To: Crecente
From: Bashcraft
RE: PAX Road Trip: The Washington Edition

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Live in LA? Drive an automobile? Call it gas, and not petroleum? Oh boy is this your lucky day. Starting at 6am today (so SOON), the Mobil at 8489 Beverly Blvd will be taken over by EA. They'll be there to shill Mercenaries 2. There'll be attendants dressed up as mercenaries, there'll probably be all kinds of various promotion materiel lying around, but most important of all: there'll be free gas. Yup. Free. Gas. There's a statement to be had about gas, American consumer culture and the resource-driven conflict that drives Mercenaries 2's storyline somewhere in all this, but really, it'll be lost amidst the fact EA are practically giving away money.

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Cooking Mama sure can cook. Might want to get her to cook your books, Majesco, as the company today received a formal warning notice from the NASDAQ Stock Exchange. The exchange has rules, and one of those rules is that shares in a company can't trade at under $1.00 for 30 days in a row. Majesco's have been trading at under $1.00 for 30 days now, so they've got this warning, along with a condition that if they can't get it back over $1.00 by February 2009, they might get themselves delisted from the stock exchange. A fate which is probably a lot more awful than it sounds.

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That's a screen from DS title Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword. Maybe you've seen it, maybe not. It refers to a book on monsters called Yokai Attack!. That's a real book! Look, it exists right here — they wrote it. See, when ninjy translators Matt Alt (a "robot otaku") and Hiroko Yoda (a Facebook revolutionary) localised the game, they translated the original Japanese text and an "encyclopedia of yokai". But, when they saw the final product, they noticed that the game's localisation director Andrew Szymanski had changed it to Yokai Attack in honour of Alt and Yoda's book.

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Whoah, little late on the post-E3 navel-gazing aren't we, Will? That's OK. Spore's probably been keeping you very busy. Anyway, Wright's message is a little different from the usual "love it/hate it" thing. He's just sad that it's dead and doesn't know it.

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Yesterday saw the release of To LOVEru, which follows he adventures of a high school boy and an alien girl named Lala who one days appears out in his home of nowhere buck naked. Besides the been-there-touched-that mini-games, the DS title also features a milk squirting mini-game. Players must squirt condensed milk on a strawberry Lala is holding.

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Earlier today, we first broke the news that Square Enix had plans to takeover beleaguered game company Tecmo. At the ensuing press conference, Square Enix president Yoichi Wada revealed that this friendly takeover offer wasn't as sudden as it appears.

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Those who have finished Metal Gear Solid 4 know: Complete the game and you get access to a screen where you can enter passwords. We've shown you some of these before (here and here). Enter skynytktjp and get Mk.II scanning plug. Enter mgo2play and get SUBSISTENCE ACTION for the in-game iPod. So there you go.

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Look at the North American PlayStation Store update. Go on, take a good look at it. Now look at this European one. Aside from the obligatory absence of timely Rock Band content, can you see much of a difference? At least in the important stuff? Don't bother, there isn't one. The Last Guy is there. The Warhawk pack is there. Heck, the PAL store even gets a few extras, like Medal of Honour Heroes 2 on PSP. Not often you see this kind of parity between the stores, PAL users, so be sure to make the most of it!

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So there's a new Indiana Jones game hitting the DS and the PSP called Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings. While the PEGI rating for the game was vague, we have learned more details about the yet unannounced game.

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Quick: what's Birdo? Dude thing, or lady thing? Upcoming Wii game Captain Rainbow seeks to capitalise on this confusion by making Birdo the centre of one of your first quests. Birdo needs your help getting "her" out of jail, after the fuzz - convinced she's a he - lock her up for using the women's bathroom. And the only way you can get her out?

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The latest issue of Famitsu Xbox 360 has an interview with voice actress Yuna Inamura, known for her work in anime like SoltyRei and Darker than Black. The interview isn't pretty much what you'd expect! Though, she does talk about living in Osaka as a kid and going to Takarazuka Revue.

