To: Crecente
From: Ashcraft
RE: Defamation of Childhood

Ungh, sorry to hear yer dealing with that kinda crap.

Had robo sushi for lunch — which is typically cheap here. It's kinda like, I dunno, going to Denny's? (Even though we do have Denny's here and there are NO GRANDSLAM MEALS WHATSOEVER WTF DENNY'S JAPAN?!?!?!?) Took a quick inventory of the 9 plates of sushi I had, and realised that I didn't really eat any raw fish. Maybe, it was cause I wasn't eating at a very good chain or just felt like ingesting crap, because if I go to a slightly better place than I did today, I do eat lotsa raw fish. Anyway! For the interested, here's what I had: Corn, Meat Balls, Ham, Tuna Mayo, Grilled Beef, Eel, Hamburger Patty, Salmon and Pudding. Mmmmmmm... Pudding!

What You Missed Last Night
Sony in game ad deal
Hannah Montana going bonkers
Tecmo reponds to Itagaki
Famitsu says MGS4 is prefect
Bruno in Kane & Lynch
Meet your new RE5 partner
Afrika dated?
Captivate wrap up

That's a little rumour Giant Bomb are putting out there. Apparently Activision, as part of their pledge to innovate with the next instalments of the long-running franchise, have taken the series creators (and sole developers for the last decade) off the property, and have handed the reins over to Robomodo, a new studio consisting of former EA Chicago staffers. A studio who are currently "working on a project for Activision".

Giant Bombcast 06-03-2008 [Giant Bomb, via VG247]

While Konami Castlevania dude Koji Igarashi has expressed hesitance about the Wii and the Wii-mote in the past, apparently he's warmed up to the Nintendo platform! Comic book mag Preview has let it slip that the franchise is getting a Wii title released this fall. The info slipped while Preview was giving the skinny on the PR campaign for the comic based on PS2 game Castlevania: Curse of Darkness, stating the the comic book will be "cross-promoted with 2008 video game releases, which include games for Nintendo Wii and DS (Fall 2008)". Unconfirmed and unsurprising, really.

Castlevnia Comic [Badger Comics via CVG]

Enhanced RE5 Trailer [Albotas]

Note: Just be sure, before you read this, look at the screens then get all lippy, this isn't a Square Enix game. It's a Tri-Ace (Star Ocean) game. Got it? Great, let's move on. These 8 screens for the upcoming Infinite Undiscovery make it clear the game will be marked by two things: serious teenagers, and fantastic dialogue. Fantasticer than the game's title, even.

As alluded to earlier, Sony Computer Entertainment America and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe have officially announced their in-game advertising deal with IGA Worldwide. Says Justin Townsend, IGA Worldwide CEO:

PLAYSTATION 3 is undoubtedly the prime opportunity for the in-game advertising industry. Through this partnership with Sony Computer Entertainment, IGA can provide advertisers with a large and valuable global user base of 16-35 year old consumers with disposable income. With our standardised awareness-building advertising formats being delivered directly into people's living rooms while they play, there are great opportunities for advertisers looking to engage through an entertainment medium outside of the traditional TV spot.

According to Sony, IGA Worldwide is the company's first in-game ad partner. Hit the jump for the full press release.

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If you've been passively following upcoming Hollywood flick Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, you've probably already realised that Ryu and Ken are not characters in the film. Why is that? Hrm. According to the movie's producer Patrick Aiello, the filmmakers and Capcom decided to have this film focus on the origin of Chun-Li. Continuing, Aiello adds:

There are just way too many characters in the Street Fighter universe to cram them all into one film. We want to do each one the justice he/she deserves. So, in short, Ken and Ryu will not be appearing in this film. But, that doesn't mean we wont see our red and white-clad heroes in potential sequels...

If this Chun-Li flick does decent business, just watch as Capcom goes sequel silly. (Not that it's ever done that in the past!) The film's producer does offer interesting insights on how they plan on adapting Street Fighter to the silver screen and stay true to the game's roots:

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Movies tend to run longer these days than they used to (where'd the 87-minute feature go?), but even taking that into account, the average size of a film script today is around 120-150 pages. The Ghostbusters game? 480 pages. Oh, sorry. According to Ernie Hudson (and if there's a steady paycheck in it, I'll believe anything he says), it's "480 pages or something". While that's not huge in terms of games, where sometimes thousands upon thousands of lines of dialogue must be recorded (hi, Oblivion), it's huge when you consider the entire principal cast of this game are Hollywood talent. And huge when that means they've recorded three Ghostbusters film's worth of stuff.

