Kotaku

Miyamoto Confirms New Mario, Zelda, Pikmin Projects

Relax. Nintendo has not forgotten you. Making new titles for the traditional fanbase just takes time, says Shigeru Miyamoto, speaking to the Telegraph recently in an interview.

Said Miyamoto:

"Making these 'traditional' games is what I am best at. Because games of that nature take upwards of two or three years to make, we always have to keep the teams working on those projects going. At any given time, the team could be five to ten people, or it could be 50-plus. People are always switching in and out of those teams.

Afro Samurai Hands-On Impressions

Namco Bandai treated Comic-Con attendees to a playable — but all too brief — demo of Afro Samurai, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 title based on the manga of the same name. The demo, which feels like an early, tutorial-style level, helps get the player up to speed on the fighting mechanics in a tight, enclosed portion of a Japanese village.

After a brief voiceover from character Ninja Ninja, voiced with super salty language by Samuel L. Jackson, Afro Samurai is set loose on a steady stream of sword wielding bad guys.

The attack system is rather straightforward, using the X and Y buttons for light hits and heavy hits respectively. Afro jumps with A and kicks with B. Blocking is performed with the right trigger, but it's the left trigger that makes the combat more interesting.

Street Fighter IV in Arcades? You Suck!

To: Ash
From: Crecente
Re: Breaktime Means Line Up For SFIV

Oh man, Street Fighter IV at an arcade? I am so bitter. I wish we had an arcade here in the U.S. with the forethought or buying power to get the machine imported. As it stands the only places you're going to be able to play the game outside of a console are at specialty stores that just pay cash to import the thing themselves. Worse still, they aren't yet selling the board on its own, so it's going to be a bundle to do that.

I hope you popped a few coins down on the machine and had a go.

What you missed:
Mortal Kombat 9 Planned As A Mature Return To Form
Game Club: Beyond Good & Evil The Final Assignment
Porn Starlet Tera Patrick Joins Saint's Row 2
Sega Can't Find The Source Code For Your Favorite Old School Arcade Games
First 4 Figures Does Ryu Hayabusa Right
Spider-Man: Web Of Shadows Impressions
NECA Pimps Gaming Toy Line Up At Comic-Con
Green Lantern, Joker Join MK Vs. DC Universe Line Up
Michael Ironside's Splinter Cell Role, Game's Script Still Up In the Air
Prince Of Persia Creator "Delighted" By Film Casting

Former XNA Community Manager Airs Quality Concerns

Microsoft's recent announcement that it would let community developers earn money for games they make with the company's XNA toolset came as good news to some, but former XNA community manager David Weller is concerned about the lack of quality standards. On his blog, Weller wrote:

Being an ex-XNA member, I can still say, without a shadow of doubt, that Microsoft is offering a groundbreaking game channel, and that some people stand a chance to make great money from the system. It's an exciting opportunity, but the danger for consumers lies in Microsoft's deliberate steps to avoid discussions regarding game quality, even during peer review.

It's similar, actually, to quality concerns about Xbox Live Arcade that ultimately led to Microsoft's announcement that underperforming titles would be delisted from the service.

Is it as big an issue on the separate community games channel? Said Weller:

Real Gamers In EA Sports Ads Set Up For Teasing

Now that EA Sports has begun running ads featuring real gamers promoting the titles, investment blog The Motley Fool has decided to have a little bit of fun at their expense. "Nerdy smackdowns have been bringing the funny since Napoleon Dynamite became a big-screen hit," says the site. Shudder.

Anyway, The Motley Fool came up with a tongue-in-cheek list of five ways to tell if you're EA Sports ad material:

Think you're ready to be "in the game," as EA says? Here are five signs you'll be the firm's next sports star. Drumroll, please:

Too Human Gets Euro Release Date

Silicon Knights' Too Human is coming to our shores on August 19th, and we now know our neighbors in Europe will get the Xbox 360 exclusive precisely ten days thereafter, on the 29th.

The demo was unveiled on Xbox Live last week — were you too caught up in E3 craziness, or did you catch it? We had a lengthy discussion on it here at Kotaku last week, in case you missed it. What do you think, Europe? Looking forward?

And on the off chance you have no idea what we're even talking about, Microsoft has helpfully offered full details in the announcement after the jump.

EA Announces Free "Biome" Prototype For Spore

For those antsy for Spore, the September 7th launch date can't come soon enough — but while you're waiting, you can now check out a new spore prototype called Biome for free.

It's a "programmable cellular automata simulator" which EA says lets players make grid simulations à la SimCity. Fancy words in the announcement like "chemical stoichiometry" means Biome simulates changes that take place in cells when they're exposed to new variables, similar to the way some chemicals change their state when exposed to other chemicals.

EA says Maxis built prototypes like these initially to explore design directions for the game, and is now letting gamers mess with the machinery to check out some of these early ideas. More are set to be released in the coming weeks.

Full announcement after the jump.

Prince Of Persia Creator "Delighted" By Film Casting

NBA Live 09's Sizzle

This latest NBA Live 09 video from Electronic Arts shows off "athlete sizzle". This year's global cover athletes are Tony Parker, Pau Gasol (Spain), Andrea Bargnani (Italy) and Luol Deng (England).

Nickelodeon Rolls Out Avatar MMO

Yes, all MMOs have avatars in them, and Xbox 360 will now have avatars in it, too. But the MMO that Nickelodeon is unveiling this September is about the pseudo-anime TV show Avatar: The Last Airbender. I guess I'm not up on what the kiddoes like these days, because I thought the Avatar craze was kind of over, but Nickelodeon says its recently-wrapped Season 3 finale was its highest-rated TV show ever.

