see Hard Boiled in Blu-ray...

Nintendo's Wii update, which borked Freeloader compatibility, has upset a lotta PAL users. Greatly. Datel's Freeloader was all we had! It was the only way we could play many Gamecube games on time, and some games at all! And now it's gone. Gone forever (just like most peoples Gamecubes when they bought a Wii). Nintendo Europe have told Eurogamer that:

because it isn't an official product approved by Nintendo, there was nothing it could do.

A while back, we posted about San Francsico's Hotel Tomo. It's a renovated Best Western that was recently re-opened earlier this summer. The regular rooms are a little over $US100 a night and feature 26 inch LCD flat screens, wifi and J-pop murals. Not a bad deal! The "gaming suites" boast a 5x8 screen, LCD projector, a Wii, and a PS3. The rate? $US500 a night. That's A LOT. A week there, and shoot, you could buy all that crap yourself! The geeks at Geeksugar swung by the hotel to check things out. Click below to check that out.
Hotel Tomo [Geeksugar]

With school holidays over, Australia's sales charts return to some semblance of normality. It's still split between PS2 and DS games, of course, just the titles are a little more recent, a little less geared towards the "school holiday clearance" end of the market.

1) Mario Party 8
2) Guitar Hero 80s
3) MotorStorm
4) Pokemon Diamond
5) Pokemon Pearl
6) Transformers
7) Rugby 2008
8) SingStar Pophits
9) Brain Training
10) SingStar Pophits Bundle

[charts courtesy of GfK]

How I recorded myself was basically slyly pulling out my video camera, handing it to a nearby friend, doing the dance (with no music to follow to) and then escaping. Sadly, due to some areas, I went too fast at times (especially areas where I saw guards).

To let you know, I got caught by an officer on Harajuku Bridge (the footage is not there). I almost got caught two other times at Nijo and Tokyo Tower. Throughout the video, you may see my eyes looking in other directions.

American Xenosaga fans with a fear of Japanese digital versatile discs, your two-year wait is over. The quicker-than-playing it animated adaptation of the series is about to kick off on the Anime Network, with the first episode scheduled for August 30. Don't have the Anime Network? Then it's coming to DVD on September 11, courtesy of ADV Films.
The Anime Network [via Game|Life]

That's not any regular old pillow fight. That's a pillow fight with BOOB PILLOWS. And not just any old boob pillows, but PC dating sim D.C. II -Da Capo II- boob pillows! They are being sold at this summer's nerd fest Comic Market 72, but you can get an early squeeze in at Akihabara retailer Gamerz on August 10th. So if you're looking for anime-looking jubblies to rest your noggin on, here ya go!

And for those confused on how the pillows should be held, hit the jump for a handy demonstration*.

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Not that the Wii's necessarily short on peripherals, but if you could squeeze room for one more, this'd be it. Hori's Fighting Stick. Previously available in Japan, Gamestop now have a listing for an American release on November 6. Price? USD$50. Which is not too bad considering the imported version is a couple bucks more. Or when you consider there's not a single Wii controller layout that's any good for Street Fighter II.
Hori Wii Digital Arcade Stick [GameStop, via Go Nintendo]

Why Chopin? Why? I mean, really. Why? GameSpot gets to the bottom of that and other burning issues in a short interview with the game's director, Hiroya Hatsushiba. The game is set in composer Frederic Chopin's subconscious as he lays on his death bed. Let's go back to my initial questions. Hatsushiba answers:

People who play games and people who love classical music are not necessarily sharing [the] same type of interests. Most people in Japan know the name of Chopin; however, most of the people who know of Chopin think he is just some kind of a great music composer without knowing any more about him. Most of them have heard Chopin's music but not a lot could put his name to it immediately. By creating a colourful fantasy world in Chopin's dream, I was hoping that people would get into this game easily and also come to know how great Chopin's music is.

What did you buy last week, British readers? Curious? Well, the love affair with licensed content continues, with four movie tie-ins still in the top 10. Also popping in are Rugby 08, just in time for the World Cup, as well as the expected, obligatory Pokemon content.

