And it's a long one. Bring tea, and biscuits. Or, if you're a raving mad Square Enix fan, those two plus whatever else it is you'll need for 5:13 of hot, one-on-one Final Fantasy fisticuff action.

[thanks everyone who sent this in!]

Joining Jimi Hendrix and Ozzy Osbourne is Neil Patrick Harris rocker Sting. (Needs more tantric.) This was first leaked back in June when an a survey leaked the following names as in-game characters: Sting, Ozzy Osbourne, Ted Nugent, Billy Corgan, Jimi Hendrix, Travis Barker, Hayley Williams, and Zak Wylde. Says Sting about Guitar Hero:

I tried to play Guitar Hero and I'm not very good. My kids can do it.

Yeah, Sting has better things to do — like have sex with his wife FOR NINE HOURS.

Sting Appears [The Sun via Eurogamer]

It's sale time! Until the end of October, downloadable content across a range of Xbox 360 games (well, six of them) has been discounted, some by a little, some by a lot. While cheaper Beautiful Katamari costumes will do little but remind you that game ever came out, the Oblivion-flavoured savings are a little more enticing, with Shivering Isles down from 2400 MS Points to 1600. Other games with discounted DLC include Guitar Hero III, Forza 2 and Mass Effect, you can see the full list at the link below.
Extended Play Download Days (price drop on DLC) [Microsoft]

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Ex-Team Ninja boss Tomonobu Itagaki drinks. And never sees sunlight. Which explains the vitriol, because when he's not taking swings at Tekken, he's taking swings at Devil May Cry and Okami creator Hideki Kamiya. The Tekken things, that's just a spirited expression of personal taste, but the Kamiya thing...dude may have a point, because he was only responding to these comments by the ex-Capcom man:

I've never played Ninja Gaiden, and to be honest, I'm not that interested.

The quality that gets you interested in something is that you feel something for them. Like on TV, or a movie, or a song, or whatever. You just feel something, and you get pulled into it, and then that's how you pick something up. But Ninja Gaiden just didn't have that power, so that's why I wasn't interested in it.

These Japanese developers, they're like an all-male soap opera. Stay tuned for next week's episode, where Keiji Inafune calls Miyamoto a "total bitch".

Devil May Cry Creator 'Not Interested' in Ninja Gaiden [1UP]

Okay, so the Xbox 360 price cuts are a go! The newly priced Arcade Xbox 360 console is US$ 50 cheaper than the Nintendo Wii. But hang on there, sport, that doesn't mean Microsoft is thinking it's going to beat Nintendo. Ha! Microsoft's got its eyes on Sony. Says Xbox exec Don Mattrick (pictured):

I'm not at a point where I can say we're going to beat Nintendo... We will sell more consoles this generation than Sony.

Microsoft and Sony battle it out to the death for... the number 2 slot? Some console war.

Microsoft Will Cut Xbox Prices in the U.S. [Business Week via VG247]

The Gears 2 development team have a motto: bigger, better, more badass. It's inscribed, in blood, atop their monitors, and every morning, they gather in a circle, wearing dark hoods, and chant it in latin. But it doesn't just apply to the development of the game. Oh no, according to Epic artist Pete Hayes, it applies to the marketing as well. Witness Dude Huge and his toy Lancer. Or this comment from lead writer Josh Ortega:

The first [Gears] was good and if we can find a way to do ten times better, than I'd be impressed. That sounds hard, but sure, why not? I say the original Gears was like the ten, but sure, let's go to eleven. Like Spinal Tap, right? Let's go to eleven.

Cocky? We like to think they're just not taking the lead-in to this game as SERIOUSLY as some other developers do (though few developers get the luxury of working on a guaranteed million-seller).

