The dust has settled on the gaming and internet review from game playin', booze drinkin', clinical psychologist Tanya Byron. Now that it's finished, what is Dr. Tanya going to do? First up, she's going on vacation with her family. But after that...? Will she be returning to the gaming industry? Dr. Tanya seems reasonable enough, we'd love to have her back! Says the good doctor:

Capcom's official Japanese Street Fighter IV site has new screenies of Lucha Libre wrestler and gourmet cook El Fuerte. Check them out in the gallery below. Delicious!

Personal Story: I've been waiting over a year for my Japanese "Art Of Okami" book to ship. Don't think it's ever going to happen. In its place, though, I guess I can console myself with Okami Art, a nice little act of fan service put up by Capcom for lovers of all things art and Amaterasu. It amounts to having the gates to the game's press assets thrown open to the public, with some fan art and snazzy widescreen wallpapers tossed in for flavour. Seems simple, but serious fans lap this kinda stuff up. Classy move, Capcom.
[Okami Art]

What's with all the trilogies game developer people? Like, why not make one game, and if that doesn't suck, make another. And so on! If things go really well you can use the Square Enix playbook and go batty. Silicon Knights' years-in-the-making Too Human is no exception. The game has been announced as a trilogy. But why? Says game designer Denis Dyack:

Hollywood still has the edge. As pretty as those Gran Turismo games are (and they're pretty pretty), they're not as nice looking as CG in movies. Series creator Kazunori Yamauchi is rarin' to change that. He's already thinking of stuff that's not even possible on the PS3. Says Yamauchi:

This has been bothering us. Really. We've been dying to know. For ages. The question: How many Haruhis fit into a telephone booth? Such a simple, yet profound question. Hit the jump for the exciting conclusion! Do it!!

Reader Vincent took one for the team. He not only met Uwe Boll, but also saw the early sneak Postal screening. In the same night. Reader Vincent sounds like a total masochist! According to reader Vincent, the movie is a "decent homage" to the game and "decently funny." Writes reader Vincent:

Gloom and doom! Those living in the US are starting to feel (or maybe, totally feeling) the effects of a downward economy. How will it affect gaming? According to analyst Hiroshi Kamide at KBC Securities Japan, "A recessionary environment is negative for the electronic entertainment industry, but we believe the core gaming market to be more resilient than its casual counterpart." So, core gamers will keep buying, while casual gamers won't. Good news for some companies, bad news for others!

A strong yen sucks. Well, maybe not for you, but for me and Sony, it's pretty sucky. A stronger yen slices into Sony's profits as for every one yen that rises against the dollar, the company loses about $US 59 million. Gah! Sony President Ryoji Chubachi says:

That little HD DVD experiment was pricey! But when you are Microsoft, what are trivial things like money? Nothing! Just look how smug Xbox 360 UK boss Neil Thompson is. Think the death of HD-DVD keeps him up at night? No way. This guy sleeps like a baby. No, he sleeps like two babies. Says Thompson:

Mr. Driller? More like Mr. Broken. Players are reporting that the game's online is bug infested. The character gets stuck or crushed instantly or stuck inside blocks. Ironic as the game's called Mr. Driller Online! Over on the Xbox LIVE Forums, one commenter wrote: "This is the worst online I have ever seen. It's even worse than 'The Darkness' and that was bad". Ouch. Maybe Bandai Namco re-dub it Mr. Driller Offline? Yes, we think that would be best.

Hit the jump for clips. Bugginess abound!

Screen Play is reporting that our version of GTA IV was modified in advance to get it past the Office of Film and Literature Classification with an MA15+ rating. While this has been confirmed by Rockstar's local presence, it was tight lipped about what it removed from the game.

Rockstar has plenty of experience with the OFLC, so I'm not surprised it took no chances and edited GTA IV ahead of the ratings process. Doesn't stop us from feeling ripped off, especially considering the game's inflated price.

To be fair, what's a publisher to do in the face of an antiquated classification system?

UPDATE (10/4/2008): Rockstar has released a statement regarding the edited version, and the lack of an R18+ rating in Australia.