The unintentionally hilarious part isn't anything she says in the interview. Oh, no. It's the picture she drew for Famitsu.com. The name of the "new" character is "Xbo-Kun".

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Neversoft, Harmonix, we get it. You guys make competing music games. There's beef. But is there really any need to get so damn...petty? Here's Guitar Hero director Brian Bright, on Harmonix's decision to include cymbals on their Rock Band 2 drum kit:

I don't know how far ahead they planned that - we obviously revealed [our drum kit] much earlier than they did...I've a feeling there was a: 'Oh s***! There's cymbals! How can we put cymbals on our kit?' That would be the easiest way without having to rewire everything and re-engineer the entire circuit board.

Brian. Harmonix invented Guitar Hero. They then invented Rock Band, which GH World Tour is now , for want of a better word, copying. Might be for the best if you keep the "innovation" smack talk to a minimum.

GH dev mocks Rock Band cymbals [Eurogamer] [Image: Corbis]

Hollywood director Brett Ratner (X-Men: The Last Stand, other tripe) has a dream. He wants to make a Guitar Hero movie. Listen to what Ratner has to say:

I love Guitar Hero and I think it's a part of pop culture. I would love to do a Guitar Hero movie, if Activision would ever let me. I'm trying to convince them, but why would you have a movie screw up such a huge franchise? Not that I would make a bad movie. So that would be cool, to do a Guitar Hero movie.

We're pretty sure that Brett Ratner never sets out to make a bad movie. Shit just happens, you know? For those still interested in what he has to say (masochist much?), hit the jump for Ratner's plot idea:

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You know, sometimes these patent suits are justified. The Immersion stuff, that's fair enough, because Immersion actually make things that rumble. It's what they do. Stuff like this suit, though? It does little but take the piss. Orinda Intellectual Properties USA (the name says it all) have, on August 20, filed a suit against Sony, Sony Electronics, Sony Computer Entertainment and Sony Computer Entertainment America. They claim that the PS3's Blu-Ray drive (as well as other Sony BD players) violates a patent Orinda hold that relates to...storing data on a disc. Not only are the patent trolls asking for "a reasonable royalty", they want the sales of all Blu-Ray devices across America to be halted.

Good luck with that.

Orinda Intellectual Properties USA Holding Group Inc v. Sony Corporation et al [via Edge]

Thanks, Brandon!

Wizards of the Coast's Tiny Adventures has me a little confused. Sure, it's a neat little distraction, but it makes me wonder if WotC's online dudes have lost sight of the bigger picture:

The most galling aspect of the game, from a pen-and-paper player's perspective, has nothing to do with its mechanics at all. The mere existence of the app raises the question: Why is WotC's online team taking time to code a Facebook game, when the promised DM and player tools for 4th Edition remain in a state of limbo?

Play day: D&D Tiny Adventures [Playwrite]

Earlier this month, a man walked into an EB Games outside St. Louis, pulled a gun and told the clerk his family was being held hostage and that he needed a PS3 to set them free. Good news! The police have apprended the man, his gun and the PS3. According to the police, the man's family was never in danger. According to us, the man is bonkers.

What else we learned: When the police originally were called about the crime, they arrived on the scene 37 seconds later as they have a station near that particular EB Games. 37 seconds? That's fast, but not crazy fast as the man, his gun and the PS3 had already fled the scene.

Man Who Claimed He Stole Playstation To Save His Family Arrested [KSDK Thanks, dae_giovanni!]

Chin up, Itagaki. You went out a winner! Tecmo have announced today that Ninja Gaiden II has now sold over one million copies worldwide since release. Which, really, they'll be over the moon about considering the game launched with little marketing and (come on, let's be honest) wasn't even as good as the first one. Wonder whether the next one - the one without Itagaki - will do any better. For all we know, Square could add Sephiroth as a playable character and watch it sell 20 million.

