What's a threaded comment?
Instead of a stacked list of one-off replies, you'll be able to respond to and have your response appear directly below another commenters remarks. We're told this makes the whole thing read more like a "conversation," something we vaguely remember before we started working on the internet.

The best part? You won't have to scroll up to root out someone's smart-ass comment to an earlier smart-ass comment and you won't have to scroll all the way to the bottom to reply to another commenter.

How do I respond to a comment?
Simply click on the reply arrow and start pounding away at the keyboard.

Are threads displayed in chronological order?
Well sort of. Each conversation will be displayed in chronological order, but organization of those conversations overall will be displayed based on popularity. The most popular conversations will float to the top. The most recent comment that has no replies will appear on top for 15 minutes before being filtered down. If a more active conversation receives a reply within those 15 minutes, that conversation will overtake the stand-alone comment.

What's this little heart next to a commenter's name? And, hey, where'd the plus and minus go?!
You used to need to tick the plus or minus button to befriend or de-friend another commenter. Now you just tick the little heart button. It's sweeter this way.

What's up with that star icon? Are these commenters invincible?
Starred commenters were readers who have 25 or more followers or were designated as stars by an admin. With the introduction of threaded comments, the number of followers required to attain star is increasing to 40. There is no level cap.

I'm frightened of change. Is there a way to view comments the "old-fashioned" way?
Yes! You can switch to the old style comments layout by clicking the "classic view" link in the comments bar at the top of the threads.

Good vs. Bad Comments
Read carefully before you comment. Definitely read beyond the headline before you comment. If you're new to the notion of offering your anonymous opinion via the internet, here are a few guidelines for cranking out grade-A comments.

Characteristics of a good comment:
+ Insight, additional information and helpful corrections
+ Intelligent critique
+ Wit, humor and amusing personal anecdotes
+ Calm, courteous, reasoned disagreement, either with the opinions/facts presented in a post itself or with other commenters

Characteristics of a bad comment:
- Attacks on other commenters or Kotaku editors - we don't mind the criticism, but if you are going to be a dick about it, we have no qualms over banning you and later belittling you via e-mail.
- Trolling
- Excessive vulgarity, including racist, sexist or homophobic attacks
- Self-promotion
- Irrelevance - "I don't know who this person is" or "First!"
- Assumption/speculation over an editor’s motivations - “This post was only put up in order to garner [editor name] pageviews” or "This is not news!"
- Thread hijacking

Disemvoweling or "Wht hppnd t my cmmnt?"
One of the comment admins found your response to be either lame or just plain stupid enough to not warrant a ban, but to make it unreadable. We've removed the vowels from your post to make it nigh unreadable. Consider it a warning, or in some cases, evidence for your ban.

Being banned.
We reserve the right to ban for any reason. We do not owe banned commenters an explanation, although we may give one if we feel like it. As always, banned commenters can re-apply for commenting privileges after 2 weeks.

But there must be market for people (parents) who don’t want to deal with a plastic drum set and two guitars cluttering up the living room – and for these spoilsports comes Ultimate Band on Wii.

Ultimate Band uses the Wiimote/Nunchuck control scheme, which means you’ve got to use your imagination when it comes to strumming on guitar. The flicking of the Wiimote feels almost like strumming, I guess – but having to tilt the Nunhcuck left or right to hit certain notes was a bit of a stretch for me. To be fair, the game designers did try to make the game such that you could move the Nunchuck up and down like you were changing chords – but the Wii isn’t sensitive enough to pick up that kind of motion. Drums are pretty straight forward – up and down waving of the Wiimote and Nunchuck with flicks of each to the left or right, as if you were hitting the snares.

I tried out bass because it was some ungodly hour of the morning and my fingers weren’t having that press C, then Z, then both at the same time and spin your arm in a Pete Townshend windmill junk. At the Easy setting, bass plays just like guitar – press buttons, yay. At Normal or above, the two instruments diverge and the game starts getting pissy if you haven’t tilted your Nunchuck just so in order to nail a note.

The interface looks comfortingly like Rock Band or Guitar Hero – notes fall downwards towards a target and you’ve got to hit them by performing the correct motions when they get there. Because there are no vocals on Ultimate Band, the “frontman” player is mostly just doing dance moves with the controls (like Boogie or Samba de Amigo). The other players also have to perform some of these moves – like a clapping motion or tilting the controls this way or that to strike a pose. This gets even more intense if you fill up your grand stand meter and then press A. Grand stand mode then interrupts the song (kind of like a drug-fueled drum solo), and players have to perform various dance moves or poses in sequence to score points.

I thought this would be kind of a drag, but it turns out grand standing is a great way to take a break from a song that’s kicking your ass. And, I’m shocked to say, some of these songs destroy your ass. Even Rock Lobster on easy was a tough grind, and I was grateful when the guy running the demo triggered grand stand, just so I could give my arms a break.

The cool thing about Ultimate Band – for me, at least – was the absence of Hannah Montana. This gives the game freedom to do something else besides the sugary Disney Channel shtick, and I don’t have to listen to Miley Cyrus’s hateful voice. The developers chose to go with a “wholesome kids take their garage band pro” angle, which you get to experience in story mode (complete with cheesy Saturday-morning style cutscenes). By playing through story mode, you unlock songs to play in jam mode, which is just a free play setup. You can create your own band (as in, you can customize their clothing and pick a gender – they’re pretty much all skinny kids with questionable taste in fashion) to take through story mode and the game will adjust the cutscenes and even the lyrics to acknowledge your choices. For example, the song “Fell in Love With a Girl” would be sung as “Fell in Love With a Boy” if your frontman is a lady.

To me, little touches like that mark the difference between a developer phoning it in and a developer out to make a real game. And it gets points in the feminist bracket because if I were singing a cover of “Fell in Love With a Girl,” I damn well wouldn’t be singing about a girl. Thanks to Disney not smothering the IP with Hannah Montana, developer Fall Line Studios is able to explore original territory – and even if a peripheral-less Rock Band holds no interest for you, you’ve got to admire their spirit.

In particular, I was impressed with the inclusion of a Music for Relief level in the story mode. Music for Relief is a real-life charity founded by Linkin Park, and recently they partnered with Disney to do a benefit. As a salute to the charity’s efforts, the developer put a level in the game based on the location the benefit took place in and made it the final level your band has to play through en route to the ultimate competition at the Rock Dome.

And if that doesn’t make you give a damn: giant robots. Yes, giant robots are in this game. I’m not sure what they do, because I was too busy trying not to fail out of Rock Lobster, but they’re there – and for me, that’s a definite plus.

Ultimate Band on Wii is out mid November.

In it, EA Games Label President Frank Gibeau states that the company assumed consumers would understand the need for DRM because "if games that take 1-4 years to develop are effectively stolen the day they launch, developers and publishers will simply stop investing in PC games" but concedes that a number of customers have strong objections and that EA need to adapt their policy to accommodate them.

Full details of the changes can be found after the jump, but it is worth noting that Gibeau does not address the concerns that many gamers have about the choice of SecuROM as Spore's copy protection in particular.

Two weeks ago EA launched SPORE – one of the most innovative games in the history of our industry. We’re extremely pleased with the reception SPORE has received from critics and consumers but we’re disappointed by the misunderstanding surrounding the use of DRM software and the limitation on the number of machines that are authorized to play a single a copy of the game.

We felt that limiting the number of machine authorizations to three wouldn’t be a problem.

· We assumed that consumers understand piracy is a huge problem – and that if games that take 1-4 years to develop are effectively stolen the day they launch, developers and publishers will simply stop investing in PC games.
· We have found that 75 percent of our consumers install and play any particular game on only one machine and less than 1 percent every try to play on more than three different machines.
· We assured consumers that if special circumstances warranted more than three machines, they could contact our customer service team and request additional authorizations.

But we’ve received complaints from a lot of customers who we recognize and respect. And while it’s easy to discount the noise from those who only want to post or transfer thousands of copies of the game on the Internet, I believe we need to adapt our policy to accommodate our legitimate consumers.

Going forward, we will amend the DRM policy on Spore to:

· Expand the number of eligible machines from three to five.
· Continue to offer channels to request additional activations where warranted.
· Expedite our development of a system that will allow consumers to de-authorize machines and move authorizations to new machines. When this system goes online, it will effectively give players direct control to manage their authorizations between an unlimited number of machines.

We’re willing to evolve our policy to accommodate our consumers. But we’re hoping that everyone understands that DRM policy is essential to the economic structure we use to fund our games and as well as to the rights of people who create them. Without the ability to protect our work from piracy, developers across the entire game industry will eventually stop investing time and money in PC titles.

The Latest Dragon Quest On Sale During New Year's Period = Tecmo Purchase "We Will Decide What To Do" — Square Enix President

On the 18th, Square Enix president Yoichi Wada responded in an interview that the latest entry in the popular game series Dragon Quest will go on sale during the New Year's period.

The Japanese New Year's period is January 1st to January 4th, but the original text doesn't get any more specific than "Early January" or "New Year's". Though, maybe he means around New Year's, who knows. And what's more, it's not explicitly clear that Wada is referring to DQIX, though Square Enix has stated several times that the still yet-to-be-dated game will be out this financial year — which ends in March. And what's this about Square Enix deciding what do to about the Tecmo buyout? Thought that Square Enix had rescinded its offer.

ドラクエ最新作、年明け発売へ＝テクモ買収は「今後判断」—スク・エニ社長 [Yahoo! News Japan]

Your guitar/bass fills up both screens of the DS and notes appear as little icons that fall down along the strings from the top screen to the touch screen. When they get there, you have to tap them while pressing the D-pad button specified in the icon. This setup comes with a lefty variation that uses the X, Y, A and B buttons on the right. The drums are a little different this time around – they’ve been tilted on the screen so there’s more surface area for you to tap your stylus.

The Rhythm Play game mode allows you to try out all the instruments as you take your band across the city of Rockopolis (insert lol here), playing different venues to earn fans and work your way up to larger venues. There’s a multiplayer mode that lets you jam head-to-head or cooperatively with other DS owners that actually bring themselves to buy this game. But by playing rhythm, you unlock backbeat loops to use in the recording studio mode, which was the star of the Hannah Montana game. These looped drum beats are like those old keyboard toys we had when we were kids – start up the back beat and then randomly press the other buttons and somehow it all comes out sounding like music. For the more hardcore, you can skip the backbeats and arrange your own music – and for the utterly clueless, you can actually sort loops by genre (punk, pop, rock, etc.) if you have no idea how to get going.

All of this impressed me only because Hannah Montana was nowhere to be found. Even the cover band that recorded the 15 songs for the DS version didn’t make use of the mini megastar’s vocals; and none of the skinny avatar choices resembled her.

