Dubbed the Nintendo DSi LL, the new portable will feature a 4.2 inch screen. Priced at ¥20,000 (US$220) the DSi LL will be released on November 21. The "LL" refers to the extra large size.

The redesign comes at the request of customers who said they wanted a larger screen, and the screen is a 93 percent increase over the DS Lite's screen size — the number of pixels is the same, however. The DSi LL is geared for those who want to use their Nintendo handheld for internet and as a music player as the larger screen is able to display letters and characters in a bigger font.

The DSi LL is bundled with two touch pens: one shorter and one longer touch pen (129.3mm), and comes will three DSiWare titles pre-installed: Two brain training games (one for humanities, the other for sciences) and DS Easy Dictionary. Releasing in three colors, the DSi LL will be available in Dark Brown, Wine Red and Natural White.

According to that report, which appeared in the Nikkei newspaper and has since made its way online, the price for the new, larger DSi will remain the same, 18900 yen. The large screen DSi, three-quarters of an inch larger than the current model, is said to be aimed at an older market, the type who likes big buttons on their telephones and large print books.

While the jumbo Nintendo DSi is planned to hit Japan this year, says the Nikkei, a release elsewhere is said to be under discussion. Nintendo announced the original DSi in a similar fashion, officially unveiling the device last October then releasing it domestically before the end of the year.

We're checking in with Nintendo of America for comment and will update if they have anything interesting or confirming to say.

Nintendo To Release Large-Screen DSi In Japan [Nikkei - subscription required]
任天堂がDSiの進化版を年内に販売！iPhone対抗か！液晶も大型化 [via NeoGAF]

Valve's Zombie shooter was refused classification, which means it can't be made commercially available in the country. Not quite the same as a banning, but it has the same effect.

The company's appeal to overturn the Board's earlier decision has been refused, and the original, unedited version will not be sold in Australia later this fall when the game launches there.

As Valve told us earlier, the version of Left 4 Dead 2 submitted to the Australian government for rating is "the adjusted version." This version has been rated and will be commercially sold in Australia.

Valve's Gabe Newell told Kotaku Australia that this edited version, Australia-only version is "fully compliant with the guidelines" for a 15-years-old and up rating.

"We think Left 4 Dead 2 is a lot of fun," Newell said then. "It's a game for adults. But we're aware that different countries have different restrictions, and we want to make the choices that make the game the most fun for that country."

The recent decision regarding Valve's appeal to sell the unedited version reads:

According to the Classification Review Board, the game has been once again refused classification due to violence.

In the Review Board's opinion, Left 4 Dead 2 could not be accommodated within the MA 15+ classification. The computer game contains a level of violence which is high in impact, prolonged, repeated frequently and realistic within the context of the game.

In addition, it was the Review Board's opinion that there was insufficient delineation between the depiction of general zombie figures and the human figures, as opposed to the clearly fictional 'infected' characters. This was a major consideration of the Review Board in determining the
impact of this game on minors.

Computer games classified RC cannot be sold, hired, advertised or demonstrated in Australia.

The Classification Review Board convened today in response to an application from the distributor of the computer game, Electronic Arts, to review the decision made by the Classification Board on 15 September 2009 to classify Left 4 Dead 2 RC.

Thanks Clement for the tip.

You get what appears to be a watermelon.

The word "sambo" is in the 22,802 wordlist we posted previously, between "sambhar" and "samboussa". Other racial terms (not just for African-Americans, but all ethnic groups) turned up nothing. The word "slave" produced an old white man in a tuxedo. "WASP" produces a "wasp". It's worth noting that the characters in the game are a diverse bunch, with African-American models used to depict a variety of jobs including ballerina, firefighter and life guard.

"We are not a racist company and we don't make racist games," Scribblenauts creative director Jeremiah Slaczka told Kotaku when reached by phone tonight. He said that there was no racial intent involving the inclusion of the word "sambo," a term he was not immediately familiar with.

Further discounting any impression that there was an racial intent, Slaczka also told Kotaku that one of the people responsible for finding and adding words to the game was black — to be clear, Slaczka, however, is not saying that an African-American put the word "Sambo" in.

Warner Bros. Interactive, the game's publisher, responded to Kotaku's request for comment Thursday:

"We deeply regret the unfortunate oversight that led to the word being included in the game," a company spokesman said. "The word was included as a reference to a Spanish based term for a fig leafed gourd but clearly upon review the word should have been excluded entirely."

