To: Crecente
From: Bashcraft

Fucking hamster! The small animal that powers the site was in a disagreeable mood during the night and gobble up some posts. Bastard. Wonkiness abound!

Speaking of wonkiness, my RSS died on me. I've using Google Reader as a backup, which is pretty great, but do you have any recs for any other Readers?

What you missed last night
No More Ninja Gaiden
Rumoured Spring Xbox 360 install
SNK is not closing its US branch
Liberty City vs NYC
MGS4 wants to sell you things
PlayStation sales
New RE5 art

Once was a day that if you were playing a top-shelf console game - one that really pushed at the boundaries of the medium - it was probably made in Japan. These days, though? Hey, it still happens, especially if that game's made by Nintendo or Capcom, but for the most part - at least for the Western market - homegrown games have begun to outpace Japanese ones, especially on the technical side of things. It's a point I agree with, but I didn't make it. Hideo Kojima did:

Now that Metal Gear Solid 4 is in the can, what's next for Hideo Kojima? That's that rumoured Snatcher remake with No More Heroes creator Suda51. Anything else? Says Kojima:

I would like to say that Zone of the Enders is quite near the priority list... [after MGS4] it might be good to change to outer space or robots or things like that for a change.

Really, who doesn't like giant robots fighting? ZOE 3 anyone?
ZOE on To Do List [GameFunk]

Nothing like lo-res magazine scans to show off your game! This week's Famitsu has a huge 9 page article on upcoming Resident Evil 5 features game concept art, which sheds light onto how the finished product might look. While the game is set in a new location, it will apparently feature big boss style enemies from earlier games. So far, only three weapons are confirmed: a knife, a handgun and a sniper rifle.

This is Adam and Walter, from the 405th. Hi Adam and Walter! Adam and Walter like Halo, and they like cosplay, so seeing them dressed as Halo characters isn't that big a shock. What is a shock is the quality of these costumes! If somebody told me these were photos smuggled off the set of the Halo movie I'd totally agree with them, for a second, before remembering there is no Halo movie, then saying "aaaahhhh, ya got me".

Today at Microsoft's Spring Event Cliff Bleszinski walked members of the press through the entire second level of Gears of War 2. Actually he played through the level, live, as we watched in rapt attention.

Gears of War 2 takes place six months after the first Gears ends, he said. It is fall and the last stand for humanity as the Locust Horde work to collapse the last major city on Sera. To fight back Marcus Fenix and his squad are asked to deliver a "grind lift" to a nearby lost city and ride it into the Locust underground home cities.

Level two starts off with Fenix and company boarding a giant combat truck and riding it as it makes it way to a nearby city. Dizzy, a conscript driver, manoeuvres the vehicle as Fenix and the other members of Delta squad work to defend it. The platform the squad stands on is large enough to still make good use of the game's trademark cover system.

The level also showed off some of the other large vehicles found in the game, like helicopters and tanks.

Sorry, Britain. Forgot to do the charts last week. Was too busy playing GTA IV. I'm sure you'll forgive me, though, since it seems that's all you've been doing as well, with both versions (predictably) occupying the top two spots, and doing an awfully splendid job of keeping Wii Fit out of the #1 position. Equally splendid is the disappearance of the DS Mario & Sonic game and the Brain Training sequel, meaning - for at least last week, anyways - the charts have a fresh look about them. Like an old friend with a new haircut.

This is a short little clip a bunch of guys by the name of Waverley Films put together for MTV's Gamer's Week. It's about Link, a bully, and what happens when Link is confronted by said bully. The moral of the story? Link is never to be messed with. Especially when he's awkward, and British.

Namco Bandai has released a list of upcoming 2008 titles. While the list includes stuff we already know (Soul Calibur IV), it does offer up new tidbits like RPG Tales of Vesperia being confirmed for Xbox 360 and the PS3. Namco Bandai has since corrected the list, stating that it's only an Xbox 360 title. But really, is this a surprise? Namco Bandai, like Capcom, seems to be making pretty much all its games multiplat. The list also includes some new titles like a *surprise* Gundam game for the PSP as well as a Naruto title for the PS3. There are also Namco Bandai's predictions regarding how well the games will do! Hit the jump for the full list:

Xbox Japan have an idea! Kicking off in June, they'll be running a program whereby the first 15,000 people who buy a console and one of a select number of games (eg Ninja Gaiden 2, FIFA Street or Guitar Hero III) will also get that lovely, mysterious box up there. What's in the box? A wired 360 controller, XBL headset (again, of the wired variety) and a very strange-looking, very cheap-looking "accessory stand" to hang them both on. Japanese consumers are asked to hurry before stocks run out, but with 15,000 on offer...yeah. Take your time.

Ack! That case mod is SCARY. Over at The Llamma's Game Console Forums, member dfw monkie has created this gator box by hand-sculpting layers of putty and then painting it with a clear-coat for that just crawled out of the swamp look. The eye is especially frightening. Just image it when it's switched on. Or worse, with RROD. Nightmares!

Hit the jump for gator eye pics.