Disney is infamous for whoring out a particular franchise to the point where you want to claw your eyes out of your skull every time another video game/toy/Halloween costume appears. This prevents decent games like Hannah Montana: Music Jam or Kim Possible from getting recognition – because it’s Hannah Montana and most gamers wouldn’t be caught dead having anything to do with her (Kim Possible is negotiable).

Well, it looks like they’ve sort of learned their lesson with Ultimate Band. The game comes out mid-November.

Now if only I could pry myself away from Guitar Hero: On Tour…

Gameplay-wise, Chinatown Wars will feature D-pad aiming and auto targeting via the R button, as well as "tasteful" mini-games — no lap dances? The arsenal is said to include a flamethrower and chain gun, and the wanted system looks to be modified to maybe shun GTA IV's "out of sight, out of mind" mechanic for one that requires the player to "disable police cars any way possible."

More details after the jump.

- True GTA game - sandbox gameplay, open-world environment, gritty crime narrative.
- M-rating
- Isometric camera angle
- Cel-shaded polygons w/ black borders
- good touch-screen implementation - "tasteful" minigames, streamlining interface
- UI based on a PDA - hub for email, contacts, map, music player, GPS, stat-tracking
- stats uploaded to Rockstar Social Club website via Wi-Fi
- finger-sized icons
- missions designed for shorter periods of play, arcade quality
- aiming with control pad, auto targeting with R button
- subtle autosteer
- if you fail a mission, you can jump back to the action sequence
- chain gun, flamethrower
- good portion of Liberty City is modeled in the game (different routes than console games)
- no probems with load times, draw-in or frame rate
- lots of pedestrians, cars, etc on screen
- Wanted system - objective is to disable police cars any way possible
- real-time weather effects, 24-hour day/night cycle
- lots of radio stations to listen to (more instrumentals than vocals)
- 800,000 lines of hand-optimized source code (hey, the people like the info, right?)
- no details yet on multiplayer/Wi-Fi features

Unfortunately, we don't have the new November issue of Nintendo Power on hand to verify these details, nor do we have scans of the magazine at the ready (because that's naughty), so we should consider this rumor for now. We'll be checking in with Rockstar to see if this is all legit while we wait with breathless anticipation for our copy of NIntendo Power to show up.

Nintendo Power - November 2008 (V234) - Muramasa, GTA DS [NeoGAF via GoNintendo]

A committee has been formed to oversee the business of the two newly-merged companies, comprised of the presidents of both companies (acting as joint-chairmen) as well as executive representatives and non-executive representatives of both companies. This integration will allow employees to demonstrate the full extent of their abilities, so as to best serve the company in the future. This committee is expected to produce a concrete integration scheme for unifying the two companies in the next two months.

Every time we talked over the years he would mention his infomercial. An hour long commercial for his place that was so packed with info, silly jokes and eyes on retro machines, that it had earned itself a cult following. Finally, one day I asked him how I could watch it and he said that it wasn't online. So I told him to send us a copy so we could host it.

The entire hour may not be for everyone, but if you like arcade gaming, you should probably watch a bit of it. Personally, I think it's awesome.

TNT Amusement

But I'm also in the midst of planning trips to New York and Tokyo over the next few weeks, so I don't have time to be cruel. Instead, I'm going to allow you to be creative. We have, at Adam's house, a backpack of Penny Arcade Expo swag that need to get into the hands of a faithful reader but quick.

When I asked around in Kotaku Tower for ideas for a contest, Fahey was quick to come up with something equal parts diabolical and fun. Recreate a scene from a video game with pennies. I think he may have been joking, but I'm not. Make sure to include, when you snap your picture, something that says Kotaku on it in the image, so we know you're on the up and up.

Deadline is Sept. 26. Mail all entries to KotakuContestATGmailDOTcom with "PAX" in the subject line and the photo in the body. We'll announce the winner that Monday. Here's what you have a chance of winning:

Among the freebies that we are giving away with our schwag bag are tons of t-shirts (including pretty sweet Fruit Fucker and The Maw shirts) , a Fallout 3 survival guide, a World of Warcraft pet card from this year's WWI in Paris (the Blizzard guys were kind enough to hand one over to us), a ping-pong gun, a Champions Online backpack and plenty of other little do-dads.

And yes, I'm giving away my one and only Vault Boy puppet. Oh the things he has seen.

UPDATE: If you live in a country free of pennies you can use coins of the penny variety from your homeland.

While this doesn't signal decision on merit, it does mean that it's worth a judge's time to take a close look at it. If the Wii is found to violate Section 337 of the Tariff Act, the Wii can be withdrawn from sale in the U.S.

We contacted Nintendo for comment last night. Their rather straight-forward response just arrived:

"As expected, the International Trade Commission signaled its intention to investigate the importation of Nintendo’s Wii and Wii Remote based upon a complaint filed by Hillcrest Laboratories Inc. Nintendo has not yet had an opportunity to respond to the complaint and the commission has not made any determination on the merits of the case," a spokesman told us. "Rather, this preliminary step in the process is based solely on the allegations of patent infringement contained in the complaint filed by Hillcrest.

"After a judge is assigned to preside over the investigation, Nintendo will have the opportunity to present its case. Nintendo respects the intellectual property rights of other companies, and believes that none of its products infringes the Hillcrest Laboratories patents. Nintendo intends to vigorously defend this action."

But Electronic Arts isn't the only company to ever use a built-in online copy protection system. A small company called Valve, publishers of such indie titles as Portal, Half-Life 2 and Team Fortress 2, knows all about the ups and downs of DRM and copy protection.

Back in 2004 Valve was at the heart of a hurricane of controversy surrounding the use of online authentication after their relatively new digital distribution system, Steam, ran into a hiccup and was unable to keep up with the online validations for mega-hit Half-Life 2. But things have run relatively smooth since then, with the exception of a major outtage in 2006. I talked to Valve's Doug Lombardi yesterday to ask how they've managed to smooth out the wrinkles of DRM with Steam and how their copy protection compares to Spore's.

"Half-Life 2 was one of the first games to require authentication to play the game and require it with an online component, prior to that you had CD keys," Lombardi said. "There was a lot of pushback about that at the time. It was two-fold. One was social engineering on the part of pirates. The other was Steam, in general, at launch time, was busted. It wasn't nearly as elegant as it is today."

"Since then we have stayed with the same system and put a lot of hardware behind it and made (authentication) more immediate."

Lombardi, and others I spoke to off the record, say that at least for digitally downloaded PC games, DRM and copy protection is here to stay. For Valve the biggest push is to lock down those "zero day" pirates. Day zero is the time between when a game goes gold and when it is available for purchase. Lombardi, and many others, are convinced that that's when a bulk of piracy occurs.

"That's the biggest problem," he said. "I'd be willing to guess that well over 50 percent of piracy occurs then."

"I think our solution solves the game zero piracy."

The key to making a good authentication system, Lombardi says, is to not stand in the way of customers enjoying what they bought. A bad system is like telling a customer "Wait, before you go on this roller coaster you need to change your shoes," he said.

As with SecuRom, Steam's validation system has a number of options that are left up to the game developer to decide. Like how often a game need to be authenticated.

"They can make it the first time on purchase and never again or they can do it every hour," Lombardi said.

For instance the authentication and rights for Spore and The Orange Box through Steam are fairly similar:

Number of concurrent installations
Spore: While EA says a change is coming to allow deauthentication of computers, currently Spore can only be installed on three computers total in it's lifetime.
The Orange Box: There is no limit to the number of computers it can be installed on. You just install the Steam client, but can only play on one computer at a time.

Spyware
Neither Spore nor The Orange Box have anything akin to spyware built into their copy protection and DRM systems. Lombardi calls spyware, or even the perception of spyware, the kiss of death in the gaming business.

Authentication
Spore: An EA spokesperson told me that Spore only checks authentication when you first install the game.
The Orange Box: Every time you play the game online Steam checks your authentication.

Number of accounts per a copy
Spore: Despite what the manually erroneously states, only one account can be created per a copy of the game.
The Orange Box: One account per a copy of the game.

It seems as we move forward, toward disc-less gaming, DRM and online copy protection are inevitable. The only question is how they will be implemented. What do you think the DRM sweet spot is?

ITC INSTITUTES SECTION 337 INVESTIGATION ON CERTAIN VIDEO GAME MACHINES AND RELATED THREE-DIMENSIONAL POINTING DEVICES

The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has voted to institute an investigation of certain video game machines and related three-dimensional pointing devices. The products at issue in this investigation are "Wii" video game systems and accompanying remote controls.

The investigation is based on a complaint filed by Hillcrest Laboratories, Inc., Rockville, MD, on August 20, 2008. The complaint alleges violations of section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 in the importation into the United States of certain video game machines and related three-dimensional pointing devices that infringe patents owned by Hillcrest. The complainant requests that the ITC issue an exclusion order and a cease and desist order.

The ITC has identified the following as respondents in this investigation:

Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Japan; and
Nintendo of America, Inc., of Redmond, WA.

By instituting this investigation (337-TA-658), the ITC has not yet made any decision on the merits of the case. The ITC's Chief Administrative Law Judge will assign the case to one of the ITC's five administrative law judges (ALJ), who will schedule and hold an evidentiary hearing. The ALJ will make an initial determination as to whether there is a violation of section 337; that initial determination is subject to review by the Commission.

The ITC will make a final determination in the investigation at the earliest practicable time. Within 45 days after institution of the investigation, the ITC will set a target date for completing the investigation. ITC remedial orders in section 337 cases are effective when issued and become final 60 days after issuance unless disapproved for policy reasons by the U.S. Trade Representative within that 60-day period.

Life With PlayStation(R) Comes to PLAYSTATION(R)3 on September 18, Worldwide

Proposing a New Life Style with PLAYSTATION 3

TOKYO, Sept. 18 — Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) today announced that it would release Life with PlayStation(R) for PLAYSTATION(R)3 (PS3(R)) today, September 18, 2008, worldwide simultaneously. Life with PlayStation is a new lifestyle service that offers users a new visual and interactive way to use their PS3 to access news and information from around the world, only possible on the PS3's feature-rich platform.

As the initial content, LIVE CHANNEL will be released for Life with PlayStation. Through network connected PS3, it delivers worldwide news and information centering on two themes, "place" and "time" on a world map interface. Some of the live content includes; cloud imagery (provided by University of Wisconsin-Madison Space Science and Engineering Center), along with weather information (provided by The Weather Channel), news headlines (provided by Google News(TM)), and live camera images (partially provided by The Earth Television Network) of nearly 60 cities around the globe. Through LIVE CHANNEL, PS3 users will be able to enjoy worldwide news and live information free of charge. In addition to LIVE CHANNEL, Life with PlayStation will continually deliver a wide variety of interactive content and channels to living rooms through network connected PS3s to further enhance the world of entertainment made possible by PS3.

