We sat down with Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon tonight to chat about his latest project, Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe. Once again, we pestered Mr. Boon about the scrapped version of Mortal Kombat 8, once described by the long-term Midway dev as being heavily inspired by the look of Gears of War.

While that grittier, darker version of MK didn't make it far beyond the technology development stages — Boon told us there was little in the way of concept art for the grimier spin on the series — the next next Mortal Kombat may strive for more blood, more violence, more of everything that warrants an M-rating.

The artistic vision of a less saturated, less Superman filled fighter is still swimming around Boon's head, a title that may rest on the success of MK vs. DC. We spent more time with the crossover fighter tonight and talked with Boon about plenty of other MK-related topics. Tune in tomorrow for the rest of our conversation.

Various people on these here internets have been abuzz over the past couple of days, overjoyed/indifferent/dismayed at the "complete", "leaked" setlist for Guitar Hero: World Tour. It had REO Speedwagon! And Thin Lizzy! And Angel of Death! Problem is, looks like the list is a fake. Sure, some of the songs are real, in that they've either already been confirmed or were a good guess, but Activision have told Game Informer the list is a phoney, saying "the bulk of it is wishful thinking and pure speculation".

Guitar Hero: World Tour Setlist A [Beautiful] Fake [Game Informer]

Let's jump right in. Here's Spider-Man creator Stan Lee talking about video games at Comic Con:

When you talk about games evolving over the years and becoming more like movies, in many ways, they've gone beyond movies", he said. "To do a movie is difficult, but it's linear. There's a beginning, a middle and an end, and that's it — you write a story.

In a videogame, you're writing many stories within the story. It's a totally different structure and a totally different philosophy of writing and, I think, a much, much more difficult one. I get the feeling more work goes into these videogames than even goes into the movies.

I marvel at the fact the games look as good, and in some cases better, as the most expensive movies. [Those] guys are just geniuses. Now you watch one of these games and it's like watching the greatest superhero movie, except you're part of it. It's indescribable.

Yep, Stan Lee is awesome. But we knew that.

Games Are Exceeding Movies [Eurogamer] [Pic]

When we played the Vin Diesel vehicle Wheelman at E3 last week, we were mostly surprised to learn that the game was coming out in the Fall. "What, this game?" we thought. While enjoyable junk food and technically impressive in parts, Wheelman felt like a game that was six months out, in need of a bit of polish before it went public.

Fortunately, that's what it sounds like Midway is planning to do, as reps told us at Comic-Con tonight that the title, originally scheduled for a release this year will get more time in the development incubator. Now planned for a Q1 '09 release, Wheelman will still beat the movie of the same name to the theatres, it will arrive just a bit later and hopefully be the better for it.

We also hope they'll rewrite that pedestrian car dodging logic. Far too many suicidal Barcelonans in this game...

Glorious, isn't it? We're getting to the stage where we need a console version release date, because getting out our best red pen and circling "the future" is just way too imprecise for our tastes.

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Most will know Mike Patton from Faith No More. Many will also know Mike Patton from Tomahawk, and Fantomas, and other stuff, including that fantastic EP he did with the Dillinger Escape Plan. But lots of you guys, well, you'll also know him as a budding star in the "doing voices for games" field. Patton's lent his talents of late to games like The Darkness, Portal, Left 4 Dead and Capcom's upcoming Bionic Commando, and in this interview with The Onion's AV Club, talks a ton about the lot of them. Did you know, for example, Patton didn't really do the voices for Portal and left 4 Dead? He just did a single session with Valve, and they were able to use his animal/monster/growly noises across both games. Link to the whole piece is below, which is mostly game-related but with some music stuff there as well, a good read for game sound enthusiasts and Patton fans alike.

