Sandbox games are quickly becoming the bane of the demo-loving public. Open worlds just don't separate into bite-sized pieces well. Take Far Cry 2, for instance, which game director Clint Hocking has confirmed will have no playable demo before release due to the staggering amount of gameplay packed into every nook and cranny of the game. What, can't we just use invisible walls?

"One reason is, even if we were to give out what you played today - even if we put invisible walls around it and said, here's the demo, you can go anywhere you like inside these walls and play it how you want - that's potentially right there eight-to-ten hours of gameplay. I don't know too many people who are willing to give away a 12-hour game for free."

How about really tiny invisible walls? Maybe with a time limit? No? As gamers get more and more used to having demos available before games are released, the sandbox game devs are going to have to adjust. Perhaps just give gamers a square of land, a selection of weapons, and a target range? We can work this out folks!

No Far Cry 2 demo planned [Eurogamer]

No More Heroes Mobile Is Less Bloody, More Adorable

Suda's No More Heroes is violent. It's also really, really stylish. Those are the two things the game's probably most renowned for, so when a Japanese mobile version of the game turns up looking neither stylish nor violent, should you care? Yes! Because there's not just one mobile game, there's three of them, they take Travis and co. and turn them into fat-headed children, and because each game only costs ¥100 (USD$0.95).

NO MORE HEROES FLASH ゲーム [Game Watch]

Cannabalism, Slavery and Sex in Fallout 3

Fallout 3 maybe the game I am most excited about going into this E3. I say maybe, because there are some other titles up there that have me pretty psyched (Left 4 Dead). But Fallout 3 for me is a wonderous mix of nostalgia and clever game design.

I can't talk about what I saw yet while playing through a chunk of the game last month, but the Bethesda folks took the time to throw together a massive fan-driven 25 question and answer post. In it they touch on everything from child killing and drug addiction to AI and dialog trees. Here's my favorite question. Hit the jump for one on the AI and two more screens. Make sure you check out the full post if you're interested in the game.

1) Which of the following, if any, will be featured in Fallout3; Romance, Sex, Homosexuality, Nudity, Prostitution, Slavery, Cannibalism, Children, Child killings, drugs, addictions? And of the things that won't be featured, can you explain why they won't be included in the game?

It touches on most of those. Slavery, children, drugs and addiction more than the others, as those factor for into the setting more. In regards to nudity and child killings, no, it features neither of those, as they don't really add to the flavor of the game (I'll get into children in the next question more). I think if you look at Fallout 1, and the footprint it has with the topics you ask about, Fallout 3 is pretty much the same, in that it features the types of things you mention at about the same rate, no more, no less. Drugs and drug addiction play a larger role perhaps, as it's a key gameplay device. I think the heart of this question is "has the harshness and maturity of the world of Fallout 3 been tempered from the earlier games?" and I can certainly say "No, it hasn't been."

For all you MGS4 gamers, reader Christine L. has a couple new cheat codes for you. These look new to us, so we're passing them along. With them you can get the .45 pistol and the Mosin-Nagant sniper rifle before they unlock in the game (which happens after you meet up with the Metal Gear Mark II.) It doesn't exactly rock the foundations of science, but it might be useful to some of you.

Internode Games Network reports that Blizzard brass hat Rob Pardo (tell us what we've won!) in his Worldwide Invitational presentation, has slammed teh door on rumors Starcraft II drops December 3. Saith Internode:

Speaking about the game's development, he explained that they were "about a third of the way through" the campaign, and were concentrating on story structure and cinematics at this point - commenting that by the end of the year, Blizzard should have something very impressive to show off.

That said, Mac gamers can expect a simultaneous release of this title, too — whenever it arrives.

StarCraft II — Not Happening in 2008 [Internode Games Network]

DS Threatens To Make Textbooks Obsolete At Tokyo Girls School

Ever conscious of educating today's youth, Nintendo has been providing DS systems to an all-girls school in Tokyo. The AP got their reporter into one classroom full of "giggly" seventh-graders to determine if any learning was going on.

In the process, the AP determined the favorite game of one 12-year-old:

Like many other Japanese youngsters, she has the DS at home and plays DS games like "Mario Kart" and "Animal Crossing." But she insisted her favorite was her English class software

It was only a couple of years ago that I went to a high school in Chicago to watch students try to learn from Civilization III. Putting each student at a desktop computer seemed to make communication hard. I wonder if the DS is any better a replacement for a textbook.