PS3 users can easily join Life with PlayStation by simply clicking the Folding@home*1 icon on the network column of XMB(TM) (XrossMediaBar) that will update to Life with PlayStation.

With the latest update, Folding@home will support more advanced simulation of protein fold, and will also support PS3's unique Folding@home ranking system, which enables users to see where they stand among the worldwide contributors based on their level of contribution. SCE will vigorously promote the expansion of the world of PS3 by introducing new services that will open up new possibilities and enjoyment in interactive entertainment.

*1 Folding@home is a distributed computing*2 project run by Stanford University which aims to understand protein folding and misfolding, and how these are related to diseases and many forms of cancer. PS3 provides approximately 74% (as of February 2008) of the computing power in Folding@home and over 1 million PS3 users has participated in this project.

*2 Distributed computing is an approach adopted by universities and research laboratories to utilize immense computing power without the use of central supercomputers. Small computing tasks are assigned to each user's computer and the results are collected after computation is complete.

* For more information, please see the official website (http://www.playstation.com/life/).

Also, today the book's official website has gone live, complete with HIGHLY INTERACTIVE CRANE GAME. It was designed by Andrew Lee, who also designed the book's layout. He's a wizard, you know.

Hope to see you in Tokyo on the 27th!

Arcade Mania! [Official Site]

G4 X-Play
This is a surprisingly adult take on Star Wars, and uncompromisingly depicts a very dark Galaxy Far Far Away, as befits the time period. The early part of the narrative deals with Vader sending Starkiller to hunt down survivors of the Jedi-exterminating Order 66, but events quickly unfold that change the course of galactic history. The Force Unleashed makes some very interesting things canon, both in terms of the storyline and the characters and elements it uses. You also get to see Vader acting like the merciless villain that Anakin never really was, even in Episode III.

TeamXbox
in some places the execution is really off, making the game terribly frustrating in some moments and downright dull in others. Sometimes you’ll be left scratching your head at why something it the way it is in the game. While it does the Star Wars universe better than you’ve seen in a long time, especially since it lets you actually play as Vader in the first level, things like boss and puzzle designs feel sort of lacking. The fact that the game seems so awesome at first just makes the later frustrations of the game that much more disappointing.

1UP
The Force Unleashed's leveling system fails to make much of an impact to overall combat outside of some improvements (new attack combos and Force upgrades) to the Apprentice's preexisting repertoire of moves. Admittedly, some later abilities prove useful — especially defensive upgrades that allow you to deflect rapid laser fire back toward turrets and other enemies. This aspect of the game also gives some justification for hanging around and killing enemies to get experience, as opposed to just blowing by them, which — oddly enough — is something you can do quite often. Kinda makes the battle with three Rancors later on a little less dramatic.

GamingTrend
All of that negativity shouldn’t put you off of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. The fact of the matter is, this is one of the better Star Wars titles out there. While some elements of the plot are somewhat overused or contrived, it doesn’t change the fact some of the plot moments are well worth seeing. I enjoyed the game from beginning to end, despite some of the more frustrating moments and technical glitches. There are a few choices that you’ll have to make at the very end of the game, but somewhat like Bioshock, they are in fact limited to the very end.

Kotaku
...that's what The Force Unleashed does throughout on a much smaller level, it gives you a chance to glimpse some of the moments and things behind what become keystones of the epic battle between Rebellion and Empire...The Force Unleashed is most definitely a flawed game, but with the help of some amazing acting, a deep plot and rampant force kills is sure to please most Star Wars fans. Ahh, the Force is inconsistent in this one...

While the idea seems crazy at first blush Valve's Doug Lombardi has said they're willing to be bought. So we checked in with Lombardi himself this morning and he put our minds at ease, telling us it is purely a rumor, a bit of fiction.

With Google out of the picture, I guess the real question is who exactly would Valve like to buy them.

Google Entering Game Industry Through Valve?

“I have done my very best making this fabulous game, but I have concluded there are elements which I am dissatisfied with. I have decided to act on this, and as a result I have chosen to leave Funcom. It is time to get new, fresh eyes on Age of Conan, and I wholeheartedly support the appointment of Craig. I have had a fantastic time these last 16 years, and I am very proud of the many things Funcom has achieved. Funcom and Conan will always be a big part of me, but as I now look to new ventures outside the gaming industry I am certain Age of Conan’s future is in the best of hands.”

So how long will Age of Conan go on now that the man responsible for its development has given up?

Funcom Appoints New Producer and Game Director for Age of Conan

DURHAM, N.C.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Funcom announces that Craig Morrison has been appointed as the new Producer and Game Director for Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures. Craig Morrison has served as the Producer and Game Director on Anarchy Online for several years, as well as worked as the Funcom Community Manager prior to that. Funcom believes he is the perfect candidate to take Age of Conan to the next level. Mr. Morrison will replace former Producer and Game Director Gaute Godager.

Prior to starting at Funcom in 2004, Craig Morrison worked as an Operations Executive at the Telegraph group, the respected UK newspaper, taking care of operational aspects related to IT and Customer Service. Due to his passion for MMO games he simultaneously worked as an Associate Editor at IGN’s Vault Network, managing dedicated websites for several MMO games. He has extensive experience in managing various sized teams and complex projects across large media based environments. He has also played, written about, managed, produced and directed MMO games for over a decade by now. With his passion and unique skill-set he brings proven MMO experience to his new position, and during his years as Producer on Anarchy Online he has shown a unique ability to tailor development according to the needs and requirements of the players.

“Taking on the position as Producer and Game Director on Age of Conan is a great challenge but also one I welcome. I have a clear conviction I can lead the further development in a good way, evolving Age of Conan into something even better. My main priority now is therefore to listen to, and act on, player concerns, while ensuring we add additional great content to the game,” said Craig Morrison. “At heart I will always be a gamer, and the coming changes and additions to Conan will always be done with the gamers in mind. Together I am certain we will shape an amazing future for Age of Conan.”

Former Producer and Game Director Gaute Godager has chosen to resign from Funcom after working on Age of Conan since the initial conception, and he leaves the company after 16 years. Godager was one of the original founders of Funcom, and leaves a large legacy, having contributed to making Funcom the largest MMO company in Europe. “I have done my very best making this fabulous game, but I have concluded there are elements which I am dissatisfied with. I have decided to act on this, and as a result I have chosen to leave Funcom. It is time to get new, fresh eyes on Age of Conan, and I wholeheartedly support the appointment of Craig. I have had a fantastic time these last 16 years, and I am very proud of the many things Funcom has achieved. Funcom and Conan will always be a big part of me, but as I now look to new ventures outside the gaming industry I am certain Age of Conan’s future is in the best of hands.”

For more information about Age of Conan, or to sign up for the community, please visit www.ageofconan.com.

Image

• Xbox 360: 28,681 units
• Wii: 27,057 units
• PLAYSTATON 3: 8,050 units

The week before, Enterbrain data states that only 843 units were sold. This comes as a surprise as traditionally Microsoft has found it difficult to make in-roads with Japanese video game consumers.

値下げ効果でXbox 360が据え置き型ゲーム機で週間販売台数トップに [Famitsu]

This is the first, big RPG that the PS3 has been waiting for.

New White Knight Chronicles screens below.

[2chan]

I decided to see what sort of guidance the lost parents, aunts, and uncles get from video game retail by presenting one hundred stores with one question. "What video game system should I buy for a 15 year-old boy?"

Store Breakdown:
The 100 telephone calls were divided between three retail chains - Game Crazy, up and coming franchise chain Play N Trade, and retail juggernaut GameStop. I called 25 stores each for the first two, with GameStop taking up the remaining 50 as a nod to the enormous size and reach of the company.

The Process:
The process was relatively straightforward. Forgetting everything I know about video game consoles, I was to call 100 video game retail outlets, posing as a man who has a nephew who is going to turn 15 (I do, eventually), who would like to buy him a game system for his birthday. Having spent several years in the video game retail business, I figured I could come off as ignorant rather well.

Why 15? I figured it was a number that represented a good middle point in gaming life. Old enough to have a unique identity while not quite old enough that the person on the other end of the phone doesn't start wondering why I didn't just send him into the store with money like all the other parents do.

I did set a few ground rules.

No leading the employees. I could give no other information about my "nephew" other than the fact that he is to be 15-years-old and has no gaming systems. I have no knowledge of his likes or dislikes, his activity schedule, etc.

No naming a console until the representative on the phone does. Which game system should I get him? Saying the name of a system before getting an answer could spoil the results.

With those simple guidelines in place, I proceeded to lose all the recent calls I had stored in my cell phone. The calls were place over the course of a two-week period that ended on Saturday the 13th of September, 2008. Retail locations were picked in a random fashion from all across the U.S., using store locators with random zip codes and sometimes by simply closing my eyes and picking one. Random comes in all flavors. The results come in convenient pie graph form.

You might notice a slight balance issue here. Let's take a closer look at the numbers and how they came about. Keep in mind here that the pros, cons, and quotes listed after each console come from answers that were both for and against them, and do not represent my opinion of any of the consoles.

Xbox 360 - 64%: The Xbox 360 hands-down came out on top of the console heap as far as retail employees were concerned, beating out the Wii (for the most part) and PlayStation 3 by a very wide margin. Apparently 15-year-old boys and the Xbox 360 were made for each other. Out of all the responses I received to my questions, those who gave the Xbox 360 as an answer generally didn't dance around the decision.

Pros:

Largest game library with widest selection
Best system for online games
More user friendly

Cons:

Hardware reliability
Not as powerful as the PS3

Game Recommendations:

Most retailers couldn't or wouldn't choose just one game, instead listing off the different genres - racing, shooting, sports, etc. There were a few standouts, however. Four stores recommended Soul Calibur IV right off the bat, and several mentioned Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare as stand out titles. One guy even suggested I pick up Saint's Row...for my fifteen-year-old hypothetical nephew. Also, while not identifying it as one of the system's best games, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed was mentioned many, many times. It's available for pre-order, you know. *checks watch* Oops, too late.

Quotes: "The 360 is the sweet spot for gaming consoles."
"It's the more user-friendly system."

Xbox 360 or Wii - 18%: A surprising number of employees across all three chains wouldn't answer the question without at least asking one question - is your nephew and indoor child, or an active outdoor child? A more active child would love the Wii, while one prone to sitting still would prefer the Xbox 360. Given that my criteria for asking the question didn't allow me to offer specifics about my theoretical nephew, I had to record the double answer. I guess that whole Wii60 idea people were kicking about prior to the Wii launch isn't as far fetched as it first sounded.

Quotes: "If he never had a video game system before he might like the Wii."

PlayStation 3 - 15%: While the Sony system was glossed over by a majority of the stores questioned, a few championed the power and majesty of the PlayStation 3, many voicing their answer in very similar ways. "Personally, I'd go with the PlayStation 3" was something I heard quite a bit during this process. Well, nearly a dozen times, but in the grand scheme of things that's huge.

