Later this month, SNK's school girl witch DS touching game Doki Doki Majo Shinpan Duo goes on sale in Japan. To commemorate the event, the first Duo goods have been going on sale, like these illustrated collectible phone cards. They're available individually for pre-order at various Akihabara retailers. Some of the phone cards are riskier than the others. (The maximum one is placed safely after the jump — maybe NSFW, you have been warned!) There's a gallery below if you are curious and the bum bouncing jubblie jubbling trailer above in case you've forgotten exactly what Doki Doki Majo Shinpan is — touching girls to see if they are witches. But, really, how could you forget something like this? Oh, and keep in mind: The pics below are samples, hence the word "SAMPLE".

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And here we were thinking Epic was just going to let Gears of War 2 slip quietly onto the market with a minimum of fuss (ie PR). Guess not. No sooner do we get a tonne of multiplayer shots than we get some singleplayer shots (well, a few, the rest are more like postcards for game environments), showing what the game will look like when you're not running around cussing at strangers and racking up cheap shotgun kills.

Yes, yes, the Ace Combat 6 trailer voice overs really do make everything better -- even Hayao Miyazaki's classic Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. Hit the jump for the original AC6 trailer.

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Europe, Capcom's looking at you. That's right, you. The company announced that it established a new local French subsidiary called "Capcom Entertainment France, S.A.S". and has funded it 100 percent through it's continental subsidiary company CE Europe, Ltd. Established with €37,000 in capital, the focus of this new subsidiary is improving local marketing and direct game software sales. Besides France, Capcom also has subsidiaries in England and Germany. According to Capcom: "From now, the foreign home console market is anticipated to expand, and to accomplish future business growth, it's extremely important to strengthen our overseas sales network". With all the cold shoulders and looks of indifference Europe gets from most Japanese companies, sure nice to see someone is serious about the European (and international) market.

フランスにおける子会社設立に関するお知らせ" [Capcom]

According to India's Economic Times, Sony is planning on launching a new, fourth model of the PS2 in Europe and India later this year (remember, there were two of the original models, one with system link, one without). They're calling it a "higher-end" version, and say it'll be "slimmer, sleeker and more suave". It'll also, apparently, feature "no more external AC adapters", and will be the same price as the existing PS2. If this all sounds familiar, that's because it is, as the console was first announced (and released) in Japan last November. Guess it's time for a global rollout! (Note: those are the Japanese colours, no word yet on whether they'll all be available in Europe/India)

Sony to launch fourth version of PS-2 by Diwali [Economic Times, via VG247]

In Japan, Sony Computer Entertainment is launching a special iMode cell phone site that allows users to download classic PlayStation titles for their mobiles. Dubbed "PlayStation Masterpiece Appli Special Campaign", the limited time dealio runs from July 3rd to September 30th for the following games: RPG Arc the Lad, dice game XI[sai]DX and puzzle game I.Q. Intelligent Cube. Those who are members of Sony's iMode site can download the games for 0 points to boot! (The monthly fee is ¥315 or about $US 3).
iモード「SCEJ」にて名作アプリが0ポイントで配信開始！ [Dengeki Online]

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Know what that the Wii Wheel is missing? Something to ground it. The wheel's not attached to anything, so using it to play Mario Kart Wii hardly feels realistic (not that Mario Kart Wii is the apex of realism, but still). Japanese peripheral company JTT has a solution: The Wii Handle Controller Stand. Simply attach the Wii-mote to this peripheral steering wheel, which can then be mounted on the stand. The stand offers 120 degrees of movement, and the stand has suction cups to keep it in place. In theory sounds pretty nice -- wonder how it plays.

「Wii用 ハンドルコントローラースタンド」 [Game Watch Impress]

Alone in the Dark's got a pretty great physics engine! Everything breaks like it should, everything burns like it should...everything, that is, except this car. It's a little tougher than you'd expect in real life. And when the going gets tough, the tough...use the Benny Hill theme to take the piss.

