The rule change comes after new prison directives hit that prevent taxpayers' money from being used to buy games or consoles.

The change in rules come after the Government revealed that they spent more than £10,000 on 80 PlayStations and 15 XBoxes for youth offender institutions.

In a document including the rule changes, Michael Spurr, the Prison Service's director of operations, wrote: "These changes will ensure that prisoners may only earn access to games consoles by a positive demonstration of good behaviour and commitment to the requirements of their sentence plan.

"This is in line with government policy flowing from the Prison Policy Update paper of January 2008."

Prisoners Have Their Playstations Taken Away [Telegraph]

The demo was unveiled on Xbox Live last week — were you too caught up in E3 craziness, or did you catch it? We had a lengthy discussion on it here at Kotaku last week, in case you missed it. What do you think, Europe? Looking forward?

And on the off chance you have no idea what we're even talking about, Microsoft has helpfully offered full details in the announcement after the jump.

The Epic World of Too Human is Available Across Europe this August, exclusively on Xbox 360

Microsoft today announced the European release date of “Too Human”, the epic third person action game from renowned Canadian developer Silicon Knights. Exclusive to Xbox 360™,“Too Human” will be available across Europe from 29th August 2008.

In this modern take on classical Norse mythology, players are thrust into the midst of an apocalyptic battle that threatens the very existence of mankind. Playing as the divine cybernetic son of Odin, Baldur, you are one of the Aesir, humanity’s protectors charged with defending mankind from the onslaught of ancient machine armies.

As“Too Human” chronicles this epic story, the game breaks the genre barrier by combining elements of both the action and RPG genres. Players are treated to a non-stop barrage of action, powered by the seamless integration of melee and firearms combat, with the deep role-playing game elements fuelled by breathtaking visuals. Battles unfold on awesome scale as players engage with vast numbers of enemies, and gamers can also take this to the next level playing cooperatively on Xbox LIVE.

“Too Human” is produced by Canadian-based Silicon Knights, bringing a wealth of knowledge, story-based design and gameplay expertise to the next generation of video gaming, and committed to elevating games to the prime form of entertainment.

For more information, please visit the official Too Human website at www.xbox.com/toohuman.

Remember that you too can buy your way into the SF HD Remix beta test by sacrificing 800 Microsoft points on a copy of Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3 on Xbox Live Arcade.

SFII Beta has Endurance - Extended to September 5th!! [Capcom Unity Blog]

Aftonbladet: If you had to choose ONE exclusive Xbox 360 title and launch it for the PS3 instead, which game would it be?
Hirai: I don't think I have to choose any.....
Aftonbladet: You have to pick one.
Hirai: Again, I don't think I have to pick one because we have such a fantastic lineup of games.
Aftonbladet: But if someone is holding a gun to your head and you have to choose one. Which game would it be?
Hirai: Okay.. then they have to shoot me, because I really don't think we need any.

Kaz, you're making Giant Kaz Face sad.

Kaz Hirai Interview [Aftonbladet]

In case you missed it, here's our liveblog of Square Enix's E3 presser. In it, I liveblogged: "kitase says they're currently running it on a pc, so they don't know the work load of getting it on the 360. they are putting priority on the PC version." Also, here's a link to a post on the Nvidia site about the PC version.

Update: We contacted Square Enix, and according to the company, "The game is being built using PC-based development tools, but that doesn’t mean it’s being created for the PC platform. Our current plans are to release FFXIII for the PS3 and Xbox 360 only. Sorry for the confusion!" So to recap, it's being created with PC-based dev tools, but with plans only for PS3/Xbox 360 console release.

The pack will be available tomorrow for 800 Microsoft points, or the price of your standard Xbox Live Arcade title. Is it worth it? Not a clue. A real ninja does not pay to go on missions - we get paid for them, and then kill the guy who pays us, taking the rest of his money.

More Ninja Gaiden II Missions for Your Pleasure! [Gamerscore Blog]

The update rolled out onto PS3 on time, marking almost an entire month's delay for Xbox 360 users. "We're in the final stages of testing the revised version and will announce a concrete date as soon as we have one," wrote Criterion on its developer blog.

The update contains 70 challenges, new online game modes — Marked Man, Stunt Run and Road Rage — the Live Page and Calendar, new cars, liveries and what the developers describe as a "mountain" of smaller improvements.

Full explanation post-jump:

Here's a quick post on the Xbox 360 version of our forthcoming software update.

We're still not able to provide a concrete date on this awesome FREE update. We're in the final stages of testing the revised version and will announce a concrete date as soon as we have one.

We're currently aiming for 4th August. That's the EARLIEST we can expect it to be available.

Many apologies to those keenly awaiting this pack. As always, we're trying to get this to you as quickly as possible.

We hope you can hold on a little longer for our brand new online game modes (Marked Man, Stunt Run and Road Rage), the Live Page and Calendar, our new cars, liveries, 70 Challenges and a mountain of smaller improvements.

More news here soon.

Burnout Paradise's New Software Update (codenamed Cagney) [Criterion Games Blog]

Hit the jump for the up to the minute live blog action! Boosh!

The 800 point game will include five additional game modes: Waves, which they say has been supercharged and tweaked; Pacifism, which has been promoted from achievement to full game mode, and new modes King, Deadline, and Sequence. All of the modes can be played solo or with up to four players on a single console. The multiplay allows for both co-op and competitive modes. You can also play co-pilots where one person drives and the other shoots.

Sounds like you're getting a lot for your Microsoft scrip.

The key word there is this ‘lifecycle’ or ‘this generation’. As you probably know, we’re working on a ten-year lifecycle, we’ve said that since day one and we’ve proven it with PSOne and PS2. I guess Don is saying they’re also going to be embarking on a ten-year lifecycle, then? If they are then that’s terrific, but I’ve never seen them manage it before. Last time I checked, the Xbox went by the wayside four or five years after launch.