Ninja Gaiden II skewers 1M [GameSpot]

Next month at the arcade Amusement Machine Show in Chiba, Japan, SNK is rolling out the first playable King of Fighters XII cabinets for Joe Q. Public! SNK has also released three new screenshots as well.

While writing the arcade book, I had a chance to check out The King of Fighters XII at SNK's offices on the actual cabinet — they even opened it up so I could check out the TAITO Type X2 system board. Obviously, it was an earlier build, but the game looked (and played) great. Those who like SNK fighters should be very, very happy, and the 100 percent hand-drawn graphics are stunning. The game is slated to hit Japanese arcades later this year.

If you live in Tokyo and want to hit the Amusement Machine show (it's the 46th one — think about it!), it show will be held at the Makuhari Messe. It runs from the 18th to the 20th with the 20th being a public day. If you purchase your ticket in advance, it's only ¥700, but ¥1,000 the day of the show. If you are over sixty or under than elementary school age, then it's free.

9月のAMショーで『THE KING OF FIGHTERS XII』が試遊可能！ [Dengeki via Insert Credit]

That LittleBigPlanet box art we posted the other day? Everything we said there still applies to this one. Except, it was the European box art. This is the American one. Which is different! Notice the removal of the large amounts of pink from the cover, as well as a suggestive set of lips, which those liberal Europeans may abide but which sure as shit won't stand in the US of A. Click through for a larger version.

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Wii Music 'Today's Musical Instrument' #1 [Balance Board Blog]

Got your internet filing cabinet handy? File this between "dubious" and "unexpected". Maxconsole say that - according to a "Best Buy insider" - the new PSP-3000 model won't just feature a brighter screen and cleaner edges, it'll apparently let you plug in your DualShock 3 pad and use it to play games. It'll also allow the outputting of video to a TV via 480i, instead of the currently-mandated 480p. The DS3 thing, it sounds both sketchy and useless (unless more developers start taking remote play a lot more seriously), but the 480i thing might be good news if you're some kind of...uh...a...travelling salesman (?), dependant on your PSP for entertainment (??), and often find yourself in cheap hotels with old, crummy, composite-only TV sets.

Insider says PSP 3000 will be able to play games with PS3 controller [Maxconsole]

While this week's North American PlayStation Store update isn't as rich in content as last week's, it's still an excellent offering. If only because, when you browse down the list of available items, you see the text "You are the chosen one, a zombie hero from the Himalayan mountains, and it is up to you to rescue the last survivors on Earth by leading them to safety through zombie-infested streets". You're on the right track with this whole Last Guy thing, Sony. Also available today is Warhawk's latest update - the one that brings the hot jetpack action - with the rest of the week's items after the jump.

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Yesterday, we broke that Gearbox Director of Technology Corrinne Yu has been hired by Microsoft Game Studios to be Principle Engine Architect for Microsoft's Halo Franchise Team. Microsoft has confirmed to Kotaku that Yu had in fact been hired by Microsoft. "As the Halo franchise continues to flourish, Microsoft Game Studios is growing its internal team to develop future Halo projects", Microsoft stated.

We've been told by several industry sources that Yu was part of a package deal. She, and her husband, Kenneth Scott are both joining Microsoft Game Studios. Scott is an art director at id Software, most recently working on Enemy Territory: Quake Wars.

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We may have gotten wind of it a bit early, but it's always nice to back things up with an official announcement. Snowblind Studios, Inc. and Flat Games LLC have proudly announced Death Tank for Xbox Live Arcade, a classic game of tanks and trajectories redone with that special XBLA flair. People like to compare it to Worms, but I like to go back a bit further and compare it to an old addiction of mine, Scorched Earth, only with powerups, particle effects, and 8-player multiplayer via Xbox Live (4-players locally). We've got screens, a debut video after the jump, but no word on when it's coming out. Can't possibly be soon enough in my book. This is gaming right here.

