Kotaku, the Gamer’s Guide

Phoenix Wright

Phoenix Wright Does Not Object To A PC Port

Phoenix Wright is coming to the PC. And not just coming, but coming in many, many pieces, as it's been announced that the first three GBA titles of the series are to be broken up into a steady stream of episodic titles. The first one lands next week, and will be free (as will the first chapters of the second and third GBA titles), with all remaining episodes costing ¥1,920 (USD$19). No idea whether, like the DS versions, these will have an English-language track, but I guess we'll find out on March 18 when the first episode's due.
Phoenix Wright trilogy diced into bite size PC morsels [Siliconera]

4:00 AM on Wed Mar 12 2008
By Luke Plunkett
0 views, 1 comment

Latest by Dragonzigg: I thought that the first three games had already been ported to PC in Japan and released on disk? more »

Clips

Soul Calibur IV Trailer

This is for the 360 version, in case you're wondering. Has a combination of pre-rendered stuff and actual gameplay, in case you're wondering. And yes. Yoda's in there, lightsaber and all. In case you were, you know. Wondering.

3:30 AM on Wed Mar 12 2008
By Luke Plunkett
131 views, 15 comments

Only in Japan

Game, Anime, Manga Company Scramble!

Want a job working for a Japanese game, anime or manga company? GET IN LINE!! In Akihabara, an event called "Raku-Job" gathered twenty companies in the game, manga and anime world to interview prospective applicants. Approximately two-thousand hopefuls showed up, with would-be job hunters coming from as far away as Kobe. Remember kids, it's good to show up to job interviews in suits, but with blurry faces is a definite no-no.
Job Hunting Event [Akiba Blog]

3:00 AM on Wed Mar 12 2008
By Brian Ashcraft
237 views, 6 comments

Latest by Black-Dog-Howls: @ハリセンボン: Damn. Last job I interviewed for hired me on the spot and I was wearing a black long sleeve, beige dickies, charcoal sneakers, and navy poor boy hat. Granted... it was for a book store. more »

Breaking

New Street Fighter IV Character Leaked!

A photo of this week's pre-newsstand Famitsu shows new SFIV character "El Fuerte." Not much is known about him other than he's a Lucha Libre wrestler. Hit the jump for a closer look.

More »

2:30 AM on Wed Mar 12 2008
By Brian Ashcraft
2,154 views, 39 comments

Rumor

Lost Planet Colonies Finally Announced

Capcom (may) have, via leaked mag scans, had the wraps taken off Lost Planet Colonies, the successor to snowy bug-killing simulator Lost Planet: Extreme Condition. What's new? There's a new playable character (that girl in snow gear) and in online play you'll get the option of playing as the bugs against the humans. That online play will feature cross-platform play between PCs and 360s. There's more weapons and more monsters to fight (including their eggs), and it'll be out in Japan on May 29. Oh, and no word of a PS3 release as of yet. Bear in mind: all this info comes courtesy of a leaked magazine scan that's been...modified to include super-awesome Xbox Japan boss Takashi Sensui, so until we get some more concrete info, take it all with a grain of salt.
[via 2ch]

2:00 AM on Wed Mar 12 2008
By Luke Plunkett
924 views, 19 comments

Latest by Witzbold: @Ryosukekun21: No more redbull for you son. more »

Xbox 360

Capcom Focus Testing Secret Game

Over in San Francisco, Capcom is focus testing what appears to be a new Xbox 360 game. The Capcom Flickr set has images of the focus test with the TV screens blacked out. Those bastards!

Wonder what game it is... There is Lost Planet art on the wall. Hrm.
Focus Test [Flickr via Capcom Blog via Siliconera]

1:45 AM on Wed Mar 12 2008
By Brian Ashcraft
494 views, 17 comments

Latest by Witzbold: @ArmyofJuan: No ninjas. Aliens vs humans is the basic backstory of it. The anime isnt that great, Id say dont waste your time with it. Unless you are really curious about the series. Its an OK show but not the best. The manga more »

Gallery

European Nintendo Games Are...Great?

Poor Europe. Long have you suffered at the hands of publishers like Nintendo, who see your multitude of languages and cultures not as a localization opportunity, but a curse. S'OK, though. Local developers and publishers will step in where the mother company fail, and release titles that are only - and could only - be pitched at the European market. Like Ma pension d'animaux 2 here, with the world's creepiest cat. Or something about unicorn love. Or a cover which features a dog making out with a fucking kitten. Other examples are below.

