Despite the fact the WiiWare game has been reviewed by several outlets, and despite the fact it's already out in Europe, OTT have only now changed its name to "NyxQuest: Kindred Spirits". Which doesn't exactly roll off the tongue.

Asked why the move was made after the game was already out, OTT CEO Rob Alvarez says:

There will be a new version of the game with the new name in the next days. That's the only change. It has to do with a trademark claim by another videogame company. We are a small indie developer and could not fight for our rights.

It's OK. We know it's Nintendo. Or not! A Twitter post from the developers explicitly says the move "has NOTHING to do with Kid Icarus".

Shame. The game had been getting some good reviews as Icarian. But now, I'd knock a point or two off just for "NyxQuest". Ungh.

Over The Top Games Forced To Rename Icarian: Kindred Spirits [Edge]

While the prequel was heavy on the hand-held camera, REC 2 employs camera mounted on the soldiers' helmets. It's a bit like watching a first-person-shooter.

This is hardly a first — other movies have done this before. But REC was quite effective in the scary department, so we're willing to give REC 2 the benefit of the doubt before jumping to conclusions. The upside? It should be easy to make a game version of this flick.

The New [REC]2 Teaser Goes Full On First Person Shooter ... [twitch]

The five countries are the ones singled out by the Anti-Piracy Caucus as priorities for 2009, with Congress urging said countries to improve enforcement legislation and practices. How are they urging? Through a series of announcements that I am sure weigh heavily on the hearts and minds of those countries' governments, should they be paying any attention at all.

Still, the Entertainment Software Association seems pleased.

"The copyright-based industries will be leaders in our economic recovery – and the entertainment software industry, which had record sales in 2008, will continue to be a strong contributor to our nation's GDP," said Michael D. Gallagher, CEO of the ESA, which represents U.S. computer and video game publishers. "Exports can comprise as much as 30% of our members' sales, and are a direct contributor to domestic job growth. The work of the Caucus helps us to grow our export markets, create jobs and strengthen our balance of trade. Additionally, stemming the flood of pirated creative works benefits and protects legitimate consumers everywhere.

The ESA specifically thanked the Congressional International Anti-Piracy Caucus for singling out Mexico and Canada, from which many mod-chips flow into the U.S., and Spain, where peer-to-peer piracy is running rampant.

Canada was also added to the U.S. Trade Representative's priority watch list this year. If they keep it up, we'll have no choice but to invade.

Nintendo issues the annual report to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative as part of the Special 301 process, which asks for input from the public to underscore areas of concern. So where is piracy rampant this year? For the most part, the list contains the usual suspects. Brazil, China, Korea, Mexico, and Paraguay all return to the list this year, perhaps indicating that the government didn't do enough in those areas last year, instead focusing on less important things, like electing a new president, fighting an ongoing war, and dealing with the failing economy. Priorities, people!

So what has changed? Hong Kong, present on the list last year, has been removed completely, so apparently everything is okay there now. Good job! In its place? Spain. I freaking knew it. They've been way too quiet in Spain lately.

Check out Nintendo's country-by-country report below.

PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA: China continues to be the hub of production for counterfeit Nintendo video game products. The number of online shopping sites in China selling infringing Nintendo products is increasing, and help is needed by the government to curtail the growth of these illegal marketplaces. These products are sold both inside China and to the world, including our key market in the United States. Chinese customs officials must stop shipments of game copiers and other infringing products out of China, and China should work in the coming year to eliminate barriers to its enforcement laws.

REPUBLIC OF KOREA: Internet piracy in Korea continues to increase, as does the availability of devices that get around product security and allow for the play of illegal Nintendo software. A massive customs raid of 10 premises that resulted in the seizure of more than 75,000 game copiers at the beginning of 2009 is a positive sign the government is serious about enforcement. Nintendo is pleased with Korea's consistent customs seizures, and courts are now starting to hold distributors of circumvention devices, such as game copiers, accountable. The Korea-U.S. free trade agreement is important to all intellectual property rights holders.

BRAZIL: Federal anti-piracy actions are not reducing piracy in Brazil, and local enforcement efforts are weak. Efforts to prosecute for piracy are virtually nonexistent. Customs and border control agents failed to seize a single shipment of Nintendo video game products in Brazil in 2008. Internet piracy is increasing with no legal infrastructure in place to respond to the threat it poses to rights holders. High tariffs and taxes also constitute market barriers for legitimate video game products.

