British Prisoners Lose Their Gaming Privileges

A new ban on video games in UK prisons limits gaming to those who have earned "top privileges" and completely bans violent games and shooters with an 18 or older rating.

The rule change comes after new prison directives hit that prevent taxpayers' money from being used to buy games or consoles.

The change in rules come after the Government revealed that they spent more than £10,000 on 80 PlayStations and 15 XBoxes for youth offender institutions.

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.

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]

Naruto: The Broken Bond Raises The Ninja Higher

Microsoft might have bagged a big PS3 exclusive at E3 with Final Fantasy XIII. But, Sony Computer Entertainment honcho Kaz Hirai really does not want any Xbox 360 exclusives. Like at all. Even abstractly! In an E3 interview with Swedenish daily Aftonbladet, Hirai reportedly says he'd take a bullet to the head over taking an Xbox 360 exclusive. Harsh! In the past few days, Microsoft and Sony have been trading barbs like crazy. It's like 2006 all over again. Anyway, here's the exchange, kindly translated by Kotakuite Mordochai:

Of Course, Final Fantasy XIII Is PC Bound! [Updated]

Yes, yes, we know. While some just seem to be figuring this out, Final Fantasy XIII is coming to the Xbox 360 *and* the PC. Square Enix announced this way back at its E3 press conference. Probably going lost in the jaw-dropping Xbox 360 announcement. To review, here's how the FFXIII development cycle is going down: First do the PS3 version, then the PC version and then the Xbox 360 version. And hey, there's been Final Fantasy games on the PC game before, so this isn't exactly something out of left field.

In case you missed it, here's our liveblog of Square Enix's E3 presser. In it, I liveblogged: "kitase says they're currently running it on a pc, so they don't know the work load of getting it on the 360. they are putting priority on the PC version." Also, here's a link to a post on the Nvidia site about the PC version.

Update: We contacted Square Enix, and according to the company, "The game is being built using PC-based development tools, but that doesn’t mean it’s being created for the PC platform. Our current plans are to release FFXIII for the PS3 and Xbox 360 only. Sorry for the confusion!" So to recap, it's being created with PC-based dev tools, but with plans only for PS3/Xbox 360 console release.

We knew Ninja Gaiden II Mission Mode was coming on July 25th, but what exactly is Mission Mode? Mission Mode is a pack of 25 new missions for the game, broken up into two sets. Karma missions involve trying to get the highest possible score, while survival missions are all about taking on hordes of enemies with a single weapon to see how long you last.

The pack will be available tomorrow for 800 Microsoft points, or the price of your standard Xbox Live Arcade title. Is it worth it? Not a clue. A real ninja does not pay to go on missions - we get paid for them, and then kill the guy who pays us, taking the rest of his money.

More Ninja Gaiden II Missions for Your Pleasure! [Gamerscore Blog]

Delays Continue For Burnout Paradise Xbox 360 "Cagney" Update

Criterion is now "aiming," as it says, for an early August release for its long-awaited "Cagney" update to Burnout Paradise on Xbox 360. The developer had originally announced a July 10th release date, but now says August 4th is the "EARLIEST" (caps Criterion's) that it can be expected to be available.

The update rolled out onto PS3 on time, marking almost an entire month's delay for Xbox 360 users. "We're in the final stages of testing the revised version and will announce a concrete date as soon as we have one," wrote Criterion on its developer blog.

The update contains 70 challenges, new online game modes — Marked Man, Stunt Run and Road Rage — the Live Page and Calendar, new cars, liveries and what the developers describe as a "mountain" of smaller improvements.

Full explanation post-jump:

Liveblogging The Comic-Con Halo Universe Panel

The Halo Universe Comic-Con panels is getting underway, focusing on — as far as we know — Halo Wars and the Halo novels. The panel, a star-studded Halo cast includes: Graeme Devine of Ensemble Studios, Frank O'Connor of Microsoft Game Studios, Joseph Staten, author of Halo: Contact Harvest, Eric Nylund author of Halo: The Fall of Reach and Halo: First Strike, Tobias Buckell, author of Halo: The Cole Protocol and Jon Goff and Corrinne Robinson from McFarlane Toys.

Hit the jump for the up to the minute live blog action! Boosh!

Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2 Hits This Month

Just ten days ago Acitvision let us know that Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2 would be hitting the Xbox Live Arcade on Aug. 6. Now they've gone and surprised us by letting us know today that the game has been pushed up to July 30. That's one more week that will be lost to SHUMP fever.

The 800 point game will include five additional game modes: Waves, which they say has been supercharged and tweaked; Pacifism, which has been promoted from achievement to full game mode, and new modes King, Deadline, and Sequence. All of the modes can be played solo or with up to four players on a single console. The multiplay allows for both co-op and competitive modes. You can also play co-pilots where one person drives and the other shoots.

