To: Crecente
From: Ashcraft
RE: Sushi Sushi

As you may or may not have heard, the iPhone is *finally* announced for Japan. There's no price and no release date, but it has a carrier: Softbank. I think it's gonna do pretty well in Japan, seeing how popular Apple is here. My question: Should I get one? Like... Is it worth it? Keep in mind that I accidently put my last cell phone in the washing machine (and my iPod Shuffle after that) and I honestly don't leave the house very much. At all. For days on end. Weeks, even. (Though today I went to McDonald's to purchase a soft serve ice cream cone because pregnant lady had to have one right now. The woman at the drive through warned me that they couldn't put it in a cup or a holder or something. Try driving with a soft serve ice cream cone. Not easy!)

What you missed last night
Kojima Productions says no 90 minute cutscenes (possible spoiler)
How much time do Americans spend with 360s, PS3s, Wiis?
Fishy copies of MGS4 in UK hands
After Itagaki announcement, Tecmo stock price drops
MK vs DC Batman
Microsoft not happy with overcrowded live

Yeah, the PSP is doing well in Japan, and doing better than it was in the West, but it's no DS. And if there's one company that knows how to make a fast buck on the back of Nintendo hardware, it's Ubisoft! So it should surprise none of you to hear that Ubisoft are all up on Sony's back, telling them what's wrong with their handheld and what they need to do to make things better (ie more like the DS). Ubisoft UK managing director Rob Cooper:

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Casual gamers want better! Their expectations are becoming high says Ubisoft. According to the company's Games For Everyone executive producer Pauline Jacquey, it's competitors that are raising the stakes. Says Jacquey:

When you're reaching out to somebody who plays one or two games a year, it's very easy. You don't need to follow the rules of previous markets. But as they play more and competitors emerge, you have to rethink the way you do the games. The casual audience is becoming more demanding, for sure, and we need to make sure we're proving more than what they're anticipating... Young girls, for instance, are now used to games that are made just for them - and have started thinking they want something better.

Imagine Babies, anyone? Anyone?

Casuals Demanding More [CasualGaming]

No platforming, no Western "re-imaginings", none of that mess. This is just Bomberman. Walkin' on a grid, droppi'n bombs, blowin' shit up. Like he does best. These screens are from the as-yet-untitled Bomberman for the Wii, which since we last saw it has been announced as appearing on both WiiWare and as a retail version (which will have some SP missions the downloadable version will not). Cannot. Wait.

Choices, choices, choices. We've got three home console platforms: PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii. (Don't forget the PC!) And that's just current gen! The PS2 is still going strong. Add to that, portable platforms the PSP and the DS. Game developers do have a wide range of choices. Yet some choose to stick their games on a single platform. Not Okami producer and current Platinum Games exec Atsushi Inaba, who states:

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What are the odds! One minute, someone pokes fun at Wii advertising (and the Wii itself), the next minute, said advertising goes and wins a prestigious international advertising award. Ad agency Leo Burnett, who were behind Nintendo's "Wii Would Like To Play" campaign, picked up the top prize at the 40th Annual Effie Awards, held in NYC on Wednesday. In explaining away the decision, the Effie's organisers said:

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Late last month, magazine PSW stated that upcoming Metal Gear Solid 4 has 90 minute cutscenes — which, the magazine pointed out, could be skipped. Website GamePro fired back, confirming that the game does have "occasionally lengthy" cutscenes and calling the 90 minute cutscenes "a pretty big exaggeration." Magazine EDGE offered this in its review: "The cutscenes here are sure to invoke that thousand-yard stare, two in particular coming perilously close to the 90-minute mark." But what's the official word from Kojima Productions? Metal Gear Solid 4 Assistant Producer Ryan Payton tells Kotaku that the 90 minute cutscene claim is a "gross exaggeration." Hit the jump for his full statement and POSSIBLE SPOILER.

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Sony have announced that, sometime in the future - probably the near future - they'll be releasing a Warhawk-themed value pack over the PSN. Said pack will roll both Warhawk expansions (Omega Dawn and Operation Broken Mirror) into the single release. As of now there's only British pricing available: the pack will go for £4.99, a charitable offering when you consider they each went for £3.99 when first released. North American pricing can't be too far away.

Warhawk DLC bundle incoming [CVG]

Japanese figure maker Alter has put up new listings for its fall figurine line-up which includes a Persona 3 Elizabeth from sculptor Fumiki Saitou and an Oneechanbara VorteX Aya from Goutarou Takeuchi. The Elizabeth (pictured) is 22cm tall and books at ¥6,090 (US$58), while the Aya (after the jump) is 25cm tall and priced at ¥8,190 (US$78). Aya, of course, is more expensive because she is 3cm higher and not because she is in her skippies and carrying swords. Oh no.

