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  Don’t Interview Pretty Actresses When You Have A Runny Nose

  To: Crecente From: Bashcraft Been fighting off a cold. Mustered enough energy to jet up to Tokyo recently to interview Kill Bill actress Chiaki Kuriyama for a book I’m writing about Japanese schoolgirls — I guess it’s the follow up to Arcade Mania. She was a great person to talk to, honest, friendly and so…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 3, 2009
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  Modern Warfare: Mobilized Coming to DS

  The latest DS-version of Modern Warfare will include multiplayer and horde modes, Activision announced today. Modern Warfare: Mobilized is being developed by n-Space for a Nov. 10 release. Previous DS titles by n-Space include Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: World at War and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Mobilized will have…

  By Brian Crecente Published August 3, 2009
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  Start Sending Your DSi Pics to Facebook Tonight

  The ability to upload photos to Facebook with your DSi hits North America tonight, Nintendo said. The free downloadable system update should be available after 5 p.m. Pacific, according to Nintendo. The update will allow DSi owners to tap on a Facebook icon while reviewing pictures in the portable to send them to the user’s…

  By Brian Crecente Published August 3, 2009
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  British Sales Charts: Two Party System

  Here’s what last week’s British sales charts look like: Nintendo, Nintendo, EA, EA, Nintendo, Nintendo, EA, EA, EA, Nintendo. That’s what it says in the “publisher” field next to the top ten games in the UK last week. Nintendo and EA. You have to get to #12 to find a game not published by one…

  By Luke Plunkett Published August 3, 2009
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  The Making Of A Video Game Cover

  You may think, by looking at the state of most of them, that making a video game cover is easy. It’s not! It’s hard, hard work, and is a process that results in a lot of unused artwork. Something Fluidesign, who did some work for Sega designing the box art for House of the Dead:…

  By Luke Plunkett Published August 3, 2009
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  Dynasty Warriors PSP Game Coming To Xbox 360/PS3

  PSP game Dynasty Warriors Multi Raid is coming to home consoles as Dynasty Warriors Multi Raid Special. Hitting the Xbox 360 and PS3 on October 1 in Japan, hack-and-slash Dynasty Warriors Multi Raid Special features improved graphics, full voice acting and a new co-op mode. There’s also a new character for consoles: “Moukaku.” Check out…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 3, 2009
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  No Friend Codes For Guitar Hero 5 On Wii

  Vicarious Visions, developers of the Wii version of Guitar Hero, have some good news for Nintendo’s long-suffering online gamers: Guitar Hero 5 won’t be using Friend Codes. Nope! Not at all. Instead, it’ll tap right into your Wii address book and share those contacts, cutting out a lot of frustrating data entry. Of course, that’ll…

  By Luke Plunkett Published August 3, 2009
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  Sony Says Girlz Play Too

  OMG! And they use the letter “z” at the end of their words, rather wordz. The website also lists PSP games, er gamez, for girlz, we mean girls. Those six games, gamez, are Patapon 2, LocoRoco 2, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Pangya, Hannah Montana and, wait for it, Petz. If those fine titles…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 3, 2009
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  Fat Princess Problems Detailed, Fix Coming

  Fat Princess is great fun, but also – at least at the moment – a pain to play over the PSN, courtesy of some choppy online performance. Developers Titan Studios hear your pain, however, and promise a fix is on the way. The cause of the issue is the game’s matchmaking, which is accidentally pairing…

  By Luke Plunkett Published August 3, 2009
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  Man Sentenced To 2.5 Years In Prison, Fined $96,000 For DS Downloads

  The Kyoto District Court has ruled against 38 year-old company employee Yoshiaki Asagiri, who was put on trial for distributing DS games online without permission and breaking Japanese copyright law. Asagiri has been sentenced to 2 and half years in prison and fined approximately US$21,000, plus an additional fine of $75,000. Late last year, Asagiri…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 3, 2009
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  Goodbye, Matrix Online

  The Matrix Online never really caught on, did it? Didn’t help the second and third movies poisoned people’s interest in the franchise. And that it wasn’t World of Warcraft. Regardless, until last week, it was still around. But not any more. Over the weekend the long, pointy plug that had kept the game connected to…

  By Luke Plunkett Published August 3, 2009
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  Final Fantasy XIII Screenshots, You’ve Changed

  Time passes, things change. Me, you and that guy over there. We all change. Even Final Fantasy XIII. Above is a screenshot Square Enix released in August 2008. Below looks like the same screen, but this was released in June 2009 along with the overseas version of Advent Children Complete. The biggest difference graphic-wise appears…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 3, 2009
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  Watch Four Full Songs From The Beatles: Rock Band

  No jaw-dropping cinematics here. Just four full tracks, from start to finish, showing everything you can expect from The Beatles: Rock Band. [via Joystiq]

  By Luke Plunkett Published August 3, 2009
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  Phantasy Star Portable 2 Coming This Winter

  Phantasy Star Portable was a big hit and one of the biggest selling PSP games in Japan last year. So what do you think of the chances for a sequel? Pretty good. According to this notice for “The Best” budget version of Phantasy Star Portable, a special UMD will be bundled that shows off Phantasy…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 3, 2009
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  Anyone Want To Make A Heat Game?

  Anyone out there keen to buy the rights to make a game based on Michael Mann’s 1995 classic Heat? Because Gearbox – who currently own said rights – don’t really want them anymore. The Borderlands and Brothers in Arms developers, who first announced that they’d be making a game based on the movie all the…

  By Luke Plunkett Published August 3, 2009
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  Milla Jovovich On Why They’re Making Another Resident Evil Movie

  Hollywood has already churned out three Resident Evil films. Three films? That’s a trilogy. Now, director Paul W.S. Anderson and his star/fiancée Milla Jovovich are making a fourth. Why? Money. “The movie makes money,” says Jovovich. “If it makes more money than the last one, you’d think that people want to see another one, so…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 3, 2009
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  New Crimson Skies Game A Distinct Possibility

  Jordan Weisman founded FASA. Which came up with Mechwarrior, Shadowrun and Crimson Skies. He now runs Smith & Tinker, owns the rights to FASA properties, and is keen on making new games out of them. One of these titles has already been announced: Piranha’s Mechwarrior reboot. But more might be on the way, with Weisman…

  By Luke Plunkett Published August 3, 2009
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  Kill Bill’s Gogo Yubari Actress Not In Tekken Movie

  Check Chiaki Kuriyama’s Internet Movie Database page. At the time of posting, it says right at the top that the actress will be appearing in the Tekken movie. This is incorrect, she says. She won’t. While I was interviewing Chiaki for an upcoming book I’m doing on Japanese schoolgirls (second book — hooray!), I brought…

  By Brian Ashcraft Published August 3, 2009
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  Technical Difficulties

  To: Luke From: Owen We had an unusually prolonged service disruption today; I know very little about what the problem was, or its cause, but I do know Gawker Media staff noticed it immediately and were working on it, late into the afternoon on a Sunday. Everyone’s frustrated by such problems, but I hope they…

  By Owen Good Published August 2, 2009
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  Casting Resident Evil: Afterlife

  No secret that today’s been a tough one. We know lots of you had problems getting to the site. So let’s wind down with a game of what-if, casting the next Resident Evil film. The Bits, Bytes, Pixels and Sprites takes a look at who’d be best for the fourth installment of the franchise, which,…

  By Owen Good Published August 2, 2009