To: Crecente
From: Ashcraft
RE: Eye of the Storm

Mrs. Bashcraft took the kid to see this summer's Pokémon movie, Giratina to Sora no Hanataba: Sheimi. Every summer, a new one is churned out like clockwork. Last year, we all went to go see Dialga VS Palkia VS Darkrai, which actually made Mini-Bash cry. While watching a particularly moving scene in Sheimi, my wife said she started to hand Mini-Bash a tissue. To which he replied: "This is really sad, but I'm not crying".

Check out the loot he got for going to the movie: Stickers, a card and a puck for the Pokémon kiddy arcade game.

What you missed last night
You Will Never, Ever Game On A Rig This Expensive
Soulcalibur IV, Over 2 Million Copies Sold Worldwide
Loads Of New Square Enix Screens (FFXIII, Kingdom Hearts, etc)
Microsoft Clarifies Final Fantasy XIII Asia Version "Announcement"
Braid Priced High To Prevent "The Space Giraffe Problem"
Konami Pulls In $US 655 Million In Q1 With A Little Help From Snake
Kratos, Nariko Come To LittleBigPlanet Pre-orderers

Come on Europe. You had to know it was too good to be true. You finally get news that Chrono Trigger is coming back, you get your hopes up you'll soon be able to play it, and then...Square Enix go and announce that it won't be available in PAL territories (so that's you too, Australia) until "early 2009". Yes, we know, it's easy to import, and many of you will do just that, but come on, it's the principle of the thing. Square have had 13 years to translate this game. Further delays are only rubbing salt in the wound.

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Three years in development later, and EA has finally announced that Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning will launch worldwide on September 18th. Says Mythic Entertainment founder Mark Jackobs:

The countdown has officially begun. Mark your calendars! September 18th is the Day of Reckoning. For the last three years, the entire team at Mythic has poured their hearts into making Warhammer Online the next great MMORPG. We are so excited to open up this world and share it with the fans that will live in it, quest in it, go to war in it and make it come alive.

The game will launch its North American, European and Oceanic servers simultaneously, a MMORPG first. Subscription options include: US$US 14.99 for a month subscription, $US 41.97 for a three-month subscription and $US 77.94 for a six-month subscription.

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The Olympics are starting soon! And if you are a game developer working on an Olympics game, you must get your game out on time. No matter what! That could be why SEGA's Beijing Olympics 2008 is apparently so, well, crummy. Japanese game magazine Famitsu scored the game 3,4,4,3 for the PS3 version and 4,5,4,3 for the Xbox 360 version. Ouch. Comments include things like "Sports, as a collection of mini games, isn't enough" or "We like the game patched". Apparently the PS3 online rankings weren't even working correctly, so. That's a shame. Well, guess that means we'll have to watch the real Beijing Olympics then.

PS3「北京オリンピック 2008」がファミ通レビューで次世代ハード最低点を記録 [裏はちま起稿]

In Japan, Tales of Vesperia is kinda a big deal for Microsoft. So they're going all out. Jamzy's been yammering on about the game for weeks now, there's been fairly prominent marketing for the title and there's even a snappy 360 hardware bundle. That bundle includes neat stuff like a faceplate and a copy of the games script. What do Americans get? Well, no hardware bundle for starters. It's not really a big deal in the US. Instead, on offer is a regular old metal-box collectors edition, that features the game and...a CD. Which has 25 tracks pulled from the entirety of the Tales series. Kind of a shame they skimped on this game, because people would have gone bananas for a smoking dog figurine. That's the CD above, full bundle's after the jump if you're at all interested.

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Really, we just don't know. DS visual novel Ikamono no Jiken: IKATAN ("The Squid Events") features a main character who cross-dresses in order to collection information and new evidence as well as gain new personalities. As game site Insert Credit explains: The hero becomes a member of scenario group "Prawn Productions". As a number of mysterious event unfold, the protagonist must dress as a woman to unravel the story in a series of timed investigations. Breaking new ground — that's what the DS does, you know.