EA weren't the only company to release their financials today. Sony Corp did as well, and while these were results for the entire company, there were of course gaming-related numbers to be had amongst them. Overall sales for the PlayStation group were up 26% off the back of increased interest in the PS3, while the gaming division cut its losses from $US 232 million to $US 124 million (with forecasts it'll have gone into the black by this time next year). But hey, unless you're a Sony shareholder/raving-mad fanboy, that stuff's of secondary importance. Most of you will probably just want to know how many PS3s, PSPs and PS2s the company shifted last year.

Xbox honcho Shane Kim is back with more talking! This time he goes on and on for something like four paragraphs talking about motion sensed. Does that confirm the rumoured Xbox 360 Wii-mote clone? "I've never heard of a motion sensing controller," he replies. According to Kim:

I got Vista a few weeks back, and have found it nothing short of delightful. No compatibility issues, no performance downgrades, none of the complaints I've heard PC gamers cussing over for the past year or so. Then again...I've been playing Oblivion and the Battlestar Galactica mod for Homeworld 2, so I haven't exactly been pushing the OS to its limits. If you're playing things a little more current, and are finding things on Vista a little slower than they should be, chin up: some benchmarks run by ExtremeTech have compared Vista's SP1 to XP's new SP3, and found that over three games tested (World in Conflict, Supreme Commander and Crysis), Vista was just as fast as XP on two, and marginally faster on Crysis.

Gaming Performance: Windows Vista SP1 vs. XP SP3 [ExtremeTech]

That's it, our Disgaea DVD competition is over! We've had a look at all the wonderful haikus that were sent in over the last week and, with great difficulty, selected five to receive a copy of the Disgaea Collection. Don't feel bad if you missed out - the pack is available from today for $49.95.

Special props again to Madman, who made the competition possible. If your name appears after the jump, watch your inbox as we'll be in touch soon to get your mailing address.

Now, for the winning entries!

Just because you appear in a gajillion dollar making video game doesn't mean you get a gajillion dollars! Beer swinging Jason Zumwait was Roman Bellic in GTA IV and he hasn't made a gajillion dollars. No wonder he's offering to let folks "Rent Roman", tongue planting firmly in cheek. "For a nominal fee, I'll come over to your house," says Zumwait, "sitdown on your goddamn couch and play that video game with you."
Rent Roman [Sand & Cotton via Dtoid]

Last year, Konami spent an insane amount of money on the Metal Gear 20th Anniversary Party. The swish event was at the Ritz Carlton in Tokyo Midtown. Throughout the event, Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima kept mentioning that the fourth entry was the last game in the series. That this was it! But as Konami CEO Fumiaki Tanaka kept saying that he hoped Kojima would make more Metal Gear and others kept saying they hoped there would be more Metal Gear, Kojima was overheard at the end of the night saying that there would be more!

Ah, Eternal Darkness. Never really got into it myself, but I can still see why people dig it, and I appreciate that. There weren't many games like it last generation, and there definitely weren't many games like it on the GameCube. So what do Silicon Knights think about returning to the series, should they ever actually get the Too Human "trilogy" out the door? Surprisingly, SK boss Dennis Dyack sounds keen as beans:

There is a chance; we love all the games we work on. We don't want to be pigeon-holed [into a genre], we want to be known for strong content...There's a strong chance we'll return to it, but there's no announcements yet.

Dyack: Strong Chance Of Eternal Darkness Return News [TVG]

Numerous times Sony has publicly stated numerous times that the PS3 will have a ten year life-span. What about the Xbox 360? How long will that last? According to Shane Kim, the Microsoft machine will last 7 years, which is twice as long as the original Xbox. According to Kim:

We said from the beginning that we expect the Xbox 360 to have a long tail. Clearly we didn't do that with the original Xbox, which was a strategic decision we made. Admittedly, we don't have any experience doing this, but we're pretty confident 360 will have a long tail.

Continuing, he says:

Here's something interesting. We know, EA lost some cash last year, and we know, they did so despite selling a gagillion games, but just where did those games go? Like, which systems did EA make the most money off? Let's check their quarterly results and find out. Anyone hoping Q42008 would be the time a current-gen system (like the Xbox 360, for example) finally beat out last-gen had best look elsewhere, because yes, the PS2 still rules EA's money-making roost. And the 360 came second? Nope.

No, that honour went - surprisingly - to the PS3. Check the chart below: last quarter, EA made $US 152 million off PS3 game sales, and "only" $US 128 million off sales of games on the 360.

Well, we didn't have to wait long for Nintendo Australia to send out the news! A press release from the company just hit our inbox confirming the June 26 release date for Super Smash Bros. Brawl in Australia.

Previously, all we had to go on was a product page at retailer Topshop (and various other stores, according to comments on this post). I'm glad Nintendo decided not to leave us hanging for long.

It's over a month away, I know, but a solid date is better than nothing. Well, for those who didn't order it from overseas or buy it from independent retailers.

Hit the jump for the full release.

Metal Gear Solid 4 offers more than great gameplay and solid graphics. It also offers product placement! From an in-game iPod and Triumph motorcycles to cell phones and energy drinks, MGS4 has tactical advertising down pat. Click through the gallery below!

