Hey, beta testers of the world. If you can get your shit together enough to get into a beta, then decide to film it, then post said film on the internet, do you think you could manage to, uh, actually film it? So we can see at least half the screen? That'd be awesome. Thanks (though to their credit the second vid, after the jump, does a much better job of things).

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Those Monster Hunter games sure are popular. Over on the Ask Capcom forum, SOME DUDE heard from HIS FRIEND that Capcom would only be making Monster Hunter games, cease production on other titles and port PS2 games to the PSP. To which Capcom mouthpiece Christian Svensson replied:

Absolutely 100 percent false... We're still making new PSP games. We may be the most successful PSP publisher in the world with Monster Hunter Portable 2nd and 2ndG. It'd be a difficult decision to defend stopping development when we have such success on the platform.

So, don't worry SOME DUDE!

Ask Capcom weekly roundup [Capcom via Pocket Gamer] [Pic]

Once again proving that legal metabolism is slow, the Silicon Knights vs. Epic court battle slogs on. It's been a year since developer Silicon Knights filed suit against Epic, claiming that Epic had "failed to provide a working game engine". Silicon Knights went on to ditch the Unreal Engine 3 that it had licenced from Epic and finished Too Human with its own engine. Says Dyack:

Well the trial is proceeding, we feel really good about our claims, and we're hopeful that justice will be done. We all feel really strongly that they have defrauded us, and a major portion of the industry.

The Unreal Engine is still the industry's most popular third party engine.

SK v Epic: 'Justice will be done' says Dyack [Develop]

Alan Wake! We miss you! You showed your face, got us all excited, then buggered off and haven't been seen for months. That kind of business normally leads to speculation that a game's been canned. Speculation Remedy want to dispel immediately, with a post on the game's official boards saying:

...we're still here and working hard on getting Alan Wake for you to enjoy. Sure, we've been in development for a long time and if everything had gone perfectly smoothly there probably would be a game out for you guys to play already. But designing a completely new game can be hard, and sometimes you need to take a detour to find the best route forward.

We understand. If this post had gone perfectly smoothly I'd be ending this with a quip about prolonged development schedules, instead of just leaving you hanging awkwardly.

A small update [Alan Wake Forums, via Shacknews]

If buying Ryu Ga Gotoku 3 (Yakuza 3) isn't enough of a commitment, how about the Ryu Ga Gotoku cell phone? Japanese cell phone carrier Softbank is rolling out a Yakuza phone, SoftBank815T model, in three colours: red, black and white. The tastefully decorated clamshell is packed with game-themed icons, wallpaper and ringtones. Buy the phone and get goodies like a Ryu Ga Gotoku notebook and cell phone charm strap. At least the design is tastefully understated.

Another pic after the jump.

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Nothing like some coloured bar graphs to put things in perspective. Edge have tallied the July NPD numbers, looked at just what they all mean, and spat out their usual handy selection of charts, graphs and pies. Watch, as "next gen" console sales continue to look stagnant next to the Wii! Marvel, as Microsoft's meagre slice of the overall gaming pie is shown in picture form! Weep, as we're reminded that Metal Gear Solid 4 won't make 2008's top ten for sales!

In-Depth Analysis of Games and Console Sales [Edge]

Oh, where did you go little Bionic Commando Rearmed? You didn't make it to the last PAL PSN update a few days ago. We've been so concerned!

Good for Rearmed (and us I suppose) that the classy remake found its way there today. Super-sneaky! It's going for $15.95 if you're interested, and don't mind the $5 tax for being Australian.

[Thanks Brendan]

Drink Mega Man's in-game E Tanks! This August, a Mega Man sports drink called "Rockman E Can Drink" is hitting Japanese beverage retailers to mark the launch of downloadable title Megal Man 9. It's made by "original drink" maker Apris and priced at ¥137 ($US 1.24). But can you really put a price on a Mega Man drink? Yes, yes you can.

Oh, and do check out the Apris website. They've got like Astro Boy and GeGeGe no Kitaro cans. So cool.