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Long given the royal shaft by Nintendo, it's heart-warming to see an instance where Europe gets something nice from the Kyoto-based company. And it doesn't come nicer than those new DS Lite colours announced for the region the other week. For your viewing pleasure today, then, some intimate shots of the new handhelds, which not only give you a good, proper look at them, but should get you close enough to the gorgeous lime one to let you taste its citrus, taste its zest.

The Metal Gear Solid 4 ads are firing up on Japanese TVs. Above, the announcer says: "Combat or infiltration? Direct advance or detour? Hope or hopelessness? Chose for yourself. Metal Gear Solid 4 out. Gaming's counterattack begins." The second spot after that shows a young couple as the guy continues playing MGS4 nonstop. The announcer for that ad goes: "Metal or meals? Metal or phone? Metal or marriage? Of course, Metal."

Thanks, Chen!

Ah, 2006. Wii advertising. Chopping, shooting, drumming, it could do anything! "We would rike to pray", white cars, the hope of a brighter future for everyone! Hasn't really panned out that way. Maybe it's Nintendo's fault, maybe it's our fault for believing all those jump-around-the-living-room commercials, who knows, what I do know is that every time I watch this clip, then think back to 2006, I giggle myself silly.

[via Next-Gen]

Tears to Tiara is one saucy PS3 title. Not nearly as saucy as "Soul Breed" strategy/embarrassing food eating RPG Record of Agarest War, but hey, few things are. "Adventure + simulation" fantasy sword-swinging RPG Tears To Tiara features 2D cutscenes — not a big deal! But one of which apparently has a boob grabbing tentacle. Yep, tears indeed.

The game goes on sale July 17th in Japan. Click through the gallery below.

For the past, oh, day or two, we've got a few "OMG I have MGS4" emails from readers. Normally pictures or videos of people in the UK who have managed to get hold of a copy of the game on eBay ahead of its June 12 release date. All of them pointing towards auctions just like this one. Normally, not so big a deal, as advance copies of games are often offloaded by shady writers. But journos aren't getting copies of MGS4. There are no advance copies. So how'd these guys in the UK get them? And why are they Australian retail copies of the game - as you can see from the MA15+ rating on the cover - and not the UK version? Think most of you can put two and two together on this one.

METAL GEAR SOLID 4 GUNS OF THE PATRIOTS PS3 *POST NOW* [eBay]

While we may never know what actually happened, months have passed since the internet exploded over Kane & Lynch, GameSpot and reviewer Jeff Gerstmann. Now that the dust has settled what does Kane & Lynch developer IO Interactive think about the way it went down? Did it hurt game sales? Says Thomas Howalt, business development director at IO Interactive:

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For Metal Solid 4, Sony has system seller expectations! Many current PS3 owners are already planning on purchasing MGS4, but Sony is also hoping that the PS3 exclusive will move consoles. No doubt it will, but how many? Obviously, we won't know that until the post-launch retail data comes rolling in, but this Yahoo! Games Metal Gear Solid 4 poll sheds light onto at least how a sample of 625 Japanese gamers feel about the title. This cannot be taken as a blanket barometer for the entire country, but rather, simply results for those who were polled. The above info reads:

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Hahaha! Mario's not Italian, you suckers. He just moonlights for Nintendo, does the odd bit of product promotion here and there. Helps put the kids through college. No, for the other six days of the week, he's no plumber. He's a drunk, Mexican restaurant mascot by the name of Pancho Bigotes! Or Pancho Whiskers, if you will. I don't know about you, but Super Paper Pancho Bigotes would only be the most awesome game ever, Nintendo. Ever. You hear me?

[via Go Nintendo]

It's a good question! But a tough one. Best ask Nielsen, they're good at this sort of thing. Between April 2007 and February 2008, the company conducted research on the daily habits of gamers in two age groups: 10-26 year-olds and those 27 and older. They worked out how long gamers in each group spent playing each of the three consoles, how many times a day they played them and even how many days of the month they made use of them. The results? Above. For the young ones, the 360 comes out on top, and for those a little older, it's the PS3. I don't know how, exactly, they came up with these stats (could they only poll people who had all three?), but it's looking like most people polled are rolling out their Wiis on weekends or for parties (only 11 days a month for the older group) while the other two are used as everyday beasts of burden.

