To: Totilo
From: Bashcraft
RE: The Answer Key

Tricky quiz!

Got sent a copy of Metal Gear Solid 4 today from Kojima Productions. I've been playing through Grand Theft Auto IV, which I still haven't finished, because I've been dealing with a gajillion different things — more than one human should have to at one time! Getting towards the homestretch of that game, and I really like it. But MGS4 just popped up. Usually, I'm finish-one-game-start-another kinda guy, but kinda interested in checking out MGS4.

So............. Whaddaya think? Should I finish GTAIV first and then start MGS4 or just go ahead and start MGS4?

What you missed last night
MGS4 ships a million in Europe
Premium DS Lites for Japan
Simpsons meet... Quake III
Limbo of The Lost devs protest
Crave ditches ESA
PS3 trophies?

The downside: It's a developer diary. The upside? It's a developer diary that actually has a ton of proper footage in it! And not just pre-rendered stuff, either, proper footage. Of your man running around Mars, blowing stuff up, hitting bad men with a giant hammer. Looks surprisingly fun, in a hitting-men-with-giant-hammers kinda way.

Parents! UK children are illegally buying violent video games via the internet says the UK's Trading Standards Institute. Under 18 kiddos have been purchasing games like Grand Theft Auto IV through online auction sites, paying with postal orders. An investigation by the Welsh Heads of Trading Standards showed that enlisted volunteers between the ages of 12 and 16 were able to easily purchase 18-rated games on auction sites. Out of 44 purchase attempts, 38 were successful. To combat this problem, authorities recommend that online traders use companies that run age checks on customers, which were "very quick and relatively cheap". And since selling 18-rated games to minors is illegal, it's certainly worth the investment. Though! Shouldn't we be more worried about underage kids downloading entire 18-rated games off the internet illegally and looking at obscene amounts of free porn? That seems like a more pressing problem...

Youths 'buy violent games online' [BBC] [Pic]

Sony hasn't given up on the PSP by a damn sight. The console is doing quite well in Japan, but feels stifled somewhat in other territories. But what's the masterplan for the PSP? That Slim&Lite is nice and all, but how long is the PlayStation Portable going to last? Sony Computer Entertainment Europe suit Zeno Colaço (pictured, not in dress) states:

We definitely have the ambition for it [the PSP] to feature very strongly in the future, both on its own and also complimentary to PlayStation Network environment and the PS3. But we'll have to wait a while before we can fully reveal the direction we're going in. Ten years is certainly the long-term plan though.

No clue if Sony is planning slimmer PSPs in the future or what. But still, having a long-term plan is good. Not having them can make one look unprepared, you know.

Sony exec points to a ten-year lifespan for the 'PlayStation Networked' PSP [Pocket Gamer] [Pic]

Whoah, NECA! Slow down! You'll wear yourself out, then you won't be any good to anyone. Not content with releasing God of War figures, and Gears of War of War figures, and Bionic Commando figures, they've just released shots of a Ninja Gaiden II figure as well. Of course, it's of Ryu Hayabusa, who'll stand 7" tall and come with a bunch of weapons and accessories when he's released in September. In case you haven't noticed with those ball hips and wacky shoulders, the emphasis here is on his flexibility, not his detail.

We hear that Europeans like Metal Gear Solid. So to get ready, Konami shipped a million copies of Metal Gear Solid 4 to European retailers. That's a lot! A million shipped is impressive — a million sold, even more so. Martin Schneider, Sales and Marketing Director Germany for Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH, comments with SPOILER:

The Metal Gear Solid series has again proved its huge potential, and we are delighted with the fantastic response the game has enjoyed at retail... MGS4 is nothing short of a masterpiece — an epic conclusion to the Solid Snake story. We are extremely pleased with the positive feedback we have received from retail and consumers alike, and will keep satisfying their needs with updates to the game's 'Extra' option, and via new content to Metal Gear Online.

Since Europe doesn't have a single chart tracker for every territory, it'll be a while until we have exact figures. (Konami will have to work off internal sales data for all of Europe.) But for now, this shipped figure will have to suffice. Full press release in all its confusing glory after the jump.

