To: Crecente
From: Ashcraft
RE: Bioshock 3! Delayed GTA DLC?? First Glimpse of DNF WTF!? Ice Cream Sandwiches!!!!!????

BioShock 3? Yay! More underwater corridors!!

Today is Friday. This you probably know. If not, yes, today is Friday. Took the wife to the doctor's in the afternoon for an ultrasound. Baby seems very healthy, very active. Probably won't know if it's a boy or girl until next month or the following. Asked Mini-Bash which he wanted. His reply? "If I say a girl, it will turn into a boy".

Bought a mask, too today! Probably remember seeing people wearing them here — maybe not! People usually wear them when they're sick (and don't want to get others sick) or when people have bad allergies (and don't want to get sick). Most folks here wear masks out in public here of course. But! I'm modelling this fetching mask around the house so Mrs. Bashcraft doesn't get sick. Nothing quite like breathing in your own sick breath! YUMMY.

What you missed last night
New RE5 screens
Afrika trailer answers questions
Ex-Lucas Staffer Talks
Massive LucasArts layoffs
Darth's apprentice in SC4
Saints Row 2 GTAIV parody
Deadly Creatures impressions!

[Pic]

He's blue! And freaky! And not in a kooky-yet-heroic way like Doc Manhattan. In a creepy, evil way like Seth, Street Fighter IV's #1 bad guy. I still think his gut's a bit...silly, but then I usually think that about ridiculous boss characters in fighting games, and it doesn't stop them from kicking my crap through my teeth.

Japanese peripheral maker Hori is releasing another nice looking arcade stick for the Xbox 360. Called the Real Arcade Pro EX, it has a two column button layout with the shoulder/bumper buttons to the right of the multi-coloured buttons. It's on sale for ¥12,000 ($AU 118.88) and out next week.

Hori Stick [Game Watch Impress via Siliconera]

The Resident Evil 5 trailer has shown up on the Japanese PSN, and it's slightly different from the Japanese RE5 trailer Capcom showed at Captivate. The beginning and the end are the same, but the middle is quite different. The PSN trailer does not explicitly show the parasites, and there is no blood. Instead, the Japanese PSN Resident Evil 5 features new scenes and a new shipping container yard area. Now that is one magnificent zombie moustache! Screen grabs below.

Biohazard 5 Trailer [The-Horror via NeoGAF Thanks, Paul!]

This time for the Brits. If you pre-order the game at HMV, you'll get an "exclusive" cover, which is either a savvy piece of awareness on the part of the marketing team or the result of someone at HMV realising the IGN watermark was all up in their copies of the game. Either way, it's quite lovely.

Okami: Hmv Exclusive: Special Packaging [HMV, thanks Doug!]

An eight page Famitsu article called "Shall we shoot a little?" and featuring a bikini lady holding a gun tackles first-person and third-person shooters. The magazine polled readers to see what experience they have with FPS or TPS games. 74.8 percent have played these types of games, while 51 percent of those said they'd like to play FPS or TPS games again. Reasons for disinterest didn't include the stereotypical FPS-games-make-Japanese-nauseous, but did include these responses from Famitsu readers:

"I'm not interested".

"The games seem difficult".

"I don't know what the point of these games is".

"I'm worried about playing them because I'm a beginner".

And so RPGs march valiantly on and on and on and on...

This Week in Japan [Next-Gen]

Well, you wouldn't want to today. It's not there anymore. The building is, and you can still find a few signs here and there pointing towards it, but Sega World Sydney itself is loooooog gone. Was too expensive, nobody cared. Complete rubbish. But often it's not until something's gone that we can truly appreciate it for what it was. So let's all take a trip back in time to around, oh, it looks like it's around 1999, and see the kinds of things Sega blew its money on while it still had money to blow. Oh, and before you watch it, yes, host Ernie Dingo is indeed "the most Australian man imaginable".

[via UK:R]

Seeing as I tend to write stuff like "Nintendo" and "Xbox 360" a lot, my Word spell checker's chock-full of gaming names. Call it OCD, but I can't stand those squiggly little red lines under words I know I've spelled correctly. What happens, though, when you're an Average Joe and you don't have names like "Katamari Damacy" in your spell checker, and when you see that squiggly red line, you take Microsoft's advice on how the word should be spelled? Why, you get a bunch of games with new, "correct" names, of course.

