To: Crecente
From: Ashcraft
RE: Vacation: Cuff Links, Readers and A Swamped Pool

Sounds like you had a nice vacation! And I dig the cufflinks. (And the brilliant reader Photoshops in the comments.)

Earlier this evening we went up to Mini Bash's school for the Star Festival. Next week is the Tanabata, which you can read about it here if yer interested. Anyhoo, Mini Bash and all the other kids in his class told the teacher want they wanted to be when they grew up. The teacher then wrote these wishes on slips on paper which we attached to bamboo leaves. Mini-Bash's read:

When I grow up, I want to be Squirtle from Pokémon.

Yep, we're pretty proud. o_0

What you missed last night
Yakuza 3 Announced (No, Not Again, A New Yakuza 3)
Is This Official Chrono Trigger DS Confirmation?
Is Chrono Trigger DS Coming To America?
Minority Report Designer Behind New, Motion-Controlled 360 GUI?
An Elegant Stylus For A More Civilised Age
Namco Bandai Says Soulcalibur IV Install Size "Significantly Overblown"
Rock Band 2 Preview Shows Journey, Foo Fighters, Motorhead And More

Nintendo's Japanese ads are smart. They don't just feature famous celebrities, but former-bikini-girls-turned-mainstream celebs. That's curvy cheesecake pin-up turned actress Eiko Koike on the new Wii Fit TV spot. Sure, the Nintendo ad isn't gratuitous in the least, but it certainly doesn't turn its back on Koike's most famous assets. This isn't the first bikini girl to shill Wii stuff. Earlier this spring, Swimsuit idol Aki Hoshino appeared in Mario Kart Wii spots in a mini-skirt.

They've both done some risqué stuff in the past — nothing X-rated. Google if you like! Just know: These sorts of celebs advertise all kinds of stuff in Japan, so it's not totally unusual to see that here. Either shows how mainstream these models are or how progressive Nintendo's Japanese advertising is. Hit the jump for the Hoshino ad from earlier this year, via Jean Snow at Game|Life.

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In the upcoming issue of Famitsu, Namco Bandai announced Wii music rhythm game Happy Dance Collection. The game has players rhythmically match Wii-mote motions. Yes, it's cutesy and it's got Mii crowd integration, but the real kicker here is the music. As expected, the game features popular J-Pop like "http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=2CHH8PDJqoI">Popstar" and "Choo Choo TRAIN", but also "Go My Way" from Namco's idol singer simulation Xbox 360 game THE iDOLM@STER. The female dancers also look iDOLM@STEResque. How's that for fan service!
The game is slated for sometime this year.

Wiiでアイドルマスターみたいなゲームを製作中 [Hatimaki]

Australian teenager Zak Touilii suffers from duchenne muscular dystrophy, a disease that's left him confined to a wheelchair for most of his life. When presented with the opportunity to request something from the Make a Wish Foundation, Zak opted for a PlayStation 3, which the charity donated to him along with a bunch of games. Sadly, thieves broke into his home last week and made off with some of the family's valuables, including jewellery, appliances and, yes, Zak's PS3, along with all his games. So, so low.

Thugs steal disabled boy's PlayStation 3 [Daily Telegraph]

In the latest issue of Famitsu, it was announced that SEGA's toasted Toshihiro Nagoshi has been working on Ryu ga Gotoku 3 (Yakuza 3). This isn't to be confused with Edo-era PS3 exclusive Ryu ga Gotoku Kenzan!, which is actually the third Yakuza game in the franchise, but not actually Yakuza 3. Confused? According to the article, Kenzan! was a spin-off, and this newly announced game is actually the third one in the series, m'kay. Work began on the game commenced after development on Kenzan! finished, and the story picks up where Yakuza 2 left off. Well, that makes sense at least.

Yakuza 3 Announced [2chan.net]

Have a gander at the first Street Fighter IV figurine. That's of course Chun-Li and Chun-Li's thighs -- not to mention Chun-Li's massive feet. (You know what they say about girls with big feet? We don't.) It is a rather nice Chun-Li statue. The ten inch figurine will set you back $US 100 and is limited to 700 individually numbered pieces. If that's out of your price range, there is also a 4 inch statue as well that goes for $US 10. Press release after the jump.

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Azeroth probably seems big when you're trotting across it, but have you ever wondered just how big? James Wallis did. James Wallis is also a huge nerd, and has used science (specifically, things like astronomy) to not only determine the actual size of the planet, but also its density and gravity as well. For the record, its gravity is almost the same as ours, so loot drops no faster or slower on Azeroth than it does on Earth.

n00b World Reorder, part 1 [Cope, via Boing-Boing]

These fireworks were spotted by Kotakuite rrockshow182 in Missouri, and it looks like Dante is moonlighting as a firecracker model. Lucky him. rrockshow182 asks: "Think capcom will cut me in on the lawsuit?" Dunno! But even fireworks makers should know that if you play with fire, you get burned (and shit starts blowing up.) Hit the jump for a better look at the Dante-works.