E缶だけは最後まで取っておく？ 「ロックマン E缶 飲料」発売 [Dengeki Online]

Besides an awfully generically-named videogame? Who knows! But there's a listing for it on Amazon, with a projected release date of March 2009, and they say it's from THQ. Taking all that into account - plus THQ and Relic's love of the expansion pack (see Dawn of War), we're just going to go ahead and start making plans for a second Call of Duty expansion. One that, we hope, includes the Russians. Oh, and if we're lucky, some North African combat as well.

Company of Heroes: Tales of Valour [Amazon]

For impatient just skip ahead to the 53 second point in the clip. Slow-mo funny to follow.

Thanks muu for the tip!

Ubisoft's I Am Alive is set in a Chicago ravaged by one hell of an earthquake. You're playing a survivor, and...we don't know much more than that. What we can guess, though, is that zombies and other assorted hellspawn will be kept to a minimum, as the game will be "a more realistic approach to survival". Your questions on what constitutes "realistic" will have to wait, however, as we've a more important question: if Jade Raymond's not working on this game, where's Patrice?!? Is Patrice Still Alive?!?!?

I Am Alive takes "more realistic approach to survival," says DarkWorks [VG247]

Among Japanese game developers, Capcom's done really well this generation. The company has launched new IPs, gone multi-plat and even still churns out big arcade games. Part of the reason for that success, at least on home console titles, is Capcom's own multi-platform engine, the MT Framework. While other Japanese developers are just starting to acknowledge the need to launch truly multi-platform titles in this next generation, Capcom was ready from the get-go. What's more, Resident Evil 5 producer Jun Takeuchi explains:

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No crotch jokes today, kids, just a literal serving of Tomb Raider Underworld. And we've got to hand it to Crystal Dynamics; no idea how this plays, but they're really taking to this whole "take Lara back to her roots" thing, aren't they?

The most recent issue of Japanese game magazine Famitsu PS3 has loads of details about upcoming Square Enix titles Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy Versus XIII. As we previously posted, the FFXIII demo will be longer than Advent Children and will be on a regular Blu-ray disc. FFXIII will have a party battle system, and the story is being written so that each character apparently seems like the protagonist (instead of simply a supporting character). The magazine features around 20 new screenshots of Final Fantasy XIII, apparently real time, too. There are real-time screens of Versus XIII. It seems that the clothing and the cars in Versus XIII have been tweaked and look different. AT TGS, we can supposedly look forward to the name of the prince and the heroine being announced. Click through the gallery below — there are some high quality Final Fantasy Versus XIII scans. (The FFXIII aren't so high quality.)

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A game that lets players love game consoles. Pico Pico, a naughty title from erotic game maker AGE SOFT's sub-brand Phi-age, features controller controlled characters cosplaying as game consoles. As website Hobby Blog points out, there have been loads of amateur drawings of humanised video game consoles, but Pico Pico appears to be the first professional made adult title for the PC to run with this motif. Pico Pico features characters like Famicom-esque Miko, "PLAYSTALLION7" Nana and DS-style Pipi. There's even a "Dreamcost" character! Game's out August 29th in Japan. Screenshots below.

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Rockstar gets lots of things — like how to make and launch hugely successful games. But what's one thing Rockstar does not get? Like at all? Company co-founder Sam Houser explains:

The division doesn't make sense to us; good games will usually sell and be popular, bad games will struggle - of any type or genre or style. But we still believe big, high impact games will help the industry evolve and further surpass the movie industry as the next mass-market story telling medium.

...We always tried to make games that anyone could pick up and play. They may, over time, reveal a lot of structural and mechanical complexity, but the first mission of more or less any Rockstar game is very easy and engaging for a reason - because new people playing the game have to be gently led into the world of 3D action games, or open world racing games or whatever. This is the way we try to cater for a mass market ­- but we are focused on making digital worlds that are fun to explore and interlaced with rich narratives, that even the most casual player can become a part of, if they want to. The challenge is to make a game in which 'depth' does not result in complexity the first minutes you play. This is a challenge we've always tried to embrace, and I hope we are getting better at it, just as I hope we are getting better at everything.