There's a tidy piece up over on Gamasutra, detailing Howard Marks' plans to resurrect the Acclaim brand name. While the original company went bust in 2006, Marks plans on capitalising on the brand name to leverage titles that are less about cartoony basketball players and more about...pony-based MMOs. Acclaim circa 2008 are all about free-to-play MMOs, nickel-and-diming you with microtransactions, getting into Facebook gaming and capitalising on the rise of the online gaming scene in markets like China. Might not sound like much, but the last time Marks decided to revive the flagging fortunes of a former big name in the industry was in 1991. When he and Bobby Kotick dug Activision out of the grave. That seems to be working out OK.

Acclaim Bringing For-Pay Item Trade To Facebook [Gamasutra]

Pokémon debuted in Japan back in 1995, causing a kid frenzy. Meaning? Those kids aren't kids aren't kids anymore. Some of them are adults! Via game forum NeoGAF comes this announcement:

The Pok´mon Company has announced Pokémon 151, a new brand intended for adult Pokémon fans. An official Web site opens Thursday, and Japanese Pokémon Centre stores have begun selling four types of stylised T-shirts. In addition, a Diamond and Pearl battle tournament for ages 15 and up will be held at the Tokyo store July 4.

The four T-shirts currently available for pre-sale feature stylised designs of Hypno, Cubone, Articuno and Mewtwo, respectively.

Yep, Japan only for the time being. Hit the jump for two more shirts.

Yeah, there are two Battlefield games on the way. that we know of. Battlefield Heroes and Battlefield Bad Company. So that's enough, right? EA's and DICE's whistles are well and truly wet, right? No. No, no, not even close. Speaking at GDC paris yesterday, DICE's Ben Cousens has said that the company are working on a further three Battlefield titles. One is a "core game" for consoles. One is a secret. The other is a collaboration with Korean company Neowiz, targeted at the region's online market. That's, you know. Five Battlefield games in development. Never let it be said EA don't know how to make the most of a franchise.

DICE confirms five Battlefield titles in development [GI.biz]

Snake, cake, a children's book and a naughty ending? For Kotaku After Dark? Why, it couldn't capture the spirit of the times better if it had a Zeitgeistmatron 3000. Called "Snake Bakes a Cake", it's the work of both Ms. Anne Moloney & a Mr. Foley, who somehow manage to take a charming story about baking a cake and turn it into (mildly) erotic, illustrated Metal Gear fan fiction. Being (mildly) erotic, anyone aghast at the thought of seeing Snake's derrière should probably not click through.

Untitled [Spinooti]

Besides that frosty teaser teasing we-don't-know-yet, a couple pieces of art have been fished out of the directory of the Blizzard splash screen. The JPGs are titled "04" and "15." Want to hear how kurazy theories are getting about these? Tipster zzino202 writes: "if u go with the 232309 theory... then 04 and 15 are the letters D and O... people are hoping it spells out diablo eventually lol." Laugh out loud, indeed! But hey, we dunno, you dunno, but those reading way too much into things like JPG titles want to know. Maybe they're right, maybe they're wrong and just getting way too excited about Wrath of the Lich King. WHO KNOWS!

(Well, pretty sure Blizzard does. Good for Blizzard.)

Let the Blizzard tease continue! A second image has been added on the icy splash site, adding to speculation that Blizzard is going to announce Diablo III this weekend. Previously, the frosty teaser showed an image that looked a hell of a lot like a rune on Frostmourne, previously feature in Wrath of the Lich King teasers. That was kind of a Diablo III killjoy! Now, there's further speculation that the first image might be the "Shael" rune from Diablo II instead of being Frostmourne. And some folks are now saying that the second and new image looks like a duplicate of a "Hel" Diablo II rune. All this is someone else's speculation — we don't know! So like don't go get your hopes up or anything silly.

In the meantime, hit the jump for fancy red line pointing!

Enough of the pretty screenshots. Let's see how Tales of Vesperia looks in motion. Above is what we can expect from the game's battles, while after the jump, a cutscene (all in Japanese) showing the main characters discussing...something. Hopefully an explanation as to why they think it's OK to let a dog smoke.