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That Rock Band 2/European release news just had to be too good to be true, didn't it? Despite initial claims that the game would be released in Europe alongside the US launch in September, EA have since changed their tune, saying "There was a misunderstanding and there is no confirmed date for Europe". Sad, but also typical, even expected. If you're looking for more realistic release estimates, sometime/anytime in 2009 would probably get you the best odds with the bookies.

No Euro date for Rock Band 2 after all [Eurogamer] [Pic]

We're excited about Tatsunoko vs. Capcom. The game seems like a fun arcade cross-over. Sure, there will be Western arcades that import the game, but will it get an official release outside Japan? Capcom USA is looking into it. No doubt the American licensing issues for the Tatsunoko Productions characters is sticky. Capcom USA's Christian Svensson points out:

We haven't discussed any home console plans for the title yet, so platform discussions are a bit premature. All that's been anounced is arcade... There are a lot of licensing issues around the title given that those properties are held by different companies across the West and they vary by territory greatly. It was created as a Japan-only project but we're investigating.

That's sure nice of Capcom.

Quick Question on Capcom vs. Tatsunoko [Capcom via Siliconera]

Certainly looks that way. Swedish developers SimBin - the team behind the super-hardcore, super-awesome GTR racing series for the PC - have announced via press release that they're working on an Xbox 360 game, the title of which will be revealed "soon". Now, while we could keep an open mind about this, and speculate on whether this means they'll be releasing a point-and-click adventure game based on the reign of the Holstein-Gottorp house, we won't. Because all SimBin have ever done is racing games. So we'll instead prepare for the inevitable announcement of a hardcore racing sim for the 360, whether GTR-branded or not.

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While Fallout 3 producer Ashley Chung (not pictured) was impressed with the Diablo III gameplay footage, he was also "disappointed". And not only with Diablo III, but also the new Starcraft. That would make his feelings, say, sadly bittersweet? On his personal blog, Chung blogged his personal feelings about:

I must say I am disappointed that Blizzard has stayed on the conservative side in terms of design with their updates to Diablo and Starcraft. Diablo will be interesting since World of Warcraft has a lot of Diablo-like qualities. I have no doubt, however, that they will be incredibly fun, addictive and polished games. Blizzard is the top of the class when it comes to game development - nobody does it better.

Man, why's everyone so down Diablo III? There's that rainbow petition and now this? Blizzard cannot win, like never ever ever. Hit the jump for Chung's post in full:

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Previously we've seen the Japanese countdown page, and Kotaku reader Frog did some digging and found what looks like the North American version of that supposed Chrono Trigger DS page with the URL http://na.square-enix.com/ctds/. ("na" apparently referring to "North America".) Meaning? Meaning that if that "ctds" clock is indeed counting down to Chrono Trigger DS for North American peoples, too. That's not good news, that's damn good news.

Do keep in mind Square Enix has yet to officially announce the game or put out a press releaase about Chrono Trigger DS. But still.

Clock Counter For North America [Square Enix Thanks, Frog!]

It's OK, everyone. Developers drink coffee too! While filming a vox pop piece in Seattle on the closure of 600 Starbucks stores across the US, local news channel KING5 inadvertently got the scoop on not only where Valve get their coffee, but who's allowed out for coffee runs and even what everyone drinks. As you can see, Gabe Newell does not fuck around, clutching what looks like a Venti Mint Mocha Chip Frappuccino. A mysterious "other guy" keeps things straight with a Grande Espresso Macchiato, while Doug Lombardi - who is surprised, but not shocked at the closures - doubles up on beverages, while lying on camera that it's for a "co-worker" to make him feel better about his cheeky afternoon "seconds".

Starbucks closing hundreds of stores [KING5, thanks Ryan!]

