Godfather was...OK. Not awful, but then, didn't really live up to the name, either. So it's thoroughly unsurprising to hear that, for the second game, they're ditching the GTA-style gameplay in favour of something a little more...unique. The latest issue of the UK's Xbox World 360 mag says the game's a little more like "Scarface meets Total War". Confused? Explanation follows: while the action/GTA bits remain, they're only part of the action. There's also a "Don's View" element to the game, much like the world map for the Total War games, where you can inspect and tweak stuff on a more strategic level (this time across three cities: Miami, Havana & New York). Could get messy, but then, anyone who's played X-Com may also find something to look forward to if EA can successfully manage the split between the planning and action sections.

We'll be checking out the game first-hand next week, so stay tuned for our impressions.

Godfather II: First details [CVG]

[Via NeoGAF]

David Gosen used to be the head of Nintendo Europe. He is not anymore. He is now Microsoft's VP of Strategic Marketing and LIVE for the Continent. He has this to say about his former employer, Nintendo and upcoming Xbox 360 title Lips:

I think it's really important that you don't underestimate the knowledge base of the consumer. What Nintendo have done with the Wii is truly fantastic -- there is no question about it. But I think sometimes there is a thin line between gimmick and great gameplay. We've seen some research that says 60 per cent of people who bought a Wii Fit play it once and don't play it again. So we have to get the balance right, because what we are doing is bringing new consumers into the market for the first time in their lives they are playing games sometimes -- and we have to treat them with respect.

Seems like a perfectly reasonable thing to say! Here's that 60 percent poll Gosen is talking about, which we first broke from Japanese news site IT Media. (Note: David Gosen left Nintendo back in 2004. You know, back before they printed money.)

Q&A: David Gosen, Xbox [Develop via CVG] [Pic]

The PS3 version of BioShock is a little different to the 360/PC one. It'll have downloadable "challenge rooms" for starters, but it'll also feature a new difficulty mode, "Survivor". Which is a stupid name. It should really be called "Will Kick Your Arse Up And Down Rapture". Instead of tweaking things like AI, they've instead decided to cut off pretty much all of your ammo, leaving you in many instances to pick up a gun with a single bullet in it. It'll also jack up the price of plasmids, reduce the amount of health vita chambers give you and just generally make the game, oh, impossible.

That's one of the main gameplay additions covered, but IGN are also reporting that that the PS3 version features improved visuals, with "cleaner high resolution textures for every facet of the game". They also say the water effects look "much slicker" than what we'll assume is the 360 version. So, improvements all round, then! Question is, PS3 owners: does this make up for the long wait?

Bioshock Survivor Mode Hands-on [IGN]

We first heard of the DS version of manga/anime To LOVEru last spring. To LOVEru follows the adventures of a high school boy and an alien girl named Lala who one days appears out in his home of nowhere buck naked. The game is rated 15 and up. Hit the jump for one of its touching mini games. Titled To LOVEru Waku Waku, the game is out in Japan later this month.

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We've had our PSPs dusted off for a few weeks now in anticipation of this. Same for our emergency Japanese catchphrase guides, along with the URLs of our favourite Japanese importers. Because really, if you're a Macross fan, how can this not already look like the best thing to happen to the PSP?

[via Matix @ NeoGAF]

Sony's released a buncha new MotorStorm 2 screens and concept artwork. While the previous game was set in Monument Valley, the sequel's gone all tropical with a jungle beach backdrop. Online it's possible for up to 16 players to go head-to-head, while up to four players can race each other offline. MotorStorm 2 also rolls out the monster trucks. Wasn't that into the first MotorStorm, but this is looking attractive. Check out the gallery below, game's out this spring.

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I'm posting this because it's been something that's been bugging me for a while, particularly when I'm talking about my job to people who aren't that big on games. People who just presume that because I play a lot of games, I love all games, and cock an eyebrow when I respond "eh, 3D fighters, I hate that shit". Writing on Edge, Steve Poole asks:

Do you know anyone who likes books and likes all kinds of books, from popular exegeses of quantum mechanics to Mills & Boon romances? Do many people like all genres of film, or all genres of music? It's very rare. We ought to consider it a tribute to the increasing breadth and maturity of the videogame medium that there are people who only play hyper-realistic FPSes, or games featuring talking fluffy animals.

Well put. Chances are, you're no more a "gamer" than you are a "reader". Time for a change in your self-labelling, "gamers"! Suggestions for amendments below, right after you read the entirety of Poole's great piece.