UPDATE (15/4/2008): New Zealand is getting the same version of GTA IV as Australia.

GTA IV edited for Australia [Screen Play, thanks Dom]

The gang at Polyphony Digital has been talking up—and failing to deliver—car damage in Gran Turismo for what seems like forever. We know it's coming someday, it's just that Kazunori Yamauchi told us it was coming with Gran Turismo 5 Prologue when we talked to him at Games Convention. Didn't happen, though.

According to an interview with IGN, it may still be en route, via a software update. And it may be coming as soon as this spring. We will, of course, believe it when we see it.

Gran Turismo 5 Prologue gets Smashed [IGN]

A product listing over at local retailer Topshop shows an April 24 Oz release date and $99.95 price tag for the PS3's new Dual Shock 3 controller. This factoid was spotted by the gents at PALGN.

Great news if it's true... I guess. But a hundred bucks for a controller? I know the pricing on games is insane here, but now hardware as well? You should probably hit up Play-Asia and get it for $30 less.

Genuine Wireless Dualshock 3 Controller [Topshop via PALGN, thanks Shayne]

The Standing Committee of Attorneys-General recently announced that it would be asking the public for its opinion on an R18+ classification for video games. At the time this news came out, there was no word on how the SCAG would facilitate such a consultation.

That was then. Now, we have the notes from the March 28 meeting that includes all the details.

Our money was indeed on a full release of the episodic Sam And Max season one for the Wii, and now all we have to do is sit back and wait for our winnings to pour in, as Telltale tells GameSpot official tales of just such a release. Both European and North American Wii consoles will be graced with the first season of the dog and bunny-thing show this fall, with Dreamcatcher and The Adventure Company handing U.S. publishing and JoWood handling Europe's version, which comes complete with German and French voiceovers plus Italian and Spanish subtitles. I almost want to import the Euro version, just to hear Max threatening people in the language of romance, or perhaps French.

Sam and Max report for Wii duty [GameSpot - Thanks Dathcha!]

Zounds! Based on the monstrous success of Capcom's Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G, the PSP reached impressive hardware sales heights this week in Japan. It came very close to outselling every other piece of hardware combined, with nearly 130,000 units, some of which were bundled with the latest Monster Hunter expansion. Here's how the hardware battle went down during March 24 to March 30.

Sega has released a quintet of screens for Obsidian Entertainment's espionage RPG Alpha Protocol, five in-game shots curiously lacking in explosions, car crashes or aliens. Yes, it's suspect. One actually looks like a Home screen cap. They do, however, feature glowing eyed super soldiers, so we're positive they're from a video game. It's also somewhat curious how instantly reminded we were of Mass Effect, given that Obsidian was responsible for Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II and Neverwinter Nights 2, picking up where BioWare left off. Not sure what that implies.... Anyway! Gallery time!

Looks like warehouse club chain Sam's Club had so much fun at their Super Smash Bros. Brawl midnight launch, they've decided to do another one, only this time for another game, because otherwise it would just be silly. Mario Kart Wii shall be the focus of this midnight launch, the second in Sam's Club history, with players and parents of players able to line up at stores across the country on April 26th to await the stroke of midnight and assuage their driving ambition. read more »

What's the best way to promote a violent video game about a cop who beats up hobos? Make a Flash website with ponies, flowers, butterflies and clowns of course!

Sega's Condemned 2 certainly doesn't contain any of the entities I just mentioned, so what's the connection? Why not click on a few things and find out for yourself? You know, if you can handle all the green fields and rainbows.

Offset The Evil [Thanks Daniel & Brett]

Unsurprisingly, Sony will bypass regular retail channels for its minimal PSP and PlayStation 3 puzzler echochrome, with Newsweek confirming that the UMD version for PSP will be a Japan and Asia only offering. North Americans will see the PSP arrive as a digital download only. While that may not sit well with some gamers, a title like echochrome would have very little chance of success at retail, with its intentionally simple aesthetic and potentially cheaper PlayStation 3 counterpart.