Also, in the interview, Houser says Rockstar doesn't believe in focus testing, saying "it's like asking an audience what album they want to hear - they don't know until they hear it!" Yep, that sums it up perfectly. We've always wondered why there is a separation between "casual" and "core" players. Should all games support both? Otherwise, game companies are being elitist or just pandering.

Grand Theft Auteur - Part 2 [Develop]

There's nothing like a demo of a Star Wars game to take the edge off a chilly August. I imagine a heater or a hot water bottle might have the same effect, but why would you bother when there's absolutely nothing Jedi-related about them? Yeah, I thought so.

If you can keep yourself warm for just a couple more days, you can enjoy the fiery gameplay of The Force Unleashed on Xbox 360 or Playstation 3. According to the Activision release, the demo will feature the TIE Fighter construction facility and a tutorial on how to Force Grip like a pro.

Text resembling a cut-and-pasted press release can be found after the jump.

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While I never managed to craft a complete module in Neverwinter Nights' Aurora toolset, or find my way around the mess of utilities that came with Neverwinter Nights 2, I did spend days just playing around with script, level and dialogue editors. Figuring out how things work behind the scenes has always been a hobby of mine, especially with RPGs.

So when I heard that Bioware's Fernando Melo and Ferret Baudoin are to give a 45-minute presentation on Dragon Age's toolset at this year's PAX, I got excited. True, I won't be able to see it, but maybe a video will hit the Internets and I can watch it that way.

Anyway, the pair plan to create a module on stage and play through it, which says a lot about the power of the tools. I can't wait to check them out.

Dragon Age Toolset Plans [Blue's News]

It's not quite the 80GB of goodness Sony will unleash on August 28, but 60GB of storage is nothing to sneeze, cough or squirt at. In the words of Microsoft (and anyone with a basic grasp of arithmetic), it's three times the space of the original Xbox 360 Pro. All this for the same $500 price, though MS would have to be cheeky to charge more. Going by the current cost of a 500GB HDD, a 60GB unit should only set you back $12. That is of course, if you can find one.

Nice and tidy press release after the jump, which includes the current costs of the Arcade and Elite as well.

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Reader Jesse's keen eyes spotted a pair of arcade machines set up next to the entry of the "Galactic Circus", a video arcade situated in Melbourne's Crown Casino. Yes, that's Street Fighter IV, and for $2 you too can enjoy its fierce fearsomeness.

In Jesse's words: "Best thing is, this place never closes, so If I get the urge to play as Guile, I can get my 'Sonic Booms' on at 3AM". You can find a second shot after the jump.

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NSFW: Gamer Porn: Would You Pay for This?
You want to say yes, don't you?

Nearly 150 Screenshots of Fallout 3 Leaked
That's a lot of Fallout 3 pics. Maybe a few of them will show what we're missing out on.

Kotaku Originals: About Last Night ...
All of last week's great content in one great place.

Anyone For A $US 300 Diablo III Statue?
Can't say I would, but then again, I'm sane.

Jonathan Blow Says He Spent $US 180,000 On Braid
A huge investment for one man, but a drop in the ocean for any major developer.

Looks like we've cycled over to a DLC week, headlined by Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty on PlayStation Network, with Galaga Legions coming out a day earlier (but far, far overshadowed) on XBLA. After R&C, it's a very thin week. Interesting that a downloadable title is the heavy here. Anibus for Wii, I never heard of it and can't find anything on, but it's an Egyptian tomb crawler, but the God in question is Anubis. So maybe this is about a dyslexic archaeologist, I don't know.

Tuesday (Aug 19)
Super Pick Ups (Wii)
Commando: Steel Disaster (DS)
Shattered Suns (PC)
Two Worlds: Epic Edition (PC)
Too Human (360)
Smash Court Tennis 3 (360)

Wednesday (Aug. 20)
Galaga Legions (XBLA)
MindHabits (PC)

Thursday (Aug. 21)
Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty (PSN)
Tank Universal: Challenger Eight (PC)
Anibus (Wii)
Sinking Island (PC)
Dracula 3: Path of the Dragon (PC)

Early this morning we got a tip to that photo (and others), which is part of a gallery of the very attractive Ann Angel showing her lust for Master Chief. The tip backtracked to a site called Gamer Fetish (extremely NSFW, NSFchildren, NSFusing family computer at kitchen table, you name it). And I think it's safe to say that geek porn is officially a growth segment for that business, no small feat considering the infinite variety of infinite fetishes/urges/niches served by online erotica.

