To: Crecente
From: Bash
RE: From Ghostbusters to Mario Super Sluggers

...Osaka's, hands down. Tonight's dinner: Takoyaki, yakisoba, okonomiyaki, beer. All bought at a food stall a minute's walk from my house. Damn good eatin'.

What you missed last night
Severed heads are A OK
More new PSN store images
Sony doesn't know either
Snake's UT3 appearance
Nintendo summit day one wrap up
Ben Heck's PS3 laptop

Robots are awesome. Really, really awesome. Robots made from erotic games? Ditto. The Sofmap in Akihabara made this "erotic game robot" out of 80 copies of PC ero title Slave Commander Clarice. The name of this shameful game 'bot? "GR01-CLARICE ROBO." What does it do? It stands there and radiates NSFW. That's enough! The creativity that Japanese retailers have with ero games never ceases to amaze.
Sexy Game Robot [Akiba Blog]

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Design student Marc Ownes created a wearable device that simulates 3D person environments for the wearer. There's a head-mounted camera and VR googles that enable to folks to see themselves from a 3D perspective. While this experiment has already gotten webplay, Boing Boing TV has a clip of it in action. Marc checks out Harajuku while wearing his Avatar Machine and nearly gets the shit kicked out of him by some tough Japanese dudes. Rule of thumb: Don't piss off dudes in leather. Like, ever.

Marc Ownes' Wearable Simulator [BBTV]

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Don't know what Soviet Assault is? Do keep up. It's the next World in Conflict release: for PC owners, it's a big expansion, for console owners, it's a standalone title. Here's the first footage to go along with the first details, along with the first [sigh] developer diary.

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Just in case you don't trust those shifty, foreign types from the continent, British store Shopto have confirmed to Gamesindustry that they'll be selling a Grand Theft Auto IV hardware bundle, consisting of a 40GB PS3, Sixaxis and a copy of GTAIV. It'll be available on April 29, and will set you back £299 ($US 590).
Retail confirms PlayStation 3 GTA IV bundle [GI.biz]

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Good news! XBLA and PSN title Bionic Commando Rearmed seems like it's getting one step closer to digital shipping. On developer GRIN's official site, the game's Creative Director Simon Viklund blogs:

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A recent poll on parenting game guide What They Play, asks this:

As a parent, which would you find most offensive in a video game?

The most offensive? A man and woman having sex. Second most? Two men kissing. Third was a graphically severed human head. Always found it odd that violence is okay, but sex is a no-no — especially in the US. Guess that's what happens when your country's founded by Puritans!
Attitudes to Sex and Violence [John Davison via Wired]

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Infogrames boss David Gardner has told Reuters "we want to stop losing money". No shit, Dave! As for how they're going to do that, well...they're hoping to sell a lot of videogames. Like the new Alone In The Dark.

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It's spreading. To Europe. China's Wii rip-off,the Vii has apparently been reskinned for the French. This made in China machine plays six games (Tennis, Football, Boxing, Bowling, Ping Pong and Baseball) and retails for €40. Accessories include a bat and what looks like three spoons rackets. Yes, we're calling it the "Ouii."

Sigh.
French Vii [Game Class via Game*Spark Thanks, Torokun!]

The PC version of Mass Effect gets shinier graphics, better load times, less pop-up and a fancy new HUD. It's got the 360 one beat, hands down. Oh, except for "Bring Down The Sky". That won't be shipping with the PC version. Before you stab madly at the "publish comment" button, though, bear in mind that BioWare's Matt Atwood says in the interview with IGN that an announcement regarding additional PC content - ie something like Bring Down The Sky, but free - will be made "soon".
Mass Effect PC: What to Expect [IGN]

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Just look! That's some seriously Japanese girl DS bling. Up top is a &4,830 ($US 47.45) custom flower DS jacket. Below? That's a ¥12,810 ($US 125.85) "love dot" decoration job. Both are featured in the current issue of Koakuma ageha. You can learn all about it here, sparkles and all!
DS Lites in ageha [Patrick Macias]

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Poor Lair. Looked gorgeous, but, yeah. You know. Controls. Sucky. Well, the rumour that was so good it turned up twice in February has been confirmed by Sony, with a Lair patch due in Japan on April 17 adding the option of analogue controls for the much-maligned shooter. I know what you're going to say next. "Who gives a rat's arse? It's too late". And sure, on one hand, you may be right. On the other, though...this might bump the game from a C to a B- on your ratings scale. Which would mean picking it up on the cheap (and pretty soon, it's gonna be cheap) wouldn't be the stupidest thing you did this year.
Analog Controls Coming to Lair [IGN]

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Joystick penis joke alert! Joystick penis joke alert! Above is a clip from a 2005 Hustler piece that featured a pantsu-less woman in a Ms. Pac-Man costume. The article includes lines like:

Is that a roll of quarters in your pocket or are you happy to see me?

