Being a punter, Minnesota Vikings specialist Chris Kluwe has a lot of spare time on his hands. Sure, he could spend that time practising extra hard, or going over his playbook, but that's boring. Instead, Kluwe plays Guitar Hero. A lot of Guitar Hero. To the point where he "estimates that he is one of the top 100 Guitar Hero players in the world", a feat he backs up with claims of victory over the "Guinness World Record holder" in a versus match. And while some of his burlier teammates are prone to give him a little shit over his obsession, he gets nothing but praise from Vikings kicker Ryan Longwell. Kluwe is Longwell's holder, and the kicker says:

He works hard at it, that's for sure. He never lets a moment pass where he's not either thinking about it or working on it. I think it actually helps his holding (on field-goal and point-after attempts) because his hand-eye coordination's got to be phenomenal to do that on expert level.

Professional football player, expert GH player, million dollar smile...truly, a renaissance man.

Punt Rocker: Vikings punter Kluwe is a Guitar Hero [TwinCities, thanks Tom!]

Here we go! Talk time. That's right, it's Friday. Time for another round of Tell Us Dammit. No, make that TELL US DAMMIT. And here's how it works: We ask a question, you answer it. Simple and no strings attached! This isn't some marketing survey or whatever. It's an emotional investment in you. Yes, we're interested in knowing you, Kotaku reader person. You probably know fucktons about us -- more than you even want to, we're sure. But, hey, we'd like to know about you. That way you won't be some faceless blob -- and we might feel a tinge of guilt when we ban your arse. Or not, because really we're incapable of human emotion. We think.

The Olympics have started! And we all oh so very excited!! So much so that Gawker Media is aggregating all the network's Olympic coverage in one place on sister sports blog Deadspin. That place is right here. ANWYAY, here's my question:

Do you think gaming should be an Olympic sport? And why?

As we now know, Sony don't update the PS3 video marketplace in one swoop. They tend to it, like a pensioner hovering lovingly over their vegetable garden, a little snip here, a little weeding there. Which also means they're constantly adding to the store, and this week, they've added "new video content" to the following TV series:

* Combat Zone
* Cops
* Deadliest Catch
* Intervention
* Nip/Tuck
* Xam'd: Lost Memories

PLAYSTATION Store Video Content Update [Sony]

Yep, that's a touch-screen HAIER cell phone crammed into the PSP's UMD. The phone works, but this PSP mod loses the UMD drive. That's okay, we hear some people don't even use it.

PSP Phone Mod [cngba via Just Another Mobile Blog via Gizmodo]

LittleBigPlanet has every one of us excited. And no doubt many of you as well. But what about the average punter, who doesn't even own a PS3? Sony reckon it'll get them excited too, and so damn excited they'll want to rush out and buy the console just to play the game. Associate Producer Eric Fong:

It's going to be a hardware seller. Not only do you have the platforming experience that a lot of other games will have, you have this creativity that really is exclusive to LittleBigPlanet.

Hmm. Can't help but wonder whether the console's still a liiiitle bit too expensive for a game as "accessible" as LBP to really shift hardware. Maybe in a year or so! No reason it can't be a slow-burning system seller, like that other Sony game, SingStar.

LittleBigPlanet will be "hardware seller" claims Sony [GI.biz]

IGN have confirmed an additional seven tracks that will form part of Guitar Hero World Tour's initial lineup. No fallen rock gods or deceased master artists here, just a song that'll please ATDI fans, and a song that looks great on paper, but is really better suited to SingStar ("Eye of the Tiger"). The seven tracks are:

Airbourne - "Too Much Too young..."
At the Drive-in - "One Armed Scissor"
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - "Weapon of Choice"
Bob Seger - "Hollywood Nights"
Dinosaur Jr. - "Feel the pain"
Silversun Pickups - "Lazy Eye"
Survivor - "Eye of the Tiger"

You can't help but look at this and wonder: when they're not throwing around the big bucks to get hold of Metallica or Hendrix, Activision just can't compete with Harmonix's song selecting finesse.

