To: Crecente
From: Ashcraft
RE: Being Mean

Not sleeping much, weather changing, fighting a cold. I've loaded up on Vitamin C and that seems to be helping, but I really need a cure all that doesn't involve "sleeping more" and "working less." Last night I started to see spots!

What you missed last night
Home delayed
PS3 profitable by August?
Infinity Ward becoming sole COD dev?
First pic of Gen
PS3's video store arriving this summer

Somebody's managed to sneak some shots of the in-development World of Warcraft expansion Wrath of the Lich King out from under Blizzard's nose. As the code's in development, they're rough, and as they're sneaky cameraphone shots, they're small, but hey. It's WoW. Don't go trying to tell me graphical fidelity's going to make or break this one for you. One more shot after the jump, plenty of smaller ones at the link which follows.

The Grand Theft Auto IV hype machine is in full effect. Over in LA, Rockstar has a huge mural up on the Hotel Figueroa. No, actually, Rockstar has three murals up. Very cool use of the building's structure.
Mural in LA [Flickr]

Jonesing for your first taste of Gears of War 2 gameplay footage? Fortunately you don't have too long to wait.

Gametrailers TV just secured themselves the first in-game footage from the game. The bad news? It won't be airing until May 9 at 1 a.m. The good news? The footage, which features Marcus Fenix, includes a special introduction by bunny-loving Epic game designer Cliff Bleszinski.

Blinged out mobile phones are not new. And if people have been doing that to their phones for a while now, they've probably been doing them other things like their computers, iPods, pets, whatever. But putting those sparkles on stuff one-by-one is a great drag. For those keen on glittering up their PSP Slim & Lites without the fuss, there's this: Jewel Stone Sheet. Just wipe down your PSP, remove the clear film and slap these phony rhinestones on. Easy! Retailing for ¥ 2,625 ($27), the sheet comes in patterns like "Panther", "Argyle Pink" or "Butterfly". You know, as they do.
Jewel Stone Sheet [GAMETECH via Famitsu]

Jordan Mechner created the original Prince of Persia. Guy then did a sequel, then an ill-advised 3D version, then stuck around to help with Sands of Time, and is now involved in the upcoming Hollywood adaptation of the series. So his finger's kept squarely in the Prince of Persia pie. So it's little surprise he's just registered a new PoP-related trademark, for Prince of Persia Prodigy. Whatever could it be? My money's on it having something to do with the upcoming movie, and nothing to do with firestarting or smacking bitches up.
Prince of Persia Prodigy [Trademork]

Being an independent developer is brutal. Just ask independent developer and Heavenly Sword dev Ninja Theory, and it'll tell you that being an independent developer is brutal. Says co-founder and chief developer Nina Kristensen.

It's a brutal environment out there for an independent, particularly considering the size of the games that we're developing... But we've now signed up the new game and the future looks pretty rosy for us... our new game is going to be PS3 and Xbox 360.

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance wasn't the best of games for the Average Joe, but for Marvel fans, it was just fine. So those types are no doubt counting down the days until the sequel's 2008 release and...oh. Says here Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 - briefly announced earlier in the year - is not coming out in 2008. It was revealed at the NYC Comic Con over the weekend that it won't be out til 2009 now. Not that you care, since there's enough decent-looking Marvel games coming out over 2008 that you should be too busy to notice, but it's best you know anyways.
Wombat Hits Comic Con [UGO, via Aeropause]

Many moons ago, when foreigners came to Japan, they went to Kyoto to look at old buildings. Now, they want to go to Akihabara and play paper-rock-scissors with maids and stuff. So what are Japanese folks supposed to do? They're supposed to buy this book: Guiding Your Friends Around Akihabara In English. It's the first in a series of "Guiding Your Friends Around" books, and it teaches Japanese folks the ins and outs of explaining various things in English. Wonder if it covers the more discerning elements of Akihabara and otaku culture...
Guiding Your Friends [Amazon via fuckedgaijin]

SCEA, it's all coke parties, celebrity golf tournaments and laser-etched PS3s, right? Not in the mid-90s it wasn't. Especially if you worked in testing or "consumer service" like these poor souls. Worth watching as much for the appalling haircuts and overwhelming dorkiness as it is for the neat interview with Warhawk and Twisted Metal producer Mike Giam.
PlayStation Museum [via DMczaf @ NeoGAF]

Blame SNK and its witching touching game Doki Doki Majo Shinpan, because the floodgates have been opened. Wide. Saucy manga/anime To LOVEru is getting PSP and DS games this summer. To LOVEru follows a high school boy and an alien girl. Both the PSP and the DS games are rated 15 and up, but the DS version seems a tad riskier with its touching mini-games. Hit the jump for the inevitable Penguin pink pantsu poking that heals her injuries. 'Cause, you know.

