'Hot Coffee' settlement: Get up to $35 free

Remember GTA:SA's 'hot coffee' mod and the lawsuit that followed? Rockstar and Take Two are ready to provide compensation for those 'outraged' by the sex in the game, because it was rated M and not AO and consumers were not given enough warning of the adult-only content. Details are on the site, but you can get up to $35.00 if you have the store receipt. If you have neither original disc or purchase details, you can still get $5.00. Take this number and multiply it by the number of people living in America (offer is US only btw)...yeah, that's about how much TT and Rockstar are going to lose at least.

I can't get over how dumb this whole thing is. You're getting compensation for being 'outraged' by hot coffee even though wasn't available right at the start and you had to go out of your way and apply some mods before you got to see any of it--which means you already probably knew what was coming and you wanted to see it anyway. Why would you be offended? This whole thing is stupid. Mass Effect had a better sex scene and it was rated M and JACK THOMPSON THOUGHT IT WAS OKAY. Hot Coffee didn't even have any nudity.

Anyway, this is dumb and don't cash in on this, please. At the very least, use the cash you get for your GTAIV preorder.

Fallout 3 new screens

Source: CVG

[insert bitching about Oblivion engine]

Now that that's out of the way, it's actually rather neat-looking. I absolutely love that last screen (with the shacks). The other screens look sort of lacking in the environment department however. Details plz. And lol at the gore.

Grand Theft Auto IV release is April 29 worldwide

Rockstar announced today that GTAIV will be released on the 29th of April, 2008, worldwide.

From the press release:

"New York, NY - January 24, 2008 - Rockstar Games, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO), is proud to announce the release date for Grand Theft Auto IV, the new title in the genre-defining Grand Theft Auto franchise. Developed by Rockstar North, Grand Theft Auto IV will be simultaneously available for Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system and PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and will be in stores worldwide on April 29, 2008."

Visit http://www.rockstargames.com/IV for more info.

New Super Robot Wars game has some interesting surprises

The Super Robot Wars series is like your usual SRPG, only it is filled with, well, mostly Super Robots. (There are Real Robots too, but it's mostly Super Robots.) It is also notorious for never touching US shores except through imports. This latest one, called Endless Frontier: Super Robot Wars OG Saga aggravates this issue further by including characters from ANOTHER game that never made it to the states, NamcoxCapcom. Namely, the two characters at the bottom scan (Xiao Mu and the guy whose name I can't remember). If you noticed, KOS-MOS is in this game too. Too bad for non-Japanese-speaking KOS-MOS fans :( But if you can read Japanese (or a heavy robot fan), this is a great addition to your DS games collection.

MGS4 demo on PSN next month?

This is unusual. Ryan Payton already said that Kojima Productions has no plans to release a MGS4 demo on PSN, but according to Playstation World there will indeed be a demo in February. There is no official confirmation, but Furin of MetalGearSolid4.net sent an email to a PSW editor. This is the response he received:

"At the time of writing the article a Konami rep told us a demo, the demo we played in our office for the magazine article, would be on the PSN Store. It's finished, we played it, so something should be appearing this month. It could all depend on the game's final on sale date, if it has moved to May then a demo could appear later, possibly February."

Nice, but this Konami rep could very well be the same "Konami rep" that said something about a 360 MGS4 port. So until an official statement is made please do not expect anything yet (RP please hurry it up ;_;)

Star Ocean: 2nd Evolution (PSP) screens

Star Ocean: 2nd Evolution is the second Star Ocean port for the PSP. Back int he PS1 days it was called Star Ocean: The Second Story and is of course the most logical game to port after porting the first one to the PSP. Those who weren't fortunate enough to be able to play this little gem in its original form may now rejoice, because the first 2 Star Ocean games were, in my opinion, the best ones. (The third one was just weird.)

