Dark Void is basically Crimson Skies with on-foot combat. That may be overgeneralising things, but Ed Fries co-founder at Airtight Games and former Microsoft Game Studios guy essentially pitched the game as such at Capcom's Captivate 08 event as the type of game that the team wanted to make. With a mechanic the studio is referring to as "vertical cover combat," Dark Void looks to distinguish itself from the 3D action game crowd by way of Crimson Skies know-how and a sci-fi mythology that pits man against alien invader, selectively borrowing from classic science fiction properties in intelligent places.

Part cinematic sand-painted pre-rendered action, part straight to the point gameplay, this new Street Fighter IV trailer may be your first look at newcomers Abel, Rufus, Crimson Viper and El Fuerte. It may also be your introduction to Annoying Street Fighter IV Announcer Guy, a chatty Cathy who runs at the mouth with an unusual brand of hype. Also prominently featured are the bosses of Street Fighter II, with a respectable dose of arcade gameplay from veterans Balrog, Vega, Sagat and M. Bison. It's perfectly acceptable to mute this one, folks! Enjoy!

Capcom's big-budget revitalisation of its Bionic Commando intellectual property has the potential be outshone by its classic remake, Bionic Commando Rearmed, as far as hardcore fans are concerned, but the new-gen update, the one starring Nathan Spencer, shouldn't be overlooked. Both are graphically gorgeous in their own ways, with Rearmed presenting a tight, clean and colourful 2.5D re-skin, with the all-new Bionic Commando appearing to be an impressive visual achievement, stuffed with attention to detail and smart level design.

The only title to be officially announced at Captivate 08 was Bionic Games' Spyborgs, a Wii exclusive action game touted as resembling a Saturday morning cartoon, complete with mini-games as commercial breaks. Spyborgs may be more Adult Swim than it is Saturday morning fodder, despite having a clean and unoffensive visual style, as its sense of humour seems to learn toward intentionally off-beat and is self-described as "tongue-in-cheek."

With five playable characters, each with their own unique traits, Bionic Games hopes that their Wii remote waggler will "provide players with a dynamic and fresh gaming experience like no other."

Unfortunately, Spyborgs wasn't available for hands-on play, so you'll have to settle for an introductory trailer devoid of gameplay and a press release to get a better perspective on what Capcom and Bionic Games are offering. We were treated to a hands-off presentation, however, getting a rough sense for Spyborgs' cartoonish sci-fi fisticuffs. In short, it may not look like much, but it has potential.

Capcom made it official last week that Street Fighter IV was coming home, confirming that the arcade version would be ported to the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows-based PCs. Speaking to Street Fighter IV producer Yoshinori Ono at Captivate 08, we learned a bit more about Capcom's plans for the home versions.

As Ono and crew already specified, the Street Fighter IV home conversion with feature characters not seen in the arcade version as well as online internet play. Ono stressed that the two characters not in the final arcade version who showed up in preliminary art form, Dan Hibiki and Fei Long, are not yet confirmed to appear in the console version. He told us that the team simply hasn't decided yet who will be added to the roster and that SFIV artist Daigo Ikeno "is still working on many designs."

Resident Evil 5 producer Jun Takeuchi presented the newest trailer for his upcoming survival horror adventure, a game partially set in the shanty towns of an unnamed African locale, at Capcom's recent Captivate 08 media event. Following the trailer, one that reveals protagonist Chris Redfield's newest partner, a mysterious woman who we're going to refer to as Sheva, just for kicks, Takeuchi fired up our first look at a playable Resident Evil 5. Set in the village showcased in the game's original trailer, Capcom's Masachika Kawata—producer of Resident Evil 4 Wii and Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles—guided us through a quick gameplay demonstration.

To: Crecente
From: Ashcraft

Crazy busy night, oodles of news broke. Plus, wife started to relapse today and was pretty ill. Tomorrow hopefully she'll be feeling better as there's an open house at the kid's school.