Last time I checked, the Xbox went by the wayside four or five years after launch. On the other hand, if he’s saying that Microsoft will outsell us after five years, if he calls that this generation, then he’s saying he’s going to exit the 360 business within five years. I’m not exactly sure when he says ‘this lifecycle’ or ‘this generation’ what standard he’s using — five years, 10 years, I don’t know.

Don Mattrick is obviously on Don Mattrick Time. You can't put a time-frame on DMT, you just can't.

Hirai on PS3... Pt. 1 [MCYVK]

A Kingdom for Keflings Revealed [IGN via Xbox 360 Fanboy]

I think we got more than 12 months’ work done, and others went on an extended vacation. Hopefully they got some good vacation photos, because they sure weren't showing up at work... Of course I'm going to be biased, but so far what I've heard is that Sony and Nintendo have disappointed. And Microsoft has been leading, innovating and driving a very comprehensive global programme... We're building momentum and we're on a scale that no other consumer electronics company or entertainment company has been able to achieve in nine years. It's been a very good show and I'm very pleased with what we've been able to accomplish. I think there was a lot of good work, a lot of innovation and a lot of news from us.

Oh, Don.

Mattrick: Rivals have been slacking off [MCVUK]

The playable demo will give gamers a chance to check out what looks to be a pretty stylistic fighter based on the Samuel L. Jackson executive produced anime series. There will also be an Afro Samurai panel on Thursday featuring the creators behind the show. Panelist members will include Samuel "Snakes on a Plane" Jackson, THe RZA, Takashi Okazaki and Leo Chu. The group plan to talk about the development process, dish on some behind-the-scenes anecdotes and explain the inspiration behind the characters, music and story.

NAMCO BANDAI GAMES ANNOUNCES PUBLIC DEBUT OF AFRO SAMURAI® AT COMIC-CON INTERNATIONAL: SAN DIEGO

Santa Clara, Calif., (July 23, 2008) – NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc., announced today that the battle to become #1 begins at Comic-Con International: San Diego (July 23-27, San Diego Convention Center) with sneak-peak demos of the Afro Samurai® video game. Based on Spike TV’s critically-acclaimed anime series starring and executive- produced by Samuel L. Jackson, Afro Samurai the game blends urban hip hop culture with traditional Japanese aesthetics to create a brutally fresh cinematic, interactive experience. The playable demos (located in booth# 5037) will provide attendees an early glimpse at this high-style action adventure game before its Q1 2009 release for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system. The Afro Samurai anime series is produced by Japanese studio GONZO in association/partnership with GDH K.K. and FUNimation Entertainment.

Adding to the Comic-Con excitement, an Afro Samurai panel will be conducted on Thursday, July 24 (4:15pm – 5:15pm; Room 6B) featuring the creators behind the hit series including star and executive producer Samuel L. Jackson (The Spirit), musical artist The RZA, (Kill Bill), original creator Takashi Okazaki, and executive producer Leo Chu (Spike TV). This will be a rare opportunity to hear from the talent behind the Afro Samurai franchise and how it translates to different platforms such as video games and the anime series. Hear first-hand about their experiences in the development process, behind-the-scenes anecdotes, and their inspiration for the characters, music and the story. Be the first to see the worldwide premiere of the exclusive Comic-Con trailer, dazzling artwork from the manga, and never-before-seen demos of the pulse-pounding video game.

More about the Afro Samurai video game

In Afro Samurai, follow Afro in his tale of revenge as he searches for his father’s murderer and the holder of the coveted number one headband. The game follows the plot of the original anime series with added material and background for fans and new comers alike.

Blood is beautiful™ in this hip hop infused action adventure as Samuel L. Jackson reprises his role as Afro and Ninja Ninja, his wisecracking sidekick. A striking cross-hatch art style gives Afro Samurai a truly unique look and feel across beautifully animated open environments as he wages war against his adversaries to become number one. Using an innovative gameplay system, enemy A.I. is affected by the beat of the musical score supervised by The RZA of Wu-Tang Clan fame. These dynamic battles ensure stylized encounters throughout the game that affect the overall tone of gameplay. Slice and dismember opponents as Afro acrobatically leaps from one location to the next, interacting with anything and everything in the environment to help him on his journey.

For more information about Afro Samurai, please visit: http://www.namcobandaigames.com or www.afrosamurai.com.

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.

So Funny, It's Scary: Hollywood's Top Horror Directors to Bring Original Comedy Pilots to Xbox 360 This Fall

Microsoft's "Bringing Comic-Con Home" offers a behind-the-scenes look at the Comic-Con show floor through exclusive content on Xbox LIVE, Xbox.com, MSN and Zune Marketplace.

SAN DIEGO — July 23, 2008 — Horror and comedy often come together on the show floor at Comic-Con International, just never like this. Microsoft Corp. today announced that a set of original short film pilots will be coming to Xbox LIVE this fall, free to all members around the world. The unique concept of masters of horror taking on comedy, conceived by filmmaker James Gunn (“Slither,” “Dawn of the Dead”) and producer Peter Safran (“Scary Movie,” “Meet the Spartans,” “Disaster Movie”), will see some of the world’s greatest horror directors bring their comedic visions to life. Microsoft is teaming up with Safran Digital Group to produce these exclusive shorts.