BioShock was a big hit. But, the way lead programmer Chris Kline sees it, the game should've been a MISERABLE FAILURE. BioShock was first planned in early 2002 when its developer, the then Irrational Games, decided it needed a big AAA title. The idea was to make a System Shock 2 clone, but development on the game stopped for about two years. "The very first failure", recalls Kline, "was that we wanted to base this whole thing on System Shock 2. After a couple false starts, it wasn't until the E3 2006 demo that the team really had to think about things like making the game work and creating a "compelling user experience". Kline adds:

Chalk up yet another reason to hate Japan's Club Nintendo. From July 1st to August 31st, a limited number of "Premium" DS Lites will be made available to lucky folks. How limited? There are only 3,000 of these outside cover plated "Premium" DS Lites, Here's the breakdown: 1,000 Premium Silver; 1,000 Premium Black; 1,000 Premium Rose. As website Gpara explains, these are actually the standard-in-Japan "Gloss Silver", "Jet Black" and "Metallic Rose" DS Lites treated with a special metallic plating cover. Club Nintendo members interested in snagging one of these need to enter the serial numbers of two purchased DS titles that went on sale after August 2006 into the Club Nintendo online application. There's a limit of five entries per member! From that, 3,000 winners will be selected at random. Click through the gallery to get a look at the "Premium" DS Lites.

In July 2007, fresh from beating the game, I ordered the Japanese-language edition of the Okami art book. Weeks went by. Then months. No art book. I totally forgot about the thing. Then today, June 24, 2008...success! The book finally turns up (albeit the English-language edition). Was it worth the wait? Was it ever. This is a proper art book. Full of concept art, level design sketches, character reference models and even some mangas detailing both the game's boss battles and "god release" cutscenes. Best part? It even gives you soundtrack advice: ie, if you're reading this, play track 7 on disc 3 of the soundtrack.

Seventeen years ago to this day, Sonic spirited onto the Genesis/Mega Drive. And he did it with 'tude. That's right! SEGA's Sonic the Hedgehog was released in North America and Europe on June 23, 1991. The game came out a month later in Japan. In his heyday, the blue hedgehog gave Mario as run for his money during the 16 bit generation. While SEGA seemed to have lost the plot in the last few years (human kissing anyone?), recent Sonic titles like the Sonic Team and Dimps developed Sonic Unleashed show promise of a return to form. And that is probably the best birthday present Sonic could ask for.

Sonic's Birthday [Sega Nerds]

Not normally the type for mods, especially for old old old games, but I can make exceptions for mods with overwhelming charm and attention to detail. Mods like this one, which recreates the Simpson house in excruciating detail, from the family portraits to a kinda-functioning bathroom scale.

[via Boing-Boing]

Last year in Worcester, England, 22 year-old Steven Priddey claims he made a deal with store employee Richard Shurmer to exchange cannabis for a PSP. Shurmer claims that Priddey simply stole the PSP from the store! Security cameras show Priddey sticking the portable down his pants. But during questioning, Shurmer did admit that he bought the drug from Priddey twice before, but did not give him permission to take the PSP.

And how did this happy tale end? While Priddey's lawyers said cannabis clouded his judgment, Priddey was found guilty — because Shurmer, as an employee, does not have the authority to give out merchandise. While still stating that he had been given permission to take the PSP, Priddey was sentenced to probation for 12 months and must pay £450GBP (approx. $AU 732.41) in costs and £65GBP (approx. $AU 104.93) in compensation. Drugs are helluva of drug.

Dope-using thief has now given up - court [Worcester News via PSP Fanboy] [Pic]

So Limbo of the Lost is a game built upon the bones of other, better games. We've all had a laugh at their expense. But are developers Majestic guilty as charged? They'd like to think that, no, they are not. Not as a whole, anyways. They've today issued a statement claiming they knew nothing of the game's thievery, despite being. You know. The developers of the game.