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Speaking with German site Welt Online, Sony President Sir Howard Stringer has spoken at length on the PlayStation 3. On how it's probably not going to see a price-cut in 2008, on how it cost more money to develop than they'll ever make back in his lifetime, on how game sales will offset that loss. But most interesting of his comments come when asked to compare Nintendo's top-selling Wii to the PS3, where he replies:

It's a different experience. The Wii is a well-made device that has found a new target group. For a while, we held the same target group with the SingStar karaoke game. But perhaps we neglected to pursue that avenue. Playstation games are rather designed for those who play a lot. Although it's a different strategy, it pays off.

Of course you neglected to pursue that avenue. Phil Harrison - the guy who was pushing SingStar, and EyeToy, and Buzz! - didn't leave for Atari for the prestige.

Future of Sony Ericsson uncertain [Welt Online] [Image]

Lara Croft kicks tigers in the face in this new gameplay trailer from Tomb Raider: Underworld. The series' classic platforming in ancient ruins seems to be alive and well. Better watch the video quick before PETA calls and tells us to pull it. The game will be hitting all consoles (except PSP) and PC in November.

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Today at 1pm Japan Time, Square Enix will be outlining its plans for a friendly takeover troubled game maker Tecmo. Square Enix's takeover would help the company gain a stronger foothold in the U.S. market with popular Tecmo titles like the Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive games. What's more, Tecmo's games will help strengthen Square Enix's current portfolio, which is heavily dependent on RPGs.

This isn't the first time Square Enix has moved in on a beleaguered company. In August 2005, Square Enix acquired Taito and wholly owned the company as a subsidiary by September 2005.

Just ahead of some related sessions at PAX, Microsoft has released a beta version of the game creation components for PopFly.

PopFly is a creative tool for making Silverlight (think Flash, only more Microsofty) apps and games.

This beta comes with more templates for different game type and other special features like scroll wheel support, sprite editors and tools to insert video and images into game scenes.

Popfly game creator beta released [Major Nelson]

While your humming your favourite Tom Jones song from the FIFA 09 soundtrack you can take a look at these new 360/PS3 screenshots in all of their glory. I love what EA has done with the crowd in particular, creating a huge sense of scale in an impressive stadium. The game will be hitting stores on all consoles and PC October 14th.

A few days ago we showed you tons of explosions. Today it looks like the Mercenaries trailer madness is coming to a close with this official launch trailer. Remember guys the game will be out for PC, PlayStation 2, Playstation 3, and Xbox 360 on Sunday.

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Tower Defence-style games are beginning to crop up more and more - all desperate to hit that same sweet spot between lunchtime casual and mouth-foaming addiction typified by Desktop Tower Defence.

At PAX , Microsoft Game Studios & Hidden Path will be deploying Defence Grid: The Awakening - a glossy take on the genre for XBLA featuring all the key ingredients: lots of enemies & loads of different turrets and weapon emplacements to blow them up with, all strategic-like.

The game has an impressive-sounding pedigree. Designed by Mark terrano (previously responsible for Age Of Empires II) and using Oblivion's Gamebryo engine to render rather nice looking 3D environs.

www.hiddenpath.com

Being able to upload someones face on a character in Rainbow Six: Vegas was disturbingly satisfying. In this video we take a look at EA Canada's similar facial recognition feature, Photo Game Face. Watch how Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt (MTV's The Hills) kick the living crap out of each other. The game will be out for Xbox 360 and PS3 September 5th.

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While we all wait — with breath that at least slightly baited — for news of the new Oddworld game, Valve's Doug Lombardi got in touch to tell us about the release of two of the earlier Oddworld games through Steam.

Poorly-spelled platforming classics Abe's Oddysee and Abe's Exoddus are now on the Steam network for a measly $US 9.99 a pop, with an "Oddworld Pack" featuring both games for $US 14.99.

For the first week, Steam subscribers can buy either or both titles at a special 10% discount. Which is nice.

www.steamgames.com

If you pre-orded Will Wright's upcoming opus Spore from the Electronic Arts Store you can hit up EA today to pre-load the game.

