Speaking with MCV during E3 a couple of weeks back, Microsoft's John Shappert has revealed that, of all paid downloads on their Xbox Live service, 1/3 of them are for TV show or movie downloads on the console's Video Marketplace. So. What does that actually mean? We don't know! Though we guess it shows the service is a lot more popular than most people figured. That or it shows how big a proportion of the 360's install base is American, what with the woeful state of everyone else's video marketplaces.

The X-Men [MCV]

A handful of new set images from the upcoming Street Fighter Chun-Li flick have popped up online. The film stars Smallville star Kristin Kreuk and is being directed by Academy Award nominated cinematographer turned director Andrzej Bartkowiak. Jury's still out on this on as it does have lots of big talent working on it. Though, the set shoots worry us a tad: What's with all the SWAT dudes and all the pistols and the shooting and stuff. Sure, there are a few wire pics stuff in there, and sure Chun-Li actually is a cop. But still, it's like they traded thighs for guns. BAD TRADE.

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Hideki Kamiya is best known for two things: Creating Devil May Cry and being enthralled by American supermarkets. While he never did any of the DMC sequels, he has gone on to head up Osaka-based Platinum Games and create the upcoming "stylish action game" Bayonetta. In the latest EGM, Kamiya does have loads to say about his DMC past:

I wanted to do the sequel. I used to want to do a sequel, but now it's like some other guy's chick. It's not my chick anymore. And that chick got fooled and played all around from all over, so I don't want her anymore. I'm only concentrating on my current chick.

Kamiya's DMC was turned into a dirty harlot? So sad. And his current girl is of course the previously mentioned Bayonetta. Apparently in the game, the Bayonetta lady appears to be wearing leather, but its actually her hair. The more hair attacks she does, the more skin players see. Kamiya's comments about this and his total Ninja Gaiden apathy and desire to outdo God of War after the jump!

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I know, I know, 100% cinematic trailers are normally something to be complained about from the tallest branches of the whiney tree. But the first Dawn of War packed an intro movie that's up there with the best of all time, so it's only fair to showcase this clip, from the sequel, which may or may not be the game's intro but is fun to watch regardless.

Oprah Winfrey is a tastemaker. No, make that, Oprah Winfrey is the tastemaker. She can make or break things. If she starts reading a book on her television program, it becomes a bestseller. Oprah carries a profound influence. Gossip site spotted talk show host, her bodyguards and two children she was accompanying in a Hawaiian Walmart, buying the Nintendo Wii. And we couldn't help but think that this Nintendo Wii console just might become popular and could very well be a hit. The media mogul also purchased two Wii games, but it wasn't mentioned what two games those were. Wonder why Oprah is buying the Wii and not getting freebies by the truckload from Nintendo? Because she's filthy rich, that's why.

Oprah Appreciates Rollback Savings [TMZ via Go Nintendo]

Fresh off declaring war against the humble R4 cart, Nintendo have issued yet another statement to the press outlining the progress they're making against software piracy, which has to be the 3rd or 4th they've sent out this year. It reads:

Nintendo takes a global approach to piracy and has pursued the illegal game copying devices in 11 countries this past year.

Nintendo has worked with enforcement officials in Belgium, China, Denmark, France, Hong Kong, Italy, Korea, Netherlands, Spain, UK, and the US, seizing close to 30,000 infringing game copying products, as well as taking actions against those distributors and manufacturers.

Good for them! Problem is, this kind of approach is about as effective as those "police announce record drug bust" stories on TV. 30,000 "products"? That's not even a drop in the ocean. Issuing bold PR statements like that isn't showing us you're making progress. It's only drawing attention to the fact you're not.
Nintendo: 30,000 illegal pirate devices seized so far in '08 [GI.biz]

Bungie seems excited about the Ensemble-developed Halo Wars. The game is planted firmly in the RTS genre, so, for example, it's not necessary to have players moved in and out of cover. Gushes Bungie AI maven Damian Isla:

We've done a lot of talking with Ensemble guys, and we're all really excited about Halo Wars, because from everything we've seen so far it's a very cool, faithful adaptation... Everything we've seen has been very, very encouraging — we're very excited about it. And of course, [Halo Wars is] also getting right the basics, the general roles — even fictionally. What role do grunts play in the Covenant fighting forces, what role do the Elites play, what role do Warthogs play, what role do Spartans play... All this kind of thing. I think they really nailed that. It's encouraging.