Sounds like you're getting a lot for your Microsoft scrip.

Mutant-Riding Bandicoot To Save the World

This Crash Bandicoot: Mind Over Mutant video gives you a quick glimpse of Crash's mutant wrangling abilities and touches on the free-roaming and co-op play aspects of the game.

Sony Computer Entertainment honcho Kaz Hirai is confused. Just look at his Giant Kaz Face, see how tranquilly baffled it is? That's some serious confusion. When Xbox bossman Don Mattrick said Microsoft would sell more consoles than the PS3 this generation, Hirai wasn't quite sure what that meant. How long does Microsoft think the generation is? Is the Xbox 360 going to be around for ten years like Sony claims the PS3 is? Questions, questions, questions. Here's Kaz's take:

Gulliver's Travels Meets SimCity

A Kingdom for Keflings Revealed [IGN via Xbox 360 Fanboy]

Don Mattrick Says Nintendo And Sony Have Been "On Vacation"

Forget what you think about how those E3 pressers went, Xbox honcho Don Mattrick is here to tell you what he thinks. And what does he think? He thinks the other companies have been slacking off — that they've been "on vacation." No, not just "on vacation," make that "on an extended vacation." Here's the sound-byte:

I think we got more than 12 months’ work done, and others went on an extended vacation. Hopefully they got some good vacation photos, because they sure weren't showing up at work... Of course I'm going to be biased, but so far what I've heard is that Sony and Nintendo have disappointed. And Microsoft has been leading, innovating and driving a very comprehensive global programme... We're building momentum and we're on a scale that no other consumer electronics company or entertainment company has been able to achieve in nine years. It's been a very good show and I'm very pleased with what we've been able to accomplish. I think there was a lot of good work, a lot of innovation and a lot of news from us.

Oh, Don.

Mattrick: Rivals have been slacking off [MCVUK]

Afro Samurai Gets Comic-Con Appearance

Afro Samurai will be demoed to the public for the first time at this week's Comic-Con International in San Diego, Namco Bandai announced today.

The playable demo will give gamers a chance to check out what looks to be a pretty stylistic fighter based on the Samuel L. Jackson executive produced anime series. There will also be an Afro Samurai panel on Thursday featuring the creators behind the show. Panelist members will include Samuel "Snakes on a Plane" Jackson, THe RZA, Takashi Okazaki and Leo Chu. The group plan to talk about the development process, dish on some behind-the-scenes anecdotes and explain the inspiration behind the characters, music and story.

Xbox Live Makes Horror Funny This Fall

We know that directors James Wan (Saw), David Slade (30 Days of Night), James Gunn (Slither), Andrew Douglas (The Amityville Horror), and Marcus Nispel (Friday The 13th) can be scary, but how are they at making us laugh? Microsoft explores this concept this fall as they deliver original comedy pilots from the masters of horror to the Xbox 360. The concept was conceived by Gunn and Producer Peter Safran of Scary Movie fame, which makes a whole lot of sense, though I'm not sure the actual results will. So far my favorite pilot description is for James Wan's Doggie Heaven, in which a young man is shot to death only to wake up in the wrong afterlife. Hilarity ensues!

While most of us will have to wait until the fall, Comic-Con attendees will be able to catch a sneak peak at the “Horror Meets Comedy Xbox Original Short Film Pilots” panel on Friday, just a small slice of Microsoft's Comic-Con presence detailed below. McWhertor is on his way there today to check everything out, as well as purchase limited edition action figures for me which I will totally reimburse him for - promise.

Midnight Club: Los Angeles Hands-On

When we last saw Rockstar San Diego's Midnight Club: Los Angeles, way back at the Leipzig Games Convention, we walked away impressed. Pissed that we weren't allowed to actually drive, but impressed. Thankfully, E3 wasn't a total bust, given that we got to spend a good hour playing the Xbox 360 version of the newest Midnight Club.

It's really too bad our illegal street racing skills weren't up to the challenge. Sprinting through Sunset Boulevard in a Mazda RX8, then through the Hollywood hills in a late '60s Ford Mustang Boss 302 showed that, while we were thrown a couple of "REP" points here and there, we have a long way to go before actually having a respectable racing reputation.

Fortunately, we looked pretty good, even when finishing fourth.

E3 2008 kicked off Monday last week with a press conference from Microsoft that started out quiet and ended with a shot that rang out across the internet. While many people expected this year's event to be dominated by attempts to snag the more casual gamer with gimmicks like motion control, Microsoft instead stayed the course (with a few notable exceptions), building on their own concept of community and social gaming rather than going for the obvious aping. In case you missed our extensive liveblogging of the event, here's a run down of the big news out of Microsoft at E3 2008.