Kotaku

PS3 title Afrika is launching this week in Japan. And to help promote the game, the Excel Hotel Tokyu in Haneda is running a special Afrika themed campaign priced at ¥19,000 (for one person) or ¥15,000 (for two — each must pay) a night. Participating rooms will be outfitted with a projector screen and hi-def projector that displays images from the game. What's more, guests will get a "Savannah plate" picnic meal for another ¥4,000 that includes a hamburger, grilled seafood and a salad — or as PS3 Fanboy notes, "a special exotic meal".

【期間限定！！】2008年9月1日(月)〜2008年9月30日(火) [Haneda-E via PS3 Fanboy]

On Full Throttle 2, And What Could Have Been

Roll up your sleeves, Lucasarts fans. Classic Adventure Gaming have one hell of an interview up with Bill Tiller, a former artist at Lucasarts who worked with the company between 1993 and 2001. Specifically, it's about Tiller's involvement on the little-known Full Throttle: Payback, the cancelled sequel to Tim Schafer's badass 1995 adventure game. Basically, if you've ever wanted to hear somebody personally relate the period when Lucasarts decided to eat their own adventure gaming babies, you'll want to read this. It's got plot outlines for the game, the reason it would have been better than the other Full Throttle sequel, Hell on Wheels, as well as a ton of concept art. All of it good reading.

The rise and fall of Full Throttle: a conversation with Bill Tiller [Adventure Classic Gaming, via Rock, Paper, Shotgun]

What's Working for Denis Dyack Like

Sony, Whatcha Showin At PAX?

Wii Clone Coming To Taiwanese Arcades!

Taiwanese electronics company ENG Electronic has released a new video game platform called "Winner". The console uses motion controllers and a dual nunchuk-style controller as well. Wait a sec... This isn't new! We've seen rip-off Wiis before. But get this:

According to arcade industry newsletter The Stinger Report, there are actually arcade versions of the Winner Wii clone planned. At Taiwanese game show Game Time International 2008, the coin-op incarnation, called Action Fun, was unveiled by company Song Yung, which is owned by ENG Electronic. The cabinet was packed with the Winner console running Wii Sports-like mini-games and using Wii-like controllers. No word whether this is intended for release outside Taiwan.

Hit the jump for a pic of Action Fun II as well as videos of the mini-games!

These are courtesy of the kids over at Pixelation's forums. Last year, they ran a little contest. See who could come up with the best mock-ups for a remake - or demake - of a game crammed onto the original Game Boy. While some are unrecognisable, and a few are only "OK, I guess", the rest are "totally awesome, I guess". Especially the BioShock one. There's a few highlights below, with the rest of them to be found at Pixelation's site.

Mockup Frenzy #3: Game Boy De-Makes! [Pixelation, via Boing-Boing]

Giving his first interview since his, uh, departure from Tecmo, former Team Ninja boss Tomonobu Itagaki has told 1UP's James Mielke a bunch of stuff. Some of it interesting, some of it confusing, some of it batshit insane. You should really go read the whole piece, but if you're after a highlights package, this quote probably takes the cake:

One more thing I would add is that I don't think that developing for the PS3 is hard at all. It was much harder developing for the Famicom. It's true. I mean, give someone who's developing for the PS3 a Famicom and see if they can make a game for it. They won't be able to. Yeah, that'll prove it. We'll bet a drink on it.

You know shit is serious when Itagaki starts betting drinks.

Wanted Dead or Alive: Tomonobu Itagaki's first interview since going underground [1UP]

Q Entertainment brings word that Metoes Wars is coming to Xbox LIVE Arcade this fall. The game will feature over 20 different planets — each having its own alien race, Meteos blocks and unique gravity as well as visual and audio style. There will be various single player modes (Mission Mode, Attack Mode, Vs. Mode), and there'll be LIVE multiplayer, too. What else, the game has four "Planet Impact" special attacks: Armageddon, Gambit, Sentinel and Tempest. And there's even accessories you can collect for your alien. And who doesn't like an alien with accessories? Game is priced at 800 MSP and out this October.

THQ Australia Working On "Brutal" Warhammer 40K Brawler

Looks like THQ have plans to wage an endless war on humanity's wallets. Not only are they (well, they and Relic) serving up Dawn of War II and a "ready when it's done" 40K MMO, but job listings appearing on THQ Australia's website reveal the company also have plans for a 40K "action game" for the 360 and PS3. The company site doesn't out-and-out name the project, saying "We are currently looking for people to work on a next-gen brutal, intimate melee combat game using a world-class brand", but a listing on a local recruitment page gives the game away, using 40K as its main selling-point. Games based on 40K that aren't Space Hulk or Dawn of War have generally sucked, but who knows, a "brutal, intimate" combat game on a PS3/360 might yet be able to take the Dawn of War intro and make a game out of it.

THQ Studio Australia needs developers for Warhammer 40,000 project [Tsumea]
THQ Australia Careers [THQ, both via IGN]

Xbox 360 Goes Arcade, For Reals

That's right, the Xbox 360 is going coin-op. Arcade industry newsletter The Stinger Report (via trade site Highwaygames) brings word of the Arcade Station T2. Arcade Station T2 is in the vein of Nintendo's PlayerChoice 10 arcade machine from 1986, by bringing the home experience to coin-op. It's outfitted in a traditional upright cabinet design, but features two Xbox 360 controllers and memory card slots. While it supports "system link gaming", it hasn't been revealed that whether that refers to LIVE support or not.

