Our Show-Us-Hell-Win-Hellgate: London contest continues! Reader Joey sends us this "Hell" from a Pokémon card. Clever! Remember, we're giving away a copy of Hellgate: London. Here's the contest: Show us the word "Hell" on something -- anything, but just don't write it. Take a picture of it and send it to kotakucontestATkotakuDOTcom. Deadline for this is next Wednesday, December 5th. Remember: You're not just playing for a copy of Hellgate: London but the proverbial INTERNET FAME. Good luck!

Hellgate: London [Official Site]

Mickey Mouse Doesn't Look Like a Mouse
Comment by: aldo_14
Nominated by: skrame

@Sailorcancer:
Does Japan have to worry about west nile virus?

Nah, it's in the east.

There Is No Shortage of Homophobes on Xbox Live
Comment by: Campster
Nominated by: sholmes

I think it's pretty awful to assume that using a name like xxxGayBoyxxx is "asking for it." By the same logic a woman who signs up as HaloChick23 is just opening herself up to being called a bitch, or a Muslim who signs up as IslamIsNeat is opening himself up to a bunch of Jihad and towel head jokes.

While putting personal information on such a public forum isn't a brilliant idea, it doesn't give people the right to be assholes. You can't say "Being gay isn't a crime, but admitting to it is." Wearing a low-cut dress doesn't make a rape victim less of a victim, and putting "Gay" in your gamertag doesn't make you any more deserving of hate.

This is a well thought out and perfectly articulated comment on a very serious issue. Please put it front and centre for others to read and learn from. Thank you.

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This one's self-explanitory: A viral Scarface parody for the Time Crisis 4's Guncon 3, complete with a Tony Montana-style suit and bad Cuban accent.

We want to help. Really. Whether it be answering your questions or ignoring them, we're here. Previously, we got an email from Kojima, but since we'd fired him long ago, we were never able to reply. Reader Oummada sent us the following email not once, but twice. It reads:

To: Bashcraft
From: Oummada H.
RE: Scoop Dragon Ball Z live action movie (casting)

20th Century Fox

My name is Oummada H., I'm writting this letter to let you know, that I went to play in the Dragon Ball Z movies. First of all, because I have what it takes to play the role of Sangoku in your movie. I have never palyed in a movie, but everyone needs to start somewhere. Second of all, you can see on the pictures, that I have joined to this letter, that I have the same haircut as Sangoku and we all know that Sangoku's hair is the power. Third of all, I know everyting on Dragon Ball's Z universe, except the personel view of Akira Toriyama. To conclude, I have a twin brother that looks just like me. I hope your will read this letter and see my pictures and realise that I am the real Sangoku.

Dear, Mr Akira Toriyama.

My name is Oummada H. and I think that I could play the role of Sangoku in Dragon Ball Z for 20th Century Fox, who bought the rights of the movies. As you can see on my pictures, from my personel view, I look just like Sangoku. I'm sure by seeing those pictures, you'll be shocked by the resemblance of Sangoku and I. I also have a twin brother that looks just like me, I think you know where I want to come to thank you, for taking the time to read my letter.

for contact my: (his email address - Ed.)

Pics of this casting hopeful after the jump.

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To: Ash
From: Fahey
Re: Japanese Post Office? Good Times

My mother has decided to save some money this year on Christmas gifts, and to that end she has started surfing our local Atlanta Craigslist for items on her children and grandchildren's holiday wish lists. Thanks to some of the stories about items sold on Craigslist I've read over the years, I am convinced she is either going to end up mugged, or possibly solicited for sex. This leads to questions about how far my mother would go to get my nephew a Wii for Christmas...questions I am not sure I ever want answered.

Now that I've gotten everyone imagining their parents having sex with strangers, let's jump straight to...

What you missed:
Squenix Brings Odin Sphere To Europe
El Paso Police Nab Fugitives With 360s
Xbox 360 Fall Update, Details Announced, Brings DivX
Tomb Raider Underworld Coming Next?
CNET Comments On Gamespot Controversy
Warhawk Expansion Detailed, Priced

Now to sit back and see if my mother actually reads the site, or if she is a big, lying, meany.

The official Soul Calibur IV website (of the Japanese persuasion) has updated with a half-batch of new and semi-old screen shots. Yes, I said "old", so you don't have to. However, more than a handful are new. Actually, that's not true. I just wanted to write "more than a handful" as it seemed appropriate. For anyone who has forgotten that Namco-Bandai is aggressively targeting the D-cup fans, a gallery is below.