Ghostbusters script is 480 pages long, says actual Ghostbuster [VG247]

The most recent issue of Japanese game mag Famitsu announces that ninja stealth action title Tenchu 4 is headed for the Wii. The game will be developed by Acquire who worked on the early Tenchu titles and Armored Core dev From Software who published Xbox 360 exclusive Tenchu Z.

Tenchu 4 For Wii [2chan]

A few days back, Crysis developers Crytek announced that they were, apparently, cutting off support for the title. That the 1.3 patch that was supposed to be released would not be released. And that they were sorry. Cue loads of upset Crysis owners. But just what does that mean? I think their explanation for the patches cancellation is more interesting than the cancellation itself:

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Warning: so not news. That's kiddie/teen sensation Hanna Montana. Aka Miley Cyrus. Aka girl who hates Guitar Hero on the Wii. Look at her go! HULK SMASH. Her publicist will no doubt try and pass this off to us - and Nintendo, and Activision - as a harmless act of artistic expression, all just a part of her latest video, but come on. Those eyes aren't lying. And far be it for me to take her to task for it! Indeed, I find the whole thing strangely...cathartic.

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Thanks to an expected deal with in-game ad company IGA Worldwide, Sony's PS3 is apparently jet set to start getting dynamic in-game ads. Dynamic ads differ from static in-game ads in that it is possible for the ad companies to change the advertisements and get feedback like how long players look at in game ads. That data can then be used in planning future ad campaigns! According to Forbes, it's believed that IGA competitor Double Fusion is also ironing out its own deal with Sony. The Xbox 360 already has dynamic in-game ads, so this supposed impending Sony deal seems rather logical, no?

Sony Set To Open Up To In-Game Ads [Forbes]

Former GameSpot reviewer Jeff Gerstmann is no stranger to controversy. His 8.9 scoring of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was met with unhappy campers, while his 6.0 Kane & Lynch review *might* have cost him his job. But does Gerstmann have any regrets? From MTV Multiplayer:

"I'm at a point where I rarely second guess what I think about a game upon finishing it," Gerstmann told me. He said he's long gotten over the doubt that could set in "when you are facing the raging fury of the Internet." He used to get death threats about some of his scores. "Now that stuff just rolls off. It's the ranting of insane people, which you could say about a lot of internet stuff."

I've always thought that some people take personal offense to reviews. They are just opinions. Everyone's got one.

The Art of Not Second Guessing [Multiplayer]

Tecmo has responded to Tomonobu Itagaki's announcement. Interestingly, the statement's second paragraph mentions Itagaki's sexual harassment suit and that the company was investigating internally, but that Itagaki unilaterally wanted to push forward with the legal suit. The rest of the company's statement points out that Itagaki has been paid annual bonuses. The completion bonus that Itagaki refers to was not agreed to by current management, but by the company's previous administration. Tecmo calls the consolation damages Itagaki is seeking from the Tecmo president the result of his own "distortion." What's more, it reads:

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Looks like it's been lifted off the Japanese Nintendo Channel. And while it's awfully long, it's also awfully informative, taking the time to show you exactly how the game will control, and in the process answering any questions you probably have bout the thing. While it's slightly disappointing the game's controls don't go far beyond Wii Baseball's (in particular the pedestrian pitching), it's a Nintendo game. On the Wii. So it'll sell a million or two regardless.

[via Wii Folder]

In what's turning out to be a regular occurrence, Mass Effect for PC is available now, a day before its official release. GameTraders Carillon has let us know it's selling the title for $84.95 - a bit less than the $99.95 RRP - though I'm sure if you hunt around you'll find the game in other shops too.

I've got my review copy sitting next to me on my couch, but I'm going to wait until the weekend to get into it. I've played the 360 version to completion, but I know the experience overall is going to be better on the PC. Heck, I was sold way back when Bioware announced there'd be shortcut keys for biotics!