Pros:

Pros for the PlayStation 3 basically came down to technology. While a few answering stores cited Blu-ray as big benefit, most simply explained that the PlayStation 3 was the most powerful system, and had the biggest potential of all three consoles.

Cons:

Limited game library
More technology than a teen needs

Game Recommendations: Once again, retailers don't seem to like narrowing things down to one title. Metal Gear Solid 4 got a couple of nods, of course, as did Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. Other than those, my best bet was to bring the hypothetical little guy in to pick one himself. Oh, and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed was definitely available for pre-order.

Quotes: "The PS3 is the most reliable system on the market right now"
"There's some great stuff to play on the PlayStation Network" - notable as only one retailer mentioned downloadable games

Nintendo Wii - 1%: This low score for Nintendo's console is a direct reflection of the age I picked. We all know this. If I had said 10-year-old then the graph would look very different, but according to many a store he's right at that age where he'll be growing out of it - and about 50 years too early for liking it a second time.

Pros:

Promotes physical activity
Whole family can play

Cons:

Many of the games aren't good
Too "cartoony"
Better graphics on other systems

Recommended Games: From the one store that flat-out suggested I buy fake-boy a Wii, Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Quotes: "The Wii is for younger kids - and old people." Yes, he really did say this.

PS3 / Wii - 1%: This recommendation was pretty much the same thing as the Xbox 360 / Wii combo answer. For a more active child get the Wii, for a more sedentary one get the PS3.

PS3 / Xbox 360 - 1%: If it's going in the family room, get a PS3 for Blu-ray. If it's going into a bedroom, get an Xbox 360. Apparently teens don't need private Blu-ray players.

For those of you interested, here's the breakdown by store.
Kudos to GameStop for the more creative suggestions.

The Conclusion:
So what knowledge can be drawn from these results? One could say that game stores in general are strongly biased towards the Xbox 360, but there are more factors weighing in here than simple preference. It's the system they've sold the longest, and it does indeed have the largest library of titles at the moment, so the majority of their day is spent staring at a giant wall of 360 games next to relatively smaller PlayStation 3 and Wii sections.

While the poor showing of the Wii is mainly an indicator of the perceived age range of the product, it certainly says something about Nintendo's failure to capture the imagination of the more mainstream gamer in its quest to capture a more atypical market. Luckily for Nintendo, however, more parents are seeing the Wii on television or hearing about it from friends and colleagues that by the time they hit the store to buy one they don't have to ask which console they need.

Which leaves us with the PlayStation 3. Even the most ravenous Sony fan has to admit the the library of games is small, but Sony generally doesn't stay small for long. I've a feeling that if we were to revisit this experiment in a year we'd see some very different results. I surely hope so, as right now gap is a bit too wide for my liking.

The only question that remains is are the parents that seek the help of these 'gaming gurus' being led astray? While the presence of substantial multi-console suggestions and probing questions instead of snap judgments is heartening, the answer to that question is ultimately up to you.

Luckily, this wasn’t the case with Guitar Hero: On Tour developer Neversoft. Producer Brian Bright was plenty able to talk about his game (since it’s coming out October 26). So my only task in this interview was making it sound different from the two dozen the guy had already been through that night.

Hit the jump to see what I came up with.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that Guitar Hero’s a step up from Tony Hawk. So I started by asking if we could expect to see anymore Tony Hawk games from Brian’s team.

Brian glanced nervously at the Activision handler sitting in on the interview. The handler shook his head and muttered, “Can’t say anything.”

“Yeah, we can’t say anything,” said Brian. “Yet.”

The handler made a warning noise and I decided to redirect.

Someone advised me to go into this interview and start with something along the lines of “Sir, go [censored] yourself. What do you say to that?” I can only assume this person isn’t pleased that Brian Bright is working on Guitar Hero: World Tour, or maybe they just curse World Tour for a Rock Band copycat and think the developers should be verbally abused as punishment.

Whatever the reason for the spite, I related this to Brian and asked if he had any thoughts. He got a little wide-eyed and blinked a few times before saying, “They said that? Wow.” He looked at the handler. “Maybe we should do another Tony Hawk…”

The handler coughed and we entered into the dreaded awkward silence. Loathe to fall back on stock questions, I got into the territory of stuff I could Google, but asked anyway. This tactic is safe, it’s bland, and sometimes it’s the only way to move an interview forward.

“What made you decide to keep boss battles in World Tour? They weren’t all that popular in Guitar Hero III…”

Now Brian got excited. “[Battle mode] is the most popular online mode.” Which is why they’ve kept it in World Tour, but it sounds like the dev team has learned its lesson. They’ve gotten rid of power-ups in battle mode (including boss battles) for World Tour – focusing instead on the riffs. “You play a riff, he plays a riff – and whoever plays better wins.”

Jeez – shouldn't it have always been like that…? I remember one games journalist making a Simpsons quip about Legends of Rock: “You used to be about the music, man…”

I threw that into the conversation and Brian assured me, “Everything’s about the music.” Then he went on about how the dev team picked the songs and put together the set list just to prove how much music Guitar Hero is about.

Again, this is probably something you can Google – but actually watching a developer who’s been pouring his heart into a game tell you about how he did it is way better than scrolling down a web page. It’s like feeding on a piece of his soul and his soul is made of candy.

It all starts with a huge Excel spreadsheet. This is circulated through the team and everyone adds songs that they’d like to see in the game. World Tour had over 500 songs on that spreadsheet – stuff that didn’t make it into Guitar Hero III, stuff they’ve done before but think they can do better, etc.

The song list was wheedled down by the preferences of the higher-ups and also by legal boundaries and availability of master tracks. Dealing with dead artists is especially hard, says Brian, because you’re not talking to one person and his/her agent – you’re dealing with an estate, and sometimes nobody even knows where to find the masters in all the dead artist’s stuff. “Sometimes the band’s broken up,” said Brian. “And there’s no one you can talk to you. It’s just gone – out of the question.”

A major concern for Brian in picking World Tour’s songs was keeping the game guitar-centric. A good, dynamic drum solo - *cough* Tool *cough* - might bump up the priority of the song, but ultimately, they went with songs that had strong baselines and solid guitar solos. Vocals factored in the least, but a few songs made it under the wire on grounds that World Tour is a party game, so you’ve got to have songs everyone can sing along to (e.g. Eye of the Tiger).

These songs were then tempo-mapped so each piece of the dev team could take the map and work on their part of the game (without having to share the way you do in level-based games). The designers listen to each song, note tracking each song. They adjusted the note track for Expert and start scaling it down for the Hard, Medium and Easy difficulties. In this way, they build the set list from the ground up while the art, motion capture and gameplay mechanics were being built around the songs at the same time.

Brian was in a pretty chatty mood by now, so I felt safe enough to slide in another hard question: “Do you think it’s a compliment or an insult to be compared to Rock Band?”

The handler raised an eyebrow, but Brian immediately said, “Of course it’s a compliment.” He glanced at the handler and continued, “We’ve got nothing but respect for the guys at Harmonix… they’re great guys.”

But for obvious reasons, Activision and Harmonix are not on speaking terms. Brian really couldn’t talk too much about how his team feels about their rival, but he did say, “Rock Band is popular, but I think Guitar Hero’s community [will trump it].”

He’s talking about the Music Studio feature, of course. In the middle of extolling its many values as a tool for creative genius, the handler quietly informed me that any tracks uploaded to the GH website that resembled covers of licensed music would be taken down. They want to support their fan base, but they don’t want to break the law (and potentially damage their credibility with artists they might want to include in the next game).

Brian isn’t afraid of having to win back any fans they might have lost to Guitar Hero III’s bruising difficulty (he thinks Guitar Hero: Aerosmith has reassured those poor souls that Guitar Hero has come back from the Dark Side). Even if those players have gone over to Rock Band, there’s room enough on everyone’s shelf for two games; especially with the instrument compatibility. Moreover, Brian doesn’t know of any artists that have exclusive deals with Rock Band or with Guitar Hero, so beloved songs will always be available to both factions.

Time was running out, so I wrapped up with a basic question you ought to ask anyone who works on a music game: “What’s your favorite song to play?”

For drums, Brian likes Everlong by the Foo Fighters. As for singing, it's Obstacle 1 from Interpol because apparently he used to be a Goth. He’s got two favorites on guitar – Van Halen’s Hot for Teacher (which he can’t beat on Expert) and The Joker from Steve Miller Band. And on base, Brian says he’ll play anything from Bon Jovi.

Me? I’d kill for one or all of the following:

Total Eclipse of the Heart – Bonnie Tyler
The Jem and the Holograms theme
That Marilyn Manson cover of This is Halloween

What about you guys?

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, packed with new AI and physics technology and a story written by Haden Blackman, certainly has potential, but is The Force with this game?

Loved
Epic Story: More than anything, it was Star Wars: The Force Unleashed's story that kept me going through the game. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the game's story wasn't just emotionally evocative and engaging, but vital to fans of the history of Star Wars. There are moments in the game that are genuinely breath-taking, relationships I cared more about than in any of the first three episodes and a linchpin moment that helps to hook the original classic movies to the abortive modern trilogy. I've actually gone back and re-watched the cut-scenes again. That's not just a first, it's something so beyond the pale for me as to be likely a first and last.

The Force is With You: Who doesn't love the idea of being able to move shit around with your mind? The force implementation (when the targeting works) is the best I've seen to date. In the later levels I can run through an area lousy with Stormtroopers and fling them willy-nilly without breaking stride, just like I always imagine it should be. Frankly, they could have made this game be a bunch of monkeys running around with the force and I would have loved it.

Art Direction: Right up there with the deep, engaging plot is the art direction. The game forgoes the unnatural creations of the modern anti-classics - plastic, soulless beings like Jar Jar - and instead reaches deep down into the crevices of George Lucas' dried out husk of a soul to find a menagerie of beings that don't just fit it, but add to the alien feel of the game. Exploding plants, bug-like creatures imbued with the force, mega-Stormtroopers; and it all looks so beautiful.

Voice Acting: There are plenty of games out there with good voice acting - Metal Gear Solid 4, Gears of War, etc, etc - but it still surprises me when I run across another. High among the talent is Sam Witwer, who nails the ethos of the Secret Apprentice.

Fun Combo System: The Force? Fantastic. Electrocuting, choking, throwing a light saber? Also wonderful. Combining them into grisly combos? Unforgettable. My favorites among the list of devilish force combos include impaling a struggling enemy with your lightsaber after you've floated him over a high drop and a whirling lightsaber Sith combo that ends with a force ground pound that lifts everyone in the area slowly up into the air.

