"We started the in-house development team a couple of months ago and we're starting with downloadable content because the team is still small," explained the studio's US president John Yamamoto. "All formats – Xbox Live, WiiWare, PlayStation Network – are all viable formats for us"

The LA studio will also be investigating middleware solutions, after successfully using the Unreal Engine 3 for The Last Remnant. "I want to [...] evaluate lots of middleware," said Yamamoto, "because western middleware is much more advanced compared to Japanese middleware. So we will study and feed back information to Square Enix in Japan."

Square Enix LA studio to focus on digital titles [GamesIndustry.biz]

"ParticleMan simulates gravitational attraction between particles in a cloud. This system was used to study such gravitational dynamics as orbits, nebula formation, star formation and particle streams from sources like pulsars and black holes," says the official site.

ParticleMan has the following elements:

• Particles — point masses which interact with each other
• Gravity Wells — fixed point masses which attract or repel particles(depending on magnitude, which can be negative), but do not move or change mass without user input
• Particle Guns — sources that spit particles out at a given angle and velocity
• Gravity Wells and Particle Guns may only be placed on the green grid in the z=0 plane.
• The Iso Surface — an isosurface geometry object derived from the positions and masses (which act as field strengths) of the particles.

By toying with the physics controls you can create different kinds of gravitational simulations. Set fusion rate to high, you can simulate the birth of stars in a collapsing nebula. Low fusion rates can simulate the interaction between stars in a galaxy.

ParticleMan is an .exe, so Mac gamers (like myself) are SOL. But if you've always wanted to make stars, and not in the American Idol sense, here's a nice weekend time-waster.

Spore Protoypes [Spore.com, big thanks to reader Bryce]

Whether or not Haze looks like just another FPS or something better, the still undated demo will give us all a chance to decide for ourselves before the game comes out. It reminds us a lot of what Criterion gave us with Burnout Paradise—a small, robust chunk of the entire gameplay experience. Good stuff.

MEDIA ALERT: HAZE(TM) - *4 Player Co-op / Campaign Demo Incoming Exclusively for the PLAYSTATION®Network*

April 15, 2008 - Ubisoft, one of the world's largest video game publishers, today announced the imminent release of a fully playable demo for Haze, the new first-person shooter set in a harsh future where war is never quite what it seems. Coming exclusively to the PLAYSTATION®Network in early May, this playable demo will give gamers a taste of not only the single-player campaign in Haze, but will also allow up to four-player, drop-in drop-out co-op play online. Developed by shooter experts Free Radical, creators of the critically acclaimed TimeSplitters® series, Haze is scheduled for release exclusively on the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system on May 20th 2008 in the US. Haze is rated "M" for Mature by the ESRB.

But Universe at War looked fantastic, despite its only moderate reception. And now it's available as a demo on the Xbox 360. So if you enjoy RTSs but don't have a PC or trust console-ported controls, it might be worth giving a download. And just think: if such demos were around back at Leipzig, I probably wouldn't have to run all my posts by Tristan before publishing. And Mini Bash might have approved my raise, too.

Demo: Universe at War: Earth Assault [Major Nelson]

...ten years from now the ratio of games sales will have gone from 90 per cent in-store to 90 per cent online.

I remember loading Facing Worlds from the original UT on my first bohemeth 19-inch monitor and feeling dizzy as I looked to the Earth below, making my stomach churn. A few years of innovation later, my 46-inch HDTV should force an alien baby through my shirt.

Free DLC Now Available for Unreal Tournament III [Gaming Today]

We're asked if we're going to do Bring Down the Sky for PC, and it's a consideration. We're looking in to exactly what we want to do; maybe we'll do something different, because the PC offers some different potentials.

The advent of Video Store is a competitive advantage from a PR standpoint, alongside the range of games on our platform. In the last two months, since the launch of Video Store in the UK, our audience figures have grown dramatically.

The problem isn't Microsoft's video store itself—the service is decently integrated on their platform. The problem is that their selection of titles is little more than a novelty for consumers. If you can't rent even a quarter of the movies you want to see on LIVE, you won't think of your Xbox as the place to see movies—bottom line.

Of course, if our little rant is incorrect and their video store rocks your world, feel free to correct us in the comments.

Xbox Live to focus on family, says Microsoft [MCV]

PS3 - Regional User Faces...[NeoGAF via DigitalBattle]

FileFront has the download and installation instructions, which, curiously, point out that removable storage of some sort is required for import. Whether it be compact flash, Memory Stick or simply a USB thumb drive, it seems one can't simply download to the PS3's built-in mass storage via the internet browser. What's up with that?