This is still unconfirmed as we haven't yet seen review scans, but word has it that Japanese magazine Famitsu is giving upcoming PS3 title Metal Gear Solid 4 a perfect 40/40. Famitsu has only done this seven times. Those other "perfect" 40/40 titles are The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Soulcalibur, Vagrant Story, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Nintendogs, Final Fantasy XII and Super Smash Bros. Brawl. This makes MGS4 the first PLAYSTATION 3 title to get the coveted 40/40 score.

New Famitsu [Wii@Everyday] [Pic]

I love Carmack smack-talk. Or Carmack-talk, if I was to unsuccessfully attempt wittiness. Not only is it honest, but often prophetic. I'm not sure the following comment about Crysis will prove itself in the future, but it's good to know the veteran coder still "has game", as the twelve year-old who keeps kicking the crap out of my car would say:

But in terms of first-person shooters, if you look at something like Crysis and say that's the height of what the PC market can manage, I don't think that's necessarily that exciting of a direction for the PC to be going in the future. With Quake Live, we hope that there's an opportunity for people who've never played shooters to give this a try, and with that, the potential of actually growing the PC gaming market.

Is there too much of a "cutting edge" focus on PC games development? Should developers turn their efforts to casual markets and the other advantages of the personal computer? Have your say.

Carmack free Quake [GamesRadar, via Blue's News]

And for once, it's a demo I'm genuinely looking forward to. No, really! I've still no idea how this is actually going to play. The PC version of Civ, I can see it in my sleep, but the nuts and bolts of a console version intrigue me. And a ton of other people, which is probably why 2K have announced that they'll be releasing the demo on both PS3 and 360 this Thursday. The 360 version will roll out globally, while the PS3 one is North America-only for the moment.

Civ Revolution demo upends XBLA, PSN [GameSpot]

The PlayStation.Blog has a few more details on the PS3 version of BioShock as well as two new screens. From what the PlayStation.Blog hints at, this will be more than *just* a straight up PS3 port:

On top of that, because this is the first PS3 title from 2K Marin, 2K Australia and 2K Boston, we've also got another development partner with some outstanding PS3-specific coding chops helping out with the project — we can't talk about what studio that is yet, but we look forward to revealing that in the future... The Boston team is the largest chunk of the BioShock team at the moment; many of them hard at work on some of the as-yet-unannounced components of the PS3 version. I can mention the work of one Boston team member, Ian Bond, who has been optimising and refactoring the physics simulation for the game to take the maximum advantage of the PS3 hardware.

It'll be interesting to see what exactly these "unannounced components" are. Hit the jump for another PS3 BioShock screenie.

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Coldplay are going to be in Guitar Hero. Coldplay. I'll give you a moment to emit a deep, remorseful sigh. As part of the promotional circus surrounding their latest album, the song "Violet Hill" will be made available as DLC for Guitar Hero III, though a date for its release has yet to be specified. Coldplay frontman Chris Martin says of the song, in all seriousness, "It's not [all] about the piano shit". Come now, Activision. It wasn't enough to kill Guitar Hero, you now gotta whizz on its freshly-covered grave?

Coldplay to make 'Guitar Hero' debut [EW]

According to Variety, Bruce Willis is slated for the Kane & Lynch movie adaptation. Bruno will play mercenary Adam "Kane" Marcus, who with batshit insane partner James Lynch is out to retrieve a stolen microchip. Willis has been rumoured to play Kane since last fall — and Billy Bob Thornton is supposed to be Lynch, but that's not confirmed. Veteran stunt coordinator Simon Crane will make his directing debut and helm the picture, and scribe Kyle Ward will pen the script. The flick will be produced by the guys that brought Hitman to the silver screen. Reviews for the film will be met with apprehension from the game community.

Kane And Lynch Movie [Variety via AICN] [Pic]

That tapping sound you hear? It's the devil, tapping his foot and tut-tutting. He's not happy. Never is when hell freezes over. For the week ending May 24, the top-selling PC game at retail was not a Sims title. Or a Sims expansion. Indeed, the highest-ranked Sims release is in fourth spot. Which for The Sims may as well be #400. So who's on top? Why, Age of Conan, which continues to surprise us with how damn popular it is. And that's just the standard edition. The CE came in at #3.

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They do that in real life, or so I hear from my flatmates who venture outside the great white door of my apartment.