The biggest and scariest Euro boxart update you will ever see [Go Nintendo]

1:30 AM on Wed Mar 12 2008
By Luke Plunkett
522 views, 31 comments

Latest by Chef: Those are covers only Stevie Wonder can appreciate. more »

Maxium Risky

Pooh, Porn and Coleco Vision

Naughty video actress get excited by things other than sex and money! Take rising star Sasha Grey (who was grilled by Tyra Banks). She's not only into things like punching and puking, but also Coleco Vision! In an interview with Hustler, Sasha says:

Favorite purchase of the past year? A brand new Coleco Vision...its still in the box.

Hardcore! Pun intended! Hit the jump for the next two questions. If you are easily offended, best not to click over.

More »

1:00 AM on Wed Mar 12 2008
By Brian Ashcraft
4,151 views, 43 comments

Latest by JustOneFix: @Hanmin: Found it by searching for some of her "work". No I'm not into the whole pissing thing, but I had to see it because it was Sasha. more »

Too Human

Dyack Wants Better Game Stories

Denis Dyack is not happy about your run-of-the-mill video game plot line. Not at all! He wants better. He wants more. Says Dyack:

I think stories like [the ones in the books] Hyperion or Altered Carbon or very serious science fiction — we need to get stories to that level in the video game industry... Bubblegum stories are OK, but there's no reason we can't aspire to do more for those who want to do more. Certainly there's room for everything. If Too Human can say anything, it's that it can be done, and we should at least attempt to try.

We should also attempt to try and get games out in a timely manner.
"Not Acceptable" [Multiplayer]

12:00 AM on Wed Mar 12 2008
By Brian Ashcraft
542 views, 44 comments

Latest by Grommell: @mind in rewind: Right on dude. My money is on this game being fantastic. Heres hoping Dyack will let us skip his cut scenes. Its all well and good asking for better stories- but whats the point if the dialogue makes more »

Bioware

Mass Effect 2's Side-Quests Won't Be So Sucky

Mass Effect's world was a great one. Thing is, if you weren't plowing through the main story arc, the whole thing felt a little...empty. Especially the game's cookie-cutter side-quests, of which I tried 3-4 before having to stop, for fear of death by acute boredom. But don't be angry at BioWare! They had stuff needed doing for the first game, and it's something they'll have fixed for Mass Effect 2. Least according to BioWare GM Greg Zeschuk they will:

Side quests can sometimes be left on the side, so to speak. Pardon the pun. But a lot of times it's even just getting that whole game done, that first shot [that is important]. We look at "Mass Effect 2" as incredibly exciting. Just the amount of effort and knowledge and know-how that went into building the technology for the first one is huge, and [we now have] the chance to actually make things a little bit richer.

See? They had to get all that nuts-and-bolts stuff done. Now it's done, they can put the man-hours into actually fleshing the thing out. Make the side-quests more of a quest, less an exercise in self-abuse.
BioWare: How We Can Improve The Side Quests For 'Mass Effect 2′ [MTV]

11:30 PM on Tue Mar 11 2008
By Luke Plunkett
1,054 views, 49 comments

Latest by Grommell: Ugh, those sidequests were woeful. Forcing you to complete them repeatedly & en mass to get the 1000gs was ritual torture. But I did it. more »

Konami

New Metal Gear Solid 4 Screens To Look At

While Kojima has already apparently moved on to other things, we haven't! Check out these new Metal Gear Solid 4 screenies. Looks like aqua green is the new brown! The game is out June 12th. Everywhere.

New Metal Gear Screens [eNe3]

11:00 PM on Tue Mar 11 2008
By Brian Ashcraft
3,352 views, 62 comments

Latest by Pinhead: The chicken legged mechs make me laugh every time. more »

Rumor

Dawn Of War 2 To Be Unveiled Next Month?

Kind of a prick-tease, I know, but it's Warhammer, so I'll play along. Next month's issue of PC Gamer looks like it'll be revealing the first real info on Relic's Dawn of War sequel, which was first rumored to be in development a couple of weeks ago. Course, it doesn't out-and-out say it's Dawn of War 2, but...yeah. That's Dawn of War 2.
[via Sinatar @ NeoGAF]

10:30 PM on Tue Mar 11 2008
By Luke Plunkett
1,430 views, 37 comments

Wii

Hudson Bringing Tetris to WiiWare

This summer, Hudson's bringing Tetris to WiiWare. Hudson's hooked up with Tetris Online to make the worldwide online WiiWare version possible, complete with up-to-six players. The game will also have Wii-mote specific controls as well, apparently. Hudson's hoping that the game is a smash — to the tune of a million downloads. Yeah, we can see that, no problem.

