The Gamer's Girl is supposed to be a place for girlfriends of gamers to commiserate about their gamer-dating-related woes and advice. The blog's author, Jillian, says she definitely does not want it to turn into another "gamer boys suck" blog.

"I'm not into gamer bashing," she said. "While it focuses on the Girl - it's very much Gamer friendly, too."

For example, she points to an article titled "The Gamer's Widow" that offers tips for gamers to keep their significant other from resenting or interrupting game time needlesly — lilke setting aside half an hour right when you get home from work to lavish affection on your partner before switching on the Xbox 360.

"[My fiancé] actually starting taking those 30 minutes when he got home to spend with me before hoping on the game. It was awesome."

Jill's looking for more contributors to join her blog — and hopefully she'll get some article in there written from the perspective of someone like me who is both gamer and oftentimes girlfriend of gamer. Hit her up if you have any ideas.

The Gamer's Girl
[Image Cred]

Chris goes into great detail about the stunts included in the game, which are sequences of events and combinations of powers used to kill the enemy creatively. Sucker Punch teamed with the Sony testing team to generate a list of more than 80 stunts, narrowing that down to a little over 20 using an "experience monitor" that measured the power used versus the damage done.

Chris also delivers details on the trophies included in the game, which they've broken down into six convenient categories, including:

Game, story and mini-mission completion
Collect all dead drops and shards
Traversal
Stunts
Power-Based
Karmic decisions

Examples include the "Get off my cloud", which is received for knocking someone off a high building to their death. Once again, I find myself extremely glad that life has no achievement system.

inFAMOUS - Trophies and Stunts [PlayStation Blog]

"Could you explain to us how your script is in any way different from Predator?" asked one of the suits.
"Predator takes place in Guatemala," Erik Wolpaw explained, using his I'm-explaining-something-idiotic-to-a-child voice. "Meet the Sandvich takes place inside a refrigerator in Guatemala."
"Where you can hear Predator happening outside of the refrigerator," clarified Jay Pinkerton.
"Also, Predator is two hours long," Erik continued. "Ours is four hours long."
"Right," said a suit, "but only because the script includes the first half of Predator..."
We nodded.
"... then all of Road House, and then the rest of Predator."

Dammit. It sounds like the best movie ever. Hit the jump for the full explanation, including charts and graphs.

Finding the Time to Bleed [Team Fortress 2 Blog - Thanks Rhys!]

Hit the link for more concept art to help soften the blow of the unfortunate delay.

Jane's Gray Matter Blog [Official Website]

David Jaffe was stuck in the San Francisco Airport yesterday so what did he do? Read Kotaku of course. And even better, he took a photo of Kotaku on his MacBook. (But one of my posts isn't featured in the photo....it's ok Jaffe, I get the hint). But he does say Kotaku "never lets [him] down with the goods." Well Jaffe you never let us down either. Yesterday he also posted an entry about the departure of Cory Barlog from the God of War team. His take? It's a good move for Cory and he thinks God of War 3 "promises to be the best game in the series." Read more over at Jaffe's blog.

Welcome to the Space Giraffe Launch Blog! We're now very close to Llamasoft's latest emission through the auspices of XBOX Live Arcade. So if you've an XBOX 360 and you're all hooked up to that there internet you're in a for a real treat for a mere 400 XBLA points! Over the next few days you can expect this blog to be chock full of all manner of Space Giraffe info.

There's a 100 levels to play through, a rogues gallery of nasties bound to test your gaming skills and it's here you'll be able to find out what you need to succeed straight from the yak's mouth, he'll be along soon.

I'll just be glad when the game is out (for a whopping 400 points on XBLA) and there will be no more cries of dispair in this house - until one of the games I'm looking forward to gets pushed back again and again and again.

Llamasoft Space Giraffe Launch Blog [via Jeff Minter's LJ]

Bethesda's Beth Blog

I've been beating the "Sony needs a blog" drum for longer than I can remember. I even told Dave Karraker on several occasions that he should be their blogger. It looks like he didn't take me up on my suggestion, but SCEA did launch an official blog today, which is fantastic news.

What I like best about the blog is how very transparent it is. Not only do they have everyone's names next to the posts, they have their official SCEA title, so there's not forgetting that you're reading an official and not a fan blog.

It's far too early to see what sort of news and posts the site will be host to, but if nothing else it's a great please for fans and owners of the PS3 and PSP to meet and gather and to, at times, talk directly with the people involved in making those products.

Microsoft has Ozymandias, Major Nelson and GamerScoreBlog and now Sony has the Playstation Blog, but where's Nintendo? Come on Miyamoto, we're waiting. Brian Crecente

PlayStation Blog

Microsoft's mouthiest blogger Ozymandias clacks out his his PS3 hands-on impressions. No real shockers, and surprisingly, he's actually easier on the console than some mainstream reviewers. We've gone through, selected the meaty bits for y'all to sink your teeth into after the j-u-m-p:

Console itself is a heavy, hot-running beast. Not "melt the TV" hot, but not as cool as some folks might have you believe. The heat coming off the vents was similar to the heat you feel coming from tabletop projectors. The box is, however, very silent - definitely beats the 360 there...