1) Transformers
2) Pokemon Diamond
3) Pokemon Pearl
4) Harry Potter & The Now-Hot Sidekick Girl
5) Mario Party 8
6) Shrek III
7) New Super Mario Bros
8) Pirates III
9) Tiger Woods 07
10) Rugby 08

[charts courtesy of ChartTrack]

Just look at those Tetris plug 'n' play controllers. Blue and pink! So great. Dubbed Minna no Tetris (a nod to Minna no Golf — AKA "Hot Shots Golf"), the game features 11 different modes. They include stuff like "Relaxation" (the blocks move slow) and "Easy" (giant blocks drop). Exciting! The makers of the game point out that some Japanese professor discovered that playing Tetris for three minutes activates the brain's frontal lobe. No doubt other findings show playing Minna no Tetris on "Relaxation" or "Easy" makes you dumb. Really fucking dumb.
Minna no Tetris [Epoch via Plastic Bamboo]

I really dug the look of City of Metronome. We first heard about the game a while ago now, then little else, but at least got confirmation in January it was still being worked on. Sadly, that no longer appears to be the case. Kotakuite Craig checked in on developers Tarsier Studios to see how things were going, and got the following reply:

Hi Craig, very cool to hear that people are still interested in the game. Unfortunately we still have not secured any more funding for Metronome so the game is still on the back burner.

Tsutomu Kouno is a creative guy. Hey, he created LocoRoco. Thing is, he works for a big multi-national corporation. Guys in suits aren't known for their creativity — even at Sony. So imagine the bewilderment Kouno got trying to explain LocoRoco to them. He recalls:

To start off with, the upper management didn't understand the idea. It was hard to communicate, so I tried to show them what it would be like moving — I created the demo and then they went for it...They liked the concept of rotating the world to move the LocoRocos to the goal, but they didn't understand what I meant when I said I wanted to apply AI to the LocoRoco and put other AI creatures in it — they couldn't see how that would be interesting or fun.

Now that loads of women are buying a DS, somebody needs to teach them things. Like their place. Enter Ubisoft with their Imagine series, aimed at instructing 6-14 year-old girls in the sacred, lost arts of womanhood. Things like cooking, fashion design and the making, and subsequent caring, for babies. Those are actually three of the first games in the series, with further titles to come including things like...Figure Skating, and another cooking game. Because girls are never too young to start learning about the glass ceiling, right Ubisoft? What's next? We kicked a few possible suggestions around Kotaku Tower.

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Pete Molyneux has been around. He knows his games. He especially knows his role-playing games, since it's all he's been doing for the past 4-5 years. So when asked about Fable 2's combat system, dude let loose:

It's amazing for a role playing game, because most role playing games are shit! Oblivion was a great game, but the combat was rubbish; we all talked about it being rubbish. So imagine you had a great role-playing game and really, really good combat system.

That Forever Blue bug made everything, well, suck. When shark rays are added to the underwater aquarium, the game emits a loud BUZZING noise that doesn't exactly jive with the smooth sea experience. Nintendo has come to the rescue and is offering consumers the chance to exchange their bug infested copy for a deloused one. Yamato messengers will swing by residences to exchange bad-for-good copies on August 21st, which is among other things, my birthday. I will be 29 years old, and Japanese Forever Blue owners will be happy. Delightful!
Forever Blue Exchange Program [Nintendo]

Last night's Wii update added a bunch of new stuff. Some good. Some bad. And some unexplained, but still good. Sort of. Let me explain! Seems Nintendo have quietly added USB keyboard support for the Wii. I say quietly because first, it's unannounced, and second, because so far we've found it only works in the Shop Channel, Settings Menu and the Message Board, not the Internet Channel. Yet. But give 'em time, it's obviously something that's coming.

So today, Mega Man/Dead Rising/Lost Planet dude Keiji Inafune made an appearance at the GameStop on Broadway in New York City. Kotakuite Samuel was the first in line, getting there way before anyone else and worrying about whether anyone would actually save his place should he need to take a leak. Being the first in line meant that he'd have first crack at Inafune — perhaps catch him off-guard and ask him when they're going to start making Dead Rising 2. He'd never see that one coming! Samuel writes:

I asked Inafune-san a question, so I'll quote myself and him verbatim:

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When the limited nature of Australia's PS3 Starter Pack was announced, it seemed strange. Why was Australia's limited while Europe's was not? At the time, SCEE said that unlike the Australian offer, Europe's Starter Pack "will continue for the foreseeable future". That was yesterday. Today? Different story. Responding to complaining customers, miffed they'd only just bought a PS3 before the Starter Pack came along, SCEE said:

I was sorry to hear that you are dissatisfied with regards to the launch of the PlayStation 3 Starter Pack. I would like to take this opportunity to stress that this is a summer promotion and that due to the nature of this offer it will end on a predetermined date.