『いかもの探偵-IKATAN-』凶悪犯罪が一切起こらない推理アドベンチャーゲーム [Famitsu via Insert Credit]

One of our readers - who would prefer to remain nameless - installs PC rigs for a living. He helped install this one, in a government office, then proceeded to do what anyone confronted by twenty-seven 67" HD monitors would do - he played a tonne of BioShock and WoW on it. For reference, 27 panels equates to a display that's 40 feet wide and 15 feet high, with a desktop resolution of, oh, 12600 x 3150.

Call of Duty 4 is great. We like it, you like it and Bungie sure as shit likes it. Doesn't matter if Bungie's Halo 3 and Infinity Ward's CoD4 duke it out over most played XBLA title, Bungie looks at the game as a possible source of inspiration. As Bungie's Lead AI Programmer Damian Isla (pictured, compressed) points out:

We have a lot to learn from their success too, they did some very innovative things to keep people going and their experience-rewards system was something that we paid a lot of attention to... I think it's a great game and single player obviously is fantastic... They did a hell of a job with their set pieces, of scripting certain moments that they were really sure the player was going to actually see and experience first hand. The way that they use those moments to craft the player experience... Halo has a lot to learn from.

Always nice to see developer take another's work, incorporate it and hopefully improve what they do. Warm fuzzy feelings all around!

Bungie: We've got a lot to learn from Call of Duty 4 [Games Industry] [Pic]

The new SEGA arcade "image character" has begun his SEGA arcade image character duties! Aren't you excited? I'm excited. (You should be excited.) To review, previous image characters include MEGUMI, Yuko Ogura (twice!) and Satomi Ishihara. The new SEGA arcade image character is Jpop boy band singer Haruma Miura (pictured), breaking the string of females before him. As SEGA's image character, his face will be plastered all over SEGA's domestic arcades, perhaps enticing more females to venture inside. Says Miura:

Being photographed while gaming is a first for me. Initially, I was nervous, but gradually I relaxed and forgot all about that and just enjoyed the game. This isn't just work, it's also play... I don't really know what's best for me to do, but personally, I want everyone to know how much I enjoy game centres so they can see the appeal — especially now [in this heat], game centres are refreshingly cool.

Seems like a nice enough kid, even if he's misguided in his choice of coats. Hit the jump for another shot of Miura.

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There are things I love about the Wii, and things I hate. Wanna know what I hate? I hate its draconian region protection. My PS3 is completely region-free, my 360 is region-free for, oh, 50-70% of the games on the market, and both handhelds are 100% region-free. So being subjected to Nintendo's slow-arse international release schedule is maddening. Luckily, it looks like a mod chip-free workaround is imminent. In the wake of the Freeloader's demise, a member of the DCEmu community (Crediar) has posted a vid of a Wii system menu hack that'll allow for not only region-free gaming (for both Wii and GameCube games), but region-free channels, and will even skip out those annoying health warnings. All courtesy of the homebrew channel. It's not out yet, but when it is, we'll let you know.

Wii Systemmenu hacks [DCEmu]

Either bigger boobs or Star Wars characters did the trick, because Namco Bandai Games has announced that Soulcalibur IV has already sold (not shipped, sold) over 2,000,000 copies of SCIV. The multi-platform game went on sale in the States on July 29th and in Japan and Europe on July 31st. Many people have purchased it.

バンダイナムコ、PS3/Xbox 360「ソウルキャリバーIV」
全世界での累計販売本数が200万本を突破 [Game Watch]

Team Ico's current project may well be really, really good, but you know what else? It's also most likely a really, really long way off, with Fumito Ueda telling gamesTM that tiii-iiiaaii-mme, is on his side. Yes it is.

I'm not feeling any pressure at the moment because time is not critical yet...Production has not reached the critical stage. The company is very reasonable thanks to my achievements in the past. So, although I do get pressurised, that's not happened yet [on the current project], and that's something I feel gratitude for, that the company gives us the opportunity to focus by giving us time.