Lead GoW2 artist and writer talk Lancer polys, deaths and comics [X3F]

Ryu Ga Gotoku is a solid game with great voice acting. With the game was localised for the West, SEGA made the mistake of dubbing over the voices in English with folks like Michael Madson and Luke Skywalker. It didn't work. At all. Sure, both of those are talented actors, but the dubbing didn't fit. It was, to put it nicely, a "criminally bad f*ck up". But SEGA listened. SEGA cares. According to SEGA's Associate Producer Kevin Frane:

When Yakuza was released in the U.S. without a Japanese voice track, there was actually a significant fan outcry. Obviously, this is a very Japanese game, set in Japan and dealing heavily with Japanese culture, and quite a lot of people thought that not having the original Japanese dialogue affected the game's sense of authenticity. When definitely took that fan reaction into account when making the ultimate decision to go ahead with the Japanese voice track for Yakuza 2.

Bravo, SEGA. Nice to know you're listening!

Sega tells us why they kept the Japanese voice track in Yakuza 2 [Siliconera]

Slow week this week. Nothing wrong on the parity side of things, as most things the US store got the PAL one's got, it's just a slow week, that's all. Can't imagine millions of you clamouring for some new Haze maps, though with ice hockey a sort-of-big-deal in certain parts of Europe, the NHL 2K9 demo might go down a little better.

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Just as the PSP-3000 gets released in Japan in mid-October, Sony will be putting out two more PSP Gundam titles in its "the Best" line later that month. Both Gundam Battle Chronicle and SD Gundam G Generation Portable both go on sale October 23rd for ¥2,800 ($US 26). Not a bad price if you're into giant robots and Sony handhelds!

Press release after the jump.

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There's rumours! Rumours on the street. Wall Street, to be precise, as investment site Seeking Alpha say they've heard EA may be "walking away from merger talks" with long-time takeover target Take-Two. T2's conference call earlier today said nothing of this, of course, nor have EA (as the pair are now cosy in their cone of silence), so this is all conjecture, but it's hardly outrageous conjecture. The EA-T2 courtship rituals have been prologued, fumbling and, ultimately, boring, with a deal looking less and less likely the longer the whole sorry mess drags itself along.

It's D-Day For Take-Two Interactive [Seeking Alpha, via GamePolitics] [Image]

Japan's Club Nintendo really has neat things. Not all the things are neat, but enough of them are. The new goodies offered to Japanese Nintendo Club members are:

• DS title Game & Watch Collection 2: 500 points
It includes retro Game & Watch titles Parachute and Octopus.
• Touch! Generations Soundtrack: 400 Points
A 25 song CD with music from Animal Crossing, Wii Sports and Wii Fit. Key word: Smoothing.
• Mario Party 8 Playing Cards: 300 Points
Self-explanatory, we reckon.
• Mario and Luigi Mini Pouches: 300 Points
They look like Mario Bros. hats, but are game pouches.
• Nintendo DS Lite Pouches: 250 Points
Four different colours to choose from — yellow, red, green and orange.
• Original Mario Badge: 250 Points
Also, four different designs to pick from.

Announcing New Goods! [Club Nintendo via

This thing's called the Wii Recovery Dongle. You clip it into your Wii's GameCube memory card slot and, if you're in possession of a bricked Wii, it might (provided you've got the skills) just help you save your console. Might. To be honest the specifics are waaaaay over our heads, so if you've got a dead Wii on your hands and would like a more detailed run-down, the kids at HackMii are the ones to see.

Wii Recovery Dongle [HackMii]

Game site Edge Online has a round-up on the game views of the presidential candidates. While certainly there are bigger issues at hand during this elections, Edge's write-up is, at the very least, sums up what the candidates have said (or not said) about video games.

Hit the link below to read thru.

Who is the Gamer's Candidate? [EDGE via Go Nintendo]

Politicians and games classification. Like a bag of jelly babies, you get all sorts. There are those that can't see beyond their own ideals, others who should be shot, a few who believe games are some kind of mystical contraption that can't be monitored and the educated rebels who are fighting for reform.

