Last year Nintendo ran a little party for PAL customers called the "Hanabi Festival". For a month, they put a bunch of Japanese games up on the Virtual Console, games that had never been available outside of Japan. It went down well! So well they're running another one. This week, European and Australian Wii owners have been able to pick up Final Soldier, Columns III and Gradius II. In coming weeks? A lineup that includes Star Parodier, Puyo Puyo 2 and, amazingly (awesomely?), the original Cho Aniki.

Yep, yep. Talking time. It's Friday night and that means the TUD Girafe is ready to listen. So let's talk. We've got a feature here on Kotaku called "Tell Us Dammit" or "TUD." How it works: We ask a question, you answer it. Simple and no strings attached! This isn't some marketing survey or whatever. It's an emotional investment in you. Yes, we're interesting in knowing you, Kotaku reader person. You probably know fucktons about us — more than you even want to, we're sure. But, hey, we'd like to know about you. That way you won't be some faceless blob — and we might feel a tinge of guilt when we ban your arse. Or not, because really we're incapable of human emotion. Today's question:

How many hours do you game a day?

Europeans are sick of crummy PlayStation Store updates, I'm sick of writing about them. So it's lucky for the lot of us that next week, we get a temporary reprieve. To celebrate the PlayStation Day event being held in London on May 6, Sony have promised that next week the European store will be updated not once, but twice. The first round of content, including a Haze demo, will hit on May 6, with a second round (which includes a Race Driver: GRID demo) due on May 8.

Immigrant Welfare Group Criticizes GTA IV
Comment by: Maldron
Nominated by: JohnnytheFuture

Every single day, I wake up, get dressed, go to school. Attend my classes, talk with my friends, eat more food than is necessary to support my body weight, go home, play games, watch TV, then sleep. And it is boring as all fuck to everybody but me.

No, not all immigrants cause crime, not all minorities wake up planning to commit murder, not all of the characters played by Cheech Marin are stoners. But those stereotypes carry a dramatic element that is exciting to an outside viewer. It's far more interesting to watch a story about a beat cop than a desk cop, despite the fact that both contribute to helping keep a city safe. And for a damn good reason - it's exciting!

Nobody's here to claim that all immigrants who come to America and contribute to crime, but it's an equal fallacy to claim that immigrants who come to America will never be forced into a life of crime to survive here. Thing is, the story of an immigrant who comes and gets a nice job as a bank teller or a secretary is a far cry away from entertainment.

And that's all this game is.

Ten years ago this week, the Dual Shock controller was first released. Sure, it wasn't the first controller to feature rumble, nor was it the first to feature analogue sticks, but what it lacked in innovation it's more than made up for in perseverance. After all, how many control pad designs make it to their second hardware generation, let alone - albeit belatedly - a third?
DualShock's 10th Anniversary [IGN]

Just because Steven Spielberg's Boom Blox is a Wii game, doesn't mean it'll only be a Wii game. Sure, it's got those Wii-specific controls, but Electronic Arts mentions that it is thinking about bringing it to other consoles. Says Amir Rahimi, the game's senior producer:

There's definitely the potential to go to other consoles. Our mindset, our philosophy was that we didn't want to taint our thinking by taking any other console into account. The way we saw it we wanted to make this the most authentic Wii experience that it could possibly be. So we didn't think about the PC, DS, PS3 or Xbox 360. We're still very much in the mindset of finishing this game. But once it's over the sky's the limit. There's definitely the possibility of going to other consoles.

California-centric label The Hundreds—which has established a rabid fanbase in its few years on the streetwear scene—riffs some Rampage with its Summer line-up. Fans of George, Lizzie and Ralph can now hang with the Fairfax and Rosewood crowd without fear of persecution. Further proof that $US 30 is not too much for a quality T-shirt! Digital Gravel has it now in three colourways, if you're interested, but expect other boutique retailers to get their shipments soon.