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Everything is made more legitimate when described in a British accent, even when the narrator uses phrases like "video game things." So here is British Gaming Blog's "Summer Athletics Preview" -- in which Eidos touted the release of its upcoming Summer Athletics (Sept. 30 in Europe for the Wii) with some events of its own -- Xbox Put, the Wiilay, and the Gamecube Toss. Teaser only, they'll have the full video up sometime later. But you can get a look at some Xboxes smashing on the concrete at Battersea Athletics Track. I bet they'd still work.

I just realised I have a great name for UK broadcasting. And I love impersonating the broadcasts. "GMT time is twenty-two hundred. Owen Good, Kotaku World Service". Good thing this is text only, I think Stuart would beat me senseless if I said that in his presence.

Summer Athletics Preview [British Gaming Blog]

With the discussion generated by 'what I learned by not playing Civilization,', I thought L.B. Jeffries' thoughts on creating a 'universal model' for games was pretty interesting. Part of the issue is convergence — 'pure' games are hard to find, and more and more incorporate various design strategies and elements. Would it be impossible to design a game that would appeal to a really diverse swath of players? Players that are sometimes playing entirely different kinds of games? Refinement is key:

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Justin over at Game With a Brain wrote up a list of 25 reasons gamers annoy non-gamers. Not sure if he's a non-gamer, as the knowledge is pretty specific. But I agree a lot of these are pretty palpable reasons I get hacked off at my own people. He should have thrown something in about inscrutable Asian MMOs. I get that it's an acquired taste but, really, blowing your own head off to activate your powers? Ummm ...

Here's the first 10. The other 15 are on the jump. The comments on Game With a Brain absolutely crucify the guy. I don't know if they get the point of the satire, but they take it way too seriously, and that could be reason No. 26

1. Halo is not a sport.
2. The controllers are indeed too complicated.
3. No, I have no clue what happened in Mega Man 4.
4. I don't need 502 ways to decapitate my opponent.
5. No, I do not need to read a FAQ to find all 502 ways.
6. Zelda games do not need to be hard edged.
7. Resident Evil 2 is not the best in the series.
8. Final Fantasy VII is the best Final Fantasy.
9. I find Wii Sports to be incredibly fun.
10. I own a PSP and have not installed custom firmware.

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The issue of created languages is hardy new (cf Esperanto), but I've not seen a lengthy discussion of created languages in games — the challenges and pitfalls of designing a working, intuitive, and integrated linguistic system that's really a part of a game is an interesting issue. James Portnow spoke with Richard Garriott, lead designer of Ultima, about the keys to creating an intuitive in-game language that isn't too intrusive. Portnow further muses on the 'language' of games, and how created languages can inform our design of other aspects of the user interface:

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Swedish techno music and the Wilhelm Scream! (at 0:50). Are either of those the reason for the "mature audiences" flag on this trailer? Or is it because they show quasi-Nazis? (Quazis?) Bionic Command Rearmed is out on PSN, XBLA and PC in all regions. Anyone pick it up yet?

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I find security issues facing games pretty interesting; PlayNoEvil is one of my favourite spots for discussion about security related issues. Gamasutra sat down with Gene Hoffman, CEO of Vindicia, a billing and fraud management company, about the issues facing MMOs and ways to mitigate those issues. Of particular concern are the RMT resale markets (if it exists), and chargebacks. And what of the mingling of real and virtual economies? Hoffman has this to say:

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Ah, and by that I mean association football, not "throwball" as soccer enthusiasts call American football. Seems that one of the coverboys for FIFA 09, Maurice Edu (at right in the cover shot) of Major League Soccer's Toronto FC, is close to signing with Glasgow Rangers of the Scottish Premier League. That would make two football cover boys changing shirts in as many months for Electronic Arts.