Once pre-ordered you can use the EA Download Manager to download 99 percent of the game to your computer. That's the good news. The bad news is that that last 1 percent of Spore is going to take you 30 minutes to an hour to download and install on on Sept. 7 when the game hits North America.

Own a Mac? Then you're out of luck until the game ships.

I just popped over to the Sporepedia to see how creature creating was moving along. It looks like gamers have now crafted more than 3 million critters, including one from Will Wright himself. That's right he finally got around to creating his creature for the Sporelebirty contest. The three-eyed beastie is called Tricolps. (I'm stilling clinging to the number five position in the contest.)

James Yu over at GameSpot has just posted an excellent hands-on comparison of the old Sony PSP 2000 model and the shiny new PSP 3000, announced just last week at the Games Convention in Leipzig. While we've already posted the comparison that showed up on Famitsu, the GameSpot article has a few things going for it. More comparison photos of the screen, which looks to be where the biggest noticeable differences lie, and the fact that James writes in easy-to-understand English, always appreciated by us English-exclusive humans like myself. Hit the link below for the full skinny on what has changed in obsessive detail, right down to the surface textures of the plastic.

Sony PSP 3000 Hands-On [GameSpot]

Can it be true? Now that the Wii is confirmed as the new home of violent hardcore gaming is the time right for a remake of good old Resi 2?

Japanese fan board 2ch has popped up a rumour concerning a possible remake of Biohazard 2 (aka Resident Evil 2 - but you knew that, right?) that will be exclusive to the Wii.

If the rumour is correct — and when has a random post on a Japanese fan site ever been wrong? — then we will be treated to a full Wii-ified remake, with some additional story elements. There will be a new 'swordsman' enemy (sword waggling minigame, anyone?) and 'Resident Evil 4 Viewpoints', which could mean anything - possibly 3rd-person over-the-shoulder stuff?

Its more than likely just bobbins, but even the slightest hint of RE2 is better than no RE2 at all.

Biohazard 2 Remake on the way? [The Horror Is Alive via N-Europe]

The schwag of Penny Arcade Expo includes an eclectic mix of PAX-themed giveaways and buyables. My favourite among the offerings though are these three PAX-wrapped consoles.

A blue, black and grey PS3, Wii and Xbox 360 will go to the winner and runner-up of this year's Omegathon, with the winner also landing themselves a trip to the Tokyo Game Show.

If you're hitting the show and not one of the lucky few selected to compete in the Omegathon you can still get your hands on some PAX-themed goodies.

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Bestselling crime writer James Patterson is working on a series of casual games based on his Women's Murder Club books.

As well as singing the praises of the titles he is developing with I-Play, Patterson was careful to stick a stiletto blade in the back of his competitors.

"I wanted the story to have some dramatic power, something to hold you. I wanted the little side missions - which are a staple of casual games - to be a little more organic. In some casual games they can get a little sloppy. At least in WMC the little things - such as the parts where you have to mix the chemicals in the lab - have some relevance to the main story".

Well, you have to give him this much - nothing says 'dramatic power' like a chemical mixing minigame.

Casual game design 'can get sloppy' says author James Patterson [CasualGaming.biz]

Times like this I wish they had just flat-out refused to sell former Activision CEO Howard Marks the Acclaim name back in 2005. Acclaim Games has just launched MyDivaDoll, a web-based online game described in the announcement email as "The Game of Attitude, Fashion, & Interior Design". Create your own diva, buy here clothes, decorate her house, and try not to feel violated with the knowledge that anyone can then click on her, strip her down to her underwear and just...stare. The game also features community voting for best doll and best condo, various mini-games, and a flirting game that I don't think I even want to understand.

I tried to create my own diva, but as you can see from the results I spent far too many DivaBucks on facial tattoos, leaving me no money for pants, a situation I find myself in with alarming regularity. Feel free to hop over there and create your own, but remember to share!

MyDivaDoll: Attitude, Fashion & Interior Design [Acclaim]