Mike Patton [The AV Club] [Pic]

Casual game developer PopCap Games has teamed with Tetsuya Mizuguchi's Q Entertainment to bring hit downloadable computer game Peggle to the DS. Says PopCap's Greg Canessa:

I have a great deal of respect for Q Entertainment as one of the industry's preeminent game developers, with a proven reputation for creativity and innovation. Q is a great choice to partner with us — they share many of PopCap's design and creative philosophies and are equally big believers in quality and attention to detail. These factors, combined with Q's impressive track record of success on DS and PSP, make this a natural fit. I'm confident that Q will create an experience with Peggle for DS that will both satisfy existing fans of the game and attract a new audience of on-the-go gamers who appreciate the DS for its one-of-a-kind display format and other unique capabilities.

Q Entertainment is best known for titles like Lumines, Rez HD and Meteos. Details about the DS Peggle title are forthcoming, but it's expected to have exclusive DS levels and DS tweaked controls. Hit the jump for the full press release.

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That Wii Music release date rumour we posted were correct! The game has been dated for Japan, and it will be released on October 16th and priced at ¥5080 ($US 47). The game features something like over 50 songs and over 60 musical instruments.

「Wii Music」発売日は10月16日に決定 [IT Media]

Bionic Commando: Rearmed has been dated for Japan. The game was hit the PSN on July 31st, and on Xbox Live Arcade on July 30th. Hey, that's this month! But, now the PSN and XBLA game has been pushed back, and the release date is now undecided. Pictured is BCR producer Ben Judd. In shorts.

プレイステーション3、Xbox 360版ともに配信日は未定 [Famitsu Thanks, Josef!] [Pic]

We were flooded by emails today from readers tipping us off about this piece, which for some reason made it to Yahoo News' front page. The story - based off a report conducted by Toward Freedom - suggests that Sony's humble PlayStation 2 "has fuelled a brutal conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo". Huh?

Putting aside the fact Yahoo are a few weeks late on the last time this story did the rounds, and seem to be running the story solely to take delight in linking a gaming console with human rights abuses, the fact the original Toward Freedom article repeatedly points the finger at Sony - and in particular the PlayStation 2 - is more than a little, well, strange.

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The Gears of War movie has a co-financer and co-producer. Meaning? Meaning that we're closer to seeing it on the silverscreen. According to Variety, Legendary Pictures is co-financing the Gears movie with New Line. (Legendary recently financed The Dark Knight and are adapting World of Warcraft.) The head of Legendary, Thomas Tull (pictured), is apparently a big gamer, so that should hopefully ease concerns. Somewhat. Live Free or Die Hard director Len Wiseman is attached to helm the project.

Legendary Pictures co-financing "Gears of War" movie" [The Cut Scene]

Wondering why there are some random episodes missing from the TV shows section of the PS3's new video download service? Many of you are, since you've been bugging us all week about it. Is it an oversight? A legal issue? A conspiracy? No. Here's Sony's explanation:

Yes we are aware of the episodes and seasons that are available. We are working closely with our studio partners to add movie content, individual TV episodes (for rounding out seasons) and also adding whole new seasons. We have already published new content twice since launch last week and will continue to add more on a regular basis.

In other words, they're adding the episodes as they go, not uploading them as a single block. I know, if you're up to Buffy episode 4 and episode 5 is missing this must be simply infuriating, but you're going to have to be patient.

If your games are calling out for a dual-core or quad-core processor (a high-pitched whine, if you're not familiar with the sound), the next few weeks will prove to be a great time to go shopping. Intel's just dropped the prices for the E8400 and Q6600, which you'll remember came highly recommended by me.

Intel Cuts Quad-, Dual-Core CPU Prices [TrustedReviews]

And the post-E3 soul-searching continues! Latest to be asked for his $US 0.02 is the man with the soothing voice, Sega US boss Simon Jeffery. Who, for all the work he managed to get done during the week, still thinks the event could do with a little more...pizazz.

E3 was a strange beast this year. We had an extremely strong product showing, had some great meetings, and got our messaging over pretty strongly - all at an event that had all the atmosphere of a large hospital corridor...we'd like to see something that represents the fun, dynamic nature of the industry a little better without going back to the insanity that was E3 of old.

It's OK, Simon. We miss the booth crumpet as well.