Loving, Hating Videogames [Edge]

From killing sprees to the decay of society, Grand Theft Auto has been blamed for a lot of things. Add destroying plants. Swedish park supervisor Gert Axelsson is tired of the plants being destroyed in the park he oversees in Lulea, northern Sweden. "I am very much considering getting surveillance", says Axelsson. And what does he blame for the plant destruction and increased vandalism? GTA "where you wreak havoc in the city". He's totally right, you know. Because the potted plant mission is my favourite. Heck, I've been kicking over plants all week. Whenever I see a flower bed, I immediately think uproot uproot. Just like I was taught in GTA. We're surprised that people are just catching onto this now. People are so slow sometimes.

Meningslösa skadegörelser i blomsterlådorna [NSD Thanks, John!]

You want to point to either the poor quality of the 360's launch lineup or the decline in standards at Rare, and you point to two games: Perfect Dark Zero and Kameo. A boring shooter and a boring platformer. But you think Rare give a fig what you think about them? They're a business, they care about sales, and according to Rare's Nick Burton, they sold quite nicely thank you very much:

One of the things that I always find funny is when people always quote Kameo and Perfect Dark Zero as being flops at the launch of the 360. In the industry if you break even you're lucky, you're in the minority. If you make a decent amount of money you're really in the minority. You're in the top percentile. Those two games made a lot of money. For the install base they sold phenomenally well. Kameo is still selling now.

Who the hell is still buying Kameo?

Rare: Perfect Dark and Kameo 'sold phenomenally well' [Videogamer]

If you need further proof that the Xbox 360 is your shooter console, here ya go: Raiden IV has been announced for the Microsoft machine. Developer Moss is porting the arcade shmup to the home console and will offer new aircrafts via DLC. For a limited time, the game's soundtrack will be included as well. Raiden IV is out September 11th in Japan.

シリーズ最新作『雷電IV』がXbox 360から9月11日テイクオフ！ [Dengeki Online]

PAX is largely fantastic, but for us, one event stands out above all others. The Omegathon. It's like that bit in Neverending Story when Atreyu has to run through those statues that shoot laser beams, but instead of jumping through one pair, imagine jumping through six pairs. And they may not all shoot laser beams. Some might shoot ninja stars, or boomerangs encrusted with rusty barbs. And if he makes it to the other side, he gets an all-expenses paid trip to TGS. Yeah, that's exactly what it's like. This years event - which as usual sees combatants facing off across a series of six games/events - will kick off with Peggle, before moving onto Boom Blox, then Pictionary, then Rock Band, then Jenga, then the brutal, unforgiving, final mystery event, which we hope is some kind of old-timey yo-yo contest. Click through for the full details.

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Sony adding Trophies to the PS3 is great for achievement whores. Sucks that you must go back and re-play your old PS3 titles to get those newly added Trophies. Blizzard is likewise adding achievements to the upcoming World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King expansion. But! Blizzard isn't making you go back and re-do a damn thing. Blizzard's new Achievements will be retroactive. So if you played World of Warcraft or The Burning Crusade before, you should be good to go! Explains WoW designer Jeffrey Kaplan:

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Hey, sports fans! We know you read Kotaku. Or, at least, some of you care about sports. Maybe even care about Madden. So you'll find this of interest: with the Packers QB being traded to the Jets today, it leaves EA in a pickle. They'd put him on the cover of Madden 09 in a Packers uniform, convinced - like everybody else - that he'd stay retired. So with Favre now due to suit up (or at least hold a clipboard) for NY this season, what are EA going to do with the cover? The game's not out yet, they can mock up a new, Jets-branded image, right? Nope. They're just going to leave it, a testament to a time when Brett Favre was going to be remembered as a future Hall of Fame QB, and not the meddling star of a modern-day sports soap opera.

Brett Favre Traded To Jets [IGN]

Forget that talk of Resident Evil 5 going to the Wii for a moment, and consider that other platform. The one that's a lot more likely to get a version of Resident Evil 5. Yeah, the PC. It's yet to be confirmed, but that doesn't stop Capcom's Christian Svensson from talking around it:

I know that Inafune-san and I are both huge proponents of the PC platform and Capcom is an active participant in the PCGA. We do believe in the future of the platform and that contrary to what retail data shows, it is growing. Our rosy prognostications aside, somewhere the P&Ls of Capcom Japan's outings on the platform are going to come up and they are likely to have a bearing on the decision making process for future titles. That's my longwinded way of saying "stay tuned because it's not clear yet".

Funny, we thought that was your longwinded way of saying "well, everything else we've done lately has come to the PC, so of course it is, silly".