M. Night Shyamalan is even making a live-action movie called "The Last Airbender" based on the series, to debut in July 2010. With Avatar interest at an all-time high, Nickelodeon seems to have decided the time was right to make an MMO that serves as a "prequel" to the TV series.

Regardless of how you feel about Nickelodeon cartoons, this is actually an immensely cool idea — when Nickelodeon re-airs episodes of Season 3 in the fall, fans tuning in will get episode-specific hints from the TV show about unlocking things in-game. Having a multiplayer online game that runs concurrent with a TV experience is a great way to encourage players to be more involved with both game and show, I think.

Full announcement follows the jump. By the way, which TV show would you most love to have a tie-in MMO going on with?

Mortal Kombat: Kollection Coming to PS2

Midway is packaging their last three Mortal Kombat games into a exclusive Playstation 2 collector's edition box set. The set will come with Mortal Kombat: Deception, Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, and Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks.

Midway says Mortal Kombat: Kollection is due out this September for $30.

"Mortal Kombat has been a pinnacle fighting franchise for well over a decade now and this is an ideal package for fans and collectors in terms of content and price point," said Mona Hamilton, vice president of marketing, Midway Home Entertainment. "With the PlayStation 2 still holding the highest market share of any home console, we saw this as the perfect opportunity to offer an incredible value to our consumers as we ramp up for the highly anticipated launch of Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe."

Don't know your Mortal Kombat: Deception from your Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks? You will in a second.

Quantic Dream's Cage Talks Emotionless MMOs

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

We'll still be at Comic-Con for a good portion of the weekend, so who knows what we'll be playing? If we had our druthers, it'd be Ghostbusters: The Video Game, Prince of Persia, Deadly Creatures and Soulcalibur IV, all playable on the Con floor. Sunday, however, will be purely dedicated to shipping out dozens and dozens of packages, as Meat Bun orders get some serious attention. Yay!

We may even get in a real-life game of badminton, time permitting. But what about you, dear commenter? What are you playing this weekend?

Michael Ironside's Splinter Cell Role, Game's Script Still Up In the Air

Splinter Cell aficionados The Fisherists recently emailed Michael Ironside's manager, David Ginsberg, to try and get to the bottom of the rumors about whether the actor will be returning to voice Sam Fischer.

Word from Ginsberg is that no decision has yet been made and that Ubisoft is actually still working on the script for the increasingly delayed Splinter Cell: Conviction. Wait, what? Still working on the script? Wow, no wonder it just got bumped back.

Ginsberg goes on to sing the praises of Ironside's professionalism and non-egotism.

Green Lantern, Joker Join MK Vs. DC Universe Line Up

Ed Boon from Midway and Jimmy Palmiotti of DC Comics announced four new additions to the Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe roster at Comic-Con today, including Green Lantern and The Joker from the DC side, with Jax and Kitana returning on the MK side. Boon also announced that Mr. Palmiotti himself would be squirreled away in the game as an unlockable character. He'd be very well hidden, Boon said, with a Johnny Cage-like model shown on screen.

We also got a look at some new environments, including the Fortress of Solitude, and a look at Captain Marvel's in-game model.

Boon also announced that an MK vs. DC comic book would included in the limited edition of the game, illustrated by John Tobias, co-creator of the Mortal Kombat series. The game's final boss and a the remaining line-up of fighters was promised to be announced over the next few months.

Dexter Game Coming To iPhones

Well this certainly explains why Showtime Networks and Mark Ecko Entertainment were so reluctant to announce a platform when they revealed the game based off the forensic scientist / serial killer show Dexter. At a Comic-Con panel discussing the show, Mark Ecko himself appeared to drop details on the upcoming title, which as it turns out will be an episodic affair appearing exclusively on the iPhone and iPod Touch - not exactly what we were expecting, but considering the quality of some of the early iPhone game offerings still a rather intriguing prospect.

While no gameplay was shown, Ecko revealed that the game would feature touch screen gesture controls, as well as incorporating text messages and phone calls in order to heighten the sense of immersion.

Comic-Con: Episodic ‘Dexter’ Game for iPhones [MTV Multiplayer]

The Whispered World Launches Relaxing Website

Daedalic Entertainment's upcoming fantasy adventure game The Whispered World has just launched the official website for the title, due out for the PC in Q4 2008, and I've never been more relaxed in my life. The site features wallpapers, screenshots, concept art, a story synopsis, and some confusing forums that seem to be completely in German until you click on them. All of this, along with the most relaxing background music that's ever graced a flash website. Seriously, I've had this opened in the background all morning and couldn't for the life of me figure out why I was having such a pleasant Friday morning. Hit up the link below to check out the site, and be sure to check out the press section for a tiny preview of the article I wrote on the game back in February.

The Whispered World [Official Website]

Street Fighter II HD Remix Beta Extended

Cacpcom's Street Fighter II HD Remix beta is testing more than the game's performance. It's also testing how long the game will be able to maintain player interest as the company announces the official extension of the beta test. Originally slated to be put to rest on or around August 20th, Capcom has pushed the end of beta to September5th to give players more time to screw around with upcoming patches.

Remember that you too can buy your way into the SF HD Remix beta test by sacrificing 800 Microsoft points on a copy of Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3 on Xbox Live Arcade.

SFII Beta has Endurance - Extended to September 5th!! [Capcom Unity Blog]