Back in late February, we brought word of a Dead Rising lawsuit. Capcom was being sued over the game by the MKR Group, which holds the rights to George Romero's Dawn of the Dead film. MKR claimed that Dead Rising was essentially an unlicenced adaptation of the Romero film. Over the weekend, George Romero appeared at the Chicago Horror Convention, and Kotaku reader Tyler was on hand to get his copy of Dead Rising autographed by the famed horror director. According to Tyler:

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Guess that Minority Report reference cut a little closer to the bone than we thought! After we posted on the rumour of a new, alternative user interface for the Xbox 360, we've since heard from sources a little closer to the matter that the GUI (graphical user interface) parts are around "95% correct". They tell us that design agency Schematic are working on the project, which is interesting when you consider two things. One, Schematic have worked on gaming interfaces before, most notably on recent EA Sports titles. Two, the Chief Creative Officer of Schematic is a Mr. Dale Herigstad. Movie and design nerds will know Herigstad as one of the the guys who designed the motion-controlled interfaces featured throughout Minority Report. If true, that's equal parts promising and awesome.

Sure, you could play Doom 3 in its boring, by-the-numbers first-person mode, but why would you want to when there's a mod to transform it into an isometric 3D shooter stuffed full of chunky excitement?

The mod Z-Hunter comes close to accomplishing this feat. While you can't play the original game with an isometric view, Z-Hunter does offer "8 maps, 2 unique weapons, unique player animations [and] over 20 enemies custom designed for this style of play", according to the description on the website. Slap in a custom soundtrack and you've got quite a package. There's even a short back story to help get you in the mood. It mentions pussies and maggots, but it's not what you think.

No co-op or deathmatch functionality from what I can see, but that doesn't stop it from being infinitely awesome.

Z-Hunter [Official site, via Blue's News]

Say what you will about the quality of recent Star Wars games, you'll be hard pressed finding a bad word to say about these. They're official Nintendo DS styli, only with a bonus Star Wars licence thrown in, meaning, yes, these are proper DS lightsabers. What's better is that they come in two variants: you can get a three-pack of regular, plastic ones ($US 8), or you can get a two-pack where the sabers/styli actually light up ($US 17).

Lightsaber styli [View From Heaven, via Go Nintendo]

I know. That sounds awfully vague. And it is! But heck, we're talking BioWare's mystery (KOTOR 3?) MMO, so even the vaguest of discussions are interesting ones. Speaking with MTV, BioWare's Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk have opened up - just a little - on what they're looking at implementing in their own MMO. Discussing the pros and cons of Age of Conan, Zeshuck says an "important part" of getting an MMO right is balancing the singleplayer and multiplayer aspects. They believe that players should be able to choose how they want to approach the game, whether as a solo experience or a social one, and that's what they're going to try and implement in KOTOR 3 whatever it is they're working on.

BioWare On MMOs: 'Conan,' Their Own And Maybe A Console One [MTV]

So while the images are work-friendly, the language is NSFW. Unless your boss has a special love for the F-word.

Animal Crossing Music Video [YouTube, thanks Simon]

Earlier, we posted what looked like an announcement that Chrono Trigger DS was coming. But hey, it was a crappy magazine scan, and we weren't sure. This new countdown clock on the official Square Enix site makes us way more sure -- surer, even. The design is kinda like the original Chrono Trigger starting screen, and there's that ticking sound. And now the url: http://www.square-enix.co.jp/ctds/

"ctds"? Chrono Trigger DS. Hrm, hrm.

Countdown Site [Square Enix Thanks all who sent this in!]

iPhone gaming is growing at its own, methodic pace. EA's interested, Sega wants in, Nnooo has a few ideas and even Bioware has its thinking hand stroking its chin. Great stuff, sure, but it makes you wonder what happened to the whole iPod gaming movement.

Never fear, Australian developer Firemint is holding down the fort with Sims DJ. Yes, a few months back CEO Rob Murray stated the studio was excited about the iPhone. Yeah, the iPod isn't the iPhone, but Sims DJ is a step in the right direction.

I haven't played Sims DJ (I don't even own an iPod, let alone anything from Apple), but apparently review site Pocketgamer gave it 8/10. Not too shabby.

The product page on Firemint's website says the game was released on June 9. No worries guys, just let us know a little sooner next time!

Square Enix's upcoming PSP "action RPG" Dissidia: Final Fantasy features heroes and villians from Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy II, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII, Final Fantasy IX and Final Fantasy X. Epic stuff! The game does look and sound big for a PSP title. But just how big? Says the game's senior director Takeshi Arakawa:

Mr. Nomura [the game's character designer, pictured] has been at all the voice recordings, and the script is double the length ofCrisis Core: Final Fantasy VII.

Sure sounds like Square Enix is making a AAA PSP title. Good for Square Enix. Good for PSP owners.

Dissidia: Final Fantasy Interview [Forever Fantasy via PSP Fanboy]

Do you have mad Wii Sports skills? A Wii remote bowling arm that rivals those of real world professionals? Does the idea of winning things excite you?

