Sony Holding Resistance 2 Beta Keys Hostage In Next Qore Episode

Outside of the most die-hard of PS3 zealots, few people are yet to see the worth in Sony's Qore programming for the PS3. "Editorial" games content provided by the platform holder, at cost to the user? No, thanks. Perhaps sensing this apprehension, Sony will be sweetening the pot for the next episode, offering an undisclosed number of keys to the Resistance 2 beta, scheduled to kick off in September. You want in, you pony up for Qore. Simple.

[thanks Matt!]

Here's The Documented Evidence Itagaki Submitted Against Tecmo

As we broke earlier today, the second round of oral arguments in the Itagaki vs. Tecmo suit commenced. Dead or Alive creator Tomonobu Itagaki is suing for unpaid DoA 4 wages. These "special incentive" wages were agreed to by the former Tecmo president and the board of directors claims Itagaki, but the current president is claiming these "special incentive" wages were made single-handedly by the former president and not approved by the Tecmo board. Early last month, Itagaki left Tecmo and filed suit for unpaid bonuses. As Itagaki stated then, "President Yoshimi Yasuda chose not only to violate this agreement, but also turned defiant, telling me 'if you are dissatisfied with the decision not to pay the bonuses, either quit the company or sue it.'"

We've posted all the documentation Tomonobu Itagaki submitted into evidence during the second round of arguments. Itagaki claims he has even more evidence, going as far as stating: "I am prepared to reveal this evidence as the need arises for the sake of greater justice." The evidence submitted earlier today after the jump. Heads up as there's lots of big images ready to suck up your bandwidth — and they're all in Japanese.

Jim Lee Dishes On DC Universe Online

Sony Online Entertainment treated members of the press to a luncheon earlier today, part of the Comic-Con 08 push for DC Universe Online. The massively-multiplayer online action RPG, coming to both the PlayStation 3 and PC platforms, will be playable by the public for the first time tonight. We'll be going hands-on with the title this evening, taking part in an in-game Brainiac themed live event with other DC heroes.

We sat down with DC Comics executive creator Jim Lee earlier today to talk about the SOE-developed, DC-branded game. Lee told me that he was the one who had approached SOE after catching wind of the project, an effort which had experienced multiple starts and stops.

As a fairly serious EverQuest player — Lee played Paladin, for the record — the artist turned exec knew his stuff. He dropped MMO-isms (LFG, instances, the grind) like it was his natural language, and with a working knowledge of the DC universe, fans of the genre and the brand should feel confident that it's creatively in good hands.

Secret Tecmo Tapes Reveal Number of the Beast, Insulting Tecmo President

In the second round of oral arguments for the Itagaki vs. Tecmo suit, Dead or Alive creator Tomonobu Itagaki submitted evidence that included an affidavit from Ninja Gaiden II producer Yoshifuru Okamoto, a contract from 2005 that seems to clearly state terms of the Dead or Alive 4 bonus and a voice recording of Tecmo president Yoshimi Yasuda. Itagaki is suing Tecmo over unpaid DoA4 wages.

Kotaku obtained copies of both the secret recording and the contract and translated both for this story.

The contract, dated March 4th 2005, covers "special incentives" for Dead or Alive 4. The "special incentives" program was proposed by the former president of Tecmo (the president before current president Yoshimi Yasuda) where all employees would receive a certain percentage of the profits from a big-selling game. The profit points would be distributed among members of the team with the highest share going to the senior employees. In the DoA4 contract Itagaki submitted, it clearly states that he is entitled to 6.66 percent of the earned profits from the project.

Every Final Fantasy fan has their favorite game from the series. Hell, some even break the franchise down into two eras, pre and post-PlayStation. For myself and good percentage of the FF fanbase, Final Fantasy IV (II in the U.S.) is that game. The story was deep, the characters memorable and well-developed, and the graphical leap from the NES to the SNES made it the prettiest version of the game to date. Now Square Enix has upgraded FFIV in the same fashion as they did FFIII precious, bringing the game to the Nintendo DS with new graphics, voice overs, and new mechanics to keep things fresh.

Remakes of classic games are often a dangerous proposition, risking alienating fans of the original games in order to attract new players. For this week's Frankenreview we've gathered opinions from RPG-centric sites along with the more mainstream gaming press to see how Final Fantasy IV measures up.

Xbox Live Makes Horror Funny This Fall

We know that directors James Wan (Saw), David Slade (30 Days of Night), James Gunn (Slither), Andrew Douglas (The Amityville Horror), and Marcus Nispel (Friday The 13th) can be scary, but how are they at making us laugh? Microsoft explores this concept this fall as they deliver original comedy pilots from the masters of horror to the Xbox 360. The concept was conceived by Gunn and Producer Peter Safran of Scary Movie fame, which makes a whole lot of sense, though I'm not sure the actual results will. So far my favorite pilot description is for James Wan's Doggie Heaven, in which a young man is shot to death only to wake up in the wrong afterlife. Hilarity ensues!

While most of us will have to wait until the fall, Comic-Con attendees will be able to catch a sneak peak at the “Horror Meets Comedy Xbox Original Short Film Pilots” panel on Friday, just a small slice of Microsoft's Comic-Con presence detailed below. McWhertor is on his way there today to check everything out, as well as purchase limited edition action figures for me which I will totally reimburse him for - promise.

Midnight Club: Los Angeles Hands-On

When we last saw Rockstar San Diego's Midnight Club: Los Angeles, way back at the Leipzig Games Convention, we walked away impressed. Pissed that we weren't allowed to actually drive, but impressed. Thankfully, E3 wasn't a total bust, given that we got to spend a good hour playing the Xbox 360 version of the newest Midnight Club.