Now, the Greens has weighed in with its thoughts and sadly, they're not in our favour:

According to WAvotes.org.au, a website run by the Australian Christian Lobby where parties respond to questions likely to be raised by Christian voters, the Greens oppose the introduction of R18+ computer games 'because of the levels of violent content, sexual objectification of women and drug references that provoke this rating.'

WA Greens oppose R18+ game rating, so which party supports it? [Somebody think of the children, thanks Michael]

This came through the pipe a few days ago, but managed to miss my inbox and hit the spam filter instead. In case you missed it too, Microsoft has dropped the price on several Xbox 360 peripherals, including its network adaptors, headsets and remotes. The discounts range from $20 to $50.

The 360 racing wheel saw the largest drop, from $199.95 to $149.95, while the 120GB HDD saw a modest reduction of $30, from $229.95 to $199.95. Doesn't stop it from remaining damn shameful, considering your local PC shop could sell you the same sized "non-Xbox 360" HDD for $50.

The rest of the pricing info can be found after the jump.

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Microsoft has kindly provided us with five copies of Too Human on Xbox 360 to give away. Of course, we can't just pick five readers to hand the game to - no, we need some competition. Some fierce competition. To this end, we're asking you to post a comment to this story. In it, you need to propose a name and sub-title for the sequel to Too Human. For instance:

Too Human 2: Even More Human

Be sure to include your email address in the provided field when you comment so we can contact you if you win. And yes, you can enter as many times as you like, but you're only eligible for a single copy. Also note this competition is open to residents of Australia and NZ only. Winners will be announced this time next week.

Now, let me hear your ideas! Note that any comments that are not competition entries will be deleted to prevent confusion.

Still waiting for your Pub Games code from your EB Games Fable II preorder? Last we heard they were due before the end of last month, but that didn't quite happen, did it?

Well, we have a new, firmer estimate from tipster and EB employee Diomades. He's been told the Xbox Live Arcade tokens will be available from September 8. His EB doesn't have any actual stock, but he suspects they'll arrive today - if they haven't already.

Love Monster Hunter more than life itself? Probably not, as you're probably not a Japanese PSP owner, but on the off chance that you are, boy is this your lucky day. Capcom are getting into the business of travel. And not just any travel, guided tours, with your guides being none other than the Monster Hunter dev team. On offer is a two-night, three-day trip to Okinama, which will set you back $US 1500. Expensive for such a short trip, but remember, you're not only getting the chance to explore the island with your development idols, you're getting the chance to steal their shampoo.

Monster Hunter Tour [Capcom]

Developer Polytron is best known for the upcoming Fez, but Polytron's Phil Fish (pictured) says the dev has something else up his sleeve — namely, an iPhone game. Says Fish:

Right now I'm collaborating with Alec Holowka on a little iPhone game that will probably come out way before Fez. It's a bit early to commit to anything yet, but Alec and I are making this cool little game that's all about multi-touch. You play as a little dose of medicine inside people's bodies, and you have to cure them.

Alrighty, then!

Interview: Phil Fish (Fez) [Indie Games via Game|Life ] [Pic]

Well played, sirs! It's been announced earlier today that Sins of a SOlar Empire - Stardock's sleeper-hit PC space strategy game - has sold over 500,000 copies. That's around 400,000 at retail, and over 100,000 via digital download. Considering it's a very PC PC game (ie there are menu buttons everywhere), and cost only $US 1 million to make, calling it a success story would be selling it short by several orders of magnitude.

Wardell: Sins Of A Solar Empire Hits Low System Reqs-Aided 500,000 Units [Gamasutra]

Certainly looks that way. Found on the blog of the lead singer of Darkest of the Hillside Thickets (who are part of this week's DLC update), this screen was meant to show off the inclusion of their song "Shhh.".. in the game. Whatever, dude, never even heard of you. Look straight under "Shhh.".., however, and you'll see AC/DC's "Shoot To Thrill" listed as DLC. And the live version, from their Donington Castle show, to boot. Totally unconfirmed by Harmonix, of course, but then these kinds of things normally are.