Trying to wrap one's head around the various incarnations of Westone's Wonder Boy series can be a bit confusing. Okay, it's downright mind numbing. Over the course of six games released across various platforms, it has arrived in various regions under the titles Adventure Island (which then spawned its own series of games), The Dynastic Hero, Monster Lair and Dragon's Curse. Fortunately, we have Wired's Chris Kohler to break it all down for us, Virtual Console style. He does his best to clear up the Wonder Boy confusion running wild with Wii Shop Channel surfers in a post at Game|Life.

Thanks to him, I think I finally get it. Wait. Nevermind, I lost it again. Still confused.

Virtual Console's Wonder Boy Games, Explained [Game|Life]

Remember that Eurogamer chat with Fable creator Peter Molyneux I told you about on Monday? You didn't? Great. Sometimes it feels like I'm writing to a wall here. Luckily for all of us, Eurogamer has seen fit to reveal some of Peter's comments to the world at large, with the most interesting being a target release date for Fable 2: This Time There's A Dog.

"Late 2008. Maybe when the leaves have a slight brownish tinge - but are still on the trees, if you see what I mean."

What kind of answer is that? Is that European leaves? U.S. leaves? What kind of climate are we talking about? *looks out window* Brown leaves on trees! Could it be now? While I try to contact an arborologist, hit the link below to see some of Molyneux's other comments, including hints on Lionhead's other project, his console of choice, and his preferred choice of super-power, which is not laser eyes. Some visionary. Hmph.

Fable 2 in late 2008 - Molyneux [Eurogamer]

It's nice to feel smug and superior when comparing one's knowledge to that of New York Times reporters. Unfortunately, it's only for the geekiest of reasons, as we're feeling quite high and mighty taking comfort in the knowledge that our understanding of video games and console technology far outweighs that of the Times.

The NYT makes mention of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 both being powered by the Cell processor, with the latter listing for as low as $US 299. Furthermore, the paper refers to Gran Turismo 5 as "a hyper-realistic, high-speed journey, is one of the [PlayStation 3's] best sellers." At least they know that Halo 3 is the third episode in the series, a game that Dan Strack, a trader for a Wall Street bank, is quoted as calling the "latest and greatest game that people are walking on water over."

While this edition of the New York Times may be forgiven, as it may have come from the future, we can't excuse Strack's sloppy metaphor. Halo 3 doesn't make you Jesus.

Some Essential Hardware (Even Away From the Street) [New York Times - thanks, Aaron]

The official PlayStation blog features new details from Warhawk producer and brass ball gifter Dylan Jobe on the recently confirmed expansion Operation: Omega Dawn. As we've mentioned before, the Warhawk add-on will ship with one new vehicle, the the KT-424 Combat Dropship, a new battlefield, the Omega Factory, featuring 6 layouts, and a new setting. That last one would be nighttime! Spooky.

Jobe and crew have posted new pictures of the expansion and put a $US 7.99 price tag on the thing. The date is still sometime in December and the gameplay descriptions of taking down the dropship sound just nifty.

Operation: Omega Dawn [PlayStation.blog]

Over at the Official Xbox Magazine they've just launched a brand new feature called The Scoreboard, which takes a different approach to reviewing Xbox 360 games. Instead of reviewing the games themselves, Casey Lynch critiques the games' achievement points. The inaugural installment takes a look at Guitar Hero II, Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty 4, and Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Burning Earth, listing their best, worst, easiest, and hardest achievements, and then giving a final overall score for each title. Guitar Hero II took the the low mark of this round with a 5/10, mainly because many achievements ask you to do things outside the normal parameters of the game, such as playing through a career using the standard controller. The winner was Avatar with an 11/10, an extraordinary score justified by the fact that you can get 1,000 gamerscore points in two minutes. This is just a completely brilliant idea, and I look forward to future installments of The Scoreboard.

The Scoreboard #1 [OXM Online - Thanks GetsomeYo!]

A commenter on sister site Valleywag, who claims to be a current Gamespot employee, wrote anonymously about the current situation surrounding rumours of former editorial director Jeff Gerstmann's termination. The new user, known as "gamespot", who does a fairly solid impression of a bitter employee of CNET, if nothing else, provides possible insight into the emotional state at Gamespot's editorial staff. In response to a Valleywag post that quoted another supposed CNET employee, one whose "gut" had informed them that Gerstmann was fired for unspecified "larger" reasons, "gamespot" chimed in. Many had questioned the timing of the termination, wondering why, if the Kane & Lynch: Dead Men review had been published over two weeks ago, was Jeff fired just two days ago?