MEXICO: Anti-piracy actions by the Mexican government in 2008 were wholly inadequate. The Mexican government must recognize the seriousness of the piracy problem and start using existing enforcement tools. Mexico's participation in negotiating the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement is encouraging, but enforcement efforts need to move forward now. The willingness of Mexican customs and Mexican postal service workers to be trained by trademark owners was a positive sign in 2008.

SPAIN: The availability of game-copying devices in Spain is alarming. Internet sites offering game-copying devices and illegal Nintendo software are widespread and must be addressed. Nintendo asks that the Spanish government implement laws protecting the creative copyright industry and enact laws against Internet piracy. Nintendo considers education a priority in its fight against piracy in the European Union. Customs authorities play an important role in enforcing intellectual property rights, and Nintendo is seeing positive signs in this area. Nintendo is pleased about recent steps taken by the Spanish National Police against distributors of game copiers.

PARAGUAY: Corruption continues to hamper anti-piracy efforts. Nintendo's anti-piracy actions in Paraguay show that illegal goods are imported and also locally produced. Border controls are key to decreasing piracy, and the revised criminal code will increase penalties against those distributing circumvention devices in Paraguay.

In an interview with Spanish financial site El Financiero, SCEE's James Armstrong has said that the company expects Gran Turismo 5 to be out next Christmas.

Now, what Sony expect and the traditionally fastidious Polyphony Digital deliver might be two completely different things. But hey, they might not be.

By then it will have been nearly five years since the release of Gran Turismo 4. They can't develop it forever.

España reduce las previsiones de crecimiento de Sony un 6% [El Financiero, via Evil Avatar]

Now, Josep Maria Goñi, secretary general of the Catalan Taxi Federation, is asking the Spanish government to do the same, citing the Thai murder case.

We're going to make an ass out of ourselves and assume that Mr. Goñi knows as much as the Grand Theft Auto series as just about everyone else in his position and hope that cabbie murder hysteria blows over before it gives the series a bad rap. We can't have our games being scapegoated for society's ills, now. What a horrible precedent that would set.

Spanish Cabbies Want GTA Banned in Wake of Thai Taxi Murder [Game Politics]

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]

Meanwhile, in Germany and Sweden, Conan is laying waste to the sales charts, soundly trashing GTA IV on both consoles. Seems like a clear win, but you also have to take into account that many people buying GTA have already bought it, and this is Germany and Sweden we are talking about, where Conan isn't just a book...it's a way of life. If you close your eyes you can almost hear the melodic death metal ringing across those icy hilltops as players in both countries talk about frame rates in OOC chat for hours and hours.

GTA IV Surrenders to Conan in European Charts [Next Generation]

Nintendo DS Lite Verde [GAME, via Leonsito @ NeoGAF]

Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH has announced that Spanish development studio Mercury Steam is to produce a new title for PLAYSTATION®3 and Xbox 360.

The as-yet unnamed title will be the latest release to be overseen by Konami's fast-growing European Development team. Details on the new project are currently shadowed in secrecy, but the title will form a major part of Konami's 2009-2010 line-up.

"With the development of New International Track and Field coming to an end, it is fitting that we are ready to announce this significant addition to our European Development roster," commented Dave Cox, Head of Product Planning for Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH. "Mercury Steam is an exciting and very talented group, and their plans for the first Europe-grown title for Xbox 360 and PLAYSTATION®3 are both ambitious and ground-breaking. We look forward to unveiling full details of this stunning title further down its development cycle."

"We are delighted to be working with a publisher of Konami's obvious esteem," commented Enric Alvarez, Co-owner and Projects Leader for Mercury Steam. "Konami's track record for innovation and large-scale projects is second to none, and we are looking forward to working closely with them on a title that will match their high standards."

Multiplayer Digital Art Installations:

Bump (Assocreation), Freqtric Project (Tetsuaki Baba), Iamascop (Sidney Fels), Jam-o-Drum CircleMaze (Clifton Forlines & Tina Blaine), Metafi eld Maze (Bill Keays), Perfect Time (h.o), PingPongPlus (Hiroshi
Ishii & Members of the Tangible Media Group), Reactable (Sergi Jordà & Grupo de Tecnología Musical de la Universitat Pompeu Fabra), Small Fish (Masaki Fujihata, Wolfgang Münch, Kiyoshi Furukawa), Tug of War (Ars Electronica FutureLab)

Art Games:

Armadillo Run (Peter Stock), Electroplankton (Toshio Iwai), flOw (thatgamecompany), Golf? (Chronic Logic, Detective Brand), Line Rider (Boštjan Cadež), LocoRoco (Tsutomu Kuono), mono (Binary Zoo), Neon (Jeff Minter), Okami (Clover Studios), Rez (United Game Artists), Shift (Max McGuire), Toribash
(Hampa Söderström), vib-ribbon (NanaOn-Sha)

There have been some really interesting game-related exhibitions cropping up as of late - I don't think we'll ever see We Love Katamari sharing space with the Mona Lisa in the Louvre, but this is one form of 'modern art' I will cheerfully go see.

