Here's Takeuchi discussing the winter 2009 Lost Planet 2 with Edge magazine's interviewer. Note that Lost Planet 2 is designed to be played in co-op and supports online play. And note that online gaming isn't very popular in Japan.

Edge asks: "Sticking with co-op, do you find it strange that Japan has one of the best broadband infrastructures in the world but online gaming is yet to really take off on consoles?"

After mentioning the rare popularity of co-op Monster Hunter and online Final Fantasy XI, Takeuchi says:

I just can't understand why Japanese gamers are so reluctant to play networked games. I find overseas players to be more curious — they go towards what they think looks, sounds or feels fun by themselves. In Japan, I have the feeling users are just waiting for us to guide, to feed them with fun things. The problem is that the online experience is something that requires users to make a move first. Nobody is going to open the door for you. You need to decide to go into it by yourself. I want to create in Japanese gamers that curiosity for going online. Because of course you can enjoy the game alone, no problem, but as soon as you are with a friend coordinating, you enter into a whole other dimension.

That interview runs in the new Edge issue, which covers the 2009 Tokyo Game Show and offers that new spin on the familiar topic of the modern struggles of the Japanese gaming industry. The issue is available in the U.K. and available to U.S. subscribers (like me) now.

Jun Takeuchi Q&A [Edge Magazine Issue #208[

Edge Magazine cover from 2005 back when the Wii was still called the Revolution (Via Edge cover gallery on Flickr)
Nintendo Power cover from 2006
Cover to forthcoming book, A Casual Revolution, about the impact of the Wii, Guitar Hero and other audience-expanding systems and games. (Publisher description here.)

From a "business perspective" it's not hard to see why Activision would hope that the first racing game Bizarre Creations makes since the publisher acquired the Project Gotham Racing development studio would have a Call of Duty impact.

But did you know that Blur seems to be drawing some creative inspiration from some top shooters?

The cover story of Edge magazine's June issue elaborates on the Mario-Kart-Meets-Forza design and the Facebook influence on Blur. But what caught my eye were the references to shooters.

Here, in a discussion about how the power-ups strewn on the track can affect gameplay: "The perfect lap is not apex to apex, it's about decisions: I need this, I can go and collect it, then I can use that. We're building up a story that the player is putting through in his mind, very similar to the process that a seasoned FPS player will do - they have a path they follow, picking up this weapon, using it, and then going to collect armour. We're hoping people will start to generate that sort of racing line through our game, as opposed to car control per se." - Martyn Chudley, creative director of Blur development studio Bizarre Creations

Here, in the context of how one race in the game's single-player campaign is designed to make the player fail the first time: "Shooters have been doing this for ages, but nothing like it seems to happen in racing games - you just go for first, restart, retry. In shooters there's a big robot you can't kill until you get the gun." Co-lead designer Gareth Wilson

Here: "It's clear that Bizarre has been very carefully watching Bungie's work with the freedom it has granted users to make their own gametypes and share them online in Halo 2 and 3." - The Edge article's author

And here, your direct Call of Duty reference: "Bizarre originally named Blur's power-ups 'perks' because they were all about empowering the player in a similar manner to COD4's Perks. Early ideas included the ability to see through cars." - The Edge article's author

Remember, Bizarre Creations hasn't just made racing games before. The studio is responsible for score-based third-person shooter The Club and the twin-stick arcade Geometry Wars games.

Coming later this year from Activision, it seems, is the feeling that there's an FPS in your racing game.

Much more on Blur can be found in Edge's cover story, which isn't online but is on newsstands in the U.K.

Kotakuite Spence sends in this interesting tidbit about the possibility of Loco Roco coming to the PS3. It seems that during Phil Harrison's keynote speech at this year's GDC, an eagle eyed NeoGAF forum poster noticed a Loco Roco achievement trophy within the Home demonstration.

Now, Spence has found an ad for an upcoming edition of PSM3 magazine in this month's edition of UK's EDGE magazine. I know, it's all a little confusing. But, suffice it to say that the ad is touting a feature called "Future of PS3" and shows a bunch of hand drawn Loco Roco blobs with the line "Loco Roco - PS3!" written underneath them in huge letters. Now obviously this isn't rock solid proof of the game appearing on the PS3, but it certainly does give one hope. All will be revealed when the issue of PSM3 in question hits UK shelves on April 12. Flynn De Marco

Singing balls coming to the PS3 [Spence What?]