FileFront Exclusive: First Ever PS3 Unreal Tournament 3 Map [FileFront]

I don't think we're ready to look at that and say, "This is the way it should go right now." But we're at an interesting point in the industry where consumers know they can get things fast and they're getting used to it with other devices from other companies. So it's something we always wanted to do.

...we want to start opening up some of these channels and getting consumers used to that and experimenting with it...I would say it's a glimpse towards the future. Definitely just by releasing a UMD title in the store it definitely puts ideas in people's heads, but no I wouldn't categorize this as a shift in business model at this point.

Save a copy of your downloaded files on a Zip-drive, floppy disk etc. in case you computer breaks down.

...three action games, two music-based games, one racing title and a shooting game...

All titles are being developed internally, which has a lot of promise if we see the same level of creative talent on these projects as we have in PSN downloads. And apparently Sony has been pitching external development companies with the approach, "why give part of your money to a retailer?"

We just can't wait for when the PSP store can function without a PC or PS3...and it's not even open for business yet.

More details emerge on PSP PlayStation Store [gamesindustry]

...any customer who downloads the equivalent of 30,000 songs, 250,000 pictures or 13 million emails in a month.

Comcast Clarifies High Speed Extreme Use Policy [gamedaily]

Given that they also said the attachment rate is reaching an average of 6-7 XBLA titles per user, we're a bit confused by all the numbers at the moment. Either those 25 45 million downloads are arcade title exclusive, or that 6-7 title figure is inflated and based upon only the most current users. We have an email out to Microsoft and will let you know if the numbers start making more sense.

UPDATE: We've talked to Microsoft PR. The real number is actually 45 million Xbox Live downloads.

Gamefest 2007: 25M Downloads on XBL [1up]

GDI claims it will allow users to play games within minutes of initiating downloads, but the article did not specify how much each download would cost. Oftentimes, downloadable content is cheaper when artwork, packaging and shipping are not factored into a product's final cost.

This of course makes GAME, who has already eaten up Gamestation earlier this year, an even more powerful company—depending on if it can dodge those little monopoly rumors. Kim Phu

GAME adopts GDI's on-demand PC service [Games Industry Biz]

In Microsoft's attempts to make the Xbox 360 even more of a digital hub, and hopes of boosting sales of the Zune digital music player, Microsoft will soon be launching a kind of Zune Marketplace on the Xbox 360. In order to use it, you will first be required to subscribe to the service—roughly $15 for one month, and $45 for three months.

While the prices seem steep, keep in mind that you are getting unlimited access to the entire collection of music offered to Zune users.

This one just doesn't really make that much sense. In many ways, it's like paying my toaster to download movies so I can watch them on a microwave. Then again, at least I actually know people who own a microwave. Kim Phu

Music Downloads Coming to 360? [360 Monster]

D3 Publishers of America or D3PA, are bringing more titles to Xbobx LIVE Arcade later this year. D3PA are reponsible for publishing such games as Naruto 3 and HI Hi Puffy AmiYumi: The Genie and the Amp for the DS.

The first list of titles coming out will be Pull-Back-And-Go Racing Game Mad Tracks, Miniature Bowling Game RocketBowl and Competitive Matching Game Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlord. While I'm not totally overjoyed by list, I did like the retro-styling on Large Animal's Rocketbowl. It's kind of like alien bowling in the 50s. Finally, a game John Waters can love! Kim Phu

D3 Publisher of American to Bring Games to Xbox Live Arcade [Gamertag Radio]

The following Friday (March 30) will see Super Rub-A-Dub hit for an unspecified price with flOw hitting one week later (April 6). No price has been set for flOw either. Go! Sudoku (April 13) and Go! Puzzle (April 20) hit the following two Fridays.

See, that wasn't so tough! Grab a lollipop on the way out. Michael McWhertor

Sony Online Entertainment is bringing the fuzzy orange Noser to the PlayStation Store next Thursday for the low-low retro price of $4.99. Gottlieb's classic arcade game will feature 720p resolution graphics and Worldwide Online Leaderboards for high scores. Hmm. Q*bert or flOw? Q*bert or flOw? Q*bert or flOw? What to do?! Michael McWhertor

Q*bert [Station.com]

Tons of new Video Marketplace content is now available on Xbox Live and Microsoft's Major Nelson has the full rundown. The following television shows and movies have been added, with a couple coming soon:

Skyland (Nicktoons) - Season 1
Wild World of Spike
An Inconvenient Truth
Lady in the Water (HD)
Beerfest (HD)
The Wicker Man (HD)
The Descent (HD)
American Haunting (HD)
See No Evil (HD)
The Blair Witch Project (HD)
Requiem for a Dream (HD)
Cecil B. Demented (HD)

World Trade Center (coming soon)
Barnyard (coming soon)

And, in an effort to get you hooked on Nickelodeon's Skyland, they're offering the first episode for free until midnight Monday, January 29th.

