According to the post, developer Kuju was the one pitching a new entry in the Jet Set Radio series. Kuju Entertainment actually comprises a number of studios, including Zoe Mode, Kuju America, and doublesix, among others.

Kuju London, which specializes in Wii development, recently changed its name to Headstrong Games, announcing that it had an unannounced Sega title in the works. The studio's previous work includes the Battalion Wars series for Nintendo.

Lewis wrote in March that "Unfortunately, the JGR pitch didn't take" but we haven't heard back from him on requests to clarify whether that meant this particular direction didn't take or that the project was scrapped or handed off to another developer.

After outings on the Dreamcast and Xbox, we haven't seen anything of the futuristic inline-skater since 2003's Jet Set Radio for the Game Boy Advance.

We were overly excited to hear a rumor that Sega was planning on reintroducing the series, this time on the Wii.

Sure, that may conjure up less than appealing Wii Remote waggling during tagging and inline skate attachments, but we'd be thrilled to take whatever we can get. Just give us cel-shaded graphics, an awesome soundtrack and Wii MotionPlus support, Sega, and we'll love you forever.

Sega's recently filed trademark, dated July 24, 2008 and separate from the original, Dreamcast era trademark, certainly has us thinking that a Jet Grind Radio update is more likely.

In addition to the typical "video game software" goods and services applied for, the new trademark adds things like "downloadable game programs", "game programs for use with mobile phones", and "game programs for use with hand-held game machines."

Hopefully that translates to a broader scope than just the Wii.

After all, Sega president Simon Jeffery did say that the iPhone, not the Wii or Xbox 360, was the new Dreamcast.

Jet Grind Radio [USPTO]

I downloaded Super Stardust HD from the PlayStation Store last night, impressions of which will follow later in the day. Following a discussion with N'Gai Croal of Level Up fame over drinks and Madden NFL 08, I have a renewed interest in revisiting Manhunt. Yes, I may have been in my cups at the time, perhaps too deep, but I'm pretty sure I told Croal that I considered the Rockstar Games splatterfest one of the most important console games of the previous generation. I should reevaluate that with a bit more playtime, me thinks.

And you? What are you playing this weekend? Anyone got E3 Fever yet?

"Before I was fortunate enough to acquire a DS Lite I really wasn't a big fan of the original DS's design." No one in the world was a big fan of the DS's design, Chris. Large enough to pulverize into jelly many of Australia's largest rodents, gray and humorless, it resembled a triumph of Soviet cold-war era engineering.

Chris's solution was to slap a bunch of Final Fantasy VII and Jet Grind Radio emblems all over it. This is the same tack I took to up the pimp factor on the Gremlin I drove in high school, right before I accidentally drove it into a gully when my feet went right through the floorboards. Florian Eckhardt

Skin Up [The Art of True Player]