10:00 PM on Tue Mar 11 2008
By Brian Ashcraft
720 views, 38 comments

Latest by paulmcg: Collaborative Tetris? Sometimes I wonder why I just don't give Nintendo direct access to my bank account. more »

Sales Charts

PC Sales Charts Feb 24 - March 1

The NPD group have released the American PC sales charts for the week Feb 24 - March 1, which is awful nice of them, since weekly sales data for the US market is a rare and precious thing. The weekly frequency of these charts is about the only surprise you're going to get, however, as half the chart's taken up by Sims and World of Warcraft titles. More »

9:40 PM on Tue Mar 11 2008
By Luke Plunkett
2,576 views, 28 comments

Guitar Hero

Harmonix Sue, Then Unsue, Activision

More Guitar Hero lawsuits! Don't make that face, you know you can't get enough of them. This time around, courtesy of Variety's snooping, it's series creator Harmonix on the legal warpath, who have (briefly) sued current franchise holders Activision over unpaid royalties. Seems the contract signed by Harmonix and RedOctane over the original Guitar Hero contained a clause that said Harmonix would earn one of two royalty payment schemes if they ever left the series. One, a lower figure, would be paid if another dev team took over the series and made fundamental changes to the game mechanics. The other, a higher figure, would be owed if another team took over and released a game that "incorporates, uses, or is derived from Harmonix property". Guitar Hero III is definitely the latter, with minimal changes to the previous games, but Harmonix claim they're only being paid the lower royalty scheme, and are owed around $14.5 million worth of Guitar Hero III's profits. More »

9:20 PM on Tue Mar 11 2008
By Luke Plunkett
3,070 views, 35 comments

Latest by mizeriq: @BriGuy: Activision greedy? I thought it's pretty obvious that it's not Activision, that sold the rights to a game and then went out and released a copy of it with a different name and suing for even more money and more »

Clips

Two StarCraft II Interviews

Blizzard's StarCraft II hype machine continues! Listen to lead designer Dustin Browder talk about the challenges of bringing from 2D to 3D and making sure the game engine can handle all the insane in-game moment. After the jump, the game's art director Samwise Didier talk about the Zerg alien race. More »

9:00 PM on Tue Mar 11 2008
By Brian Ashcraft
2,026 views, 41 comments

Latest by mizeriq: @SnakeCL: It's always hilarious how warhammer fanboys cry after every mention of Blizzard, because you know, they ripped off(!)... Marines... and Tanks... and Aliens... from warhammer, which is completely original, because no fantasy/sci-fi books or real life variants of these more »

Strauss Zelnick

Take-Two Only Lost $38 Million Last Quarter, Seems Pleased

OH, I'M PLEASED ALRIGHT. PLEASED AS PUNCH.

Take-Two Interactive had plenty to sing about today. There was the official word on BioShock 2, even more Carnival Games for little girls and boys to enjoy and a reaffirmation of Grand Theft Auto IV's worldwide ship date of April 29. Yay! Sure, there were some delays, but all in all, not bad. The best news? The company managed to only lose 38 million bucks in its first fiscal quarter of 2008! That's better than the Take-Two gang had expected, with Strauss Zelnick, Chairman of Take-Two, saying he was "pleased." This is how you lose money, people—with a faint hint of a smile on your face.

In a call to investors and analysts, Zelnick and crew chalked up the better than planned for quarter to sales of stuff like Carnival Games and Manhunt 2, plus portions of Take-Two's back catalog. I'm not much of a gambler, but I'd be willing to wager that next quarter, they'll do much, much better.

Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. Reports First Quarter Fiscal 2008 Financial Results [Take-Two]

8:40 PM on Tue Mar 11 2008
By Michael McWhertor
695 views, 18 comments

Latest by Drocketx: Actually, I don't think its particularly 'ridiculous' for a game company to operate at a loss, now and then. Games take a long time and a lot of money to develop, and you tend to only make the big more »

Gallery

Mirror's Edge Concept Art Is Clean Enough To Eat Off

Weren't those Mirror's Edge screenshots something else? White buildings, blue skies...it's the FPS Sega would have made if...well, Sega still made good games. Don't have any more screenshots for you today, sorry, but what we do have is some concept art and target renders, showing what developers DICE *hope* (with fingers crossed tightly) the game will look like upon completion.

8:20 PM on Tue Mar 11 2008
By Luke Plunkett
4,877 views, 64 comments

Latest by StartRunning: It's kind of weird to suddenly realize that a lot of FPSs kinda look the same. And this looks to be inspired palette-wise by Portal, somehow, somewhere. Anyway, yay to innovation and something different. Here's hoping. more »