While the list of games is still being finalized, it could include Halo 3, FIFA 08, Assassins Creed and Devil May Cry 4. It won't feature the traditional Pay-to-Play model, but the Play-for-Time one, which the Stinger Report calls "VenderTainment". The cabinet is apparently fully licensed by Xbox and has been developed by American home arcade manufacturer Quasimoto Interactive. It's currently being tested in Asia and the UK and should be released in the upcoming months.

Another pic after the jump:

Sony Dishes The PSN Pre-Paid Card Release Info

Home Hits Asia In "Fall 2008"

Why All This Gearbox Halo 4 Talk? Here's Why... (Maybe)

Earlier we posted that Gearbox Software (Brothers In Arms, Borderlands) was rumored to be working on Halo 4. With Bungie out of the picture, Gearbox does seem like a logical fit — the developer did do the PC version of Halo: Combat Evolved.

What's more, Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford stated in February: "I've started a new project. It's big. It's, like, look-at-our-line-up-and-imagine-something-even-bigger kind of big. I'm Directing it myself. I can't mention it publicly yet. When you find out what this is, you'll likely agree that I can't oversell this one." But that doesn't necessarily mean Gearbox is doing Halo 4. The "big" project Pitchford is talking about could be something else entirely. And Halo 4 hasn't even been announced. (Though, Microsoft would be silly not to do it.)

So, why all this talk about Gearbox and Halo 4?

Pandemic Batman Game Given The Arse

Another rumour burger! Let's pile this one atop the other Pandemic Batman ones and just chow down. According to Australian Gamer, the staff working on Pandemic's Batman game - which was being developed at the studio's Brisbane outpost - have been told to wind things up. Game's cancelled. Why? Seems it missed too many deadlines, and "the higher ups" - either EA or Pandemic HQ - decided it was time to cut their losses. Do try and keep the already-tiring "why so serious" jokes to a minimum, please.

Why so serious Pandemic? [Australian Gamer, via Kotaku AU]

Blizzard Starts Pushing Ringtones And Wallpapers

Do you really need to have the gurgling murloc sound as your telephone ringtone? Do you not hear the World of Warcraft opening theme enough on your PC? Perhaps you can't figure out how to create your own cellphone wallpapers and would rather spend a couple bucks on letting the extremely nosy know that you're into Diablo or StarCraft? Well you're in luck, as Blizzard has just opened up a ringtone and wallpaper store at Mobile.Blizzard.Com. In partnership with Echovox, Inc., the store carries a wide selection of wallpapers from Blizzard's three biggest money makers, along with choice sounds from World of Warcraft that could very well lead to an awkward conversation with a total stranger that reinforces the fact that with 20 million servers and two factions, chance of you knowing them are slim to none.

Currently the service mainly services Europe, South America, and a few bits of Asia, so those of us in the U.S. will have to make due with obsessively humming the theme song to WoW until allowances are made.

Blizzard Mobile Store [Official Site via WorldofWar.net]

Guitar Praise - Knocking Off Guitar Hero.. For Jesus

They say that the Devil has all the best tunes — 'they' are noticeably quieter on the subject of who has the most original video games, however. (Hint: it appears to be the devil again)

The description for Guitar Praise: Solid Rock seems a little familiar - Two guitars can be connected at the same time, so two guitarists can play together - either on the same track or one on lead, the other on bass. Players press the fret buttons and strum on the strum bar in time to the color-coded notes as they scroll onscreen.

I'm sure I have heard that somewhere before — almost as though someone has been coveting his neighbour's gameplay.

Anyhoo, GP:SR lets you strum along to the very best in Christian Music - bands like Thousand Foot Krutch, Relient K, the faintly sinister-sounding Whitecross and many more who I am sure actually do exist, but have yet to make it to the secular radio stations here in the UK.

Guitar Praise is out for the PC and Mac in September, lifestyle sold separately.

Guitar Praise: Guitar Hero for Christians [via Boing Boing Gadgets]

New Japanese Infinite Undiscovery Gameplay Trailer

Upon looking at this new Infinite Undiscovery trailer for the first time I was pretty sure I was seeing some of that great CGI I've come to expect from a Square Enix game. However, I quickly realized that this was in fact gameplay and and to be honest, it looks pretty darn good. The game will be hitting Xbox 360 soon.
『インフィニット アンディスカバリー』最新PVを独占配信【動画配信】 [Famitsu]

View Your Pics The Wolfenstein Way With Wolfenflickr

Ever wondered what your holiday snaps would look like if Hitler decided to hang them on the walls of a secret Nazi base?

No? Oh, well you are going to find out anyway.

Thanks to a talented Javascript hacker who wanted to learn how the Flickr API worked, you can now view your Flickr photo albums through the eyes of B.J. Blazkowicz from the original Wolfenstein 3D.

Just enter your Flickr username and let the app scurry off and search through your photos. It wiill then map them on to the walls of a 3D maze that has been made to look a dead ringer for Castle Wolfenstein. Its a great idea, although it can have trouble with very high resolution pics.

Now, somebody do a Facebook/Thrill Kill mashup..

[WolfenFlickr]