Kotaku

Americans Can Now Annoy Neighbors With SingStar PS3, Too

A version of American Idol was a hit on English shores long before the wail, weep and warble festival ever made it to North America. In the UK, they sure love their SingStar, too, and as Sony Computer Entertainment America reminded us, SingStar PS3 is emigrating to North America today.

SCEA's U.S. debut on PS3 features songs and videos from the likes of The Killers, U2, Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead and Britney Spears. The release is bundled with a pair of USB microphones; SingStar PS2 fans can also use their old ones. This is the kind of thing you want to close your window shades for, lest anyone peek in and see you singing Britney Spears songs with a fake microphone.

Posting yourself looking foolish online is always okay, though -- players can use the PlayStation Eye to record and share their performances via SingStar Online, where they can also view and rate others' videos. SCEA also says the UK players have been making good use of SingStar Online, registering 140,000 users with some 20,000 videos all told.

This actually sounds a little bit awesome. If you are into shameless, exhibitionist karaoke. 'Cause, y'know, I'm not. Yeah. I mean, no.

Microsoft Still Working on Live Anywhere

Xbox 360 Looking for the Twister of the 21st Century

Microsoft hasn't forgotten that despite their successes they are still the "challenger brand" in the video game industry, Jeff Bell, Microsoft's corporate vice president of global marketing for Interactive Entertainment Business, told members of the Electronic Gaming Summit today.

After walking the audience through his personal gaming history, which started with Pong in his early teens, Bell talked about gaming generations and how Microsoft works to extend their reach in the industry, reminding the audience that the Xbox is still the new guy in the console wars.

"We are the challenger brand in this category, this is our seventh year really," he said. "We're coming into our eighth holiday, from that stand point we are still the newbie."

Finally, Bob Saget On A Video Game Cover

Massive - DirectX10 Effects Possible On Consoles

If you've got the time and the resources, your console game can look pretty damn close to its DirectX10-enabled PC counterpart. This from Massive Entertainment's VP of Development Peter Sydow in an interview with Videogamers.com in which he discusses development of the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of World In Conflict.

Yeah, at this point we've managed to replicate some of the effects, but I don't know what features will make it into the final release. Nearly all of our DX10 features are possible to do on the consoles if you give it enough time and resources, so we'll keep on working on them and see what happens.

World in Conflict Interview [Videogamers.com - Thanks David!]

Spore Flows In The Cell Phase

Ziff Davis Wraps Up Restructuring, Cuts Debt

Back in March 1Up promised that all of that nasty business with parent company Ziff Davis' bankruptcy would soon be behind them and that they would be a stronger publication for it.

Today, speaking at the 11th Annual Electronic Gaming Summit, Ziff Davis Media CEO Jason Young told the gathered summit members that the restructuring process will be wrapped up in June. More importantly, he noted that their $400 million debt will be reduced to a paltry $57 million, leaving them with the cash flow to invest back in their products, which includes 1Up, EGM and GameVideos.

Sounds like Simon Cox, , Vice President of Content for the 1UP network, hit the nail on the head when he said they would be bigger, better, faster, stronger when they came out of the restructuring.

Stay tuned later today for reports on talks given to this small group by Microsoft's Jeff Bell;, analyst Michael Pachter; Tanya Giles, of MTV; and the always energetic Peter Moore.

Postal Blu-ray Coming In August

Statistically speaking, the chance of you catching Uwe Boll's Postal in the theater is extremely low, and now that we are all feeling either saddened or mildly bemused at his plight with the film adaptation of Running With Scissors' over-the-top game franchise I'm sure we're itching to catch the film when it hits retail outlets. We'll have our chance on August 26th, the day newbie blu-ray publisher UMVD Visual Entertainment has slated for the high-definition release. High-Def Digest has an interesting description for the release in their announcement post.

Directed by much-derided shlockmeister Uwe Boll, 'Postal' stars Zack Ward as a misfit who sets out to rob his local amusement park while getting mixed-up with a faction of the Taliban. Barely released in U.S. cinemas last year, the film grossed less than $5 million at the box office domestically.

SOCOM Confrontation: Sixaxis, Running and Armor Bring Slight Changes

Wii Fit Shipments Late? Not Exactly

I am a little confused about the reports of late Wii Fit shipments throughout North America when the package, as far as retailers are concerned, hasn't even gone on sale yet. While Nintendo did see fit (pardon the pun) to release their balance board on the 19th, I've seen boxes of the product at several retailers with giant "Do Not Sell Until May 21st" stickers on them. The shipments aren't late...they're dated.

I actually held one in my hands at a local Walmart nearly two weeks ago, with the ever-friendly electronics clerk (one of the few at a Walmart who knows what he is on about) even offered to sell it to me early, if the computer let him. Sadly it did not, once again flashing the message warning not to sell the game until the 21st. If Nintendo changed up the release date on retailers they didn't do it in enough time to change the box stickers and POS system fail-safes.

Don't even bother looking for one today. As far as the retail world is concerned you can get your Wii Fit on tomorrow. We've been lazy this long, another day won't kill us.

Controlling Content in LittleBigPlanet or You Got Your Penis On My SackBoy

Yes you can use the PlayStation 3 camera in LittleBigPlanet to stamp your picture onto just about anything, from the world you create to the sackboy you control. But what stops people from filling the LittleBigPlanet with crotch-shots and porn? You do.

Folks from Media Molecule told me at a recent event that LittleBigPlanet has a pretty robust tool built into it for reporting problems. The reporting tool allows gamers to stop the action instantly, take a snapshot of a scene and send in the picture with a report of what they see that's wrong. The report is filled out by selecting from a number of fields. The form lets you report just about anything, be it copyright infringement, pornography, illegal activities or, shudder, copyrighted pornography.

Sightseeing Recommendations, Hit Me

To: Crecente
From: Ashcraft

A friend of mine from high school landed in the country yesterday. (Hi, David!) He's in Kyoto now, and my schedule, being as insane as it is, I won't get to see him until Sunday. SOME FRIEND I AM.

Okay, quick! I live in Osaka, yeah, but I don't get out of the house much. Heh. I have a rough idea of places to go, but I wanted to check: any recommendations for must-see places in Kansai? Any places that any of you readers dug?

What you missed last night
Racism in Tokyo
Sony taking action against The Drake's airgun
Game consoles have dangerous things inside them
Nintendo complaining about six-year old fine
New DS colors for Europe?
More Metal Gear
MGS4 bundle ordering clusterfuck
E3 floorplan

Over Nine Minutes Of Pure Haze Promotional WTF