Citing an "insider source", the gang at Opposable Thumbs are claiming that Microsoft's recent price-cut is aimed at more than just converting PS2-owning Madden fans. It's also a clearance sale, to get old models off the shelf before new, improved 360 Core and Premium models take their place. Ones that come with HDMI as standard, along with a 65nm chip. They claim a release date for this new hardware, which will be "soft-launched" (ie no fanfare), will be in late August or early September, with the new models also having some kind of small sticker or notice showing consumers it's the new model. These would also obviously be "fixed" consoles, ones that hopefully won't die on their owners en masse. All sounds fairly plausible, but remember, it's still a rumour. Find salt, chew on salt, you know the drill.
360 Cores and Premiums with HDMI? An inside source spills the beans [Ars Technica]

SEGA Ad [TV in Japan]

Now it's quite possible that I slipped on a wet patch in the kitchen and have been unconscious for years, like some modern day Rip Van Winkle, with technological progress passing me by, as the minimum requirements for the Windows version of Midway's Stranglehold seem alarmingly high. Two gigabytes of RAM? That's twice the baseline of BioShock. And that's not all.

If you want to dual-wield some chrome hand cannons and get the most out of your rendered dove flocks on PC, your box is gonna need, at a minimum:

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The Wii Update that his overnight seemed like a good idea. And mostly is. Except for one thing. It's broken my Freeloader. And not just mine, loads of peoples. You pop it in, you whir it up, and where you should get your Freeloader disc-swapping message you instead get this error message. What gives, Nintendo? Freeloaders have been around for years, legally, and have been of great comfort to both importers of Japanese titles and PAL users fucked over by a dawdling release schedule. If this breakage was accidental, fix it. If it was not accidental, this is not cool. Fix it.

To: Ash
From: Crecente
Re: Smelly Beans and Dead Fish for Breakfast

Wow, I didn't think it was going to be this busy today, but boy did it fly by. I ended up doing three interviews, one for a newspaper, and two for Kotaku, and turning in a package about Madden 08 for the Rocky. The funniest thing was that Rob Yescombe, over at Free Radical, actually called me up because he wanted me to interview them. His tactic worked, I was completely flustered during the entire interview. I also ended up talking to Gail Simone, comic book scribe and the lady behind GameTap's Pre-Teen Raider mini-series. I'll be posting both stories tomorrow. Simone was pretty interesting, and, as always, the Free Radical guys cracked me up. I really can't wait to get my hands on Haze.

What you missed:

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Remember David Jaffe's teaser post about an upcoming Twisted Metal documentary? If not, the Eat Sleep Game honcho revealed that the doc, planned for the PlayStation 2 release of Twisted Metal: Head On will feature some lucky, articulate PlayStation fans in video form. All you have to do is answer a handful of questions about why you love Twisted Metal so much on camera, then upload your clip to YouTube. It looks like the details are still being worked out, but the questions you'll need to answer are set in stone.

Did I mention that in addition to PlayStation fame, you'll also score a free copy of the game if selected? Not a bad bonus for a few minutes of rambling.

Please help up with the Twisted Documentary... [TMA]

With Metroid Prime 3: Corruption just a few short weeks away from release on the Wii, it looks like Nintendo is set to ramp up with hype with a pair of Virtual Console releases. Images for both Metroid for the NES and Super Metroid for the SNES have appeared on the VC web server and spotted by an eagle-eyed NeoGAF poster. Another image for Sega's RPG Shining In The Darkness has also recently been added, indicating that it too may soon join the download service.

While the ESRB has yet to issue a rating for either Metroid title, usually a reliable measuring stick for what's on deck, that doesn't rule out a smart marketing move by Nintendo. Don't be surprised if both show up next Monday or the following.

