To: Crecente
From: Ashcraft
RE: BioShock Hang-Over

Damn you and your BioShock. The Asian edition doesn't come out until later this month. That, and my 360 is still getting fixed.

Recent discovery: Drinking a half-bottle of sake everyday makes you fat. I love sake. Like love it. So, so, so much. I've visited a tonne of distilleries in Nara, and I'm fascinated by the drink, how it's made, how delicate the flavour is, how it ages, blah, blah, blah. So! After I finish a 12 or 13 hour blog marathon, I would throw down half a bottle of the stuff.

That makes you BIG and FAT.

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PREFACE: I love BioShock. Love it to bits. Best game I've played in ages. Still. Those that have finished it will know what I'm talking about when I say the final third of the game is a bit of a let-down. A disappointment, even. So it's great, yes, but not as perfect as some may have you believe. Which brings me to this Zero Punctuation vid review from The Escapist, which dwells on many of the game's flaws. Actually, it dwells exclusively on the game's flaws. Which would make him the world's most negative ninnie were it not for the fact he can back his assertions up with years of elitist, snooty PC gaming pedigree and a few dozen snappy jokes.

Oh, OK. So Lair isn't crap. It's cursed! Factor 5's Julian Eggebrecht has told MTV that Lair didn't just endure a troubled development. Something was up. Something...supernatural.

I am not a believer in ghosts, but this one was haunted.

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A few days ago, CVG spoke to retailer GAME and came away with news that there'd be no TV cables for the PSP Slim's British launch. GAME practically own the specialist gaming market in the UK, so if there were no cables for GAME, safe bet was there'd be no cable for anyone else. WRONG. Sony have confirmed that TV cables will indeed be available at the handheld's launch. So there you have it.
Sony confirms white PSP delay, cables available from day one [Gamesindustry.biz]

And the international Call of Duty 4 bee-tah roll-out continues. Residents of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, you're up next, with sign-ups good to go as soon as you grab the details from the official local site. The beta kicks off today (Sep 7), though, so don't arse about or you'll miss out.
Official UK Beta Program [CoD4 Official Site]

Silicon Knights honcho Denis Dyack wants you to know about Denis. He wants you to know that Denis is honest and calls 'em like he sees 'em. Denis Dyack doesn't lie! And neither does his Ontario-based company. Why, just ask Denis Dyack. He'll tell you all about him:

I think the games industry is challenging, but I'm always about telling the truth and saying it like it is. And that is a tough thing to do in this industry, as I'm sure you know. That's always been our way. We're often misquoted and misunderstood as a developer...

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RedOctane would like to clarify something. When they said the Wii version of Guitar Hero III had its online balls in a vice, they were talking about downloadable content. Not online multiplayer, which is all ready and is looking good to go. So online play, yes, downloadable stuff, no. At least, that's a no until Nintendo get around to announcing some kind of Wii storage device. Then I'd imagine it'd be on for all and sundry.
Red Octane says Wii will have GHIII online play, no DLC initially [Joystiq]

The TGS anticipation continues! Taito has released its list of games appearing at TGS. And amazingly (or not, depending on how you look at it) all titles are DS games. They include:

Cooking Mama 2
Arkanoid DS
Exit DS
Space Invaders Extreme

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I don't skate. Can't, my body just will not cooperate. Don't really follow it, either, but I do own several DVDs devoted entirely to skateboarders crashing/stacking/grievously harming themselves. Don't know why, but I just find it really, really funny. EA know what I'm talking about.

Sure, Kaz has gone on record calling the PS3 a games console. It's a start. According to Square Enix boss Yoichi Wada, though, Sony need to go further, and sort out just what the PS3 is. Quit trying to sell it as a computer, as a multimedia centre, as a Blu-Ray player, and settle on what it really is. A freakin' games machine.

Sony first unveiled the PS3 as a mighty home electronics product. Then, after some badgering from game companies, it shifted the position of the console closer to a game machine.

(The future of the PS3) would be tough if its marketing strategy is not straightened up.

