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I heard that this game had been in development for quite some time now, but finally we have our first official trailer for Hello Kitty Online, and boy is it a doozy. Enjoy getting screeched at by some of the most sacchirine, high-pitched voices imaginable as various Sanrio characters reveal all the great features of this upcoming game! It’s “the cutest game world ever!”

Admittedly though, it looks to offer a lot: battle, customizable houses, farming, cutesy miniature versions of famous international cities like Beijing and Moscow, and in-game blogs and video for community networking (note the stereotypical scene girls shown toward the end). I doubt this will go down in history as a masterpiece, but rest assured I have my eye on it.

[MMORPG.COM / via N4G]

Director Brett Ratner (director of the Rush Hour movies and X-Men: The Last Stand) thinks that making a movie based off of the Guitar Hero game series would be a good idea. No, really. He says he’s currently trying to convince Activision to “let” him make it. Here’s his pitch for the story: “It could be about a kid from a small town who dreams of being a rock star and he wins the ‘Guitar Hero’ competition. One of these dreams-[come-true] kind of concepts.” Oh boy.

This is just what we need more of, right? Looks like we’re getting more “hip” movies about video games that actually degrade rather than uplift the cultural status of the medium. Besides, I find the prospect of making a Guitar Hero movie entertaining would be near-impossible. I’d much prefer something like a doc/mockumentary about professional Starcraft players. Why? Because Guitar Hero is just about reflexes, dexterity, and memory; there’s none of the excitement of improvisation like in an RTS or FPS. Either way I’m curious to see how this project would turn out.

[MTV Multiplayer]

Its been a while since we last talked about the Dragon Ball Live Action Movie and there are some new things worth talking about. First of all, 9 promotional photos from the movie have been released in full high resolution glory. I’ve got to be honest, they dont look half bad. Mind you, that says nothing for the plot or the acting not sucking.

 

Bulma, Chi-Chi and Mai are all looking remarkably well and actually kinda hot, Chatwin’s hairdo seems somehow an acceptable compromise between the ridiculous and the subdued. Hell, even Master Roshi is sporting some anime t-shirts! I dont want to get my hopes up but lets just say I’m not completely cynical about it sucking anymore.

There’s also the announcement that the first trailer for the movie is coming out on October 17 with the premier of the Max Payne movie, that will speak volumes and set our expectations more than anything else.

Ever felt like your experience with a game was so bad that your basic dignity as a gamer was put at stake? Stardock and Gas Powered Games feel your pain, in fact, they feel it so much they think we deserve better. So they went ahead and wrote the Gamer Bill Of Rights which grants 10 basic rights that every gamer should inherently be entitled to. These are as follows:

1. Gamers shall have the right to return games that don’t work with their computers for a full refund.
2. Gamers shall have the right to demand that games be released in a finished state.
3. Gamers shall have the right to expect meaningful updates after a game’s release.
4. Gamers shall have the right to demand that download managers and updaters not force themselves to run or be forced to load in order to play a game.
5. Gamers shall have the right to expect that the minimum requirements for a game will mean that the game will adequately play on that computer.
6. Gamers shall have the right to expect that games won’t install hidden drivers or other potentially harmful software without their express consent.
7. Gamers shall have the right to re-download the latest versions of the games they own at any time.
8. Gamers shall have the right to not be treated as potential criminals by developers or publishers.
9. Gamers shall have the right to demand that a single-player game not force them to be connected to the Internet every time they wish to play.
10. Gamers shall have the right that games which are installed to the hard drive shall not require a CD/DVD to remain in the drive to play.

Stardock and Gas Powered Games are adhering to these principles with every game they create and are looking to gather industry support in what would eventually become a consortium that would watch over the industry and ensure that you, as a gamer, get a fair deal. The boys over at EDGE are having a through discussion about this and I strongly suggest you at least glance over it. We’ve been getting the short end of the stick more and more in the last couple of years, its about time something like this happened.