Digital Molecular Matter: Pixelux's physics engine was introduced to the game to make things react as they should in the real world — for example, when a berserk Jedi comes rampaging through an area. And it really adds to the power of the game. DMM really shines when you're forced to blow down a wall or door, or when you rend hunks of metal from the surrounding scenery. It really gives the punch needed to convey the power of the force that you wield.

Hated
Glitches: Endless falls, getting stuck on the scenery, suddenly invulnerable enemies, these are a few of my least favorite things. While the glitches that crop up in the game are pretty infrequent, when they do happen they almost always require having to start back at your last save. Unforgivable.

Boss Battle That Made My Son Cry: There is in The Force Unleashed one particular boss battle of sorts involving a Star Destroyer that isn't just onerous, it's broken. This one fight manages to coalesce everything wrong with the game into one dark and painfully long moment. The battle involves lots of hiding, running, force use, and a mini-game that requires you to follow the on-screen thumbstick manipulation directions to a T. The problem is that those on-screen directions can, on occasion, be just plain wrong. The level became so frustrating that on one particularly long play through of more than a hour, which had me within minutes of winning, I died and my son, feverish to get on with the game, broke down and started crying. That's a first.

Poor Targeting System: The Force and its derivatives are often the most addictive part of The Force Unleashed. But getting a force lock-on and then getting things to go where you want isn't entirely flawless. At times you can grab anything with a flick of a trigger, but other times it's just impossible to do a force grab. And because of the dual thumbstick controls of an object being held by the force, throwing it where you want to is as much art as it is science... in a bad way.

Too Much Euphoria is a Bad Thing: Lots of attention was given to Euphoria, the advanced AI for the game, before its release. And in many ways it adds a level of detail much needed when grabbing people and flinging them to their death over and over again. Stormtroopers struggle, call for help, run at or away from you. All good. But do we really need the Emperor's elite guard tripping over wreckage in mid combat, or Stormtroopers hiding away behind containers in epic battles? Sure it's real, but maybe a bit too real.

What makes The Force Unleashed such a pleasant surprise to play isn't really the gameplay, but how it taps into the wealth of existing Star Wars lore and history. There is, in the game, a level that has you playing through the Death Star. The gameplay and the puzzles you have to solve to get through this portion of the game are fun in their own right. But what makes this level so amazing is how it also manages to give you a sort of behind the scenes tour of an object so iconic to Star Wars. You play through this thing and learn how it works, see how it works. And that's what The Force Unleashed does throughout on a much smaller level, it gives you a chance to glimpse some of the moments and things behind what become keystones of the epic battle between Rebellion and Empire.

The Force Unleashed is most definitely a flawed game, but with the help of some amazing acting, a deep plot and rampant force kills is sure to please most Star Wars fans.

The Force Unleashed, developed and published by LucasArts and released on Sept. 16 for the DS, Playstation 2, PS3, PS, Wii and Xbox 360. Retails for $48 to $50. Reviewed on Playstation 3. Played through campaign mode, tinkered with saber customization.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

Our very reliable sources tell us that Payton has been hired by Microsoft to be the creative director on the upcoming, and still not dead, Peter Jackson Halo game.

The news, very reliable news, comes weeks after we broke the news that Gearbox Director of Technology Corrinne Yu had been hired by Microsoft Game Studios to be Principle Engine Architect for Microsoft's Halo Franchise Team.

Rumor had it at the time that Yu and her husband, Kenneth Scott were both joining Microsoft Game Studios. Scott is an art director at id Software.

Payton, assistant producer on Metal Gear Solid 4, has been credited with spearheading a more Western approach to controls for Metal Gear Solid 4, making the game far more approachable and much tighter than the previous installment. He also helped warm the MGS4 team up to more Western developed games like Gears of War as well.

We heard back from Microsoft and they hit us up with "Microsoft does not comment on rumors or speculation.” Which in Microsoft speak is almost tantamount to a confirmation.

Witwer managed to pack that ten minutes with a bit about his love of gaming, the excitement of speaking a "certain line" in the game and how the Force Unleashed managed to pack so much chemistry into the game.

For a Sci-Fi Channel superstar, Sam is really down to earth. And a total nerd, too.

“I was all into the X-Wing games [when I was younger].” He’s even read some of the books (although not the Michael A. Stackpole installments).

I asked him how he felt about being part of a pivotal moment in the Star Wars story. We already got the scoop on how he feels about the Clone Wars – I suggested Force Unleashed was a cut above, and Sam was quick to defend the CG acid trip movie as an important part of the continuity. But he agreed that Force Unleashed was a Big Freaking Deal and he was happy to be a part of it.

Spoiler Alert!

There was one major “geek goose bump” moment in particular that stuck with Sam. This is the line that hit Sam the most out of all dialogue recorded for Force Unleashed:

“Will you lead us?”

Sam squealed and actually kicked up his legs. “It was like the 8-year-old inside me rose up and was all like ‘alright – we need to defeat Darth Vader because he’s bad, and then we need to do this and this…’.” You could tell he was so totally into it. It reminded me of an interview James Earl Jones gave about being Darth Vader – about how the “I am your father,” line took his breath away.

End Spoiler Alert

We had to steer away from spoiler town and I only had a few minutes left, so the rest was a jumble of Sam’s impressions from working on the game.

As an actor, this was a tough job for Sam. There were times when he looked at the script and thought that he couldn’t do it, that he’d blow the line. Over a period of two and a half weeks, Sam worked to bring the character to life. There’s over an hour of game cinema worth of his acting and he was anxious to make the Secret Apprentice come alive.

“The key is the other actors,” says Sam. They shot the cinemas on a green screen, which explains the extremely high chemistry between Sam and his co-stars. The in-game dialogue, on the other hand, was harder. In these instances, he was recording basic lines into a mic instead of acting onscreen with other actors. There’s no context and absolutely tons of these lines. It got to a point where Sam didn’t even remember some of the stuff he’d recorded, so when people complimented him on parts of the game, he had no idea what he’d done to make the scene so good.

Comparatively, recording the Secret Apprentice lines for Soul Calibur IV was easy. And a ton of fun, because not only did he get to yell “I’m gonna kick your ass” stuff for about four hours – he also got to hear his Japanese voice actor counterpart.

“That guy was so cool,” Sam gushes. “He was all like, [fake Japanese in manly voice]! And I was like… [throws himself backwards in chair] WHOA!”

I had time for one last question – I asked what he thought of game voice actors being faceless unknowns.

Obviously, Sam isn’t an unknown – even if I can’t bring myself to watch Smallville – and he admitted that he had very little knowledge of the complaints of GTA4's Niko Bellic voice actor Michael Hollick. But he said LucasArts made this project totally worth his while and pointed out that since the game is using his likeness, that he is the face of the Secret Apprentice.

Observe his Apprentice face:

And this is his camera face:

Sam Witwer was a fun guy to talk to – and even if his character kicks the bucket at the end of the game (haven’t gotten that far yet, so I'm not spoiling anything), I do hope to see more of him on my Xbox 360 (and maybe less of him on the CW).

Check out our interview with Force Unleashed front man Haden Blackman.

P.S. - Sorry about the grainy iPhone pics!

LONDON – 16th September 2008 - Imagine if friends and families had the ability to instantly watch movies and share pictures, live out their musical fantasies through “Lips” (iNiS Corp./Microsoft Game Studios) and “Rock Band” (Harmonix/MTV Games) and star in their own Hollywood classics with “You’re in the Movies” (Codemasters/Microsoft Game Studios) — all from one console, starting at an estimated retail price (ERP) of only £129.99. That is the Xbox 360™, and Microsoft today announced the new lower ERP for its Xbox 360 family of consoles in Europe. Now with an entry-level ERP of £129.99 and offering a plethora of exciting and broad entertainment in the living room, Xbox 360 is the true home of mass market entertainment with something to offer for every interest and budget.

From Friday, 19th September, Xbox 360, which includes a 60GB hard drive and one wireless controller, will have an ERP of £169.99. The Xbox 360 Elite, which comes with a massive 120GB hard drive enabling consumers to store huge quantities of content downloaded from Xbox LIVE™ Marketplace as well as their own music, will have an ERP of £229.99. The Xbox 360 Arcade console, perfect for those wishing to make their first foray into the gaming and entertainment world of Xbox, will have an ERP of £129.99.

The new ERPs are part of Microsoft’s ongoing strategy to open up the ultimate in high-definition gaming and entertainment to an even wider audience, with something for everyone. A major part of this strategy is a new Xbox LIVE online experience coming to Europe this autumn that will reinvent home entertainment from the inside out, with a bold new look and feel that is fun, social and simple to use. It’s the first time in history that a mass market consumer electronics device has been reinvented through free software, changing the way we play games, watch movies, and even become contestants in game shows. Along with the new Xbox experience, the Xbox 360 platform is offering a stunning games portfolio for all ages and interests this Christmas, with new titles for music lovers, family-friendly games, and exciting blockbuster titles for the committed gamer.
“Xbox 360 has now sold over 20 million consoles worldwide and due to its unprecedented success, we are now able to pass on the rewards of that success to the consumer with a new retail pricing from £129.99”, said Neil Thompson, Senior Regional Director, Microsoft UK. “With more games, more entertainment with Xbox LIVE and now even more value, we are looking forward to welcoming more customers into the leading Next Generation console, Xbox 360.”

“We can make this happen,” Haden told them, and it looks like he was right.

The Force Unleashed making-of book details Haden and his team’s long struggle to get this game made. There were tons of other concept ideas that got axed, a billion technical hurdles and all kinds of unforeseen nightmares to get past. I asked Haden which scrapped idea was his favorite and he immediately said he liked the idea where you would have been playing as a Wookiee.

The idea would have had you running about like a semi-feral beast, kicking ass and being a Wookiee (y’know, ripping peoples’ arms off when you lose). George Lucas put the kibosh on the idea, saying that not only are Wookiees not quite like the team had envisioned them – but people probably wouldn’t have wanted to play as a Wookiee. Because how attached can you really get to character that doesn’t have speech?

Haden also liked an idea that allowed the player to commune with Qui Gon’s spirit, thus filling in some of the gaps in the prequel’s back story; but this idea was also tossed out and Haden had to come up with something else.

Read the making of book for the whole story – me, I had to move on if I wanted to get all my questions asked in the 10 minutes I had to interview Haden.

I asked what color lightsaber Haden would want (to buy time while I frantically searched for where I’d written my list of questions). Haden – like me – would want to rock a purple lightsaber. And it’s got nothing to do with Mace Windu; he just likes the color. I’d a like a purple one, too – but that’s just because Jaina Solo wields one in the Expanded Universe (EU) books. (Oh, and there's an unlockable black lightsaber in the game - look for it!)

Haden has actually read a lot of the EU books – though he stopped short of the New Jedi Order series. An author of Star Wars graphic novels himself, he has great respect for the stories outside those covered in the movies. I asked if we might see a game set in the Legacy of the Force series, or some other post-episode VI timeline and Haden nodded, “We’ll see.”