Great news, this.

Bungie "very excited" about Halo Wars [Eurogamer]

A lot of Americans may be in the dark when it comes to Elite, since it's more fanatical followers are based mostly out of the UK, but all you really need to know is that it's one of the greatest games ever made. Actually, I think its sequel - Frontier - is even better, but whatever, that's open to debate. The point is, the latest Elite game, Elite 4, which has been years in the making, is...still being made, according to series creator David Braben. Which is good to know, since it's been over nine months since we heard anything on the project. Latest is that it'll be out after his current game, The Outsider, which is slated for release sometime next year. Putting Elite 4's release at somewhere around 2010. At the earliest. Which, when you write it down like that, is an awfully long time away.

Elite 4 technology almost finished, says Braben [Develop]

Ever notice something about Xbox LIVE? The people that are on it, they're mostly Americans. That's not necessarily a bad thing, is it? Of course not. So there's no need to get all bent out of shape when Europe Xbox exec Chris Lewis "the lion's share" of Xbox Live users are Americans. What's percentage of Xbox LIVE users are European? Says Lewis:

We don't normally break out the European element of our Live membership. I mean, I know what it is, but I don't want to get rapped on the knuckles by being too explicit with you. I will say to you as a percentage of that overall total, it's just less than a quarter. And I'll tell you also that a large part of that is in the UK, partly because of the language aspect, the fact is you need, on a community service like Live, enough people of a similar language orientation to get a community so that it starts to really blow out... Up until fairly recently we just haven't had enough on the service for non-English-speaking folks.

Cut Xbox LIVE and it bleeds, red, white, and blue. It really does. Honest.

Europe Makes Up "Less Than A Quarter" [CVG]

Portal's on its way to Xbox Live Arcade in the form of Portal: Still Alive. Good news for 360 owners, but what if you own a PS3? And don't own a PC? And are allergic to the core Half-Life 2 storyline and all things orange? Well, you're shit outta luck, with Valve - responding to recent rumours - telling CVG that, no, the game won't be making its way to the PSN, and yes, the package is still a 360 exclusive. You could ask yourself why, but then that'd be about the time we remind you of Gabe Newell's insatiable, white-hot hatred for the PS3, then say "yeah, that's why".

No Portal on PSN says Valve [CVG]

THQ has announced its first quarter results for the financial year ending March 31, 2009. And those results are? Net sales were up to US$US 137.6 million compared to last year's $US 104.5 million and driven by the WALL-E game, Big Beach Sports and THQ's wrestling titles. The company, however, did report a net loss of $US 27 million. Says THQ president and CEO Brian Farrell (pictured):

We continued to make progress against our key initiatives during the first quarter. We are beginning to roll out a strong slate of games for the year, including a balance of both owned intellectual properties and major licences. We are making important improvements in our creative development organisation, which we believe will increase our product quality and competitiveness. During the quarter, we also took steps to re-align our cost structure and we remain on track to generate improved operating leverage. We are focused on generating growth at both the top and bottom line, and delivering improved value for our shareholders... We have a robust product slate of key titles scheduled to launch in each of the next several quarters, starting with de Blob in September; Saints Row 2 and WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009 in the holiday quarter; Red Faction Guerrilla, Darksiders: Wrath of War and WWE Legends of Wrestlemania in our fiscal fourth quarter; and UFC 2009 Undisputed in the first quarter of fiscal 2010.

Aw yes, thrilling stuff. Financial report talk. So financially, so reporty.

This is Portal. Apparently. Apparently it's also a speed run, of the game's 14th test chamber. I don't know, I can't prove that, I'm just going by what the video's called, because after watching it I have no idea what the hell is going on.

[via insert credit]

Michelle Van Der Water: She's been in ER (I know that!), The Inn (okay...) and Max Knight: Ultra Spy (what the hell?). Now, she's the model behind Resident Evil 5's gun-toting Sheva Alomar, according to News.com.au. Originally from the 'gong in NSW, Van Der Water now lives in LA.