Washington State-based developer 5th Cell said in the game the word sambo refers not to the racial term but to the Spanish term for a fig leaf gourd that resembles a watermelon.

Slaczka said that the word was included in Scribblenauts because it is an ingredient of the Ecuadorian dish Fanesca, which is listed, on Wikipedia, as including a "figleaf gourd," or "sambo." A Google image search of the term "figleaf gourd" produces an image that looks like a watermelon. Slaczka said that it is common to use the same image for multiple words in Scribblenauts and that that is the reason a word meant to depict a figleaf gourd appears to be a watermelon.

In the U.S. though, the word "sambo" has been used to demean and degrade Africans and African-Americans alike. "Sambo" was a common slave name in the U.S., and the late 19th century children's book The Story of Little Black Sambo is cited as furthering the word as a slur. While the book was set in southern Indian, it did play on the blackface iconography and African-American intellectuals have been critical of the pickaninny motifs.

Here is the Online Etymology Dictionary's entry for "Sambo":

Sambo (2)
stereotypical name for male black person (now only derogatory), 1818, Amer.Eng., probably a different word from sambo (1); like many such words (Cuffy, Rastus, etc.) a common personal name among U.S. blacks in the slavery days (first attested 1704 in Boston), probably from an African source, cf. Foulah sambo "uncle," or a similar Hausa word meaning "second son." Used without conscious racism or contempt until circa World War II. When the word fell from polite usage, collateral casualties included the enormously popular children's book "The Story of Little Black Sambo" (by Helen Bannerman), which actually is about an East Indian child, and the Sambo's Restaurant chain, a U.S. pancake-specialty joint originally opened in Santa Barbara, Calif., in 1957 (the name supposedly from a merging of the names of the founders, Sam Battistone and Newell "Bo" Bohnett, but the chain's decor and advertising leaned heavily on the book), which once counted 1,200 units coast-to-coast. Civil rights agitation against it began in 1970s and the chain collapsed, though the original restaurant still is open. Many of the defunct restaurants were taken over by rival Denny's.
sambo (1)
"person of mixed blood in America and Asia," 1748, perhaps from Sp. zambo "bandy-legged," probably from L. scambus "bow-legged," from Gk. skambos. Used variously in different regions to indicate some mixture of African, European, and Indian blood; common senses were "child of black and Indian parentage" and "offspring of a black and a mulatto."

However, included in the loaded "Sambo" term are things like blackface and other tropes like unkempt hair and watermelons — tropes used to degrade and oppress African-Americans into simple, comical characters. In short, to dehumanize and objectify. From the post-Civil War era, food items like fried chicken and watermelon were used to stereotype "darky" African-Americans. The popular culture depiction of African-Americans during the late 19th and early 20th century was stuffing their faces with watermelons and gnawing on fried chicken.

There was even a New Jersey brand of watermelon called "Sambo brand".

The watermelon images and "sambo" slurs reduced African-Americans to two-diminsional characters. Similar sambo and watermelon imagery have been used by those unhappy with President Obama. As The Chicago Sun-Times' Mary Mitchell writes, "The smiling "darkey" eating watermelon was a popular image during America's racist past, and was the one of the stereotypes used by Obama-haters during the presidential campaign."

Both "sambo" and the image of a watermelon carry the baggage of the American experience regarding racism. There is a connection between them. A long, painful and oppressive one.

Thanks Zachery for the tip! [Pic]

Stephen Totilo and Brian Crecente contributed to this report.

This new console will be black, with Modern Warfare 2 branding, and will also come packing a 250GB HDD (so, yes, it is real), a copy of the game and two wireless controllers. It'll be $399, available on November 10, and is already available for preorder.

UPDATE - We've now got some official shots of the console.

Dubbed Star Ocean: The Last Hope International, the game will be hitting the PS3 February 4, 2010 and priced at ¥8,190 (US$90). The game features reworked menu screens and a tweaked battle system with auto-targeting. SO4: International also features English and Japanese voice acting options. It really is international!

This holiday season, Nintendo is bringing black Wii peripherals to America, but hasn't yet announced a new black console. There's also a new bundle: the black Wii Remote is available with a black version of the Wii MotionPlus accessory included. Pricing is still TBA.

A black Nunchaku rounds out the color coordination. All that is missing is a console.

The news came after a member of the audience asked if there would be more co-operative vehicles in the game in addition to the three-player mech we were shown during a brief demo. In response, Takeuchi explained that there would be more co-op vehicles, and some of them would fly.

After the panel was over I confirmed with Takeuchi's translating partner that yes, this was indeed new news and no, they might not have been supposed to say that.