Guitar Hero World Tour Rides the Crazy Train [IGN]

War Has Changed - These days, even Sackboys can be pulled in for a spot of wet work.
Comment by: PhiCancri
Nominated by: Pablos102030

Sack? SACK?! SAAAAACK!!!

You're No More A "Gamer" Than You Are A "Listener", "Watcher"
Comment by: The Whaleman
Nominated by: kennyd1

I am a Gamer.

Hath not a Gamer eyes? hath not a Gamer hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a non-Gamer is?

If you frag us, do we not bleed? if you critically miss us, do we not laugh? if you camp us, do we not cry? and if you grief us, shall we not revenge?

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These new "rare items" for the hideous Street Fighter Online: Mouse Generation from Daletto are too hot for TV... and Japanese online gaming publications. They're so sexy, so revealing, even we can't show you what they're wearing. And that's mostly because the new downloadable items for Street Fighter Online in question — Chun-Li's "Virgin White" and Baichoufu's "Wild Panther" underthings — were mosaicked out before we got to 'em. It wasn't an editorial decision.

We like that Daletto is pandering to the SFO player. We've always wanted to see an oddly jointed, low polygon Chun-Li prancing about awkwardly in virgin white something and appreciate that the developer went the extra yard.

Oh yeah, they added Guile, too.

Street Fighter Online [Game Watch]

When we posted the European and PC release info for Bionic Commando Rearmed yesterday, the more observant amongst you will have noticed that the PC version of the game carries a heftier price tag than the PSN or XBLA versions. Why the bump-up? Capcom explains:

It has nothing to do with Piracy concerns. It has to do with different business terms/expectations in that sector and more importantly, generally prevailing pricing of PC digital games versus their console counterparts.

The typical downloadable price for digital-only games on PC is actually $US 19.99.

Not the answer you were expecting, then, but it's the answer you're going to get.

Capcom: Piracy Not a Factor in Higher PC Price for Bionic Commando Rearmed, $US 14.99 Is 'Appropriate' [Shacknews]

D3 Publisher of Japan is filling a void on the Nintendo DS. The void that one looks into and sees nothing but an endless black nothingness, devoid of sexy anime girls of various fetish types in bikinis playing mahjong. D3 is filling the void to its brim with Simple DS Series Volume 44: THE Gal Mahjong, a sexy spin on the ancient tile game.

And it's not just boring old mahjong you'll be playing in Simple DS Series Volume 44: THE Gal Mahjong. No, you'll get fantastic, subtly suggestive mini-games, in which girls ride on inflatable bananas and are endlessly attacked by mosquitos, requiring one to swat them away with the DS stylus. You may even be asked to wipe the sand away from a biniki-clad doe-eyed female mahjong partner.

Simple DS Series Volume 44: THE Gal Mahjong... ask for it by name this September!

Simple DS Series Volume 44: Gal Mahjong [Game Watch]

According to a report from newspaper La Vanguardia, by way of GamePolitics and Google's Spanish to English translator, Spain's cabbies are calling for a ban on Grand Theft Auto — Grand Theft Auto IV, we presume. After a Thai teenager was arrested on suspicion of murdering a taxi driver, claiming to have been inspired by GTA, the game was pulled from shelves in Thailand.

Now, Josep Maria Goñi, secretary general of the Catalan Taxi Federation, is asking the Spanish government to do the same, citing the Thai murder case.

We're going to make an arse out of ourselves and assume that Mr. Goñi knows as much as the Grand Theft Auto series as just about everyone else in his position and hope that cabbie murder hysteria blows over before it gives the series a bad rap. We can't have our games being scapegoated for society's ills, now. What a horrible precedent that would set.

Spanish Cabbies Want GTA Banned in Wake of Thai Taxi Murder [Game Politics]

Two of Atlus' best publishing efforts from the PlayStation 2 era are getting the Greatest Hits treatment, with Odin Sphere and Disgaea: Hour of Darkness. The latter of those two took an impressive five years and change to receive the coveted $US 19.99 price drop and dreaded red bar. We're not complaining, as all PlayStation 2 owners should give these titles a whirl at these low, low prices. We're just sort of shocked that someone at SCEA remembered Disgaea existed.