Commenter "gamespot" responded.

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The Shacknews crew got word from 2K Games that Xbox 360 and PC gamers will be on the receiving end of some fresh BioShock content next week. The downloadable goods consist of extra plasmids, a harder difficulty that disables Vita-Chambers and more. Those particularly annoyed by BioShock's widescreen display implementation will also find a fix for that. The full when, what, how and why is at Shacknews.

BioShock Patches, Free Plasmid DLC to Hit Next Week [Shacknews]

The nice folks at Wizards of the Coast, producers of everything Dungeons and Dragons, just dropped me a line to remind me that December 4th is National Dice Day here in the U.S., when we all should set aside some time to marvel at the wondrous simplicity of dice. While the origins of the holiday remain shrouded in mystery, WotC did offer some helpful background info on dice themselves.

Dice have been around for more than 5000 years and have been part of the popular roleplaying game, D&D since its inception more than 30 years ago (though current gamers likely use dice made from plastics rather than oxen ankle bones like early forms of dice).

Okay, so it is just a way to market D&D, but the holiday certainly predates the WotC email, according to my good pal Google.

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This is it, kids. The start of a new era of video gaming has begun as Nintendo has shipped Wii Fit in Japan. The 8800 yen (about $US 80) game with its custom controller, the Wii balance board, was revealed at E3 2007, with some expecting it to act as the Wii's answer to Nintendo DS-selling mega-hit Brain Age. North American and European gamers won't have access to Wii Fit until sometime in 2008, but Japan is burning calories as we speak (or will be within hours).

We'll know next Wednesday how well Wii Fit performed in its debut week as Media Create sales numbers are released. Friendly wagers are certainly welcome in the comments. For those with the means, did you pick it up? Import it? Let us know what you think, if so.

The patch that Ubisoft promised to deliver to PlayStation 3 owners of Assassin's Creed is due to be delivered over the course of a few days. Ubisoft's community manager posted on the company's official forums that "a corrective update has been developed and will be released worldwide on the PLAYSTATION® Network over the next few days." As you may have heard, Assassin's Creed PS3 users have reported lock ups and "white screens of death" on the official forums.

Those affected should be able to grab the update from within the game's interface. Let us know if and when you do.

Game update for PlayStation 3 Assassin's Creed is now live [Ubisoft Forums - thanks, Jason!]

Many real-time strategy games give you a basic back story to why the factions are fighting and then let you get right to it. Not Tom Clancy's EndWar. Each unit has their own background information and history, as evidenced by the information overload dropped by Ubisoft on just one unit of each of the game's three factions. Even the riflemen - sure to be one of the lowliest of infantry units in the voice-controlled RTS - score a page of information each. After a gallery of renders and screenshots and the ever pleasant jump, you'll find profiles on the riflemen units for the Russian Spetsnaz Guard Brigade, the European Enforcers Corps, the United States' Joint Strike Force. Nice to see this level of detail being to applied where we would have surely just accepted "These are guys with rifles."

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This week's Dojo Dump reads more like an instruction manual than anything else, so a pair of NES era remixes adds some nice welcome variety. I have to admit that I remember almost nothing from Zelda II, and hearing the Temple theme mix didn't help dust off any cobwebs. It really is a bit insane how much stuff the gang at Nintendo have packed into Super Smash Bros. Brawl, as the number of options available are approaching staggering. Of personal interest is hilarious detail on my favourite Nintendo character, Wario, and his amazing Final Smash. Don't miss it.

The Dojo Dump is right after this (and by this I mean that ->).

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Alright, all of you Final Fantasy and anime fans out there who are trying half-heartedly to learn Japanese, say it with me! "KAWAII!" It helps if you giggle, jump into the air, and clap as you exclaim it in a slightly squeaky voice. Very good! I'm beginning to worry that my life-long love of Final Fantasy was really just a life-long love of chocobos that disguised itself up until Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales came out on the DS. The tingly feeling I got as I grinned a dimple-revealing grin while watching this Japanese trailer for Chocobo's Dungeon: Toki-Wasure no Meikyuu for the Wii only serves to confirm my fears. *violently sweeps Final Fantasy figures from bookshelf to the floor* My life is a lie!