[Nielsen, via IGN]

On June 3rd 2008 2:30PM Japan Standard Time, Tomonobu Itagaki announced that he was leaving Tecmo and also suing the company for unpaid bonuses. He cited 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.'" How did that effect the company stock price? The following day, the price of Tecmo stock suddenly dropped 10.16 percent in Japan. Think of it as a shuriken to the market cap.

Stock Prices Drop [Excite News] [Pic]

Speaking with Eurogamer, Insomniac's Ted Price has revealed some of the finer, technical details for their upcoming shooter, Resistance 2. First, they're aiming to have it running natively in 720p, so vertical pixel counters, take some time off. Second, it'll run at 30fps. Third, Price says "you shouldn't notice any loading screens in R2", thanks to advances the company have made in terms of streaming the game's assets. You can be a fan of Resistance, you can not be a fan, either way you have to admit: Insomniac run a tight technical ship.

Insomniac's Ted Price on Resistance 2 [Eurogamer]

X-Play History [Go Nintendo]

It was swell of Sony to bring a little parity to Guitar Hero's DLC, let PlayStation owners get their own console-specific, mascot-endorsed anthem to play with. While they made the initial announcement a few weeks ago, they neglected to tell us just which GoW song it would be. They have now: it'll be called "The End Begins (To Rock)", a guitar-heavy reworking of God of War II's title theme. There's a preview clip above (and it looks surprisingly excellent!), and if you dig it so much you just want to listen without playing, it'll be made available in "downloadable form" (an mp3, then) on the PlayStation Store as well. Both the DLC and song will be free, and they'll be part of the US PSN update tomorrow.

Super Mario Sluggers curious? This new Japanese language trailer for the Wii baseball non-sim should go a long way to answering many (or none) of your questions about the game. Since it's in a language I'm only familiar with cursorily, I just opted to look at all the pretty colours going by. I'm 100% certain the narrator mentioned mini-games though. Yes, you read that right! Mini-games!!

We've known that the Dark Knight would feature in Midway's Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe since day one, but we hadn't seen much of him beyond his scowl and cowl. We've already gotten a taste of how Superman looks, but now we know what the fighting game version of Batman will look from head to toe, as official rendered artwork of the caped crusader has been released. He looks... well, he looks like Batman. We're neither disappointed nor overly ecstatic about his appearance, but that general ennui is in line with our Mortal Kombat interest over the past decade.

Larger, full body shot of Bruce Wayne's alter ego and a fresh render of Sub-Zero after the jump.

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On the left, The King of Games' new Kid Icarus t-shirt. On the right, new kid sizes of The King of Games t-shirts. Both go on sale (in Japan) next Friday at midnight Japan time. If you've ever thought to yourself, "I've always wanted a rather expensive Kid Icarus T-shirt" or "I'm a little person and would like a Mario Bros. t-shirt" you now know where to go. No word just yet on if they'll show up in the English language shop, but we'll bug KOG until they tell us.

Oh, they look quite nice don't they? The Kid Icarus tee will run you about $46 USD, with kiddy stuff at about $US 37. Totally fair! Yep. More than fair.

The King of Games News

Sure, laugh when I tell you that I spent the better part of last night DJing a virtual wedding in Second Life, but the next wedding I DJ could be yours. In a report released today titled "Market Forecasts for Virtual World Experiences", Strategy Analytics predicts that over the course of the next decade, 22 percent of broadband users around the world will be subscribed to one or more virtual worlds.

"Despite a multitude of challenges, virtual worlds present a unique marketing opportunity to target a highly sought demographic, and virtual worlds should be part of a company's marketing portfolio," according to Harvey Cohen, President of Strategy Analytics.

Hear that? You might as well sign up now. Go ahead and IM Caliban Karas on SL if you need to know where to pick up your furry avatar.

Study: One Billion Virtual World Users in Next 10 Years [GameDaily]

Microsoft is not happy. That's why it's de-listing Xbox Live Arcade titles that no one liked and no one bought. Problem? Too much stuff! Live Marketplace's cup runneth over with some 17,000 items and that makes Microsoft unhappy, says Aaron Greenberg, Microsoft's product management director for Xbox 360 and Live.

"We're feeling some of these growing pains and [the new policy] is one of those tradeoffs we've had to make," he told MTV Multiplayer in reference in sweeping XBLA rubbish under the rug. We've heard talk of another organizational and visual revamp coming to the Xbox 360's user interface, something that Greenberg is quiet on with MTV. Too quiet. *Dun dun dunnn!*

Microsoft Says They're 'Not Happy With Ability to Find Content' on Xbox Live [MTV Multiplayer]

Zero Punctuation On Oblivion
I didn't mind Oblivion so much. Quite liked it actually. Until I realised the stupid levelling system eventually gave common bandits super expensive armour. You know, the sort of armour they could have sold and lived a life of luxury.