You can keep your "good v evil" motif from King of Kong, for me, the film's highlight was the appropriately-named Mr. Awesome (aka Roy Schildt). Becase, yes, he was/is awesome. As such, this interview with the man behind the legend - over at The -Minus World - is essential reading. Because if you don't read it, you'll miss stuff like this:

As they say in the King of Kong, this society is based on war and games. The real war is to get the higher score Missile Command score recognised and the war in Iraq is to get democracy recognised over the assholes. It's the same mindset with a different goal.

You'll also miss the raving-mad Schildt ponder beating Billy Mitchell to death if locked in a room with him for five minutes, so please, go read it.

Don't Get Chumpatised: Missile Commander Roy Schildt Speaks Up [The -Minus World]

Yup. Four minutes of Tri-Ace's Infinite Undiscovery. Looks like the very first four minutes of the game, too, so don't press play expecting to see some kind of pre-rendered sales pitch or innovative new feature. If you're after some stodgy animation and a lot of Japanese speech, however, go right ahead!

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It takes more than a big time PS3 exclusive like Metal Gear Solid 4 to beat Nintendo. Way more. While MGS4 did give Sony a bump in sales, it wasn't enough, and the Wii outsold the PS3 in June. This is the seventh consecutive month that the Wii has come out on top in The Land of the Rising Sun. For those interested in the number crunching, data from Famitsu publisher Enterbrain has the Wii moving 235,990 consoles during June, while the PS3 shifted 139,494 consoles. In short: Even without a new, huge blockbuster title, Nintendo still sold 59 percent more machines than Sony. Guess Metal Gear Solid 4 didn't drive Japanese hardware sales as Sony had hoped.

Nintendo Wii outsells Sony's PS3 in Japan in June [Reuters]

A third, proper Yakuza game? For the PS3? Exciting stuff. So let's go over a few of the game's finer details. While we already know the game will be an immediate sequel to the second, featuring the same characters and the same storyline, what we didn't know was that the game's going to be taking a pleasant break from the streets of faux-Tokyo. While the game will still be based around Kamurocho, it'll be adding a "second city": island getaway Okinawa (or, at least, a fictional take on Okinawa). Toshihiro "Brown Man" Nagoshi talks up the addition, saying the addition of the island's resort lifestyle and touristy atmosphere - coupled with its "darker side" - will stand in stark contrast to the gritty, urban atmosphere of Kamurocho, and as far as the story goes "fits the bill perfectly". No doubt the location testing will also fit Nagoshi's sun-bathing bill perfectly, so it's a win-win situation for all involved.

2K Games has confirmed what games it'll be showing at this year's E3. The tiles include:
• BioShock (PS3)
• Borderlands (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
• NBA 2K9 (PS2, PS3, Xbox 360)
• NHL 2K9 (PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii)
• Sid Meier's Civilisation IV: Colonization (PC)
Late last year I had a check to check out Gearbox developed Borderlands, and that game in particular looked impressive. Damn impressive.

2K Games Confirms E3 Lineup [IGN via videogaming247]

PlayStation Network boss Eric Lempel knows what he wants in an online service. He also knows what his competitors offer, and in some cases, what he does not want. Take the Xbox Live Arcade, for example, and Microsoft's recent decision to start de-listing the more unrecognised/shitty games from the service.

While naturally we only want to keep quality titles on the network we do have room for a lot of them. I think if I look over at the competitors' UI they may have some issues just displaying content, and scrolling up and down lists isn't the easiest way to find things.

No, it certainly is not. And Microsoft may well be reading these words and sobbing gently into their morning coffees. Then again, they may be doing something about it.

INTERVIEW: Sony on PSN's "Big Leap Forward" [Next-Gen]

Russians, listen up! Warhammer Online is coming. That's right, a fully localised version of EA Mythic's MMORPGH Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning will be released in Russia for PCs early next year. Whew! Make it through the post without a "Because in Soviet Russia, Warhammer Online plays you" joke. Oh. Wait.