Alternatively, this guy's just a griefing punk. Doesn't stop it from being hilarious.

[Thanks Chris]

Capcom have released a couple of pieces of art showing off Chris Redfield's locally-based, zombie-dispatching partner for the upcoming Resident Evil 5. Her name? No idea. They're not saying. Her purpose? No idea, Capcom are only hinting that she's a mysterious character whose true identity is unknown. One thing's for sure, though: African heat be damned, she's going to need to think more about upper-body protection, and less about her cleavage, if she's going to make it out of the game alive.

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Activision sends word that Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures is out and about in Australia, starting from today.

Like Lego Star Wars had all six movies in toy block form, this version comes with all of Indy's adventures. These include Raiders of the Lost Ark, Temple of Doom and Last Crusade. Yes, Crystal Skull is absent, but it's not like you'd want to relive the experience as a game anyway.

Lego Indiana Jones is available on a bevy of platforms: Wii, DS, PS3, 360, PSP, PS2 and PC. This collection is otherwise known as "all of them". Even taking into account this scattergun approach, I think the Wii version will turn out the most popular. All that whip-cracking is hard to resist.

Jump, meet press release.

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Japanese game retailer Game Star has posted a description of upcoming PS3 title Afrika along with release date info. Until now, info about the game has been scant, but according to Game Star, players take on the role of a photojournalist (and not actually as animals as some originally thought!). "The photojournalist travels by foot, by car and sometimes by hot air balloon," says the retailer's online site. Players are able to complete an "Animal Library" photo data base of wild creatures the players encounter. Afrika, says Game Star, is noted for its realistic animals and environment. The game will apparently retail August 28 for ¥5,980 ($US 57).

Afrika Info [Game Star via PS3 FAN Thanks, Riyu!]

We think of games that sold a bagillion copies over the past few years, we think Halo 3. GTA IV. Wii Play. We don't normally think Call of Duty 4 (probably because its marketing didn't beat us to within an inch of our lives), but hey, maybe we should. As of today, Activision are reporting that they've sold ten million copies of Infinity Ward's materpiece. Ten. Million. They wouldn't/couldn't divulge the breakdown by console, but did say it had been "most successful" on 360.

'Call of Duty 4' hits 10 million units sold [CNET]

Just in case you didn't feel like getting up at the crack of dawn to follow the kick off of our Captivate 08 coverage, highlighting Capcom's upcoming wares like Resident Evil 5, Street Fighter IV, Bionic Commando and more, here's a helpful wrap up of everything we posted today. There may be more stragglers coming tomorrow, so check in on our Captivate 08 tagged posts for everything. For full disclosure on the swag that Capcom handed out—coming to a Kotaku giveaway near you!—plus details on that zombie target, make the jump.

First Resident Evil 5 Gameplay Impressions
New Details On Street Fighter IV's Home Versions
Capcom Announces Spyborgs For Wii
Bionic Commando Hands-On Impressions
Street Fighter IV Trailer Features New, Classic Characters, Grating Voice Over
Dark Void Gameplay Impressions
Hands-On With Street Fighter IV: The Final Arcade Version
Capcom Giving Neopets The Puzzle Quest Treatment
Street Fighter IV's Sandy Summer Fun Trailer
Resident Evil 5 Not Redesigned After Race Criticism, Says Producer
Bionic Commando Multiplayer In Action
Hands-On With Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3 And 1942: Joint Strike

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Did you know a Playstation 3 can suck up as much as $250 worth of electricity a year? I was aware it liked to drink hard from the teat of mother electron, but this sort of consumption is going to leave a nasty welt.

This news comes to us from Choice magazine, an independent Australian title that tests a wide range of consumer products without advertising or vendor bias. Choice has even gone so far as to recommend consoles be stamped with energy rating stickers, much like those you see on fridges and washing machines.

Choice's tests revealed the humble PC - minus a monitor - had the third-highest consumption levels, with plasma TVs topping the list. Makes you wonder where the Xbox 360 and Wii sit.

Videogame consoles 'need energy ratings' [News.com.au]

Capcom had its full suite of Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network titles on hand at Captivate 08, including Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, Plunder, and Bionic Commando: Rearmed as well as two games I was looking forward to getting time with, 1942: Joint Strike and Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3. As a fan of both the 194X series—I started with 1943—and Mercs—Commando passed me by—I was pleasantly surprised to see both pop up on Capcom's release list. Given that we had ample time to play, I spent a respectable time with both.