Controller is better than expected. It's very light, which threw me off at first, but it's also quite rigid. Doesn't flex or squeak, and as it's based on the classic PS2 design, is comfortable to hold. The analog triggers feel very cheap, though, and the lack of rumble just sucks. The motion sensing capability still feels like a gimmick to me, and the lack of rumble is very noticeable in games like Resistance...

Sony just needs to get over this Immersion lawsuit and pay up — they've definitely taken a step backwards here in my opinion... The dashboard is elegant, and I like the XMB interface. There are times when you can get lost for a minute, but in general it's quite clean and easy to get around. I do wish that a few more of the functions were more intuitive — it took me a moment to figure out that Triangle was often a hidden command I could use to pull up options. I suppose that's not that different than learning how the 360 Guide works, though...

Resistance was easily the best launch title — good story, fun shooter, and looked decent. It's not a Gears of War, but to be fair, it's a launch title... Marvel Ultimate Alliance and Call of Duty 3 were competent, but seemed pretty much identical to the 360 versions (with COD 3 having some framerate issues, but nothing unplayable). Genji surprised me as being a really good looking title — frankly, it's one of the best-looking (if not playing) launch titles I've ever seen. This title alone gives me hope that future PS3 games will have potential...

As expected, Sony's online network really isn't there yet. You can sign up and get a screenname, and associate that with an email address and password — that all works... Basic messaging is enabled, but no one I know was ever online or using it, and there's no way to communicate across games. Games have separate friends lists, and those lists aren't integrated into your PS3 friends list... One positive aspect that I liked, however, is that you can sign-in via your email address/password on any PS3 without having to move your account to a memory unit. This roaming is very cool, and feels more flexible than the 360's current model...

The Playstation Store is pretty empty at the moment. Some game demos, arcade games, and trailers are available, but you run out of things to explore pretty quickly. Not a criticism here, though — 360 had the same problem at launch, and I'm sure more content will start flowing. It was disappointing that I couldn't download any music however... It's easy enough to navigate, though using the controller as a mouse seemed a bit odd. I think I like the 360's Marketplace UI better for navigating with a controller — mostly because it feels like you can "snap" to locations more deterministically.

He does have some valid points, stuffed inside the standard rhetoric, but valid points nonetheless. Agree? Disagree? Don't give a crap anymore? Brian Ashcraft

Lippy Blogger Reviews PS3 [Ozymandias]

A reader send in word that Kotaku wasn on BlogTV, a Japanese show that seems to follow the happenings of blogs on... um... TV. We're at the 6:30 mark. The two presenters, a woman in a scarf and a guy in a cowboy hat, start talking about the Playstation 3 in hushed and amused tones. There's lots of gesticulation and laughing and then there's Kotaku, on that big-ass screen over their shoulders.

They seem to be talking about the insanity of the launch here in the U.S., scrolling through a bunch of our stories from last night showing pictures from the various PS3 lines. And then they laugh and laugh and laugh.

I was hoping that one of them would say Kotaku so I would finally know how to pronounce it. Brian Crecente

Those of you that had trouble reading pirate patois (ha ha ha, losers) are going to tear your scalps off and eat them in chunks after I launch this one at your faces:

GRANDE THEFTE, COLLUSIOUN, AND MAYNTENANCE: Ich had herde of this game bifor, for manye a petiticioun hath ben yiven to the kinge in parlemente concerynyge the threte that thys game wille make childrene in to violent felouns. Ich was astonyed to heere that Lowys had boughte it hym self, by bribinge a clerk of the video games store. And yet, ther ys litel mattir for worrye, for the game itself ys a satire of the disordred state of lawe in this contree. Ye run arounde and commit various actes of trespass with force and armes, and then use yower patrones and affinitee groupes to get yow out of prisone. Ther ys even a 'mini game' yn whiche a sheriff doth presente yow wyth a writ to appeare in courte and ye teare yt yn piece-meale (by pressinge the A button very faste!). Ye gayne riche landes by doynge yower neighbours wronges and oppressiouns. Ye kan evene take the liverie of various corrupt local lordes, and putte the robes and hattes and pinnes on and looke at yowerself yn the mirour. Althogh ich trye to be a man of moralitee, ich muste admit that this game ys verye fun! Every tyme ich do commit trailbaston and hitte a lawyer ovir the heede to take of hys coynes, ich do pretende yt ys that wankere Johannes Gower! Ywis, ich do thinke that this game pleseth nat the menne of parlement for yt striketh verye close to the merke.

This is from the blog of Geoffrey Chaucer, poet of the 1300s, in his post titled "Ich pwne noobs!". He gives rundowns of popular titles including DONKEYE-KYNGE, CIVILISATIOUN, TROJAN KOMBAT, TYGER WOODSES HUNTINGE AND HAWKINGE, which doth make simulacioun of noble sportes. As do I. Eliza Gauger

Ich Pwne Noobs! [Geoffrey Chaucer Hath a Blog, via Buttonmashing]

Microsoft's XNA Game Studio Express got its own blog. It's called XNA Team Blog (clever!), helmed by XNA manager dude Boyd Multerer and looks pretty Spartan compared to Major Nelson's page or even the Gamerscore Blog. Microsoft's favorite thingy is to set its employees loose in the Blogosphere to communicate with folks, address pressing issues and troll Sony. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [XNA Blog]

Contrary to popular belief, we do not loathe Sony. Actually, we quite enjoy their products and are very much looking forward to the free PS3 consoles the company is going to send all of us. Microsoft, on the other hand, hates Sony with the scorn of a thousands years in hell. And that's when Msoft is being nice.