Me? I'm still eyeballs deep in The Orange Box. Actually, I'm in passive playing mode right now, watching my roommate work his way through Half-Life 2: Episode One while I relive the experience and offer sage advice. I've also got some work obligations with Atlus' Draglade and Trauma Center: The New Blood to undertake, but I fully intend to finally break the seal on my copy of The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. I've had previous weekend intentions to get some time with it, to no avail.

Other than that, I think my Rock Band rock band The Bad Dates will be piling into the virtual van so I can brush up on my fake drumming skills. What about you kids? Got any gaming plans for the weekend?

We contacted CNET Networks last night to try to get confirmation about the rumoured dismissal of Jeff Gerstmann, former editorial director and veteran reviewer at Gamespot. While Leslie Van Every, Director of Public Relations, did confirm that Gerstmann was no longer with the organisation, she declined to comment on "the status of employees current [or] former", citing CNET Networks' policy. The official statement from Gamespot is after the break.

GameSpot takes its editorial integrity extremely seriously. For over a decade, GameSpot and the many members of its editorial team have produced thousands of unbiased reviews that have been a valuable resource for the gaming community. At CNET Networks, we stand behind the editorial content that our teams produce on a daily basis.

As many of our readers and peers have noticed, Gamespot is no longer running the prominent Kane & Lynch: Dead Men ads on its web site. They were removed late last night, a few hours after publication of the original story. It is unknown whether this change was in response to the rumour that Gerstmann was fired over reasons surrounding the Eidos published game or if the promotion had simply run its course.

An interview with Stephane D'Astous of the newly opened Eidos Montreal story reveals that Deus Ex 3 is being built on the foundation of the latest Tomb Raider games. The studio is using the Crystal Dynamics Tomb Raider engine that was so handy in transforming Lara Croft's series into something people wouldn't be embarrassed to play as the foundation for the third installment of the popular series. The reasoning?

We chose the Crystal engine because we plan to help develop this engine more and then share it back with the rest of the company, the other Eidos studios. Having that technology from the start gives us a great advantage and foundation for our coders - there are no doubts about the approach, and we have few uncertainties.

Plus it also saves a hell of a lot of time trying to develop an engine from the ground up, and that's good because I've wanted Deus Ex 3 since Deus Ex 2 came out. Snap to it, developer boy!

Q&A: Stephane D'Astous, Eidos Montreal [Develop via CVG]

Here's a sizable walkthrough of the upcoming Xbox 360 fall update. One detail we didn't quite catch in the press release was the new Marketplace Spotlight area (50 seconds in). It looks...ummm...familiar, to say the least. No, I'm going to go ahead and say more. It's XMB. Plain and simple and reactionary (naysayers may point out that it's similar to the new Zune, which naysayer naysayers will say ripped off the PSP).

That's not to say it looks bad. In fact, Spotlight does look highly functional and intuitive, and its separate tab for free content will be welcomed by cheapos such as myself. So it's a pretty clear improvement in my book. But I never expected when I woke up this morning that I'd see Microsoft's dash copying Sony's. Seriously, this is the sort of flame bait one can only dream about.

Rock Band is a game that's so incredibly holy what I'm about to say is more than metaphorical blasphemy. And maybe it's my fault for not reading between the lines. In fact, I'm sure that it is. But how did I possibly miss that 4-player online Rock Band required 4 different Xbox LIVE Gold accounts? In other words, two people on one machine can't login online and play online unless each of those two people each have their own LIVE account.

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Here's some news that comes as absolutely no surprise. Days after discussing what a cluster f*** developing Blacksite: Area 51 turned out to be at the Montreal International Game Summit 2007, Harvey Smith is leaving his post as the creative director of Midway Austin, which he has held since November 2004. A senior member of the Austin Team confirmed the departure with GameTap, and while no specific reasons were cited, they explained that the departure was "by mutual agreement between Harvey and the studio." Of course that could mean anything from exclaiming, "My job here is done!" and rushing boldly out the door to, "You're not going to work here anymore, okay?" "Okay."

While Smith obviously was unhappy with the working conditions at the company, I'd daresay the sudden drop off in sales once the game's designer badmouthed the project was an equally determining force. Fear not for Harvey, however. As the lead designer on the original Deus Ex, I can think of any number of projects he'd be perfect for.

