General Anime

To: Crecente
From: Bashcraft
RE: Happy Third!

Actually, kinda miss the 4th. Well, the way it's done in America. People pretty much set off fireworks all summer here — like you can buy them at your local 7-11. So, they're more of a summer thing, which is nice. Not sure about the laws regarding them, but people tend to go down by a river and shoot 'em off at all hours of the night with no problems from the police.

We planned on shooting off fireworks tonight, but ran out of him. The afternoon was spent at the doctors. Going into this, Mini-Bash wanted a girl, but after a ding-dong popped up on the ultrasound, it looks like we'll be adding yet another young lad to the Ashcraft clan. Afterwards, he remarked: When the baby boy is a baby, it'll be cute. But when it grows up, it won't be cute anymore. Valid point.

Now, we just have to think of a name....... And a name that "works" in both English and Japanese and has Japanese kanji. Tricky!

What you missed last night:
Five Games That Matter In Kojima's Life
New Halo Game For E3 (Master Chief Not Included)
Dyack vs. NeoGAF, Part II
360 Rock Band Guitars Work With GH: Aerosmith [Update]
DualShock 3 And Xbox 360 Frankencontrollers
64 Percent of Those Polled Gave Up Wii Fit
Led Zeppelin Uncomfortable With Licensing Songs To Rock Band, Guitar Hero

As foretold, here are the first screens of zombie love, zombie bowling, zombie rock and roll, zombie sumo, zombie apple picking Ai sareru yori ai shitai: House of the Dead EX. The game looks more causal and more crazy. It's jammed pack with mini-games that are controlled by the gun and the foot pedal — mini games, and that's not in a pejorative sense! This series spin-off looks fun and totally fitting for arcade play. We approve, SEGA, we really do.

galleryPost('hodex', 3, 'Love');

SEGA PRIVATE SHOW 2008 -SUMMER [IT Media]

Five games that made an impact on the life of Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima? According to the famed game designer:

• Super Mario Bros.

• Portopia Renzoku Satsujin Jiken

• Xevious

• Another World

• Metal Gear Solid

This list comes from a Yomiuri Newspaper article called "All About Kojima Hideo" dated June 11th. We haven't seen the full article (only that picture we found on a Yomiuri blog), and the English translation of Yomiuri article glosses over these five games and what they mean to him. From the pic we found, it certainly appears as though Kojima explained how they affected him.

Hide-and-seek with Hideo Kojima [Yoimuri]

Ah, and finally, the pre-E3 hype train picks up a little steam. Citing both Sarcastic Gamer and their own "sources", CVG are claiming that a new Halo game will be unveiled at E3. This Halo game might be Peter Jackson's game, it might not be, but either way, they say it won't feature the Master Chief. Chew on that for a possibility while we dream of a point-and-click "Where In The World Is Master Chief?"

New Halo game for E3 [CVG]

While it's calmed down a lot over the past decade, Northern Ireland is still a reasonably sensitive place politically. Not the kind of place you'll be dodging pub bombs anymmore, granted, but still not the kind of place you want to make any cultural faux pas, either. So EA Sports understandably regret, and are very sorry, that they included the wrong national anthem for the Northern Irish team in their Euro 2008 football title. See, before each match, the anthems of both teams are played. Being a part of the United Kingdom, Northern Irelands' anthem is, of course, God Save The Queen. EA Sports, however, included The Soldiers Song. National anthem of the Republic of Ireland (or, as most people know it as, just plain old Ireland). As in, the wrong country. Sure, Northern Ireland are hardly a powerhouse on the global stage, but still, if you're going to include their anthem, you can at least get it right.

EA apologises over football anthem blunder [MCV][Pic=BBC]

WiiWare game Mega Man 9 has been dated for Japan. The game will be out this September as confirmed by this week's Famitsu. The 8-bit game hasn't yet gotten a Western release date. That's what E3 for!

famitsu 20080704 [Wii@Everyday]

Something's wrong. A straight-up, side-scrolling platformer? By Nintendo? For a home console? But this is 2008, they're selling Wii Fits and Wii Plays, they wouldn't bother with something like this, would they?

[via Go Nintendo]

By Kotaku Time, it's officially July 4th. So, happy July 4th! And to celebrate, we're giving away a copy of Civilization Revolution in a very, very easy contest. Use each of the letters that appear in the title Civilization Revolution to spell out countries names. So, for example, "Canada", "Ireland", "Vietnam"... None of the countries can repeat — well, save for "OMAN." So put that in an email and and send it to kotakucontestATgmailDOTcom. The two hundredth and thirty-second email we get, wins a copy of the game. Winner will be announced over the weekend. Good luck!