'E3 felt like a hospital corridor' [MCV]

Something that we've known for a while, and something that you might not have: Jack Thompson is a funny dude. Don't believe us? Watch this seemingly scripted episode of the Jace Hall Show. And please don't think of this as Jack Thompson launching his comedy career, but continuing it.

Oh, there's also Vida Guerra exercising, too. If you're into that.

Jack Thompson Plays it For Laughs on Jace Hall Show [GamePolitics]

Pity the guy forced to wear the Dead Space costume at Comic-Con 08, slave to the whims of EA marketing shot-callers. We saw this poor chap remove his space helmet earlier today and were witness to the gushing of sweat. When we asked for a "dramatic pose" he simply lifted his arms up a bit, so drained he was of energy. Dead Space may be pulling a crowd at the con, but we're worried for this guy's health. Keep Dead Space man hydrated!

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Local dev portal Tsumea picked up on a July 23 article over at Playstation Lifestyle about the Sydney-based Team Bondi and LA Noire. The article references a post on TB's website, which states the studio is looking for animators to help finish production on the PS3-exclusive, noir-inspired title.

The thing is, the post in question is over two months' old. Anyway, that's not what caught my eye.

Have a read of the last comment by Aus artist for the PL story:

Team bondi lost all its lead programmers a few months ago and havent been able to fill the positions as far as i know. From what I have heard they are currently suffering from financial troubles. Previous emloyees [sic] have said it was a terrible place to work also.

Hardly conclusive, but I decided to pay a visit to Team Bondi's job page. Lo and behold, it's looking for no less than seven coders, and has been since April '08. It seems like an awful lot of programmers to be looking for during the arse-end of production. Whatever's going on, it does put an interesting spin on LA Noire's prolonged development.

L.A. Noire Almost Complete? [Playstation Lifestyle, via Tsumea]

You know how this works. Square-Enix takes classic game, remakes it for the Nintendo DS, Japan freaks. The gamers in that nation snapped up well over a half-million copies of the Dragon Quest V do-over last week, according to Media Create. They also grabbed a considerable amount of the latest Gundam thing, further lining the pockets of Namco Bandai bigwigs.

Capcom's Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G returns to the top ten, after a drop in sales. The rest of the best sellers are after the jump.

1. Dragon Quest V: Tenkuu No Hanayome (DS) - 644,000 / NEW
2. Gundam Battle Universe (PSP) - 138,000 / NEW
3. Persona 4 (PS2) - 41,000 / 233,000
4. Tears to Tiara: Kakan no Daichi (PS3) - 34,000 / NEW
5. Wii Fit (Wii) - 27,000 / 2,380,000
6. Mario Kart Wii (Wii) - 24,000 / 1,584,000
7. Daigasso! Band Brothers DX (DS) - 21,000 / 212,000
8. Derby Stallion DS (DS) - 16,000 / 223,000
9. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (PSP) - 16,000 / 2,293,000
10. Densetsu no Stafi: Taiketsu! Dire Kaizokudan (DS) - 16,000 / 44,000

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Microsoft might have bagged a big PS3 exclusive at E3 with Final Fantasy XIII. But, Sony Computer Entertainment honcho Kaz Hirai really does not want any Xbox 360 exclusives. Like at all. Even abstractly! In an E3 interview with Swedenish daily Aftonbladet, Hirai reportedly says he'd take a bullet to the head over taking an Xbox 360 exclusive. Harsh! In the past few days, Microsoft and Sony have been trading barbs like crazy. It's like 2006 all over again. Anyway, here's the exchange, kindly translated by Kotakuite Mordochai:

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Don't look now, but there's a new game at #1. And it wasn't made by Maxis. And it wasn't made by Blizzard. That's right, the top-selling PC game (at a bricks n mortar retailer) in the US for the week ending July 12 was...Nancy Drew: The Phantom of Venice. A popular series, no doubt, but really. Nancy Drew?