Beginning this fall, the short film pilots will be available worldwide on Xbox LIVE from influential horror directors James Wan (“Saw,” “Death Sentence”), David Slade (“30 Days of Night,” “Hard Candy”), James Gunn, Lucky McKee (“May,” “The Woods”), Andrew Douglas (“The Amityville Horror”) and Marcus Nispel (“The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” “Friday the 13th”). All of the pilots will be free either for download or streaming on Xbox LIVE. The new short film pilots available on Xbox LIVE this fall include the following:

• “Doggie Heaven (Woof!)” — The creative team behind the smash hit “Saw” films, James Wan (“Saw,” “Death Sentence”) and Leigh Whannell, tell the story of a young man who is having a dog of a day. He’s just been shot dead, but his real problems are only just beginning because of a clerical error that has sent him to the wrong heaven.

• “Humanzee!” — James Gunn (“Slither,” “Dawn of the Dead”) directs and stars in a sitcom about his human-chimp hybrid son, the Humanzee (played by Gunn’s brother, Sean Gunn, from “Gilmore Girls”). It’s a delightful mix of “South Park,” “Wonder Showzen” and “Small Wonder.”

• “MEATDOG: What’s Fer’ Dinner” — Director David Slade (“30 Days of Night,” “Hard Candy”) presents MEATDOG, an animated mutt made up of cold cuts. MEATDOG is pitted against a church of evil occult pigs while being pursued by a carnivorous rabbit and a slobbering hound. It’s dogicide when everyone wants MEATDOG on their menu.

• “Blue Like You” —From director Lucky McKee (“May,” “The Woods”), “Blue Like You” follows the antics of old friends Patrick and Cyndy as they get to know their mysterious and extraordinary new friend Blue, a beautiful young woman who doesn’t seem to understand how the simplest of things work.

• “The Miracle of Phil” — From director Andrew Douglas (“The Amityville Horror”), “The Miracle of Phil” shows that the best relationships are full of screaming, shouting and cursing, but when Phil gets knocked up, Chris is the one who feels screwed.

• “Adrenaline Slam” — Director Marcus Nispel (“The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” “Friday the 13th”) brings “ADRENALINE SLAM,” a high-octane hybrid of hidden camera reality and Hollywood fantasy that exposes ordinary people to extraordinary events.

In addition, Microsoft has sought pilots from emerging online talent John Clisham:

• “Assorted Nightmares: The Janitor” — From online director John Clisham and starring Jenna Dewan (“Step Up”), somewhere in the darkness just beyond “Tales From the Crypt” and a little south of “The Twilight Zone,” is “Assorted Nightmares,” a modern-day horror anthology show. The first episode pays homage to the 1980s horror-slasher genre, as things at school for Jennifer don’t turn out as expected.

“We’re excited to launch the Xbox original content with these world-class directors, who are all tremendously talented and at the cutting edge of their craft,” Safran said. “Their youthful and innovative approach is the perfect combination for this unique digital venture with Xbox 360, and we expect to see some very creative, horrifying and hilarious shorts as these masters of horror present their comedic vision. We can’t wait to give fans at Comic-Con a taste of what’s to come.”

Microsoft will also be “Bringing Comic-Con Home” on Xbox LIVE from Wednesday, July 23, to Sunday, July 27, so anyone can get a behind-the-scenes look at all of the action. The Xbox 360 team will be covering every inch of the show floor with daily coverage on Inside Xbox and Xbox.com, as well as MSN and Zune Marketplace. The Xbox 360 team is joining forces with Warner Bros. to provide sneak peeks of all the panels and videos shown at the event, along with interviews with talent for movies and TV shows, including the upcoming feature films from Warner Bros. Pictures “Watchmen” and “Terminator Salvation,” as well as “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles,” “Fringe,” “Chuck,” “Supernatural,” “Lost Boys: The Tribe” and much more. Xbox LIVE members will also be among the first to see the following:

Warner Premiere’s Motion Comics’ “Batman: Mad Love” draws on a massive amount of source material to bring a visually engaging experience to life, through the use of subtle movements, voice-overs, sweeping music scores and stunning comic book artwork.

The exclusive branded consoles for “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles,” “Watchmen” and DC Comics, and the upcoming “Gears of War” comic book-inspired console, with all the limited-edition consoles being given away at Comic-Con.

New gamer pictures and themes from DC Comics, available only on Xbox LIVE Marketplace.

“Bringing Comic-Con Home” will also give people an exclusive look at two Xbox 360 panels at the show:

In the “Xbox 360 ‘Gears of War’ Showcase” panel, Cliff Bleszinski, design director at Epic Games Inc., will be joined by comic writer Joshua Ortega and novelist Karen Traviss to discuss upcoming installments to the “Gears of War” universe, including a look at the holiday blockbuster game “Gears of War 2” for Xbox 360. The panel will be held on Saturday, July 26.

In the “Horror Meets Comedy Xbox Original Short Film Pilots” panel Friday, July 25, the audience will see a sneak preview of what is coming this fall, and will hear from all the directors on their creative vision for the shorts.

Xbox LIVE members will also get an online backstage pass to the famous Comic-Con masquerade ball, where the person with the best Xbox-themed costume will win an amazing “Halo” prize package, including a Master Chief costume and a “Halo” console. Further information is available at http://www.xbox.com/comiccon08.

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.

That's largely due to the game's deep car customization system, not our (or our in-game driver's) physical beauty. In Midnight Club: Los Angeles' garages, you can spend your hard-earned dollars on new performance enhancements for your ride. Using real world name brand aftermarket parts, you can upgrade your acceleration, handling and speed via the purchase of new electronics, air intakes, nitrous tanks and more.

You'll also be able to tap into your vanity's performance, decking out your car with new paintjobs, new headlights, new doors, even new interior components. Tired of that dull stock steering wheel? Throw a MOMO on it! Those interior changes can be gawked at via the cockpit view camera choice.

I turned a rather attractive stock Aston-Martin V8 Vantage Roadster into a hideous purple and orange glowing beast, complete with vertical doors and every garish accoutrement I had access to. (I had access to everything, via unlimited God-mode funds.)

