Our friends at IGN are hosting a Black Beta for Tekken 6. It’s free and you can win Tekken 6 themed prizes, including the chance for the grand prize winner to fly to London to compete in the world Tekken finals.

What’s a Black Beta? It’s part sneak preview gaming event and part, well… party. There are two sessions this Saturday down at the Sydney Forum at the Entertainment Quarter, Moore Park; the 3-6pm afternoon slot is all ages, while the later evening slot is for over-18s only. More details at the link below.

Tekken 6 Black Beta [IGN AU]

Like us, IGN Australia were invited to Blizzard’s HQ recently to check out StarCraft II. Like us, they took a camera and snapped some pics of that same HQ.

Among the dozens of amusingly-captioned photos in their resulting feature were these two glimpses of a super-secret whiteboard where Blizzard designers brainstorm their next game ideas.

Or, possibly, just doodle whatever nonsense they feel like.

You decide!

Blizzard Studio Tour [IGN AU]

Crystalline II – A level made by EA’s Boom Blox team. A gold medal if it can be toppled with three slingshot shots.
World Domination – This is a competitive level also made by EA’s developers. The map starts all in brown, but players throw paintballs to claim terrain.
Mission Space – Of course we searched for user-made levels built from Mario or Sonic or other “properties.” We found none, but did find this Star Wars-looking ship.
Independence Day – One baseball throw at the purple block above the White House detonates the structure, just like in the movie.
IGN 4Ever – User Matty Boy made this level, which comes with the instructions: “Blow up IGN.” Casamassina, is that you?
Destroy the Wii! – This one’s user-made. The description says: “Get points for throwing baseballs at your Wii! Just like in real life!”
Unfortunately, if you leave the level alone, the Wii begins to collapse on its own…
… and is left in rubble.

The downloadable levels are free and there already seem to be plenty of them, a significant feature upgrade from the original Boom Blox. Who’s making a Kotaku level?

It’s not often one gets invited to a rival media outlet’s party. But that’s what happened on Thursday night when I found myself at the IGN AU Select Awards, rubbing shoulders with these three idiots gentlemen.

I can safely vouch that a drunken good time was had by all. It’s always fun to share an evening with the entire industry, where those console war grudges are left behind and everyone is there to drink celebrate video games.

Fallout 3 was the night’s big winner, taking home four awards, including the big one. It was great to see Tim from Red Ant there to accept the gongs after some very trying times for the distributor of late.

And cheers to my friends at IGN for the invite! (I think you can just about spot me in one of the many photos over in IGN’s gallery.)

Aussie IGN Select Award Winners Announced! [IGN]

IGN is saying that earlier news that Dead Space: Extraction would support Wii’s MotionPlus technology “is merely misinterpretation,” according to an unnamed Electronic Arts representative.

During a Thursday conference with investors, the Chief Operating Officer John Pleasants discussed MotionPlus support within EA’s Tennis and Tiger Woods 2010 titles. Continuing the thought, he mentioned Dead Space, “which which some interpreted as a conformation of MotionPlus in Dead Space,” said IGN.

“MotionPlus in a cursor-based game? It seemed a bit excessive, given Extraction’s design,” wrote IGN. They contacted someone at EA and were told, in fact, no MotionPlus in Extraction, although they don’t offer a direct quote or a source name. They went on to reason that:

With the game essentially taking on the other “light gun” classics on Wii such as Umbrella Chronicles and the more recent House of the Dead: Overkill, the focus is on the system’s IR functionality, and we’d assume EA went without MotionPlus because, quite frankly, it just isn’t needed in this type of title.

EA: No MotionPlus in Dead Space [IGN]

IGN: Flock Preview[IGN]

IGN Strategise Now On Inside Xbox/Xbox Live [IGN]

The reviewer in question, Hilary Goldstein, editor-in-chief at IGN’s Xbox 360 channel, talked to GameDaily about the GTA IV review mini-hubbub, chalking up Fritz’s concerns to a possible grudge.

Goldstein theorises that “if Variety didn’t get the game early then you’re looking at somebody, I don’t know, who had a grudge on his shoulder because he didn’t even have the game yet and we’d already put out the review.” He thinks that to break an agreed upon embargo, similar to the one we agreed to with Rockstar for our own GTA IV review, would be a bigger ethics violation.

While I don’t think that sums up Variety’s particular concern and IGN editors swear everything’s kosher, that no money or promises were exchanged, I think it’s simply a matter of frustration with how coverage in the video game media industry is handled, how it’s doled out to established video game outlets like IGN and not to those not known for their video game coverage. What may be simply a sign of an immature, capitulating industry, one populated with zealous fans, may not be as ethically troubling as it is indicative of one that needs to grow.

Media Coverage: IGN Says Variety May Have ‘Grudge’ [GameDaily]

The full version of “Ladies of Liberty City” features GTA IV’s Niko Bellic visiting one of the game’s strip clubs The Triangle and receiving numerous private dances. He also visits two prostitutes, one of which an IGN employee runs down with a car, one of which he or she guns down. Classy stuff!

These portions of the game play a microscopic role in the Grand Theft Auto IV experience, but a strung together clip highlighting all of this nefarious behaviour was somehow deemed worthy of splicing together for the IGN readership. It may be in poor taste to some, but we think it’s perfect fodder for the basis of a news report from IGN’s parent company. Then everybody wins.

For more details on the situation, be sure to check out the MTV Multiplayer report.

IGN Yanks ‘GTA IV’ Sex And Hooker-Shooting Video [MTV Multiplayer]

[thanks Seth!]