Speaking of nice, Microsoft does have a nice game blog, Gamerscore. It's run by John, Cesar and some other marketing guys I haven't yet met. The site is friendly and PG-13. My mom likes it.

Then, there's Ozymandias, which is written by Andre Vrignaud of the Xbox team. This is Microsoft's bitchy blog. While it's not Florian bitchy (nothing is), the site is unabashed in Sony pooh-poohing. From Blu-ray follies to PS3 problems, Andre takes great joy in posting every bad bit of news regarding Sony. Take a look at what Andre has to say about the Sony's Manager of Developer Relations quitting:

Mark was one of the best in developer relations, very well respected in the industry, and was instrumental in trying to get Sony Corporate to take developer support seriously. (Although I like to think Mark was following the example our Game Technology Group sets.) ;)

I do have to wonder how much of Sony's flailing was a part of this decision.

I count at least four snide jabs at Sony. If you lean extremely close to your monitor while reading the page, you can just make out the sound of Xbox honcho Peter Moore cackling in the background. Brian Ashcraft

Read Here, Haters [Ozymandias] Thanks, DirtyDebutant!

GameDaily is reporting on the blog of David Jaffe, creative director of Sony Santa Monica and head man on God of War:

As [GoW 2 director] Cory [Barlog] and I have said to the press, this is the second act of a bigger story. And when you are making a game, you never really know if the game will turn out good enough to merit another one in the series. But after last week, I can say I am very confident of our chances to be able to complete the GOD OF WAR trilogy. You never know, but that's me just putting it out there.

Jaffe's blog is a ramblin' sort of blog, as blogs go, but he has the occasional game news and/or post about the socks of a three-year-old girl. Which, I suppose, is mighty 'd'awwww' adorable. I also learned he was lead design on a bunch of Twisted Metal games (all of 'em?) which explains the crispy goodness of God of War. Eliza gauger

Jaffe Talks of God of War Trilogy [GameDaily BIZ]
Jaffe's Blog [Typepad]

Stop me if you've heard this one: A video games journalist and a Nintendo executive walk into a pub. The Nintendo executive slaps a poodle onto the bar, exposes himself, then blurts out the release date for the Wii.

Haven't heard that one? That's okay, we'll tell it to you sans the poodle: A French blogger is reporting that he had a drunken conversation with a Nintendo executive at an airport bar, during which conversation it was leaked that the Wii will be released on the 30th of October in Japan and only about a week later in the US or Europe.

The official Nintendo announcement about this should come in September, but it makes perfect sense from our perspective: Beat the PS3 out the door. And lest we forget, we've heard the early November rumor before. Florian Eckhardt

Novembre, Mois De La Wii? [Inpactvirtuel.com]

Here's the description:

Blogphotopodcasting: New Media in the Game Industry
Join pioneers in the new media industry as they discuss how they're blazing the trail for mainstream news and how the mediums of the past are shaking in their boots. Panelists include Brian Crecente (Editor, Kotaku), Ashley Jenkins (Fragdolls.com), MC Wilson (Broadcast Gamer) and Julianne Greer (Editor, The Escapist).

If you're heading to PAX come by and help fill a seat or two. The panel is Sunday, Aug. 27 from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.

This is going to be my first PAX and I'm psyched. And yes, I'll be liveblogging the shit out of it. Hmmm, I wonder if I can liveblog my own panel? I could be snarky about myself. NICE! Brian Crecente

Here's a couple of automatic entries from Live in 3D's console:

Live in 3D's Xbox - 04/22/06 Live in 3D hit the switch and fired me up yesterday. His total gamer score is 2751. That is a gain of 20 points over last time! He played Tiger Woods PGA TOUR06, Oblivion, Hexic HD gaining 1 achievement, Geometry Wars Evolved, FC Instincts Predator, and then quit because he was totally wasted...

Live in 3D's Xbox - 04/27/06
Live in 3D is the best. He treats me right. I treat him right. It is a good thing we have going here. Gamer score stands at 2831. Not too shabby! That is a gain of 50 points over last time! He played Oblivion gaining 5 achievements, and almost cried with joy. I have that affect on people.

Kinda creepy, but also kinda cool. You can sign up at the link below.

360 Voice

Gamasutra has started its own blog. GameSetWatch is edited by Simon Carless and written by a laundry list of some of my favorite bloggers: GeenOnStun's Michael McWhertor, Wonderland's Alice Taylor, Edge Magazine's Brandon Boyer, LostLevel's Frank Cifaldi and Insert Credit's Brandon Sheffield.

Can't wait to read it.

Game Set Watch [Official Site]