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Man, Solid Snake sure looks manly. You know, because he's a man's man! According to tipster Peter, who sent us this shot, it's the figurine from the European Metal Gear Solid 4 limited edition box. I'm no expert, but I'd say that's exactly what it looks like. Heck, he even comes with a cute little knife for chopping onions and bad guys.

You'll find a shot of the unboxed LE after the jump.

Update: Looks like the images are from Jeux France. Thanks Nathan.

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We got ample time with Bionic Commando's single player portion, but we weren't lucky enough to *ahem* join the "swinger's club" and shoot, punch and toss cars at our other bionically armed brethren. We did get a chance to go hands-on with Bionic Commando: Rearmed's four-player deathmatch, but the fully 3D re-imagining? Well, we're just stuck with imagining what it's like. The trailer sure helps! Hey, look! Colour!

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Oh Kwari, where did you go wrong? Was it the unpronounceable name? The awful graphics? The boring gameplay? One of these, all of these - it doesn't matter now. The Micro Forte-developed online title, which tried to tempt players with its "cash for kills" design, is no more. Owner Kwari Limited has gone into receivership, which we can only assume means Kwari didn't do so well.

Can we stop with the woeful game ideas based around even crappier business models? It really doesn't help the local industry.

Kwari Shuts Down [Gamesindustry.biz, via Sumea]

At the Games For Change 2008 festival in New York, the key topic was creating games as agents for social change - and included in events today was a panel on alternate reality games (ARGs), defined as collaborative, primarily user-motivated events that make the distribution of information into an entertainment experience.

You may remember World Without Oil, which invited people to visit a website to share fictional stories that imagined their lives in the event of a severe oil shortage. Player ideas were incorporated as part of the ongoing narrative on the site, and players could add photos or mail letters to the game operators. It's considered groundbreaking, because it was one of the first ARGs that attempted to address a real world issue.

So how much does it cost to make a game like that? Sounds easy, right?

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When Activision stealth announced the release of Guitar Hero: Metallica via an SEC filing, fears of artist exclusivity gripped Rock Band fans. After all, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick had referred to Aerosmith as "proprietary" to the Guitar Hero format earlier this year.

We contacted Activision to find out if Metallica getting the titular treatment in a new Guitar Hero game meant that they'd be locked in to that particular brand. "We do no have further comment beyond what was in the SEC filing" read a corporate statement. No help there.

Harmonix reps, on the other hand, helped to calm our fears, if just a bit.

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Resident Evil 5 Not Redesigned After Race Criticism, Says Producer
Yeah, I'm sure it had nothing to do with those complaints.

Penny Arcade Adventures: On The Rain-Slick Precipice Of Darkness Review
Fun and light role-playing action, packed with Penny Arcade humour.

Hands-On With Street Fighter IV: The Final Arcade Version
Does your hadoken have flavour?

Fallout 3 Collector's Edition In The Flesh
Great. Fantastic. It won't be stupidly priced though, will it?

Age Of Empires: Mythologies Coming To DS
Age of Empires on a handheld console? I'll have to play it to believe it.

First Resident Evil 5 Gameplay Impressions
Zombies. Can't live with them and... well, you certainly can live without them.

Here's the fourth part of Game Trailer's Metal Gear Solid retrospective focuses on MGS3 and touches on MGS Portable Ops — two of the less successful Metal Gear Solid games.

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"Imagine a world where we have no ability to influence the people that are going to lead and shape thought for tomorrow," said Microsoft's Chris Satchell, general manager of XNA.

"We have social causes we care about, but we don't have the means to connect with people who can do something about them. We're not there, but its a world that's possible to see unless actvitiesi like we're doing here today really gain some momentum."

Satchell was at the 2008 annual Games For Change festival, discussing the ways Microsoft hopes its XNA development platform will help provide creative activists and educators the tools and opportunities to connect with the young, energetic audience passionate about new media and world issues.

"People will base their lives around gaming experiences; gaming experiences will permeate their lives," he said, stressing just how important it was for the culture to recognise games as agents of genuine social impact.

So what is Microsoft doing?

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