Rampage [Digital Gravel]

Rock Band's new in-game store was introduced for two reasons. One was to make things easier for you as a shopper. The other, more important (for MTV/Harmonix) reason was to make sure you just buy more damn songs. Which seems to have worked a treat, because Viacom have announced that ten million Rock Band songs have now been downloaded, up four million from March 20. Which was only a month-and-a-half ago! They also report that they've sold three million copies of the game itself, which when you consider the vast majority of those would have been bundle sales, is a number that must have the accounts types at Viacom, MTV and Harmonix tickled seven shades of pink.
Rock Band Ships 3 Million; 10 Million Songs Downloaded [GameDaily]

Variety's Ben Fritz opined in his column The Cut Scene last week that the concept of an "exclusive" review, specifically the case of IGN's Grand Theft Auto IV review, was something he found troublesome. His entry on the matter read that Fritz seemed less concerned with the 10 out of 10 score, but that IGN securing an exclusive review—as it often does with game announcements, media and interviews—was the thing ethically troubling. (We suggest you read Fritz's original post, lest we misinterpret it in some sort of telephone game.)

The reviewer in question, Hilary Goldstein, editor-in-chief at IGN's Xbox 360 channel, talked to GameDaily about the GTA IV review mini-hubbub, chalking up Fritz's concerns to a possible grudge.

So I ran out today to pick up Iron Man the video game, exciteable little fanboy that I am, and decided to purchase it at my local Blockbuster Video, to see how they were doing with the new retail push. They had one copy for the PlayStation 3 and one copy for the Xbox 360 available, and on a whim I chose the PS3 version, seeing as my poor system hadn't been getting much attention since Hot Shots Golf last month. Upon getting the game home I hastily unwrapped it, only to discover that my PS3, which I have long considered the best of the three current consoles when it comes to reliability, would no longer accept any Blu-ray media. PS2 games work fine, and DVD's, but PS3 games and blu-ray movies were a no go. I was completely crushed, and jonesin' for some Iron Man, so I took the game back to Blockbuster, hoping they would show pity on me for buying a game I couldn't play. They swapped out versions for free and I lived happily ever after!

Unfortunately I'm lying.

While we wait (and wait and wait) for Castle Crashers to make its Xbox Live Arcade appearance, we'll have to settle for a simple, hirsute 2D throwback known as Castle Crashing The Beard. It pits the player against a manly beard of dedication attached to The Behemoth's Tom Fulp, which is the best last name I've heard in years. Perfect for making the last ten minutes of your work day disappear.

Castle Crashing The Beard [Kongregate]

Game Republic's Yoshiki Okamoto, a twenty year industry vet whose credits include Street Fighter II, Resident Evil and, more recently, Folklore, tells Gamasutra he fears the Japanese game industry may be in danger of suffering the same fate that befell Atari in the early '80s. If you're too young to remember, a glut of software for the Atari 2600 and its peers, the majority of which we'll be nice enough to describe as liquid faeces written in assembler, flooded the market, resulting in a industry crushing crash.

Today's problem? A glut of software—particularly "brain" games—for the Nintendo DS published by inexperienced companies looking to make a quick buck.

World in Conflict is quite an unique take on PC strategy gaming, so I'm interested to see what World in Conflict: Soviet Assault will do for the Xbox 360 and PS3 (it's also popping up on the PC). This video shows off some of the single player campaign missions from the Soviet point of view. Most of them have been added to the single player campaign included in last year's release.

To: Bash
From: Crecente
Re: Using Two Computers At Once, So Awesome!

Tristan's birthday is Saturday. He turns a whopping seven years old. Kinda creepy, that a child of mine can be that old. He's getting a new bicycle from us, shhhh, don't tell anyone. The grandparents have flown in for the occasion and there will be much eating of cake over the weekend. I doubt I'll have a single second to spare for GTA IV, but we're definitely going to fiddle with some Wii games.

Oh, I use two computers, one with two screens, while I'm working. It's great. Elvis had four televisions in his home. It looks like he took a chainsaw to a wall and just stuck those big old cabinet TVs in the wall. So weird.

Have a good weekend.