There's also a rather substantial "vinyl editor", one that let's players create a look unlike any other. It looks to be on par with custom exterior editors found in titles like Forza Motorsport 2, with default stickers and customizable primitives at your editorial disposal.

In the Midnight Club: Los Angeles' garage, you'll also be able to choose your driver's "special moves." These special moves, as described by Rockstar themselves, are as follows.

* Zone allows you to slow down time in order to take sharp turns or weave in-and-out of traffic like a champ!
* Agro will give your car added strength and the ability to damage opponents faster, or sometimes knock them completely out of the race.
* Roar sends a shockwave that clears your path by pushing cars off to the side of the road.
* EMP is an electromagnetic pulse that shuts down the engines of the cars around you, bringing them to a complete stop.

We tried out the EMP, the latest addition to the line-up of super moves. Fortunately, the electronics shorting blast radius doesn't affect your ride, so, after creeping up on a cluster of opponents, we fired it off. After seeing the tail end of opponent's rides for a good portion of our races, we took great satisfaction in watching them spin out — perhaps a bit too much, as we went hood first into a building right after.

It might've been the sightseeing that distracted us, actually. Midnight Club: LA's edited down versions of Hollywood, Santa Monica and downtown LA look almost exactly like the real thing, minus the rage-inducing traffic the city is known for.

There are dozens of recognizable landmarks, with stylized versions of the Sunset Strip, Beverly Hills and the Santa Monica Pier chockablock with detail, including billboards of licensed products like iPods and T-Mobile Sidekicks, as well as landmarks like The Comedy Store and even the hotel we were in during our demo.

The city looks so startlingly realistic that I tried to find my way to my neighborhood — not quite the stuff of street racing — but was unsuccessful. While the feel of LA is certainly intact, the roads have been carefully redesigned for a more fantastic driving experience.

Oh yeah. The driving. We took part in a quartet of races, some initiated by simply finding competition on the streets and flashing our headlights. We then sprinted off to a the starting line, having the option to actually race to the starting line. This pre-race race will net you more REP points, used to gain access to higher level races, but is totally optional. The sprint to the starting line can be skipped if you so desire, but we found the spontaneous thrill of beating our competition to the meeting point was worth it not just for the extra points. At the very least, it's a nice warm up.

We tooled all around town through our four races. Our first formal race, Sand and Surf, took us from the beaches to the freeway. Mulholland and Beverly saw us driving through the winding hills of Hollywood before heading down to the Valley. Macarthur Cut took us from downtown to the LA River, a misnomer of a racing venue that might be familiar to fans of Terminator 2's more epic chase scenes.

Each felt unique and frenzied. Midnight Club: LA's dynamic camera, which switches to an over-the-shoulder style view when hopped up on nitrous or coming off a slipstream drafting high, combined with tire-spinning peel outs makes for a white-knuckled rush. It's somewhat difficult to see what you're actually racing toward, it's so fast. Our decked out cars may have had something to do with the feeling of untamed car control, and we'll blame our many crashes and last place finishes on that.

What we didn't get to tackle were Midnight Club: LA's motorcycles or the LAPD, both back in the newest iteration. We'll just have to wait until the game is released on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 later this year to do that. The game hits October 7th in North America and October 10th in Europe.

The first big announcement of the press conference had to be exclusive downloadable content for the Xbox 360 and PC for Bethesda's Fallout 3. As a gamer with all three of the title's launch platforms in my home, that was exactly the sort of news that sealed the deal for me, and certainly a bit of a downer for the PlayStation 3 crowd, but that's not what this press conference was all about, was it?

They followed up the Fallout 3 scoop with a gaggle of sequel release dates. Resident Evil 5 in February of next year, with Fable II coming in October and Gears of War 2 slated for a November release. This was Microsoft's way of assuring 360 owners that they'd have plenty of games to look forward to over the holiday season and beyond.

Then came the first real bomb - the reinvention of Xbox Live. Support for custom avatars caught many a gamers' eye, though of course plenty of folks out there saw the new feature as an aping of Nintendo. Me? The move was definitely inspired by Nintendo, but custom avatars seem a natural addition to a console so heavily invested in community.

Along with the newly revamped Xbox Live experience came Live Party, a way for online friends to basically for a gaming group, staying together from game to game, sharing pictures, music, and even videos while never losing touch with one another.

They'll even be able to watch Netflix movies together, with MS announcing a partnership between the two companies that will allow 360 owners to download movies and watch them directly from their console, much like PC owners can do right now.

Further banking on the system's online capabilities, Microsoft also announced Xbox PrimeTime, a game show channel for the Xbox 360 where players around the world could participate in titles like Uno Rush and 1 Vs. 100, based on the hit television show.

Other revelations included news on Guitar Hero DLC from Van Halen and Metallica, a sequel to the classic Galaga coming to Xbox Live Arcade, and some pretty new controller colors.

Just when we though the show was over for Microsoft, ending with Square Enix's Yoichi Wada showing off Infinite Undiscovery, Star Ocean, and The Last Remnant, after which Sony's Don Mattrick came back on stage to sum things up. Some interesting games were shown, and the Xbox Live updates were intriguing, but that was it? Seemed a bit lackluster to me.

Then Yoichi Wada came back on stage and did this. Final Fantasy XIII, the game that launched a million PlayStation 3 systems, was no longer a PS3 exclusive. Up in the press room, Leigh and I actually whooped, scaring those nearby. Sony fanboys were outraged. Every day that I wake up and there isn't a parody of the song American Pie (Bye, bye FF X-I-I-I) in my inbox I am slightly crushed.