Bringing us to a total of five publishers who have left the industry trade group over the past few weeks. First it was Activision and Vivendi, then Lucasarts, then id, and now it's...Crave Entertainment. Granted, as the publisher of such titles as Brunswick Pro Bowling and Tokyo Xtreme Racer Drift 2 it's hardly as severe a blow to the group as the departure of, say, Activision, but it does at least add to the list of companies with better things to do than be part of the ESA. No official explanation has been provided by Crave as to why they've left, but if one were to turn up tomorrow citing the increasing cost of membership fees, we'd at least try and act surprised.

BREAKING: Another ESA Departure as Crave Leaves Game Publishers Trade Group [GamePolitics]

Before there was Guitar Hero, there was GuitarFreaks! Konami's rhythm game has been shredding up Japanese arcades since 1999 and is still going strong. Check out GuitarFreaks V5 Rock to Infinity, the latest cabinet (and 16th entry!) in the franchise. And after the jump? After the jump is Konami's drum title DrumMania V5 Rock to Infinity, which links to GF. Both hit arcades last week, feature over forty new songs (500 total!) and online play. Rock it.

To say that I've personally paid little attention to Atari's resuscitation of Alone In The Dark would be an understatement. But with a trailer this oddball, featuring some curiously out of place stunt drivin' and an off the beaten path soundtrack — what, no nu metal? — I'm morbidly curious, despite the early poor reviews and current hubbub. Sure, it's a grey and brown mess that looks far too much like a Silent Hill B-side, but it has flying lamprey demons versus helicopters. This could be a disaster of delicious proportions.

We love sales data. We regularly cite NPD Group, Chart Track, Enterbrain and Media Create figures, but rarely, if ever put stock in amateur sales estimation outlet VGChartz. It's not just our aversion to plurals that end with Z, it's that the methodology, the educated guesses that lead the site to conclude that, say, Metal Gear Solid 4 sold 1.3 million copies on day one, don't instill much confidence.

With Trophy support coming to PlayStation 3 games like PixelJunk Eden any day now, we wouldn't be surprised to see them leak prior to official release. And they may have, if alleged spy shots of Trophies in action via PS3 Fanboy are the real deal.

We now learn that the upcoming sixth Halo novel, Halo: The Cole Protocol will also publish simultaneously with an audiobook, so you can explode your head by listening to the Halo story while playing Halo. What a world.

As we recently reported, the book will apparently deal with an "unexplored conflict" in the war against the Covenant, will reveal the location of the Spartan Grey Team, and is penned by Crystal Rain author Tobias S. Buckell for a spring release.

Full details after the jump.

When Blizzard started up with the teasing again, plastering the official site with a frosty teaser, Diablo III desperation got the better of a few folks who were interested in having their hopes crushed under the boot of the house that World of Warcraft built. Okay, it didn't build the house, but it payed for the jacuzzi and new marble counter tops.

EA had Valve and Turtle Rock's Left 4 Dead on hand at last week's EA3 event, a title it had just shown last month at the EA Games Spring Break get together. Crecente already handed in his largely comprehensive take on Left 4 Dead, but since this was my first go with the cooperative zombie killer, I thought I'd chime in. As a die hard fan of all things zombie, this was the title I was eying from across the room while waiting my turn on Skate It.

Increasing PS3 Sales, Strong PSP Helped Sony Narrow Losses In FY08
At least Sony's recouping its losses after the PS3's less-than-fantastic debut.

Rockstar Patches GTA IV
Get it while it's hot!

Blizzard Website Teasing Something Cold
Feel free to speculate. I reckon it's a new IP called Ice Blaster. Yes? Maybe? No? Okay, no.

Over at GigaOM, Wagner James Au argues that the mammoth launch success of Grand Theft Auto IV is "the beginning of the end" for the next-gen. If a launch that universally successful can't budge hardware sales - and GTA IV really didn't - then "drastic changes" may be to come, says Au:

Expect to see games made for lower budgets, targeted at wider audiences (ones that aren't fixated on high-end 3D graphics) and delivered over broadband with a micropayment program in place. Don't expect a follow-up to the 360 or PS3 anytime soon, either. In other words, the days when so-called "next-gen" gaming reigned supreme are coming to end -- instead, the industry's future will be shaped by games like Rock Band.