Porn Starlet Tera Patrick Joins Saint's Row 2

Weapons? Drugs? Violence? What doesn't Saint's Row 2 have (that Grand Theft Auto has already done)? A porn starlet on the development team. No, not 'on' the development team. CVG reports that Veteran adult entertainment engineer Tera Patrick has apparently joined the team at Volition as a "special producer". What exactly she will be producing remains up in the air at this time, but I am assuming it has something to do with procedurally generating sales to the sort of people who know her work intimately. Having seen Ms. Patrick performing her work accidentally via the internet in the long-distant past a week ago, I can't imagine what else she might be bringing to the table, other than wobbly table legs.

All will be revealed soon, teases the game's publisher THQ. In the meantime, Tera will be at the company's booth at Comic-Con on Saturday to pose for photographs and give convention goers the completely false impression that they have a chance in hell of getting together with her.

Porn star joins Saints Row dev team [CVG]

Everyone's favorite claymation man and dog combo is getting the episodic adventure game treatment courtesy of Telltale Games. The company has just announced Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures, an adventure series in the same vein as Sam and Max, ultilizing graphics that simulate the claymation look and feel of the beloved series.

"We're certainly going for the clay look with this," Telltale Games CEO Dan Connors told The Associated Press. "Clay presents a challenge if you really get into the detail of it. For example, adding fingerprints in a medium where there aren't any is one of the discussions of how far we should go with the game's detail."

Wallace & Gromit have appeared in their own standalone games in the past, but Connors explains that the episodic nature of the upcoming game will capture the feel of a W&G short far better than a platformer starring the characters ever could, sentiments Strong Bad creators Mike and Matt Chapman echoed regarding their upcoming Telltale game series.

'Wallace & Gromit' to become episodic video game [Yahoo! News]

EA, DC Bring Mirror's Edge To Comic Books

Electronic Arts announced today it has partnered with Wildstorm, an imprint of DC Comics, to bring its Mirror's Edge intellectual property to life as an ongoing comic book series. A limited edition prequel issue will be available to Comic-Con attendees at Booth #5233. The first person adventure, currently in development at DICE, will join sister property Dead Space in the four color 2D medium later this year. The move is part of EA's IP³ initiative, a push to bring internally developed properties outside of the video game space and into areas like movies, animation and graphic novels.

EA announced yesterday that it had tapped United Talent Agency to represent the company as it moves its internally developed franchises into the realm of motion pictures and television series.

Hit the jump for the full press release on the Mirror's Edge comic book series and check back all week for further Comic-Con coverage from Kotaku.

EA Signs Up Talent Agency To Bring Franchises To Movies, TV

The United Talent Agency and Electronic Arts have announced an agreement to help bring internally developed EA franchises to other entertainment media, including movies, animation, comic books and television. UTA, EA's "partner in crime", will represent the developer-publisher as it moves its IP into the "realm of large-budget motion pictures and television series." Let's hope that doesn't mean Madden: The Movie.

The EA-UTA deal is said to "significantly ramp up EA’s film and television slate" which currently consists of a "feature version" of The Sims, a MySims animated series and a Dead Space animated, direct-to-DVD feature. In other words, pretend to be surprised when the Army Of Two movie script leaks later this year.

Hit the jump for the full press release. We'll have additional details on all of EA's Comic-Con related announcements through the week.

THQ Signs Up With GameTap

While Turner Broadcasting's GameTap service gave us a scare awhile back by cutting off it's editorial arm, the game download side of things is still as strong as ever, and growing even strong still as they announce a long-term partnership with THQ to include the publisher's games on the service. This will add existing games like Company of Heroes, Warhammer 40K, Titan Quest and Red Faction to the service, while securing future titles such as Saint's Row 2.

“Our new partnership with GameTap allows both a brand new audience and fans alike to enjoy our titles and franchise games online,” said Adrienne Lauer, National Sales Director, Market Development for THQ, “Digital distribution is a great way to extend the reach of our properties and GameTap is an ideal outlet for this effort.”

See? GameTap knows what it's doing. The editorial content always seemed unnecessary to me anyway. More games is good! Hit the jump for the full PR.

UPDATED: Planet Xbox 360 just pointed us to their screenshot, and it's convincing. (Above).

Ever want to roundhouse punch EA Sports honcho/former Xbox chief Peter Moore in the jaw? Astoundingly, word is you can do just that in Face Breaker, coming out Sept. 5. ButtonMasher reports thusly:

While previewing Face Breaker at the EA booth it was mentioned that Peter Moore’s face had been scanned and entered into the game using the boxer editor. The face, which is creepily accurate, can be attached to any of the bodies and manipulated. Peter asserts that he suits a more chiseled look but the demonstration featured him as a blue monkey.

From talking with them more about the addition to the game it seems that his face will be included in the retail build of the game and will more than likely be an unlockable character.