The piece goes on to say the role eventuated after Van Der Water received a surprise call from her agent. She found the experience exciting and the end product pleasing. Well, that's good to know.

Van Der Water isn't the first Australian to be involved in Capcom's survival horror franchise. Christopher Egan found himself on the wrong side of a pair of zombie chomps in the uncompromisingly arse-tastic Resident Evil: Extinction.

Australian Actress to star in Resident Evil 5 [News.com.au, thanks Anthony] [Pic]

Street Fighter IV has four new characters: sexy American spy Crimson Viper, the mysterious Abel, luchador and chef El Fuerte and boss character Seth. That's totally fitting! And which new character do Americans seem to respond to the most? French martial arts dude Abel. According to SFIV producer Yoshinori Ono:

With all due to respect to him, he's a great character, but honestly we thought Crimson Viper would be a big hit here... We got a lot of marketing data and a lot of advice from our US branch in creating that character. She was kind of custom tailored for the States and we thought people would like her... What we need to do now is find out what his [Abel's] deal is, why they like him and use that information going forward.

Just when you thought Americans would like a sunglasses wearing female spy in a tight suit, they go and fall in love with a large blonde Frenchman. Gotta love Americans. They keep ya guessing.

'Street Fighter IV' Producer Perplexed By America's Choice For Favourite New Character [Multiplayer]

Proof you can't keep a hopping, adorable mass of singing blobs down, Sony have today announced that LocoRoco will be making the jump from Sony console to mobile phone. And not as an "interactive screensaver", either, but as a proper LocoRoco game. It'll be priced at ¥420 (USD$US 3.80), and goes on sale...oh, today! SCEJ、EZweb「LocoRoco MOBILE」配信開始 PSP「LocoRoco」を携帯電話で可能な限り再現 [Game Watch]

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Sony Computer Entertainment just announced that it was taking applicants for the Japanese PlayStation Home Closed Beta. Prospective applicants must be over 18 and need to apply between July 31st (today!) and August 11th. The closed beta is slated to start at the end of August. Winners will apparently be selected by lottery, and the Home account must be used with the winner's account. It's non-transferable.

The link below has a good picture walk through.

PlayStation®Home クローズドベータテストの参加者を募集します。 [Sony]

Gaming site Eegra has announced the winners of its first "game makin' shindig", defying claims that one can only have game makin' shebangs. There are nine titles in all, each with two reviews, and they're free to download if you'd like to have a play.

The competition is of particular relevance as Conor O'Kane, an Australian, took out first prize and bagged $US 2000 with his bizarre-looking Go Beryllium.

All I can say is, I wish I'd known about the comp! I'd have submitted Wizkill, Zafehouse or Blockshooter. Oh, if you're wondering why there's been a lack of Game A Weeks, I had to take a bit of a break while I direct my arse off.

Press release after the jump.

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PSN vs. Xbox Live, FIGHT! While Microsoft clearly had the jumpstart with online, Sony is slowly but surely coming into its own. While it's still early, developer Richard Lemarchand from Sony-owned Naughty Dog believes PSN will have an edge that XBL won't:

I think there's going to be other things coming down the pipe that's going to give PSN as a whole a competitive edge... What I will say is as a games designer I'm very excited about net connectivity. I really like how Sony is thinking a little bit outside the box in terms of gamers as modern media consumers. With things like LittleBigPlanet looking towards consumer-generated content and with games like flOw and flOwer — which are art games — Sony is really looking to expand games as culture in the same way that pop music, literature and fine art are culture.

Well, what did you expect him to say?

Naughty Dog Q&A [IGN via Shacknews]

Yes, time for the latest instalment in the long-running "David Reeves tells the press things he wishes he hadn't" series! This week, the SCEE boss sits down with Kiwi site Buttonmashers, and - amidst the din of what's obviously the SCEE's PAL-only party at E3 - proceeds to say a bunch of stuff. Like...when asked about PAL delays in localising PS3 games, he says "...well, the New Zealand office could ask to report to the US instead of Europe, and if you report to the US office, you'll become an even smaller fish in a big pond... I think you sometimes have to put up with it".

