Cut Peter Moore and he bleeds neon green. Since last September, the former Xbox exec has been heading up EA Sports. He's had to drop the Xbox 360-is-teh-best rhetoric! Though, sometimes corporate spin habits are hard to break. Just listen to Moore describe how EA must make greater Wii efforts, like with EA's Wii game branding, All-Play:

Looks like those SCE Australia reports were spot-on. At yesterday's SCEE event in London, Sony announced that PlayTV - Sony Europe's HDTV tuner & recorder for the PS3 - would be launching in Europe sometime in September, for the price of €99/£80. No idea how well this kind of thing will do at market (it's an awful lot of money considering it's skimming off your PS3's HDD), but as someone yet to fork out for a HD tuner for my own TV, I'll be keeping an eye on it later this year regardless.
PlayTV Dated, Priced [Next-Gen]

Director Steven Speilberg is known for crafting some seriously intense, gut-wrenching cinematic scenes. But those are just movies! No biggie!! Games, games are different. Just hear what Spielberg has to say:

It's last year all over again! Sony Computer Entertainment of Europe honcho David "Dirty Nail" Reeves is fuelling the console war. Ungh. Here are the sound-bytes:

• Well I think you probably will see it, it's just that a deal obviously was struck between Microsoft and Take 2 to do that, and if that's what they want to do, I think that's the last shot they have.
• All I'm saying is that I think that when we look ahead I think we honestly have a better line-up on PS3 than they probably do on Xbox. They've had two or three Christmases now, I can't remember how many, you know, but I think we've got a really good one coming up. Not just Christmas but in the summer as well.
• It's [GTA IV] obviously the biggest title that PS3 has ever seen. It's spiked sales and we're very happy with the way the bundle has sold and we're very happy with the way that software has gone as well.

More Kaz! Can you handle it? While hanging out at the SCEE event yesterday, Sony's Kaz Hirai spoke on the importance of GTA IV to the PS3, and whether or not he felt the game had been a factor in driving hardware sales. He didn't take the bait entirely, but couldn't resist having a nibble, telling VG247 that when it comes to Grand Theft Auto, a lot of people call the PlayStation home:

Japan made it through Wii Fit mania without a hitch, really. Nobody fell off the board or anything like that. Good times, all around! But, that's Japan. What about elsewhere? Over on Disney community forum (yeah, we know) DISboard, one poster claims:

And by "you", I don't mean "you". I mean you, the collective owners of the game. According to Microsoft's Larry Hryb, the answer was a lot, as he claims (and really, I've no reason to doubt this) that during the first 24 hours of GTA IV being on sale, over two million achievements were unlocked. That's over 15 million Gamerpoints. I know, the first 2-3 achievements are picked up pretty quickly, and the game sold fairly well, but if anything, it shows that a frighteningly high proportion of you failed to turn up to work/school last Tuesday.
Show #277 GTA IV and umm...more GTA IV [Microsoft, via Eurogamer]

Sony and Rockstar sure have been mum about that PS3 GTA IV problems. The game's been locking up during play, making it, well, unplayable for some players, but not all. And hey, with six million copies sold in the first week, there's bound to be issues with some copies! Bad issues. Today, a Sony source confirmed that a multiplayer patch was being planned. Apparently it will reduce the load times and hangs some have been seen! No word on a single player GTA IV for PS3 patch or even for the Xbox 360 version which has been experiencing similar issues. This probably means one thing: Users who are fucked are still fucked.
GTA IV Patch [Eurogamer]

The New York Times, who seem to have got hold of Take-Two's data a little earlier than the rest of us, are reporting that the publisher's going to announce some hard GTA IV sales figures later today. Those figures will reveal the game has already sold 6 million copies, with an astonishing 3.6 million of them going on the first day. This means the game's racked up sales of over $US 500 million in just one week. Hoo-boy. If the NYT are on the money, expect Take-Two to confirm this later today.
A $500 Million Week for Grand Theft Auto [New York Times]

I was about to let this one fly completely under my radar. Then I go and see this, and remember just why Ratchet & Clank games are so great (even when they're not done by Insomniac). It's the charm. In case you missed it last night, Secret Agent Clank's out in the US on June 12.