Reasonable? REASONABLE? Goddamnit, Sony, you get in there, and you crack that whip. On a related topic, Ueda also said that, given the time, he'd love to someday work on a small-scale game for the PSN. Yes. Given the time.

Team Ico boss: My PS3 game hasn't hit critical development yet [gamesTM, via VG247]

There's apparently a big feature article in the upcoming issue of Japanese gaming mag Famitsu that talks Square Enix, Final Fantasy XIII and all that jazz. While scans haven't hit the internet yet, we've heard from several trusted insiders who have seen the yet-unreleased issue. It mentions that FFXIII is going to be out in Japan by next summer and in Europe/USA on both the Xbox 360 and the PS3 by the end of 2009 — which pretty much what we already know.

Here's the juicy bit: According to the Famitsu piece, Microsoft is footing the bill for Square Enix's FFXIII breach of PS3 exclusivity contract. No idea how much money that entails or the exact deal Microsoft worked out with Square Enix, but the fact there is not Xbox 360 version announced for Japan is telling. Square Enix does state how porting the game to the Xbox 360 should be easy.

More interesting tidbits: It's apparently hard to tell which looks better: Star Ocean 4 or Final Fantasy XIII. Also, the company plans to focus more on PSP game development from now on. File this as rumour until proper scans surface.

Following Square Enix's private bash held over the weekend in Tokyo, GameSpot Japan were handed some new screenshots for all of the games featured during the festivities. Some aren't strictly "new", since we've seen them before as scans or at smaller resolutions, but you may as well see them as nature intended. Others, like those for Parasite Eve "sequel" 3rd Birthday, are new. That's Final Fantasy XIII above, with the rest at the link below.

スクウェア・エニックス　プライベートイベント「DKΣ3713」にて新タイトル発売時期などの情報発表 [GameSpot, thanks Richard!]

An English translated version of the interview with The Last Guy's "developers" speaking Bengali — tongue planted firmly in cheek. The actual developers are Sony's Japan Studio and responsible for the PSP's Work Time Fun. Pretty sure they don't have a goat in their office, either. Well, maybe they do. Who knows.

The Last Guy 'developer interview' translated, story revealed [PS3 Fanboy]

New Resident Evil 5 gameplay footage has hit, and man, this game looks good. Damn good.

New Resident Evil 5 gameplay movie released [VG247]

Gears of War 2 will be providing the option to turn the game into a more family-friendly affair. The "Mature" rated game will ship with parental control options that will change blood into sparks and remove all bad language. "Eat snot and diet", anyone? Anyone?

Gears 2 given violence filter [MCVUK]

Well, we've hit a bit of a brick wall for now. After repeated attempts to get anything from distributor Red Ant, and an expanded "no comment" from Bethesda, it's unlikely we'll know what the exact differences are between our version of Fallout 3 and the original. Well, that is until the OFLC report is leaked.

According to Bethesda's PR dude Pete Hines, the developer does not "publically discuss" the classification of any of its games, which is understandable, if unfortunate. As for Red Ant, it's like there's no one home. Anything Fallout 3-related is flat out ignored. Not the most professional approach, but hey, what can you do?

Blizzard have kicked off a new "Recruit-A-Friend" initiative, whereby you - "you" being the WoW player - is in line for a bunch of good stuff if you manage to get a friend hooked on Blizzard's digital methamphetamine. Get 'em signed up for 30 days and you'll get 30 days for free. Get 'em signed up for 60 days and you'll get yourself a new mount, the "Zhevra". Get 'em signed up and play alongside them, and not only will you both accrue XP 3x faster, but you'll be able to summon each other from "any point" in the world. As a final pot-sweetener, Blizzard have also announced that "for every two levels of experience your friend earns, they can grant one level of experience to any one of your characters of lower level".. I had images of a million husbands leading their newb wives gently by the hand, until Fahey reminded me this'll be clogged up with existing players creating alternate accounts. Which is a shame. My idea was much more romantic.