You know, I've been doing these charts for what feels like years now, and I've run out of ways to point out Britain's fascination with Nintendo titles. From here on, then, let's just assume that unless the charts clearly say otherwise, the week's top ten-selling games will include at least one Brain Training game, at least one version of Mario & Sonic at the Olympics and, of course, Wii Play.

If the cache for Konami's official site is to be believed, cute 'em up shooter Otomedius will get an Xbox 360 port called OtomediusG. For those not familiar with Otomedius, just keep McWhertor's simple formula in mind: Boobs + Gradius = Otomedius. The Konami cache reads:

Game XBOX360
OtomediusG
Maker's suggested retail price: ¥66,486,980（Tax Included: ¥69,811,329）
Here we go!! Destroy them all!! *Temporary Display

Care about the environment? Course you do. Post-apocalyptic words are fun to roleplay in, not so fun to actually live in. So how can you, as a gamer, cut down on your impact on this precious little planet of ours? 1UP's Lara Crigger has some suggestions, and while some are a little fiddly (like upgrading to "green" components), others you should be able to manage, including setting your PC to sleep mode more often and actually turning your console and TV off, instead of leaving them on standby.
Gaming Green [1UP]

Comic book writer Grant Morrison loves video games. According to MTV, video games developers love him, too! Morrison's one of the more experimental comic book scribes and is very keen to do games. "Games are just a leading edge of something the human race is about to do," he says. So... How's that working out, Grant?

Ever since I started talking about them, no one's called me.

The premise is simple: take one NES cart, one NES, empty the working-bits from the NES, empty the NES cart, put the working-bits from the NES and squeeze them into the NES cart. Insert actual NES cart into NES cart NES, plug into TV, play Mario. Easy. It's the slimline NES we would have had if old Nintendo ever pulled a new Nintendo and released a slimmer, smaller NES, then released it in limited-edition, themed variants.
Fami-card [Kotmoi, via technabob]

Damn, you reader people are talented. Our make-an-aeroplane contest has drawn to a close! Here are the top twenty reader crafted planes, all competing for a copy of Ace Combat 6. We got tonnes of submissions. Much love to everyone who took the time to enter. Here's how the voting works. There is a gallery below. Click through it and vote for ONE PLANE that you like by writing "I vote for this" directly under that photo. Vote only once. Failure to do so will cause your vote to be void and end in us showing you the door. To see how the voting worked last time, click on this post. Voting ends midnight, MOUNTAIN TIME. One more thing! We will be posting the cosplay entries in a separate voting post a little later. Sit tight!

Editor's note: You can view the gallery and vote here.

I know, you're a little over the Virtual Console. Sure, pleasant surprises like C64 games get your attention now and again, but for the most part, you're done with it. Just...look, give it one more chance, OK? For Interplay's sake. Because, yes, they're releasing some of their classic titles onto the service, including Clayfighter, Boogerman and both Earthworm Jim titles. All four are due "later this year", and if this is a deal-breaker, they'll be the Genesis/Mega Drive versions.
Earthworm Jim, Clayfighter to Virtual Console [1UP]

Today Sony announced that the Home Closed Beta will expand to Summer 2008 and invited more users to join. Following this, the Home Closed Beta, an Open Beta will kick off later this fall. Says Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Kaz Hirai:

Sick of bad Metal Gear Online news? Here's the good news! The game's character creation seems pretty extensive, allowing face, clothes equipment and voice customisation. Figures gently crossed that Konami, Kojima Productions and those servers will be rarin' to go this Friday. And if not, feel free to bookmark this page so you can imagine customising your Beta character.

MGO Character [Akayuki]

Kaz Hirai reckons the PS3 will start making Sony some money around the end of the year. Maybe early 2009. Kaz, you see, thinks the glass is half-empty. The analyst team at Nikko Citigroup, however, see the glass as three-quarters full, and reckon that the console will become profitable for Sony as soon as August. Good news! Just in case, you know. You're a Sony shareholder. Or are otherwise heavily invested, whether financially or emotionally, in the business practices of a large multinational corporation.
PS3 profitable by August, say Nikko Citigroup analysts [Gamesindustry.biz] [Image: AP]

Found in a drawer and from Sonic's mid-90's heyday comes this, Where's Sonic? It's a picture book where you, un-huh, look for Sonic. The 2D drawings are spectacular! Click through the gallery below to find Sonic. Maybe you won't. There are no guarantees, really.

