Well, here you go. Our first look at Call of Duty: World At War. There's World War Two, explosions, American soldiers running around shooting bad guys. It all looks very nice, very moody, very well-lit. Before you start: we know, yes, it might not bring the Infinity Ward Shit like Infinity Ward did, but can we have one CoD5 post go by where people can at least give developers Treyarch the benefit of the doubt? It'd make a pleasant change. Thanks.

F.R.I.D.A.Y. That spells, yep, Friday. And Friday brings "TELL US DAMMIT", so sit back, relax. Let's talk. So! How it works: We ask a question, you answer it. Simple and no strings attached! This isn't some marketing survey or whatever. It's an emotional investment in you. Yes, we're interested in knowing you, Kotaku reader person. You probably know fucktons about us -- more than you even want to, we're sure. But, hey, we'd like to know about you. That way you won't be some faceless blob -- and we might feel a tinge of guilt when we ban your arse. Or not, because really we're incapable of human emotion. Whatever!

Question: Do you have a favourite current gen console? If so, what?

You thought Activision had killed it off? Oh no. No, no no no no. They were just experimenting. See if they could kill it, then bring it back. To kill us all. Train them to go for our brains, while we're frozen watching this, wondering where Helmet and Stevie Ray Vaughan got to while a bunch of overly-excited teen models cavort in a park.

You Picture Here — in Street Fighter IV
Comment by: Americo
Nominated by: RavingRabbid

If Capcom is going to own my likeness, it damn well also be a zombie in Dead Rising 2.

Trying to shoehorn an RTS like Command & Conquer onto a console is one thing, but Civilisation? The fanciest bottle of good booze on PC strategy gaming's top shelf? It's an impossible task, some will say. Or one that even if it is possible, just shouldn't be done. Under any circumstances. Lest the ensuing offspring (see Civ II on the PS1) be such a crime of nature, such an abomination, that the good Lord himself descend from the heavens and strike down all involved in its creation.

That's what die-hard, myopic fans of the PC series will tell you, at any rate. And as one of those myself - having lost what must be thousands of hours to the series over the years - when a copy of Civilization Revolution for the PlayStation 3 turned up at my door, I greeted it with not just a signature, but a healthy dose of scepticism.

What's it like being Alan Wake? No clue! But maybe actor Ilkka Villi knows — he is Alan Wake. The character was modeled after him. He's visited developer Remedy several times since 2005 when shooting started. (Interesting to note that the last session was in 2007!) Villi had no idea that video game productions were so big, adding:

You don't get to follow a production this huge in other entertainment business here in Finland. I saw Alan Wake posters made for an international game convention a few years back. I realised this is the closest to Hollywood I'll ever get.

Not necessarily a bad thing.

Alan Wake Interview [Tietoviikko via V2 Thanks Manu for the translation!]

COULD! I say COULD! Not will. So relax. You cool? Then we cool. While chatting with the 1UP crew, Kojima Production's Ryan Payton has said "There are some misunderstandings that this is the final Metal Gear game. But it's really the final chapter of the Solid Snake story. That's all". Care to elaborate? Well, right before that, he said there's "still a lot of room for filling in the gaps as far as Big Boss is concerned". Make of that what you will. My favourite part of the interview, though, doesn't even concern Metal Gear. After he's asked whether Japanese devs should start adopting Western control methods in order to improve their games, Payton says: "If other Japanese publishers want to improve their controls, I wouldn't say they need to adopt western ideas, but rather that they simply need to improve them". Too true.

Metal Gear Solid 5 Could Be a Prequel [1UP]

The San Diego Comic-Con is just weeks away! We can't wait! We'd wager that you can't either, considering how spectacular our coverage of last year's show was. If you're planning on going—some days are already sold out!—you'd better make your plans and you'd better make it snappy, because these Halo bobbleheads aren't going to buy themselves.

According to the Bungie weekly update, the Halo developer's presence at Comic-Con 08 will be minimal. Microsoft reps will be in attendance, however, hyping up the next Halo novel and shilling Spartan and Master Chief bobbleheads. Bring cash. Lots.