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Sony's all-about-me blog ThreeSpeech has an interview up with Richard Lemarchand, one of the lead designers at Naughty Dog. Naturally the topic of Uncharted and its trophies came up, but towards the end there's an intriguing bit on just how much of the PS3's processing power is utilised by developers at present. Here are the specifics:

"That's why we think we're probably only using 30 or 40 per cent of the power of the PS3 right now, and there's this great, untapped potential. All third-party developers can get the Edge libraries for free and are going to be able to use them in their own ways, to get more and more and more out of the PS3 over the years."

The original Playstation proved that "old" doesn't mean "slow", and the PS2's done a decent job of carrying the torch. It stands to reason that developers will continue to milk more of everything from the PS3's hardware, at which point it'll achieve sentience and destroy us all.

Naughty Dog's Richard Lemarchand, Co-Lead Game Designer of Uncharted, talks trophies, Edge, cells and studios... [ThreeSpeech]

Yes, there is a Guitar Hero: Metallica game coming, and it's slated to ship by March 31, 2009. But we've known that since early June. That doesn't stop Metallica's Lars Ulrich (pictured, with teeth) from being coy:

Let's put it this way, [our next album] Death Magnetic comes out in September, and the day it comes out, it will be available in the Guitar Hero 3 format, which we're obviously super-psyched about. As I've born witness to in my house, its all about the next generation. My kids play Guitar Hero every day, and to be able to get the Metallica record the day it comes out, that's super cool.

There's an Aerosmith game out there that's super successful, and if somebody's gonna follow that up...we're talking, and its exciting, and the people at Guitar Hero and Activision are rapidly becoming our best new friends in the world. You can put the rest of it together yourself.

I'm gonna go out on a limb here, but I think that maybe, just maybe, he's talking about a Guitar Hero Metallica game. Hit the jump for the video proof.

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When he's not taking the piss out of diehard Diablo II fans, Diablo III lead designer Jay Wilson is all about classes (and probably other topics, but classes for now). In a chat with MTV Multiplayer, Wilson explains the exclusion of the Necromancer from D3's lineup, and the possibility of its return in the future:

"There's a lot of people on our team who aren't happy with our class choices", he admitted. "But after we've established 'Diablo III' as its own game with its own type of gameplay and experiences, I wouldn't be opposed to looking at old classes. We are trying to design [the Witch Doctor] class so that if we did bring back the Necromancer, there's room for him. We're looking out ahead of time at what our expansions are going to be, so we've got to keep room open for some of those other classes down the road".

Wilson also mentions that the team wanted to avoid having an excessive number of classes, and that main reason the Barbarian made a return was because it felt they could bring something new to the character.

I can understand not wanting to cover the same ground twice, I just hope the push to come up with completely new classes and mechanics doesn't result in an overly convoluted design.

'Diablo III' Designer Explains Why Necromancer Was Cut, Hints At Return [MTV Multiplayer]

That's what the cover of the latest issue of British mag Total Film is asking. We'd respond with "hopefully not", what with Jason Bourne being nothing like Max Payne, but whatever. On the bright side, the mag's feature article on the movie has a bit of new info, including the fact that, apparently, Payne is Wahlberg's all-time "favourite role", and that he'll be bringing a little more depth to the character than the game ever afforded:

Sure, I raise my voice, get in people's faces... But I ramp up the humour, too. He's like a version of my character in The Departed - sly and cynical but also very funny. That's the kind of thing people like to see me doing.

We also like seeing him dance around in his undies and/or singing Transformers songs, but hopefully they won't also be in the movie. They're not really canon.

