To: Crecente
From: Bashcraft
RE: K-I-S-S-I-N-G

Actually, I'm surprised Tristan doesn't already have his own bird shirt!

In about two weeks and a half weeks or so, I'll be heading to back to Texas for a lengthy holiday. I am actually starting to get giddy. My family lives in Dallas, and Dallas isn't that exciting of a place. But, still! I love visiting America. It's a blast. There are Americans and American things and big roads and tons of nonsense. I've already started making lists of food I want to eat starting with bean burritos. It's nice living in Japan, but after a while, it becomes really really normal. Belly aching, I know!

Actually looking forward to seeing American tv. I don't have cable here, so I feel kind of disconnected with American pop culture with that regards. Is there anything I need to see? Any CDs or movies that I definitely must see? I'm kinda in the dark! Crib notes appreciated.

What you missed last night
My Funde Razor contribution
It prints money. Still.
AC impressions
What's Bionic Commando's swing like
PS3 orange box okay?

Activision had originally forecast that it'd be making $US 1.050 billion in total revenue this Christmas season. Not anymore. No, as the realisation dawned on them that Guitar Hero III and Call of Duty 4 are conjuring money, they've bumped that estimate up to $US 1.225 billion. Activision CEO Bobby Kotick:

We are well on our way to delivering our 16th consecutive year of revenue growth and the most profitable year in our history. We are confident that the third quarter of fiscal 2008 will be the largest and most profitable quarter ever.

If there's game related toilet paper (thank you Suda and co. for that!), there's got to be game related tissue paper. Better yet, tissue boxes. There is! Upcoming PSP title (and popular anime) Haruhi Suzumiya has its own tissue boxes just waiting to be torn into and used. Customers can even make select which Haruhi images they'd like on which sides of the box. Neato!
Haruhi Tissues [Kamikau via Altafista]

Holy crap! Our favourite Japanese Xbox 360 fanboy and Famitsu writer has cut his hair again. Last we saw him he had a Halo 3 logo shaved into the side of his noggin. That's nothing, and this time he is so not fucking around. This time, he's gotten four, count 'em four, designs etched into his scalp. His head is a game billboard! Here's the rundown: In the front, he got a 3D Xbox 360 iconic logo. A simple "X" is shaved on the back of his head. The side of his head is a Garuda team logo Ace Combat 6 and the opposite side is from the Assassin's Creed logo. Total time for these creations: Four hours. You know, Jamzy isn't only the most entertaining game journalist in Japan at the moment, but probably on our spinning blue planet known as Earth.

Us, we're really hoping gaming haircuts will take off as the next big thing. Game tattoos are so, you know, permanent. Hair grows back — that is, unless you are bald!

The previous record for most consoles (of any kind) sold in a week in the UK was 185,000. That mark belonged to Sony, and was set during the PSP's launch in 2005. It's gone now. The new record stands at 191,000, and was set by the Nintendo DS last week. Can't think of any price-cuts, new colours or big new games on offer for the week, so we'll just chalk it up to another instance of pre-Christmas madness.
DS sets new UK sales record [MCV]

And not a moment too soon. The PS3 version of the game is an awful port, with atrocious framerate issues, but the 360 version has its problems too, particularly with slowdown during replays and set pieces. And that's not mentioning the busted online play both versions have suffered through. Well, Pro Evo fanatics, a fix might be at hand. Konami have patched the game on both systems, promising improved framerates and a reduction in lag during online play. They also reckon it fixes a problem the PS3 version had when trying to install it on your HDD. All sounds good, but a quick glance at a few major PES fan forums shows the patch seems to have had little effect on the game's online problems, so don't get too excited.
[Konami Europe]

As previously announced, Nintendo is going to step up its online presence in Japan. Telecom company NTT is going to help promote broadband service via the Nintendo Wii. NTT is planning to offer a cut-rate broadband sign up deal that provides online access as well as on-site set-up for Wii users. That's right, if you cannot figure out how to connect your Wii to the internet after signing up, a NTT employee will do it for you. There will also be call centres which will field calls specifically related to the Wii's internet connection. Says NTT East Senior exec Tetsuo Koga:

I hope our fiber-optic service becomes as popular as the Wii," NTT East Senior Executive Vice President Tetsuo Koga told a news conference. I think we have won a powerful ally to hit our target to boost fiber-optic subscribers to 20 million by the year ending March 2011.