American internet connected Wiis are blinking! The Nintendo Channel has just gone live. Here, let's let Nintendo describe it:

Nintendo Channel is an interactive guide to what's new in the world of Nintendo - now available for easy download from the Wii Shop Channel. Watch trailers, mini-documentaries, product demonstrations, and gameplay videos. Browse the game guide pages to get information about your favourite games on Wii and Nintendo DS. You can even click to order games straight from your Wii, if you have the Internet Channel installed. Make sure your Wii is connected to the internet, and get started!

It's easy to crack jokes about EA Sports' new "Freestyle" brand - as well as their "All-Play" tags for their Wii games - because jokes either EA Sports or the casual end of the gaming spectrum are a dime a dozen. Get past those, though, and you see new boss Peter Moore's being driven by a single, steely purpose: take what made Wii Sports such a hit, and apply it to every EA Sports brand you can think of. That's what he said at a conference in Vancouver yesterday, telling journalists:

We learned some hard lessons. That was the type of sports experience they were looking for and we saw that and decided we needed to redefine what our sports games were about.

Though, it may seem like Hollywood has a monopoly on shit game movie adaptations, others can make shit game adaptations! Take the Japanese film industry, which is churning out what apparently is a crud version of computer visual novel Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. Japanese movie site Chou Eiga Hihyou gave the movie a 10 out of... 100. The problem, according to the reviewer, is that the movie cannot capitalise on what makes the game so interesting: Cute characters in a love comedy who gradually become violent and bloody. In live action, that kind of story arc is old hat! Also, we're pretty pissed that the actresses don't have green or purple hair. I mean...hello?!
10 of 100 [Chou Eiga Hihyou via Canned Dogs]

Javier Segovia's a digital artist from Spain. Guy loves him some industrial concept design. This is his vision of an updated, redesigned Nintendo Entertainment System. He calls it reNESED. Not that Nintendo would ever bother releasing such a thing, but hey, if they did, it could look a lot worse than this simply pretty great design.

Omega Five! Great little shooter. The Xbox Live Arcade game features an unlockable "retro mode" where the game's graphics and the sound go 16-bit! You know what, that's pretty neato. The score was done by game music vet Hiroyuki Iwatsuki, who apparently has been inspired more by game music than anything else. (Word has it he hadn't even heard the Beatles until he started working in the game industry!) Iwatsuki says this about XBLA:

Worried that Fallout 3 may be a little too dumbed down for your tastes, PC fans? Course you are. The same allegations were levelled against Oblivion, if I remember correctly. Bethesda would have heard your cries, but the sound of millions of dollars in Oblivion sales kinda drowned you out. As for Fallout 3, no, they're not worried about dumbing down a PC game for console gamers at all. Well, they are, but they're equally worried about making a game too complex for console gamers! Classic rock/hard place scenario. Fallout 3 lead Emil Pagliarulo isn't worried about rocks or hard places, however, telling Next-Gen:

Internet person Chris Bradshaw, aka Gilgamesh, owner of Kikouken.com and regular contributor to CCAcomics.com, bought The King of Fighters XI and SNK vs Capcom Card Fighter DS at his local Best Buy. The Card Fighter game has a fatal glitch that locks up the game. Chris tried to contact the SNK Playmore USA sales department, but never got a response. He sent emails to every SNK address he could find. Still, no reply. Then! He started dialing SNK's office, entering every imaginable extension. Says Chris: "Eventually I did get I touch with someone who gave me the information I needed, but not before I left a message on SNK USA President Ben Herman's machine. I can't tell you what I said verbatim, however I did tell him about how I have been attempting to contact someone at his office for almost two months now because I need to return a defective game (I didn't specify which game because I didn't think it mattered, a warrenty is a warrenty) and that I was now dialing every number I could find and making myself as big of a pain in the arse as possible (and yes, I did use those words) until someone finally talked to me." Hit the jump for Herman's reply:

Strauss Zelnick, Take-Two Interactive Chairman, may have enviable cheekbones and impressive compensation, but what he does not have is a grasp on the software issues surrounding Grand Theft Auto IV. With Xbox 360s and PlayStation 3s locking up during GTA IV play sessions, a twelve step "fix" from Rockstar Games support and a host of anecdotal solutions that aren't yet a cure-all, you might wonder where Strauss has been this past week.