Capcom PC Q&A [IGN]

Previously, we brought word that Metal Gear Solid 4 appeared to be hitting the bargain bin — a mere month and a half after the game was released. (A shame, because it is a great game, even if it hasn't sold close to million copies in Japan!) Now it seems the Metal Gear Solid 4 40GB PS3 bundle's price is getting slashed at Akihabara retailer Gamers. (No clue about the gajillion other shops in Japan!) The price has been lowered from ¥49,800 ($US 454) to ¥39,800 ($US 363) for a store sale — meaning that it's going for about what regular 40GB PS3s fetch without the game. That's right, Metal Gear Solid 4 for free. No need to be sad! That's what us shopper people can a good deal.

Hit the jump for the price comparison.

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Lawrence Taylor has quickly shot up my list of great people to interview. There was this Blitz: The League 2 launch party somewhere around Times Square tonight. Press people and whoever else got to play the game as well as take advantage of the open bar. The highlight of the night, however, was when I interviewed Lawrence Taylor -the football guy on the cover - in a round-table discussion. I didn't get a chance to ask a lot of questions, so when I did, I simply asked "Why should anyone buy Blitz 2 over Madden 09?" His response was, well, very...positional.

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A 41-year-old woman in Singapore claims she was duped into paying SGD$ 1000 ($US 722) for a PSP. The woman, who is named as simply "Nicole", priced the Sony portable in various shops, noting it ranged between the equivalent of $US 217 and $US 434. She visited a shop owned by Yeow Tat Trading Enterprises, telling the friendly and helpful clerk that she was looking for a PSP for her daughter.

The clerk supposedly told her that while the games were free of charge, the woman needed to pay for the PSP hardware and software upgrading licence. The bill? SGD$ 3,500. Says Nicole: "I was shocked. I thought he had written an extra zero by mistake... I told him that if the upgraded PSP was going to cost as much as a laptop, I might as well get my daughter a laptop". Then the clerk reduced the price to SGD$ 3,100 and then down to SGD$ 2,610, saying it wouldn't have the anti-virus software.

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Sonic 1 was great! Sonic 2 was good! Heck, I even loved Sonic 3. But almost every Sonic since has been a bit, well, rubbish. Which has been a problem for Sega for, oh, over a decade now. We know it, you know it, so it's little surprise to see that, yes, even Sega know it, too, with Sega USA's Sean Ratcliffe saying:

Some of that criticism is probably warranted. We definitely recognise that a franchise that has been going as long as Sonic, you really have to put a huge amount of effort in to make sure that you maintain that quality, and arguably a disproportionate amount of effort. However, I would say we recognise it, which is why you're seeing us this year taking the first steps in making sure the quality is right, and we're constantly looking at innovation.

Oh, wonderful. Though you've got to wonder why they're taking the "first steps in making sure the quality is right" in 2008.

Sega: Sonic Criticism Warranted [GameDaily]

Check Hell, because we think it's official frozen over. That right there was the line at the Akihabara Yodobashi Camera earlier this morning for Xbox 360 exclusive Tales of Vesperia. It was over a hundred people — small potatoes for, say, a Poké launch, but shocking for an Xbox 360 title in Japan. The game and an Xbox 360 went on sale, and there was a stage event with the game's creative producer Yoshito Higuchi and producer Tsutomu Gouda, telling fans how that they created a beautiful looking Tales for the Xbox 360. Joked Gouda:

Even though the Olympics are starting, everyone please enjoy playing Tales of Versperia.

Pro wrestler Wataru Sakata, who is married to Wii Fit spokesperson Eiko Koike, was also on hand to help promote the game and do the countdown to game's sales launch. Reader Jamie, who emailed us from the event, puts it in better prospective: "Queues are small but they're selling a steady stream of consoles".

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PHEW. Speaking with VG247 at the Develop conference in Brighton (fun fact: I used to live in neighbouring Seaford), BioShock creator Ken Levine has told everyone to relax. The upcoming BioShock movie project is staying faithful to the source:

You're always going to be worried that in that first meeting they're going to be, like, 'OK, it's Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey on a desert island hunting for pirate treasure,' but it's not going to go that way

My expectation at this time, from everything that I've heard, is that it will very much honour the dramatic and thematic elements of the game... They certainly understand the material and are able to provide a stamp of their own.

Thank goodness for that. But, now you mention it, that wouldn't be the worst Uncharted movie...