AC/DC Rock Band DLC On the Way? [1UP]

Call of Duty's heading back to the sepia-toned days of the Second World War, and it's heading back there this Holiday season. Activision sent word today that the game will hit retail shelves across the US on November 11, around a month after the online betas kick off. That'll be all versions of it, too. Say what you will of Treyarch's track record, for a game that really should have "5" after the title, it's not looking too bad.

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We know THQ are working on a Warhammer brawler. And that it's both "brutal" and "intimate". Now, courtesy of this leaked demo vid, we know that it's called Warhammer 40K: Space Marine and, more importantly, we know how it looks. And boy does it look great. Bearing in mind this is early, raw footage (so excuse the empty levels and clunky run animation), the way they've already nailed the heavy and, yes, brutal feel of both the combat and the universe itself should have Warhammer fans excited.

[thanks Kave!]

Sometimes Facebook, Myspace, Bebo, Orkut and OpenSocial just aren't enough. Too much real world stuff, not enough gamerscore bragging.

Enter Raptr - a new social network for gamers founded by Dennis 'Thresh' Fong (he had to do something with all that prize money) that offers a way of tracking your friends and sharing what you are in to on several popular games networks.

Once you have signed in and chosen a nick, you can enter your IDs on Xbox Live, PSN, World of Warcraft, Steam and others, then start entering the games in your collection.

Where it can, Raptr will pull data from your various networks and update your profile with a list of your current games, achievements and the like. There are plugins for displaying your data on Facebook et al too, of course.

A free client for PC or Mac will display and update data from you and your friends in real time as well as suck data from any games you play on your box — less of an issue for most Mac geeks, presumably.

Raptr [via 1UP]

Oh ho ho. We told you to take that White Knight Story-is-dated-for-Japan-December-11th story with a "pinch — nay, a handful — of salt". And good thing! Pictured is the new issue of Famitsu which was supposed to contain this announcement. It doesn't. At all. Not only is there not a single article on the PS3 RPG exclusive, the game isn't even given a launch window. Just look at the cover and see how there's not a single mention of White Knight Story (in Japanese 白騎士物語). You'd think a big Level-5 developed Sony published PS3 exclusive would at least get a cover mention. Still, don't believe us? Hit the jump for the proof.

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With Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars coming to the Nintendo DS exclusively, does that pave the way for a Wii release? After all, the Wii is the best selling console in North America right now and Take-Two and Rockstar Games don't shy away from bringing mature content — Manhunt 2 and Bully, for example — to the little white wonder. And Grand Theft Auto IV is making Take-Two big bucks. Sounds like a profitable relationship on par with the perfection of chocolate and peanut butter.

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The Nintendo DS looks like its back on pace in Japan, outselling the PSP in the country for the fourth week in a row. With no major software releases for Sony's portable platform in the coming weeks, it appears it will stay that way for a while. Not much in the way of change for the week of August 25 to 31, as we await the Japanese release of Infinite Undiscovery to see if that shakes things up on the Xbox side.

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I'll tell you a secret: I got kicked out of arts and crafts in fourth grade. I was too busy beating up flirting with Patrick McHellen to pay attention to stuff like glue sticks and foldable tabs.

But if I hadn't gotten booted, maybe I would've been able to make this...

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Battle.net 2.0 Feature List
Oddly, potion duping is out.

Wrath of the Lich King US Date, Price
Hopefully it's a worldwide simultaneous release. Don't see why it wouldn't....

Grand Theft Auto IV Tops 10 Million
I don't believe anyone thought it was outside the realms of possibility.

X-COM Comes To Steam (And Wicked Cheap Too!)
You will not read more exciting news than this today.

Frankenreview: Mercenaries 2: World In Flames
Has Mercenaries 2 gone up in flames? The answer's just a click away.

Cthulhu Is Calling Your iPhone
A HP Lovecraft game on iPhone? Insanity!