Back in 2002, the guys who founded Pyro Studios (creators of the Commandos series of WWII squad strategy games) established Illion Animation Studios. Illion Animation Studios proceeded to start work on a CGI animation film. That film, Planet 51, which is written by Shrek co-writer Joe Stillman, has now been picked up New Line for a global 2009 release. Strangely enough, Pyro Studios will be handling the game adaptations of the film. Crummy games based on movies, that's old. Crummy movies based on games, just as old. Games based on a movie made by guys who used to make games? That one's new.
New Line takes trip to toon 'Planet' [Hollywood Reporter]

Hot on the heels of two very huggable Companion Cubes come my very humble contribution to Funde Razor giveaways: two packs of official Nintendo hanafuda cards. Originally a hanafuda maker, Nintendo is one of the few companies that still makes these cards. These were purchased at the 7-11 near my house and have dust on them from neglect here in Japan. Here's hoping one pack will find a good home in Denver, and the other will likewise in Brooklyn. Click the link below to find more about Dec. 12th Funde Razor blowout. Way more.
Funde Razor

In the real world, sitting in front of a bank of video monitors watching people go about their business sounds booooooring (unless you're William Baldwin!). As a game, though? Interesting premise, especially when it's got bubblegum-cute presentation. Enter CCTV for both the Wii and DS, by Ukrainian outfit Nikitova Games. Never heard of them? You may have heard of the game's designer: Jon Hare, formerly of Sensible Software, and co-designer of Sensible Soccer, Cannon Fodder and Mega Lo Mania.

We could hear about how Hare thinks it's the best thing he's done since his Sensi days, but we'd rather show you the charming outline for the game from Nikitovia's site:

Starting as a lowly shopping mall guard, the player can rise to International head of security as he travels the worlds most famous shops and art galleries scrutinizing car parks, trains and airports in a bid to capture the thieves, smugglers, vandals and other low life littering the world's streets and bang them to rights.

GripShift's pretty fun. Which explains why it's gone from PSP to PlayStation 3 Network and now all the way over to Xbox Live Arcade. Developers Sidhe Interactive have announced that the downloadable racer will be made available on 360 sometime in December, though a firm date and price are still undecided. 360 fans worrying over the quality of a game that's been double-ported, relax: Sidhe claim it's the "definitive" version of the title. Until it's ported to the Wii and/or PC. That one will be more definitiver.
GripShift Heads to Live Arcade [IGN]

Holy crap, Nintendo has sold a lot of DSes in Japan. How many? A lot. For those of you into frivolous things like numbers, "a lot" comes to the tune of 20 million DS portables according to Famitsu publisher Enterbrain. That's since the handheld went on sale way back in December 2004. Sure, we've heard this before, but Entertain has done the number crunching: The actual breakdown is 6,449,206 original DSes and 13,602,806 DS Lites sold for a grand total of 20,052,012 aka A LOT. The top five games sold are all first party Nintendo titles: Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl (5,337,424), New Super Mario Bros. (4,894,287), Brain Age 2 (4,731,990), Animal Crossing: Wild World (4,443,340) and Brain Age (3,571,030). So, yeah, the DS it prints money. A LOT.
DS Sales Japan [Famitsu]

Let's keep this brief. I think Assassin's Creed is a poor game built on a great engine. Which when you tally up the averages leaves us with something very...average. Confused? Let me explain.

Ubisoft have nailed Altair. Nailed him. Nailed the game world, too, while we're at it. It's not often you get to play a game where your character is so responsive to your commands, and is so firmly attached to their surroundings. Altair doesn't float, he doesn't skip awkwardly between animations, he feels heavy, solid and real. It's a joy to simply run around a town, skipping over rooftops.

Shame, then, almost every other part of the game is either broken, rubbish or missing. Combat is rudimentary. Altair's voice-actor is awful. Missions are repetitive. The sci-fi plot is hammy as a room full of ham steaks. You get the idea. It's like Ubisoft spent all their time/effort on Altair and the beautiful game world, only to forget to work on the stuff you can do once you're actually in that game world. You know. The important stuff.

As a tech demo or a teaser for the franchise, it's wonderful. But as a game in its own right? With missions and variety and opportunity and all those gamey things? Not wonderful. Very average, in fact. Indeed the game's most lasting achievement might be that it laid the foundation for inevitable, superior sequels, where we get to keep the controls but also get hold of an involving quest or two while we're at it.

Activision honcho Robert Kotick is not a nerd. He has a totally cool nickname, "Bobby." And cool guys have a nickname like that. His company puts out cool games like Call of Duty 4 and Guitar Hero. Bobby recently told a room full of press:

I was at the BA terminal a few weeks ago and I had to take my belt off and it was 20 minutes before the plane was leaving and it was an international flight. I started running and realised I need my belt. My pants fell down. And I tripped.

