Well, get a load of this. Remember the E for All Expo? Yeah it's this weekend in Los Angeles and finished as of today (so are the Cubs, unfortunately). But the Gears of War 2 booth there handed out a dogtagged COG stamped with a supa-secret code that you enter at this site (screenshot above). That delivers you to to a flash site where you can explore the GoW2 environment, pick up some concept art, wallpapers, a lot of stuff to discover and look at.

Here's some useful tips for getting all this to work:

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Mike's already there. Crecente's there. And Ashcraft, well, he's always there. Me, I'm about to board my flight to Japan, rounding out Team Kotaku (or Kotaku F.C. for our European readers) for our balls-to-the-wall Tokyo Game Show coverage. The show kicks off on Thursday (that's THIS Thursday, October 9), but we'll be doing stuff all week that you will find interesting. Stay tuned.

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Nintendo had a big day today and just in case you weren't up in the Wii (pun intended) hours of the morning anxiously awaiting Iwata's golden words, we've got Iwata's speech in full as well as his slides. Some highlights from the transcript include Iwata discussing some of the different approaches Nintendo took regarding the camera on the DSi. While mobile phones keep improving camera resolution, the Dsi specifically doesn't focus on that at all. He also goes to explain some of the features the new handheld will harbor and why Nintendo made those specific choices. Of course, while the DSi was the star of the show, there was still plenty to talk about regarding the Wii and its future.

Read the transcript of Iwata's full speech and check out the slides after the jump. Ooooh, slides.

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Finally. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has just announced that, beginning in Spring 2009 (at least for Japan), Nintendo Wii owners will be able to download software directly to an SD card. "We have to address the console's insufficient memory storage," said Iwata, speaking at today's Nintendo Fall Press Conference. This obviously applies only to WiiWare and Virtual Console games, but hey, since they were the things clogging up your memory in the first place, it's hard to see this as anything other than good news. Not perfect news, but still, better than silence.

[Liveblogging the Nintendo Press Conference Liveblog]

At 1:30 Tokyo Time, Nintendo kicked its fall press conference. Since Nintendo is not attending the Tokyo Game Show, we expect the event to have some year end surprises and hopefully a bombshell or two. When we asked about invites, Nintendo Co., Ltd. told us that the event is Japanese press only, so we'll be doing a not-so-live liveblog — AKA translating the Famitsu and Gemaga liveblogs.

Hit the jump for that.

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At 1:30pm Tokyo time (convert this to your own time here), Nintendo will be holding a big, fancy press event. Where something should be unveiled. But what, exactly? We should get a new DS. We might get a revival of an old franchise. We may (OK, probably won't) even hear something about a new Wii. We may get all of those things! Or none of them. Who knows! Why don't you stick around and find out. We'll be hanging on every word from the conference, and posting the news throughout the night. So grab a cup of tea and some chocolate biccies. Make yourself comfortable.

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With Nintendo's press conference kicking off later tonight the rumours have been at full speed about what the profitable console maker may announce.

We've heard about a new media-friendly DS with MP3 playback and a camera, we've heard about possible new peripherals, we've heard about some big much-anticipated game remake, we've even heard about a new Wii iteration, this one in high-def.

But unlike with Microsoft, not all Nintendo rumours are true. So what do you think will be happening tonight when Nintendo kicks off their presser in Japan?

IndieCade cordially invites folks who'll be in or around Bellevue, Washington in October to come celebrate independent gaming as they launch their first stand-alone international independent gaming event. Running October 10th through the 17th, IndieCade kicks off with a two-day preview event leading into a week-long exhibition open to the public. The launch event features talks from speakers such as Jenova Chen of flOw fame and Jeep Barnett from the Portal team, who'll be discussing the path from indie to mainstream, along with master classes, preview screenings of upcoming titles, and an awards ceremony where five top games will be selected from a field of 26 finalists. Once the show opens to the public it'll be hands-on all week long. Yum.

The festival takes place at Open Satellite in Bellevue, Washington. Hit the jump for more details on this much-deserved showcase for independent game developers.

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Earlier this week Warner Brothers Interactive took over a portion of the Museum of Nature and Science to host a LEGO Batman The Videogame launch party. While I wasn't able to swing by the place (must have missed the Crecente Signal), some folks in PR were kind enough to pass along this buffet of pictures from the event. Looks like people had a blast. My review of the game, incidentally, should be up in the next few days.

LEGO Batman Launch Gallery

It's great news for fans they can get their Blizzcon on thanks to Main Event Pay-Per-View here in Australia, but the disappearance of the Polar Bear Mount gave a slight tinge of disappointment. We've now received the official press release on the PPV and turns out they were just finalising local details, because the Polar Bear Mount (with flag-waving Murloc) is now heading to homes of viewers who buy in on both days of the package.

We checked in with Foxtel PR, and were told that yes, you do have to be a subscriber to pay for a Main Event PPV. So you can't just buy the mount for $29.90. But if you have family or friends who have Foxtel and aren't into WoW, throw them the dough and then get yourself a code! Where there's a will...

Official press release after the jump.

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