Kotaku

BlizzCon 2008 Kicks Off Friday!

If you really cared you're already well-aware, but Blizzard still wanted to drop off a press release letting everyone know that BlizzCon 2008 begins this Friday, and then abruptly ends this Saturday. It's sure to be a truly epic event, with swag, costumes, giveaways, special events hosted by Jay Mohr, and a closing concert featuring comedian Patton Oswalt, in-house Blizzard metal band Level 80 Elite Tauren Chieftan, and a special performance by Video Games Live of orchestral arraignments of the music from Blizzard's franchises.

“With more hall space, more attendees, and more attractions, this BlizzCon will be our biggest yet,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We’re working hard with our partners to make this an unforgettable experience, and we’re looking forward to meeting players at the show.”

Best of all, Kotaku will be there! Well, I will be there. Most of Kotaku will be in Japan. I suppose I could have gone to Japan too, but then I'd miss out on that sweet polar bear mount. Either way, coverage begins Friday, so stay tuned for more from the BlizzCon floor.

Stan Bush Wants "The Touch" In Guitar Hero, Rock Band

No, I will not let this topic drop. There can be no real winner in the Guitar Hero / Rock Band war until one song...just one, little song appears in one of the two, and that song is "The Touch" by Stan Bush. Originally appearing on the soundtrack to the Transformers animated movie in the 80's, the song made countless little boys believe that they could do absolutely anything, no matter how many Decepticons got in their way.

The fact that this song isn't in Guitar Hero or Rock Band yet is eating away at me, so much so that I actually contacted Stan himself to see if there was anything I could do to help. When he actually answered me I just about died. Turns out not only would he love to have the song in either game, he even contacted Activision himself. His reply to my email follows!

Matt Hazard: Inside The Game

Ninjatown Impressions

No, Crecente didn't go to Ninjatown over the weekend. He's in Tokyo covering TGS. But if he did go to Ninjatown, this is probably what he would look like. I say it's pretty spot on, actually. He even has that confused look on his face he gets every time I talk to him. Someone (I think it was Fahey) claimed the hair underneath his arms with actually armpit hair, and not part of the hair from his head. So what's this have to do with anything? I don't know. But what I do know is I finally got to play Ninjatown for the DS. I mean, I've seriously been waiting at least a year to play this damn thing. And after spending the whole weekend with it, I have to say it's pretty good.

Eidos Reveal Exclusive 360 Tomb Raider: Underworld DLC

by Lesley Smith

Lara’s latest tomb-raiding adventure will be expanded with the release of two sets of DLC exclusive to the Xbox 360, Eidos today announced. Tomb Raider: Underworld sees the lovely Lady Croft visiting Mexico, Thailand and the Mediterranean as well as getting to gripes with Norse mythology on her search for Thor’s Hammer.

The first – Beneath the Ashes - will hit Xbox Marketplace towards the end of December and continue Lara’s adventures after the main storyline of Underworld has finished. Featuring a new and exclusive area, players will be able to kill new enemies as well as uncover even more secrets.

The second pack with the even more mysterious moniker of Lara’s Shadow will be released in early 2009 and expand gameplay even more by introducing a new playable character. Lara’s Shadow …. Lara’s Shadow …. Hmm who could the new character be?

Not even a couple of weeks old and Capcom is already flooding Mega Man 9 players with downloadable content across all three consoles. This week sees the release of two different packs. Endless Attack is a stage that never ends...yes it goes on and on my friends....somebody started playing it not knowing what it was *slaps self*. Endless Attack is just that, endless. See how far you can get and how big a score you can rack up before your inevitable death. And the second pack? Playable Proto Man! Proto has charge shot, power slide, and a bullet-bouncing shield, but takes double damage and gets bumped twice as far when hit.

The DLC packs are available today on the Wii, with the 360 getting it tomorrow and PlayStation 3 on Thursday, as per usual. While the other two consoles wait, here's a look at what Wii owners are doing right now.

UK Manhunt 2 - The Long Struggle Is At An End

At last there is light at the end of the tunnel, and beyond that a man waiting with a claw hammer, ready to crack open your skull. Rockstar has confirmed with our friends over at GamesIndustry.biz that following a long struggle with the British Board of Film Classification, Manhunt 2 for the PS2, Wii, and PSP will be in the shops on October 31st, which is some sort of a holiday, or so I'm told.

Manhunt 2 was of course originally denied classification by the BBFC, after which Rockstar appealed, won the appeal, after which the BBFC appealed, then lost, and basically just wasted everyone's time until no one cared anymore, which only took about a week. Congratulations, Rockstar!

Manhunt 2 finally gets UK release date [GamesIndustry.biz]

Ninjatown Invades New York City

My Plastic Heart, a small, yet expensive exquisite toy store in lower Manhattan, was overrun by a large band of ninjas late friday night. Not only was the store overflowing with Ninjatown plushies and original artwork from creator Shawn Smith, the developers from Venan Entertainment were on hand to demo a preview build of the game. I got a chance to talk to the team a bit about the game's development, what it was like working with Shawnimal himself, and their thoughts on the new DSi.

A Rare, Collectible, Plush Squirrel

Look! It's a rare, collectible, plush squirrel! Do you even need me to tell you what game this an Amazon-exclusive pre-order goody for? No, of course you don't, not because it's obvious, but because you will buy ANYTHING to get your hands on a rare, collectible....did we mention collectible? A rare, collectible, plush squirrel. This isn't just some average, run-of-the-mill, mass-production plush squirrel. You don't give a squirrel like this to a baby and let it chew on it for hours. No. This is a vacuum-sealed in a glass case squirrel. *drools*

Where was I? Oh yes! This is a pre-order bonus for Rune Factory 2: A Fantasy Harvest Moon for the Nintendo DS, and you can only get it at Amazon.com. You might want to set up your order now before this baby winds up on eBay's ridiculously inflated rare, collectible, plush squirrel aftermarket.

Weekly Wii Update - Shining Force and Mario Golf

Great news! Shining Force II for the Genesis (800 points) has made the leap from last week's Euro Virtual Console releases to this week's North American ones, but where's Earthworm Jim? They left together...what happened? Knocked out of the air over the Atlantic by an errant golf ball, no doubt. Stealing EWJ's spot this week is Mario Golf, one of those rare Nintendo 64 releases for the VC (1,000 points), which is nice and all, but I'd still prefer Earthworm platforming. Oh well, maybe next week?

Not only are there two new games on the VC this week, WiiWare gets double the love as well, with Gameloft's Midnight Bowling (800 points), which includes an "immersive career mode", and the falling block puzzler MadStone from Riverman Media (800 points).