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After a delay, Sony's PLAYSTATION Store *finally* upated, and Qore is available. According to PlayStation.Blog:

Qore Episode 001: June, 2008 ($AU 3.12 Issue, $AU 26.06 Annual Subscription)
Qore: Presented by The PLAYSTATION Network is a monthly interactive video production covering the world of PlayStation. Qore provides its audience with exclusive behind-the-scenes access to developers and their games, from both the SCE Worldwide Studios and the third-party community, where the audience member can control and direct the content.
File size: 1.53 GB

Those of you who downloaded, feel free to put impressions in the comments section. Or not. Your choice!

Update Live [PlayStation.Blog Thanks everyone who sent this in!]

Ed from GADGET MADNESS!!! takes a look at the Metal Gear Solid 4 official headset. Ed says that while the headset does look exactly like its promotional pics, he points out that headset's sound quality is quite poor — like having a sock in your mouth! The review also provides a quick rundown of the peripheral as well as a audio comparison.

MGS4 Bluetooth Headset Gets Reviewed [PS3 Fanboy]

Yup, Capcom have released a demo for Devil May Cry 4 on the PC. It's around 800MB, gives you the option of going through a ten-minute level or taking on a boss, and should give you around ten minutes of good times. They're saying it runs a little faster on PC, which I can kind of see, but I can definitely see that it looks a lot cleaner. Even if you've already played it on 360 or PS3, it's worth a look, if only to let Capcom know that, yes, we appreciate the fact they're still porting games like this to the PC.

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Fan service manga/anime Ikkitousen is getting a scrolling action PSP version! Featuring a bevy of gals in short skirts kicking arse, Ikkitousen is inspired on Chinese epic Romance of Three Kingdoms and is set against a backdrop of warring high school students. Based on the upcoming third season of the anime and dubbed Ikkitousen - Great Guardians, the PSP game features hand-to-hand combat, high kicks and pantsu. Lots and lots of pantsu. Oh, there's costume battle damage, too that looks way riskier than what battle damage Soul Calibur IV is punching out. The PSP game will be out this October. Until then, click through the NSFW gallery below.

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A trailer for Sony's Afrika was released today on the Japanese PlayStation Store. It looks, I'm surprised to say, pretty amazing. You are indeed a photojournalist, running around the grasslands trying to take PERFECT, HORROR and hopefully EROTIC shots of animals doing their thing, and from the looks of the trailer, you'll be making use of stuff like RC cars and jeeps in order to get into a good position. Also looks like there's a mini encyclopaedia in there on Africa as well. Those without Japanese PSN accounts can check the trailer out over at The Able Gamer, linked below.

New Afrika Trailer [The Able Gamer]

YET ANOTHER CONTEST. Endless! We've got an exclusive New York City Comic Con Metal Gear Solid 2 Raiden figure from actual event. Info about the figurine:

Metal Gear Solid 2 Raiden Stealth Camouflage Version

Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the hit video game, this exclusive NYCC figure from Medicom is a must-have for any fan of the action-packed franchise as well as nostalgia-struck gamers from the NES-era. 7" tall and features multiple points of articulation. Available from selected retailers on the show floor. Limited to 1400 pieces.

And yes, we want to give it away. To you. Or you. Or you. Let's do a contest. Oh yes, let's. We're going to kick off a Metal Gear moustache contest. But not just any moustache contest! Contestants must create and wear moustaches made out of anything BUT hair. Got that? Entries must be of a non-hair moustache, and it must be on the contestant's face. Finalists will be announced on June 12th. That's soon! Send your entry to kotakutcontestATgmailDOTcom. May the best 'stache win!

Hit the jump for a look at box's backside.

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We've continued to receive e-mails throughout the day from folks who it seems are now formerly in the employ of Lucasarts, telling us this and that about the circumstances behind their departure from the company. But few are as revealing as one we were sent earlier this evening. One former employee has told us not only how he was immediately sacked after six years of service, but how wide-ranging the layoffs appear to be, and the impact they'll supposedly have on many of Lucasart's upcoming projects. Projects like KOTOR 3, a Wii Star Wars title and the non-Lego Indiana Jones game.

