Variety reports today that the Project Runway game will likely feature the likenesses and involvement of co-hosts Tim Gunn and Heidi Klum. In addition to fulfilling our dream of a low-polygon count Klum barking at us in a video game, the Wii version is reported to feature Wii Remote and Balance Board support, the latter for walking one's chosen model down the runway.

Atari's deal with the Weinstein Company reportedly includes the option to release a series of games, so brace yourselves appropriately.

'Runway' poised for videogame makeover [Variety]

Former MTV boss Peter Einstein is behind the show, and he thinks he knows why video game shows "have failed in the past."

From what we've seen in the past a lot of the focus has been more outside of the games, with presenter reviews, stats, interviews with creators and only a bit about the games themselves – as one assumed that you only ‘play' games you can't ‘watch' them.

So, wait a sec. This means we're going to be watching people play games? Casual games? Sounds like it.

By taking the rich production values of many games today, using the story line or game objective, [production company] Ginx creates a TV production from a TV viewers point of view. We feel this concept provides a fun, entertaining TV event which is appealing mostly to the casual gamer.

Has anyone gotten a look at this yet? Is this really what's going on? Like, a documentary of one man's struggle to master Boom Blox?

Update: UK reader The A Drain says he's seen the show and files this report:

I managed to catch the first episode of this entirely by accident while browsing channels having breakfast the other day.

It's the same old drivel other shows are, but without as much talking. A 20-something girl bounces around the screen making sexual allusions for 5 minutes, then you get a 5 minute clip of a game, no commentary, simply game footage that's all.

Then you get two 'reviews' if you can call them that, in which a random dude voices over uninterrupted game footage, they reviewed both Ghostbusters (failing to mention that it's PS3 only for now in Europe, and called it multiplatform) and Red Faction Guerrilla. Essentially, they took a typical casual standpoint while doing the review, they gave no review score, avoided any and all technical aspects, and spent roughly 10 minutes saying "It's great you can smash stuff wiv a hammer!/Trap ghosts!"

Same typical uninformed drivel as other shows, except with a different girl bouncing around.

Ex-MTV Boss Targets Games TV [MVC via Joystiq]

The program on cable and satellite channel Bravo includes new interviews with the development team, previously unseen levels and game features and walks viewers through the history of the video game franchise and movie spin-offs.

"For some, Resident Evil 5 is the biggest game of 2009 and having been granted access to just about every aspect of it, I don't think they'll be disappointed.," said Jason Kilshaw, the producer of the upcoming episode of Playr.

The show is set to air at 11 a.m. on Sunday.

Readers FarmboyInJapan and Zuri F. sent this along overnight. I've already watched it about five times. This is a huge, complicated production, as you can see by all the people dressed in black helping to animate the scenes, and the giant cast and crew celebration when it's over.

Synopsis: Mario zips through world 1-1 and encounters Bowser, who chases him through New York (with a gratuitous Barack Obama sound bite). But this is worth it just for the power-up sequence alone.

第81回仮装大賞準優勝作品【スーパーマリオ】[YouTube]

It's like this for everything from video games to video tape to this brand of potato chips, which come in a bag I swear was sealed with a motherfucking hot melt glue gun. But Sony, in a gesture that I could never cover with enough praise, has said enough is enough: Death to clamshell packaging.

About a month ago, Sony said it was teaming up with Best Buy and Walmart to offer more convenient packaging that still provided enough anti-shoplifting security. Now, in a post on its electronics blog last week, it has said definitively the clamshell is finished.

I know consumers, including myself, get annoyed about how difficult they are to open. In fact, they typically can’t be opened without the use of a sharp device of some kind. Sony is working on the matter and I expect we will have a new alternative to announce soon.

Amazon announced a "frustration-free" packaging initiative for certain products back in November. Even then, a DualShock controller (not in the program) arrived in its standard plastic fortress that I still had to ginsu open. Sony throwing its weight behind this consumer-friendly initiative is very commendable and should motivate others in the industry to join up as well.

Here's a silly video Sony put together announcing the, uh, announcement. Warning, there's blood.

Bravo, Sony. Now, not to sound ungrateful, but when you get a moment can you take a look at those hermetically sealed DVDs and games ...

Sony Declares Death to the Clamshell! [Sony Electronics Blog via Joystiq]

If you catch the show, you'll also be able to see interview with some of the cast for the game, including Andy Serkis (the guy who did the work for Gollum). I sure hope this game can pull together the play elements enough to match what appears to be a very impressive visual and story-driven game.

GAMER TV "HEAVENLY SWORD" SPECIAL AIRS ON BRAVO THIS WEEKEND [ThreeSpeech]

Noodle maker Nissin pulls off a wonderful Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan parody with this ad for U.F.O. brand yakisoba. Staring Kansai boy band Kanjani and pro-fighter and Godzilla Final Wars actor Don Frye, the commercial knowingly adds this Ouendan-style noodle catch phrase: "Umaku! Futoku! Ookiku!" (Delicious! Fat! Big!). And yes, there's even an "Osu!" (hey!) right before it. Brilliant. Brian Ashcraft

Ok. Time to give away free stuff.