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Brutal Legend was one of the Sierra titles Activision Blizzard kicked to the curb. Bummer! The good news is that developer Double Fine actually owns the rights to the Jack Black staring heavy metal hack and slash and thus actually can make something happen itself. Word is that Double Fine is on the verge of inking a publishing deal for the game. Variety has the scoop, writing:

I don't know who it will be, but I understand that it may not be a traditional publisher. It could be a more "unique" arrangement. (Sorry to be vague, but even getting this much info was quite a chore.)

Rock on. Though, all this switcheroo business might mean that game's not out until 2009.

Brutal Legend definitely coming out, new release plan to be announced soon [Variety]

Sega used to be one of this industry's top dogs. They had hardware, they had top-selling franchises, they had the world at their feet. Then they screwed up, a bunch of times, and it cost them. They're now no longer top dogs, they're just...dogs. Back in the pack, with the rest of them. And if you ever needed proof - outside of the last 7 Sonic games - of how far they've fallen, you need look no further than this quote from Sega USA boss Simon Jeffrey. Speaking with Forbes, Jeffrey was asked whether Sega could see themselves ever taking on the likes of EA or Activision:

We're actually really happy where we are. We can be small and agile and yet extremely profitable and successful. It really feels like this year we're competing with the next tier up, and THQ is a good company for us to model ourselves on and go after in terms of market share.

THQ? Look, it's one thing to be honest, but have some self respect, man!

Sega: 'We Don't Want To Be Activision' [Forbes]

Korean MMO Ragnarok Online is coming to the DS. This is the first time the game has been released on a non-PC platform. The online game is getting the portable treatment by a new console division in GungHo Online Entertainment (the company responsible Ragnarok in Japan). Gameplay in Ragnarok Online DS doesn't differ too much from the PC, but has streamlined things a bit. Players control their character via the Touch Pen, which acts as the PC mouse. Players tap the screen to attack and retrieve and can draw little circles for spells and whatnot. Ragnarok Online DS lets up to 3 players team up over Wi-Fi. The game is out December 18th in Japan.

Ragnarok Online Storms the DS [1Up]

What's holographic storage? Read up on it, it'll take too long to explain here. Suffice to say, it's something that promises to drastically change the way we store data on things like HDDs. And it's something Nintendo are looking into. A patent application's surfaced, specifically relating to increasing the amount of data holographic storage can hold, that has two joint applicants: InPhase Technologies, a company working on holo storage, and Nintendo. Given that this tech is years away from finding its way into a console, don't for a moment expect this'll help your Wii, but it does give you an idea at the kind of things companies are looking into for the next generation of consoles.

Could Holography Cure Nintendo's Storage Space Blues? [TVG]

In a customer email sent out today, NZ retailer Gameplanet has confirmed official prices and an early October (the 10th perhaps) street date for EA's Rock Band in New Zealand. According to the email, EA's sent the store a single shipment of the game and hardware. What this means in real numbers isn't certain, but you can be sure it'll sell out quickly.

Then again, maybe it won't. Kiwis after the complete Rock Band experience (two guitars, drums, game and microphone) will have to shell out a staggering $NZ 519.85. That's madness with a dollar sign. The game itself will retail for $NZ 119.95.

The original email, with pricing for the Xbox 360, PS3, PS2 and Wii, can be found after the jump. Before you ask, no, there's no mention of Australia. However, I wouldn't be surprised if we hear something soon... and it won't be from Harmonix.

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While the promise of 1:1 Wii Remote control is a tantalising one in theory, so far we've seen it working on...Wii Sports 2. Uh, thanks. With the company that's supposed to bring smiles doing nothing of the sort, it's instead left to the MotionPlus' creator, boring tech company AiLive, to show us a video that, despite being shot in 10 minutes with one of the techs and a shitty handycam, really gets us all excited about the add-ons potential. You'll want to skip to around the 1:50 mark.