Now if only we could get the same for anime DVDs and video game movie adaptations…

[EDGE]

Kotaku reports that as of approximately an hour and twenty minutes ago, Tecmo will be taken over by Square Enix. The deal is expected to provide financial relief to Tecmo, whose supposed Blockbuster title of the summer, Ninja Gaiden 2, was anything but. Making matters worse, the company is currently being sued by most of Team Ninja including Tomonobu Itagaki, creator of the flagship Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive franchises.

Square Enix, meanwhile, will benefit from an increased North American presence beyond the traditional 14 year-old girls and nerds of all ages that make up Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts’ target audience, in addition to an expanded portfolio of non-RPG games. Final Fantasy Xtreme Beach Volleyball anyone?

[Kotaku]

KOEI has thrown out some new info for what I like to call their Gundamsty Warriors franchise, though what they decided to show is a little disappointing. A whole lot of screenshots show a whole lot of mobile suits on the receiving end of a whole lot of pain. What they don’t show a whole lot of, though, is new mobile suits. The only two new confirmed suits are shown above: v-Gundam and Sazabi. Shown on the bottom of the page is a chunk of Char’s Counterattack, though whether or not they’ll be playable is unknown.

I was hoping for some more Wing Gundams, like Deathscythe or Heavyarms (or any of the Customs), or some from any recent series like 00. Though a little bland as far as mobile suits go, it’d also be nice to see some of the cast from 08th MS team thrown in there. Regardless of new Gundam content, Gundam Musou will be coming out on PS3, Xbox 360, and PS2 on December 4th in Japan, and since Koei likes to bring every Warriors incarnation stateside, we can count on playing it some time next year.

[Wii @ Everyday]

The VOCALOID2 Project and Hatsune Miku are without a doubt one of the most successful examples of Viral Marketing in recent history: Slap a cute anime girl onto an equally cute (and sometimes a little creepy) synthesized voice and let the people with too much free time take over, churning out more anime covers than you can shake a stick at. Now, on top of cameo appearances in certain online golf games, it seems the 2D superstar is getting her own PSP game.

Project DIVA is divided into two parts. The first is a rhythm game part in which you will play songs (Whether they’ll be covers or original works is unknown at this point) in the classic match-the-command style. By playing through these you unlock items to put in a room that you design for Miku, which you can then… watch. The room’s music will change depending on the items that you put into it, and Miku will also react and try out every new item that you place. It’s hard to say whether this game is aimed at rhythm game fans or virtual pet buffs, but it’s something you can’t count on seeing here. No date has been given for the release, but Japan will see it some time next year.

[Wii @ Everyday]

For those of you who have had experience with the Super Smash Bros. Melee tournament scene, “KEN” should be a familiar name to you. That’s right, the long-standing international champion of the game, Ken Hoang, is going to be on starring in Survivor: Gabon, which starts airing Sept. 25 on CBS.

His bio on the CBS webpage reveals some interesting facts about Hoang, including the boast that he climbed Mt. Fuji when he was only 20 years old (he’s 22 now). Supposedly his strategy on the show will bank on his opponents underestimating his lean stature, and he’ll also employ his ability with “mind games.” Protip: wavedashing won’t save you from stampeding elephants.

[Joystiq]

The latest trailer from the highly-anticipated Tri-Ace RPG beings with what looks like a backstory of the mythos of Infinite Undiscovery’s world, and then gets to the business of introducing a rather impressive number of characters, all of whom look like they’ll be party members. Finally after a bit more of this, we get to see some delicious gameplay footage.

Right away the architecture of towns and dungeons reminded me of Final Fantasy XII, as did the seemless battle/exploration, which of course takes inspiration from MMORPGs. This battle system is all about combos and coordinating your attacks together as a team. In a few scenes you can see the party members surrounding enemies and attacking different foes simultaneously.

Hopefully someone with an XBox 360 can review this game for us when it comes out on September 2nd worldwide.

[Kotaku]

Well, for now anyway. Producer Yoshinori Ono says “lag will be a huge problem for online play,” and that eliminating lag will be tougher for the Street Fighter IV team than it was for devs working on Soul Calibur and Virtua Fighter, adding “It’s quite difficult for 3D Street Fighter at the moment.”