So clever. Hit the jump for the full version. It's from Hustler, so NSFW should be a given. That is, unless you work at Hustler, then it's TOTALLY SAFE.

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Since Street Fighter IV was announced, there's been a ton of reminiscing about Street Fighter II. And all of it's positive! How good it was, how great it was, how it brought your estranged parents back together, how it ended the war in Bosnia...all valid points, but you can't just remember the good. You need to get some perspective on the matter. Remember the bad. You need to remember this promo song for the SFII live-action movie, which features not only MC Hammer and Jean-Claude Van Damme, but true renaissance man Deion Sanders as well.
[via Capcom]

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Judge Flavio Rabello has barred the sale of Bully in Brazil, following requests for its banning from a youth centre in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. State prosecutor Alcindo Bastos says the reason for the game's banning stems from the fact "the aggravating factor is that everything in the game takes place inside a school", which is apparently "not acceptable" considering how much fisticuffs feature in the game. Distributors and retailers have 30 days to comply with the order.
Brazil judge bans 'Bully' [globeandmail]

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For all the hate and bile often thrown at gaming, EA's Peter Moore says they're going to change the world. Make us happy, the world better, EA richer. Peter Moore believes in games. Taking a page from the Nintendo handbook, he says:

Games have a key role to play in health and wellness. People will be able to do things with games in their own houses that they just can't do at the gym. And it's not just about making yourself stronger and healthier but also smarter and happier.

Games have the power to make people happy and to make the world a better place. And I do mean the world, because we are now opening up massive new markets like China and India that will bring billions of gamers

And billions of dollars for EA.
Games Will Change The World [MVUK] [Pic]

Courtesy of SCE Japan, here's a few more shots of what the new PlayStation Store will look like when it goes live next Tuesday (April 15). Well, what it'll look like for Japan. The rest of you/us, go right ahead and in your mind's eye substitute those indecipherable lines into something like "Latest Demos", it'll be a little more helpful.

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Check out Develop 100. Have a look for Tantalus. Cool, isn't it? I'm not sure about you, but it's nice to see an Australian studio ranked with the best in the world, besides the local branch of 2K Boston/2K Australia (which is marked as US anyway).

True, it's placed 96th on the list, but still worthy of a hearty pat on the back, considering the likes of Relic and Altus aren't far ahead.

There's a short statement from the developer about the news, after the jump.

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Which handheld is the most popular in Japan? Which one is most popular with men? With women? Questions! Endless!! Net Asia Co., Ltd. polled 401 mobile phone users ranging from 15 to 29 years old. Here's the breakdown by sex:

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You may have noticed we don't run many PAL Virtual Console updates anymore. Mostly because, more often than not, they're just not worth mentioning. Today, though? Well, today is worth mentioning. On the Master System we've got Wonder Boy and Fantasy Zone, which is, well, OK enough as it is, but when you then see they're joined by the C64's Impossible Mission and California Games, well. Things are swiftly upgraded from "OK" to "Oh dear, it's Monday and I haven't washed myself".

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It's not on the scale of the dreaded (do you dare speak its name?) RROD, but lately, some attention's been focused on PS3 owners getting an error message which reads "An error occurred during the start operation. 80010514". Not as catchy as "Red Ring Of Death" then, either. Do you know what it means? I don't. The crew at GameRevolver reckon it's one of two things: a problem with your HDD, or the result of a faulty software installation. We'd now normally use this part to tell you what Sony think it is, but they haven't the foggiest, an SCEE rep telling Eurogamer "they aren't aware of this issue with the PS3". Good to know, guys. Good. To. Know.
PS3 Error 80010514 explained [GameRevolver]

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In line with the earlier post on race in video games, Newsweek journalist N'Gai Croal offers these insights about the Resident Evil 5 trailer:

I looked at the Resident Evil 5 trailer and I was like, "Wow, clearly no one black worked on this game." Because I wonder, and I haven't sort of really dug into it that much, but I wonder what sort of advice Capcom gave them. The point isn't that you can't have black zombies. There was a lot of imagery in that trailer that dovetailed with classic racist imagery. What was not funny, but sort of interesting, was that there were so many gamers who could not at all see it. Like literally couldn't see it. So how could you have a conversation with people who don't understand what you're talking about and think that you're sort of seeing race where nothing exists?