Ouch. Hear that, Sony? That's your most important third-party publisher totally calling you out. Publicly. Best get that marketing in order, or things might get ugly. Wada's a tough cookie. I hear he does 1000 push-ups and eats a bowl of nails every day. And that's before breakfast!
Sony needs consistent PS3 strategy: videogame publisher [Reuters]

More WACKY Sony lifestyle pics! Or advertisements. Or something. These two girls are touching each other. On the seat next to them is a PSP, which next to women touching each other just isn't getting a look-in. Poor thing. If only it's battery had lasted longer, the girl on the right might still be enjoying a quick bout of Monster Hunter Freedom 2 instead of seriously considering exploring her sexuality in a public place.
WHAT'S THIS THE PROMOTIONAL IMAGE FOR? [UK:R]

Best. Item. Ever. Over in Korea, Cooking Mama comes with oven mitts. Yes, oven mitts! Because right after playing Cooking Mama, you just might feel like cooking. Hell, I already have Cooking Mama and can't read Korean, but I would so pick them up for those mitts alone.
Cooking Mama in Korea [GameBrink via DS Fanboy]

Things the PLAYSTATION 3 has been called: A computer, a hub and a multi-media center. And that's just by Sony! Previous Sony Computer Entertainment president Ken Kutaragi himself called the PS3 a "super computer." New SCE honcho Kaz Hirai is here to set the record straight:

I'd like to clearly say, "The PS3 is a game machine." It's nothing more than that.

He also points out that the PS, the PS2 and the PSP are game machines as well. Oh. Okay.
Hirai Interview [Game Watch]

Once upon a time Devil May Cry 4 was pegged as PS3 exclusive. Then it wasn't, making the cross-platform jump to PC and Xbox 360. Still, the two console versions must be a little different, right? Nope! DMC4 producer says Hiroyuki Kobayashi points out:

The actual contents are exactly the same, but having said that, the feel of the controller may cause a slight difference.

So there you go. The version aren't just the same, they are "exactly the same." Which you buy will depend on which controller you prefer. So, what'll it be: SIXAXIS or 360 controller?
Kobayashi Interview [Eurogamer]

What is it with Brain Training? Nintendo spend all this money advertising the sequel and people are buying more of the original. And not just this week, loads of times. Nutty. That peculiarity aside, Australia still loves BioShock, and while the PC version slipped a pinch the 360 one is still at #1.

1) Bioshock (360)
2) Singstar 90s (Software)
3) Brain Training
4) Singstar 90s (Bundle)
5) Bioshock (PC)
6) Pokemon DIamond
7) Mario Party 8
8) Pokemon Pearl
9) AFL 2007
10) World of Warcraft

[charts courtesy of GfK]

If you're both playing BioShock (likely) and connected to Xbox Live (again, likely), you'd probably already have been prompted to download an update for the game. Wondering what's inside? No, no plasmids, just a few fixes for an autosave bug, AI problems with splicers using health stations and a music bug on the menu screen. Oh, and something else. It's screwing up a lot of people's games. We've received a tonne of emails from readers complaining about the game now freezing constantly, and sometimes locking up completely. 2K say they're working on a fix, but until then, you can get around this by clearing your 360's cache. To do this, just hold both bumper buttons while the game's booting, and don't let go until you see the 2K logo. That should do it.

What's the Xbox 360 game Japan is looking forward to? Less Halo 3, more Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation. Just check out the above pre-order display that shows AC6 all big and other games all regular. The Namco series has a big following in The Land of the Rising Sun, and since the latest entry is a 360 exclusive, Ace Combat 6 might shift a few consoles for Microsoft! At the Sofmap in Osaka's Den-Den Town, shoppers would stop dead in their tracks to watch the Ace Combat 6 trailer and move on once it was finished. Even old bald men gave the demo a whirl. That, dear reader, after the jump!

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With the 80GB model of the PS3, Americans were invited to feel some of Europe's pain. Gone was the promise of near-universal PS2 backwards compatability, replaced with a software-based emulation system where many games work, many games work with issues and some games do not work. At all. I say some of Europe's pain, though, because half the hassle of it all is in checking the PAL BC list on SCEE's torturous BC site to see if your games work. See, the site does not contain a search function. The newly-launched US search site does, allowing you to enter the name of your PS2 games into a small text field, conduct a search and be provided with a prompt answer. Awfully clever, that, and definitely ground-breaking technology. I bet SCEE are kicking themselves they didn't think of it.
SCEA PS3 BC Search Site [SCEA PS3 Support]

Lair's not doing so good on the reviews circuit. In fact it's stinking up the place, critics almost unanimous in their disdain for what's basically a Rogue Squadron game without a Hoth level. This should be a concern for Sony, but really, it's not, outgoing SCEA PR head Dave "Screw you, Jerktown" Karraker saying:

At the end of the day, I'll be interested in the consumers' response, because the consumer awareness for this title was so huge. I've spoken to any number of people who really like it, and there's other people that find it a challenge. What really matters is whether or not the consumers are having a good experience, because they'll tell us on the [PlayStation] blog.