1. Nancy Drew: The Phantom Of Venice
2. Spore Creature Creator
3. The Sims 2 Double Deluxe
4. Diablo Battle Chest
5. The Sims 2 IKEA Home Stuff
6. WoW: Battle Chest
7. World Of Warcraft
8. The Sims 2 Freetime
9. WoW: The Burning Crusade
10. Call of Duty 4

[courtesy of NPD]

Those early rumblings just might be true. Back in May, rumours swirled that filmmaker Brett Ratner was directing the God of War movie. In a MGM press release for the new RoboCop movie, there's this bit of info:

David Self's credits include 13 Days and Road To Perdition. He wrote God of War for Universal, to which Brett Ratner is attached to direct, and was a writer on Universal's Wolfman currently in production.

That press release is obviously incorrect. It should read: "He wrote God of War for Universal, to which Brett Ratner is attached to direct and fuck up".

Brett Ratner Confirmed? [/Film] [Pic]

The iPhone has a ton of promise as a gaming machine. Sega certainly think so. But what of other companies? Companies that, thanks to their stake in the handheld market, may not be quite as open to the idea of facing a new challenger? MTV found out by asking Nintendo and Sony what they thought of Apple's latest gizmo. Unsurprisingly, both were a little cold on the device. Reggie said:

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Yes, yes, we know. While some just seem to be figuring this out, Final Fantasy XIII is coming to the Xbox 360 *and* the PC. Square Enix announced this way back at its E3 press conference. Probably going lost in the jaw-dropping Xbox 360 announcement. To review, here's how the FFXIII development cycle is going down: First do the PS3 version, then the PC version and then the Xbox 360 version. And hey, there's been Final Fantasy games on the PC game before, so this isn't exactly something out of left field.

In case you missed it, here's our liveblog of Square Enix's E3 presser.

Nintendo seem to think that air drumming is a good idea. After all, it was the highlight of their Wii Music presentation last week. Harmonix, though, Harmonix beg to differ. And we like to think Harmonix know a thing or two about music games. Company boss Alex Rigopulos:

...in the early days of the Wii when it was first announced, we contemplated using the Wiimote for a drumming interface. We backed away from it because we found that the tactile element of actually hitting a surface when you're drumming is a fairly critical part to the visceral feel of actually playing drums. So when you're air drumming, it was a critical element you're missing in the experience. So that's one of the reasons we backed away from it and decided to build a custom drum peripheral.

Plus, you know. When you're drumming against a drum, you're a lot less likely to make a complete arse of yourself.

Interview: Alex Rigopulos on Rock Band 2, Competing with Guitar Hero and Evolving the Music Genre [GameDaily]

When Bungie's plans to announce their new game went tits-up at E3 last week, it meant they'd have to save it, and go announce it at the next big event. That big event obviously wasn't Comic-Con, so a quick look on the calendar reveals...oh, could it be PAX, which kicks off on August 29? No, silly. Bungie have issued the following statement on their website:

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The above snippet is taken from a relatively new ABC show called Q&A, which gives everyday people the chance to pose questions to politicians, journalists and the like. The latest episode saw the panel field a question about the lack of an R18+ rating for video games. The result... well, all I can say is wow. At this rate, we don't stand a chance.

Thanks to Daniel Silk, who pointed me in the direction of the clip. Daniel also went to the trouble of putting together a letter to complain about the panel, which I've included after the jump.

If you'd like to read more information about games classification, I urge you to check these out:
Michael Atkinson, No R18+ For Games In Australia: Why It Hurts Children
R18 Classification & Video Games: What You Can Do
Why Michael Atkinson's Opposal Of An R18+ Rating For Games Does Bugger All To Protect Kids, Promotes Crime

Q&A episode 10 [ABC TV]

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Yesterday, we broke the news that the second round of oral arguments for Itagaki vs. Tecmo commenced in Tokyo. Dead or Alive creator Tomonobu Itagaki is suing for unpaid DoA 4 wages. These were "special incentive" wages that Itagaki claims were agreed to by the former Tecmo president and the board of directors, but the current president is claiming these "special incentive" wages were made single-handedly by the former president and not approved by the Tecmo board. As we posted earlier, last month Itagaki left Tecmo and filed suit for unpaid bonuses. As Itagaki stated then, "President Yoshimi Yasuda chose not only to violate this agreement, but also turned defiant, telling me 'if you are dissatisfied with the decision not to pay the bonuses, either quit the company or sue it.'"