Civilization Revolution [Official Site]

Oh, the drama. In the latest 1Up Yours podcast, Too Human creator Denis Dyack explains just why he went after the NeoGAF Too Human haters. In his own words, Denis Dyack:

I was basically calling out people who had no way of assessing the game... All I wanted to point out to people is that this is so ridiculous... I went through all of this for two reasons.... If you're going to look at the NeoGAF forum as a non-profit organization, if it does not reform itself, it's eventually going to crumble. There's going to be a point where they step over the line where someone's going to shut them down. That would be a loss for everyone.... The question I have to ask the moderators of GAF: Are you going to follow your own rules? With people making GIFs of myself that are, I would say, attacking me.... Why haven't 180 people been banned now? If I wanted to move in and shut that place down, do I have grounds under their own forum policy?

There's more. Oh, yes. More. Hit the jump for more excitement!

NeoGAF and other forums like this that don't have good management are not only hurting society and hurting the videogame industry, they're in decline, and they need to reform quickly before people stop listening to them... If the moderators and people who run the site think they aren't doing any damage, they are sorely mistaken, and it's only a matter of time before something bad happens.

This all has basis in philosophy, science fiction, and social theories that Dyack has been reading and pondering. No, really. Those interested in learning more about NeoGAF, its influence and who owns it, 1Up has a insightful feature.

Dyack Talking Gaf [1Up]

Not that this will matter to any of you on a practical level, since we pray you won't actually pick up a copy of Guitar Hero Aerosmith, but it's good news on principle. Seems that Rock Band controllers will work with Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, with the G4TV team testing the 360 version and finding that all functions - including the whammy bar and star power - are up and running. Seeing as the problem was always at Activision's end (GH controllers would work with Harmonix's Rock Band), have they swallowed their pride and opened up the music controller market? Appears so, at least for 360 owners. Let's just hope this carries on into Guitar Hero World Tour, where it might actually matter.

'Rock Band' Guitar Work With 'GH: Aerosmith' [G4TV]

UPDATE - Thanks to all the readers who let us know, after testing, that this only applies to the 360 version. Sorry PS3 owners.

The Xbox 360 DualShock? The PS3 Xbox 360 Controller? Over at Xbox-Scene Forums, moderator RDC has modded an Xbox 360 controller into a PS3 controller, writing: "The D-pad, Select, PS, Start, Square, Triangle, Circle, Cross, L1/R1 and L3/R3 buttons are all wired up right now and working, as are the LEDs for showing which controller it is." So, yes, this Frankencontroller will work with a PS3. And if that wasn't enough, RDC did the same in reverse by modding a DualShock 3 into an Xbox 360 controller. Take a look after the jump.

3PS60 Controller WIP, The Wario of the PS360
Ps360 Controller, Middle of a WIP [xbox scene]

For a game built upon endless repetition, Brain Training's certainly making an impression on some people, because years on from release, the two games are still selling like fancy, heated cakes. So Nintendo are surely working on more, yes? Itprintsmoney.gif and all that? No. Having most likely noticed the fact people can't tell the two games apart, and still buy more of the original than the sequel, it's been announced by Nintendo (grain of salt notice: Nintendo Europe) that two will do, and they'll just keep on selling them for millennia until our sun expands, killing us all in a blinding flash of white.

More Brain Training from Dr Kawashima [TVG, via Go Nintendo]

The more people buy PS3s, the more people sign up to the the PSN. The more people sign up to the PSN, the more it costs Sony to keep the thing running. So will there come a time when Sony start charging you for the use of the PSN? Maybe! You can never rule that kinda thing out. But if they are, they're not doing it soon, with PSN boss (and man of the moment) Eric Lempel saying:

We’re happy with what we’re doing right now and we’re going to stick with it. I think being free is always an advantage. The fact that it’s free is nice for consumers who want to try out the online experience, those who may be new to it and may not be ready to commit to spending dollars, and that’s a really good message for us.

Course, Eric then says that leaves you with money free for game subscriptions (and he doesn't mention Qore), but his basic point remains valid! Free stuff is nice.

INTERVIEW: Sony on PSN’s “Big Leap Forward” [Next-Gen]

If you're in the mood to spend your Independence Day with some Battlefield: Bad Company trailers, this update has your name written all over it. It's also got Top Gun and FREE written all over it, as Guitar Hero III owners get a track for nothin'. Rock Band owners, you get a freebie, too. There's little that's playable this week, but the PlayStation Store is just stuffed with trailers. Pity then that two of them are for the PlayStation 3 port of Vampire Rain. Move along for the full update.