Both titles will have their box arts slightly shrunk and their street value hit rock bottom this September in North America. Congrats to both.

Call of Duty's never really done co-op before. Which has been disappointing. Chin up though, kids! Call of Duty: World At War will feature co-op, and this trailer shows you how it's all going to work. We're promised this is all proper in-game footage as well, for those who care about such formalities.

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Electronics Arts is going to represent big at the Leipzig Games Convention this year. It's bringing something like three zillion titles to the event by our count, titles like Dragon Age, Dead Space and Mirror's Edge to name but a few. While we've seen a good portion of these titles at E3 and pre-E3 events, we're going to see two unannounced games, something we're sure to learn more about at EA's Games Convention press conference.

The better news is that, despite our previous hands-on time with games like Left 4 Dead and Crysis Warhead, we're going to see all new areas and content. Plus we're going to pester developers for nuggets of info and embarrassing quotes that will come back to haunt them.

We're looking at you Gabe Newell. Hit the jump for the full list — minus two — of what EA's bringing to Leipzig.

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Atlantian knitter Cassie has committed to knitting more than just a scarf. She's planning on knitting the entirety of Super Mario Bros. first level in yarn form, a project she's documenting for all of the internet to see. According to a recent post, it looks like she's a little over one-third of the way through — and it's already bordering on ridiculous. We'll continue to gawk just to see how big this thing gets as we learn about yarn colour discrepancies.

The Mario Scarf Blog [via BoingBoing]

Gamecock checked in with us today to date Pirates vs. Ninjas Dodgeball, the Blazing Lizard developed, Gamecock published game that some of us might have already thought was out. Obviously, it hasn't been released, as it was delayed back in April, and is now due to hit Xbox Live Arcade on September 3.

In the meantime, the dev team has added new features, such as having up to five balls in play at once, an "old-school" dodgeball gameplay mode and an enhanced mode that follows traditional rules, but lets players — whether they be pirate, ninja, zombie or robot — use special moves.

You can check out our hands-on impressions of Pirates vs. Ninjas Dodgeball to see the title sounds better or worse than the game's current dodgeball competition.

I've been pouring over all of the games and applications pouring into the iPhone App Store since it launched. It's actually a sort of OCD nightly ritual. I'm not sure why I'm so obsessed with them and I rarely buy any.

Since day one, one of the apps I've been on the look out for was the inevitable Xbox Live app. It only makes since that someone would throw together a little program that allows gamers to check out their Xbox Live friend's list when they're on the go. Today such an app popped up.

The good news is that for 99 cents iXboxLive allows you to check out your buddy list, see what they are doing, their gamer pic, score, reputation and location. You can even see a list of their recent games, including a breakdown of gamerscores and when they last played the title.

The bad news, well the bad news is pretty significant.

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Well, this sucks. Atari says the company plans to "turn up the summer heat" at the Leipzig Games Convention this year. Unfortunate, because the Leipziger Messe can get sweaty, something Fahey and I aren't going to appreciate when we're perspiring pure Pilsner.

How's Atari affecting climate change in Leipzig this year? Hot(t) games, of course! They'll be showing lots of stuff, including What's Cooking? with Jamie Oliver for Nintendo DS, My Horse and Me 2 for Wii and DS, The Witcher Enhanced Edition and Alone in the Dark for the PlayStation 3.

If that's not already giving you pit stains, Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 3 and Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit will also be there, increasing the spiked hair factor by 9000 percent. Hopefully, Phil Harrison will be there and we can creep him the fuck out one more time. For the full list, hit the press release, after the jump.

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You want third party software sales data for the Wii? You got it. The always helpful, always ready with a sales charts folks at Nintendo have provided us with a handy line graph showing off the success that third parties have had on its console. It's devoid of confusing first-party data, which mucks up the numbers, and "demonstrates that third parties on Wii are tracking ahead of both PS3 and 360".