Harvey Smith and Midway Austin Part Ways [GameTap]

Have you seen the movie Underworld? OK, great. Now take that movie and relate it in absolutely no way to Tomb Raider Underworld, the rumoured next TR sequel since the trademark was discovered. Said to revolve around the Mayan calendar, or more specifically, the five unnamed days at the end of the year known only as "Wayeb'." During this time, the realm of the living and dead was said to blur, leading us to only one, inevitable plotline in the game: giant ghost/zombie jubblies.

Tomb Raider Underworld [via gamelife]

EA chief exec John Riccitiello has been talking a lot to Reuters lately. But we couldn't pass up posting a little more on Riccitello as he reflects on the transition to the newest generation of consoles, and claiming that Black Friday sealed the deal on the new market.

"It's been the longest, hardest transition in the history of the industry...Last Friday marked one of those points where you can say something's changed...Around the world, based on the data I've got, it was pretty clear that the transition is now over.

What about Sony?

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A few days ago, we posted a Rock Band drums mod promising to quiet the loud experience of actual drumming that sometimes gets in the way of Rock Band's (virtual) soundtrack. Apparently some people actually listen to our mindless rantings (as we try to perfect the legendary art of typing in tongues), because one of our readers tested the method and found it to work quite well:

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Tonight on Spike TV's Game Head, the man forever to be known as former Kotaku guest editor Geoff Keighley will be taking on everyone's favourite and possibly former Florida lawyer in a bit of debate from this year's VGXpo in Philadelphia. The show promises a look at the real JT...his cause, his opposition, and "what his son's friends in high school say about him". Intriguing! With the fate of JT's professional career hanging in the balance at the moment his time in the spotlight might be waning, so you really should get as much Jack in your system as you can, just in case. That could be taken multiple ways, and most likely should be. You have to be up at 1am Eastern to catch the show anyway, so you might as well party.

I really love it when you guys do all the research for us. DC area Kotakuite Billkwando saw a version of the above advertisement on the side of a bus while making his way around town, only in Spanish with the heading, "El Sofa Asesino", which of course translates into "Awesome name for a luchador."

While I understand that The Health Care System Foundation, who created this advertisement, would have to go to the trouble of photoshopping the Xbox 360 into a more nondescript form and have the child holding a wired controller that isn't technically plugged into anything, there are a few things I don't understand. For instance, why pick such an overweight child for a model, and Killer Sofa? Come on. I mean, it certainly is a nice sofa, and it looks comfortable, but I wouldn't call it a Killer Sofa. Nice sofa maybe. Not killer.

Download The Killer Sofa In PDF Form [The HCS Foundation - Thanks Billkwando!]

We've already covered details at least twice about the upcoming Xbox 360 fall update, but Microsoft has just released the (almost) final, mega press release with all the details. The big news? DivX support. Here's the complete list of updates, with brief descriptions for easy digestion:

- Xbox Originals: Download Xbox classics.
- Xbox LIVE Arcade Hits: Games like Lumines LIVE! available for less.
- Inside Xbox: News ticker.
- Enhanced online profile: Let people know, does your personality match your Zodiac sign?
- Expanded Friends List access: See friends of friends.
- Enhanced Parental Controls: family timer.
- New video features: They promise, among other things, "advanced codec support." Could this mean DivX? UPDATE: YES! But only for Divx 5.0 and newer files.

Pretty ho hum in my book, other than the DivX support. Here's the full press release:

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Blizzard never expected that WoW would become the fastest selling drug since the two-way tie between Krispy Kremes and cocaine--according to a recent interview with former Blizzard man Bill Roper.

You have to remember...that the most successful American MMORPG at that time was EverQuest with about 500,000 players.

He continues:

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While the rest of creation has since moved on to Guitar Hero III or Rock Band, there are still some Xbox 360 owners out there who prefer the great taste of Guitar Hero II, and to you Red Octane is sending out some love. The Indie Label Pack has just gone up on Xbox Live, featuring three songs from artists whose names are only vaguely familiar to me. For the standard Guitar Hero DLC price of 500 Microsoft points, you'll get "State of Massachusetts" by Dropkick Murphys, "You Should Be Ashamed of Myself" by The Bled, and "Memories of the Grove" by Maylene & The Sons of Disaster. Of the three, Dropkick Murphys is the most vaguely familiar, and so they get a nice giant picture atop the article. The other two must try harder, and maybe next time you'll make it!