Ultimate Awesome Wii Virtual Console Discussion [NeoGAF]

This is just bizarre, but bizarre in a cut way. The $US6, hand-made iPod case has an obvious inspiration in one overweight, Italian plumber, but I just don't like the idea of dressing up an iPod in people clothes. Next thing you know, they're sneaking cigarettes from you when you're not looking.
Mario Overalls iPod Case [The BBPS]

The newest iMac revision, announced earlier today at the Apple Town Hall event, not only features an attractive external visual upgrade, the guts are pretty nice, too. The new base iMac comes equipped with the ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT, with upper-tier versions of the iMac featuring the ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO, both DirectX 10 capable video cards. That means, anyone looking to run DirectX 10 supported games like Crysis, BioShock, and Gears of War on their Mac via Boot Camp can do so without having to abandon the comforts of Mac OSX.

Prices range from $US1199 to $US2299 with LCD screens running from 20" to 24". For the record, the lowest end iMac in the new configuration just meets the minimum specs for BioShock. Interested gamers with thousands of dollars and Mac gaming on their minds should probably look somewhere in the mid-range. And, yes, you can use a two-button mouse, for Christ's sake.

This concludes my Apple Computers viral marketing broadcast. (Buy a Mac.)

iMac - Technology [Apple]

Kotaku reader Ian lets us know that Gamestop and EBgames have begun soliciting pre-orders for the next World of Warcraft expansion, Wrath of the Lich King. The specialty retailer has provided the date of November 3, 2008 and applied a price of $US39.99. However! The company is extremely candid—and, dare I say witty?—in its explanation of the expansion's price and date estimates.

Gamestop writes, with all emphasis theirs:

Official price and release date have NOT been announced by Blizzard. In this case, the price and release date were determined by the GameStop e-commerce staff, (comprised of overpowered warlocks), using a combination of 6 and 20-sided die.

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Water Cooler Games' Ian Bogost let me know last week he was going to be on The Colbert Report. He sounded half totally freaked out and half jazzed. I don't blame him. I don't know how I would stand up to that eyebrow, and god forbid Colbert releases both on you.

Watch the show tonight at 11:30 p.m. on Comedy Central if you want to see how he does... I'm sure well since he will be talking about his new book, Persuasive Games: The Expressive Power of Video Games, and, I'm sure, his gig with the New York Times which I find endlessly fascinating (Hey, it finally gives me a topic I can discuss with those non-gamers out there that I frequently bump into.)

The limited edition Mountain Dew "Game Fuel" sporting Halo 3 branding has made its way to store shelves, giving Xbox 360 owners with a cavitation streak or those looking to accelerate their adult-onset diabetes something to swill whilst waiting for Master Chief's next. Promising an "invigorating blast of citrus cherry flavour" the Mountain Dew variant is sure to become a collectors item when it disappears from grocery stores. Tech specs are as follows.

Calories - 170
Total Fat - 0g
Sodium - 65mg
Total Carbohydrates - 46g
Sugars - 46g
Protein - 0g

Halo 3 Mountain Dew Game Fuel is not a significant source of other nutrients.

Contains: Carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, citric acid, natural flavours, sodium benzoate, gum arabic, caffeine, sodium citrate, yellow 5, glycerol ester of wood rosin, cacium disodium edta, yellow 6, red 40, brominated vegetable oil.

Sounds disgusting!

This clip was originally intended to be for PlayStation G.A.P. members only, but has thankfully found its way to the internet for us all to enjoy. This first in a series of animated looks at the story behind Ninja Theory's Heavenly Sword, it features some striking, if somewhat familiar, looking artwork. We can only hope that these clips will eventually find their way to the PlayStation Store (and the Heavenly Sword disc, as well).

Wedbush Morgan analyst and Kotaku reader crush Michael Pachter (not pictured) has issued his end of month notes for the video game market, predicting a pair of PlayStation family price cuts. First, the Pach expects that Sony will be "in a position" to slash the PLAYSTATION 3 price just prior to or in time with the release of Rockstar Games' recently delayed Grand Theft Auto IV and Konami's Metal Gear Solid 4, both due in the first half of 2008.

Second, he and his Wedbush Morgan buddies claim that a PlayStation 2 price drop before the holidays is totally "possible." I've added both to the Kotaku Predictoriser and wait for it to regurgitate judgement. In the meantime, let's hear your thoughts.