Company Town: The business behind the show [Los Angeles Times]

Ain't It Cool is reporting that Sam Raimi (Evil Dead, Spider-Man) has signed on to direct the film version of Warcraft. "It [the announcement] will come out in trades later this week or next," writes Ain't It Cool. "But you can take this one to the bank."

The movie version has been in development at Legendary Pictures for several years now.

Not official confirmation by any means. Stay tuned!

Update: Variety has confirmed that Raimi will be helming the picture. Legendary Pictures and Blizzard will be collaborating with Warner Bros., who will be co-financing and distributing the film.

The movie will be produced by The Dark Knight producer Charles Roven. Blizzard's senior VP of creative development Chris Metzen will co-producer. Raimi is supervising the film's development while shooting Spider-Man 4 next year.

"At its core, Warcraft is a fantastic, action-packed story," said Raimi. "I am thrilled to work with such a dynamite production team to bring this project to the big screen."

The official press release refers to the move simply as "Warcraft" and not "World of Warcraft".

AICN Exclusive Confirmed: Sam Raimi is going to direct WORLD OF WARCRAFT!!! [AICN Thanks to all who sent this in!]

According to a report from Billboard, that service will launch sometime this year for the Xbox 360 versions of Rock Band, with plans to bring those "popular tracks" to the PlayStation 3 and Wii versions "eventually." Artists can submit their songs to a group of "Harmonix-trained freelance game developers" who will prep the tracks for use in game.

Artists can price their songs between 50 cents and $3, netting 30% of track sales. Rock Band owners will be able to preview Rock Band Network songs before they purchase.

MTV Games senior VP Paul DeGooyer says the Rock Band Network features a "set of serious professional tools to allow people on the front line of writing and recording songs to completely control their destiny with respect to interactive products and then giving them direct access to the download store."

Those tools are expected to enter a public beta program in August. A preview web site for creators has just been launched.

There's a good reason the Rock Band Network will be initially available only to Xbox 360 users. Harmonix and MTV Games are relying on Microsoft's Creators Club and the company's XNA development platform to handle the development of artist uploaded track to something that's playable in Rock Band.

The new artist network is Harmonix's answer to Activision's "GH Tunes," the music creation and marketplace tools that launched with Guitar Hero World Tour. Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos said that his company would take a "radically different approach" to user song uploads.

It's different, that's for sure. And it'll likely go a long way to helping Harmonix reach those 5,000 downloadable tracks in Rock Band this year... or eventually.

MTV To Launch New Track Upload Program For 'Rock Band' [Billboard]
Rock Band Network [Official Preview Site]

The acquisition appears to be the first step into turning The Pirate Bay into a legal site. The Stockholm-based piracy site is a peer-to-peer server which made video games, movies and music available for "sharing" among users. Swedish police previously raided the The Pirate Bay and those connected to the site, and the ensuing trial against the BitTorrent site's founder resulted in a guilty verdict.

According to Hans Pandeya, CEO of Sweden's Global Gaming Factory, "We would like to introduce models which entail that content providers and copyright owners get paid for content that is downloaded via the site."

Pandeya adds that while The Pirate Bay is one of the top 100 most visited sites on the entire internet, it needs to change. "In order to live on, The Pirate Bay requires a new business model, which satisfies the requirements and needs of all parties, content providers, broadband operators, end users, and the judiciary," says the GGF exec. "Content creators and providers need to control their content and get paid for it." What's more, Pandeya adds, file sharers need "faster downloads and better quality".

According to a statement from The Pirate Bay, "If the new owners will screw around with the site, nobody will keep using it. That's the biggest insurance one can have that the site will be run in the way that we all want to."

Global Gaming Factory X AB will acquire The Pirate Bay this August.

Thanks to all who sent this in!

Two of the most acclaimed game development studios of all time are joining forces. ZeniMax Media, parent company of Fallout 3 and Elder Scrolls development studio Bethesda Softworks, announced today that it is purchasing legendary Doom and Wolfenstein studio id.

In an interview with Kotaku, id co-founder John Carmack, id CEO Todd Hollenshead and ZeniMax CEO Robert Altman said the purchase will change none of the principles or principals of id and Bethesda but will allow id to grow like it never has before. The purchase does not affect plans for previously announced games from id that are slated for release through other publishers, including the Activision-backed Wolfenstein and the EA Partners-planned Rage.

Why did id sell?