Jilted, scorned. Square Enix has just announced it is withdrawing its offer to Tecmo of a "friendly takeover". That is, after Tecmo rejected the offer and then announced plans to integrate its company with Dynasty Warriors creator Koei. While Square Enix originally stated it would withdraw the offer if rejected, the company issued a series of questions to Tecmo rejecting the company's decision to turn down the offer. Square Enix never received answers to those questions. According to Square Enix's withdrawal statement:

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Earlier today, Tecmo rejected Square Enix's offer of a "friendly takeover". After collecting opinions from Tecmo staffers, the company decided that merging with Square Enix was not in its best interest. Instead, Tecmo has decided to pursue a merger with Japanese game maker Koei, best known for the Dynasty Warriors franchise. Both companies hope to balance their portfolios with the merger.

When Square Enix originally announced its offer to Tecmo on August 28th, the famed RPG maker proposed offering to purchase a controlling interest in Tecmo by purchasing shares in that company at 30 percent premium. "I can only believe that our proposal will be accepted", said Square Enix president Yoich Wada (pictured) at press conference that same day. "I hope". If the plan was rejected by Tecmo (and it was), Square Enix originally stated: "We will withdraw our offer".

Apparently, Square Enix is having a problem taking no for an answer as the company just released a statement:

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You may think that EA's support of the original Xbox — it released both Madden NFL 08 and Madden NFL 09 for the console — showed serious dedication to legacy platforms. How does Genesis support sound? If you thought "bat shit insane" then you might be surprised to learn that versions of FIFA 2008, Need for Speed: Pro Street, The Sims 2, and SimCity are being ported to the 16-bit Sega platform for the release of Tectoy's Mega Drive 3 (a wild looking Genesis clone) in Brazil.

Insert Credit dug up details on the "new" EA Genesis titles, which happen to be based on the mobile device releases and are being ported by Tectoy devs. Those games are just four of the 86 titles that will come pre-installed on the budget console, including classics like Shinobi III and Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle. There are even some new titles of hazy origin. Everything old is new again... or vice versa.

News: Four "new" EA games on Genesis/Mega Drive [Insert Credit]

Our nation's youth will be corrupted on the go, Grand Theft Auto-style, as early as November of this year and as late as January of 2009, according to today's Take-Two Interactive investor call. CEO Ben Feder pegged Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars for the Nintendo DS as a fiscal Q1 '09 release, putting it in the same quarter as GTA IV's Japanese launch date.

Feder wouldn't confirm that the title would hit before the holidays, despite requests from callers to clarify.

If rumours are right, Chinatown Wars will hit in the same three month window — November 1 to January 31 — as GTA IV's Xbox 360 exclusive downloadable episodes. If that GTA three-way does happen, it could make for a very happy group of shareholders. And a lot of virtual bystander corpses.

You want more Haze? You got it! Wait, you want more Haze? Really? OK, well, this week's PlayStation Store update for North America has it, with the "Destruction Pack" bringing seven new multiplayer maps and a new "Capture and Hold" game type. The Store also gets one of its biggest and most expensive titles to date in NFL Head Coach 09. Pricey! The full list of new goodies is after this.

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Diablo III fan site DIII.net has a list of known and rumoured features in Blizzard's revised Battle.net online gaming service.

Battle.net has fallen by the wayside since it's late nineties heyday but when Blizzard spoke to Kotaku back in June they were keen to stress that the new 'n' improved service would be a centerpiece of the Diablo III and StarCraft II experience.

The confirmed list is after the jump, but the rumours include an Achievements system, Accountability (to track cheaters and those who use hacks) and Voice Over IP in-game chat.

Multiplayer has come a long way since the turn of the century, of course. Do we still need something like Battle.net?

Features that DIII have been able to get Blizzard to confirm:

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By Halloween, you may have already burned through EA's scary space adventure twice, as the publisher announced that it would be bringing the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of Dead Space to retail on October 14. That's a full week earlier than its previous calendar rijiggering.

The PC version will now hit on October 20. We've liked it a lot in our multiple hands-on experiences, so we think you might like it too. We'll know next month!