Hit the jump for the short press release, which is thankfully free of such tired humour.

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Smash Bros. Brawl has more characters than you can shake a lamb's tail at. Too many, perhaps? Don't dare suggest that, the series' fans will string you up. Instead, suggest that the game doesn't have enough characters. That'll wash over well. With fans and the game's creator Masahiro Sakurai, who says that earlier in the game's development he "had a lot more characters", but had to trim the numbers as they got closer to release. So which ones made the cut? Sakurai's not telling, leaving you free to chime in with your own hair-brained speculation. Me, I was hoping for one of the Rito postmen to make an appearance...

[Official Nintendo Magazine, via Wii Fanboy]

A thread over on the ScoreHero forums - since wiped clean by moderators amidst talk of NDA violations - has listed a few more songs that are apparently due to appear in Rock Band's upcoming sequel. The list continues the theme established by the first set of leaked tracks, that theme being one of awesomeness. Amongst the artists mentioned are Rage Against the Machine (Testify), Soundgarden (Spoonman), Alice in Chains (Man In The Box) and...please ensure you're in a seated position...Megadeth's Peace Sells.

The full list of supposed leaked songs (obviously still only a fraction of the game's total) contains a couple you may have heard whispered about before, but here it is anyway:

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Ninja Gaiden II owners, Tecmo has stuff for you to buy. Today, three costume packs for Ryu Hayabusa went up on Xbox LIVE. The three packs (dubbed "Demon", "Shadow Walker", and "BioMetal") are 200 Microsoft Points a piece -- that's $US 2.50 in US money. Each pack contains five costumes variations on the pack's theme. So that works out to fifty cents an outfit. Way cheaper than real ninja clothes!

コスチュームパック [IT Media]

Stephen Totilo from MTV Multiplayer and I tag-teamed a Troll today. Multiple Trolls, actually, and dozens of Goblins, as we tackled Too Human's online multiplayer co-op mode. Having completed the core single player campaign last night -- it took me about 11 hours and change, for the record -- and whipping through the first chapter again with my Champion class Baldur, I was a pretty good candidate for a Totilo power-leveler.

We met up in an Aesir lobby this morning, my level 28 veteran named Shin rubbing elbows with his freshly created level 1 Berserker known as TotiloTheBold. After a few minutes of finagling -- his main character, a Berzerker, couldn't join my game because of some DLC downloading snafu -- we got into a game of my creation.

Setting up a Too Human co-op match was rather straightforward, choosing a chapter, a looting type and the number of private slots. I threw Stephen in the deep end, perhaps a bit unfairly, as we tackled the game's third chapter "The World Serpent". Looting was set to "Round Robin" so we each got our fair share, but greedy loot hoarders can set their games to "Free For All". The third Loot Distribution type, Random, should be self-explanatory.

We set off...

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While nothing's been confirmed, chances are pretty good that Nintendo will announce Animal Crossing Wii. Hey, it may not! We don't know, but like we said, chances are good. In the latest issue of the UK's official Official Nintendo Magazine, there's an image of Animal Crossing for the magazine's E3 promotion. A caption reads:

It's Been A While! It's time to revisit an old friend. How's your village doing these days?

Pretty sure we'd be more surprised if Nintendo didn't announce AC Wii at E3.

Animal Crossing Wii Confirmed for E3? [Cubed3]

Oh goodie, another bound-to-be-misconstrued "games are bigger/better than X" story! This time, it's the results of the Entertainment Merchants Association's annual report, which reveals that not only did games rake in more cash than movie theatres last year, but for the first time DVD sales as well. While DVD sales amounted to $US 16 billion in 2007, and box office taking $US 9.6 billion, games took in $US 18.85 billion. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? It's a fun factoid for dininer parties and slow-moving bus stop conversations, but in the end, it means what it's always meant: games are expensive, while movies are less so.

Report: US game sales surpass DVDs [GameSpot]

Yes, you guys are awesome. Kotaku Australia is quickly approaching the one-year old mark, and in that time its reach, and the size of its community, have grown tremendously.