Very embarrassing thing recently! Yesterday was the first school day in June, and Mini Bash's school switched from its spring uniforms to its summer uniforms (complete with a straw hat!). Totally forgot he was supposed to wear the summer outfit, took him to school in his spring one, and all the other kids were in their straw hats and whatnot. Only Mini Bash was still in long sleeves. Not only did the principal come over to my car to explain that summer uniforms started in June (which at that point I could fully gather by myself thankyou), but his teacher even called later that day.

What you missed last night
Itagaki leaving Tecmo, suing Tecmo
Sony's introducing pay for demo program
Street Fighter IV moves list
Red PS2 for Japan
Japan getting blue PSP
Meeting Kojima

Speaking with Wired, Sony's Susan Panico has said that Home, the company's ambitious online world/community hub/European furniture design fetishists club, is still on-track for a release in 2008. But there's a catch: she says the "rollout will be similar to Gmail". And when it is launched, it'll launch as an "open, working beta". Now, I don't know if you've used Gmail before. But I have. I started in 2006. It was in beta then. It's still in beta now.

Home 'Open Working Beta' Still On Track for 2008 [Wired]

Sony just announced monthly interactive gaming program "Qore: Presented by the PLAYSTATION Network." HD PS3 gaming program Qore (pronounced "Core") will feature exclusive news, interviews and previews as well as behind-the-scenes look at PS titles — not to mention game demos and betas, "game add-ons" and other downloadable content. The show kicks off Thursday, June 5th, and the first episode features SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Secret Agent Clank, Soul Calibur 4 and Afro Samurai, plus new Blu-ray trailers, an exclusive SOCOM: Confrontation theme with an invitation to the SOCOM: Confrontation beta. From Sony's PlayStation.Blog:

To get Qore, simply log onto PSN and go to the PLAYSTATION Store, as you would purchase any other form of downloadable content. Once the single Episode or annual subscription is purchased, that month's episode will be downloaded under the "Game" heading on the Cross Media Bar (XMB). Users who purchase the "Qore Annual Subscription" will notice only that month's episode is available to download. The following month, the new episode will automatically appear in your download list. The introductory price for Qore is $US 2.99 for a single episode and $US 24.99 for an annual subscription of 13 episodes, using your PLAYSTATION Network wallet.

Yep! All that exclusive content (from the platform holder nonetheless!) will set you back $US 2.99 each or $US 24.99 for the year. Hit the jump for a trailer with the show's host Veronica Belmont.

This summer, Japan is getting a PLAYSTATION Eye bundle that includes the peripheral along with PS3 software called Memotion which features six different PLAYSTATION Eye mini-games. Those are "Tsukuru", "Miru", "Toku", "Asobu", "Mau" and "Ugoku". In "Miru", players can feed tropical fish. "Toku" and "Asobu" are puzzle games. "Mau" lets players interact with birds within the aesthetic style of Japanese paintings. "Ugoku" lets players use their body and voice to create visual effects. "Tsukuru" is video and image editing software. The bundle goes on sale July 24th for ¥5000 ($US 48).

PLAYSTATION Eye [Famitsu]

Remember this day, Britons: there is not a single DS game in the top ten. Not one. Not even Brain Training. And Lord only knows the last time that happened (though the Lord quietly tells me it was probably in 2005). Taking its place is a surprisingly strong debut from Codemaster's Grid, with both versions charting well, while the 360 version of GTA IV enjoys its temporary stay at the top while Nintendo Europe continue to struggle to get stocks of Wii Fit into the country.