Bungie Weekly Update: 6/20/08 [Bungie.net]

Want to get into the Resistance 2 beta? One place to start is the next issue of Gamepro magazine which, in addition to having a little Resistance 2 wingding, is also the home to some beta access keys. They're not just giving them away, unfortunately. You just have a chance to win one. How many are they handing? Not sure. We're guessing at least 60. But that's just a guess.

The issue teaser also hints at some sort of secret. The adjective "colossal" is used. We're instructed to sit down, it's that serious. What could it be?! Surely there's a countdown clock out there that will provide us with more information!

See GamePro's new Resistance 2 cover, win a beta code [GamePro - thanks, James!]

As we did with Miis and custom Forza Motorsport 2 paint jobs many moons ago, so are we now nearing the peal of clever Spore creature creation tolerance. Oh, some are just fantastic, but after recreations of just about every video game thing in existence in Spore monster form, we're starting to lose interest quickly. Possibly quicker than ever before, sadly. That said, this Bowser recreation is simply too high in quality to pass up. Reader Shawn was kind enough to pass on the Kezins discovery and for that we thank him.

While Soulcalibur III was largely forgettable for some of us at Kotaku, some of our best memories were forged in the game's custom character creation tool. The "dancer" style fighter armed with a pair of tambourines made for some rather amusing matches. Soulcalibur IV doesn't appear to be a slouch in the custom fighter department, with all manner of ridiculous weapons and fetish focused accessories at your disposal.

Cowgirls? Check. Pirate wenches? Check. Cat-eared cuties wielding deadly feather dusters? Don't ask stupid questions.

Chris Kingsley is CTO of Rebellion, who's done so many PSP titles he's got good reason to wax optimistic about the platform's future prospects. But wax he does, as part of a GamesIndustry interview in which he says that even though PSP has been "in the shadow" of the DS, the girl's still got life in her:

"But there's still very good business to be done on the less glamorous platforms - look at PlayStation 2, it's still selling bucket-loads of consoles and bucket-loads of games, though they've got to be the right games for the right platform".

He noted that the PSP is "kicking the arse of pretty much every other system out there" in Japan because the right games have come out - with a bit of luck, he thinks that some of those games will come out in Europe and be just as successful.

Seems to me, though, that as the most technically sophisticated handheld on the market, it's no compliment at all for the PSP if one of its mainstay UK developers is comparing it to a last-gen console.

PSP has a good few years left in it still, says Kingsley [GamesIndustry.biz]

A new salvo's been levied at the now-infamous Resident Evil 5 trailer by Tolu Olarunda at the Your Black Writers blog, who was upset by the trailer's imagery.

A couple weeks ago, a friend sent me a A couple of weeks ago, a friend sent me a YouTube link. He described it as "African genocide." Not knowing what to expect, I clicked on it. What I witnessed for those next 3 minutes, was nerve-wrecking, painful, mind-numbing and heart-racing. It was a trailer for a Video Game called "Resident Evil."

To: Bash
From: Crecente

It's Friday night and I'm spending it waiting to board a plane back to Denver from Los Angeles. It was a pretty exciting week spent looking at the offerings that will be shown at this year's E3 next month. It may not quite be the same calibre of games that were shown last year, because, well last year was insane. But we've got some very interesting triple-As headed our way.

Tomorrow morning I fly with the family to Miami and then Sunday we board a ship to cruise around the Caribbean for a week. I've sweet-talked MTV's Stephen Totilo to guest edit on the site during my one-week vacation. Despite his insane schedule, he was kind enough to agree to fill in for me as I sleep... lots. I left the key for Kotaku Tower under that flower box next to the shed in case he asks. Oh and I think the ban hammer maybe under my bed... or in the laundry basket. Feel free to swing it around a bit when I'm oot and aboot.

Have fun, talk to you in a week!

PS. I'll say hi to the pirates for you.