BioShock movie won't be "Kate Hudson hunting for pirate treasure," says Levine [VG247]

When launching Assassin's Creed on the PC earlier this year, Ubisoft contracted Charlotte-based Optical Experts Manufacturing to produce the retail copies of the game disc. Part of that contract was an assurance on the part of OEM that they had top-shelf security measures in place, and that no game disc would ever leave their premises. Thing is, in February - six weeks before the game's launch - a pirated version of the game turned up on the internets. A pirated version that was found to have come from an OEM-produced disc, that had been uploaded from the home of an OEM employee. Oops. Ubisoft are suing OEM for breach of contract, negligence and copyright infringement, to the tune of $US 10 million. Neither Ubisoft or OEM have yet commented on the lawsuit.

Ubisoft sues over Assassin's Creed leak [GameSpot] [Pic]

Boy, we were all excited when Ghostbusters: The Game was announced. Then we got all sad when the Activision Blizzard merger pulled the rug out from underneath us. Who was going to publish this game from developer Terminal Reality? Everything was all uncertain, and we were sad. Now Terminal Reality honcho Mark Randel says:

Ghostbusters will be published. That's all I can say at the moment.

Well, that's nice of you to say that.

"Ghostbusters will be published," says Randel [VG247]

As a fan of the massacre film genre — I was raised on mass unsuspecting teen killing flicks like Chopping Mall, Happy Birthday To Me and Slumber Party Massacre — I may just have a soft spot for the schtick of seeing a dozen kids die in increasingly brutal yet comedic ways. That's why I'm not giving up on LAN Party Massacre, due to be released in 2009, self-described as a "comedy/horror slash film" that's a "direct parody of video game culture, but a classic slasher film at heart".

It might be the little touches, like the F5 Energy Drink that sponsors the doomed titular LAN party or the film's featured pro gamer "Mort@lity", or maybe I'm just watching the teaser trailer with blood tinted glasses.

LAN Party Massacre is obviously gory, so if you start to feel queasy when prosthetic throats are ripped out of spokesmodels, you may want to pass on the trailer at the official site.

LAN Party Massacre Official Site [thanks, Ryan!]

The new Xbox 360 has a 60GB HDD, which is new, but what about the rest of the console? Anything new inside the unit? Hacker extraordinaire Ben Heck got hold of one and busted it open like a naughty coconut to find out. What he found was that the new console has the same GPU, same 65nm CPU and same heatsink as we've been seeing for a while now, so don't expect any heat/noise improvements on that front (at least for the next few months), though he did notice that some of the console's memory chips have been moved from the bottom of the board, which should ease up on heating in that part of the 360. Other than that...yeah, it's a 360, with 40 extra GB.

Inside a 60 gig Xbox 360 [Ben Heck]

Want to go to Akihabara and bask in the glory of millions of tons of video games, capsule toys, manga and electronics? Probably not if you're paying for the plane ticket over there. Fortunately, with the awesome power of Google Maps and Street View, you can scoot around Akiba virtually, checking out all the good game shops — their facades anyway.

To complete the illusion, you can import stuff from Play-Asia or NCS while you browse. It won't have the same sort of instant gratification, but at least you'll know where Super Potato is, unlike me, who has never been able to find the goddamn place whenever I go to Electric Town.

Akihabara Street View [Google Maps via Gizmodo]

The engineers at ASUS have done it again, unveiling "another world's first" with the Eee Stick, a new controller that "translates users' physical hand motions into corresponding movements onscreen." It's so fresh, so revolutionary, so ahead of its time, that we can't even begin to wrap our heads around it.

According to the press release, it comes in three parts, an Activation stick, a Navigation stick and a 2.4GHz RF dongle. We love anything with dongles. It also has three operation modes, perfect for sports, action, racing, flight and beat 'em ups, as well as first person shooters and light gun games. That's pretty much everything!

Well done, ASUS. Well done.

ASUS Puts New Twist on PC Gaming with First-of-its-kind Wireless Controller [Asus via NeoGAF]

San Franciscans who had an open afternoon took to the streets today to protest the work of Ubisoft and the United States Army, claiming that the America's Army line of video games "has been developed by the United States Army to recruit children under the age of 17 in violation of the U.N. Optional Protocol and international law". Fortunately, Wired's Game|Life was on hand to capture the action, beat by beat.

In short, the protest group Bay Area Direct Action feels that, due to the 'Teen' rating of the America's Army series, Ubisoft is in violation of "international law" by making joining the Army seem totally rad — just like sitting on your arse playing video games all day, instead of focusing on how you could be maimed or killed or mentally scarred for life.

Wired points out how wrong this is in between bouts of dissecting how ill-prepared the group was with clever signs, pun-laden chants and logic. Since it went down in San Francisco, so a genuinely crazy guy shows up. It's worth a read.