Liberty City is New York City. Pretty much. You already know that. Times Square, the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge, you've no doubt seen them all in the game by now. But just how deep does the real-world-referencing rabbit hole run? You might recognise Broadway, but do you recognise Rockstar's version of the Paramount Theatre? Or their rendition of the Hearst Building? Maybe not. But they're in there. Those and a ton more have been noted, catalogued and photographed by designer Matthew Johnston, with the full gallery available at the Flickr link below.

Sightseeing in Liberty City [Matthew Johnston @ Flickr]

Wait, didn't we only just say Nintendo had sold five million Wiis in Japan? Scratch that. Make it six. And while you're at it, note that of those six million Wii owners, two million of them have already bought Wii Fit. Two million! In less than six months! Crazy. When Chuck D said it'd take a nation of millions to hold him back, he was obviously talking about the Japanese, and their newly-honed sense of balance.

Wii：1年半足らずで国内販売600万台　Wiiフィットも200万本、ダブルで大台突破 [Mainichi Daily News]

Rumours are swirling that SNK Playmore, best known for Metal Slug and The King of Fighters, is closing its US offices this summer. What's more, apparently the company is letting all American employees and officially no longer directly selling its games in the States. The Osaka-based game developer says that this is false. The company is relocating its US office. SNK Japan tells Kotaku:

Microsoft weren't going to let their Spring Showcase go without dishing out some Gears of War 2 stuff. Here, then, are four screens, which I'm pretty sure are from the already-released trailers, but what they lack in motion, they make up for in size and crispness. I'm not the world's biggest Gears fan, so it's all looking very "same as the last one but louder", but I will applaud them for the use of green. Makes a pleasant change!

Another press release has arrived from Auran regarding the newly established "Fury League". Yes, the same Fury League we covered four days ago, where Fury players can share in a $25,000 prize pool by competing in various ladders.

If you were wondering how the $25,000 is to be divided, don't worry, I was curious too. According to lead designer Cameron McNeil, players in the top bracket can earn $250 a week, while those at the arse-end can collect $8 per week. There are ten brackets all up.

Auran CEO Tony Hilliam says the Fury League is to be "more like a sport than a traditional computer game." To me, it sounds like the developer is, in an indirect way, bribing people to play. Cash for victory is a good incentive, but shouldn't gamers want to play because it's fun? If it's an extreme measure to bolster the player base, fair enough, but is the model sustainable? Where's the cash coming from?

Not that any of this will matter if the ladders can't get off the ground. I noticed this clause in the release:

A minimum of 2,000 players completing at least 10 games each prior to the commencement of the first Ladder period is required to justify the prize pool. Insufficient entries will result in either postponement or cancellation of the Ladders.

All the info after the jump.

If Microsoft follows the same schedule it did last year, the Spring system update for the Xbox 360 should be right around the corner. Today, an alleged list of changes included in that update was sent to us, supposedly forwarded from an internal source. The full list—which is after the jump—features about 80 new feature additions, tweaks and changes.

Some are simply interesting as curiosities, such as an option to purchase Xbox Live memberships for charities and the addition of a Media section for audio delivered through feeds, such as podcasts. Others sound more feature robust, such as Windows Live Mail integration and an expanded "Inside Xbox" with news, weather, entertainment, help and community features.

Perhaps the most interesting additions are "Calibration options for motion sensor devices" for the Dashboard and "Support for titles to store installation data on Storage Device for faster loading" for Games. If true, the former would lend further credibility to frequent rumours that Microsoft is planning to introduce a motion controller for the Xbox 360. The ability to store installation data on a hard drive—as is done with some PlayStation 3 games—would certainly be a welcome option, if that's how the wording should be interpreted. Continue on for the full list of rumoured updates.

Gameplayer is reporting that we will indeed be getting a Metal Gear Solid 4 PS3 bundle, contrary to the Tweaktown story from a few days ago. Looks like its retailer sources had incorrect information, despite being spot on about the GTA IV PS3 bundle.

The pack, confirmed by SCE Australia MD Michael Ephraim, will retail for $749 and hit shelves close to the release of the game. As expected, the console will be the 40GB unit.

MGS4 PS3 bundle confirmed for Australia [Gameplayer.com.au]

In an interview with Kotaku earlier today Team Ninja's Tomonobu Itagaki said that he doesn't plan on making any more Ninja Gaiden games for any platforms following the release of Ninja Gaiden II for the Xbox 360.

"Personally I think we were able to create the definitive 3D game in this series so I'm not planing on making any other games in the series," Itagaki said through a translator. "So I hope fans treat this as a swan song for the franchise.

"I think we were able to achieve everything we wanted with this game so anything else would be extraneous."

When asked if he plans on making a "swan song" Ninja Gaiden title for the PlayStation 3, Itagaki replied " that would be ridiculous."

Instead, the creator of the beloved franchise said he wants to make something that is "totally new, completely unrelated to anything I've done before. Not any part of any existing franchises."