That about sums it up. Aspyr, who are handling the publishing of the game for home computers, have announced that the Mac version of Activision's bread-winner has gone gold, and will be shipping to retailers on December 10. The Mac version will include the PC version (it's a hybrid bundle), as well as allow cross-platform online play between Macs and PCs. Sadly, Mac fans, the bundle will not include a sleek, stylish and minimalist all-white guitar. Sorry.

[via Blues News]

Ready for the Holidays? Japan is! Without Thanksgiving, Christmas decorations start going up sometime right after Halloween. What kind of decorations? Christmas trees, wreaths, Pokémon lights. You know, the usual.

Holly jolly Pokemas [Siliconera]

There's an interview with Shigeru Miyamoto up over at Next-Gen (by regular Kotaku contributor John Gaudiosi), which as you'd expect from a writer who hob-knobs with Hollywood, is mostly about the movies. There's some interesting stuff from Miyamoto about why most videogame adaptations are rubbish. The Mario Bros. movie, for instance:

Well, when we first initiated talks about a Super Mario Bros, movie, I tried to emphasise the point that the Mario Bros. games are fun as videogames and if we were going to make a Mario Bros. movie, that movie should be entertaining as a movie, and not a translation of the videogame. I think that they tried very hard and in the end it was a very fun project that they put a lot of effort into. The one thing that I still have some regrets about is that the movie may have tried to get a little too close to what the Mario Bros. videogames were. And in that sense, it became a movie that was about a videogame, rather than being an entertaining movie in and of its self.

MIYAMOTO: THE INTERVIEW [Next-Gen] [Image: Yoshikazu Tsuno/Getty]

This screenshot, this one right here, is a mistake. It shows what looks like a bulky dude with an enormous arm covered in Oscar Mayer wieners. If this is supposed to be Bionic Commando, why is he walking?! When people can't play a title, they go by the only thing they can. In this case, screenshots. We (being me) haven't played it either, but watched a couple Capcom dudes play through it yesterday. They seemed to like it! (Hey, the Nissan salesman at my local dealership really seems to enjoy driving Nissans, too.) For about thirty minutes, we had a Hands-Off, Eyes-On with the game.

At the recent Final Fantasy XI Fan Festival, Gamasutra's Emily Balistrieri got a chance to sit down for tea and biscuits with Square Enix VP Hiromichi Tanaka. They chatted about all kinds of stuff that will bore anyone who's not a rabid FFXI player to death, but this bit, this bit's a little more interesting:

As you might already know, members from the current FFXI team are working on a next generation MMO, but it still hasn't been decided whether that's going to be a game in the FF series, a continuation, or a totally new game. We are working on it, but it hasn't been decided that far yet.

Event Recap: Final Fantasy XI Fan Festival 2007 [Gamasutra]

It is if comedian Artie Lange is to be believed. Appearing on the Howard Stern show, he said he'd just finished recording some dialogue for a new Leisure Suit Larry game, where he'll be playing a character called "Big Al". Totally unconfirmed by Sierra at this stage, but why would anyone make something like that up? They wouldn't. It'd be far too cruel. Though not as cruel as another Magna Cum Laude, so here's hoping for a real Larry game this time around.

Rumor: New Leisure Suit Larry Game In Production [Game|Life]

Wedbush Morgan analyst and all-powerful seer Michael Pachter has weighed in on the future of Guitar Hero. He and his analyst buddies are receiving messages from the ether that tell them the franchise will move over 7 million copies in 2007, dropping to 6.3 million the following year. How will Activision and Red Octane keep pace? By issuing a pair of expansion packs!

The spirit world gave no indication what those expansion may be, according to Gamespot's account, but several hints have been dropped over the past year. Rumors of an Aerosmith dominated sequel were bandied about this fall, with hints of multiple themed discs whispered long before that. While lofty plans for a half-dozen Guitar Hero collections in 2007 didn't come to fruition, those discs dedicated to Country and Metal genres may still be in the works.

Analyst: Guitar Hero series to sell 7M in '07, two expansions coming [Gamespot]

Continuing on (unofficially) from our brush with Blizzard's esteemed developer trio, here's the pair of famous Japanese music men that paid Melbourne's Game Connect event a visit a few weeks ago. They do games and anime, and they much prefer the sound of live recordings over synthesisers, even if machines can do awesome set pieces that are impossible for humans to reproduce.

Now, I've decided to tie a competition in with this photo. All you have to do is Photoshop a speech bubble above the head of the handsome man on the left, and the most comical will win themselves a copy of Mario Party DS. Send your entry to tips AT kotaku.com.au, and I'll pick a winner on Friday. Crude entries will not be accepted, so keep it clean folks.