Unfortunately Ono’s current answer to the problem sounds more confused than hopeful: “we’re thinking about trying to balance it up at user interface level and input timing by using joystick or something like that.” Oh ok, that makes perfect sense. Wait, what?

Lag has always been a sore spot for gamers, and especially for fighting game fans (as any hardcore Super Smash Bros Brawl will let you know). Capcom is dedicated to delivering great multiplayer experiences though, so I have faith in them.

[videogaming247]

No, we’re not talking energy drinks. Alex Walker, the director of the World Cyber Games Tournament not only acknowledges the idea of illicit substances in gaming, he knew that people were taking them at his tournament. Rather than steroids, though, gamers in tournaments are far more likely to be taking hits of marijuana or amphetamines.

It’s funny because it’s true. I know a lot of people through games that take drugs, although that’s not related to gaming. It’s more a social thing. But get any large group of people together, add drugs, and someone’s bound to push the limit.

He went in to say that another player he knew took prescription ADD medication in order to increase his focus, as well as describing seeing many players at national-level tournaments coming in stoned. Legality of the substances aside, this is just as unethical as real athletes taking steroids (or other drugs). It gives one person an unfair advantage over others.

Being as loosely organized as gaming is, it’s not surprise that something like this happens. What surprised us, though, is the dismissal by those in charge. Perhaps if gaming tournaments become as serious as Korea’s Starcraft Tournaments we’ll start to see a little regulation.

[Slashdot]

Soil & “Pimp” may be a Japanese Jazz band but they are total rockstars at heart. They play their own flavor of jazz which they call ‘Death Jazz’. Its hard and has a flow that puts a lot of other genres to shame. The group’s made up by Shacho (agitator, spirit), Tabu zombie (trumpet), Motoharu (sax), Josei (piano), Akita Goldman (bass) and Midorin (drums). Yeah you read that right, their front man is there to be an agitator and spirit of the band. These men are not only musicians, they are showmen. Just look at those killer outfits! We can only hope the cowboy bebop live action movie has a style half as good as this! Enjoy a couple of performances of Soil & “Pimp” playing their Death Jazz after the break!

Read more!

Rumors have been circulating about a redesign or upgrade of the Nintendo DS, some suggesting that both screens would have touch functionality, and others saying there could be widescreen displays in the future. These speculations have arisen due to the DS’ stagnation in Japan, leaving some like analyst Michael Pachter and Enterbrain president Hirokazu to predict such corporate strategies.

Specifically gaming news blog Kotaku has been instrumental in making the rumor popular, saying that some anonymous “industry sources” were clued into those kind of developments within Nintendo. However, Nintendo has said that these speculations are just that, speculation. On the other hand, Kotaku is a very well-connected blog, and while they aren’t always right when it comes to rumors, their crystal ball is one of the most reliable in gaming journalism.

[Gamasutra]

Persona 3 was a game that had a very distinctive and attractive stylistic sensibility to it, and Persona 4 is no different, giving us a brand new gang of beautiful hipsters to crawl through some dungeons with. In celebration of the game’s release, Japanese manufacturer Cospa is putting out this beautiful track jacket based on the same one the main character wears.

And now for the bad news: it costs about $90 US and so far there’s no known way to get this thing shipped to the US. I could definitely see myself wearing this, and may have to go to some ridiculous lengths to secure one. In the meantime I’ll just have to be content with my daydreams and QQ.

[GayGamer]

Electronic Gaming Monthly (aka 1up.com) recently managed to catch infamous Ninja Gaiden developer Tomonobu Itagaki off-guard and pretty decently sloshed for an entertaining impromptu interview wherein he spouted such shit-faced gems like, “Yeah, I think I’ll be speaking a lot in metaphors. I hope you don’t mind that,” and  “I don’t think that developing for the PS3 is hard at all. It was much harder developing for the Famicom.”

He also says that in reference to long-time rival Devil May Cry developer Hideki Kamiya, “the weaker dog barks more,” insinuating his outspokenness is a cover for some personal weaknesses. Strong words. The whole interview is worth reading and gives us a little deeper insight into the fascinating and endlessly egotistical mind of Itagaki.

[1up.com]