Building on the original source material is important, though – Haden couldn’t stress that enough when it came to creating levels for the Force Unleashed. One of the easiest levels to design (at least in terms of art) was the TIE Fighter factory level on the count of already having tons of source material for what TIE Fighters look like. The hardest level to work with by far was the Raxus Prime junkyard. In the words of one of his team members, Haden described the level as both organic and inorganic – a lot of angular rusty metal and also a living ecosystem that sports moments of beauty. (For gameplay, the early levels were hardest, because the Secret Apprentice’s powers were limited – and later on, it got easier because his powers were more badass which allowed for more of the “playground” feel.)

Haden wrapped up our interview with an admonishment that The Force Unleashed is supposed to be an accessible, mainstream game. He’s concerned that hardcore gaming outlets are marking the game down because the combat “isn’t complex enough.” He really hopes that all his work has paid off in creating an experience the everyman will enjoy. But overall, the man is proud of his work, and he glowed with pleasure as he waltzed out of the room to take his place on the main stage.

His work on Force Unleashed is done.

…

So. Now what?

Armature Studio, located in Austin, Texas, is headed by Mark Pacini, Todd Keller and Jack Mathews, the former Game Director, Art Director and Principal Technology Engineer of the Nintendo franchise.

In a recent interview with Kotaku, Pacini said that the trio formed the new company some time in April and signed their exclusive publishing deal with EA two to three months later.

"EA approached us with this really interesting business model of creating a small studio that is only comprised of industry veterans," Pacini said. "The goal is to create new IP with a very, very small team and to produce a game without having to grow that team."

Pacini said he and the others at Armature are excited to finally be working on games for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 and not just the Wii and DS.

"From my stand point, I've never worked on any other console," he said. "I've always made games for Nintendo. I'm reinvigorated. I'm really excited about what other opportunities are out there. How can we use Xbox Live? How can we use the power of the PS3?"

"I think it really opens it up," he said. "I'm not saying it was by any means restrictive working for Nintendo. We had this palette to work on, the Wii and the DS, but now we have everything."

"That's just really, really exciting."

Retro Studios was founded in Austin, Texas in 1998. In 2000, Nintendo gave the studio the license to the Metroid franchise to help recreate the game for the Gamecube. In 2002 the developer relased Metroid Prime. In 2004 they released Metroid Prime 2: Echoes and last year released Metroid Prime 3: Corruption for the Wii.

Under their current contract with Electronic Arts, Armature wouldn't be able to develop a Metroid Prime game for Nintendo. Not that that means they've lost interest in the franchise they helped revive.

"Personally, I would love to work on another Metroid game," said Keller. "I have been in love with Metroid for years. We had a chance to recreate a game that was created way back when. That was awesome."

The deal with Electronic Arts is an experiment of sorts, Pacini said. Under the agreement, the studio will report to EA General Manager Lou Castle as part of EA's secretive Blueprint Division. Castle is acting Executive Producer of the Armature Studio games. Instead of operating like typical game development studios, the core team at Armature Studio will work on game prototypes. Once a game is ready for development a bulk of that work would be shifted to an external team or another studio, while the Armature people would follow the project as directors.

"We would still be very hands on," Pacini said.

While studios have tried versions of this in the past, none have tried to keep a central core of directors on to supervise the projects, Pacini said.

"We are interested to see how it goes past the prototype stage," he said. "Our studio is the grand experiment. It’s kind of a really different take on how to make these larger scale games."

Armature and EA hopes that this new approach to game development could cut down on the risk a bit and allow developers and publishers to take greater risks.

"It’s really reasonable to go out on a limb and take a risk that we kinda think might be cool," Pacini said. "That’s the sort of environment we are trying to set up. That’s what we are about as a studio."

Pacini and Keller declined to say what specifically their new studio is currently working on with Electronic Arts, but said, at least initially, they want to stick to the types of games the group are comfortable with.

"We all have very different background: Action, adventures and shooters," Keller said. "We have already started (on some games) for sure. We are working every day. We are in the preliminary stages.

"EA has been very very supportive of all of our efforts."

Armature Studio is looking to hire several key staff by the end of the year, Pacini said. They will be at the Austin Game Developers Conference later this week, he added.

Not only did he get to hang out with Kyle Massey of Cory in the House and get hands on with some unreleased games, he also had a chance to talk to Mark-Paul "Zack" Gosselaar about Rock Band. Specifically the former Bell star told Reilly that he really needs a singer for his Rock Band band. Preferably "chicks". And then, right there, in mid sentence, it seemed to dawn on Gossellar that what he was saying was going to be printed and he suddenly recalled his wife of 12 years. Smoooooooth.

The run-down of coverage:
Nintendo Throws A Party To Benefit Starlight Children's Foundation
Mark-Paul Gosselaar Needs A Singer For Rock Band
Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars: A Hardcore Title For Wii
Rock Revolution For Wii: Air Drumming/Guitaring Isn't Very Fun

The much anticipated expansion pack for the rediculously popular massively multiplayer online role-playing game hits on in North America, Europe, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, and Russia, simultaneously. A day later, on Nov. 14, the pack hits in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand. And the expansion will be available in Korea and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau on November 18. No date has yet been announced for mainland China.

"We're looking forward to launching Wrath of the Lich King and finally giving World of Warcraft players a chance to take on Arthas and his minions," said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. "Until then, we'll continue to refine and playtest the expansion content to make sure it provides a highly polished and entertaining experience."

Activision also announced that the game will be available in a Collector's Edition for $70. That will include:

— The Art of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, a 208-page book featuring never-before-seen images from the game.
— An exclusive in-game pet: Frosty, the baby frost wyrm.
— A behind-the-scenes DVD containing over an hour of developer interviews, the Wrath of the Lich King intro cinematic with director's commentary, and more.
— The official soundtrack CD, containing 21 epic tracks from the game, along with exclusive bonus tracks.
— A mouse pad featuring a map of the newly opened continent of Northrend.
— Two World of Warcraft Trading Card Game March of the Legion(TM) starter decks, along with two exclusive cards available only in the Collector's Edition.

Lich King has players pursuing the Lich King Arthas Menethil into the frozen continent of Northrend to battle LK's undead army. The expansion will allow player to advance characters to level 80 and gain new abilities. It also introduces several new features including an achievement system, expanded player-vs-player combat, and the Hero Class necromantic death knight.

The pack requires both WoW and Burning Crusade to play.

Hit the jump for party pics and more.

Lucas didn’t take the stage until nearly two hours after the event had started. During that time, I managed to wheedle my way into the VIP room to steal brownie bites, snag a diet coke and manipulate man friend into snapping cosplay pics with his Shiny Less Than New iPhone. Take a look:

Then, what we’d all be waiting for – George Lucas. But first, another long, drawn-out raffle sequence where the dudes on stage were having way too much fun dangling t-shirts over the side to generate loud screaming and people hoisting small children over head.

George took the stage slowly, looking every bit as old as his 60-some odd years. He thanked the team for all the good work, urged the attendees to grab whatever was on the shelves and buy it – and then revealed that his son had bugged more than 400 issues in Force Unleashed.

“More than the play testers,” George beamed.

More t-shirts were thrown and the man departed to wild cheers, chased after by Secret Apprentice actor Sam Witwer, bearing Lucas his very own t-shirt.

And at 10, we were all thrown out of the Best Buy as they closed the store. At midnight, the doors will re-open to sell the first copies of The Force Unleashed to the waiting crowd.

Be sure to check out our interviews with Sam Witwer and with project lead Haden Blackman tomorrow morning.

According to the press release issued by the interested buyer, following a "management presentation and review of other due diligence materials provided by Take-Two," EA says it has opted not to make a new proposal to acquire Take-Two and has ended talks. It was rumored to have done so last week.

Take-Two issued comment on the news immediately following EA's announcement, writing “We remain focused on creating value for our stockholders and our consumers. This has been our goal since EA launched its conditional and unsolicited bid six months ago, a bid which was repeatedly rejected by our stockholders."

Strauss Zelnick, Chairman of the Board of Take-Two is quoted as saying that the publisher is "actively engaged in discussions with other parties in the context of our formal process to consider strategic alternatives."

Both parties' statements are after the jump.

Electronic Arts Terminates Discussions with Take-Two

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Electronic Arts Inc. (“EA”) (NASDAQ:ERTS) today announced that while EA continues to have a high regard for Take-Two’s creative teams and products, after careful consideration, including a management presentation and review of other due diligence materials provided by Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (“Take-Two”) (NASDAQ:TTWO), EA has decided not to make a proposal to acquire Take-Two and has terminated discussions with Take-Two.

John Riccitiello, Chief Executive Officer of EA, said: “EA is tracking toward a record breaking year. We’re launching 15 new games including award-winners like SPORE, Dead Space and Mirror’s Edge, great new titles from the Sims, new family titles with Hasbro, and the highest quality slate of EA SPORTS titles on this generation of consoles. We’re also expanding beyond our core business with a series of direct-to-consumer launches including Warhammer Online.”

About Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is the world's leading interactive entertainment software company.

Founded in 1982, the Company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, cellular handsets and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTS(TM), EA(TM), EA SPORTS Freestyle(TM) and POGO(TM). In fiscal 2008, EA posted GAAP net revenue of $3.67 billion and had 27 titles that sold more than one million copies. EA's homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More information about EA's products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://info.ea.com.

Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. Comments on EA Announcement

NEW YORK—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTWO) today responded to Electronic Arts Inc.’s (NASDAQ:ERTS) announcement that it does not intend to pursue an acquisition of Take-Two at this time.

Strauss Zelnick, Chairman of the Board of Take-Two, commented, “We remain focused on creating value for our stockholders and our consumers. This has been our goal since EA launched its conditional and unsolicited bid six months ago, a bid which was repeatedly rejected by our stockholders. As part of that commitment, we remain actively engaged in discussions with other parties in the context of our formal process to consider strategic alternatives. We’re especially proud of the success we’ve enjoyed over the past eighteen months and we remain confident in our ability to generate value for stockholders.”

“Take-Two’s business has continued to strengthen since the time EA first made its offer. We have delivered terrific products to our consumers and we’ve been rewarded with very strong financial performance. We have an exciting future ahead of us, powered by our profitability, a significant cash position, the absence of debt, an undrawn credit facility and a terrific lineup of games. We are confident in the unique value of our business given our strong position in what is a growing and dynamic industry,” said Ben Feder, Chief Executive Officer of Take-Two.