1) GTA IV (360)
2) 2) Wii Play
3) Mario & Sonic (Wii)
4) GTA IV (PS3)
5) Grid (360)
6) Haze
7) Grid (PS3)
8) Mario Kart Wii
9) Sega Superstars Tennis
10) Rock Band

[Individual-Format charts courtesy of ChartTrack]

Looking at this month's release schedule, it sure looks like a ton of DS games are coming out. After that, looks like the PS2 is getting the most new games, followed by the PS3. The Wii, the PSP and the Xbox 360 are bringing up the rear in number of new games. But wait! Let's take a closer look at this month's PS3 release schedule:

Oh, hey, those Gears of War figures are out. If you're after one or two, great, hope you got 'em. If you're after all four of them, this may be of interest: NECA are to release a box set, which includes all four Gears of War figures in the one pack plus a couple of minor additions, like a new Locust head and the Hammer of Dawn. No word on price yet, but it should be out in a few weeks time.

Microsoft used to own Halo developer Bungie. Now, Microsoft does not! What was that experience like — being owned by a corporate monolith? Says Bungie engineering lead Chris Butcher:

To their credit, they did a really good job of getting Bungie our own building. Essentially, we were in a bubble. We were mostly independent the entire time, with all of the perks of having a partner. They respected what Bungie had culturally.

When they bought Bungie, they didn't try to assimilate us and break our will and make us all drink the punch. They let the team maintain what made Bungie, Bungie. I think that's one of the smartest things that they did.

...On the Microsoft side, they still have a great partner in Bungie, and a great relationship. We have a team now that's reinvigorated and also made great games for their platforms. It really was a win-win. It doesn't seem like it really adds up to people, but both groups got what they wanted out of the deal. We're happy that Microsoft allowed this arrangement to happen. It really is a mutually beneficial arrangement.

Everybody's happy! Everyone wins! Hooray!!

Reflecting on Halo [Gamasutra] [Pic]

Sony Japan so are not done with the colour changes. Next up, following the new red PS2, is this "Metallic Blue" PSP. Which is new for Japan, not so new for the US, since it's the same colour North America's getting in the limited edition Madden 09 PSP pack. This one will be a limited edition as well, and will come in two bundles: a "value pack" (¥23,800/$US 228), which is the PSP, a 32MB card, AV cables and various bags/straps, and a "1 Seg" pack (¥29,800/$US 286), which is everything that comes in the value pack, but with the addition of the nifty 1 Seg TV tuner. Both will be out in Japan on July 17.

Timed Xbox 360 exclusive Eternal Sonata is getting a PS3 release with extra content in Japan. But what elsewhere? According to a Namco Bandai US spokesperson:

I can't speak for any other territories, but I believe Eternal Sonata is only announced for the PS3 in Japan right now... We have no plans to release the game on the PS3 in the US at this moment.

So no plans "at this moment." But tomorrow? The day after that? Next month? Who knows?!

Namco Bandai Eternal Sonata PS3 Japan Only [videogaming247 Thanks, nekotails!]

Sure, the PS2's time is nearly up, but it's got at least one colour change left in it before it shuffles off this electronic coil. Sony Japan have just announced that, on July 3, they'll be releasing a new PS2 model in the colour Cinnabar Red. And before you ask, yes, it's a real (familiar) colour. It'll go for ¥16,000 ($US 153). Shouldn't make too big a dent in many of your purchasing plans, but then that shouldn't stop you looking and thinking "you know, that's one very nice colour for a console", either.

Gamers have a "consistently positive" opinion of in-game advertising? That's what ad agency Massive, which is owned by Microsoft, found in a survey whose results it announced this morning.

Media research firm Interpret looked into four of Massive's advertisers: an unnamed fast-food restaurant, candy company and entertainment studio, plus Adidas footwear and apparel, and found the ads are having an effect, showing significant percentage increases in brand recognition when compared to those who didn't see the in-game ads.

With the Adidas promotion, for example, gamers who saw the ads in 2K Sports' Major League Baseball 2K7 said things like "Adidas is the only brand for me" and "Adidas is an inspirational brand" 70 percent more often than those not exposed to the ads.