The brightly shining star of Chris O'Donnell, who you may remember from his rubber nippled presence in Batman & Robin and clearly don't recall from 2001's Vertical Limit is the latest to join the Max Payne movie adaptation. Entertainment Weekly writes that O'Donnell will take on the role of executive Jason Colvin, joining Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis and Beau Bridges in the picture.

The Max Payne flick is scheduled to hit in the fall. Plenty of time for plaster casts of O'Donnell's nipples to be molded.

Chris O'Donnell lands role in 'Max Payne' [EW]

If Hudson Square Research analyst Daniel Ernst is right, Rockstar Games and Take-Two are going to have a very merry 2008. Ernst lays out the research firm's "top 20 game unit sales and revenue" for the calendar year, projecting that Grand Theft Auto IV will kill the competition with 13 million copies sold. That would mean GTA IV's sales for the year would exceed that of the Grand Theft Auto III's lifetime to date figure and approach total sales of Vice City.

The firm pegs Wii Fit as the year's second best seller and provides estimates for 2007's other marquee titles. Wait, Final Fantasy XIII? Haha! Seriously?!

To: Bash
From: Crecente
Re: Housework, Friggin's Endless

Wow, the days are just flying by lately. I spent most of it writing, dealing with logistical, um, crap, and playing Bad Company. More on Bad Company tomorrow.

What you missed:
The Force Unleashed Hits September
Real Life World Of Warcraft Armour
City of Heroes Gets Optional In-Game Ads
Sonic Unleashed Is Official
Appear in the Next Guitar Hero as a Rock God!

Nokia's second attempt at N-Gage-ing mobile gamers has unofficially gone live, with the official N-Gage blog announcing that the revamped platform is now available for download. If you have a Nokia N81, N81 8GB, N82, N95 or N95 8GB, you can bask in the warmth of the new N-Gage, bringing a try-before-you-buy, Xbox Live-like experience to your phone. Offerings from Gameloft, EA and others are available now or coming soon, which don't look too terribly bad. Yeah! That was kind of a compliment. We won't even make a sidetalkin' dig!

Official N-Gage Site [via Gizmodo AU]

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Puzzle Quest 1.5 Gets Named, Detailed
More Puzzle Quest is always welcome. Always.

Ubisoft Announces Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X.
The Tom Clancy brand moves into flight sims. Hey, it's going to have four-player co-op, so I really can't complain.

Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 Has Been Rated
The OFLC may have its hands tied on the whole R18+ thing, but at least it can surprise us with unannounced games.

Alone in the Dark Delayed
My Surprise-o-Meter is registering a zero. Oh no, wait, make that -20.

The Force Unleashed Hits September
Just don't hit too hard - I hear lightsabres hurt.

Hey, remember Mercenaries 2? Yeah, it's that fantastic looking follow up from Pandemic that involves scores of explosions and a pissed off Merc who literally gets ripped a new asshole. EA and Pandemic have finally nailed down a date—August 31, 2008—for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2 and PC game, making it just a tiny bit late. IGN has a new trailer for Mercenaries 2, something that might reignite your interest in it. It's explodey!

Mercenaries 2 US Release Date Trailer [IGN]

US PlayStation Store Update: Zip, Zilch & Nada. Don't expend too much effort browsing the North American PlayStation Store today, as it won't be seeing an update until April 15, when the revamp goes live. It was all in the original press release on the matter, but I bet you didn't even read it. Tsk tsk! In the meantime, visit a friend with an Xbox 360 version of Rock Band if you want to enjoy "Still Alive".

Pokémon? Huge in Japan. Monster Hunter? Gargantuan! Capcom's expansion to Monster Hunter Portable 2nd for PSP sold a staggering 880,000 copies in its debut week, besting even Super Smash Bros. Brawl's first week on the market. Should do wonders for PSP sales, especially since Sony pinched out another special edition version of the handheld just for the occasion. Last week's champ, Pokémon Ranger: Batonnage was no sophomore slouch, moving over a hundred thousand copies. We'll see if Monster Hunter has legs next week, which seems like a very safe bet.

For the full list of best sellers for the week of March 24 to March 30, make the jump.