About Take-Two Interactive Software

Headquartered in New York City, Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is a global developer, marketer, distributor and publisher of interactive entertainment software games for the PC, PLAYSTATION®3 and PlayStation®2 computer entertainment systems, PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system, Xbox 360® and Xbox® video game and entertainment systems from Microsoft, Wii™, Nintendo GameCube™, Nintendo DS™ and Game Boy® Advance. The Company publishes and develops products through its wholly owned labels Rockstar Games, 2K Games, 2K Sports and 2K Play, and distributes software, hardware and accessories in North America through its Jack of All Games subsidiary. Take-Two's common stock is publicly traded on NASDAQ under the symbol TTWO. For more corporate and product information please visit our website at www.take2games.com. All trademarks and copyrights contained herein are the property of their respective holders.

All trademarks and copyrights contained herein are the property of their respective holders.

I never know quite what to where to these types of events. Sure, there will be some important people there, but it's also a party, and there will be video games. I suppose a good suggestion would be to wear something "business casual," but baby, I don't do business casual. I'm either all business all the time, or wearing my sandals. Since I have a fear of over-dressing, I decided to rock the cargo shorts and plain gray shirt.

I got there a little early and luckily witnessed what was perhaps the highlight of the night. A giant-size Pickachu mascot getting stuck trying to get out of the elevator.

Now, the invitation noted that "A-List" celebrities would be attending this particular party. I spent a lot of time on my way there thinking about who could possibly show up. I mean, who the hell would be attending this? Martha Stewart? Reggie? P fucking Diddy?

Nope. In fact only three celebrities were scheduled to show up, and only two managed to make it.

Kyle Massey of Cory in the House and Mark-Paul Gosselaar from Saved By The Bell. I was told Russell Simmons was supposed to show up as well. But I didn't see him.

Ok, I don't know who or what Cory In The House is, but Mark-Paul fucking Gosselaar? Are you kidding me? I almost fainted as I saw him walk through the door. I consider Saved By The Bell to be among the best television shows ever made. My entire childhood life was defined by that show. He wasn't there promoting a game or anything, just hanging out with his son playing some video games. He's a real cool guy (like you didn't know that already!) and he even let me interview him about his gaming habits for awhile casually by the bar. I'll be posting it soon.

I got a chance to get some hands-on time with upcoming Wii games. Mushroom Men and Rock Revolution in particular. Impressions of those will be going up soon, too. Check out the gallery of the night's affairs below.

I’m going to go suck on a bunch of ice cubes to still the raging throb of agony that is my mouth and then call my mom. Here’s everything I got out of Atari...

Alone in the Dark on PS3 – If It’s Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It
Hands On: Dragon Ball Z: Infinite World – Gah! Too Many Colons!
Hands On: What’s Cooking? With Jamie Oliver
Hands On: Dragon Ball Origins DS
Hands On: RACE Pro
Hands On: Backyard Football 09

Have a good (dry) weekend!

Robert Delaware, a Microsoft game tester employed by temp agency Excell Data, was let go on Wednesday and is expected to face civil charges from his former employer, according to an update from VentureBeat.

Delaware was the only source at Microsoft to be directly named in the original article. He was quoted by VentureBeat on two separate "red ring of death" scenarios, one that could be triggered by a reproduceable crash , citing NBA 2K6, and another related to dashboard update bugs with Capcom's Dead Rising.

The former game tester says he doesn't regret going on record about his experience with the Xbox 360. "If they want to come after me, bring it on,” Delaware said, in response to assumed impending civil charges.

As VentureBeat points out, it's likely that, in speaking to the press, Delaware violated his terms of employment with VMC, Microsoft and Excell Data and that his termination was legally justified.

Microsoft fires game test contractor who talked to VentureBeat [VentureBeat]

Earlier today, all 2000-plus reviews of Spore at Amazon.com were deleted. Temporarily, that is, and not part of an attempt to whitewash customer feedback, according to the company.

Amazon reps told us that the deletion of the Spore reviews was not intentional, calling the removal of customer feedback "a site glitch."

"Amazon did not knowingly or consciously choose to remove the reviews," a rep told Kotaku. "The team is working on resolving this issue now and restoring all the reviews on the site."

At press time, it appears that the vast majority of reviews had already returned, with burning internet hatred for SecuROM, EA, Will Wright and Athenian legislator Draco intact. The ability to submit new reviews has also returned. Spore's single star remains at the online retailer.

"Per our policy, Amazon doesn't censor or edit customer reviews and we'd only remove a review if it fell outside our guidelines," according to Amazon, who actually reached out to us before we got a chance to contact their public relations department. Those guidelines can be read here, should you be interested in submitting your own scathing or fawning review.

Spore [Amazon - thanks to all who sent this in!]

The game, which has been in development for nearly two years, is expected to hit shelves next summer and will likely include the ability to use Guitar Hero guitars for versus mode face-offs.

The controller, key to the game's success, has been through nearly a half-dozen iterations.

In the latest form, the device looks a lot like a simplified DJ Deck. There is a platter for scratching which will act like the strum toggle on a Guitar Hero guitar. Above the platter are three buttons for sampling. The controller also includes a cross fader and a sound effects dial which will act like the whammy bar in Guitar Hero.

Instead of flowing the musical notes down a guitar neck, DJ Hero will flow the music down and around a virtual record in a half arc. Either left top to middle bottom if you are left handed, or right top to middle bottom if you are right handed.

To play you will have to either hold a sample button and scratch, just hold a button or just scratch as the neon icons flow around the virtual vinyl.

Currently the wireless controller has grooves molded into the bottom so it will sit comfortably in a player's lap, though the team is also looking into legs for the deck so gamers can play while standing up.

The game in its current form features all mash-ups, think Beyonce Vs Jimi Hendrix, 50 cent Vs Beastie Boys. If they can nail the interface and get licensing for the music this could be a mammoth hit. Then again I love mash-ups.

*That's not a picture of the controller.

Without a doubt Spore is a genre-busting, piece of innovative work, but is it a good game? Did Maxis create something sublime, or does Spore still need to evolve?

Loved
Evolutionary Creationism: Spore's creature creator is almost worth the price of entry. Access to all of the game's creators definitely is. In Spore, Maxis delivers the gameplay but you create the backdrop. This mutual process of creation forms a living diorama. Something as fun to marvel at as it is to tinker with.

A Gaming Buffet: While Space is certainly the strongest of the game's five stages, the others shouldn't be written off. The first time through, one might have the urge to rush things in their race to get to space. But once you've played through the entire game, Spore allows you to go back and play whichever stage you want as a standalone.

I Kill Because I Care: Spore's plentiful creators got a lot of face time in the long lead up to the game's launch. And they're fun, but you don't realize their full impact until you play the game. The creature you lead across galaxies, across a universe, is the same one that started as a blob in a tidal pool. The species that calls for your help from Planet Kotaku is the same one you fought to evolve from animal to tribe to, finally, ruler of their planet. Those moments of play, stacked up on you way to space travel and full on strategy gaming form a strong emotional bond, a sense of duty rarely felt in a computer game. These are your creatures, your responsibility and defending them isn't just fun, it's personal.

I Am The Master of My Own Destiny: Other games talk about creating your own gameplay, but rarely do any deliver on this level. You can make everything for your creatures to their clothes, their cities, their vehicles, their planets, even their national anthem. And once you're done creating you can decide on how you want to play: Aggressively, subvert through trade, give peace a chance. Spore is an amazingly open game that still manages to work within enough framework to keep things challenging.

Deep Space: When you finally arrive there, space isn't just another phase in the game, it is the game. That's not saying that those first four stages of gameplay were an elaborate tutorial, not at all. Each offers a unique take on a well-known genre. And each is fun in its own right. But they're very streamlined takes on gaming, very straight forward. Space, on the other hand, offers endless play and deep possibilities. Alien abduction, inter-galactic warfare, spice trade, city building, planet molding: Space is where it's at.

Hated
Shallow Waters: While the lead up to space can be good fun, many of the early stages are so stripped of nuance they can be annoying. I found the tribal and civilization stages to be particularly irritating. Why can't I group by hot key in the tribal phase? Why is the path-finding so horrendous? Why do I only get to choose from a few weapons? Those stages could have used a bit more care, the guiding hand, of a hardcore strategy gamer.

Lets Not Be Too Creative: Creating in Spore is a blast. Making your own creatures, your own buildings, your own vehicles, tons of fun. But I don't always want to do it. The game knows this and it allows me to choose from other people's creations. Great. But I have to choose every time? Every planet I take, every city I capture I have to choose? Are you kidding me? Would it hurt to include an option to automatically randomize my cities so I don't spend a bulk of my space-conquering time as a glorified interior decorator?

Hello Ground Control It's Major Tom: Games crash, that's a fact. But Spore seems to have a nasty habit of crashing when things get hairy in battle. I suffered at least four crashes in Spore all but one of them in the middle of space combat. To make matters worse, Spore doesn't seem to have an auto save feature. Slightly unstable game and no auto-save is a really bad combination.

I'm Walking Sideways Because I've Used Up All My Up And Down: It is a spectacular sight the first time you break free of your planet's gravitational pull and slide into space. Even more awe-inspiring is your first zoom out from planet to galaxy to universe. Imagine, you likely think, I can go to every one of those tiny dots of lights and raze cities and exterminate entire species. But after a handful of hours of traveling between galaxies, zooming in to planets, zooming down to the surface, it starts to get tedious. My species can now travel through black holes, it has planet busting bombs, but they still haven't figured out how to trade spice without dipping down to the planet's atmosphere. Tragic.

Simple Complexity: Will Wright is, as I've said before, the master of taking complex systems and breaking them down to their basic components and then reassembling them into something we can all understand and play with. Spore is final proof of that ability. In it gamers play with evolution, tinker with planet structure and atmospheres, mess around with economics and strategy. And the game is incredibly easy to understand. But throughout Spore there are needless interactions, simple design flaws that tend to clutter up the experience. The end result is a fun and simple game that feels at times needlessly clumsy.

Spore is a spectacular game, one that everyone should experience. What it does with genre blending is amazing. What it does with user-created content will, I think, deeply impact the industry and how games are made in the future. But Spore is not without its flaws. It feels at times not totally baked. For every thing I love about Spore there seems to be another that bugs the hell out of me about the game. In fact this love/hate relationship I have with Spore seems almost purposeful, as if Wright wanted to create a game of such balance that even its attributes have to be a sort of yin-yang of praise and problems.

Does Spore live up to its lofty expectations? Was it worth the wait? Most definitely yes. Is it the game of the year, perhaps the best title Maxis and Wright have ever produced? No, not yet.