Wii Fit will be out in Australia tomorrow, and if you haven't already got it on order, you'll be looking to buy one as cheap as you can. This is assuming you own a Wii and have an interest in jumping, leaning and skipping about your living room in an attempt to get into shape using a computer game.

Fit the bill? Anthony over at the Economical Gamer has compiled a list of stores offering Wii Fit for below its RRP. The cheapest is Myer, coming in at $109, but you'll need a coupon to make good on the deal. Of course, Myer might not suit, so we've included a bunch more after the jump.

A "source" speaking with Joystiq seems to think so. According to this source - who is "close to the deal" - developers Naughty Dog have already agreed to option the rights to a movie based on their 2007 hit (and our 2007 NQGOTY), with Atlas Entertainment reported to be behind the project. Who are Atlas? They're a production company who helped put Twelve Monkeys and Three Kings together, so relax, will you?
Source: Uncharted optioned for movie adaptation [Joystiq]

You know the drill. Gadgets, blenders, blending, poisonous smoke. Think two Wii Remotes can withstand the fury of a Blendtec blender? Answer, after a strangely gratifying 1:21, above.
[via Go Nintendo]

Hands up who's bought a new HDD for their 360. Anyone? Anyone? No, didn't think so. $US 180 for a 120GB hard drive isn't pricey, it's taking the piss. So just why, exactly, do they cost so much money? MTV's Patrick Klepek contacted tech analysts iSuppli (who you may know from their console breakdowns) to find out.

As you can probably surmise, they found much of the cost is taken up by the needless packaging and design required by Microsoft in order to ensure the drive works only in your 360 console. Some the biggest contributors to its inflated price (ie prices beyond the HDD itself) include:

Despite how you may feel about the look of GAME's Xbox 360-themed Chopper motorcycle, it's still a neat piece of machinery. It's also worth $80,000, which means if you did win it, you could always, uh, "pass" it on to someone more excitable. Me, I wouldn't even know which end to hold to get it into the stratosphere.

If you'd like to see it in the metal, the bike will be making the rounds in Sydney and Newcastle, starting from May 8 (tomorrow!). I've pasted the dates below:

The PS3 had a rough launch. No. Bones. About it. And we were tough on them! Last few months (from the launch of Uncharted and a version of CoD4 that was surprisingly excellent onwards), though, they've been picking up steam, and seem well on the road to recovery. First step down that road? Admitting past mistakes. Kaz Hirai told journos at the SCEE event today:

Tales of Game, the team behind Charles Barkley Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden have released their latest freeware roguelike The Sewer Goblet: The Wu-Tang Clan and the Wu-Tang Baby, a dungeon crawling adventure starring GZA, RZA, the late Ol' Dirty Bastard, Raekwon and the rest of the Wu-Tang crew. And for maximum appeal, Tales of Game has introduced the Wu-Tang Baby, a "tiny but majestic baby with a mysterious pendant" adopted by the seminal rap group.

Five copies of the Disgaea Collection are waiting to be won. They sit in their corner, crying, night after night, desperate for owners. I don't know how much longer I can take it.

If you'd like to help, keep writing those Disgaea-themed Haikus and sending them to tips(AT)kotaku(DOT)com(DOT)au. Make sure you put "Disgaea DVD comp" in the subject line. For more details, head over to the original post.

You have until Tuesday next week, so get scribing!

Image © 2003 NIPPON ICHI SOFTWARE INC. / DARK ASSEMBLY

Fresh from their big PR event today in London, Sony have released some new screenshots from their now-delayed flagship shooter, Killzone 2. And looking at a couple of the in-game shots they chose to release (not the gorgeous one above), it's easy to see why it's been held back. Still looking a little rough in places. Indeed, some of these shots aren't just missing their earlier "target renders", they look more PS2 than PS3! Ah, I kid, but really, there's still a long way to go if they want to meet their own lofty, self-imposed standards. Feb 2009 should about do it.

Had some issues earlier today with the server, apologies for the late update!

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