What you missed:
Take-Two Settles FTC Compliance Issues In EA Bid
Clone Wars Games Slated For Holidays, Trailers Hitting Spike TV Friday
WoW Getting Level 30 Mounts
Sega Creates Robotic Girlfriend
Little Big Planet Rolls Out With PlayStation Experience Truck
MGS 4: The Big Boss Of Japanese Sales
EA: Best Of Luck To Former EALA Head Young In Amicable Parting

So Team Fortress 2 fans have been eagerly awaiting the Pyro updates, but the gents at Rock, Paper, Shotgun have been busy mulling gender issues. They found some evidence to support their theory that Pyro is a female character, and cited this CS-Nation interview with lead developer Robin Walker, where he conceded:

"Looking back, we should have shipped some of the classes as female and some as male".

Said Walker further on:

If there's one thing we know about casual games companies, it's that they love to conduct surveys, don't they? The latest one commissioned by RealNetworks' RealGames division aims to correlate casual gameplay with improvement of bad habits. Need to lose weight, quit smoking, quit hitting the potato chips? Play a game, it seems.

59 percent of the survey participants said that casual games offer a "positive distraction" from overeating, and 42 percent said it helps distract them from smoking. Smokers apparently prefer "hidden picture" games to other types, by the way. No surprise, either, that the survey results show that taking a little clicky-break to play a casual game helped them relieve stress.

I wonder why console publishers don't underwrite studies like these periodically, to show the positive impact games in general might have on their audience. Too much of a minefield, do you think?

Full study announcement after the jump.

The bad news? Activision is making Guitar Hero: Aerosmith. Wait, that's not the bad news. The actual bad news was that all those Guitar Hero III tracks you downloaded from either Xbox Live or the PlayStation Store won't work on your copy of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith.

Here's a dash of good. Guitar Hero World Tour will support your existing GH III downloads, which begs the question "Why would you buy Guitar Hero: Aerosmith?"

The populists at Valve have a new blog just for the Team Fortress 2 community, and explain:

Our hope is that we'll be providing you with a variety of interesting things to read, whether you're a hardcore TF2 player or whether you've just started. We'll be going into the details behind some of the gameplay, posting a bunch of the concept art we haven't released before, and showcasing the great content the community is creating.

Ooh! Up now is concept art for the flare gun, showing the different ideas that were considered before gameplay made the final decision. Watch that space, then, for more behind-the-scenes peeks.

TF2 Official Blog [Valve]

With the new changes to the Pyro class in Team Fortress 2, it's time to blow the dust off the PC—something I've been neglecting—and get my hands on those lovely new weapons. And those two new maps! Since there's a free TF2 weekend happening right now, you really have no excuse not to join in on the fun. Okay, you might have a half-dozen or so, but I really don't want to hear 'em.

I'll also be cruising through Metal Gear Solid 4 one more time, taking my time to enjoy the sights instead of constantly thinking "Must finish by Tuesday. Must publish review. Run, Snake, run!!" Other than that, I'll just be trying to beat the heat.

What are you playing this weekend?

Remember Nibris' Sadness, the survival horror title for Wii that sounded so awesome and then disappeared with nary a trace after teasing us all with little more than concept art? Developer Frontline Studios ditched the publisher, and the last we heard was a promise from the Polish studio to keep at it.

Well, now The Wiicast has gotten on the phone with Adam Spencer of Nibris partner Fog Studios to mess with our heads some more, saying that things are still underway:

Obviously there's only so much I can say. I can tell you for sure that the project is real, they're actively developing it. There's no publisher for the game yet and as such it's impossible for us to say when the game is going to be released. Basically, that's the official statement.

Spencer says he's even seen the game in action, but they haven't found a "fit" yet in a publisher.

Breaking News! Sadness is Real! [The Wiicast]

True story, Stephen Totilo, N'Gai Croal and I were walking out of a taping with Geoff Keighley when Mega64 were walking in. I was going to ask for an autograph but Marcus looked like he was recovering from an all-night coke bender and was laying into the make-up artist about his hair. He stopped yelling and looked over at me and seemed to smile, I thought it was a good sign and went over to say "Hi". But when I walked up he asked me to go get him a box of cream filled doughnut holes, a tub of extra smooth peanut butter and some latex gloves. So I decided it was probably time to leave.