And Massive's study seems to show gamers don't mind being influenced: 70 percent of gamers said the ads enhanced realism, fit the games they appeared in (universally sports games, except for the ads in Rainbow Six: Vegas) and that the ads "looked cool."

Approximately 200 theatergoers walked out of a free Postal screening in New Jersey last Friday. While Hoboken Mayor David Roberts refused to attend the screening, stated that he did not like the film's 9/11-style attack gag and added that it was "too soon to mock a plane going into the World Trade Center." According to Boll:

Being politically correct, let's say, the big studios are kind of overdoing it... I feel it is time now to make a really wild movie, something over the top... We don't spare any group. We don't want to hurt anybody but we want to break the rules... We want to make people think: What is a taboo? We want to make people start thinking about their own boundaries and rules.

It's kind of curious of Mayor Roberts to say it's "too soon to mock a plane going into the World Trade Center". Does that mean eventually it will be okay to mock that? And if so, who will decide that? Rather subjective, no?

Postal Offends Some [NJ.com via Binge Gamer] [Pic]

Tomonobu Itagaki is leaving Tecmo and suing the company for unpaid bonuses. The Dead or Alive creator cites an unfulfilled Dead or Alive 4 completion bonus, stating, "President Yoshimi Yasuda chose not only to violate this agreement, but also turned defiant, telling me 'if you are dissatisfied with the decision not to pay the bonuses, either quit the company or sue it.'"

Tomonobu Itagaki's translator Andrew Szymanski contacted Kotaku, telling us, "At approximately 2:30 PM Japan Standard Time today, June 3rd 2008, an official statement from Tomonobu Itagaki was sent by fax to major Japanese news outlets. In the interest of fair and expedient reporting of this story throughout the English-speaking world, I have been asked by Itagaki to convey this statement to you. Herein find attached Itagaki's official statement, in English, for the benefit of your readers."

What does this mean for Itagaki's future? Szymanski does not know, adding, "You will likely have questions regarding the content of the statement, or about Itagaki's future plans. I am afraid that I will be unable to answer such questions for the time being; however, rest assured that more information will be forthcoming as soon as it is deemed appropriate to do so."Quitting Tecmo (and suing it) means the chances of Itagaki making Dead or Alive 5 are more dead than alive. Hit the jump for Itagaki's full statement.

Yup. Strange as it may seem in this day and age where their products are a licence to - yes - print money, New Zealand's distributor of Nintendo (and Activision) products, Softprint Interactive, have gone bust. Carked it. According to local site Geekpulp, debtors rocked up to the company's offices on Friday, and seized all their stock. Which means no more Nintendo or Activision gear for New Zealand until the whole mess is sorted out. As for what happens next, when we asked about the situation, neighbours Nintendo Australia issued the following statement:

Welcome to Grand Stunt Auto Show IV [Topless Robot]

While the Japanese continue to enjoy Yakuza 3, everyone else if stuck with Yakuza 1. Don't even have Yakuza 2. Which came out in December 2006. But, hey, don't be so slum, chum. The ESRB have gone and classified it, which means it'll at least be out sometime. In the future. Which could be in six months, it could be while you toil the rest of your life away in an alien salt mine, who knows. The point is you can cross "if" off your speculation whiteboard, and circle "when" a little more furiously.

Yeah, we're getting Yakuza 2 [Siliconera]

Tomonobu Itagaki always has something to say. And right or wrong, for that, bless him. Previously, he's announced that Xbox 360 exclusive Ninja Gaiden II is the last entry in the series and that the game won't be going multiplat. In an interview with game site Kikizo, Itagaki describes the advantages of working with Microsoft — which included access to a troop of playtesters. But still, the Xbox 360 isn't exactly tearing up the Japanese hardware charts. Why is that? Itagaki offers this:

Courtesy of British mag GamesMaster, we now have our first information on just what Activision's first Bond game - Quantum of Solace - is all about. Seems it's a first-person shooter, with occasional third-person moments when the action dictates the switch, and will be based on both Casino Royale and the upcoming flick with which the game shares its name. Oh, and QTEs will feature as well. Worth at least the benefit of your doubt, if only because it can't be any worse than the past few EA Bond games.