Hmm. What will it be? Skyland or Requiem for a Dream? Tough call. Both are high quality, but only one features heroin addicts living a hellish existence. Michael McWhertor

You can even practice left or right handed parts separately and slow down tracks to master difficult sections. So cool!

Make sure you download a copy now before the copyright lawyers neuter this one. Michael McWhertor

Piano Hero Official Site
Piano Hero SourceForge Page

EA is getting a jump on next year's Christmas shopping by giving Xbox Live subscribers the option to download (for a mere 150 Microsoft Points) the Godfather Happy Holiday Theme. They're really on the ball! I wish I could plan my holiday spending 363 days in advance.

The them pack is available now for Gold members, but you Silver-tier folks are going to have to wait until December 29th to tap into some of that holiday cheer. I don't know about you guys, but this Godfather Happy Holiday Theme has me pumped for Christmas!

But, I think the 48 hour wait will be worth it. You also get "a never before seen logo from The Godfather The Game." And who doesn't love unreleased logos?! Michael McWhertor

Theme: Godfather Happy Holiday Theme [Major Nelson]

For the next ten days, you can get the Mehrunes Razor download for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion free via Xbox Live. It's spelled out very well in this Bethesda Softworks update:

We're pleased to announce that we've worked with the good folks at Xbox Live to give away one of our most popular downloads for Oblivion - Mehrunes Razor - for a limited period of time. Starting this Friday, Dec. 22, Xbox 360 gamers will be able to download Mehrunes Razor for free. This offer is only for a limited time...from Dec. 22 to Dec. 31. On Monday, Jan. 1 it will go back to its standard price.

Normally a 250 point download, the free quest will give Oblivion owners the chance to earn Mehrunes Razor—a weapon with the ability to kill foes instantly—and discover 17 new magic items, all within the fringes of the Niben. Exciting! Michael McWhertor

Starting tomorrow, November 30th, Xbox Live users and owners of Madden NFL 07 and NCAA Football 07 can download (at no cost) new, alternate uniforms for both and "throwback" uniforms for Madden. Did I mention these were free?

Pretty smart, EA. Don't start pissing off the userbase of your biggest cash cow. We'd appreciate more of this sort of behavior in the future. Michael McWhertor

NCAA Football Alternate Jersey Details and Madden Alternate Jersey Details [SportsGamer]

One of the downloadable arcade style titles from Sony themselves, Blast "Don't Call It Geometry Wars" Factor has been priced and measured, according to IGN. Weighing in at a slim 95 MB, the first party downloadable game will set Japanese consumers back 840 yen. That's seven bucks and change American, but since when does SCEA go by simple currency exchange rates? I'll eat my hat* if its not $10.

* Please note I do not currently own a hat. Michael McWhertor

First PlayStation Network Pricing [IGN]

Richard over at Aeropause has succeeded in wresting the Chromehounds demo from Xbox Live's xenophobic Australian servers by dint of some pretty sneaky ninja maneuvers: he made a new account and pretended he was Australian.

Alas, the game sounds more ponderous than the yearly episode of spyware removal, defragging and general "tech support" required during Christmas visits to your parents' house:

Alright, after getting my brand new demo, I sat down and played it several times trying to get a feel for the game, and after about the third time through I said to myself stop playing this game, it's boring! The pace and feel of Chromehounds is one of an overgrown chess set with no end in site. The mechs move incredibly slow and they turn even slower. I timed how long it took to do a 360, it took 15 seconds, which means if you are getting plastered from behind just kiss your ass goodbye.

Horrible. Give me blasty mech madness, dammit! Eliza Gauger

EDITED TO ADD: I just had a friend try this and he wasn't able to get the demo. Has anyone reproduced Aeropause's mechy results?

Chromehounds Demo Review [Aeropause]

Hmm, even more word on the contents of the Wii's secret flap. From an anonymous tipster sent to GoNintendo:

working at the nintendo booth this year at e3, after close on thelast day, everyone was involved in the tearing down and boxing up of everything that was to be sent back to corporate (TVs, systems, et al).

once the systems were removed from their plexiglass houses, they were all laying there awaiting the box and proper packing materials.

i flipped a lid down to see the SD card slot and SYNC button. When all the guessing as to what was under the flap was going on, I kept quiet because I didn't want to spoil the fun.

If Reggie can spoil the fun, i can add this detail.

We've heard news of downloadable DS content before: Could this be the button you press to sync the two devices on up? Florian Eckhardt

SYNC button behind secret Wii flap? [Nintendo Gossip]

Megagames.com has compiled a gigantic list of free games for those blogging hobos that are popping up everywhere. There are approximately 400 in the list, from the unsightly yiff-fest MMO "Furcadia", to the socially-conscious condom shill "Catch the Sperm".