Spore, developed by Maxis, published by Electronic Arts and released on Sept. 7 for the PC and Mac. Retails for $48 to $50. Reviewed on PC. Used all creators, played through space to space level and Omnipotent rank. Earned Spore Fan Achievement.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

ACTIVISION UNVEILS FULL GUITAR HERO® WORLD TOUR SET LIST

Featuring 86 Master Tracks, Game Delivers The Biggest Selection of On-Disc Music In The Music-Rhythm Videogame Genre To Date

Santa Monica, CA – September 12, 2008 – Delivering unparalleled depth and diversity featuring some of the most prolific artists of all time including Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Van Halen, Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne, Michael Jackson and more, Activision Publishing, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) today revealed the highly-anticipated full set list for Guitar Hero® World Tour, the definitive rock ‘n’ roll music videogaming experience. Spanning over 40 years of rock history and featuring 86 tracks, comprised entirely of master recordings, the game will deliver Guitar Hero® fans the largest selection of on-disc music in the music-rhythm videogame genre to date. The complete Guitar Hero World Tour on-disc set list available on October 26, 2008 will include:

* 311 - “Beautiful Disaster”
* 30 Seconds To Mars - “The Kill”
* Airbourne - “Too Much Too Young”
* The Allman Brothers Band - “Ramblin' Man”
* Anouk - “Good God”
* The Answer - “Never Too Late”
* At The Drive-In - “One Armed Scissor”
* Beastie Boys - “No Sleep Till Brooklyn”
* Beatsteaks - “Hail to the Freaks”
* Billy Idol - “Rebel Yell”
* Black Label Society - “Stillborn”
* Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - “Weapon of Choice”
* blink-182 - “Dammit”
* Blondie - “One Way or Another”
* Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band - “Hollywood Nights”
* Bon Jovi - “Livin’ On A Prayer”
* Bullet For My Valentine - “Scream Aim Fire”
* Coldplay - “Shiver”
* Creedence Clearwater Revival - “Up Around The Bend”
* The Cult - “Love Removal Machine”
* Dinosaur Jr. - “Feel The Pain”
* The Doors - “Love Me Two Times”
* Dream Theater - “Pull Me Under”
* The Eagles - “Hotel California”
* The Enemy - “Aggro”
* Filter - “Hey Man, Nice Shot”
* Fleetwood Mac - “Go Your Own Way”
* Foo Fighters - “Everlong”
* The Guess Who - “American Woman”
* Hush Puppies - “You're Gonna Say Yeah!”
* Interpol - “Obstacle 1”
* Jane's Addiction - “Mountain Song”
* Jimi Hendrix - “Purple Haze (Live)”
* Jimi Hendrix - “The Wind Cries Mary”
* Jimmy Eat World - “The Middle”
* Joe Satriani - “Satch Boogie”
* Kent - “Vinternoll2”
* Korn - “Freak On A Leash”
* Lacuna Coil - “Our Truth”
* Lenny Kravitz - “Are You Gonna Go My Way”
* Linkin Park - “What I've Done”
* The Living End - “Prisoner of Society”
* Los Lobos - “La Bamba”
* Lost Prophets - “Rooftops (A Liberation Broadcast)”
* Lynyrd Skynyrd - “Sweet Home Alabama (Live)”
* Mars Volta - “L'Via L'Viaquez”
* MC5’s Wayne Kramer - “Kick Out The Jams”
* Metallica - “Trapped Under Ice”
* Michael Jackson - “Beat It”
* Modest Mouse - “Float On”
* Motörhead - “Overkill”
* Muse - “Assassin”
* Negramaro - “Nuvole e Lenzuola”
* Nirvana - “About a Girl (Unplugged)”
* No Doubt - “Spiderwebs”
* NOFX - “Soul Doubt”
* Oasis - “Some Might Say”
* Ozzy Osbourne - “Crazy Train”
* Ozzy Osbourne - “Mr. Crowley”
* Paramore - “Misery Business”
* Pat Benatar - “Heartbreaker”
* R.E.M. - “The One I Love”
* Radio Futura - “Escuela De Calor”
* Rise Against - “Re-Education Through Labor”
* Sex Pistols - “Pretty Vacant”
* Silversun Pickups - “Lazy Eye”
* Smashing Pumpkins - “Today”
* Steely Dan - “Do It Again”
* Steve Miller Band - “The Joker”
* Sting - “Demolition Man (Live)”
* The Stone Roses - “Love Spreads”
* Stuck In The Sound - “Toy Boy”
* Sublime - “Santeria”
* Survivor - “Eye of the Tiger”
* System of a Down - “B.Y.O.B.”
* Ted Nugent - “Stranglehold”
* Ted Nugent’s Original Guitar Duel Recording
* Tokio Hotel - “Monsoon”
* Tool - “Parabola”
* Tool - “Schism”
* Tool - “Vicarious”
* Trust - “Antisocial”
* Van Halen - “Hot For Teacher”
* Willie Nelson - “On The Road Again”
* Wings - “Band on the Run”
* Zakk Wylde’s Original Guitar Duel Recording

When the house lights go down this fall, a new generation of guitarists, drummers and fearless frontmen will come together and rock with Guitar Hero World Tour. The latest installment in the #1 best-selling video game franchise of 2007, Guitar Hero World Tour transforms music gaming by expanding Guitar Hero’s signature guitar gameplay into a cooperative band experience that combines the most advanced wireless controllers with new revolutionary online* and offline gameplay modes including Band Career and 8-player “Battle of the Bands,” which allows two full bands to compete head-to-head online for the first time ever. The game features a slick newly redesigned guitar controller, drum kit controller and a microphone, as well as an innovative Music Studio music creator that lets players compose, record, edit and share their own rock ‘n’ roll anthems. Music creators will also be able to share their recordings with their friends online through GHTunesSM where other gamers can download and play an endless supply of unique creations.

Guitar Hero World Tour is being developed by Neversoft Entertainment for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system. The Wii™ version is being developed by Vicarious Visions. The PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system version is being developed by Budcat. The game is rated “T” for Teen by the ESRB. For more information on Guitar Hero World Tour, please visit www.guitarhero.com.

That’s exactly what developer Eden Games did following the overwhelming bitch storm that followed the PC and 360 release of the much-anticipated Alone in the Dark. We all know the story: fiddly controls, broken gameplay mechanics and a truly agonizing root-hunting sequence that gets sprung on you towards the end of the game all added up to a mediocre action/horror experience most gamers were content to skip.

“It’s not like we pretended we made the perfect game,” said game designer Emile Morel as I sat down for some hands-on with the PS3 version of Alone in the Dark. “We read reviews… We wanted to make it better.”

They haven’t changed the plot, mind you – so any beef you had with the implausibility of the story or the lameness of the setting will still be valid. But, I can say after only twenty minutes of playtime, that Alone in the Dark on PS3 really is better. A lot better. Which is damned impressive considering Eden only had four months of turnaround time between the 360 and PS3 release (so for once, we should be grateful that the PS3 dev cycle takes longer).

The biggest improvement is the camera. It’s pulled farther back so you can see more and you control it with the right analog stick, as God intended. Even better, it automatically repositions itself behind you as you move, so you don’t have to babysit the camera while rounding corners or targeting enemies.

Oh yeah, about targeting… With the right stick being given over to the camera, you have to hold down L1 in order to manipulate the objects or weapons Edward Carnby picks up with the right analog stick. This is a bonus, actually, because L1 also targets enemies, so it’s like having a Grand Theft Auto style of combat instead of that senseless flailing from the 360 version. (Also, Morel says the targeting system automatically chooses the most dangerous foe – a real plus, if he’s telling the truth.)

In addition to combat changes, Carnby’s overall movements have been redone so that gameplay is much, much smoother. His turns are tighter, he never walks backwards, and his default speed is running so you don't have to hold down a button to haul ass. This carries over into the first person view as well, so expect less eyestrain as you pan around looking for enemies.

The enemies themselves have also been fiddled with such that the weapon you use on them actually matters. The bigger the stick you hit the monster with, the less times you have to hit it. And baddies fall down more easily now, so you can torch them that much easier.

Speaking of torching – the inventory system got all the attention it needed. No more stupid menu scrolling (“Do you really want to drop this item… are you sure?”), and they’ve gotten rid of the battery pack so you’ve got more space to work with. (Really, unless Carnby’s packing dollar store flashlights, he should be able to get through one night of terror in New York City on a single set of batteries.) Combining items is way easier since now you don’t have to select the correct items in order (bottle before lighter or lighter before bottle?), and the game now pauses when you enter the inventory screen so you actually have time to be creative with the combos. The pausing also allowed Eden to change the way you maneuver through the inventory – now you can go from left to right or right to left, one item at a time with a simple tap of the D-pad.

Also, and Morel got a little testy when he told me this, the hot key combo option is still available so you don’t even have to go into the inventory to get out your favorite weapon set. Still – as in, you could do this on the 360 version, but apparently people didn’t know that and complained bitterly about how hard it was to get out the Molotov cocktails and handgun over and over again.

They didn’t fix that loading screen that says “cloth in a bottle is the best way to make a Molotov cocktail” – as far as I know, that’s the only way to make a Molotov cocktail, and I’d have so bugged that if I’d been testing this game.

Thank God I wasn’t though, because I would have died of agony if I had to do the driving levels over and over again. Even now that they’ve fixed some of the issues with driving in Alone in the Dark, I still suck at it. But I am glad they slowed down the monster chasing you in the getting to Central Park sequence. Insta-death is never a good thing. Also, they’ve tweaked the handling and collision issues so you’re not fishtailing every time you get too close to the curb – and added a checkpoint halfway through the level.

The last – and perhaps most glaring – issue Eden got around to fixing was that root-burning sequence. Instead of dumping it on you towards the end of the game, the quest is introduced in Chapter 3 and you have the whole rest of the game to get around to it instead of having to go back and burn them all before you can finish the game. And the percentage of roots you need to burn to complete the quest has been lowered from 75% to 50%, so really, this is going to be a lot less aggravating.

Ultimately, Eden wanted to make Alone in the Dark on PS3 a game you could enjoy without getting hung up on technical issues. There’re still going to be problems, of course – four months isn’t enough time to fix everything, and some things aren’t bugs at all. For example, there was some griping about the survival-horror aspect of the game being muddled. Morel tells me that Alone in the Dark isn’t even supposed to be survival-horror – it’s intended as action-adventure.

As if to drive that point home, a new section has been added to Chapter 6 exclusively for the PS3 version. I don’t want to give too much away – but imagine that scene from Jurassic Park where the T-Rex is chasing the Jeep had sex with the ending scene in Speed on the subway train. It’s the baby of that (and that’s why you always use protection, kids).

So I say to you jaded gamers and to any other journalists who might be perusing this piece (get back to work, you bums): give Alone in the Dark on PS3 a chance to stand on its own. Pretend you never set eyes on the 360 version. And journos – do not copy-paste your old review and add a mere paragraph describing all of the effort Eden put in to making the PS3 version a better game. That’s cheating.

Alone in the Dark on PS3 ships in November.

P.S. – Sadly, there won’t be any Trophies at launch. Eden was anxious to get this game out the door on-time; but they’re totally open to doing a patch sometime in the very near future.