New FFXIII and Versus FFXIII Scans

This is great and all but...has anyone figured out what FFXIII is about yet? I'm trying to read the 2nd scan but the only things I can understand is the part about 'cocoons' and 'crystals'...and even if I were able to read the whole thing it probably wouldn't make that much sense either anyway. The last scan features some of the returning summon-able monsters, Shiva, Carbuncle, and Ifrit (at least that's who they look like).

Anyway, if anyone has any more information about the game (like, the plot), or can translate the text in the pictures please feel free to help out. For now, let us all just stare at the gorgeous graphics.

Kobayashi signs 100 copies of PS3, 360 version of Devil May Cry 4

http://blog.capcom.com/archives/765

In other, more interesting news, Hiroyuki Kobayashi (producer of Devil May Cry 4, among other great things) personally signed 100 copies of the DMC4 collector's edition tin and had it randomly distributed among the mass-produced copies. I'm not sure whether '100 copies' means 100 for each system or 100 combined (but likely the latter). Also, the dealie is only available for the US.

Watch these things sell for crazy prices in ebay a few weeks later.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl delayed, tears flow

Hey Smash fans guess what, the game you bought your Wii for has been delayed...AGAIN. According to a short press release Nintendo, Brawl has been "shifted a few weeks to March 9" for American consumers. Sakurai, Brawl's lead designer, personally apologized to fans in the official website. This was mainly due to "delays in the completion" of the game. This however did nothing to stop the tears and anger from fans who have been waiting so long for the game. If you look around in game message boards I'm sure there will be at least two huge ragefest threads about the Brawl delay.

Japan gets the game by January 31st, which isn't too long from now. What can't be understood is why does the NA version of the game need such a long time to complete? Are the translators that slow? Does Sakurai have a surprise for his Western fans? Three things are certain: One, Americans will import the Japanese version. Two, another month of Dojo updates. And three, there won't be any new characters so #2 is kind of useless. If you're not gonna do #1, prepare to be spoiled (disappointed?).

Highlander (PS3)

Remember Highlander? Who doesn't? Recently a game based on Highlander has been under development, since August last year. Not much else has been said about it, and now all of a sudden, screenshots and a teaser trailer.




I only have some worries about this game, first (and main) one is it's licensed property, and usually games like this tend to be not good. Secondly, neither Christopher Lambert nor Queen music has been confirmed, and one or the other (or both) must be present for a true Highlander experience. Thirdly, it looks like a generic action game. I hope these things can change in the following months, even though I wasn't completely serious about the second one although that would definitely be awesome.


Source: Playstation Universe

Resistance 2 confirmed?

Some guy said this month's issue of Gameinformer has Resistance 2 as the cover feature. And apparently, the game will be made of absolutely crazy stuff like:

-Online multiplayer supporting up to 60 (SIXTY) people
-8 (EIGHT)-player online story-based campaign
-New classes
-Partially randomized stages

And much, much more. The game is also supposedly scheduled to release in fall 2008. That's even crazier.

But I'll write a formal post when the game is officially announced on the 17th. The game seems way ambitious, in a good way. Insomniac=Gods. Or have machines continuously pump coffee into them.

Source: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=226865

StarCalibur IV

A playable build shown by Namco at a press event this week reveals some pretty interesting developments for Soul Calibur IV: 60fps, a new battle system, very interactive environments, and customization to the max. As well, an entirely new story that takes the action beyond the usual setting, and all the way across to another galaxy. Far, far away.

The build showed, to the surprise of everyone including me right up till now hours after I saw this I really still can't believe this is happening oh my god, who SC's guest characters are for this installment, and you probably already have a pretty good idea who they are. No one knows what Namco's been smoking but they must have been smoking some REALLY good stuff:



That's right, Yoda and Darth Vader. Oh freaking wow. Darth Vader is supposedly the new main menace of the game, which is pretty weird for a Soul Calibur game. Guest characters were never given that much thought but now they have roles in the story. But who really cares about the story--just playing as a lightsaber-wielding dude is awesome enough.

It should be noted that Vader appears in the PS3 version while Yoda for the 360. Interesting, because not only do the colors match, it also adds a whole new level to the 360/PS3 fanboy rivalry.