Payne is Wahlberg's "favourite role so far" [Total Film, via Eurogamer]

Yesterday we brought word that Taiwanese game site GNN Gamer was reporting that Xbox Taiwan head Grace Chou had confirmed the Asia release (Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong) of Final Fantasy XIII. Today, Microsoft Taiwan issued a statement clarifying this, stating: "The announcement of the release of Final Fantasy XIII on Xbox 360 at this year's E3 is at the moment still at the planning stage. We don't have any further information regarding the releasing date or the possibility of localization". Sounds like it was a little too early for Chou to apparently go around and mention the Asia release. Stay tuned for the possible "official" Asia version announcement and consider the Xbox 360 version only North America and Europe for now!

台灣微軟澄清《Final Fantasy XIII》在台上市說法 表示一切仍屬未定 [GNN Gamer Thanks, Dutch!] [Pic]

Having made both Oblivion and Fallout 3, when asked which of the two was the better game, you'd think Bethesda would remain a little impartial, no? Keep thigs civil, keep things amicable between the two franchises? Nope. Speaking in London last week, Bethesda's Peter Hines went on record saying Fallout 3 > Oblivion.

I have no doubts in my mind that, at its core and for everything that it provides that Fallout is a better game than Oblivion was. For sure...I don't have any doubts that on the whole, and I think this is a belief universally shared on the team that Fallout is a better game.

Better than one of the best games of all time? Oh Bethesda, you sure know how to set a man's heart aflutter.
Bethesda: 'Fallout is a better game than Oblivion' [Videogamer]

Buy much horse armour? Spend cash money unlocking Tiger Woods cheats? Don't feel down. Even if you regret your purchase, Microsoft (and friends) don't! Indeed, at the recent Gamesfest event, they disclosed just how little regret they have, announcing that since the launch of the 360 they've recorded over $US 240 million in downloadable content transactions, with $US 180 million of that just in the last 12 months. Proving conclusively that it doesn't matter how many of you rally against the principle of DLC, there'll always be 10 other guys happy to pay money for an idolm@ster skin for their Ace Combat 6 fighters.

In-Depth: The ABCs of Xbox 360 DLC [Gamasutra]

It's that time of the year again! That's right, it's EVO time. This weekend the Evolution 2008 fighter tourney finals will be held at the Tropicana Casino in Las Vegas. That's right, Vega$, baby! Check out the trailer above and commend it on its new use of Hamasaki Ayumi. Registration still seems open; Evo link below.

EVO2k [Official Site]

When the pricing was announced (both times) for Xbox Live Arcade puzzle-platformer Braid, the vocally frugal gamer crowd bemoaned the higher than average cost. Too bad, really, as it's one of the best XBLA titles I've ever played. Still, there are folks who can't get past the 1200 MS Points pricing — that makes it one of the more expensive downloadable games, but still cheaper than Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness.

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IGN sent men and cameras to the Square Enix party held over the weekend in Tokyo. Those men and cameras have returned, with footage of Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days for the DS, Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep for the PSP and Final Fantasy Dissidia, also for the PSP.

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Hang tough, Rare fans. If Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise and Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts aren't quite scratching your Rare itch, the developer has more in store. Nick Burton, a senior software engineer at Rare, tells Videogamer that the developer's officially announced titles are being tackled by "about half" of the current staff, hinting that much more is on the way. Dreams of Killer Instinct 3 may be dancing in our heads, but we'll try not to get too excited.

When will we find out? According to Burton, "soon enough". If that means Leipzig Games Convention, we'll be surprised, and expect that we'll hear real details after the release of Rare's already in development Xbox 360 titles.

Rare: Half the studio working on secret projects [Videogamer]

Guitar Hero III owners — PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 only, natch — will get three new downloadables this Thursday with the "Interscope Track Pack". The bundle features tunes from Flyleaf, AFI and Marilyn Manson, with the last of three three coming to Guitar Hero as a remix by Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner. Truly a potpourri of sound.

Pricing wasn't provided in the press release, which is after the jump, but if you happen to like Marilyn Manson, Flyleaf and AFI, you probably can't go wrong. There's also a very strong possibility that you're wearing eyeliner right now, regardless of your gender.