That last announcement carries a lot of importance for Microsoft. That a company as well respected as Square Enix deem them worthy of receiving the first multi-platform Final Fantasy title ever (XI still doesn't count) is a tremendous nod to Microsoft's success with the system as well as the perceived potential of the 360 with publishers across the industry.

All in all I'd say that Microsoft took several steps in the right direction this E3. They've taken steps towards further defining their vision of an online gaming community, revealed some extremely lucrative deals both game and movie-wise, and they've shown the sort of extra value that the Xbox 360 has to offer in a world where exclusives are becoming a very rare animal indeed.

What this does is reinvent the Xbox. I don’t think any one has ever done this before – transformed a console during its lifecycle.

You could just as easily say no console has ever felt the need to transform halfway through its lifecycle, either.

Satchell: 'We've reinvented the Xbox' [Develop]

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.

We were about two hours into Fable II's storyline, Molyneux says, when we got our first hands-on experience with combat and dog-play. Combat has been a big focus in the Fable sequel, and while it may not have Ninja Gaiden caliber aspirations (or animations), it works. It's fun, especially when the dog comes to your aid, gnawing on the limb of some recently dispatched foe.

The hero in Fable II had access to limited combat options at this point. He was just getting his hands on some rifles and a little bit of magic. Sadly, we didn't get to take on that lovely looking Treant beast, just some rank and file pirates, but left the combat experience feeling more than satisfied.

If there's one thing that Fable II looks to achieve, it's painless action RPG combat. It may not have the cinematic flair of Nintendo's 3D Legend of Zelda games, but Lionhead Studios title has so much more depth, we can forgive a few rough edges.

And being the graphics snob I am, those rough edges come across in some occasionally homely character models. The hero's wife in Fable II may be a busty beauty, but the game may get some flack for its sometimes ho-hum visuals.

That will most likely be forgiven with the impressive amount of depth the game appears to have. The ability to upgrade your career skills via mini-game diversions looks better than grinding and cold, hard stats arrangement.

When we got into town, we met Fable II's bard, the singer-songwriter who will belt out tales of your heroism. He'll also sing songs of your cowardice, adding comic relief and occasional annoyance to your journey through the game.

Molyneux showed off some of the game's Expressions, the silly jigs and smooth moves that let you woo ladies and forge new friendships, prior to our hands-on. You'll pick them from a radial menu when you want to take a wife or receive a gift. They were fairly limited in our demo of the game, but look to provide some welcome options for adding variety to the game world. You'll see non-playable characters throughout town that you can interact with using Expressions, each with icons over their heads indicating their disposition. Wow them with your moves and you'll reap the rewards.

It's difficult to tell if Fable II, with its pub games, combat system, intelligent canine partner and career skills, will be more than the sum of its parts. We'll know when the game ships this October, as we start focusing less on the features and more on the game itself.

You'll move around the map with the left analog stick, zooming in and out with the right stick. Unit selection is done with the A button — hold A to select groups via a circle — but you can select all units on screen or every unit in your army with the right or left bumpers, respectively.

Your units will fire on enemy units with X, with an alternate firing mode tied to the Y button.

Unit special abilities and building options can be chosen from a pop up radial menu, giving you quick access to things like air strikes or expansion building choices. The control experience is relatively easy to wrap one's head around, thanks to a clean, quickly loading interface.

Building management is similarly straightforward stuff. We started out with a pre-built base, one with a series of "slots" that additions like barracks and vehicle factories can be built upon. You'll also have access to defense towers, but Halo Wars won't devolve into a turret defense mishmash. Base support feels like less of a focus than team-to-team field combat.

On combat, you'll have more than just Warthogs, Scorpions and Vultures to inflict damage on the UNSC side, a Spirit of Fire colony ship orbited overhead, allowing for called-in airstrikes via MAC cannons. Things get hairy? Call in some giant laser fire.

Halo Wars has some impressive visual pop to it, more colorful than when we last saw it. The game's visual effects, in motion, look spectacular. It may not have the immediate visual sex appeal of something like Halo 3, with it's micro-sized units and overhead perspective, but it looks good.

Keep your eye on Halo Wars, even if you're not a fan of the franchise or traditionally an RTS fan. It looks and feels like a console strategy game should. When we get our hands on the Covenant next time, we'll have a better understanding of how well it stacks up.

The game will be set on a terraformed Mars, 50 years after the events of the original Red Faction game. Now the Earth Defense Force folks are in control and have turned bad. Players will take on the roll of a man caught up in the struggle against the EDF. The game will play out in third-person perspective and the entire world will be destructible.

You can, I was told, bring down an entire three-story building piece by piece. The multi-platform game's open world will also allow you to steal vehicles, swipe weapons even recruit other people to join your band of guerrillas.

While I didn't have a chance to play around with the single player campaign, Volition did give me time, lots and lots of time, to play matches of multiplayer.

Chief among the things that Guerrilla adds to the Red Faction franchise is the fully destructible environment. This time around players get both weapons and special power backpacks as they shoot it out with each other. These packs give players different abilities they can use as they rampage through the stark Martian landscape. Some packs let you thruster hop around the map, other's give you a temporary shield or the ability to charge things and inflict massive amounts of melee damage. That last one, a Rhino Pack, was by far my favorite one to use, allowing me to charge right through a building's wall and take down people camped out inside... with a sledgehammer. That's right, you can run around smashing people with a two-handed sledgehammer. Great fun!

The game will feature five to six modes total including anarchy, team anarchy, capture the flag, bagman and siege. In that last mode, one team tries to defend a structure while the other team tries to dismantle it. In all of the modes teams can repair damaged buildings with a rifle that shoots out what appears to be a cross between flames and plasma.