Activists Protest America's Army Game With Songs and Stickers [Game|Life] [Image]

According to a report from French site JeuxVideo, the next entry in the Medal of Honor series is going to take place in modern day Afghanistan and release under the title Medal of Honor: Operation Anaconda. Details on the rumoured EA published sequel were culled from a questionnaire, passed on to JeuxVideo.

The Operation Anaconda subtitle refers to the U.S. military operation of the same name, in which U.S. and Afghan forces targeted al-Qaeda and Taliban forces in Shahi-Kot Valley and Arma Mountains of Afghanistan.

MOH:OA is said by the (machine translated) survey to feature front line combat, sniper duties and "drone attack" command gameplay, as well as 60 customisable weapons. Sadly, it does not appear to feature giant anacondas, Ice Cube or the line "There's snakes out there this big?!"

Medal of Honour en Afghanistan [JeuxVideo via Joystiq]

It's hard not to think of Patrick Stewart in his creepy Extras faux persona, in which he talks about his screenplay that involves him telekinetically removing women's clothing. We're just thankful that he's not tearing the clothes off of his fellow female traveler while she plays Brain Age 2 in this commercial. We're going to need a higher quality version of this for animated GIF purposes. That "The synapses are firing!" moment is gold.

Japanese gamers have had access to the Talkman translation software on their PSPs for close to three years now. Even the Euros got their fix of Talkman! North Americans are finally getting it this Thursday via the PlayStation Store in the form of Talkman Travel, three language-based downloads that feature built-in translated phrases, photos of popular international destinations and even... wait for it... mini-games!

You'll be able to (attempt to) pick up chicks (or dudes) in Japanese, French or Italian using Talkman Travel, as well as find places to eat, relieve yourself legally, and haggle for chintzy souvenirs. At only $US 6 a pop, I don't think I can heed Crecente's advice that Talkman's "sorta shit".

Parlez-vous Talkman Travel? Interactive Travel Guide Coming to PSP [PlayStation.blog]

We touched on the assignment system in Mercenaries 2: World in Flames and showed you what it looks like on the current gen. However, for all of you that haven't made the switch to the Xbox 360 or PS3 fear not, Mercenaries 2 is also hitting PlayStation 2. If you want to take a look at the linked video you can make a comparison, but my consensus is the PlayStation 2 version ain't half bad. The game comes out to you on August 31st.

To: Ash
From: Crecente
Re: Watch Pokemon Movie, Get Free Stuff, Japanese Kiddos!

So last night Trish and Tristan came up to my loft office and gave me a late birthday present: A beautifully framed piece of art from I-Am 8 -Bit. It's a pretty amazing piece of art, especially with the colour-matching frame. Can't wait until I figure out where to hang it.

What you missed:
Rockstar: GTA IV For PC in Nov
5211: World Braces for Crecente Clone Army
SOCOM: Confrontation Priced, Dated
Thai Ministry of Health's 10 Most Dangerous Games
Eternity's Child Review - Pretty Hate Machine
SOCOM: Confrontation Will Make You Love PSN
Turner To Unload GameTap
Resistance 2, Hold On To Those Resistance Saves
Don't Let Sackboy's Cute Face Fool You, LBP Is Hard
Warhawk Getting Jetpacks In New Patch, Says GameFAQs
R&C: Quest for Booty Is For Everybody

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What little we know about Quantic Dream's Heavy Rain is that it can render faces — specifically wet faces — like nothing we've seen on a console before. Brand new screen shots of the PlayStation 3 game(?) really drive the point home that fans of wet faces will be crying tears of joy.

Other things we learn about Heavy Rain is it features an obese man, plus the front and back of a motorcycle. We're sure to learn much more about Heavy Rain at the Leipzig Games Convention. Promise.

Heavy Rain [Spilzonen]

Ratchet and Clank: Quest for Booty will be hitting PSN pretty soon. By now, you're all familiar with the details since its E3 announcement. A short but sweet extended expansion for Tools of Destruction for a low, low price of $US 15. I got a demo of it today, and while it's a PSN-only download game, don't expect the graphics to take a hit, in fact, expect to see some improvements.

It's a wonder how Insomniac finds the time to make Resistance 2 and sprinkle on a little Ratchet and Clank in the same year. But they did, and boy you really have to hand it to them. Sure Quest for Booty is a short game, around 4 to 5 hours, but it still looks as good as any other game out there. It uses the same engine as Tools of Destruction, which Insomniac knows like the back of their hand, and that allowed the team to add some new lighting and environmental effects for new areas of the game.

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