There's no way this could have happened without your participation, be it an entry to a competition, 500 words on the state of games classification, or an entire essay on how fire mages have had a raw deal in World of Warcraft. Every contribution helps, and I hope to maintain Kotaku AU's position as one of the top gaming blogs in the country, if not the best. So continue sending in tips, making thoughtful comments, pointing out my mistakes and, especially of all, reading.

Now, onto June! Well, back to June.

Last month saw the debut of a unique Kotaku AU feature called Game A Week, where I endeavour to code a new game every seven days, then make it available for free. I've managed three games so far, with a fourth due next Monday. The latest one in development is called "SimMMO" - feel free to have a guess as to what it's about.

If you'd like to check out any of the Game A Week entries, I've linked them here:
Game A Week 3: Blockshooter
Kotaku AU's Game A Week 2: Zafehouse, The Zombie Survival Simulator
Kotaku AU's First Homemade Game A Week: Wizkill, A Roguelike

Age of Conan saw a lot of attention. Horse griefing, small boobs - whatever, the MMO had its time in the spotlight. Rock Band 2 was announced, causing Australians to wonder if EA had forgotten the fact that the first game isn't even out here yet. The publisher also provoked some ill feelings by forcing Australians to use the NZ EA Store to purchase the Spore Creature Creator.

Finally, Shellshock 2 was refused classification, and perks galore were uncovered for Fallout 3.

That's June in a few paragraphs Time to brace ourselves for July.

Hey EA, No One In Australia Cares About Rock Band 2

Girlfriend Plays Age of Conan, Wants Tiny Boobs

Another Perk & The First Ever Fallout 3 Cheat Code?

Fallout 3 CE Exclusive To EB Games? I Don't Believe You!

Shellshock 2 Refused Classification In Australia, No Plans To Resubmit

Rumour: Australian PS2 Price Drop Incoming?

Who's Having Problems With Super Smash Bros. Brawl?

Some Fallout 3 Swag

DJ Uses Castlevania Name, Has Nothing To Do With Castlevania

How Do The Xbox 360 & PS3 Compare To The World's Fastest Supercomputer?

Three Fallout 3 Perks

Fallout 3 Collector's Edition Only A Retailer Exclusive In Australia?

Fallout 3 CE Bobblehead Made Out Of PVC (Trust Me, It's A Good Thing)

What's Infinite Interactive Made With The Spore Creature Creator?

Australians Can Only Buy Spore Creature Creator From... NZ EA Store?

Greg Bondar Speaks About Resignation, Potential Tax Rebate

Pre-Owned MGS4 From EB Games, Just $US 999.95

Finding The Funny In The R18+ Rating For Games Debate

Tantalus Working On 'Unique' Next Gen IP, Funded By 'Top Tier' Publisher

Australia Has Two Different Fallout 3 Collector's Editions? Kinda.

Stores Now Dealing Cocaine In Australia & NZ

Red Tribe Made A Jumper Movie Game?

Meet Scarygirl, The Flashy Lady From Victoria

Jobs On Offer At Nnooo, Developer Of Pop

Age Of Conan: Making Horses Look Bad Since 2008

Intel GM965 X3100 Drivers Are Bugged, Cause Memory Corruption On Dells & Macbooks

If you can cast your minds alllll the way back to March, you'll remember a leaked SCEE release schedule alerted us to the existence of a new Ratchet & Clank game, Ratchet: Quest for Booty, which would most likely be made available on the PlayStation Network. The game - still yet to be announced by Sony, mind - is now a step closer to release after being rated by the USK, Germany's ratings and classification board. Now that we know the Germans see it as a game fit for twelve year-olds, all we need to know is...well, everything else, really.

Booty found, another Ratchet game for the PS3 [Siliconera]

A recent spate of virus attacks has infected over 790 websites. Included in those attacks was the Sony PlayStation site. Pages for SingStar Pop and God of War were infected with SQL-injected code, which caused visitors to those sites to see a boogus antivirus scan and a message that their computer was in fact infected with malware. The aim was to frighten users into purchasing software to delouse their computers. Not to worry as Sony has since removed the injected code. Says security research expert Dancho Danchev:

If you don't take care of your web application vulnerabilities, someone else will.