On display are the first nineteen months of each console's lifecycle. That impressive upward tick on the blue line — the Wii line — starts its ascent right around the time that Guitar Hero III made its way to the Wii platform. Now who says third party games don't sell on the Wii? Oh, everyone who's not Activision? Well, zip it.

I just can't tell about this game. Some of the elements, like chain lighting that actually moves between metal objects, and the free climbing, sound very intriguing. But watching it all play out, inFamous still looks like a third-person shooter with unusual weapons. I do like that you can revive people with a jolt, that's a nice twist.

The source for all things video game related in Japan, Famtisu, can be yours to enjoy on a weekly basis. National Console Support began offering year long subscriptions to the Japanese language mag a few weeks ago in North America, for not outlandish prices. Your cheapest option is a bit over $US 9 an issue.

The cheapest option will ensure that you get your copy of Famitsu, like, a week or so after it hits Japan's magazine racks. That'll set you back $US 480, all up front, for 52 issues.

If money is no object, you can sign up for overnight shipping of the mag. That's an impressive $US 2860 per year for 52 issues. I'm expensing mine, hoping it just flies under the radar of finance. If not, it's been nice working here.

Famitsu Magazine Subscription [NCSX]

SingStar, Rock Band, MotorStorm: Pacific Rim and LittleBig Planet will be among the games packed into the Playstation tents at this year's All Points West Music & Arts Festival kicking off today at Liberty State Park in New Jersey.

As co-sponsor of the event, SCEA will have a number of Playstation gaming tents at the venue, each packed with playable games.

The PlayStation Central tent will feature SingStar and Rock Band in one section, BUZZ! Quiz TV in another and MotorStorm: Pacific Rift. Better still, the top scorers of each day will be granted access to a VIP area with shaded lounges and a special viewing platform of the main stage. Meanwhile, LittleBigPlant gets its own tent where people will get a chance to check out the upcoming creation game.

The show, which run through Sunday, features 45 artists on three stages and headliners Radiohead and Jack Johnson. Make sure to take pictures if you go and shoot them our way.

All Points West Festival

The most recent dev diary for Space Siege seems to be a step away from Gas Powered Game's dungeon crawling roots. The shifted focus from team-based gameplay to a solo character seems to allow the creation of a more compelling protagonist. Seth Walker fights a number of invading baddies aboard humanity's last space station while upgrading his weapons and himself with all sorts of cool future technology. It sounds as if the moral choice of upgrading Seth and ultimately altering his humanity will play a large role in Space Siege.

Way back before E3, during a visit to LA, I sat down with N'Gai Croal, Stephen Totilo and Geoff Keighley to talk about what was to come. After taping four segments, which were later aired in the lead up to E3, we were invited to go check out GameTrailers spanky new offices.

The offices, technically for Spike Digital Entertainment and GT, were actually still in the decoration stage of things. A team of artists were wallpapering and painting every square inch of the place with splashes of colour, style and culture. Among the pop video game references I noticed were a Mario and Luigi, some Space Invaders, Billy Mitchell (complete with a bottle of hot sauce) and a Gears of War cog. In fact there were way too many references for me to list, so instead I took a bunch of pictures. See how many you can find and if you're into office pics than you have to check out our MASSIVE compilation of Work and Play photos of some of the top people in gaming.

Braid and Pixeljunk Eden over here, for both work and pleasure. I'm hoping to have reviews up for both early next week — yes, a bit late! — but also want to work my way through Braid, having played a pre-release version fairly extensively, until my roommate took over my game save. Eden's the bigger challenge, as collecting all 50 Spectra in that game is taking much longer than I'd anticipated.

Outside of that, another of the McWhertor spawn is crashing at Kotaku Towers West this weekend, so we'll be doing various LA things that are vegan friendly. And you? What will you be playing this weekend? Leave proof in the comments!