What you missed:
ESA Confirms Activision/Vivendi Departure
ESRB Rates EarthBound For Wii VC
Five Publishers Drop Out of E3 This Year, Some Blame ESA President
Wild Earth: African Safari Review: A-Wiimoweh

Industry Insiders Discuss ESA, E3's Future

Conan O'Brien and The Late Show writers have already weighed in on the release of Grand Theft Auto IV. His competition, Craig Ferguson, takes a different angle, checking in with special correspondent Tim Meadows, who we're glad is getting work. Highlights include racial tension, European immigration, venereal disease gags and the murder of innocents. Does the Late Late Show have that laughter piped in or does everyone else think Craig's accent is as funny as I do?

Hear that? That's the sound of hearts breaking.

Yesterday I posted more of a plea than a story, asking Tecmo not to F-up their return to the beloved football franchise Tecmo Bowl and it seems that most of you were with me. Heck, I even received a private email with assurances that things would remain F-up free. And for the most part, it seems that that is the case.

But Stephen Totilo IMed me this morning to point out what he's found out about the upcoming game, most of which sounds great, some of which... OK one of which, is not so much.

What's the fate of E3, and of the Entertainment Software Association? It's worth examining in light of recent events. This morning we broke the news that two major publishers, Activision and Vivendi, have decided to take a pass on the event and exit the trade association, while other companies have withdrawn their E3 attendance as well. At the same time, the ESA appears to be facing stirrings of industry discontent with the ESA's leadership, namely its current president, Mike Gallagher.

E3 is not the boon to publishers that it once was, says Penny Arcade's director of business development Robert Khoo, who as the organiser of the PAX fan expo clearly has an interest, to say the least, in how things turn out.

"The reason that E3 imploded in recent years was because the publishers felt that it turned into this sort of pissing contest between them... where they were trying to figure out who could one-up each other," Khoo said. "They all thought to themselves that it just wasn't worth it."

With Ma and Pa McWhertor swooping in to LA this weekend, my attempts to get some Grand Theft Auto IV time in are most assuredly thwarted. I can't have my mother hearing that kind of language, seeing her favourite son act like a callous criminal and enjoying every salacious second! Perhaps I'll be able to squeeze in a bit of time with R-Type Command, scheduled to ship May 6 and arriving at Kotaku Towers West yesterday. The review is planned for an appearance next Friday, if you're looking for an opinion on the PSP game.

Outside of some strategic Bydo empire dismantling, I'll be playing "Entertain The Folks" with my weekend. How about you? What are you playing this weekend?

X-Play's going to be showing off some "never-before-seen" gameplay footage from Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots for the PlayStation 3 tonight.

The folks over at the G4 show promise no teaser trailers, no cinematics, just 100 percent brand new in-game footage. If you're up for that sort of thing make sure to catch it tonight at 8 p.m. on G4. They show will also have some new gameplay of Silicon Knight's Too Human for the Xbox 360 and hands-on with Star Wars: The Force Unleashed for Xbox 360.

LEGOs, Batman, Power Suits, it's all good. This latest gallery from Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment shows off Batman and Robin's spanky new Power Suits. It looks like the suits allow them to do things like walk up metal walls, breath underwater and get funky with a sweet pair of sunglasses.

In the jungle, the quiet jungle, the lion sleeps tonight... He also roars, scratches, paws the ground, stalks prey, and kills other members of the animal kingdom, and you can snap pictures of it all with Wild Earth: African Safari for the Nintendo Wii. Released in 2006 as Safari Photo Africa: Wild Earth for the PC, the family-friendly nature and innovative controls of the Wii made the edutainment title a prime candidate for a port. You step into the shoes of a photojournalist taking pictures for a nature magazine in Africa's Serengeti National Park, getting up close and personal with all sorts of exotic plants, animals, and their faeces.

Yes, within the first few minutes of the game you'll find yourself tasked with taking a photo of a giant pile of elephant dung. Does it get better from there? Read on, brave adventurer.

By: Brian Crecente and Leigh Alexander

Rumoured developer displeasure with Entertainment Software Association president Mike Gallagher may be partially to blame for nearly half a dozen member publishers dropping out of this year's E3 conference, Kotaku has learned.

