Of course you do. Fortunately, there's wacky Manic Panic hued 'dos hidden away in the New Xbox Experience, giving you the option to create a more accurate Rei Ayanami or Maximilian Jenius or blue-haired senior citizen. It was discovered — as far as we know, by reader Samuel who told us that if you rotate the right analog stick for about a minute or so, you'll unlock a suite of new garish hair colors.

Actually, Samuel, I think you don't need to do anything but let the My Features screen idle for a bit. After the Hairstyles menu item rotates, you'll have the new colors. Unfortunately, we can't seem to match the eyebrows to the hairstyles. Wonder if there's anything else tucked away in there...

Update: Gearbox president Randy Pitchford tells us that the Sega published Aliens project is still on, that the independent developer has been undergoing "some transformative changes" resulting in "some talent changes." His full statement is after the original report. More »

Rock Band

Yep, Yngwie Is Coming To Rock Band

The rumors were true, Yngwie Malmsteen is shredding his way to Rock Band and Rock Band 2 next week. The Swedish guitarist will bring three tracks to Harmonix's band game, joining new songs from Soundgarden, Lamb of God and a three pack from the Killers. All tracks are, of course, master tracks and will be available on Xbox Live Marketplace starting next Tuesday, PlayStation Network next Thursday. Pricing follows. More »

grand theft auto IV

Pre-order GTA IV PC Now, Get Vice City Free... Now

We suppose that if you've resisted the urge to buy into Grand Theft Auto IV this long, opting to wait for the superior Windows version, you may have waited on a copy of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, as well. Valve and Rockstar Games must think so too, as they're offering a deal to pre-purchasers of GTA IV via Steam, tossing in a gratis copy of Vice City if you throw down the cash now. Not the world's most earth-shattering deal, but ten bucks is ten bucks, and you get something new now to while away the time until GTA IV unlocks on December 2nd.

playstation home

We, The PlayStation Underground, Are Now Beta Testing Home

If you're a PlayStation Underground member, you'll likely be sending your membership in the program off in style this weekend as it appears everyone in good standing is now a PlayStation Home beta tester. Sony is conducting a load test of Home's servers tonight (6 PM to 8 PM PST) to celebrate the release of the service's graduation to version 1.0. Yes, do check you inboxes now to see if you got in. The rest of the Kotaku readership has, it seems, and has lovingly tipped us off already.

With less than six weeks until the end of the year, will Sony actually get Home out as (most recently) promised? Will I be able to solve my current router problems and actually rub virtual elbows with you all in Home? Stay tuned!

Art

This Is What You Look Like Playing Video Games, Kids

Photojournalist Robbie Cooper — whom you may remember from his book Alter Ego: Avatars and their Creators, in which flesh and blood gamers were photographed and paired with their virtual world counterparts — has another fascinating, if brief, visual project focused on gamers. Dubbed "Immersions," it showcases the intense facial concentration, blank stares and slackjawed tongue-work most of us exhibit while playing games.

Some are hilarious, some are puzzling — what's that kid crying over at 1:56? — and some are a little sketchy, considering some of the games I recognize by sound only are definitely M-rated kill sprees. Regardless, I found it a fascinating 4 minutes. Anyone feel like offering some help in identifying some of the games being played? I can pick out a few — GTA IV, Call of Duty 4, Virtua Fighter 5(?) — but most are just on the tip of my tongue.

Immersion [The New York Times via Waxy]

Nintendo DS

Rumor: Game & Watch DS Collection Coming To North America

Is Nintendo of America bringing the Game & Watch Collection to the Nintendo DS? A brand new E-rating for the anthology recently appeared at the ESRB's web site, leading us to believe Nintendo may have plans to publish it stateside. More »

Clips

Bike Hero On Expert Is Viral Marketing-Free

Any clip that starts with "What's up, viral marketing douchebags?" has to go horribly wrong to lose my attention. Fortunately, this YouTube video response... wait where are you going?! This is actually pretty amusing. Anyway, this YouTube video response to the Activision viral marketing attempt doesn't go wrong at all. "Bike Hero On Expert" shows the brand managers at Droga 5 how it's done on the streets. Self described PRO GAMER Freddie Wong plays Dragonforce's "Through the Fire and the Flames" on expert while riding a bike while wearing a metallic foil button-up. Well, Activision, how does it feel?

Lazy Sundays

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

There's a copy of Castlevania Judgment and Metal Slug 7 at Kotaku Towers West both with my name on it. My name just happens to be on a Post-It preceded by "Review these ASAP or you're fired - Brian" so that's my weekend right there. What Brian doesn't know is that I'll be playing Left 4 Dead until my eyes bleed this weekend, with me thumbing my nose at him and his "due dates." Boy, I hope he doesn't read this post or the jig is up. I've also got some exciting Meat Bun things to pre-launch and a mouse carcass to dispose of.

Welcome to the good life! How's your world lookin'? Got some gaming that needs to get done this weekend? Let us know in the comments.

There's no lack of Wii games to choose from this Holiday season, but picking out the signal from the noise can be difficult when the release list is so damn loud. With a massive line up of Wii games, some retail, some Virtual Console, some WiiWare, it's often difficult to know where to drop the dollars and the Wii Points. Our gift guide will hopefully help new Wii owners and those gifting Wiis this season find the right software purchases to complement their new hardware. Don't forget those Wii Points cards and the extra Nunchuk and Wii Remote for the stockings. As for the games, we've picked some of the best titles for all ages.

Broken down into four categories — bargains for the cheap, essentials to prevent embarrassment, socializers to bring everyone together and epics to log the hours — there's something in the Wii library for all tastes. Read on to see our picks. More »