Randomly clicking through, I was rewarded with the bile-filled description for A Nightmare on Sesame Street, which ends on a note of mystery:

Through the games' various levels you get to make sure each character of the game receives a slow, agonizing and painful end. By the end of the game the name on the street sign won't be visible, cause it will be covered in puppet blood.

This game is as simple as they come but it certainly deserves credit for its very rewarding concept.
The developer of this game is unknown.

The User Comments also offer up some good old-fashioned Greater Internet Fuckwad action (more the clueless variety as opposed to the malicious). My favorite?

anonymous at 18:27 8/0/2002 personally i was expecting more activities from the program. no-one makes a fool of Arnold Smith

"DO YOU HEAR ME, ELMO? NOOOO OOOOOONE!!!" Eliza Gauger

So many games! [MegaGames]

This page seems to be for the Omelette fellow (I assume this person is male, but I have my doubts) to post his terrifying furry cartoons, the style of which seems to have remained exactly the same since he was ten years old. I am deeply mystified by this, as well as strangely compelled by his flowing, golden-brown mullet.

No matter. The reason I bring him up at all is that he's posted a big fat steaming pile of downloadable game music in the form of "Flying Omelette's Top 50 Favorite Game Ending Songs". Here's what he has to say about his #1 choice, the end theme from Final Fantasy 6 (after the jump).

It was a really difficult decision, but in the end, I just had to give the edge to Nobuo Uematsu's bombastic ending theme for Final Fantasy 6. I really love how it incorporates a lot of the game's songs, including every main character's theme in the first part, and Terra and Setzer's themes in the second part. I'll also remember thinking how awesome it was at the very moment I first heard the Final Fantasy Prologue kick in. The ending is the only place in Final Fantasy 6 where that song is heard. An epic masterpiece, this song really goes out with a bang.

The vast majority of his choices were 2D RPGs, so the selection is extremely limited. But it's all very well-organized, with mp3 and MIDI downloads of each theme.

...the longer I look at this site the more uncomfortable it seems. You let me know if this person shows up on any Have You Seen Me flyers in your mailbox, yeah? Spooky. Eliza Gauger

Top 50 Game Ending Songs [FlyingOmelette, via Digg]

Hey! Neat!

But check this out. In a new interview with Nikkei BP, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata says that the Wii will be able to download demos of new Nintendo DS games — Nintendo DS games! while you sleep:

"I'll give you a specific example we are planning for. Let's say your Wii is connected to the Internet in a mode that allows activation on a 24-hour basis. This would allow Nintendo to send monthly promotional demos for the DS, during the night, to the Wii consoles in each household. Users would wake up each morning, find the LED lamp on their Wii flashing, and know that Nintendo has sent them something. They would then be able to download the promotional demo from their Wii's to their Nintendo DS's."

This morning, I realized with a start that I had stopped hating the Wii for its ridiculous name alone. And it's largely through little, simple, extremely wonderful features like this. This may very well be the first console I've ever waited in line for on release day; pity the Irish knacker who gets in my way. FLORIAN ECKHARDT

Wii to Download DS Demos While You Sleep [Game|Life]

(Note: Titles not confirmed, but you can bet on Sonic. AB maybe not so much.)

Also: Crecente's up-to-the-minute-unless-the-servers-explode Liveblogging of the Nintendo Keynote.

Need more Quake action for the PC? Happy Holidays from id Software, Raven and Activision - they've just released three free maps for download over at the official site. Complete descriptions of tne new maps, Railed, Tremors and Campground Redux are readable after the fold.

Quakemas Map Pack Available for Download [id Software]

Railed Set in an abandoned, rusting Strogg facility, the environment in Railed produces fast paced frenetic tournament action. This new map is all about close-quarters combat and hair-trigger reflexes as players hustle through the winding, multi-tiered corridors. Designed particularly for tournament play, Railed also supports Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch game modes, and is guaranteed to provide some thrilling fast-action gameplay.

Tremors Built within a twisting underground cavern and peppered throughout with pipes, bridges, and catwalks, Tremors demands tactical expertise. Enemies attack from above and below in the enormous, multi-tiered environment, making team-play invaluable. Tremors is perfect for huge Capture-The-Flag games, and also supports the Arena Capture-The-Flag gameplay mode.

Campgrounds Redux With QUAKE 4 s updated technology, Campgrounds Redux now has a fresh look and feel, revitalizing this QUAKE III classic. Excellent for any number of players, this updated version supports Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Tournament modes, where hard-core QUAKE fans can get crazy with this throw-back to one of their old favorites.