Let's Talk About Luke's Dinner
To: Fahey
From: Bashcraft
RE: Far Too Much Information
Sorry about the opening the flood gates!
Tonight since I ate stuff quickly made from other stuff, let's talk about what Luke had for dinner: Yorkshire puddings. Luke describes it as "like if a pancake was baked in an oven with gravy." And that sounds pretty friggin awesome. Wonder if it's possible for me to make... Definitely would give it a shot over the weekend when I have a bit more time...
Anyway, the site's yours, here are the keys to the city. I'm going be up for a few more hours, plowing through three book chapters. Gotta three cans of sugary coffee and an entire playlist of James Brown. That Black Caesar soundtrack is all kinds of great.
What you missed last night
Nintendo "denies" new DS rumours
Soul Calibur IV ready to disregard canon
Aus/NZ GTAIV cut due to weapon private area insertion
New Siren confirmed
Metal Gear Online ready for download, not play
Konami cockblocking MGO beta
Wii Fit European box is boring
The concept was simple: A virtual dollhouse. Will Wright was coming off of SimAnt, and he was looking to do more. Wright at his team at Maxis began working on what would become The Sims, a game that play-tested so poorly that there were doubts it would be released. The game was and of course went on to spawn two sequels and countless expansions, creating a hundred million selling franchise in the process. It's must be very satisfying to be part of The Sims casual gaming juggernaut! Some people play The Sims and only The Sims. While the game's studio head Rod Humble says the best thing about working on The Sims is the "total freedom," he does offer us insight:
Wow. Living in Japan, I didn't know that US game magazine covers actually were so blatantly for sale. But apparently they are! This month's Official Xbox Magazine features perforated Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas cover that reads "ADVERTISEMENT" on it. Once removed, the actual cover is revealed. (This month it's Fallout 3!) Ads are very much a part of print media or any media — something's got to pay the rent! But, creating a doppelganger cover?
Cigarettes are bad. They cause cancer. Cancer kills you. But candy cigarettes? Harmless! They only inspire impressionable children to smoke. And who better to rope 'em in young than Sonic the Hedgehog? The "New Tasty 100 percent Stick Candy Cigarettes" were found in the Philippines. Surgeon General warns of serious Sonic attitude!
So that American Wii Fit box art is a snazzy neon green and multicultural vibrant feel good. Different from the Japanese box art, which is Snoozesville, population sleepy people. What about Europe? Same as the Japanese box art. Hit the jump for a look at the other side of the box. It's quite boring.
What the fuck is going on here? You all say how sick you are of MMOs with elves and orcs, so Flying Lab go and make one with pirates, and nobody signs up? Urgh. Which means it's all your fault that seven of the game's eleven servers are closing down, in order to bring about a "higher density" of players. Guess at the moment there's a "low density" of players. Hopefully this means those who do enjoy the shivering of timbers and the buckling of swashes get a better experience, and that this isn't the beginning of the end for the game.
April Pokémon card game events in Tokyo, Nagoya and Fukuoka have been cancelled after a blackmail letter threatened to disrupt the Tokyo event. The blackmail letter only mentioned the April 12th and 13th Tokyo event, but the Pokémon Company decided to nix the April 20th Nagoya and April 29th Fukuoka events as well. Says a spokesperson:
To promote BioShock, 2K shipped the collector's edition with a Big Daddy figurine. Sounded great in theory, but in practice,the thing was too fragile, and looked like it had been painted by...well, somebody who had never played BioShock. And who loved the smell of industrial-strength spraypaint a little too much. Enter a Mr. David Blades, who took the standard figure, broke its arms and legs off, then re-posed and re-painted the whole thing so it's looking much nicer. Well played, Mr. Blades, well played.