After the jump, we've posted an audio recording submitted into evidence by Tomonobu Itagaki. The recording is of Tecmo president Yoshimi Yasuda and Ninja Gaiden II producer Yoshifuru Okamoto on January 22nd of this year. It was secretly recorded by Ninja Gaiden II producer Okamoto as he claims he was being harassed and called names by president Yasuda. In the recording, Yasuda says, "The board of directors approved it and signed the ringi (a type of Japanese corporate approval form)". This is in direct conflict with Yasuda's court claim that this "special incentives" proposal was made single-handedly by the former president and not approved by the Tecmo board. The recording helps support Itagaki's claim that his special incentive bonus was approved by Tecmo's former president and the board of directors, and that the current president knows this.

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Ah, Marvel Ultimate Alliance. One of two games I bought on multiple platforms despite there only being minor differences between the versions (Puzzle Quest being the other). I was actually playing through the Xbox 360 version again only two weeks ago, so suffice it to say that news of a sequel appeases me greatly. My only problem with this trailer for Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2: Fusion, is that I've seen all of these characters before - even the Hulk showed up later in the form of DLC. Where are my new characters? I want Namor! I want the Young Avengers! Marvel Zombies! The gothic Speedball with his pain fetish! Rocket Raccoon?

It's obvious a good thing I'm not on the development team.

Majesco's getting on board the Facebook game craze with Bananagrams, an anagram game hitting the social networking site for free on August 18th.

The game starts you off with a batch of selected tiles, and then players have to make up as many words as possible, as quickly as they can, from the available letters. Friends can compete against one another live, and the person to use up all his or her tiles first is the winner.

Facebook users can play alone or with up to eight friends at a time. The single-player mode provides a timed race for users to try and beat their own best time.

Full announcement after the jump:

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Obsidian Entertainment's Alpha Protocol isn't just similar to BioWare's Mass Effect in terms of interface, font, design, gameplay, and graphics - it's also got a sexy side. Agent Michael Thorton will have a bevy of ladies at his disposal throughout his mission, and depending on how he treats them he could very well get lucky with some, if not all the lovely ladies.

"It all depends on how you treat them," Rucinski said. If you have a strong relationship with female characters, they may help with missions. However, he told me that some of them are "bats-t insane" and can get you into trouble. "One may ask you to assassinate a high-level person," he added. "Maybe that's not something you want to do, but she's really hot. But there are obvious repercussions."

See? These are the sorts of decisions guys named Michael have to deal with every day. We don't want to kill, but the ladies are so hot! Alpha Protocol will let players get busy with women via Mass Effect style cutscenes, with achievements for being a total manslut as well as just saying no repeatedly. Achievements for having sex? Fox is going to have a field day.
'Alpha Protocol' Will Have Plenty Of Sex Scenes, 'Ladies' Man' Achievement [MTV Multiplayer]

Peggle fans can now cement their addiction, since PopCap's now bringing the popular casual game to DS with a little help from Q Entertainment, developers of Rez, Lumines and Meteos.

Peggle DS will be hitting shelves in North America in Winter 2008 for $US 29.95, and Q Entertainment will be adding new features that aren't in the PC, Mac or iPod versions of the game. No details yet on what those features will be, but the announcement promises more levels than in any other version of the game, remastered input controls and "surprise additions".

Full announcement follows the jump:

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Liveblogging Will Wright Discussing His Inner Otaku At Comic-Con
Will Wright? Talking? Now that's worth listening to.

Is This Guitar Hero: World Tour's Setlist?
A very extensive set list indeed. Can't be sure if it's the real deal though.

The Character Creation Undergarments of Soul Calibur IV
Undergarments - don't you just love them?

Splinter Cell: Conviction Delayed
I hope it's not suffering from Haze syndrome.