There's more. If you're interested, hit the jump.

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The current list of video game all-stars making unauthorised appearances in Unreal Tournament 3 thus far includes Master Chief from Halo, Samus Aran from Metroid and now Snake from Metal Gear Solid. Specifically, we're talking about Old Snake from MGS 4, the latest top biller to get a fan made UT3 mod.

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The Metal Gear Solid 4 reveals, they don't stop til the game drops. Few months back, Sony posted a shot of the box art for the MGS4 hardware bundle (the normal one, not the newly-announced "steel" one). I didn't like it, figured it could do with some changes. Sony obviously took note, and while the changes don't go so far as to put a monkey on the box, the revamped box art does look a little nicer than the last one. Small improvement's better than no improvement, I guess. Though would adding one little monkey really kill you, Sony?
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots - Product Details Revealed! [PlayStation.Blog]

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You know, I think this is the first time I've actually seen Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning in motion? You'd have thought I would have caught site of it at an event or something, but nope. Now that I search back a bit, I did find this cam footage from back in 2006, but it hardly compares to this video, created by the content creation team for the game using closed beta footage. It looks...well, it looks like an MMO, make no mistake. A very stylised one at that, which isn't a bad thing. The whole thing comes off as a bit stiff, but MMO videos hardly ever live up to the real thing in motion. I'm just glad I got through this entire post without saying World of Warcraft. Dammit.

This week's Media Create hardware sales chart looks nearly identical to last week's as Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G domination continues to decimate the competition. PSPs are outselling everything, with the only change for the week of March 31 to April 6 a barely noticeable increase in share from the PlayStation 3. Everyone else is holding steady amid a lack of powerhouse releases.

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The ABS has released hard numbers on the state of our local games industry. Don't be shy - the data is available to anyone who wants to read it, including tech-savvy amphibians, extra-terrestrials and my grandma.

While there's a lot of interesting info in the report, I found the opening paragraphs the most poignant:

At end June 2007, there were 45 businesses in Australia involved in the provision of digital game development services. These businesses employed over 1,400 people and generated a total income of $136.9m which represented an average of $3m per business.

Sadly, these numbers contrast poorly with the industry's expenses:

Total expenses incurred for the same period were $128.5m. Almost two-thirds of this amount was attributable to labour costs ($83.8m).

Two-thirds in labour costs? If this doesn't stick a massive flashing sign on just how much a 40% tax rebate is needed, I don't know what will.

Hit the jump for a press release from the Game Developers Association of Australia, which includes a few words from president Tom Crago.

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Nintendo of America kicked off its two day Media Summit with a handful of presentations this morning, highlighting a handful of upcoming titles and previewing Mario Super Sluggers, the Wii baseball title previously known as Super Mario Stadium Baseball. The event, currently going on in San Francisco, plays host to hands-on time with select games from the Wii, WiiWare and Nintendo DS's upcoming slate of releases, including Wii Fit, Mario Kart Wii, Boom Blox, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness and more.

Hit the jump for the full list of titles on hand at the Media Summit.

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My consoles absolutely hate Ben Heck. Every time he releases a new mod, such as this gorgeous PlayStation 3 laptop, similar to his Xbox 360 Elite laptop from awhile back, I tend to spend many hours sitting in my living room, eyes moving curious from consoles to the cabinet where I keep my (barely used) tools. With my degree of electronics knowledge, this is the game console equivalent of having someone quietly staring first at you, and then at a loaded gun in front of them, over and over again. Luckily for them I've yet to work up the nerve, though I do have an extra PSone sitting around gathering dust. I think I just heard it whimper.