LABoral Centro de Arte y Creacion Industrial - GAMEWORLD EXPANSION PACK: PLAYWARE [via Grand Text Auto]

Remember when Xbox 360 game PGR3 was used to promote PS3 title Gran Turismo? Boy, that was embarrassing! Hate to have something like that happen again. And somebody to get in trouble, too? Horrible. Thank car manufacturer Kia, because it has happened again. The automobile company's Spanish website is running a promotion the compares driving a Kia to driving a Ferrari Enzo on the PS3. (Ha!) Thing is, the license plate clearly says PGR on it — That's an exclusive Xbox 360 game, published by Microsoft even. When will they ever learn? Not before somebody can pull a hat trick, I hope! Brian Ashcraft

Ooops! [Kia via Acey Bongo's Thanks, Mark!]

Why don't we start the Spanish lyrics, translated into English by tipster AV. Yes, why don't we:

Don t be so greedy and invite me for a drink (2x)
If you do it baby, I ll take off my clothes
Don t be so greedy and invite me for a drink (2x)
If you do it baby, I ll kiss you in the mouth

C mon baby, come into my room
C mon baby, I ll fellate you
How? With my mouth

Don t be so greedy and invite me for a drink (2x)
If you do it baby, I ll take off my clothes
Don t be so greedy and invite me for a drink (2x)
If you do it baby, I ll kiss you in the mouth

C mon baby come into my room
C mon baby i ll fellate you
Where? On your dick

The band? Superputa. And the name of the catchy tune? "Nintendo." Brian Ashcraft

Ahoy, Spanish Kotaku readers. Seems that many retailers are totally snubbing the December 9th Wii street date and are already selling the console. Writes Kotakuite MrNice:

Just in case you didn't know, this is very Spanish, and it happened as well with the Xbox 360 launch and the Gears of War launch. In the case of the Wii, it might have been launched earlier because there are holidays in Spain from today to the weekend, so maybe the retailers decided to get rid of the consoles before people went on holidays.

Spanish retailers are so punk. Brian Ashcraft

Wii Sold Early In Spain [Media-Vida, Thanks MrNice]

That's right, X06, Microsoft's big Barcelona press conference, kicks off in two hours. Make sure to check back here at 2 p.m. EST on the nose for a slew of posts about the news announced at the press conference. It's going to be exciting. Brian Crecente

September 22nd. Mark your calendars. Better yet, etch it into your brain. That's the date when the greatest Spanish movie we've never seen is released. That's right, the DDR comedy La Maquina de Bailar ("Dance Machine") two-steps into theaters. Seventh-grade Spanish class tells me that it's the story of supermarket employee who has to enter a Dance Dance Revolution competition. To get him ready for the challenge, he enlists the help of a former disco dancer. It was written and directed by Oscar Aibar, whose made a sci-fi western with Iggy Pop. As far as we know, there's no word on an English language release for Dance Machine. But someone, somewhere, please make our decade and MAKE IT HAPPEN. Brian Ashcraft

Thanks, Dennis

More Here [Official Site]

This postmodern housing structure sits in Madrid and was designed by architect Blanca Lleo, who seems to be either way into Legos or Tetris. I say, Tetris. Comments from the peanut gallery? Brian Ashcraft

More Here [Cathode Tan]

A Sonic the Hedgehog Happy Meal? This poster from McDonald's Spain indicates such. The ad promotes six mini Game&Watch-type portables that boasts sound and color. I just swung by the Spanish Mickey D's page and saw that the current give-away are characters from the Pixar flick Cars. Have these Sega toys already been given out? Because they do look blissfully happy.

(Oh, and the juxtaposition of "happy meal" and the drawing of the small, sad crossed-out child is artistic genius.) Brian Ashcraft

More Here [El Blog de Manu]