From what I played through, it looks like the physics are pretty dead on. For instance, you can take out a few stabilizing beams on a very tall building and then watch the whole thing slowly buckle and eventually cave in on itself. Volition told me that the stress system in the game calculates by the second where the stress in a building is and how it should crumble depending on the weight. As buildings topple, debris showers down around you. Nice touch.

The game will support 20 to 25 multiplayer maps, all unique to multiplayer and Volition is toying around with the idea of allowing a third, unnamed, force to be unlockable for multiplayer. Unfortunately, the game won't support co-op multiplayer.

Finally, Volition said that Microsoft came to them back in May or so to talk to them about someone using the Xbox 360's recently unveiled avatar system.

"We are talking with Microsoft about their Mii thing, about maybe allowing you to link up with each other in that and then go into the game."

Games for Windows - Live multiplayer features are free, effective today, Microsoft announced at today's GameFest 2008 conference in Seattle.

The move to free means that achievements, enhanced "truskill" matchmaking, cross-platform play with the Xbox 360, voice and text chat, friends lists, are all now free to Windows gamers. This change to free is for all Games for Windows LIVE titles, past and future.

Microsoft also announced plans to introduce Games for Windows - Live marketplace this fall, which will include free and paid downloadable game content, demos, trailers and "more." Finally, the company said they are working to streamline the interface for the PC and reduce technical requirements for developers. Too little, too late? Too early to tell, I say.

In other news from GameFest, DirectX 11 was unveiled.

The company calls DirectX 11 a "big step forward for gaming, adding features onto existing DirectX 10".

Key components of DirectX 11, will include:

o Full support (including all DX11 hardware features) on Windows Vista as well as future versions of Windows
o Compatibility with DirectX 10 and 10.1 hardware, as well as support for new DirectX 11 hardware
o New compute shader technology that lays the groundwork for the GPU to be used for more than just 3D graphics, so that developers can take advantage of the graphics card as a parallel processor
o Multi-threaded resource handling that will allow games to better take advantage of multi-core machines
o Support for tessellation, which blurs the line between super high quality pre-rendered scenes and scenes rendered in real-time, allowing game developers to refine models to be smoother and more attractive when seen up close

Prices will be set at 200 MS points for games 50MB and under, with larger games priced at 400 or 800 MS points. Creators will receive 70% of the revenue generated mailed to them via check on a quarterly basis, though Microsoft will be randomly promoting XNA games, for which they will take an extra 10-20% based on traffic generated.

An interesting fact that is pointed out in the FAQ (linked below) is that even big name publishers can submit their games via the Creators Club, meaning a game that might not pass muster with Xbox proper could theoretically make it into the community section. Hit the link below for the full details!

Introducing Xbox LIVE Community Games [XNA Creators Club Online - Thanks Epsicode!]

Then he watched the Sony press conference, and the world as we know it changed. After hearing about “Metal Gear Solid 4”, as well as other PlayStation exclusives in the pipeline and the awesomeness of Blu-ray, he promptly packed up his Xbox 360 and all his games and went down to Game Stop to trade them in.

I am sure the folks at Sony are overjoyed to hear oh Jane's boy's extreme reaction to their press conference, but had he been living in a cave for two years or what? He heard about Blu-ray and Metal Gear Solid 4 and decided to go PlayStation? According to Wells, her son reads all of the news sites, participates in chat rooms, and even watches G4...oh. That explains it.

Not heartwarming story about a journalists son is complete without a tender moment at the end, so I leave you with Jane's final words on the subject.

As we left the store, I said to him, “I never thought I’d see you with a PlayStation.” “Neither did I,” he replied.

*wipes away tear and adds a link*

The Ultimate Proof Sony Is Winning [CNBC - Thanks Dean!]

The Guitar Virtuoso Track Pack will be available July 24th via PlayStation Store and Xbox Live Marketplace.

Puzzle Quest Expansion Pack hits Xbox LIVE® Arcade on July 23rd

D3Publisher of Europe Ltd (D3PE), a publisher and developer of interactive entertainment software, has announced that expansion pack Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords™ - Revenge of the Plague Lord, its latest Xbox LIVE® Arcade for Xbox 360™ offering, will launch on Xbox LIVE Marketplace on July 23, 2008.

The expansion pack will be available for play as an addition to fan favorite game Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords for Xbox LIVE Arcade for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, and includes four new hero professions, scores of new spells to cast and items to collect, challenging new quests, monsters and bosses, and the introduction of a new archenemy. Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords - Revenge of the Plague Lord will be available on Xbox LIVE marketplace for 700 Microsoft Points.

Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords - Revenge of the Plague Lord will offer fans hours of additional gameplay with four brand new Hero Professions: Bard, Rogue, Ranger and Warlock. Players will adventure with new or existing Heroes to explore an expansive new area on the Southern Map containing more than 25 challenging quests, cast more than 50 new spells and collect more than 40 new magical items as they’re immersed into the compelling story of Antharg, the Lord of Plague and brother to the infamous Lord Bane. New monsters, bosses and more will challenge veteran and casual fans alike for hours of compelling entertainment. The expansion pack further increases the full Puzzle Quest experience by adding three new Achievements and raising the character Level Cap to 60. Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords - Revenge of the Plague Lord was initially code-named “Puzzle Quest: 1.5” to reflect its tremendous amount of content.

For more information about the story and features of Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords - Revenge of the Plague Lord and other Puzzle Quest properties, please visit www.puzzle-quest.com.

The Microsoft Vista promotion referring to TGS took place in 2007, and is old news - we've had the winner over for taking the pictures already.

Sorry for the confusion and possible disappointment, but this was not an annoucement that Wake would be shown at TGS 2008. Remedy's team is just getting back from a bit of holiday and we haven't had time to chat with Microsoft on upcoming shows/showings yet.