Jack Thompson Walks Out On Hearing, Court Recommends Enhanced Disbarment
Oh Jack, what the hell are you doing?

Frankenreview, Lego Indiana Jones (Xbox 360)
How does the Lego archaeologist stand up against reviewers? Find out here!

Sony Make In-Game Ad Deal Official
While I'd like to think this will help subsidise games and hardware, I'm not getting my hopes up.

Of course no one has that much power, and I never did complete that last Shivering Isles godhood quest...

Zero Punctuation [The Escapist]

Chip maker AMD's philanthropic foundation is getting behind games for social change. At the 2008 Games for Change event in New York, chip maker AMD announced its "Changing the Game" program, which aims to teach kids to develop games with social content.

AMD also sponsored the Games For Change event, where it announced that its AMD Foundation will offer grants to non-profits that teach social game development to kids, including Girlstart, GlobalKids, Institute for Urban Game Design and Science Buddies. AMD also told us at the event that beyond donations, its employees will do volunteer work supporting these efforts.

Part of AMD's support for Games For Change includes "Let the Games Begin," a workshop co-sponsored with the MacArthur Foundation that aims to teach nonprofits how to build games around social issues, and the company will also create a how-to toolkit for Games For Change that includes information and guidance on building these projects.

Full details follow the jump:

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Nintendo plans to hand out free DS Lites and copies of Brain Training to the teachers attending an upcoming Handheld Learning Conference in London later this year.

The conference, supported by Nintendo, will explore how technology can be used for learning.

Graham Brown-Martin, founder of Handheld Learning, said: "Providing teachers with free Nintendo DS Lites is not intended to be a gimmick, we expect our delegates to use them during the conference and experience an environment that would typically not be allowed in a classroom."

I think it's a great idea. In fact in my recent conversation with Nintendo's Cammie Dunaway I was telling her that Nintendo should work to get some WiiWare educational games out and then provide the Wii to schools around the country. It worked for Apple, so why not Nintendo? Personally, I think all three hardware companies are obligated, as good corporate citizens, to create educational games for their download services. They may not make money, but I can't imagine it would cost them that much and think of the good will, both to the company and the industry.

Nintendo to hand out free DS consoles [Digital Spy]

This Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood trailer one of those clips that marketing types refer to as a "sizzle" promo. That means that it's light on gameplay, but heavy on things like drama and Movie Voice Guy-style narration. We really wish he'd said "Sonic and his shitty friends" in his trademark gravely boom, but we don't write the checks over at Sega.

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Last night, an expo was held at the 2008 Games For Change event in New York City, to showcase the six finalists in Microsoft's Imagine Cup competition. Students from around the world were challenged to build games around the theme of environmental sustainability, using Microsoft's XNA community tools

The winner will be chosen at an upcoming Finals event in Paris next month.

"This is just our small part we're playing," Microsoft XNA general manager Chris Satchell told us. "It's really a broader challenge to the industry."

Microsoft can provide tools and a platform to support the development of socially-conscious games and to help them reach an audience where they're already playing, Satchell said. "But no magic happens without the creators... it's the stars that really produce."

You can see a compilation video of the six "star" finalists above, and hit the jump to see video of the games, along with more info about the concepts and the teams behind them.

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I am a creature of basic interests. I love Space Invaders. I love Pong. In fact I own the first pair of Invader shoes and one of those limited edition Pong clocks, so when I saw this table I got way too excited... judging by the absolute silence that greeted my enthusiasm when I shared this with the others in Kotaku Tower.

Created by German designer Moritz Waldemeyer, Pong Effect uses 2400 LEDs and two track pads to essentially recreate a game of air hockey. The best part, it looks like it was created for 4-year-olds. Oh, I know how absurd that is, but does it sound like I care? It doesn't.... for those of you who can't detect the waves of enthusiasm rippling off my keyboard right now.

Pong Updated for the 21st Century [The BBPS]

Reports that Electronic Arts was set to acquire Sean "Napster" Fanning's latest venture, a social network, are now official. EA announced last night that it acquired Napster's ThreeSF, owners of a social network called Rupture.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but earlier reports pegged the price tag at about $US 30 million. EA hasn't said what it plans to do with the social network - through Rupture, they gain an infrastructure to use, but not much of an existing user base.