And before you ask, yes, it's the same copy of Mario Party DS from yesterday's comp, as no one was able to correctly identify all of our cosplayers. It was a tricky one.

The two men above are named after the jump, if for some reason you're unable to hover over the image itself for a massive hint.

A recent preview on the PlayStation 3 version of Valve's The Orange Box was less than kind. Sure, the PS3 edition of Portal seems fine, but the adventures of Gordon Freeman were given a lashing. Terms "downright unplayable", "slideshow" and "substandard" were peppered throughout the preview of the Half-Life 2 portions of the collection. Many days late and frames per second short, PS3 owners were finally getting a stinker of a port from EA UK. Recent previews from IGN and Gamespy, however, paint a slightly less depressing picture.

IGN's Hilary Goldstein writes that The Orange Box for the PlayStation 3 "is still a fantastic collection and runs well for the most part, but there are some technical issues that put it behind the 360 version." He then tempers that with a stiff upper lip, writing that the "technical issues aren't going to be enough to deter anyone who wants to enjoy Orange Box on PS3." and that "unless you require your games to never dip below 30fps, you should not strike The Orange Box off your PS3 holiday wish list."

Back in July, we let you know that if you used the battery from an old, fat PSP in your new, slim PSP, it would give you a lot more juice. Only problem was, using the old battery - which is a lot larger - meant the battery cover from your PSP-2000 wouldn't fit. Aesthetic crisis! Or should we say, crisis averted: Sony have gone and done the sensible thing and announced the PSP Extended Life Battery Kit, which gives users not only an improved model of the old PSP's battery, but a special cover so your svelte PSP Slim can actually house the thing.

Sony claim that PSP Slim users will see their battery life doubled, while owners of an old PSP (which this battery is compatible with) can expect a little less. The pack includes one battery and two covers (one in piano black, one in silver), and will ship in mid-December for $US 45.

To: Ash
From: Crecente
Re: 4 Year-Old Blues

Wow, that's a bummer. I was actually sick for nearly two weeks when I got to Australia. I ended up getting better at Surfers only to pass it on to my wife and mother-in-law. Tristan remained germ free.

Speaking of Tristan, I suspect he's starting to get himself a little girlfriend. Since we've been here he's struck up quite a friendship with an across-the-street-neighbor of my in-laws. He and this 51/2-year-old hang out together almost daily, which isn't that strange, because Tristan is friends with a lot of little girls back home. But recently I've noticed him acting a little bit different. The other day, for instance, I caught fixing up his hair in a mirror. This morning I walked by his room and found him in deep thought, staring at a t-shirt laid across a pair of shorts on his bed. After a few minutes he asked "Do these look good together?" Yep, he's got himself a girlfriend. Def need to look into getting his own little bird shirt.

What you missed:
NCSoft: We Have No Intention of Leaving Games
EA On Need For Speed Porn: Oops
Virgin Comics And Perspective Team For New IP
The Life-Sized Plushie Companion Cubes
MTV Talks About Rock Band the TV Show
Nintendo: 350k Wii Sold Last Week, Record DS Sales
Xbox Japan Dishes Fall 360 Update Details
Game Developers Rolling in the Lucre

There's no denying that Activision, Red Octane and Harmonix have been making money hand over fist with stellar sales of the Guitar Hero franchise. All involved are thrilled to have taken part in this very successful venture, right? Wrong. The little people, the studio musicians responsible for Guitar Hero's cover versions, are crying foul, unable to take part in the high-class hooker and champagne parties that assuredly everyone from QA tester to producer to CEO are enjoying on a regular basis. They've been financially "left in the dust" writes free paper Metro and may be the forgotten, abused cogs in the new "creative sweatshop" machine.

The paper makes the argument that Wavegroup Sound and the studio musicians they contract for remakes are getting the short end of the stick. How short? Some musicians are only being compensated $US 100 to $US 150 an hour to lend their skills to recreate the music of others. The hell? I thought a musician's career was more stable and financially rewarding than this!

There's a reason they pay Activision's chief executive officer Bobby Kotick the big bucks. He's got fresh insight on the video game buying consumer, a group whom he believes likes less expensive consoles. A progressive theory, to be sure, but Kotick wowed the financial community with his acumen, claiming that the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 need a price drop to $US 199 within the next two years to remain competitive. Furthermore, he's got his sensitive fingers so well placed on the pulse of the market that he believes the much cheaper Wii "is now setting a standard and an expectation" on console pricing.

Sure, go ahead and laugh at the mentally unstable man! I have a sneaking suspicion that he might be right about this one. Kotick will be vindicated, you'll see. It's just crazy enough to work, I say.

Activision CEO: $199 for consoles critical [Reuters]