Oh. Question: Then why didn't we see it at E3?

How far has Remedy comed on Alan Wake [Alan Wake via VG247]

Mega Man 9 is very hard. We didn't want to do Mega Man, but easy. We want players to get better, we want them to remember. I've always tried to challenge players, and I think there are gamers who miss being challenged by games.

We'd like to think so as well. Takeshita also expressed his interest in making more Wii titles, which is good news for Wii owners looking for a challenge.

Portal: Still Alive explained [Remowned]

It's not just designed as a day and date release cash-in, as the game follows the Tigon design mantra of "combining key film components with unique game play." That comes through in some of Wheelman's more dramatic driving sequences, ones that will see the titular driver jump flaming oil tankers and smash into cubicles as he speeds through an office building.

Wheelman forgoes realistic driving for over the top badassery. Diesel's digital alter ego can "air jack" vehicles a la Pursuit Force. He'll jump from car to car, kicking out the driver without missing a beat. The whole thing looks a bit silly in person, but this is the kind of game one should suspend all disbelief for.

This is mostly forgiving arcade-style stuff. Think San Francisco Rush instead of Driver and you'll be a lot happier. Having your tires blown out and driving on rims doesn't feel like it has much impact on your wheelman skills. It's all speed, adrenaline, big jumps and sexy undercover missions.

As the Wheelman, you can pull off stock Hollywood car chase moves. You'll be able to ram vehicles by flicking the right analog stick forward or side-to-side. There's no spinning out — unless you're doing the bullet-time 360 degree spin that lets Vin fire on pursuing vehicles through the windshield — and you'll never mistake the game for a sim. You'll most likely have your finger on the trigger the entire time, giving whatever car you're in maximum acceleration.

The game is set in a Hollywoodified version of Barcelona, featuring locale specific architecture and landmarks, but lacking in the city's civil engineering. It's an attractive city, featuring some 130 missions spread throughout its racetrack of a road system. According to Midway reps on hand, the game, while packed with things to do, should only take about 10 hours or so to burn through.

Visually, Wheelman has its ups and downs. The city is well modeled, but some unfortunately chosen close-ups on character models can make for a very ugly Vin Diesel. While the city and its vehicles are nicely modeled, the frame rate and rag doll physics have some noticeably rough edges.

Given the game's "Fall" release date, some of this may be ironed out. At this point however, Wheelman feels like a game that's lacking in the features and polish that consumers might be expecting. There's no multiplayer mode to speak of, for one thing, and the package smacks of an half-competitor to titles like Grand Theft Auto IV or Saints Row 2.

There's a certain charm and vibrancy to the game, but it certainly has its share of shortcomings. Whether those will be addressed in the final version — and whether controlling Vin Diesel will be enough for folks thirsting for some arcade style, mission based racing — remains to be seen.

We've also got the Capcom-published, Backbone Entertainment-developed and arcade-inspired 1942: Joint Strike (800 Microsoft Points), a top-down vertical shooter set in a "parallel" WWII era, featuring updated 3D graphics and stylized aircraft.

Both titles hit on Wednesday morning — incidentally, PlayStation Network gets 1942 on Thursday.

"Go! Go! Break Steady" and “1942: Joint Strike” launch on Xbox LIVE Arcade this Wednesday, July 23, 2008 at 9:00 a.m. GMT (2:00 a.m. PDT).

"Go! Go! Break Steady" features an original style combining rhythmic beat-matching with match-3 style puzzle game play. Choose your character and then make them dance to the beat while solving increasingly challenging puzzles. This addictive game features a unique visual style, multiplayer versus and cooperative local and multiplayer action via Xbox LIVE, and 20 different songs in a variety of genres for your character to break dance to.

Developed by Little Boy Games, Inc. and published by Microsoft, "Go! Go! Break Steady" will be available worldwide for 800 Microsoft Points and is rated E for Everyone by the ESRB.

“1942: Joint Strike” imagines a parallel world reminiscent of our own WWII era, where pilots take to the skies with stylized aircraft carriers and devastating weaponry! Inspired by the popular 80's arcade series, “1942: Joint Strike” combines classic top-down vertical shooting with updated 3D HD graphics. Take on massive waves of incoming enemies while dodging explosions and missiles! Face off with huge enemy bosses in death-defying dogfights. Recruit a wing man locally or online to pull off new “Joint Strike” attacks, combining the powers of both aircraft in one explosive barrage. With new weapons and power-ups in your arsenal, prepare to rejoin the battle!

Developed by Backbone Entertainment and published by Capcom, “1942: Joint Strike” will be available worldwide for 800 Microsoft Points and is rated E10+ for Everyone 10+ by the ESRB.

For more details on "Go! Go! Break Steady," please visit http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/g/gogoxboxlivearcade/default.htm. For more details on “1942: Joint Strike,” please visit http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/1/1942jointstrikexboxlivearcade/default.htm.

Why bother redesigning the Xbox 360's interface? Shane Kim is here to tell us. Oh and Kim totally gets in Sony's face. No, not really. He does talk a minute amount of smack, but no gang signs were thrown.

So, you know that Square Enix RPG that's coming to the Xbox 360? No, not that one. Infinite Undiscovery, which is actually being developed by Star Ocean developers Tri-Ace and published by Squeenix, looks rather like a Final Fantasy at first blush, which makes one wonder if it wasn't the backup plan in the event that Microsoft's much-prized (and Sony-disappointing) multiplatform deal with Square Enix for FFXIII didn't work out.

Nonetheless, in all of the FFXIII hysteria and hullabaloo, don't forget that Xbox 360 owners actually have more than one large-scale Square Enix RPG to look forward to.

The chill wind of neglect was blowing over the Infinite Undiscovery booth on the show floor last week, so I decided to stop in and give it a whirl.