"We're really getting kind of tired competing with our own publishers in terms of how our titles will be featured," Carmack said. "And we've really gotten more IPs than we've been able to take advantage of. And working with other companies hasn't been working out as spectacularly as it could. So the idea of actually becoming a publisher and merging Bethesda and ZeniMax on there [is ideal.] It would be hard to imagine a more complementary relationship. They are triple A, top-of-the-line in what they do in the RPGs. And they have no overlap with all the things we do in the FPSes."

Hollenshead said ZeniMax's acquisition will allow id to grow its internal teams, staffing up the groups working on the next Doom — which will now be a ZeniMax game — and the Quake Live team, for starters.

The goal, explained Carmack, is for id to handle all of its own IPs. "We can build the pipeline and have a regular pipeline of releases."

Altman described the deal as a "win for fans of id." He said the deal came about when Hollenshead approached him. ZeniMax had been looking to acquire developers and wanted id, but didn't know it was available until approached. The merger had been in the works for months, according to the men on the call today.

In a press release for today's news, Altman laid out a vision for a robust id: "We, along with many others, consider id Software to be among the finest game studios in the world, with extraordinary design, artistic and technical capabilities. They have demonstrated, repeatedly, that rare ability to create franchise properties that are critical and commercial successes. Our intention is to make sure id Software will continue to do what they do best – make AAA games. Our role will be to provide publisher support through Bethesda Softworks and give id Software the resources it needs to grow and expand."

No co-developed games are planned at this time. But, they joked, getting those Fallout bobbleheads into Rage would be fun.

Several sources have confirmed to Kotaku that the entire QA department was shuttered, along with artists and a few other assorted staffers in other departments as well. According to one insider, Rockstar is not enthusiastic about having internal QA departments, but rather, wants to keep all QA at a dedicated QA studio.

Estimates are that "at least 10 percent of the studio" was made redundant.

The upside is that Rockstar's severance package is being described as "fairly generous", and the company is even helping some former Rockstar New England employees find jobs.

Based in Andover, Massachusetts, Rockstar New England was originally Mad Doc Software, but acquired by Rockstar in April 2008 and re-branded as a subsidiary.

We are following up with Rockstar for a comment.

Today, Nintendo announced that it will be launching a black-colored Wii in Japan on August 1 for ¥25,000 (US$260). Besides the console, Nintendo will be selling black Wii peripherals as well. They are priced as follows:

• Black Wii Remote ¥3,800 (US$40)
• Black Nunchaku ¥1,800 (US$19)
• Black Classic Controller Pro ¥2,000 (US$21)

The white colored Wii went on sale on December 2 in Japan when the platform initially launched.

The lighting and rain return, but the letters "R" and "P" flash on the screen...along with? What looks like a close-up of Big Boss. It is unconfirmed, however, whether this actually is Big Boss.

The lighting and rain return, but the letters "R" and "P" flash on the screen...along with? What looks like a close-up of Big Boss. Big Boss is, of course, Solid Snake's commanding officer in the original Metal Gear, and it is later revealed Snake is his son-slash-clone.

If rumors that the next issue of Famitsu reveal a "New Metal Gear" reveal or the site's keywords ("Hideo Kojima", "MGS", "METAL GEAR", "NEXT", "game") don't convince you that Kojima Productions is announcing a new Metal Gear game, then perhaps Big Boss will.

And yes, there is another countdown clock. It ends on June 1.

Kojima Production "Next" [Konami Thanks, treegreen!]

The tenth anniversary remakes will be called Pokémon Heart Gold and Poké Soul Silver — much akin to the Fire Red and Leaf Green Gameboy Advance remakes of Pokémon Red and Pokémon Green.

The original Gold and Silver sold 23 million copies worldwide. Expect the DS remakes this autumn in Japan with newly added elements.

ポケモン金・銀が10年ぶりに復活！　DS向けにリメイク決定 [Yahoo! News via PokéBeach Thanks Duff!]

While at the time it sounded like Garriott had - fresh from his trip into space - simply walked away for a new challenge outside of games development, court documents have surfaced today showing that Garriott is suing NCsoft for a whopping $24 million.

The suit was filed in the Texas Western District Court earlier today, with Garriott, the plaintiff, accusing NCsoft of fraud. We've contacted both NCsoft and the court for further information, and will update when we hear more.

Now watch the first full trailer, complete with a girly drink, a moose head and a chainsaw motorcycle. Oh, there's what looks like gameplay footage, too.

Embedded version in the link below.
Dead Rising 2 - Trailer (2:29 min) [Inside Gamer Thanks, Thomas!]