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Super Monkey Ball, Spore...iPhone gaming sure looks promising. But how much would you pay for a game that, fancy graphics or not, you're playing on your phone? $US 5? $US 15? Hahaha. Not even close. No, according to Spanish mobile studio LemonQuest - who are currently working on an iPhone game - Apple are planning on charging $US 25 for an iPhone game. That's a spicy meatball. Too spicy? Not if iPhone games can be the equivalent of at least a DS game. And if they can manage that, well...that's a bargain!

LemonQuest talks iPhone, ARM and industry consolidation [PocketGamer.biz]

Voice acting sure seems easy, huh? You just read words and get paid. Simple! Well, no. Here's a masterclass in how not to do voice work. Above is the English VO for PS2 tactical role playing game Chaos Wars, which was released earlier this month in North America. The voice work is rather unmotivated — though Hayatemaru and Hyoma are somewhat trying. Does sound horribly fan-dubbish — though fan-dubs probably wouldn't mispronounce "Akihabara." Whoever voiced the monster, though, is a genius. Best keee, keee, keee we've heard in a while. Oh, Yoichi's voice is all kinds of awesome, too.

The good news that it's possible to play through the game with the original Japanese voices and English subtitles. Make that, recommended.

Horrifying Voice Acting In Chaos Wars [Insert Credit]

I'm still not sold on Qore (which launched today, fyi). Not even close. The concept of paying Sony so they can market stuff to me? That just does not compute. Especially when an annual subscription costs you $US 25, which is $US 25 more than you should be paying for company-produced trailers and "previews". Guess someone at Sony has anticipated that line of thought, though, and decided that in order to sweeten the deal, anyone opting for a 12-month subscription to the service will get a free copy of David Jaffe's Calling All Cars. That sound better to you? No? Oh...

Qore [Playstation.com]

Time to kill flying to Computex in Taipei? Being cradled in the comfort of an Airbus A380? Why not whip out a notebook and blast away terrorists in a multiplayer game of Counter-Strike?

The above photo shows Josh Collins (tech writer for Atomic, who I bossed around during my last couple of months as editor), Nick Ross (editor, PC Authority) and an Atomic sales girl doing just that. Maybe not the most politically correct thing to do on a plane, but hey, I wouldn't stop them.

Atomic fights aircraft terrorism [Atomic]

Along with the info that Nnooo is looking for fresh blood, creative director Nic Watt mentioned that it may give Apple's sleek mobile a go:

As well as working on our next WiiWare title there is a strong possibility we will start working on Pop for other platforms and in particular the iPhone.

Many companies, including EA, Sega and even the Melbourne-based Infinite Interactive, are seriously considering the iPhone as a potential gaming platform. Makes sense that a developer with its eye on the casual market would be interested too.

To go with their preview trailer of the game, IGN recently spent some time with Relic and Dawn of War II, and came away with some new details on the game. Two of which are particularly exciting. The first: the campaigns won't be linear. Instead, you'll be able to jump in a ship and tackle them in the order of your choosing, ala KOTOR/Mass Effect. The second: you'll be abe to customise individual troops, not just the overall paint scheme of your army. With your forces split into squads, each squad leader will have his own distinct personality, and you'll be able to customise the appearance and equipment of his individual troops. Kind of like X-Com, and how you grew so attached to the little guys, only it's Warhammer 40K. Making it even awesomer.

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II First Look [IGN]

So. Here's the deal. I've heard that Mongol is really quite good, if you're into the whole nomadic-tribe-of-brutal-warriors genre. Distributor Hopscotch reckons it's a neat film too. As such, it has provided Kotaku AU 50 free passes to give away.

Here's a description of the film from the official website:

Award-winning filmmaker Sergei Bodrov (PRISONER OF THE MOUNTAINS) illuminates the life and legend of Genghis Khan in his stunning historical epic, MONGOL. Based on leading scholarly accounts and written by Bodrov and Arif Aliyev, MONGOL delves into the dramatic and harrowing early years of the ruler who was born as Temudgin in 1162.