You may recall that the original announcement of Infinite Undiscovery contained the promise that "every decision you make leads to a myriad of discoveries and affects every encounter." Lots of discoveries, huh? Possibly even infinite ones? Oh, wait, those are un-discoveries? Okay, okay, the title is somewhat confusing, but, moving on.

As I said, at first glance the game looks a little like FFXII — the bit I played featured a three-person party jogging across an expansive rolling meadow under a bright blue sky, with ruins dotted here and there, while creatures on casual strolls across the landscape could be attacked (or would attack) if the party got too close.

Unlike FFXII, though, the other two party members are largely AI-controlled, though there are specific buttons that can be used to instruct them to use specific techniques. Combat is entirely real-time, and you determine the lead player character's weapon combos through simple button combinations, rather than by choosing from a menu. At any time, you can tell your healer to heal simply by pressing Y.

My character was a handsome, sword-toting lad named Capell in the company of two beautiful brunettes — one seemed a range fighter, as I could instruct her to use an archery weapon, and the other seemed to use primarily magic-based skills. Needless to say, all of them had fabulous, gleaming hair.

It's a very appealing battle system, user-friendly, intuitive and fuss-free. It seems to follow a trend in JRPGs lately that seems to minimize menu-based combat in favor of optional AI with some control options — in other words, you can command the rest of your party if you like, but they can handle themselves well without your interference.

In fact, I enjoyed the real-time, action-style battles so much that I wish I encountered more enemies to fight. A good portion of my time with Infinite Undiscovery was spent jogging across the plain, watching my dot blip gently and slowly across the map in the upper right hand corner as I jogged, and jogged, and jogged. This gave the world a real sense of scale, but it also meant I spent a lot of time discovering nothing — undiscovering, if you will.

There were items in my environment occasionally, like a treasure chest that required I take a long detour through a largely featureless area just to descend a tall hill (my character couldn't hop down a small ledge and instead had to find a way around it). There are also occasionally herbs and plants around, that you can pick. You have to sheath your weapon using the right trigger, though, before you can pick something up.

My character had a cool ability — by holding the left trigger, he played a flute, which caused a white aura to spread about him in a narrow-radius ring. That ring, the booth staff told me, represented the range in which my character could search for special items concealed nearby him. I used the ability often as I jogged along, but I never did find anything.

I was slightly annoyed when my pretty archer couldn't shoot a nearby enemy when it seemed like he should be within range. He was in a bit of a depression in the ground, and it seemed to me they were not allowing me to engage with him because, with a ledge between him and me, he couldn't immediately fight back. Okay, fair enough, but what's the good of range fighting if you can't be at range? Archery switches to nearly a first-person view and lets the player aim the bow, which is very cool, but the aim didn't seem too precise at this stage.

Largely, though, there was a lot of jogging between fights, as I searched to try and discover more. At last I reached what looked like a castle wall with a heavy wood door in it — at which point the booth staff helpfully pointed out I'd gone all the way back to the entrance to the previous area, and couldn't re-enter.

Running and running endless miles across an expansive world has been a staple of this particular genre since the dawn of time, and perhaps I'm just terribly impatient in wishing there had been more to do in that great, big infinite area. The never-ending jog through huge environments was, in my opinion, one of the shortcomings in Twilight Princess.

Nonetheless, the quest to perfect the RPG's battle system without turning it into an action title has been a long evolution fraught at times with missteps, and it seems really worth something that Infinite Undiscovery has hit on a methodology that I found engaging, even addictive. I'm looking forward to seeing more than just a single segment of the game for a wider-lens view, especially as concerns the player-impacted environment promoted with the game.

It's not like Silent Hill has ever had an exemplary control set up. Homecoming at least gets some credit for making the experience feel a bit more intuitive, once one breaks old Silent Hill habits and allows for easier access to your inventory. After some grumbling — and a confused search for a quick turn button — it felt like a change for the best.

Visually, the game has gotten some flak for not feeling like much of a graphical leap. After the gorgeous Silent Hill 3 wowed PlayStation 2 owners with its lifelike characters and detailed textures, Silent Hill: Homecoming was (rightly) slammed for feeling like a step back.

It's kind of true. Our hero can look blurry, blocky and low-res under the right circumstances. The wee monitors at the Konami meeting room weren't doing the game any favors, but there are portions of the game's visual make up that look rather attractive. It won't knock your socks off, but it gets the job done.

Silent Hill: Homecoming's environments are definitely more interactive. You'll bump into chairs, knock over vases and feel like the world — while still barren and empty — is more live in.

The other big change to the series is its larger focus on action. During one brief set piece, we had to take on a demonic denizen, some spider-like humanoid thing, while riding an elevator. Pop in the head once with a bullet and it would scurry away. The experience felt familiar, but also added a bit of tension to the game. The very limited ammo made it felt more "survival horror" than psychological horror, as some refer to the series.

Hero Shepherd's expertise with swinging a pipe didn't do much to add to the gameplay — we didn't encounter much in the way of enemies — but the combo mechanic still feels a little out of place. Still, fewer deaths from average controls will be welcome in the final product, we assume.

We also solved a quick, if frustrating puzzle, one that involved rewiring an electrical box that allowed to ride said elevator. To call it uninspired would be... well, accurate.

Walking away from our brief time with Silent Hill: Homecoming, we weren't horribly impressed, but we certainly weren't willing to write it off yet. This kind of game does not demo well in E3-sized bites. It might not be such a visual treat for the eyes that some were expecting and we have our reservations about the direction, but it appears there's some of the game's spirit within.

Whether that's going to make it worthy enough of a successor or not remains to be seen.

No. They were very good. After all, at that point they'd been playing the game for three days straight, so I did