Pachter: PS2 Price Drop In 2007, PS3 To Drop For GTA IV [Gamasutra]

Talking with Free Radical Design's Rob Yescombe and Derek Littlewood today, I asked them if they had seen the reaction Shigeru Miyamoto had to Haze. Both the video of his viewing the game and the reaction others felt he had to the game's use of drugs.

Both said they had. Yescombe said he thinks that perhaps Miyamoto misunderstood the deeper meanings in the game and in particular how it uses the drug Nectar to make a point, a very anti-drug point.

"The game is pretty disturbing and to be fair that's our intention," he said. "Drugs in the game was something that we wanted to be very careful about.The over-arching message is that Nectar is an enormous mistake."

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A trio of rock solid Sega Genesis releases may be making the Internet tube trip to a Virtual Console near you, as the ESRB has rated Landstalker: The Treasures of King Nole, Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master and Capcom's Ghouls N' Ghosts. Good news for yours truly, as I'm in possession of 1400 unused Wii Points and have a nerd-on for all things Shinobi.

Keep in mind that just because the ESRB issues a rating for a particular game doesn't mean it's going to pop up in the Wii Shop Channel come Monday. Plenty of titles, from Pro Wrestling to Pilotwings, have been in the ratings board's database for far too long.

ESRB Game Ratings [ESRB]

Musika is a new iPod game from PaRappa the Rapper creator Masaya Matsuura. In that article, Matsuura says this about iPod games:

Almost all the other games are basic and limited - like a simple puzzle. Our game will be very advanced compared to the others. This will last.

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Konami issued a blitzkrieg of a press release yesterday, revealing that Metal Gear Solid director Hideo Kojima would be appearing at the Leipzig Games Convention in a matter of weeks. They also mentioned that Kojima would be previewing a new trailer for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots as well as demoing a playable version of the game for the first time... in Europe. And that's not all.

Kojima is quoted in the release teasing that he'll be bringing along a "special guest", one whose identity remains unknown. Could Kojima be referring to an in-game guest? We'll find out in just two weeks. The English version of the press release does reveal that Kojima "will be using the presentation to disclose key gameplay secrets and highlight major additions to the Metal Gear universe."

My guess on the matter is that Konami will show an extended or remixed version of the E3 trailer and that Kojima will deviate from his recent playable demo at the PlayStation Premiere event in Tokyo. However, it's possible that Kojima will wow us all with a whole new hands-on scenario, a brand spankin' new trailer built from the ground up, and show Zone of the Enders 3 for the PLAYSTATION 3 and have Suda 51 on hand to show off the next game in the Snatcher project, just to rub it in my face.

Press release right after this.

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Reuters is reporting that former NFL running back and guy who totally didn't kill his ex-wife O.J. Simpson has been ordered by the Los Angeles County Superior Court to hand over monies he received from lending his likeness to 2K Sports' All-Pro Football 2K8. The Xbox 360 and PLAYSTATION 3 football sim features hundreds of retired pro football players, including Simpson, who definitely did not also kill Ron Goldman.

While Simpson was acquitted of criminal murder charges, he was found "legally responsible" for their deaths in the ensuing civil court case. The Goldman family is attempting to collect on the $US33 million dollars legally owed to them by The Juice, who must now disclose the details of his contract with All-Pro Football 2K8 publisher Take-Two Interactive.

If I were a Take-Two shareholder, making sure Mr. Simpson was not on the roster for the next All-Pro Football release would probably be #3 on my list of things I'm bringing up with the board during our next meeting.

O.J. Simpson ordered to pay Goldmans over game [Yahoo News]

The recommended gift for your first anniversary is paper, no? If I'm right on that, then the sixth anniversary is clearly an Xbox 360, as Hong Kong magazine MILK is celebrating its sixth year of publication with this very handsome limited edition Xbox 360 Elite, complete with subtle MILK branding. How limited? There are two.

The pair of MILK Elites are currently being auctioned off at the HK edition of Yahoo! Auctions, with current bidding at 7544 Hong Kong dollars (about 964 bucks US). The proceeds from the auction go to the World Wildlife Foundation, meaning anyone looking to be elite among the Elites can feel good about their excessive purchase.

More shots of the MILK Xbox 360 are available at the auction, MILK magazine and the Think Silly blog.