Lately we are seeing more and more online flash games making the leap to consoles and handhelds. The newest addition to that roster is N+, an updated version of a little Ninja action/platformer game called N that took the interwebs by storm last year. The gameplay is simple and addicting. Guide your stealthy Ninja through mazes of obstacles, grabbing gold along the way until you eventually make your way to the exit. Now, Developer Silverbirch Studios is set to bring the title to the PSP and DS with new levels and new game modes.

It seems that in the age of "next gen" consoles, games are trying more and more to simulate realism. This is most apparent when it comes to sports games. Since most of these titles take place in a small variety of closed environments, it's much easier spend more of your pixels on other things like sweat and facial animations without skimping on environments. Smash Court Tennis 3 may not have beads of sweat dripping from its players brows, but it makes up for it in other ways like a deep character customisation area and creative playing courts.

Big game hunters, the next big thing in virtual hunting is heading your way in the form of Deer Hunter Tournament. Since the release of the original Deer Hunter, one thing the developers at SouthLogic Studios noticed was that the community of hunters were banding together to create their own tournaments. Following their lead, SouthLogic has made this next iteration all about the tournaments. The tournament system is built right into the game and the PC version will get actual licenced sponsors with prizes. Each player will run the tournament gauntlet in their own private area so you won't have to be fighting other hunters for the big prize. Scouting missions can also be taken on, giving the player an opportunity to study a particular area and its animals eating habits before diving in. World wide tournament results will be accessible through the game so players can see how they stack up against other hunters.

In a new article lauding what it calls Ubisoft's "ascent" as it contends for third place (behind Electronic Arts and Activision) in the industry, Forbes heard from Ubi's North American president, Laurent Detoc, on its strategy for spacing the Prince of Persia games.

As the article points out, Ubi's first franchise re-up happened in 2003, followed by two more titles back-to-back. And then three years of radio silence. Why?

As fans probably noticed, the ultimate version of CD Projekt Red's PC RPG didn't quite make it's original May release window. The developers needed more time to make this version of the game as complete and as bug free as possible while making sure each different language version of the game featured the same high level of polish as the Polish. According to a news post on the official website for The Witcher, the The Witcher Enhanced Edition is now slated for a worldwide release this September. I'd say it's definitely worth the wait, but by now I've proven myself one of the game's biggest fanboys and it wouldn't hold all that much weight anyway.

The Witcher Enhanced Edition Release Date [Official Website]

Normally, we wouldn't consider dropping the cash on another fake drum set, what with the Rock Band kit already taking up considerable space in our living room. Unfortunately, Guitar Hero World Tour's set seems so much better that we're unfortunately considering it. Why? Silent silicone drum pads for one, pads that are also a bit larger in diameter than the ones that ship with Rock Band. That silicone also gives them a little bounce, making drum rolls a little easier to pull off.

The new drum heads are also velocity sensitive, which registers lighter and harder hits depending on how hard you bring down the drum stick. You can also mute the cymbal pads, for dramatic Tommy Lee style moves that coincide with a stick point at the imaginary camera man filming your performance.

Did I mention it's also wireless? The full sized kit is pictured after the jump.

Activision and RedOctane have stepped up the guitar controller game, adding an all new set of hardware features to the plastic axe that ships with Guitar Hero World Tour No longer are you limited to just five coloured buttons and a whammy bar, as the new Guitar Hero proprietary peripheral adds a new touch-sensitive slider on the neck, a new bridge button near the strum bar and a built-in accelerometer. Not only can they all be used during regular gameplay—oh, and your old Guitar Hero III guitar controllers will still work—but they all add a little something to Guitar Hero World Tour's new music creation mode.

Hit the jump for close-ups and a quick explanation of each new feature.