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Following yesterday's earnings report that Midway lost some $US 34.8 million for the quarter, comes word that a trio of high-level folks have left the company. Mike Bilder, head of the Chicago studio, the internal developer responsible for Stranglehold, Mortal Kombat and Blitz: The League, has left the company. Bilder has accepted a senior management position with another Chicago-based developer, according to Midway reps.

When contacted for comment, Midway reps responded "We are evaluating internal and external candidates for the role, and both Blitz: The League II and Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, as well as other projects in the Chicago studio, are on track for successful launches".

Midway also confirmed the departures of Mona Hamilton, vice president of marketing, and Reilly Brennan, director of media relations. Details weren't provided, other than that the two are "no longer with Midway and will be pursuing other opportunities".

Two other senior Midway staffers were also said to have left the company, but opted not to provide comment. We're awaiting confirmation from Midway on the status of the other two rumoured departures.

Someone's Running Windows Vista On A PS3
What will they think of next? XMB on iPhone?

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars Details Allegedly Leaked Via Survey
Do the words "co-op Wi-Fi" mean anything to you?

Resident Evil 5 PS3 Gameplay
It's pretty, gory and scary! Just lovely.

New Zealand Army Needs Tetris Players On The Double
Because the NZ Army needs made block-matching skills.

The Last Guy Review: Run From The Zombie Monsters!!
Zombies and Google Earth. They were meant to be together.

Publisher and developer Konami announced today that it raked in about 70.8 billion yen for the quarter ending in June, which translates to some $US 655 million in U.S. dollars. That was up from the same quarter last year by about 17%, no doubt in part to the return of Solid Snake in Metal Gear Solid 4.

As we reported earlier, Konami revealed it had shipped out close to 4 million copies of the game, accounting for a massive chunk of its game revenue. Konami's total "digital entertainment" business did a cool 44.9 billion yen alone, with its "health and fitness" business ventures doing about 22 billion yen.

Konami is expecting to pull in an estimated $US 3.1 billion for the year.

Consolidated Results for the First Quarter ended June 30, 2008 [Konami]

It's that time of year again! Madden 09 comes out in a week and John Madden has some things to say about EA's latest rendition of the game. He discusses how Madden's recent improvements have impressed Fox Sports to the point that they wished to make the television broadcast further resemble the game! We really have come full circle.

I'm just glad to see that Mr. Madden still has something to do with the title. At least we both have something in common, we both don't fly (well) in planes.

If you pre-order LittleBigPlanet in North America — and why wouldn't you, really — you're going to get some amazing goodies, according to the official PlayStation blog. Not only do you get exclusive exclusive Kratos Sackboy downloadable content, you'll also get a smashing Nariko from Heavenly Sword Sackboy, a LittleBigPlanet sticker book, the "LittleBigPlanet Creator" MiniGuide by Brady Games and an adorable burlap "LittleBigPouch". No, you're not the only one squealing right now.

Mark Valledor, Marketing Manager at SCEA, implies that this isn't the culmination of LittleBigPlanet pre-order goodness, commenting that a real-life Sackboy is "Definitely in the works". Whether that will be another LBP early adopter bonus remains to be seen.

LittleBigPlanet: Pre-order Goodness [PlayStation.blog]

In another case of "Because it's there", some brave/misguided soul has gone to great lengths to get Windows Vista running on a PlayStation 3. How? Emulated via Linux, of course. That translates to blazing speeds, making the Microsoft OS boot in a mere 25 minutes. Notepad opens in just 12!! If you're interested in the techniques required to get Vista on your PS3, PS3HaX has a handy tutorial. Just think — you could be playing Minesweeper in just a few days, at single digit speed percentages! Impress your friends!

Vista running on PS3 & more BD-J homebrew [ via Gizmodo]

Apparently the THQ Wireless version of