For those who didn't pre-order Metal Gear Solid 4 and get their beta invites, there was a backdoor in. Those who found it, Konami has a message for ya: GTFO. The following email is being sent out to those who snuck into the beta. Or rather, tried. It is:
Hey, you like [insert your favourite franchise here]? Well, [insert your favourite franchise here] don't mean shit. Not next to the might of The Sims. Anyone who doubted Maxis and EA for releasing a game which simulated the more mundane aspects of everyday life, threw in some fashion design and amateur architecture then pumped out 1,543,769 expansion packs was going to succeed, boy, you backed the wrong horse. EA's Rod Humble has today announced that the series has sold over 100,000,000 units worldwide. That's one. Hundred. Million. And how are they celebrating? Why, with a free, exclusive outfit for your Sims, of course. No point straying from the course now, eh?
Bring your superfluous IDs and passwords! The Metal Gear Online beta is up and ready for download. Here are some pics from reader PlayingKarrde. The beta doesn't kick off until the 21st, so even if you download MGO, the game won't connect to the server. You can look at these title screens. There's another one after the jump. You can look at that, too. If you like.
Yup, just like we and pretty much everyone else thought, that 
The Ace Combat 6 contest continues! Reader Jason sends along his entry. Here, look at it. He writes:
Sony have gotten around to announcing that second PS3 SingStar game 
KING OF GAMES shirts. KING OF GAMES shirts. KING OF GAMES shirts. While these Sega threads have been available at the Japanese K.O.G. store for a while, they're now available at the international shop. You too, can buy them! Yes, you. The After Burner, Out Run and Fantasy Zone threads are available for ¥5,775, ¥5,040 and ¥5,040. Later this year more Sega shirts will hit, including NiGHTS, Space Harrier and Mega Drive 16. You can then buy those, too. Yes, you.
Oh, so that's why we 
The from scratch engine that's powering Final Fantasy XIII was originally known as the White Engine. That's all changed! Now it's known as Crystal Tools. While Japanese developers like Square Enix and Capcom have created in-house engines, how do they stack up against their Western counterparts? Says Crystal Tools general manager Taku Murata:
Sony's Peter Dille has this morning hedged his bets and spoken not only briefly, but around the bush, on the inevitable movies & TV download service for the PS3. While not formally announcing such a program, or hinting at anything like a release timeframe, he does say more info is coming "very soon". More interestingly, he also says:
Since Nintendo absolutely loves releasing an endless stream of its hardware, Enterbrain (Famitsu's parent company) honcho Hirokazu Hamamura hinting that this year's E3 will bring a new DS seems, well, believable. Nintendo says that it's just not so! According to a Nintendo Co., Ltd. mouthpiece:
Another guest has just moved into the Booker household, and while the controller it brought isn't 
Is there stock of the Playstation 3 Dual Shock 3 controller in the country? I would say this package, which arrived on my front door not long ago, would suggest a "Yes".
Two days ago I pinged the New Zealand Office of Film & Literature Classification to confirm the status of its version of Grand Theft Auto IV, seeing as Rockstar had yet to reply to my queries (and still hasn't). Since then, retailer 
Variety are reporting that, according to "sources close to publisher Take-Two" (ie most likely the guys in charge of selling the game to retailers), Grand Theft Auto IV is poised to take in around $US 400 million during its first week on sale. Yowzers. To put that in perspective, Halo 3's launch took in a paltry $US 300 million.
Are you as excited about Guitar Hero: Aerosmith as I am? Then you'll probably want to skip this article. Those genuinely excited can stick around and read about the spiffy preorder deal going on at US retail outlets. Preordering Guitar Hero: Aerosmith entitles you to a special, limited edition bundle of the game, featuring the game itself, and Aerosmith tour book, the guitar, and an exclusive Aerosmith faceplate for said guitar. The bundle will sell for $US 99 for Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii, $US 89 for wireless PS2, or $US 109 for the special PS2 bundle with two wired controllers. Perfect for those of you who were holding off on buying Guitar Hero until a nearly-all Aerosmith version came out.