See screens of them in action here and here. (Also second link has sum delicious Hilde.)

Street Fighter IV Famitsu scans (new character!)

I...I can't read it. Too much kanji. Someone help? :(

Although the images aren't anything we've never seen before, Capcom decided to reveal one of SFIV's newcomers, named (I can read her name at least) Crimson Viper. The name alone is very un-Street Fighter; furthermore, she actually looks like she came from a certain fighting game from a certain rival company. Hmm..perhaps another nudge at them? We'll see.

Ryu ga Gotoku 3 (Yakuza 3) demos available

Hello, this is just a reminder to download the Ryu ga Gotoku 3 (Yakuza 3 in Americaland) demos off the Japanese PSN. Like right NAO. There's two demos, one is of combat and the other lets you roam around and stuff. You better start now because they're like 900MB each :(

Obligatory 'screens' (from NeoGAF), in case you need some convincing:





Still not convinced?

D:

Obsessive-compulsive things you do in video games

(Inspired by a /v/ thread from just a few minutes ago)

Are there things you do in videogames that don't make sense but you must do anyway? I have a few, and I will list them here since there isn't really anything interesting to write about today anyway.

-Even though I have enough golds I'd always grind for more money before buying an expensive item "just in case".
-I don't use the "rare" items like elixirs and whatever super potions that heal fucktons of HP if they can't be bought, even in the final battle.
-Whenever there's a branching path in a dungeon I always take the path that I think doesn't lead to the boss room; if I think I've gone too far and might actually be headed towards the boss I go back and take the other path. Random encounters makes this extremely annoying.
-If I can jump instead of walk, I would.
-I jump through the doors in Megaman. No exceptions.
-Related to the previous, I can't take it when I have to use an E-Tank to beat a boss. I would start over and do it again until I can kill him without losing any life. ;_;
-I'm one of those guys who steals the pizza/turkey/large meat just to piss other players off even though I don't want to. Sorry ;_;
-Even though I only used like 4 bullets in my clip I would always reload, knowing I have a full clip makes me comfortable.

There's probably more, but I can't remember all of them at the moment so I'll just add them later. Do you have any of these?

Konami's 'Target: Terror' will redefine next-gen gaming

Remember that old Konami lightgun arcade game with zombies? It had an interesting mechanic that was fairly new at the time (reloading the shotgun by actually pumping it), but most people will probably not even take a second look at the game because it looked like a really old movie AND a really old NES game that used cheap-looking sprites (in black-and-white no less). While all the graphical 'flaws' were intentional since it was designed to look like a really bad movie, most people will not look beyond that. There were many much better-looking games, and people generally are graphics whores. The game made a brief appearance in arcade nearby and disappeared after like 2 weeks, and never returned. It didn't appeal to many people and was just a waste of electricity.

It seems that whatever Konami was smoking at that time, they are smoking again today, when they decided to develop a 3DO-looking arcade shooting game for the Nintendo Wii, called Target: Terror. The game puts you in the shoes of an elite counter-terrorist, with a variety of weapons to choose from, and even lets you dual-wield. It's Konami's first game that will use the Wii Zapper. Sounds like a fun game, right? And it probably is too.

But seriously, what the blue fuck. People would probably pay for Link's Crossbow Training when they see this shit:



source

New Bionic Commando screens, still no release date

Capcom is doing pretty great this year, except for a few glaring mistakes (namely Monster Hunter 3 and Megaman Legends for mobile). Bionic Commando just looks fantastic. And it looks even better in motion (I posted links to videos earlier, you might wanna take a look at that. No, you have to Just use the search function on the top). And no, I'm not sure if you can change the guy's hair. It's concept art; they were probably choosing the best among those and went with just one. Frankly, I think dreads are the worst out of all those, but that can be easily overlooked when you start swinging and shooting. I also hope you can change the hairstyle.

There's a few more screenshots and concept art here and here.

Still no release date.