Last week we dropped you a Midnight Club: Los Angeles Trailer and this one is definitely as impressive. Having been to E3 I can tell you driving through the streets of LA going 100+ mph would be a blast, not in real life of course.

An 8-year-old Colorado boy awaiting a heart transplant had his Playstation Portable stolen by a teenage bully while visiting a relative, deputies said.

While the 19-year-old suspect was arrested, the gaming system was never located, so Adam's County deputies pooled their money and bought Juan Martinez a new PSP and a dozen games for the system.

"He's just a little kid. I don't like bullies", Deputy Michael Robbins said. "That's what it seemed like to me, one older kid picking on a little kid.

"We couldn't let the bad guys win".

And that's your moment of zen for the day.

Deputies give boy new game system after his was stolen [Rocky Horror News Mountain]

Behold the official Kotaku logo for Games Convention 2008 in Leipzig, Germany. It was designed by our very own Adam, who proves his worth in new ways every day. The logo is just one of the preparations being made for next Sunday, when McWhertor and I make the trek overseas to cover the massive game festival. The folks over in Germany are busy preparing as well, if these images of the early booth assembly are any indications. They've got pics up for Sony, EA, and Toshiba at their official site, and as you can see...well I am sure they'll look better once the lights are turned on.

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The big gameplay reveal of Cryptic's Star Trek Online is taking place this Sunday in Las Vegas, with a special guest appearance from Spock, who portrays Leonard Nimoy in real life. If you, like me, have spent several hours sitting in the corner curled up in a ball crying because you couldn't be there, dry those tears! The Star Trek Online website has updated today with info on the simultaneous live webcast of the event. It kicks off at 1:30 PM Pacific on Sunday afternoon, so you might want to pencil that stardate down on your...starcalendars?

Sure, it'll be in a small window and you won't be able to physically touch Mr. Spock, but think how much nicer your house smells compared to the event! Come to think of it, if I wanted to smell unwashed Trek fans I just wouldn't shower for a couple days. Bad smells are better when they're yours.

August 10 Webcast Info! [Star Trek Online]

The Wii MotionPlus accessory is the next big thing for Nintendo, but it could very well wind up being the next big thing for many companies, both in and out of gaming. Joe Virginia, the boss of MotionPlus accessory maker InvenSense, told Eurogamer that the tech isn't exclusive to Nintendo, and it's generating a large amount of interest.

"Of course we're incredibly pleased - delighted would probably be a better adjective - that Nintendo approached us... but it's not an exclusive relationship", Virginia told us. "I can't get into details about other folks that are interested in this technology, but as you might imagine of course there is more interest out there".

We've heard rumblings about Microsoft and Sony exploring motion control in the past, and those rumblings should only get louder now that the tech is available to make it actually work.

MotionPlus tech not exclusive to Nintendo [Eurogamer]

Sorry about the headline containing only the game title, but developer Psyonix Studios didn't leave me much room for anything else. Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars is a game that combines automotive acrobatics with soccer, coming to the PlayStation Network early this Fall. While there'll be mini-games and single player matches for the loners out there, the game will feature extensive multiplayer community support, with team and league play, stat-tracking, trophies, and the ability to upload game videos directly to YouTube. This will probably be the last time I refer to this game by its full name. I hereby dub this game Battle-Cars. Hit the jump for the full, lengthy press release!

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As we mentioned earlier this week, the wraps have been taken off of Godfather II, in fact we'll be playing a bit of it next week.

Today, though, Electronic Arts officially unveiled the game which will go beyond the second film's story and have gamers take on the world of organised crime in 1960's Florida, Cuba and New York. After taking over New York in the first game, players will work to expand their organisation to other cities through extortion, crime rings and wars with other crime families.

As Luke mentioned, the game will include an strategy-heavy Don's View:

To help players manage their empire, The Godfather II introduces "The Don's View" - an innovative strategy meta-game that allows players to oversee the entire world as they grow the family business. Using the Don's View, players will be able to build, defend and expand their crime rings, while keeping an eye on the movements and plans of the rival families. Players will also learn to master the business of organised crime by building a family of Made Men, hiring crew, handing out orders, and promoting their best men up the ranks.