Here's how we're gonna do it: All the finalists are after the jump, and Kotaku-land is going to help pic the winners. To do so, Kotakuites must list ten entries they think should win. Not one or two, but ten. These can be in no particular order, but you *should* write ten entries in order for your votes to count. Big ugly editors like me will provide the checks and balances.

We really encourage all Kotakuites to vote. Lots of effort went into these entries. Pics after the jump. Get to it! Brian Ashcraft

Finalist #1

Writes Aaron:
"I have only seen one snow in Ohio this year and that was two months ago. With this in mind , I felt the best way to represent the theme of this contest would be to utilize my knowledge with a landscape scenery program called terragen... I created the attached Contest "Sculpture" using all of the things mentioned. Snow, Ice, Sand, Dirt, and Game related."

Finalist #2

Writes Andrew:
"Pyramid Head of Silent Hill fame made out of good ol' tar infested Marina Del Rey, CA. sand."

Finalist #3

Writes David:
"Here's a Mario Kart we made w/ snow."

Finalist #4

Writes Neal:
"No one told me food coloring actually purges itself from ice as it freezes, but hey, it was worth it."

Finalist #5

Writes Samuel:
"I'm sorry to say I didn't have any snow, sand, ice, or clay. But I had some
other materials... If Bonk ever had a system other than a TG-16, I think this is it."

Finalist #6

Writes Bob:
"This is my sand sculpture of the famed Master Sword (obviously). I created it this morning on the sunny, white sand beach of Waikiki, Hawaii across the street from my hotel... I used wet sand and a knife I used to eat my room service Belgium waffles with this morning. It took me just over 2 hours and I had accumulated a bit of a crowd watching my creation."

Finalist #7

Writes James:
"Here's my entry for the contest, a very small "classic" Donkey Kong made of ice. He's 1.75" tall... He got a little too warm at one point (I think from my breath) and lost some surface details. Also the light from the camera wore him down a bit! Ice is not very easy to shoot or sculpt.

Finalist #8

Writes Ryan:
"My entry is an ice lobster being cooked. I was inspired by cooking mama for the
DS. I know you don't cook a lobster in cooking mama, but it was a jello mold I
have from forever ago. Also ice and snow are rare in Texas, so it was made in
the freezer. It is made of ice with red food coloring."

Finalist #9

Writes Jason:
"As you guys may already know, there is NO snow, nor sand or any other kind of 'constructive' material in Hong Kong... I was looking around my desk and found some Blue-Tack.Yea, you heard it right, BLUE-TACK! Blue-Tack is an unbelievable hard to work material, specially for sculptures."

Finalist #10

Writes Jesus:
"My sculpture is an Ice Pirate from the Lost Planet demo...he's saying something along the lines of, 'enemy spotted....over here!' The lump on the back are those tanks, perhaps to house the T-eng, that they wear. Since I'm with the in-laws, i had to bend a black hose to substitue for a 'gun,' (they ain't cool with guns).

Finalist #11

Writes Joshua:
"At first, I was trying to stensil the logo into the snow, but found out quick that it wouldn't work. I thought it would be easy like clay but boy was I wrong. Well anyway, I just decided to scuplt and it came out pretty good."

Finalist #12

Writes William:
"Sadly, I have no snow (no sand) available, and I'd be hard pressed to leave my cozy couch in this weather anyway, so I thought I'd whip up something in keeping with the theme."

Finalist #13

Writes Mark:
"As I walked out of work today I tried to think of ideas to enter this contest. As I proceded to remove the snow off my car, my co-worker who was carpooling with me thought of this idea (Because my car is yellow). It was simple, but clever of my co-worker."

Finalist #14

Writes Canadian Scott:
"Just built a few snow goombas before it started snowing like crazy in Canada."

Finalist #15

Writes Wesley:
"we have no snow here in arkansas but i managed to make the triforce using sticks and twigs, in which my cat managed to appear...

Finalist #16

Writes Anatol:
"i'm from Siberia, Tomsk-city. Of course, there has snow, plenty of. For you contest i has made some crazy rabbids from Rayman Raving Rabbids."

Finalist #17

Writes Nic:
I hope you guys enjoy my snowy rendition of the Gears of War emblem...

Finalist #18

Rupert writes:
"Thawing out Prehistoric Pac-Man! Includes authentic fracture lines."

Finalist #19

Writes Deacon:
"Here's a Katamari rolling prince of all Cosmos my girlfriend and I decided to make out of snow for your contest! The whole thing was built in the dark since we're busy all day and it gets dark at 5pm.

Finalist #20

Writes Scott from Oregon:
"Do you remember Volvagia the dragon from The Legend of Zelda : Ocarina of Time? It took me and my lady about 4 hours to make him, and we scavenged the beach for all sorts of stuff to add to him, sanddollars (eyes), dead crab legs (for a toungue and claws), seagull feathers (which we tried building a mane out of, but just couldn't get the damn feathers to stick cause of the wind .. you can see a couple that stayed in the shoulder areas), rocks (horn), and some shells from nearby barnacles (teeth) .. at least I think that's what they are."

Vote away! We'll announce the winners on Monday. Brian Ashcraft