New Guitar Hero 2 Song Pack Hits Xbox Live [Shacknews]

I am convinced that the PlayStation Portable is going to become the best platform for Japanese RPG if they ever get around to phasing out the PS2, and XSEED's announcement of Wild ARMs XF (Crossfire) coming to North American PSPs in Spring of next year only strengthens that belief. The first handheld Wild ARMs game ever, XF is the natural progression of the series from the hex grid system used in the past two console versions into full-on hex-based strategy.

It places you on the dying world of Filgaia, where a personal story of revenge slowly transforms into a mission to save the world. Pretty standard for Wild ARMs, really. What isn't is standard is the turn-based strategy, which features over 60 stages, tons of optional battles, and 20 job classes to help customise your party. As a special bonus, the US version includes a 20 track music library accessible from the game's main menu, letting you listen to the game when you shouldn't be playing. Check out the gallery below for tons of portable Wild ARMs goodness.

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Rule of thumb here people. If you are on the run from the law for a crime you did or did not commit, you don't win video game consoles. Even if you do, you don't. A lot of fugitives from justice learned this lesson the hard way in early November, when police in El Paso Texas staged a roundup using an Xbox 360 and a television as bait. The fugitives in question were informed that they had won a fabulous video game prize, and when they arrived to pick it up they were arrested on the spot. The operation led to 115 arrests, 129 cleared warrants, and the collection of $US 25,686 in unpaid traffic fines. Not one Xbox 360 was given away. Once again, if you are on the lam, you win nothing. Don't try to collect a prize, show up for the game show you suddenly get invited to, or follow that piece of candy being mysteriously drug along the ground by a string towards a waiting paddy wagon. It can only end in tears.

115 fugitives, lured by gifts, arrested in El Paso sting [El Paso Times via GameRush Entertainment]

From closed beta to open beta in just over two weeks! Aeria Games has just announced that the open beta for Dream of Mirror Online, the cutesy social MMO where you can chose to kill monsters or love on them, making them your pets. Characters can form special bonds with other players, screw around with the six crafting disciplines, feed and care for their pets, or just kill, kill, kill to their hearts content.

I spent some time in the closed beta for the game, and while it is sort of simplistic, it is also absolutely adorable, and randomly humorous. Take the introduction to screenshots, where they have you pose with an NPC while you take snapshots like the one at the top of this article. Yes, my character is a girl. A kitty girl, dammit. Hit the link below to check it out for yourself!

Dream of Mirror Online Website [Aeria Games]

When Hudson isn't busy laying off chunks of their workforce, they spend their time readying new Bomberman games for the masses. Games like Bomberman Land Wii, which is a collection of mini-games that take advantage of the system's unique control scheme. It's about time we got a collection of mini-games on the Wii, isn't it? *sighs* Bomberman really needs to stick to mazes and bombs. The most successful Bomberman games of the past few years? Bomberman Live on Xbox Live Arcade and Bomberman DS. Mazes and bombs people. Mazes and bombs.

Video game television program Gamer TV will be airing a very special episode this weekend, all about the delayed and then delayed again PlayStation 3 exclusive shooter, Haze. The special is hosted by members of the Free Radical design team Dave Doak, Derek Littlewood, and screenwriter Rob Yescombe. The show will include exclusive footage of four player co-op in action, and promises to reveal an all-new twist in Haze's already twisted plotline.

Gamer TV's Haze special will be airing this Saturday at 10:00 am on Bravo 2 in the UK, with encore showings on Bravo the first Sunday at 11:30 am and again on Monday at 4:30 pm. We yanks are going to have to wait until next Saturday to catch the show on Starz Edge at 11:00 am and again on the 12th at 8:30 pm. Be sure to set your Tivo so you can watch it over and over again until the game is released sometime early next year.

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While they might have dipped a bit this past week, but you don't have to win every battle to win the war. According to Enterbrain, the PlayStation 3 came out on top in monthly sales over the Wii for the month of November, pushing 183,217 consoles to Nintendo's 159,193. This marks the first time Sony came out on top since the PS3's release last November. Is this an indication that Sony is returning to its former glory in Japan? Analyst Hiroshi Kamide of KBC Securities isn't convinced.

"It's nice to see the system selling much better than six months ago. But is it a sustainable trend? Is it going to really escalate from here? I'm not so sure."

I'm hoping the momentum keeps up. Not to dismiss the popularity of the Wii, but the PS3, despite costs, has turned out to be an extremely reliable system, and with excellent games like Ratchet and Clank and Uncharted coming out this early in the console's life cycle, things can only get better. Feel free to twist this into a 'Kotaku Hates Sony' post in the comments section!