Interesting approach, but unless a game's got a trusted IP or word of mouth behind it, it's going nowhere without positive reviews. This is new IP with rubbish reviews. Don't fancy its chances.
Sony Brushes Off Lair Critics [Next-Gen]

Nintendo weekly hardware sales continue to drop as either supply remains constrained or, less likely, a nation of millions realises they've grown quite tired of housekeeping diaries and scribbling kanji on their touchscreens. Week over week, hardware numbers were down across the board with the exception of the PLAYSTATION 3. The PS3 avoided a dip with a little help from solid sales of Koei's Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War. For the week of August 27th to September 2nd, the hardware wars suffered the following casualties.

Nintendo DS Lite - 94,339
Wii - 39,371
PSP - 22,196
PLAYSTATION 3 - 18,068
PlayStation 2 - 14,280
Xbox 360 - 1,635
Game Boy micro - 263
Game Boy Advance SP - 195

Sorry. Really. OK, I'm not sorry, Official Nintendo Magazine are, for all the confusion. Seems the news that Mario Kart Wii would feature 16-player online play wasn't news at all. It was speculation on their part:

The details printed in Official Nintendo Magazine 21 regarding Mario Kart Wii were healthy speculation on our part and are in no way an official announcement from Nintendo.

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To: Ash
From: Crecente

I'm sure you noticed but our servers all crashed for several hours this morning. Not only could we not post, but people couldn't read either. It sucked.

I was up till about 3 a.m. this morning playing Bioshock, my first dip into the world. I've been meaning to play it for a bit now but I was in Leipzig and then up to my eyeballs catching up and helping you plan a bit for the Tokyo Game Show.

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Final Fantasy XI producer Hiromichi Tanaka said the company has no plans to bring its PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 2 MMO to the online-enabled Wii. He explained at the Austin Game Developers Conference that "Nintendo's currently not allowing different cross-platform titles, and [...] resolution differences make it harder for us to make cross-platform games. Currently we're not looking at Nintendo Wii as a platform." Not good news, but I doubt it will drive many of you to rooftop ledges clutching suicide notes penned on Chocobo stationery.

While Nintendo's clumsy and spartan online game offerings should ensure that this comes as a surprise to no one, Tanaka did reveal a slight surprise, according to Gamespot's report, in that he'll soon be able to reveal more of his next-gen online RPG. I've got five bucks on Final Fantasy XI-II.

Square Enix: Nintendo saying no to cross-platform MMOs [Gamespot]

SCEE today clarified some near final release dates for games across the entire PlayStation family, including providing a tentative release date for its online social software Home. PlayStation Network releases, including Home, after the jump, but it appears gamers with the above haircut will be moping it up online before Halloween.

PLAYSTATION 3
October 17 - Folklore
October 19 - Lair
October 24 - Eye of Judgment
November 7 - Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction
November 28 - Time Crisis 4
December 5 - Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
December 2007 - Gran Turismo 5 Prologue

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While the majority of last night's Tabula Rasa event took place at Britannia Manor MK II, the festivities came to an end at the site of Britainnia Manor MK III, Richard Garriott's new Texas castle, 10 years in the making. During a gap in the presentation, Garriott took some time to explain why his new house is going to be an 8 year-old's wet dream. First off is the tower, which is pictured here. Excuse the darkness of the shot, but it was taken at nearly 1AM by a large sweaty man wearing a hard hat. The five story tower will form the central point in the sprawling manor, and will consist of an observatory at the top, planetarium underneath it, and a giant room-sized elevator that travels the bottom three floors.

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I know Sony announced that the Playstation 3's Xross Media Bar was going to be invading televisions awhile back now, but this is the first time I've seen it in action. While I think the Playstation 3 has a lot going for it, the user interface tops my list as one of the neater things packed into the console.

These pictures showing a Sony receiver with a Xross Media Bar are kinda cool, but what I really liked was the Home Media Service with the XMB. Check out all of those movies after the jump.

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Turtle Rock's Left 4 Dead is, in a word, boneriffic. Every time the developer releases new footage, especially direct feed footage, I'm forced to watch, re-watch and post. The wait for 2008, alongside some 21st century PC hardware upgrades, is ever more unbearable with this new, crazy, brief clip. Who wants to join my Left 4 Dead clan next year?!