First 007 Quantum of Solace gameplay info [GamesMaster, via CVG]

If Carillon GameTraders can make a MySpace page for its customers, there's nothing to stop other GT outlets from doing the same.

Matt Cooper, assistant manager for GT's Bundaberg operations, has put some effort into a page for his store. I'm assuming the deal is the same as Carillon's - to make people aware of sales, offers and events. That, or a posting board for emo poetry about PS3 shortages or the gruelling experiences of working in retail.

Oh, I'm only kidding! Now, go make friends with an inanimate object.

GameTraders Bundaberg [MySpace]

I'm officially losing track of the number of DS colour revisions we've seen in the past year or so. So I'd love to tell you this is the 17th such change to hit the market, but I couldn't back that up with hard numbers, so let's instead shoot for the moon and say that this black & silver DS, minted solely for inclusion in a Guitar Hero DS bundle, is the 1,174th new DS for the year. And possibly the worst. Not for the classy black/silver colour scheme, which is, yes, classy, but for the fact classy is not rock. That and that GH logo had better be easy to scratch off.

So the Metal Gear Solid World Tour has kicked off! And how was it? Kotaku reader Ninjax blogs:

Whilst I was waiting, I readied my Metal Gear Solid collection to get signed.

I went up on the platform where it was my turn to get my sleeve signed. I get my collection out, only to be told by some random HMV employee who was supervising the signing that I'm only allowed to get the sleeve signed. I didn't know how to take it. So I just took out my sleeve, got it signed and shook Hideo Kojima, Yoji Shinkawa and Yumi Kikuchi (Raging Raven) hands. Which kind of made it better.

I wanted to take a quick picture of me with Hideo Kojima, so I shook Hideo's hand whilst my brother who came with me took a picture. For some reason, the man supervising the singing on the platform tried to stop my brother taking the picture, saying that no pictures allowed. But luckily my brother managed to take the picture before he could stop him.So now I couldn't take a picture of my brother and Hideo, which could be the first and last time they meet.

Very disappointing. I travelled such a long way, carried a very heavy bag of MGS games for nothing? It could be the last time I meet the man, and I've already gone through a long process of waiting, might as well sign all the games and let me at least take a decent picture.

Signatures after the jump.

And here I was thinking I was crazy. Back in November 2007 I made a post regarding memory errors I'd been seeing while using the latest version of Intel's GM965 display drivers on my Dell M1330. I was able to correct the errors by reverting to an older driver.

Looks like I wasn't the only one. Over at Intel's software developer forum, user 7oby created a detailed thread describing the symptoms of the bug, and the driver versions it affected. The post includes a link to the release notes for the driver where the problem may have been introduced, though going over the list of changes, anything could be the cause.

The bug has also been identified by Blizzard's tech support for World of Warcraft, where it was shown to crash the MMO on Macbooks.

Fortunately, the problem seems isolated to certain models of Dell and Macbook laptops running the GM965 chipset. Apparently Intel has a new driver with a fix in the pipeline, and will be releasing it shortly.

According to a CVG report culled from the latest issue of PC Gamer magazine, the next Team Fortress 2 class to get Achievements and unlockable new weapons will be the flamethrower and axe-wielding Pyro. Like the Medic, it seems that the Pyro will get a few dozen class specific achievements and a load out of new gear. That's either good news if you're a Pyro fanatic or horrid news if you're not looking forward to seeing public games clogged with achievement-hungry Pyro noobs.

The unquestionably good news, however, is word from Valve that "Meet The Sniper" is due next in the series of expertly crafted class videos.

Pyro unlockables next for Team Fortress [CVG]