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So Activision doesn't want to publish Ghostbuster: The Videogame (silly, Activision). We've heard that the game isn't cancelled, but what exactly does that mean? Is it even coming out or will it just languish? According to Variety, Sony Pictures, who owns the rights to Ghostbuters and who licenced the IP to Vivendi last year, is working Vivendi "to evaluate various options surrounding the release of the 'Ghostbusters' video game". What's more, Sony adds:

This has presented [Sony Pictures Consumer Products] with an opportunity to reevaluate the game release marketing strategy to potentially coincide with the 25th anniversary of the original film in '09.

So if the game's not out until 2009, who's going to publish? One thing that is for sure is another year in develop should only help not hurt this game.

Ghostbusters game delayed to 2009, but who's publishing it? [The Cut Scene]

When Capcom's Christian "Sven" Svensson said you all needed to go out and buy more copies of Okami, damnit, he wasn't kidding around. Tucked away in Capcom's financial results yesterday were some sales figures for the company's biggest games, showing that the Wii port of the PS2 classic - a version that was supposed to deliver the kind of sales the title deserved - has sold only 280,000 copies in North America and Europe since release. Being a port I'm sure they still turned a profit, but with Res 4 managing to sell over a million on the Wii, you can't blame Capcom if they decide to toss Okami in the "too hard" basket.

If you're a fan of Panic At The Disco! and/or Dashboard Confessional, we have a fairly accurate mental image of your haircut right now. If you're also a Rock Band enthusiast, you might be able to rock out on stage at the Rock Band Live Tour, kicking off this Spring.

The video game branded tour will run nationwide from October 5 to November 14, with virtual bands getting the opportunity to show their Rock Band skills on stage, in between acts. Fame and probably no fortune await you.

How do you get on stage? According to the press release, "Bands will be selected through local radio promotions, national contests and on-site at each show". If that's not your thing, perhaps you'll be interested in the forthcoming downloadable track pack, said to feature each and every Rock Band Live Tour act. I swear, it's in the press release.

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Syndicated columnist Michael Medved writes on the consistently awful Townhall.com that Grand Theft Auto IV "highlights the real threat to the American Way of Life", what he calls "the war on middle class values". We're having a hard time making sense of Medved's logic, but he attempts to explain how America is going to Hell in a handbasket by writing "the decision by so many consumers of every age and income group to invest countless hours of time in the dark world of Grand Theft Auto IV nonetheless demonstrates a threat to American values".

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When Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw isn't reviewing video games like Age of Conan or Alone in the Dark, he's meeting his contractual obligations with The Escapist, weighing in on things like trailers shown at E3. In four minutes and forty seconds, Yahtzee picks apart non-playable previews for games like Prince of Persia, Final Fantasy XIII, Resident Evil 5 and Fallout 3 with sexy results. Actually, that should've been hilarious results. We were still thinking about the pus covered roulette wheel and anal shielding imagery from this episode. Two of our choicest fetishes!

Zero Punctuation: The E3 Trailer Park [The Escapist]

Joseph Olin, president of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, thinks game reviewers are lazy. The head of the AIAS — the body that organises both the D.I.C.E. Summit and Interactive Achievement Awards annually — points to a glut of critics, but little in the way of critical analysis according to a Shacknews report.

"How can you review a game, how can you give a comment about a game like Grand Theft Auto IV, that has 40-plus hours or more of gameplay, if you've only spent 2 1/2 to 3 hours playing it", Olin asks, saying that a reliance on game scores and deadline focused reviews do readers a disservice.

Olin excludes some game reviewers, whom we'll assume to include us, as we've shunned review scores and aim to "finish" a game before reviewing it, even if it means running a later review. Just sayin'.

AIAS President: 'Game Reviewers Are Lazy' [Shacknews]

I know many of you have tried to forget it ever happened, but try to recall that horrible Q&A panel on the ABC. Not wanting to leave the issue without some expert comment from the other side, GDAA prez and Tantalus CEO Tom Crago has offered his opinion on the ABC News website. In it, he criticises not only the panel, but the classification system and Michael Atkinson.