It's a good thing Ashcraft wrote in last night's report that the banning of some 23,000 Xbox Live accounts for taking advantage of a Call of Duty 4 beta exploit was "unconfirmed" because Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb says, quite clearly, that it's not true. He writes in his Xboxy blog "We did NOT ban tens of thousands of folks yesterday as some are reporting."

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Panasonic had their PT-AX200U high-def projector set-up off in a corner of their CEDIA booth. The projector has a 1280 by 720 resolution, 2,000 lumens brightness and 6000:1 contrast. More importantly the projector has a gaming mode which optimises frame response to improve signal processing by a third. The setting also tweaks the contrast settings bringing out darker scenes and images that are typically over saturated.

To promote the projector, Panasonic flew in Major League Gamings Tom Taylor, aka Tsquared, to beat up on people in matches of Halo 2. I sat down with him and talked about the television and pro-gaming, peppering him with questions as he peppered me with pwnage. Seriously, it was embarassing.

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Kotaku reader Iwo saw our previous post on the alleged system requirements for the PC version of Midway's Stranglehold, one that demanded hardware specs that one might expect to see in a $7000 computer. To his surprise (and mine) he found a very different set of minimum requirements on the back of the game's display case, despite the final retail version still being a few weeks off. We're waiting to hear back from Midway on the matter, but it looks like the near final hardware needs don't approach the sometimes ludicrous levels we posted earlier.

They're rumoured to be:

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Walking through the Panasonic booth at CEDIA, I saw plenty of Playstation 3's being used to demonstrate the high-def screens. Panasonic is all about the Blu-ray so they nixed the Xbox 360 I was told... yes, I know that make no sense. As I rounded a corner I saw this, two guys playing Wii golf on a 103-inch high-def television. My perspective is all screwed in this shot, but trust me it was impressive. Nearby a Panasonic rep fidgeted.

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I may very well be one of the only people with this problem, but HDMI-enabled devices are a total pain in the ass for me. That's because when I bought my television there weren't many out there with multiple HDMI in ports, so mine only has one. And I have a cable box, PS3 and Xbox 360 Elite that all use HDMI. So I bought the only switcher I could find at the time, a 2-1 splitter, and just manually swap cables, which is a pain in the ass.

Walking around CEDIA today I stumbled upon RT Com, a company that specialises in HDMI switchers and splitters. What caught my attention was this nifty set-up: One Playstation 3 playing on six high-def televisions at once. Once there they I spotted an 3-1 remote controlled HDMI switcher for $US130, not bad, not bad at all.

Saw this Full Swing Golf set up while cruising the booths looking for game-related technology. Full Swing Golf is a room-sized golf simulator that uses two 360-degree curtains of infrared beams, each emitting 60,000 pulses per a second, to track real-world fall flight data. In other words, sensors track what happens when you smack the shit out of a ball at the screen and then convert it into graphics that play out in front of you. Kinda neat, I assume super expensive.

The latest update to the PlayStation Store has gone live, hosting a digitally rights managed smörgåsbord of new content for PLAYSTATION 3 owners. In addition to new demos for Midway's Stranglehold (1337 MB) and EA's NBA Live 08 (661 MB), a slew of add-ons for already released games are available.

MotorStorm owners can pick up the Revenge Weekend add-on ($US5.99) which consists of one new track, five new vehicles (including a school bus!), a new online mode and nine new events. Four of those vehicles may be purchased individually for USD 99 cents each, if you're so inclined. For Ninja Gaiden Sigma players looking for more punishment, the Weapons Master pack adds five survival modes for $US2.99. But wait, there's more!

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Love Crackdown? I assume a good portion of the 1.5 million of you who bought it did—and not just for the Halo 3 beta key contained within. If you're a big Crackdown fan, you'll have to wait a long time for the sequel, as developer Real Time Worlds says they aren't working on it. Why? According to Develop Mag's report, producer Phil Wilson said that "Microsoft were a little late in stepping up to the plate to ask for Crackdown 2, and by then we had already started working on bigger, better things."

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CEDIA was most definitely my type of show. While Gizmodo's Brian Lam was practically dry-humping the endless rows of high-end cabling, theatre seating, hydraulic desks (which I tagged the Upskirt 2K because they had booth babes riding it up to eye level), I found very little gaming wise to talk up.