You tell 'em Dancho!

Sony PlayStation's site SQL injected [ZDNet via CNET] [Pic]

Sony's 2.40 firmware - whenever it comes back to us, at any rate - allows the implementation of achievement-style trophies to your user account. Like achievements, it'll probably turn out to be a successful move, convincing PS3 owners to spend more time with their games than they may otherwise have without them. But with the trophy system having to be manually added to each game already out on the PS3, when can we realistically expect most games to include the feature? Well, realistically, not soon, and Insomniac's Bryan Intihar gives us the perfect example why, posting on the PlayStation Blog:

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Zero Punctuation Takes On Ctrl+Alt+Del
I've never seen Yatzhee unload on a web comic before, but hey, there's always a first time.

Suicide Girls Taps Into GTA IV Fetishism
Not my cup of tea. If it does something for you, don't let me know.

Sony Pulls PS3 2.40 Firmware After Reported Problems
PS3's 2.40 firmware not so magical after all. More dangerous, actually.

Frankenreview: Battlefield: Bad Company (Xbox 360)
Is Battlefield: Bad Company good company on a rainy day? Let's find out!

Diablo III Producer - 'Colour Is Your Friend'
Colour is great, as long as it's not pink. Or anything related to pink. Which means Diablo III is safe as far as I'm concerned.

Bastard Thieves Steal PS3 From Disabled Teenager
Before you say "those silly Americans", it might help to know this happened in Australia.

If there's one company that knows how to extend the life out of a game, it's Valve. Case in point? The new Day of Defeat: Source update that just hit. Yeah, remember that game? The Palermo Update, as it's called, brings a slew of goodies that Team Fortress 2 players have been enjoying for a while now, including 51 new Steam Achievements, more detailed player stats and Steam Community features. Even more bonus? The new "Palermo" map and a new, post-kill freeze cam.

Personally, my favourite thing about the new update is that it reminds me that Day of Defeat: Source exists. It's like getting a free game! Again. More details at the official update page.

Day of Defeat: Source Palermo Update [Steam]

Colour is your friend -- or so we've heard. But colour is totally BFFs with Midway's This Is Vegas, a game we doubt will ever be brushed off by the gaming set for its tendency to dip too much into the browner portions of the spectrum. This Is Vegas has more colour per pixel than, well, just about any PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 release that we can think of. Oh wait, just remembered Kameo. That was a colourful nightmare, wasn't it?

A paltry three new screens away you in the gallery below. Do try to make the most of them.

How does one get his or her Halo fix when the power goes out? Sure, one can rearrange, dust, catalogueand possibly even play with officially licenced action figures. You could even mess about with Halo ActionClix, but if you're looking to sling epithets and trash talk at the kitchen table, you may want to keep your eyes peeled for the official Halo board game, coming to storeshelves this September.

Genius Products and B1 Games are releasing the Halo Interactive Strategy Game, a product Trevor Drinkwater, President and CEO of Genius Products, says is "an incredibly innovative game that mirrors the hit franchise and will truly resonate with fans". We say that Drinkwater is a truly awesome last name.

Further details on the gameplay, characters and bonus goodies — there's an "unseen exclusive DVD" included — are all in the press release.

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The 11th Annual Independent Games Festival opened their doors today, saying they're officially ready to start taking submissions for the annual festival.

Submissions to the contest are due by this November with finalists expected to be announced in January.

In addition to the $US 20,000 Seumas McNally Grand Prize and the awards the festival already gives out for audio, art direction, design and technology, this time around the IGF will also be presenting a new Innovation Award. The award is "intended to honour abstract, shortform, and unconventional game development".

As always, I expect to see a slew of interesting titles as I help judge the competition. Previous years have seen such greats as Everyday Shooter, Audiosurf and World of Goo.