As it follows Temudgin from his perilous childhood to the battle that sealed his destiny, the film paints a multidimensional portrait of the future conqueror, revealing him not as the evil brute of hoary stereotype, but as an inspiring, fearless and visionary leader.

MONGOL shows us the making of an extraordinary man, and the foundation on which so much of his greatness rested: his relationship with his wife, Borte, his lifelong love and most trusted advisor.

Got it? Excellent. Now for the competition details!

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This year's NBA finals? A classic Lakers v Celtic shakedown. So the Celtics are big right now. And none bigger than Kevin Garnett. With 2K announcing their cover star for NBA2K9 this week, who ever was it going to be? Well. If it isn't Kevin Garnett. Not the most exciting of covers, what with the big man just sort of...standing there (2K can't even get a pose for the money, Kevin?), but then sports fans generally aren't the type to base their purchasing decisions on cover art.

NBA 2K9 taps KG for cover [GameSpot]

According to Nnooo creative director Nic Watt, Pop has gone gangbusters in the States. I don't know about you, but hearing that an Aussie developer is doing well overseas makes me all warm and hairy inside. I mean fuzzy. Warm and fuzzy. The game's been so successful that the company is looking to take on more people. Specifically, it could do with a senior engineer and a concept artist/animator.

Currently the developer is working on its next WiiWare title, but hasn't ruled out the possibility of expanding to new platforms.

Nnooo is based in Sydney, so keep this in mind when you drop in your CV.

Jobs [Nnooo]

Could have been longer, yes, and could have been from a zoom level where we could actually see what's going on, but beggars (and hey, those of us dying for this game are begging) just can not be choosers. Obviously the graphics have been the subject of an overhaul since the first game, but I'm expecting them to make good on the promise of an evolution in gameplay (more along the lines of Company of Heroes and, you know, the tabletop game) than in visuals.

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A brand new character is joining the cast of Soulcalibur IV and, surprisingly enough, this one isn't sporting Jabba the Hutt sized breasts. Darth Vader's "secret apprentice" Starkiller, star of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, will join Yoda and Vader in pitting lightsaber against blade when the game hits the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 next month. Yes, Starkiller is coming to both versions of Soulcalibur IV, making your decision that much easier.

Soulcalibur IV Unleashed [GameSpot]

What? We like to be alliterative now and then and the release of Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball Portable 3felt like it was an opportunity to do so, especially since it appears to have given the PSP a little kick in the pants sales-wise. It's hardware competition and brethren didn't move much in either direction, with numbers pretty static week-to-week. While there were plenty of new software releases, there was little in the way of big names. Perhaps the release of Ninja Gaiden II in Japan next week will get the Xbox 360 out of the sales ghetto for a spell.

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Grand Theft Auto IV is a fantastic little game, but we'll admit that it was lacking in one thing—the ability for fire liquid sewage at pedestrians. At least, that's how the marketing team tasked with pitching Saints Row 2 is hoping we're thinking, as the violent, Volition-developed sandbox game is taking on GTA IV feature for feature, with Saints Row 2 definitely coming out on top in the poo-flinging department. We'll admit that barnstorming, cage fighting and smashing faces with guitars looks like it could fill a fun afternoon, but you'll have to judge for yourself.

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We've heard from multiple sources today that LucasArts has laid off approximately 50-100 of its employees, including a handful of higher profile names like VP of Product Development Peter Hirschmann. The move comes just a few days after the publisher and developer released LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures on multiple platforms and four months after the departure of LucasArts president Jim Ward.

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A bunch of stories from THQ's Spring 08 event:
Eww, Cool! Deadly Creatures Impressions
Awwwww, Look At Him: Checking Out Wall-E
SpongeBob Drawn To Life Like Drawn To Life, But With SpongeBob
First Impressions Of Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise
Rainbow Connection: Hands On With De Blob
Impressions: Lock's Quest Mixes Old-School With Innovative Ideas

And everything else neat that happened overnight:
First Duke Nukem Forever Gameplay Video
I'd hardly call it a gameplay video, but it's the most action we've seen in a decade.