That's a pretty shrewd move. Not sure how many sales it will do on that feature alone, but I'll put it in my GameFly queue.

Here's what the rest of the game will look like, btw.

Break Peter Moore's Face [Button Masher, thanks reader Paul K.]

Screenshot of Peter Moore in Face Breaker [Planet Xbox 360]

Goshdangit! My NASCAR 09 Gamesave Done Blowed Up!

WTF is going on at EA Sports? First came the manifold glitches and problems in NCAA 09, now we're seeing accounts of corrupt profiles forcing Xbox 360 racers to ditch their gamesaves and start all over.

After reaching a certain level of progress — the theory is cumulative laps driven, as it's struck gamers at differing points in their careers — the profile becomes corrupted and freezes the game right at the load screen. There is no other way to play the game except to delete the file and start all over. You can see a video of it here — but it takes 7 minutes to explain what was just said above. There is, however, a swell parakeet whistling in the background.

Of course, using a memory stick and disabling auto-save is one workaround. That doesn't help anyone who had no idea he'd bought a defective game and finds out about this after putting 20 or 30 hours worth of effort into it.

Reader S.H. (who tipped us here) says EA Sports is not responding to forum posts, emails or any calls for help (which the video helpfully points out). No wonder they're putting Peter Moore's face into a boxing game. That'll probably crash, too.

Seriously, EA Sports, why is it amateur hour all of a sudden? What the fuck is the matter with you people?

Playing to Perfection in Mirror's Edge

As with Ashcraft, watching Mirror's Edge has great potential to make me motion sick. In fact I was so worried about it I told the design team that I thought playing it would spur an instant need to run to a bathroom. But they insisted I wouldn't feel any queasiness when actually playing, and they were right.

What first struck me about the game was just how pretty it is. Mirror's Edge using the Unreal Engine but it does so to create something so unfamiliar, a first-person perspective in a bright, crisp world. Matching the simple aesthetic, the games controls are very straight forward. Granted I only had a chance to run and interact with the environment, so I'm not sure how combat will hold up.

Fist Pumping Through Major Minor's Majestic March

On its surface Major Minor's Majestic March is very simplistic, but then again so was Parappa the Rapper. And that's an apt comparison. Both games were created by Masaya Matsuura and both feature bright cartoon characters drawn with bold, clean lines.

Instead of tapping out a rhythm on a controller, as players did with Parappa, Major Minor's Majestic March has players setting their own tempo as the Drum Major of a marching band. That may not sound like a big difference but what it means is that it takes the control away from the game and allows gamers to dictate how they want to play. The key to the game isn't rhythm as much as it is consistency.

To play the game you hold the remote facing you and then pump it up and down in your hand as if you were holding a baton. The faster you pump it the faster your band moves and the faster the music plays. As you march along predetermined routes special power-ups and negative items pop-up on the screen. To grab them you have to swipe your controller left or right as you pass the items. You also pass a number of would-be band mates who can be tagged into your band.

Atari: Witchers, RPGs, Cooks, and ... Deer Hunters

You'll probably need a refresher on this one. Major Minor's Majestic March is a Wii game currently in development at Majesco. It's being designed by Masaya Matsuura, with art duties being handled by his old Parappa buddy, artist Rodney Alan Greenblat. It plays a little like Space Channel, except you're conducting an animal marching band. Read those last two sentences over again, let them sink in for a second, and you'll see why this might be one of the quietest, yet most pleasant unveilings of the show.

Mirror's Edge looks great. And the first-person-running-jumping-sliding-kicking-shooting gameplay is certainly novel and different. This morning, I checked out the E3 build, which looked, well, great. But...while watching the dev show off the game, I seriously started to feel ill. Really, really ill. I've never gotten motion sick from a game, and I got it pretty bad while checking out Mirror's Edge. Like to the point of breaking out in a cold sweat and feeling rather green. Actually playing the game didn't make me as sick as watching — and playing it was fun. The controls are intuitive and tight, and the overall design is polished.

I was talking with McWhertor why the game made me motion sick. He pointed out that the game does leave out certain colors in the color platte and that maybe, just maybe that's the reason. That, or the jet lag or the lack of sleep.

It's taken from a demonstration, so excuse the slightly grainy quality, but its a credit to the game's artists that its blue skies shine brightly regardless. This player demo of Mirror's Edge may seem familiar at first, but later gets into all-new territory, including combat and the disarming of opponents, a tactic so ingrained within the game that it's possible to complete the game without "having fired a single shot". Exciting stuff.

Kotaku's Pre-E3 Party

With most of Kotaku Tower emptying out to fly to Los Angeles this weekend it would be a crime not to throw a party. So of course we are. Come join us for a some pre-E3 libations on Sunday July 13 at LA's historic Golden Gopher.