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With Vivendi retaining the rights to the F.E.A.R. name, developer Monolith Productions needed something unique, something catchy, something that's not a four-letter acronym for the follow up to the spark-filled first-person shooter. What did they wind up with? Something that's definitely not a four-letter acronym. What would have under normal circumstances been dubbed F.E.A.R. 2 will now be known as Project Origin. Memorable isn't it? Wait, what was it again? Right, Project Origin.

Sure, it may not have the sex appeal of Dead Echo, but at least it's better than the rejected Blood Let: Drenched in Desecration, isn't it? Project Origin is planned to hit the PC, Xbox 360 and PLAYSTATION 3 at a mysterious future date. Try to remember the name when it comes out.

We're suckers for charitable PR moves. And while Sony Online Entertainment recently loose-justification for donating to Austin's Habitat For Humanity organisation would normally smack of goodwilled attention whoring, I simply must give them some credit for going about it in a unique way. Here's the deal—Star Wars Galaxies is littered with unoccupied (read: abandoned) buildings. In order to clear some space for the remaining residents of the online Tattoine and Yavin IV, the Empire is calling in the TIE fighters to blow the crap out of them.

The better part is that while SOE is tearing down in game, it's helping build up in real life. They're donating funds for each virtual building razed to Habitat For Humanity, the charitable volunteer organisation that helps build and find homes for the less fortunate. Star Wars Galaxies subscribers are joining in on the fun, too, netting some in game rewards for contributing to the cause.

Nice work all around, but I'm re-engaging my jaded cynic subroutine right after this heartwarming press release.

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Major League Gaming's tournament director Andreas sent us a snap that contains a very important lesson. If you're on the fence about whether you should go for the Gears of War tattoo or the Gears of War haircut, I'm going to have to recommend the latter. This gamer, spied at an MLG event in Chicago and sporting a Cliffy B approved mohawk, made the right call. Remember kids, think before you ink! Thanks, Andreas!

Last week's number two showing, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates, moves up a notch this week, with Koei's PLAYSTATION 3 strategic slasher Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War breathing a little life into sales on Sony's pricey platform. The rest of the list is populated with a handful of newcomers, but little in the way of games you'll ever actually play.

The top ten for the week of August 27th to September 2nd look like this. The rest of the top thirty is after that.

01. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates (DS) - 79,000 / 256,000
02. Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War (PS3) - 59,000 / NEW
03. Gintama Gin-San to Issho! Boku no Kabuki Machi Nikki (PS2) - 57,000 / NEW
04. Sengoku Musou 2 Moushouden (PS2) - 52,000 / 235,000
05. One Piece Gear Spirit (DS) - 41,000 / NEW
06. Mario Party 8 (Wii) - 39,000 / 704,000
07. Summon Night: Twin Edge (DS) - 28,000 / NEW
08. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney 3 - Best Price! (DS) - 20,000 / 77,000
09. My Housekeeping Diary (DS) - 20,000 / 166,000
10. Wii Play (Wii) - 19,000 / 1,675,000

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In this latest Simpsons Game clip we get a look at Marge's special attacks. I suspect that the game is going to be much better than the movie, but that wouldn't be too hard to do.

SCEA has said no more posting about PSP homebrew on their forums.

Homebrew applications void the warranty of the PSP®(PlayStation®Portable) system, and an official area to discuss such activities cannot be provided by SCEA. Any postings that are clearly homebrew-related, such as those providing instructions on downgrading firmware updates, will be removed from this board.

But is it really any surprise?

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For those of you who haven't been to a Video Games Live concert or are just looking for some good geek makeout music, the Tommy Tallarico album has been dated for an October 15th release date. Featuring everyone's favourite pop pianist Martin Leung and melodies from WoW, Super Mario and Halo, it's a must-buy to prove your dorkdom to those of us who feel you just are hardcore enough.

Yeah, we aren't falling for that temporary Zelda tattoo. And neither is your mum. So who's planning on picking this one up? (Fahey, hand down please. We already know.)

Video Games Live CD Releases October 15 [gamelife]

The Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association Expo isn't exactly a mecca for video gaming news, but they are holding it in downtown Denver so I sorta feel obligated to stop on by.

I'm on the train heading there now. You'd think a show dedicated to "residential electronic systems" would have something worth posting about on Kotaku. We'll see.

Joe Kucan, better known to many as Kane from Command & Conquer, was asked to "justify his Kane" for Kotaku. He turned to PR and asked, "How much leeway do I have with this?" They replied, "do whatever you want."

He s