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No Fatal Frame For Europe, Either
Fatal Frame probably won’t be released on the Wii in the US. If it makes you feel any better, Americans, it probably won’t be released in Europe either. Echoing yesterday’s “not our fault” statement from Tecmo, Nintendo Europe have said “there are currently no plans to release this game in Europe”. As we know, “no…
By Luke Plunkett Published April 9, 2009 - Uncategorized
Watch Valkyria Chronicles With English Right Now
The anime based on SEGA’s PS3 title Valkyria Chronicles has debuted in Japan. Here’s the entire first episode — with English subtitles, too! The anime is produced by A-1 Pictures under the direction of Yasutaka Yamamoto (episode director of xxxHOLiC: Kei, Big Windup!). The theme song is sung by Canadian Catherine St. Onge (aka newly…
By Brian Ashcraft Published April 9, 2009 - Uncategorized
Nintendo: DSi Sales Numbers High, No DS/Wii Price Cut
In a presentation in Tokyo today, Nintendo discussed not only Wii Sports Resort, but Wii price cuts and Western DSi sales numbers as well. Given by Nintendo president Satoru Iwata and senior director Shigeru Miyamoto at the Foreign Correspondent’s Club of Japan, the presentation covered more than the Wii Sports Resort release dates and reaffirming…
By Brian Ashcraft Published April 9, 2009 - Uncategorized
Wii Sports Resort, MotionPlus Out In July
Nintendo have today announced a release timeframe for Wii Sports Resort, the sequel to their insanely-popular Wii pack-in title, Wii Sports. The game – along with the Wii MotionPlus peripheral technology it’s there to support – will be out in Japan in June, reports KBC analyst Hiroshi Kamide. Those outside of Japan will have to…
By Luke Plunkett Published April 9, 2009 - Uncategorized
Nintendo Looking For A Few Good Testers
Want part-time work? Live in Japan? Like Nintendo? The company has just put up a job listing for testers. The trial period for those selected is two weeks, and the actual testing job is between 3 and 6 months depending on your performance. It’s possible to renew your contract after that. Salary is set at…
By Brian Ashcraft Published April 9, 2009 - Uncategorized
LittleBigPlanet Updates: Vikings, Egyptians, Monkeys
Sony have posted up the latest timetable for updates to LittleBigPlanet’s roster of downloadable content, with the latest batch taking a turn for the mythological. There will be seven updates over the next month, with six pieces of DLC to be joined by a major update for the game, which will introduce things like in-game…
By Luke Plunkett Published April 9, 2009 - Uncategorized
What Do Some Japanese Gamers Think About Online Gaming/Distribution?
Japanese magazine Famitsu has polled a pool of 798 about their thoughts on what’s going on with the game industry. The most interesting data was with online gaming. While 90 percent of those polled have used some sort of home console or portable console, only 24 percent of those have actually paid to use said…
By Brian Ashcraft Published April 9, 2009 - Uncategorized
GTA Police Car Mods Have American Cops Feeling Blue
NBC are reporting that a series of Grand Theft auto modifications – aimed at replacing the fictional in-game police cars with replicas of real ones – have some American cops a little concerned. While the mods are nothing new (they’re for the ageing San Andreas, first released on PC in 2005), the Police in question…
By Luke Plunkett Published April 8, 2009 - Uncategorized
Konami’s Iraq War Game Brouhaha
Konami’s Six Days in Fallujah is a new, documentary-style video game set in the Iraq War. Developed by Atomic Games, the title is reportedly a commentary-free “game-amentary.” Set against the backdrop of the Second Battle of Fallujah, Six Days in Fallujah has gamers grapple with the weighty issues of war and difficult decisions it entails.…
By Brian Ashcraft Published April 8, 2009 - Uncategorized
Why Was “Biohazard” Changed To “Resident Evil”?
Most of you are probably aware that, in Japan, the Resident Evil series is known as Biohazard. And if you’re like me, most of you probably never stopped to wonder why. See, my whole life, I just presumed it was “one of those things”. That Biohazard was a kind of stupid name, and Capcom just…
By Luke Plunkett Published April 8, 2009 - Uncategorized
Beatles Remasters Hit Day And Date With Rock Band Game
The release of The Beatles: Rock Band is going to be a “big deal.” We know. But it’s going to be a bigger deal than we’d expected. While we had little doubt that MTV Games, Harmonix and Apple Corps would be doing their damnedest to drum up press for the Rock Band game planned to…
By Michael McWhertor Published April 8, 2009 - Uncategorized
New WipEout HD Update Is Gonna Need Its Own Update
PlayStation Network racer WipEout HD got a slew of new features today, thanks to an update that brought about new features like badges, friend invites, and a ranking overhaul. But it’s also a little buggy. WipEout HD report that they’re experiencing some issues following the 1.30 update, with the PlayStation 3 game bugging out when…
By Michael McWhertor Published April 8, 2009 - Uncategorized
Gameplay Changes Coming To Empire: Total War
Despite the fact that Empire: Total War still needs technical fixes (late-game slowdown is still a pain), the team at Creative Assembly feel now’s the time to start introducing some gameplay changes as well. While more technical updates are on the way, CA are also working on a raft of tweaks and fixes to both…
By Luke Plunkett Published April 8, 2009 - Uncategorized
Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor Had Game Design Dreams Once Upon A Time
Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor doesn’t have much of a video game pedigree—he contributed to id Software’s Quake and Doom 3—but the man is no stranger to games. He even pitched one, long ago. Reznor tells Digg founder Kevin Rose that he and Nine Inch Nails art director Rob Sheridan once pitched a game…
By Michael McWhertor Published April 8, 2009 - Uncategorized
Nintendo: We Need To Re-Energize Japanese Market
The Wall Street Journal, following news of slowing sales for the Wii and Nintendo DS and a boost in “hardcore” games sales in Japan, says Nintendo is “beginning to look vulnerable” after years of success. The Journal is referring, of course, to the most recent sales data from Japan, courtesy of sales trackers Enterbrain and…
By Michael McWhertor Published April 8, 2009 - Uncategorized
How Fighting Robots Helped Wright Quit EA
Will Wright may be leaving Maxis and Electronic Arts, but that doesn’t mean he’s leaving gaming. In fact some of his biggest ideas are for future games, he told us today. When asked if he felt like he was leaving his gaming fanbase behind, he said no. “That’s definitely not the case, some of the…
By Brian Crecente Published April 8, 2009 - Uncategorized
Left 4 Dead Gets Fan Art Photo Shoot
The creative team responsible for Night Zero, a post-apocalyptic photographic novel that follows the survivors of a deadly viral outbreak, have found inspiration in Valve’s Left 4 Dead, which they photographically pay homage to. The Night Zero team’s project is called Left 5 Dead, an attempt to photorealistically recreate the iconic Survivors from Valve and…
By Michael McWhertor Published April 8, 2009 - Uncategorized
X-Men Origins: Wolverine Preview: Claws of War
X-Men Origins: Wolverine isn’t a movie game – it’s a God of War clone. Surprised? So was I. After the boss’s brief look at the game, I was hopeful that Wolverine would be an amazing character-driven action game. It’s made by the Marvel Ultimate Alliance team; and even if it’s not relying on the movie…
By AJ Glasser Published April 8, 2009 - Uncategorized
The World is Shrinking
To: Ash From: Crecente Re: Soup? That’s No Lunch. Forget It. Isn’t it amazing that Kotaku can be written by writers on three continents and that we can work together and share ideas all without delay or the cost of high phone bills? I remember when I was a kid living in Thailand, the only…
By Brian Crecente Published April 8, 2009