RPGs: Stop Making Bad First Impressions 
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Why Kotaku Australia Should Never Work With Children... Or Robots 
Three Words I Said To The Man I Defeated In Gears Of War That I'll Never Say Again 
New Doom 3 For Xbox 360 And PlayStation 3 Supports Head-Mounted Displays 
Far Cry 3 And The Stranger In A Strange Land For Metal Solid 4, Sony has system seller expectations! Many current PS3 owners are already planning on purchasing MGS4, but Sony is also hoping that the PS3 exclusive will move consoles. No doubt it will, but how many? Obviously, we won’t know that until the post-launch retail data comes rolling in, but this Yahoo! Games Metal Gear Solid 4 poll sheds light onto at least how a sample of 625 Japanese gamers feel about the title. This cannot be taken as a blanket barometer for the entire country, but rather, simply results for those who were polled. The above info reads:
Sure, it had a rocky start to life, but Valve’s Steam platform is probably the best thing PC gaming has going for it right now, and has given the company far more clout in the industry than it could muster from its games alone. But how different could things have been if Valve had looked to somebody else to build the system? Somebody like…Microsoft? Or maybe even Yahoo? Valve’s Doug Lombardi tells GamesIndustry: You know, we went around to Yahoo, Microsoft…and anybody who seemed like a likely candidate to build something like Steam.
We basically had our feature list that we wanted. We wanted auto-updating, we wanted better anti-piracy, better anti-cheat, and selling the games over the wire was something we came up with later.
We went around to everybody and asked ‘Are you guys doing anything like this?’ And everyone was like ‘That’s a million miles in the future…We can’t help you. Can you imagine a Steam built by Yahoo? And how goddamned brilliant it would be? And intuitive? Boggles the mind. Microsoft and Yahoo rejected Steam, says Valve [Gamesindustry.biz]
Well no wonder we’ve not seen a press release for Spider-Man: Web of Shadows! Yahoo! has the exclusive details on the new game, including the announcement trailer and a few choice pieces of concept art. Web of Shadows, developed by Shaba and Treyarch, the game features the same free-roaming gameplay we’ve come to be cautiously optimistic about, with a dark twist. New York City has been invaded by something horrible, the city leaders have declared martial law, and Spidey’s friends and foes alike are struggling to handle the situation.
Sierra and Yahoo! are teaming up to present the debut of the original soundtrack for their upcoming The Bourne Conspiracy game tomorrow at Winter Music Conference 2008 in Miami, Florida. World-renowned trance DJ and producer Paul Oakenfold will be performing the soundtrack live in concert at Miami’s Mansion club, along with members of the Florida Classical Symphony and a special appearance by hip hop artist Cee-Lo.
“It was a rewarding experience to score The Bourne Conspiracy video game — I have always been a fan of the series and the pace of the game is an ideal match for my musical tempo and style,” said Paul Oakenfold. “I look forward to premiering the soundtrack during “The Bourne Sessions” at WMC.”
Yahoo! will be airing the event live tomorrow night at both Yahoo! Live and Sierra’s own http://www.bournesessions.com/. As a big fan of Oakenfold’s work, I will feel really bad on Wednesday when I realised I completely forgot about this.
While the Japanese government has been cracking down more and more on child pornography, Unicef feels the government’s efforts have come up a little short. What’s more, the organisation has been campaigning the government to ban child porn imagery in manga, anime and games. (Note that Microsoft and Yahoo totally support Uniceft’s campaign.) According to Unicef’s definition, imagery like sailor uniforms should not be permitted in adult scenes. Meaning? That Unicef is saying that even adult videos that feature over 18 actresses should not be allowed to use underage imagery like school girl outfits and whatnot. Though, people who look under 18 would not be prohibited from doing what they do. Whatever that is. Campaign to Make Virtual Child Porn [IT Media via Canned Dogs]
Could Cammie Dunaway, the marketing maven who just jumped ship from Yahoo, be looking to land somewhere with game? That’s what several tipsters tell us. Specifically that Yahoo’s soon to be chief marketeer may be on her way to Nintendo of America, where a trio of vacancies are looking to be filled thanks to the recent departures of George Harrison, Perrin Kaplan and Beth Llewelyn.
In her internal goodbye note Dunaway says:
“While I can’t share the specifics until mid next week, suffice it to say that it is a natural fit for someone who loves driving profitable revenue for big, well loved consumer brands and can’t pass up the opportunity to be the coolest Mom in the universe.”
She also added that she would be staying in the area.
Of course all of that could mean Disney. Heck it could be anywhere from McDonald’s to the NSA depending on what type of kid you have. Even if it is in gaming, there’s always the possibility that she could land at Sony Computer Entertainment of America, where David Karraker’s shoes have yet to be filled.
What say NOA and SCEA? Absolutely nothing, dressed up to be a big fat no comment. We could wait until next week to find out, but it would be oh so much more fun if someone just shot us a tip now and cut the suspense.
The Cammie Dunaway Files [Valleywag]