If you said "yes" or nodded your head with restrained enthusiasm at any of these questions, you should check out the Wii Championships in Melbourne's Federation Square. Activities will run between 10AM and 5PM on July 5 & 6, with daily champions receiving a Wii and five games. 500 Wii backpacks are also available for keen entrants.

As an aside, the ACMI's Game On exhibition ends on July 13, so if you do head down, be sure to check this out while you have the chance.

Full release after the jump.

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Because Sony's trophy system is only being implemented now, a bunch of games have already been released that don't make use of the feature. Meaning developers will need to go back and bolt on trophy support in their own time. So when 2.40 becomes available, which games will have them, and which ones won't? While Sony released a preliminary list of titles that will be the first to implement trophies the other day, they've since added one more: our 2007 NQGOTY, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, which "will also receive a patch at some point in the foreseeable future".

Sony's Eric Lempel Talks PS3 Version 2.4 [GameSpy]

Reader Michael sent us this humorous snippet from Prima's guide for Super Smash Bros. Brawl. As you can see, the text on the page for Sonic describes Super Sonic as a "mighty god". Sonic is quite the hedgehog, and his "super" form no doubt impressive, but a god? That's a stretch, even for the most diehard Sega fanatic.

While the insanely cheap Halo 3 Xbox 360 pricing at Dick Smith may have been hit and miss, the retailer's game sale is not. If you're in the mood for some first-person sword and sorcery, the store is selling Ubisoft's Dark Messiah of Might and Magic for a paltry $5, Lego Star Wars on 360 for $10 and The Darkness on PS3 for $24.

There are quite a few discounted games available - you can find the full list, taken from EcoGamer, after the jump.

Massive Dick Smith Sale Is Updated [EcoGamer, thanks Anthony]

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We know that the very suggestion of a Chrono Trigger port, remake or sequel for just about any platform (that isn't a mobile phone) might just make your head swim or various body parts explode with delight. Therefore, we'd like to ask that you sit down for the duration of this post. Pregnant women and those operating heavy machinery are advised not to read further. Instead, a friend read it to you.

Okay, here's the deal. We're hearing that in the new issue of Jump magazine, Square Enix has announced Chrono Trigger DS for a Winter release in Japan. Currently, that rumour and a very shady scan is all we got. Rock gently while repeating to yourself "This is a rumour, this is a rumour" until we get some sort of confirmation.

Thanks to Jay and Tim for the heads up.

Sure, they've laid Starcraft II and Diablo III out on the table in recent months, but is that all Blizzard got? No, it is not all they got. Speaking at the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational, Rob Pardo has told OnlineWelten that "there is still one unknown project" under development at Blizzard, being worked on by "another development team". Ooohh, whatever could it be? Your guess is as good as mine, though it's probably not as good as my dream, which can best be summed up as Lost Vikings vs Capcom.

Interview with Rob Pardo [OnlineWelten, via Shacknews]

Namco Bandai's Soulcalibur IV may be known for massive volumes in some aspects of its design, but a rumoured 6.5GB hard drive installation for the PlayStation 3 version is not the sort of bloat that sits well with gamers. Add to that an alleged 2GB save file and PS3 owners with a measly 20GB would have had to do some serious housecleaning in between grumbling sessions. The rumours of its disk space requirements have been greatly exaggerated, says the publisher.

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Eagle-eyed members of the ScoreHero forums have given us some insight into the track listing for Rock Band 2. The alleged new additions were spied during an X-Play preview of the recently announced Rock Band sequel and dissected by the ScoreHero community. The new selections are strong to say the least and include new songs from acts like Journey and Foo Fighters. Even better? An indication that even more songs from The Who are en route, as "Pinball Wizard" looks to make an appearance.

The list, with a best guest at the performing artists is after the jump.

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Eurogamer.tv got their hands on, uploaded, then pulled some previously unseen footage of Insomniac Games' Resistance 2. Like all things leaked, it's made the rounds, with a YouTube version of the PlayStation 3 game's trailer still available for curiosity seekers. The trailer, which opts for spooky narration in lieu of gameplay, may hint at the sequel's plot.

Spooky Demonic Narrator Guy issues the ominous warning -- to, we're assuming, either Resistance: Fall of Man protagonist Nathan Hale or Resistance 2 players -- "You think you can resist, but you haven't seen what we're truly capable of". Explosions, flesh eating and gargantuan space ships follow — the kind of stuff you demand from your first person shooters.

Unfortunately, the whole thing's a low-fi affair. Here's to hoping we see it in more glorious resolutions at E3.

Resistance 2 - 2nd Trailer. [YouTube]

We've already seen the rain before the storm, with Big W selling discount Xbox 360 Arcades and Dick Smith purging stock of its Halo 3 models. Two readers, both from EB Games, have sent in matching information regarding an official price drop across all 360 consoles.