It's really too bad our illegal street racing skills weren't up to the challenge. Sprinting through Sunset Boulevard in a Mazda RX8, then through the Hollywood hills in a late '60s Ford Mustang Boss 302 showed that, while we were thrown a couple of "REP" points here and there, we have a long way to go before actually having a respectable racing reputation.

Fortunately, we looked pretty good, even when finishing fourth.

Itagaki Didn't Leave Tecmo, He Was Fired

This morning about 10:00 a.m. Tokyo Time, the second round of oral arguments for the Itagaki vs. Tecmo case commenced. As we broke early last month, Dead or Alive creator Tomonobu Itagaki left Tecmo and filed suit for unpaid bonuses. As Itagaki stated then, "President Yoshimi Yasuda chose not only to violate this agreement, but also turned defiant, telling me 'if you are dissatisfied with the decision not to pay the bonuses, either quit the company or sue it.'"

Tecmo Withdrew Itagaki Gag-Order Weeks Ago

Remember that four point gag-order Tecmo tried to slap Itagaki with? The company had simply filed for a gag-order, and it wasn't yet granted and didn't actually go into effect. Today as the second round of oral arguments for the Itagaki vs. Tecmo case commenced in which Dead or Alive creator Tomonobu Itagaki is suing over supposed unpaid wages, it was revealed that Tecmo had already rescinded the gag-order on July 7th. But, did Tecmo publicly announce that it was withdrawing the gag-order filing?

E3 2008 kicked off Monday last week with a press conference from Microsoft that started out quiet and ended with a shot that rang out across the internet. While many people expected this year's event to be dominated by attempts to snag the more casual gamer with gimmicks like motion control, Microsoft instead stayed the course (with a few notable exceptions), building on their own concept of community and social gaming rather than going for the obvious aping. In case you missed our extensive liveblogging of the event, here's a run down of the big news out of Microsoft at E3 2008.

That's the cabinet for yet-unreleased Castlevania arcade title Akumjao Dracula THE ARCADE. Reader Landon got a hands-on with the game at a location test while strolling through Tokyo's Ikebukuro. What did Landon think? He totally dug the game, its gameplay, graphics, music — the whole schbang! Hit the jump for Landon's impressions. Don't forget to thank him and tip your waiter.

Sure, 500,000 consoles (lifetime sales) doesn't sound like much. It's about what the US devours in a month. But it's a big number for a market with only 21,000,000 potential customers, and it's a number Nintendo Australia are only too happy to hit us with today, as they announced (courtesy of official GfK sales figures) that the Wii has not only hit the half a million sales mark, but is now officially the fastest console to have done so in Australian history. To celebrate, they've released some new Wii lifestyle photography, which we'll now share with you subject you to.

Game Club Beyond Good & Evil: Discussion Two

Gamefest 2008: Microsoft's Satchell Talks Xbox 360 Homebrew Scene

Now, just about anyone can be a game developer — and get paid for it, too. At its Gamefest 2008 event today, Microsoft announced that community games made using its XNA tools will be downloadable via either PC or Xbox 360, and that the creators will get 70 percent of the revenues, as we reported earlier today.

We spoke to game developers' group general manager Chris Satchell about the new community initiative. "We realized there was so much creativity out there in the community," he said. "So many people had great ideas, so we needed to give them a toolset to express themselves… and then we had to give them that worldwide stage where they could show it. And then the final step is, why not let them benefit from it?"

Microsoft saw, Satchell said, that incredible innovation came from viral communities of indie game designers across the web, and hoped to capture some of that community for its users. Satchell hopes that community games will become viral in the same way:

Getting a proper impression of a game like Fable II, one that spans the lives of multiple generations, is almost impossible at an event like E3. And if Fable II lead Peter Molyneaux is being accurate when he calls the game "The biggest, most complete story of any game I've ever created," we haven't seen, well, anything yet.

That's why it's helpful that something like Fable II can be broken down into digestible, feature-focusing chunks. The game's dog, for example, with its ability to help out in battle, its nose for hidden treasure, we know is going to be A Big Deal. We won't be surprised if Man's Best Friend plays a more important role than Molyneux led us to believe in our sit down preview of his Xbox 360 game.

We just know he's going to emotionally manipulate us with that lovable digital mutt.

Interview: The Winning G.I.R.L.

Julia Brasil was recently chosen as the winner of Sony Online Entertainment's first Gamers In Real Life (G.I.R.L.) design scholarship contest. Nearly 100 applicants submitted game concepts and essays, and Julia's Everquest II level and essay submission won her a $10,000 scholarship to The Art Institute of California, and a paid internship at Sony Online Entertainment.

We got a chance to chat with the 20 year-old Brasil (who's never won a contest in her life) about her winning concept, what she thinks of a "G.I.R.L" contest, and what she'll be working on with SOE — full interview after the jump.

Nintendo's Patent Case: The Unanswered Questions

Earlier today, we learned that Nintendo had lost its bid for a new trial in the patent infringement suit brought against it by small Texas-based firm Anascape Ltd. Nintendo is ordered to pay $21 million to Anascape, who also named Microsoft and Sony in the same lawsuit — those two, however, opted earlier to settle out of court.

A ban on sales of all GameCube controllers - including GameCubes that come bundled with the infringing controllers — issued by U.S. District Judge Ron Clark is currently on hold while Nintendo appeals the verdict on the Federal level.

If the appeal fails, what are Nintendo's options, and what's the gaming giant saying about the case?