While Crago covers ground we've talked about before, he still makes a compelling argument, and provides something most of us cannot - the point of view of a developer. From the piece:

As game developers, we are trying to make games that provide entertainment to players of all ages. Video games are not going to turn your children into criminals. They are, in fact, the modern face of the entertainment industry, and something that we in Australia are very good at producing.

The focus of this debate should be upon how the Australian classification system can best give adults the information they need to chose video game content for themselves and their children, without burdening our country with unjustified and draconian censorship to the amusement and pity of the rest of the world.

Unlike a specialist blog such as Kotaku AU, the ABC site attracts a range of personalities. Even so, most of the comments to the piece are positive, though I couldn't help but notice this rather, well, insane post:

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LittleBigPlanet: Make Good Stuff, Get More Space
A fair deal to me! If only I was creative...

Warhammer Online System Requirements Revealed
Yes, it's time to upgrade your 486DX/2 and TNT2.

Frankenreview: SoulCalibur IV (Xbox 360)
Fine ladies and fierce fighting: what could possibly be bad about this?

Ken Levine Kind Of A Twat, Maybe An Arsehole
Don't be so hard on yourself Ken, we still like you.

Nintendo, and the crazy amounts of software and hardware it sells:
DS, Wii Totally Cooling Off In Japan
Forget Wii Fit, It's Mario Kart That's Buttering Nintendo's Bread
Nintendo DS Software Sales Up, Nintendo Wii Software Sales Up (Up, Up, Up!)
Nintendo Hardware Sales: DS Sales Down, Wii Sales Up (With Bonus Lifetime Sales Data)
Nintendo's Sales And Profits Are Up, Yo

Speaking at the Develop Conference, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe reps Darren Cairns and Liam Wickham set the record straight on what Home is, exactly. Perhaps distancing it from services like Second Life, the pair proclaimed Home is "focused on games" referring to it as "a visual representation of the PlayStation community".

Yes, sitting by the virtual fire in your virtual log cabin pretty much sums up the PlayStation community in our book.

According to a report from Develop, the two talked most about Home's game launching capabilities, touted by Sony at E3 for titles like Warhawk and Resistance. The technical details of Home's lobby and matching system are explored more in depth in the full report, but our take is that, whenever Home is released (or sent into perpetual beta) it sounds like the bee's knees.

Sony: "Home is not a social network" [Develop]

Let's just say we shant be getting any job offers to be Michael Pachter's trusted aide, as our incorrect guesses about what we thought we'd see at E3 this year grossly outnumbered our correct ones. In our defence, we cast a wide net with our E3 '08 predictions, with some clearly outrageous bets that were ground more in fantasy than reality. Plus, E3 sucked.

While we were surprised to see a lack of X-waggle and to learn that Kid Icarus was a no-show, that Duffy performance clearly came out of nowhere. Hit the jump for the final tally and keep your eyes peeled for the winner — and possible tie-breaker — of our E3 Fantasy Betting Pool contest. Woot!

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LittleBigPlanet may be the most high-profile and anticipated game launch ever to hinge so much on user-generated content. With that in mind, storage space is sort of a big issue — if the game depends on contributions from users, how much self-made stuff will people be able to upload?

According to Gameplayer, each user will have a limited allotment of server space for their LBP creations. But there's kind of a neat catch that helps demonstrate that Media Molecule is taking their role as user-generated-content-messiah seriously:

Writes Gameplayer:

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THQ has tapped porn star Tera Patrick to do something within the vicinity of its upcoming sandbox-style action-adventure game Saints Row 2, hoping to lure in a few more buyers still wowed by almost seeing some giant fake tits. In the first "dev diary", Ms. Patrick says some things about the Saints Row series while taking her clothes off, with gameplay footage edited in for good measure. This teaser is mostly interesting for the fact that you can wear a hot dog suit in Saints Row 2.

The potentially NSFW clip is after the jump for your safety.

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How quickly "Spring 2008" becomes "Q1 2009." Ubisoft is the next up to confess it's shunted a title out of its fall lineup into next year, after we reported a similar delay for Namco-Bandai's Afro Samurai.

This time, it's Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X, according to CVG, which sails right past Spring 2008 to land anywhere between January and March of next year. Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway has been bumped forward a bit to September as well, presumably to fill in the gap.

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