Expansions and Add-Ons

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock bonus track - "Top Gun Anthem" (free)

Rock Band add-on tracks

* “Promised Land” by Vesuvius (free)

* “Who’s Going Home with You Tonight?” - Trapt ($0.99)

* “Time Is Running Out” - Papa Roach ($0.99)

* “Down at the Whisky” - Motley Crüe ($0.99)

* Crüe Fest Pack 1 ($2.99) - “Time Is Running Out” by Papa Roach, “Down at the Whisky” by Motley Crüe, and “Who’s Going Home with You Tonight?” by Trapt

Game Videos

Qore Episode 2 ($2.99 Issue, $24.99 Annual Subscription)

Killzone 2 trailer

Valkyria Chronicles teaser trailer

Battlefield: Bad Company "Bad World" trailer

Battlefield: Bad Company "Rainbow Sprinkles" trailer

Battlefield: Bad Company "Snake Eyes" trailer

Dead Space Animated Comic Issue #2

Dead Space Animated Comic Issue #3

Tiger Woods ‘09 "Course" video

Vampire Rain Altered Species trailers

Movie and Television Trailers

Lakeview Terrace

John Mayer Live In Los Angeles

Vantage Point

Persepolis

Wallpapers and Themes

Woodward theme

Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution theme

Top Spin 3 Wallpaper

How many Tales games are already on their way? Dunno. We've lost count. Especially now that we know there are two more coming, one for the PSP, one for the DS. The PSP one's called Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2, which will feature the same main character as the upcoming Tales of Vesperia for the 360. The DS one's called Tales of The Heart (pictured). Both will be out in Japan by the end of the year, no word yet on Western dates.

[via Shonen Jump]

Wii Fit has done big business in Japan — and pretty much everywhere, for that matter. The peripheral and game went on sale late last year in The Land of the Rising Sun, and Japanese website IT Media poses the question: Do Wii Fit owners actually still play Wii Fit everyday? Short answer: Nope. According to the thousand IT Media readers polled (for whatever that's worth), the majority of them do not play their copies of Wii Fit (ditto). Here's the breakdown:

Do you use Wii Fit faithfully everyday?
• 22 percent — I record my progress faithfully everyday
• 6 percent — Maybe once every two or three days
• 6 percent — Once a week
• 64 percent — Stopped using after purchase

Like any exercise program, most people quite early on. Guess it's good that even 22 percent are sticking with it, but still. Any Wii Fit owners out there? Do you use Wii Fit faithfully everyday?

装着率に見る「Wii Fit」 [IT Media Thanks, cpt!] [Pic]

Just because Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G sales are waning (finally) doesn't mean that the urge to buy PSP hardware is becoming any less intense. And even though the PSP doesn't have any software showing in the top ten for the week doesn't mean that it can't continue to rule the roost on the Media Create weekly sales charts. Nintendo hardware continues to nip at its lead and we imagine fortunes will change soon.

Somewhat more surprising is the big boost that the Xbox 360 got during the week of June 23 to 29. The release of Mobile Suit Gundam: Operation: Troy certainly seems to have helped Microsoft move some hardware. They really should just rebrand the thing the Xbox RX-78-2 locally. Can't hurt.

• PSP - 58,861
• Nintendo DS - 48,884
• Wii - 48,480
• PlayStation 3 - 17,973
• PlayStation 2 - 7,673

Media Create Weekly Sales

Well, would you? Seriously. Reason we're asking is that last week Atari sought to have their name trademarked in association with “internet protocol phones” and “residential telephone apparatus composing telephones and telephone connecting units”. Before you ask, yes, that's the gaming Atari doing the trademarking, not some random, other Atari. This would be the part where we try and find a good reason the company would be bothering with this, but really, there's little salvation to be found amongst the thought of an Atari phone.

Atari [Trademork]

As we've seen, the Spore Creature Creator is not just about making dicks. Oh no, you can make Xbox 360 controllers, Wii-motes and DualShock 3s, too! What's more, if you're really good at making stuff, like internet human evantisin is, you can create Metal Gear Solid 4 B&B Corps. members. Above is Laughing Octopus and after the jump, Screaming Mantis. We're impressed. And slightly freaked.

Thanks DavidXsee!

If you care to remember, Jim Cameron has said that the game adaptation of his upcoming sci-fi flick - Avatar - is already running in 3D, and running in 3D on a 360. Ubisoft are the guys behind that game, but they're not the only ones looking at the tech. XNA boss Chris Satchell has said Microsoft have also been "experimenting" with stereoscopic gaming, although he's quick to stress that, as it stands, the requirement that gamers wear glasses makes the technology's widespread acceptance a thing of the future, not the present.

Microsoft has experimented with 3D games, reveals Satchell [GI.biz]