Ben Heck's Latest Wonder Project: PS3 Laptop [Gizmodo AU]

The original spoony bard makes his triumphant return to the states as Square Enix announces a July release date for the Nintendo DS remake of Final Fantasy IV! Finally you'll be able to associate voices to your favourite characters in the all-new CG cutscenes! Utilise the new Augment System to assign special abilities to your characters! Experience a remixed version of Nubuo Uematsu's original score! Train and customise your Whytkin using mini-games and let it fight to the death for your amusement! Watch me get so excited that I just reiterate the bullet points in the press release below! *composes himself* The game is due out on July 22nd, and Square Enix already has a website set up for the game at http://na.square-enix.com/ff4/ . Okay, so it's more of a picture than a website, but they'll get there, I promise.

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Mario Kart Wii <3 Freeloader?
Maybe your Freeloader disc will work after all. Just make sure you check your firmware.

Frankenreview, Ikaruga (XBLA)
Contrary to what Michael Jackson may say, it does matter whether you're black or white.

Virtual Archery Bow Puts Link..And Rambo...To Shame
For the sake of all things holy, don't kill anyone with it! Unless they're make-believe.

Growing Up With Fallout 3
A look at the first hour of gameplay in Fallout 3.

Five Tips For Not Making a Crappy Game
Tip #1: Don't make it about Shakespeare.

All the way this morning ago Telltale games announced that they'd be publishing an episodic WiiWare title starring Strong Bad of Homestar Runner fame. This video gives you a first glimpse into what I'm sure will be a blast to play on the Wii.

Hit the jump to check out excerpts from a very cool FAQ about the game featuring Mr. Lucha Libre Head.

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DS Publishing is looking for a few good gamers. They're looking for folks who live in Los Angeles and own Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords on any platform to help them focus test the next game in the PQ franchise, which I believe is Puzzle Quest: Galatrix... or maybe it's Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords - The Scourge of Antharg. Hey maybe it's some super secret iPhone Puzzle Quest, I'm not really sure.

If you're interested hit up the jump to read the details and email Lisa over at Mind of the Gamer.

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Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G continues to put a hurtin' on the competition, with the PSP expansion shipping close to another half million copies. Most impressive, Capcom. The week is surprisingly heavy in PlayStation family titles, with a quartet of Japanese franchise favourites securing the top half of the top ten chart, most likely helping Sony hardware. Wii Fit edges closer to the 2 million mark, which we expect it to hit mid-May, as Super Smash Bros. Brawl teeters near the end of the top ten. Hang in there, lil' guy!

For the rest of the best selling games in Japan for the week of March 31 to April 6, read on past the jump.

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Sony have announced that the gun-metal PS3, previously thought only to be a Japanese exclusive, will be making its way to the US for Metal Gear Solid 4's launch. It'll form part of a hardware bundle that Konami are saying is "VERY, VERY Limited Edition", and I'm not inclined to disagree with them on that one. No further details than that, so we don't know how much its going to cost or whether there'll be any hoops to jump through to get one, but it probably won't be cheap, and hey, they'll probably be hard to come by to boot.
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots - Product Details Revealed! [PlayStation.Blog]

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Electronic Arts today unveiled a five pack of Sim City's best that will go on sale this June. The SimCity Box contains SimCity Societies, SimCity Societies Destinations, SimCity 4, SimCity 4 Rush Hour and The Sims Carnival SnapCity. Purchases seperated, the whole thing would set you back $US 100, but the bundle is retailing for $US 40.

"The SimCity Box is the perfect opportunity to discover the fun of city building with SimCity," said Rod Humble, Head of Studio for The Sims. "This is the greatest value SimCity has ever offered and players everywhere can get hands-on with a wide range of SimCity products from one box at an amazing price."

Hit up a jump for a primer on what each of the packed in games is about.

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Yesterday McWhertor pointed out these kick arse Super Mario Mushroom Drum Pads for Rock Band. Today the folks behind them announced that they plan on selling three sets of them on eBay and raffling the last set. No details on how or when all of this will work, or, more importantly, what the asking price will be, but details are expected soonish.

It doesn't sound like a bunch of news has shaken out from Nintendo's Media Summit being held in San Francisco today and tomorrow, but we do finally have a release date for the Steven Spielberg brainchild Boom Blox. The puzzler with character will be hitting North America on May 6 and Europe on May 9, according to the folks at the summit.