GTA IV Sold 8.5 Million, Shipped 11 Million So Far
Yes, GTA IV has made Take 2 a crapload of cash.

LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures Review: Whip it, Whip it Good
Nothing like riding elephants and whipping monkeys to get the blood pumping.

Dragonforce 100% On Expert
Meet God.

Kojima Productions Says "No MGS4 90 Minute Cutscenes"
I could understand 90 minutes of cutscenes, but not a 90-minute cutscene.

This week, it's all about bobble-headed baseball, as Konami's Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball Portable 3 replaces Sega's Pro Yakyuu Team o Tsukurou! as the best selling game in Japan. Sega's management sim take on the sport drops considerably, landing at #20 after just one week. Plenty of new titles round out the top thirty, including some new giant robot action from the Front Mission and Super Robot Wars series.

Unfortunately missing from the list is Sega's English of the Dead which should have shipped on the 27th. What the hell, Japan? What. The. Hell?

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I didn't know very much about THQ's Wii-exclusive Deadly Creatures until now, but after seeing a fairly early build of the game at the publisher's spring and holiday preview event today, I'm looking forward to learning more - and tickled gleefully squeamish, too.

THQ's Rainbow Studios, known for the Cars game and the MX vs. ATV series, developed Deadly Creatures as a "labour of love," according to the rep, since the studio's based in Arizona, where its team was inspired by the desert crawlies native to the warm region.

As such, in Deadly Creatures, you can play the action-adventure game either as a venomous scorpion or fabulously gross tarantula, and the different strengths and weaknesses of each animal mean that navigating the game's areas and defeating its bosses, which include a rattlesnake, a gila monster and a horned lizard, among others.

After watching the rep demo it for me, here's what stood out:

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Cutest. Robot. Ever. That was the biggest takeaway I got from glimpsing the Wall-E Wii game at THQ's Fall and holiday season preview event today, and as the game is set to launch simultaneously with the movie, I have a feeling that that googly-eyed little guy, whose function is to pick up and compact garbage, will sell zillions of copies of this title whether it's good or not, especially as it's launching on Wii, PS2 and Xbox 360.

Unlike most of the games I saw today, Wall-E's coming out this month, so we'll know for ourselves soon enough, but I still thought I'd share my impressions of the title, along with some screens of the Wii version.

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I confess to not having played the original Drawn to Life back when it came out, but I've a pal who's a SpongeBob Squarepants fan, so when I was at THQ's spring preview event in New York City, I had to take a peek.

A rep demoed the DS title for me, and explained the gameplay is similar to the original Drawn to Life - this time, obviously, with a big SpongeBob cartoon theme. It's actually based, she said, on an episode of the TV series where Spongebob accidentally scribbles himself an enemy, "DoodleBob," a drawing come to life.

Like I said, I never played Drawn to Life, but I heard at length from lots of friends and readers that the platforming was nothing to get excited about, so I asked whether they'd taken that feedback and cleaned it up this time.

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By now you know Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise is coming to DS, and I couldn't wait to have an early look at it during THQ's spring preview event today.

Judging by what I saw, THQ's aiming to take what fans of the original Viva Pinata liked best and put it front-and-centre, while also making it portable and by tying it in to the TV series in the hopes of opening frilly neon pinata guts and raining candy down on a whole new audience of fans.

So how's it look?

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Bandai Namco just sent over a batch of fresh screenshots for Afro Samurai. The upcoming hip-hop, Samurai, action-adventure game for the 360 looks to feature an interesting blend of hand-drawn and cel-shaded art. It's very pretty stuff. Hit the jump for a clutch of dazzling screens. I hope the play lives up to the fidelity.

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I just returned from a very pleasant lunch at a posh Dunwoody Georgia restaurant with Strong Bad creators Mike and Matt Chapman, where we discussed the upcoming WiiWare episodic adventure game Strong Bad's Cool Game For Attractive people, and while the meat of said lunch (mainly beef) will be revealed next week, I did learn that the first episode of the game won't be making the original June window. From the voice of Strong Bad himself, Matt Chapman:

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