The lengthy and detailed release is on the jump.

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E3 was pretty hectic for me, so I only vaguely remember Flynn and the GayGamer crew pulling me aside to answer me several questions, most of which were gaming related. Thankfully they've been posting a series of videos called "My Scrapbook of Precious E3 Memories, in which members of the gaming press offer up their opinions of the import topics of the show, such as Favourite Game, Worst Game, Pet Peeves, and the most important question of them all, "Do you manscape?"

Manscaping is what a man does to maintain his appearance, generally referring to certain places that shall remain nameless. Aren't you dying to know our answers? Hit the link below to see McWhertor, Ashcraft and I handle the question with varying degrees of tact, and be sure to check out the whole series for more opinions we'll probably regret having put to video later.

My Video Scrapbook of Precious E3 Memories Part 8: Do You Manscape? [GayGamer.net]

If you're going to make the move from PC and console epic RPGs to handheld titles, testing the waters with someone else's property is pretty smart smart way to do it. That's what BioWare is doing with Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, according to the game's lead designer Miles Holmes. The Sonic RPG will launch BioWare's handheld division, which could then explore the possibility of bringing Mass Effect, Jade Empire, and Dragon Age to the handheld.

"We have a lot of big plans for Mass Effect. Having a DS version would be an awesome way to keep interest alive and keep it going in addition to the next one [Mass Effect 2]", said Holmes.

While I myself am partial to their big production numbers, having handheld versions to keep me occupied between their larger efforts is a rather attractive prospect. Plus, the Nintendo DS can only make hot alien sex that much better.

BioWare liebäugelt mit einem Mass Effect für den Nintendo DS [Eurogamer.de via GamesIndustry.biz]

I think it's fair to assume that everyone on Kotaku is very familiar with the Banhammer, wielded now with force by Shiraz. But I've never been totally happy that our only options for comment management is to either do nothing or ban someone. In fact for months, maybe years, I've been asking tech to whip something up that would allow us to warn users that they are tip-toeing into banhammer country, traipsing into the cave of the angry comment moderator.

My suggestion was that we create an opposite to that fancy star you get for being an exceptionally insightful commenter. Maybe a grey dunce hat or an exclamation point. Well, neither have come to fruition (yet). But I still have hopes.

Yesterday afternoon there was a knock at the front gate of Kotaku Tower. When I opened the doors I discovered a small box sitting on the splintering doorstep. Inside, a straight razor. And not just any straight razor, but a straight razor of disemvoweling. With a flick of the wrist troublesome commenters have all of the vowels of a post sliced free. Consider it a warning, because there aren't too many people who can survive more than one dance with the razor.

Pain producer Travis Williams has once again dropped in over at the official PlayStation Blog, this time revealing some of the trophies being added to the game in the upcoming Amusement Park expansion, due out on the 4th of September. There's a nice little selection of trophies, ranging from the impossible Gold "Affliction Addiction" - Get one billion points - to the more modest (in a way) Bronze trophy "Harder Dick's Balls, which challenges you to get all of Dick's Balls in the Block Party dumpster without resetting.

My personal favourite would have to be the Silver Trophy for scoring 50 strikes in Bowling with The Dude, which they have named "The Dude Abides". Indeed he does.

PAIN Trophies [Official PlayStation Blog]

To be honest, I never played the 2002 isometric action-RPG Divine Divinity or its first sequel, Beyond Divinity, mainly because of the game's name. I couldn't say it without bursting out laughing, which made going to a store and asking for it near impossible. Perhaps I'll do better with Larian Studios' upcoming sequel Divinity 2: Ergo Draconis. Taking place once again in the magical world of Rivellon, an uneasy peace is broken by the return of the demon. Rather than choosing a class, players will begin as a Dragon Slayer, slowly evolving into a legendary Dragon Lord.

As you can see from these first screens, the game isn't actually looking half bad. Of course looks are only about a qua