Earlier reports had also suggested that the deal would make Fanning, as well as his co-founder Jon Baudanza, employees of EA. Mariam Sughayer of EA's corporate communications declined to comment on this or other details of the transaction, but told Kotaku that the company will announce more details in the weeks ahead.

Full press release follows the jump:

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The Lakers will win the 2008 NBA Finals, according to a simulation run by EA Sports using NBA Live 09.

The game shows that the Lakers will capture their 15th NBA Championship by defeating the Celtics in a tie-breaking seventh game, 106 to 101.

According to the simulation, MVP Kobe Bryant led the victory, averaging 29 points and 6 assists per game throughout the series. The real Finals tip off this Thursday at 9 p.m.EST on ABC in the US. Hit the jump to read the highlights of the fictional series, provided by EA Sports.

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The Florida Bar asked for an "enhanced disbarment" in the disciplinary hearing of Jack Thompson, held earlier this afternoon. The recommendation means Thompson would be disbarred and prohibited from applying to practice law again for ten years, according to 11th Judicial Circuit of Florida spokesperson Eunice Sigler.

Thompson's disciplinary hearing apparently ended in the attorney walking out of the courtroom after saying the judge did not have the authority to hear his case, a reader who sat in on the hearing told us.

The case proceeded without Thompson's presence and the Florida Bar issued its recommendation for the enhanced disbarment. Judge Dava Tunis' specific recommendations for sanctions will be included in her official report, to be due to the Florida Supreme Court by September 2nd.

Before walking out of the courtroom, Thompson filed what he called "Thompson's Formal Objection to June 4 Sanctions Hearing." In the rambling, 4,500-word objection, Thompson questioned Tunis' ability to preside at his hearing, calling her incompetent and arrogant and threatening to have her removed from office "in the days and weeks ahead." He also went on to call the people run The Florida Bar fascists and denied that he was involved some sort of "petty culture war."

Thompson wrapped up his 14-page objection by quoting from the bible, and saying that he and Senators Clinton and Obama understand the dangers posed by the Grand Theft Auto games.

"I am "guilty" of being right and ahead of the curve when it came to Howard Stern and as to Grand Theft Auto. Because I took on Bar complainant, Al Cardenas, the Howard Stern Show is off terrestrial radio and his influence diminished.

Because I took on this cop-killing, woman-bashing video game, the Presidential race is now addressing the issue and this particular video game.

Try to get me disbarred. Go ahead, do your worst, Referee Tunis. I will continue to do my best. "

We've contacted Thompson for a reaction to the recommended disbarment recommendations and will update you if and when he responds. In the meantime, hit the jump for the full letter.

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Trion CEO Lars Buttler promises that platforms like his company's will evolve the way we play online. The company recently announced some ambitious plans - to develop a persistent MMO that ties into an ongoing Sci-Fi Channel television series, to create a new fantasy MMO helmed by Might and Magic creator Jon Van Caneghem, and to publish PlayStation 3 games through an agreement with Sony.

Though Trion has just recently announced its games, the company has been quietly at work on its technology infrastructure since last year, when it scored $US 30 million in investments from Time Warner and NBC Universal, among others. It's this infrastructure, says Buttler, that aims to shift the paradigm for multiplayer gaming.

Trion's World Network server cloud, Buttler said, will allow high volumes of players to participate in a fully persistent online world that can be evolved at any point by the game operators - or affected by the users. And the company has big cross-platform visions, promising mobile access to the worlds as well as console or PC, on the heels of the Sony partnership.

What about the Xbox 360? Is Trion talking to Microsoft, too?

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Electronic Arts has agreed to wait on completing any potential acquisition of Take-Two until the Federal Trade Commission has completed its investigation of the possible merger, the company revealed today through an SEC filing.

Under the agreement, no transaction will be completed until the FTC has finished its probe, which can take up to 45 days instead of the customary 30.

"We've entered an agreement with the FTC to modify the scope," said an EA spokesperson. "This is a normal part of the review process, which allows us to move through the review as expeditiously as possible while giving the FTC additional time in which to complete its full review and work."

At the time EA last extended its tender offer until June 16th, corporate development VP Owen Mahoney said the extension would allow the FTC further time to complete its investigation. However, there are only 7 business days between now and the expiration of EA's current offer, not 45 - so it's reasonable to infer EA will extend its offer again to allow the FTC to fully complete its probe.

EA declined to comment on plans to extend the offer, but the spokesperson said, "You'll hear from us on or before the expiration."

The FTC also does not comment on the specific details of individual investigations.