IGF

Activision looks to have the upper this round, as Guitar Hero World Tour will out-feature Rock Band 2 at least in the custom song creation department. Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopolus confirms to CNN that the sequel to Rock Band won't allow users to write their own music. That said, Rigopulos does hint that a comparible feature is coming, but not in the same way that Guitar Hero developer Neversoft is tackling it.

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The skinny on Sucker Punch's sandbox-style PlayStation 3 game inFamous can be found in the latest issue of Game Informer magazine. The mag has the world exclusive on the superhero romp from the gang that brought us Sly Cooper, but the official PlayStation blog has provided us with three new screens, none of them requiring paper, but all of them featuring loads of lightning. We imagine the game's protagonist is continually shouting "Lightning bolt! Lightning bolt!" in each.

Looks like SOE's DC Universe Online just wants to hook up and share animated gifs and befriend bands online. Well, at the very least, DCUO now has an official MySpace page, full of interesting info, extras like wallpaper downloads and buddy icons, and even some (small) screens.

If you're a MySpace user and you friend the page, it looks like you can even score an invite to a DCUO party at Comic-Con, just by bringing a printout of your page (presumably the one that shows you're all pally). Screens after the jump.

[via Joystiq]

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To: Ash
From: Crecente
Re: What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up, Kiddos?

Wow it's been a crazy day. I've spent much of it trying to finalise our E3 plans, which includes that reader party we've been talking about. The appointments are mostly booked for the show. I just have a few companies left to finalise with. Even though there are less attendees this time around, the fact that there really is only two days to see stuff (Tuesday is packed with press conferences) makes fitting all 40 or so companies a real task.

As for the party. I just got off the phone with the bar and we've got everything locked down. The party is going to be at the Golden Gopher in Los Angeles on the Sunday night before E3. I even managed to squeeze Gawker Media up for a little open bar monies. This one will be like the ones we've held in New York and Tokyo. A low-key affair that gives us a chance to hang with all of the people who make our jobs possible.

I'll be posting the official announcement tomorrow sometime. Can't wait!

What you missed:
Resistance 2's Leviathan Unveiled
Blizzard WWI WoW Pet Revealed
Square Enix Confirms Chrono Trigger DS
Infogrames-Controlled Atari Gets 49 Percent Of Publishing Revenues From DBZ
Frankenreview: Battlefield: Bad Company (Xbox 360)
American McGee Gives Gamers Free Grimm
Alpha Protocol Aims Ambitiously For RPG, FPS Fans
Sony Pulls PS3 2.40 Firmware After Reported Problems
One "Mortal Kombat Killer" Avoids Prison Term

Heather Trujillo, the babysitter implicated in the death of 7-year old Zoe Garcia, has been given an 18-year suspended sentence, according to a report from Colourado NBC News affiliate 9 News. Trujillo, who was arrested along with her boyfriend Lamar Roberts, will instead spend six years in a youth offender program as part of a plea bargain. The two were charged with child abuse after acting out -- in their own words -- Mortal Kombat moves, kicking, punching and body slamming the young girl in December of last year.

Roberts' trial has not yet been set, but Trujillo will testify against him as part of her plea agreement.

Teen avoids prison time in sister's 'Mortal Kombat' death [9 News]

Fungi? Mushroom nations? I blink perplexed, until I realise it's Red Fly Studios' Mushroom Men duo of games for Wii and DS, to be published by Gamecock in October.

Here are tonnes of new screens of both the Wii version, Mushroom Men: Spore Wars, and the DS version, Mushroom Men: Rise of the Fungi.

Gamecock also provided further info on the four different "nations" of mushroom creatures - put simply, there are two tribes of good guys, the Bolete and Morels, and two tribes of bad guys, the Amanitas and Lepiotas. Hey, wasn't "Amanita" a poisonous mushroom in Symphony of the Night? It must be a real, actual thing that exists outside of video games. Amazing!

Full details and new screens after the jump.

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