Sonic's Thrilling Return to 2D [UK:R]

Not normally a big fan of cartoony, mascot-filled, cross-over sports games. But for some reason, Konami's International Track & Field remake on the DS has me intrigued. Mostly because it's going to feature Sparkster, a rodent I hold so dear to my heart it's overriding my common sense. The bulk of you lot will probably hold this guy a little dearer, however: Konami have announced that, fresh from his cameo in Smash Bros, Snake will be appearing in the title as a deformed, adorable little athlete. So finally, after years of wondering and heated debate, we'll know whether Snake's a better triple-jumper than Simon Belmont.
Solid Snake pops up in Track & Field [CVG]

PlayStation 3 gamers who've answered the fourth Call of Duty will get their version of the Variety Map Pack this Thursday, a DLC bonus that Xbox 360 owners have been enjoying for a few weeks now. The new maps will hit the PlayStation Stores in both North America and Europe. In additionally good news, this weekend will be a "Double XP Weekend Extravaganza" giving Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare players twice the experience.

The official word from Infinity Ward is that the devs will be available for headshotting on Friday, April 25 from 11AM to 2PM PDT and from 5 PM to 8 PM PDT. It should give us something to do while we wait for the Metal Gear Online beta to go prime time.

Sure you've seen SOME DUDE's unboxing, but you haven't seen my Club Nintendo Wii Super Famicom/SNES Controller. Well, here it is. Look at it! It feels like, are you ready, a Super Famicom Controller! Played a couple titles with it last night, and really, this made me realise how much I dug this controller. It just might be my favourite controller. What's yours?

Oh, hit the jump for the exciting backside of the Wii SNES pad.

Next-Gen are reporting that, according to an ex-Activision employee, Call of Duty 4 developers Infinity Ward have signed a deal with Activision which ensures that every Call of Duty game will herein by developed by the series' creators. As it stands, development duties are split between Infinity Ward (CoD1, 2 & 4) and Treyarch (CoD3 & 5), but the new deal will mean that only Infinity Ward will be allowed to develop games which carry the Call of Duty name. The agreement will kick in once Treyarch have finished Call of Duty 5, and interestingly, has affected not only the core CoD series, but a rumoured spin-off franchise as well.

Here's a fun fact: I got a new PC yesterday. First entirely new one in about seven years. Dual-core 3ghz, 512MB 8800GT, the works. And the first game I played on it? Not Crysis. Not Company of Heroes. It was IGF finalist Noitu Love 2. Well, not even Noitu Love 2, the Noitu Love 2 demo. And I must say, it's pretty amazing. As a standard side-scroller, it's good enough, but bringing the mouse into play for certain attacks and moves (using both gestures and the cursor) is really what kicks it up from "good enough" to the aforementioned "pretty amazing". You should really go buy it. Then buy it again when the must-happen WiiWare version hits.
Noitu Love 2 [via Rock, Paper, Shotgun]

Personally I don't know why Sega and Secret Level keep putting these things out, seeing as we already posted the definitive Iron Man video on Friday, but at least this behind the scenes look at the making of the game deals with what we can probably all agree is the best-looking part of it - the armour itself. Having played the demo some 20 times more over the weekend after my initial impressions, I can say that I am a good bit excited by the potential of the title again.

The main who once played Liu Kang in the film adaptation of Mortal Kombat adds another video game movie to his resume, as Robin Shou joins the cast of Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li. The official movie blog has the first (exclusive) shot of Shou as Gen, Chun-Li's mentor. If you're a casual Street Fighter fan, you may not be familiar with Gen, as his appearances have been limited to the original Street Fighter and the Alpha series. Side-by-side, he may not quite match up, but he seems appropriate and on par with the rest of the cast.

Can I be the only gamer out there pumped for a return to Capcom's 194X series of vertical shooters? Surely not! I long to return to the heady days of my youth wasted at Chuck E. Cheese, force feeding a 1943 cabinet tokens—then ultimately crushed the heartbreaking by the NES 1942 port. Capcom's seen fit to deploy a quintet of new screens for its Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network sequel, 1942 Joint Strike, a title that fills my heart with POWs. It's still so pleasing that Japan isn't sore enough about all those aerial casualties as to keep Capcom from pumping out WWII-era shmups.