We also have a warning from one of our sources regarding Arcade consoles:

I would advise customers to stay clear from 360 Arcade consoles at the moment as the ones shipping into stores are actually refurbished models with NO HDMI output. If in doubt, check to see if the machine itself has the port and the manufacture dates on the console (not the box as they are being re-stickered and can be different to what's inside).

Now hit the jump for the new prices!

Update #1: A press release has just arrived, straight from Microsoft. It's after the jump too.

Update #2: Microsoft has contacted us regarding the "quality" of current Xbox 360 Arcades. According to AU/NZ Xbox Group Product Marketing Manager Jeremy Hinton, all Arcade units coming from MS are brand-new. It can't comment however on the actions of individual retailers.

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It's currently popular to theorise that nearly all gaming will end up free or nearly free at some point, distributed via browser and monetized through ad support, microtransactions or scalable subscription models. Faith in this business model's been instated by the early success of many free-to-play web-based MMOs (many of them for kids, mind).

But what about the arguable king of all MMOs, World of Warcraft? Will it ever get on the trendwagon and go free, or offer a free option, at least? Not so much, says Blizzard COO Paul Sams, as part of an in-depth Gamasutra interview:

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DFC Intelligence has a theory. David Cole, analyst at the firm, says that the Wii "does not appear to be a fad and it has the chance to be one of the best selling systems of all-time" according to new report. You hear that, naysayers and Wii jokesters? Not a fad! While DFC places Nintendo's waggle-box at the top of the heap this generation, it also has good, long-term news for Sony, writing that PlayStation 3 annual software sales will match that of the Wii by 2012.

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Rumour: Soulcalibur IV Requires Xbox 360 HDD, Needs 8.5GB Of Disk Space On PS3
8.5GB? Ouch. Looks like we'll have to start uninstalling some of those pre-installs!

Another Resident Evil Movie 'A Possibility'
Anderson, for the love of all that is holy, just stop. Your movies are awful.

Xbox 360 Getting a 3D Dashboard Make-Over?
As long as it comes with cool cyber-gloves, I'm in.

Blizzard Worldwide Invitiational Wrap-Up
In case you missed all the Starcraft II, World of Warcraft and Diablo III coverage over the last few days.

Diablo Fans Petition Against Diablo III
You would think they'd be happy!

Playing Spore: A Lesson in Teabagging
It's not about teabagging. Well, not much. It's more of a hands-on. Okay, that didn't sound any better.

Activision Boss Wants Cheaper Consoles
Hey Activision, how about cheaper games for Oz first?

Too Human: 'This Has To Be The Worst Game I've Played In The Last 5 Years'
Oh well Silicon Knights, there's always your next game.

Add one more member to the Steam crowd, as Gamecock media is bringing its stable of titles to Valve's digital distribution network. Starting with Stronghold Crusader Extreme and Insecticide -- Part 1, that is -- we're expecting a fruitful relationship between the publisher and network. We're lead to believe this by the press release which points out that Insecticide Part 2, Velvet Assassin, and Legendary will be coming later this year.

We also understand that Gamecock is "a welcome solution to the bloated and originality-starved video game industry". That's the press release talking again. We'll believe anything you say, press release! Command us!

Activision had a banner fiscal year, reporting a record $US 2.90 billion in revenue in March 2008. Generally such victories are credited to a company's executive steerage, and for meeting (or, in this case, exceeding) their benchmarks, it's common for execs to get bonuses. So how much does Activision chairman and CEO Bobby Kotick get?

An SEC filing revealed all:

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According to importer YesAsia, the PlayStation 3 version of Soulcalibur IV will join the ranks of games requiring a substantial installation to the console's hard drive. How substantial? Substantial. About 6.5 GB worth of your HDD, with 2 GB of space on top of that allocated to save data. The latter disk space requirement makes some sense, as the game looks to have a fairly robust character creation tool, which we hope allows for a larger number of custom fighters than its predecessor. Regardless, 2 GB, if true, is still rather hefty.

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Evidence suggests that the mid-level Xbox 360 might soon see a price drop to $US 299, and we've seen rumours suggesting that the imminent cut would make way for a new, 60GB Xbox 360.

With price cuts possibly on the horizon that could bring console prices closer to the Wii's territory, should Nintendo worry? "The Wii audience is not choosing between 360 and Wii", said Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter. "Either they will buy a Wii only, or they will buy both a Wii and either a 360 or PS3. So Microsoft is right to consider the PS3 as the competition and to ignore the Wii".

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