Among the guests will be weekend warriors Maggie Greene, plus yours truly (in the I Heart Hot Moms shirt from the GTA:DUI video). Also appearing are Brian Crecente, Brian Ashcraft and Mike McWhertor. You'll also be able to catch up with Leigh Alexander and Mike "Mountain Man" Fahey, plus Intern Adam Barenblat, who interrupted me amidst a phone call with a ladyfriend last night and now must buy me a beer. (What, that cost me $5.99 a minute. Damn right I'm making the intern pay.)

The thing kicks off at 8 p.m., when the place opens, and we will, for a time, have an open bar. The place isn't gigantic, and in Tokyo we managed to burst Mother at the seams, so you may want to try and get there on the nose.

If you plan on making it, make sure to obtain a wristband from one of us once you arrive for the free drinks. The party is 21 and older only, unfortunately. Sorry.

Golden Gopher

Marvelous And XSEED's E3 Line Up - RPG Goodness

Marvelous Entertainment USA and XSEED games are teaming up for E3, showing off their line up of upcoming titles together as one united force of goodness. While the focus is mainly on the Nintendo DS and Wii, there is a PSP game in the form of RPG sequel Valhalla Knights 2 to spice things up. The name of the game here is RPGs, and the two combined have them in spades. For the Wii they've got three outstanding offerings - Rune Factory: Frontier, which takes the RPG/farming sim combo from the DS games to the console market, Avalon Code, a new RPG from the team behind Rune Factory and the Final Fantasy III and IV DS remakes, and the recently announced Little King's Story.

For those of you with a low tolerance for hit points, the dynamic duo will also be showing off XSEED's first DS games, Populous DS based on the classic PC game, KORG DS-10, a music creation program, and Retro Game Challenge, a mini-game title based on the Japanese Game Center CX TV series. Perhaps these three non-RPG titles will calm me enough to keep the Rune Factory fan in me from dry-humping their booth.

Kotaku's Pre-E3 Party

With most of Kotaku Tower emptying out to fly to Los Angeles this weekend it would be a crime not to throw a party. So of course we are. Come join us for a some pre-E3 libations on Sunday July 13 at LA's historic Golden Gopher.

Among the guests will be Kotaku's own Maggie Greene and Owen Good as well as such surely editor types as Brian Ashcraft and Mike McWhertor. You'll also be able to catch up with Leigh Alexander and Mike "Mountain Man" Fahey. I'll be around as well, probably demanding things of Intern Adam, like having him fetch me sammiches.

The thing kicks off at 8 p.m., when the place opens, and we will, for a time, have an open bar. The place isn't gigantic, and in Tokyo we managed to burst Mother at the seams, so you may want to try and get there on the nose.

Give a shout out in comments if you plan on making it and make sure to obtain a wristband from one of us once you arrive for the free drinks. Oh, 21 and older only, unfortunately. Sorry.

Golden Gopher

EA's E3 Line Up - We're Going To Need A Bigger Website

Don't expect me to sum up Electronic Arts' E3 2008 presence in a couple of paragraphs. It's far too huge for just a quick rundown, so I'll just give you the pertinent points. The line up includes soemwhere around 38 games, including four games for the iPhone, three for the iPod, and four mobile games - including the upcoming Wolfenstein RPG.

They got a demo room filled with top-notch titles like Dead Space, Warhammer Online, Mirror's Edge, Mercenaries 2, and Madden 09, as well as the EA Software Showcase booth, which will be showing off even more games - The Lord of the Rings: Conquest, Crysis Warhead, and Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 to name a few. Throw in partner games like Rock Band 2 at the MTV booth and Valve's Left 4 Dead and you've got a whole lot of real estate for the gaming press to cover in a very short time. Hit the jump for the full monty, including listings of which games are up for coveted E3 awards.

SouthPeak's E3 Line Up - Brave Choices

SouthPeak Games has revealed their line up for E3 2008, where they'll be showing a wide variety of games in all shapes and sizes. Most prominent is their just announced reinvention of the Brave series, which started with Brave: The Search for Spirit Dancer on the PS2. Brave: A Warrior's Tale for the Xbox 360, PSP, and Wii has a now elderly Brave telling tales of his youth, with a new character named Courage who uses Brave's wisdom to stop a current-day threat. Meanwhile Brave: Shaman’s Challenge for the DS is a platforming tale starring Brave himself.

Aside from the new Brave title, SouthPeak will be showing off their anime action game X-Blades for the PC and "next-gen consoles", Igor The Game for PC, Wii, and DS, the RTS/FPS hybrid Raven Squad for PC and 360, Big Bang Mini for the DS, and the PS3 version of Monster Madness. The game I am most looking forward to? Going to have to go with Ninjatown for the DS. Have to represent my deadly peeps, yo.