Curious detail about this story #1: Nintendo is providing 40 DSes to a classroom of 32.
Curious detail about this story #2: English Training for best game?

Nintendo DS Teaches English In School [AP via NPR, OK?] [English Training DS Pic]

Metal Gear Solid 4 Launch Delayed In Spain

Metal Gear Solid 4 has launched pretty much everywhere. Well, everywhere save for Spain. The game hasn't yet launched there because of a transportation strike against the high price of gasoline. Konami Europe isn't able to get the game to stores. Here's the statement from Konami Europe:

Konami Digital Entertainment Spain regrets to info of possible delays, through no fault of the company, may occur in the distribution of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots for PLAYSTATION 3 in the coming days.

Although the official launch globally is June 12, 2008, the product will be unavailable this week in Spain due to the transport strike.

In the continuing effort to maintain the best gaming experience for our users, Konami Digital Entertainment deeply regrets that this contingency affect the date of launch of a long-awaited title.

Will be informed shortly of the date on which the product will be available in our country.

Bummer that the launch had to be pushed back due to a transport strike. The price of gas isn't anything to be happy about, either.

Comunicado sobre la fecha de lanzamiento de Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots [Konami Thanks, Lauren!] [Pic]

Nintendo Not Attending Leipzig This Year

Kids Won't Listen? Sic BOB on 'Em

Let's close things out today with this, an attempt to rationalize Pac-Man into an actual narrative: Bottom line, drugs and outer space are a bad combination.

This picture comes from an animation that gets annoying after about like 2 seconds. Turn down your speakers if you have easily startled house pets or children around. Fair warning.

Don't Do Drugs in Space! PLEASE! [ytmnd.com]

As of press time today, Take-Two is worth more per share than Electronic Arts is offering to pay for it — at times approaching a whole dollar per share higher than EA's acquisition bid. Though Take-Two's been trading consistently at or above $26 since April 23rd, it's the highest the share price has been since that week in February when the buyout was initially announced.

Zero Punctuation Relishes No More Heroes

While Yahtzee was a little bit late to squeeze into our No More Heroes Frankenreview, he still offers a pretty enjoyable review of the game, likening the experience to, among countless other colorful, non sequitur metaphors, Branston Pickle. Having never consumed Branston Pickle, I can only assume that this review is absolutely, utterly false in its conclusion. And as I don't plan on visiting Branston's home in England any time in the near future to try it (or even going to the shelf in any large chain store to buy it), I should live a life of blissful ignorance for some time.

Zero Punctuation: No More Heroes [The Escapist]

Fist of the North Star Fighter

Back in the day I was a HUGE fan of Fist of the North Star. So when Julien emailed me to let me know that he had just finished his new fighting flash game, Hokuto No Ken, I was pretty psyched.

The game includes 10 characters, a pretty bitchin soundtrack and some amazing graphics, all packed into a flash game you can play on your keyboard. The controls are a bit awkward because they force you to move with the arrow keys and attack with the number pad, but I got used to it pretty quickly.

Hokuto No Ken

Human Heads' Prey 2 Confirmed, Two Other Games Announced

Yesterday's leak of Prey 2 info was confirmed today by the Radar Group, a company dedicated to developing video games "specifically for cross-media leveraging in the video game market and other ancillary media markets, such as film, TV, music and other emerging online markets." In other words, it sounds like Radar Group aims to put out games destined for the film treatment and vice-versa.

The company today confirmed that they are working with Human Heads Studio on Prey 2. They also announced that Recoil Games is working on a shooter called Earth No More and third title being worked on by a yet-to-be-announced studio.

Hit the jump for the description of all three and some more art.

Fez Music Dude Makes Suda Remix!

Microsoft Erases Gamer's Memories

Common Sense Game Shows Lack Thereof

Gizmondo Delayed Yet Again

Time to party like it's 2005! Former Gizmondo chairman Carl Freer must be experiencing some pretty hardcore déjà vu as he reluctantly tells Swedish news site Realtid.se that the little handheld that most definitely didn't would be pushed back to late 2008, missing the originally promised May relaunch date. My sentiments right now neatly echo Ashcraft's from back in October of 2005 - the umpteenth time the Gizmondo was delayed in the State. Who gives a rat's ass? The only way I will ever own a Gizmondo is if they shipped me a free one, and even then it better damn well not say Gizmondo on the box or I'll refuse delivery.

Report: Gizmondo delayed until end of 2008 [GameSpot]