Bad luck, old chap. Microsoft is refusing to pass on the Xbox 360 price cut to the UK market.

As if the British economy wasn't looking dark enough - now we face another Christmas of not-that-cheap Xboxes.

"Pricing is handled on a region-by-region basis", said a killjoy Microsoft spokesperson, "We do not have a price drop in this region to announce".

An Xbox Arcade will set you back £159.99 ($US 281.35) in the UK, while an Elite can be obtained on the open market in exchange for a kidney or other major organ.

Microsoft says no Xbox 360 "price drop" in the UK [Pocket Lint]

Earlier today I posted a rumour about the price and release date for World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King. It came from, of all places, 7-Eleven. Turns out that the convenience chain is growing increasingly interesting in the gamer demographic.

How interested? Interested enough to start tracking sales and, over the course of the next few months, to start taking pre-orders on a number of video games.

Our Slurpee-sources tell us these 7-Eleven gaming facts:

One out of ever two 7-Eleven customers own a gaming system.

Nearly 3,200 stores had considerable Madden sales the first week of the game's release.

More than 25 percent of Madden sales at 7-Elevens occurred between midnight and 1 a.m.

What's that mean to you John Q Customer? Why that starting this month 7-Eleven is going to start selling the seven "highest potential games" introduced for the holiday wind up.

Those games include Lich, Guitar Hero World Tour, Fallout 3, 007: Quantum of Solace and Gears of War 2.

The stores will soon have point of purchase signs set up for video game pre-sales.

Games will all be available at midnight on the day the game is released.

Well, Afrika certainly outperformed the Silicon Knights-developed import; the PlayStation 3 safari game nabbed the number two spot, behind another solid week by Rhythm Tengoku Gold. Too Human debuted at #17, higher than the week's other new Xbox 360 entry, Clannad.

In other news, the latest Fire Emblem for the DS rebounded after an off-week, with Square-Enix's Sigma Harmonics showing no signs of recovery. Oh, and some people bought Battlefield: Bad Company.

01. Rhythm Tengoku Gold (DS) - 76,000 / 612,000
02. Afrika (PS3) - 38,000 / NEW
03. J-League Winning Eleven 2008 Club Championship (PS2) - 38,000 / 117,000
04. Fate/Tiger Colosseum Upper (PSP) - 34,000 / NEW
05. Wii Fit (Wii) - 31,000 / 2,578,000
06. Inazuma Eleven (DS) - 29,000 / 71,000
07. Battlefield: Bad Company (PS3) - 26,000 / NEW
08. Dragon Quest V (DS) - 23,000 / 1,148,000
09. Phantasy Star Portable (PSP) - 23,000 / 618,000
10. Mario Kart Wii (Wii) - 23,000 / 1,734,000

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CSI Fans always a seem a little ghoulish to me. Admit it - part of the fun is in the increasingly intricate forms of death and the kind forensic detail that could give George Romero the willies.

It's not clear yet how much corpse-rummaging will be involved in the new CSI: NY game from Ubisoft, but what you will get — for the first time in a CSI game — is the chance to play some of the actual characters from the show.

Five new cases have been created by writers from the show and then illustrated in a new 'graphic novel' style of cartoony animation. It looks quite nice, although I would be hard pressed to identify that guy as Gary Sinese without the caption. Maybe there is some kind of likeness licensing issue.

A new interrogation feature lets you keep pushing suspects in different directions to wear them down and ferret out the info you need.

Other than that it looks like minigame business as usual trying to triangulate bullet trajectories, reconstruct evidence and crack codes.
Crack the case with new 'CSI: NY' game [Monsters and Critics]

I know Gamestop has listed a tentative date for World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King for some time now. Now we're getting inside information from 7-Eleven of all places.

According to several different store employees, the game will be streeting on November 4 for $US 40. 7-Eleven, we're told, will be selling the game starting at midnight. Can you imagine? Lining up at 7-Eleven. How odd, though at least there would be Slurpees readily available.