If you missed out on our liveblog of Yoshinori Ono's "The Making of Street Fighter IV" panel at Comic-Con — at which very little actual "making of" was discussed, you might not have caught wind of the multiple Cammy mentions made during the presentation. Seth Killian from Capcom mentioned about halfway through the panel that the petite British street fighter had won the popular vote for characters that would appear in the console versions of Street Fighter IV. That's probably a good sign.

Additionally, a brand new animated sequence shown at the conclusion of the panel showed off various Street Fighter mainstays, including considerable screen time for Cammy. The few-minute animation focused on her disbelief that the Shadaloo organisation and M. Bison himself were dead.

While still not confirmed, it's looking very likely that Cammy will be one of the "New Challengers" to debut in the console versions, now under development at Capcom.

The PlayStation store has updated today, bringing with it the survival horror creepiness of Siren: Blood Curse, as well as bargains as far as the eye can see! The big news is of course Siren, a Blu-ray-sized game cut up into bite-sized chunks for easy consumption. There are twelve chapters of the game in all, sold in sets of four for $US 14.99, or in one big, money-saving $US 39.00 package. Siren is joined by Capcom's 1942: Joint Strike, priced at a more modest $US 9.99.

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Ghostbusters: The Video Game looks fantastic. Each time we've walked past the multiple kiosks showcasing the game at Comic-Con this year, we think "Must remember to play that at some point". What Sierra clearly understands, though, is how to appeal to Ghostbusters fans. Shorten the pants, expose some cleavage, then fill out the skimpy Ghostbuster uniform with women who look pretty for a living. We'll take one of whatever they're selling.

Mad Catz just landed the rights to start pumping out branded accessories based on Ubisoft's casual-game-centric Rayman Raving Rabbids franchise. The multi-year agreement gives Mad Catz the right to create a "range of accessories" for the DS Game Boy Advanced, PC, Playstation 2, Wii and Xbox 360.

"Rayman is one of the videogame world's iconic heroes, and we look forward to bringing the mischievous fun of the game series to a new line of branded videogame accessories," said Darren Richardson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Mad Catz. "The addition of the Rayman Raving Rabbids licence further strengthens and diversifies what we believe to be the video game accessory industry's most extensive portfolio of brand licences that already includes all of the major North American professional sports leagues and many of the most popular recent and upcoming software titles."

No word on what bits of cute crap they'll be trying to shove down our throats, but I hope it will involve at least one Rabbid plushie with built-in motion detecting.

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We knew Ninja Gaiden II Mission Mode was coming on July 25th, but what exactly is Mission Mode? Mission Mode is a pack of 25 new missions for the game, broken up into two sets. Karma missions involve trying to get the highest possible score, while survival missions are all about taking on hordes of enemies with a single weapon to see how long you last.

The pack will be available tomorrow for 800 Microsoft points, or the price of your standard Xbox Live Arcade title. Is it worth it? Not a clue. A real ninja does not pay to go on missions - we get paid for them, and then kill the guy who pays us, taking the rest of his money.

More Ninja Gaiden II Missions for Your Pleasure! [Gamerscore Blog]

Despite Castlevania's periodic forays into 3D games (many of which incite fanboy rage), series creator Koji Igarashi is long-known as a staunch supporter of the 2D aesthetic.

And he tends not to keep his secrets too near his chest, readily expressing his interest in certain things (warming up to the Wii remote just prior to the revelation of Castlevania: Judgment, for example).

So when Iga, asked by MTV Multiplayer about a return to classic Castlevania form on the console, expresses affinity for Wii Ware, it's easy to get fingers crossed for a traditional Castlevania on Wii:

"I'm definitely interested in WiiWare and I think it's one of the areas that 2D can still be very strong at," said Igarashi. "I'm very much looking into that."

Hey, if Capcom can do it with Mega Man 9, we can dream, right?

'Castlevania''s Igarashi Looking At WiiWare [MTV Multiplayer]

Yoshinori Ono, producer of Street Fighter IV, is on stage right now at Comic-Con 08, talking about his latest creation and how it came to be. He's currently getting those new to Street Fighter IV up to speed, but hit the jump for our up to the minute liveblog coverage.

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