Players changing teams in the European domestic leagues is common, and Edu is nowhere near as iconic a player for TFC as Favre was for the Packers. But if Edu does end up with Rangers, will EA update their cover art with a downloadable/printable replacement? Will we see guerrilla shoops a week after he changes teams? It's one thing to second-class the sport over in the U.S. How would it be taken in Europe? Or since it involves an MLS player, would anyone even care ...

Another Cover Change for EA? [XeNonX, thanks Ben]

(Ulterior motive: A football post allows me to boast about San Jose dismantling Revolution 4-nil last night. We are absolutely the best last place team in anything on the face of the earth right now.)

Ian Bogost sent along this link to his latest little title, this one called Honorarium: "An autobiographical art game. Assemble lectures to present. If you do well enough, you can unlock invitations to travel and speak". I've spent a bit of time with it — I guess I can sympathise with aspects of the game, since I'm the poster child for 'inability to balance life and work — wait, work IS my life.' Just as interesting, however, is his discussion of the way he created the game through Sims Carnival. EA invited Ian to create a game using the tools available through the site. And, as he points out:

Much of the rhetoric surrounding these game creation and distribution sites relies on accessibility: they are supposed to make game development easy. But the truth is, simplified creation tools don't necessarily make creativity easier or harder, they just impose different constraints.

Honourarium [Sims Carnival via Ian Bogost]

Valve's milking its new "Heavy Update" for all it can give. Last week we told you about the Killing Gloves of Boxing. Well, the new achievements that were unveiled with that unlockable now have their requirements listed. Many of them pun broken Russo-English, and one "Don't Touch Sandvich" -- Kill 10 Scouts with your minigun "Natascha" -- gets revenge for Scout punking Heavy in the "Meet the Scout" trailer.

Updated Heavy Achievements [Official Site, thanks reader Bcoolbyte]

We've mentioned Soul Bubbles a few times, most recently in regards to the expert bias inherent in game reviews. GameSetWatch has a great interview up with Oliver Lejade, artistic director of the small French studio that turned out the DS game — it's reasonably lengthy, and a lot of issues get touched on, from Soul Bubbles itself, to that same 'expert bias,' to the market for DS titles (which Lejade says is being killed from a lack of originality and problems related to retail distribution channels). On the problem of how games are picked up by (large) retailers, Lejade has this to say:

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Here's the "Jackal" trailer for Far Cry 2, set in Africa. All I can say is, thank God they're shooting at white people.

Far Cry 2 -- Exclusive Jackal Trailer [GameTrailers]

There are plenty of fields where the academic-'real world' divide is pretty sharp — and it's probably no surprise that game-related research falls into that category. Richard Bartle, MUD co-creator, criticises universities who are resistant to change — while 'modern' universities (ones who developed from polytechnics or institutes, at least in the UK) are more willing to lead the way with creative courses, older institutions are less likely to follow suit:

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Although I probably should leave anything in Japanese to Bash, pictures speak any language, and there are nearly 150 of them of Fallout 3 that have hit the Internet following the Zenimax Asia expo (Zenimax owns Fallout developer Bethesda.) Tipster Brother None, the forum admin over at No Mutants Allowed, writes: "Apparently the people viewing Fallout 3 in the ZeniMax Asia showing in Taiwan did not take their NDAs very seriously". Apparently so. We have a gallery of 28 screenies on the jump, with a link to the entire set.

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PlayStation Universe reports that Famitsu magazine reports that the PS3-exclusive Final Fantasy XIII demo will clock in at more than two hours, which is longer than the CGI movie bundled with it, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete. The bundle releases March 2009.

The demo will be on a separate disc (ah ha! Blu-Ray has its limitations too ya know!!!!) The demo will be based on the opening to the game, naturally. Wouldn't be smart to spoilerize everything. Two other tidbits, I'll fess up and say I have no clue what these mean so I'll just quote verbatim: "One of the female characters, refered to as 'Pigtails Girl', has been through some tough times". And "Mr. 33CM's real name is based off of weather as well".
Final Fantasy XIII Demo to Last Over 2 Hours [PlayStation Universe]