This morning we broke the news that not only are Vivendi and Activision not attending this year's E3 they've both decided to drop out of the association all together. We've since learned that NCSoft, Her Interactive and id Software have all decided not to attend this year's show, though they are all remaining members of the association.

Only NCSoft had returned calls about the decision as of press time, saying that their decision to not attend E3 this year, the first time they won't in the company's history, was due to the development cycle of their games and in no way reflects on the ESA or it's leadership.

But several industry sources who wish to remain anonymous say Gallagher is in part to blame for issues surrounding this year's E3.

Here's one future Wii Virtual Console update I cannot wait to write up. The ESRB has recently posted a rating for the classic Super Nintendo RPG EarthBound for the Nintendo Wii. The sequel to the Japanese-only game Mother, the game tells the story of Ness and company as they fight to gather the powers of the Earth to defeat the evil alien Giygas. With a compelling humor, an original setting, and some damn fine graphics for a Super Nintendo game, EarthBound is widely considered to be one of the greatest role-playing games of all time...and now it is rated E for Everyone. There really is only one reason an older game gets a Wii rating via the ESRB, so expect EarthBound to arrive on the Wii Virtual Console sometime in the near future.

The Entertainment Software Rating Board [Official Site - Thanks Andrew!]

Capcom promoted executive VP and officer Mark Beaumont to the role of chief operating officer, the company announced today. Beaumont, a 25-year industry vet who has been with Capcom since 2005, will now be responsible for overseeing and expanding the company's Western development and licensing activities, in addition to his previous responsibility for U.S. and European consumer software.

Full release follows the jump.

Rock Band has been very, very good to MTV parent company Viacom, who announced that first quarter profits rose 33% based mainly off the sales of the sales of the title, along with higher advertising revenue at MTV Networks. The media conglomerate also enjoyed a revenue increase of 15% for the period, surpassing analyst expectations at $US 3.1 billion. Between having one of the hottest games on the market and their Iron Man movie opening this weekend (saw it last night, and it was amazing!), it's not hard to imagine Viacom's executive chairman Sumner Redstone rocking out to Blue Oyster Cult in celebration, as the Reuters article suggests. What is hard is trying to wipe the mental picture from your head. Thanks a bunch, Reuters.

Viacom rocks with Rock Band [Reuters]
Photo by Lester Cohen of WireImage

Apparently the post Grand Theft Auto IV release has the bravado reaching all-new levels over at Rockstar. In an interview with New York Magazine, Rockstar VP and GTA IV co-writer Dan Houser had some decidedly negative things to say about the industry's shift towards casual gaming.

Yeah, fuck all this stuff about casual gaming. I think people still want games that are groundbreaking...We're hopefully going to prove that there's also a very big audience for people who want entertainment in another form, who think of games as being a narrative device that can challenge movies.

Rockstar Games' Dan Houser on Grand Theft Auto IV and Digitally Degentrifying New York [New York Magazine via Eurogamer]
Image

As a certified Slurpee addict, the press release for the massive May cross-promotion for Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, the Xbox 360, and 7-Eleven's Full Throttle Frozen Blast Slurpee initially read "blah blah Slurpee blah Slurpee for Fahey" until I read through it a couple more times. 7-Eleven, Microsoft, and Activison are teaming up for a massive May PR blitz for the upcoming game and the new Slurpee flavor, where lucky consumers within range of Slurpee goodness will be able to purchase special cups with codes that can be redeemed via Xbox Live for Microsoft points, with chances to win copies of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith every hour of the month. 10 winners will also be receiving an Xbox 360 console along with their GH: A. Along with the contest, 7-Eleven will be strategically placing giant Guitar Hero poster tear-off pads, while media vans featuring 6 by 12 foot video screens with playable versions of the game will be touring store locations. Guitar Hero cups may just be a sign that it is time for my annual Slurpee road trip to the closest 7-Eleven to Atlanta, some 300 miles away. *sigh*

The Entertainment Software Association told Kotaku today that both Activision and Vivendi are no longer a part of the industry trade organisation, confirming a rumour we broke earlier this morning.