Rearming the Music — and Memories — of Bionic Commando Of all the features in Bionic Commando: Rearmed, other than its fundamental game play, nothing bridges 1988 to 2008 like the game’s soundtrack. Its driving, blood-pumping, head-nodding rhythm is instantly recognizable as the music from the NES classic of 20 years ago, and it has won praise from many who have reviewed the game. Simon Viklund, of Stockholm-based developer Grin, did more than personally oversee the soundtrack as the game’s creative director. He composed it himself. It’s an unusual combination to find in the development of a game. Both skill sets would be served by Viklund’s own personal attachment to Bionic Commando, a love shared by others on the Grin/Capcom team behind the game. Conversations with Ben Judd — Capcom’s producer for both BCR and next year’s 3D version of Bionic Commando — and others close to the project revealed an attention to detail that bordered on obsession. “At the time I think we just loved what we were doing,” Judd said. “We were all fans of Bionic Commando. Some of us have incredibly fond memories when we played it as kids. We didn't want to be lazy. We didn't want to be cheap. We wanted to give this title our best.” MORE »

Let's Make a Deal To: Bash, Luke
From: Owen
Re: Drool Pillow Awaits!! Just realized I don't have a grill, so I'm off to buy one of those from Target so I can enjoy some flame-broiled flesh like a proper Labor Day observant today and tomorrow. In KFC football action, Otis5757 leads the league with a 6-1 record — he has the Patriots; SlyBriEighty7 is second at 4-1 with the Saints. Yours truly is 0-0 after lecturing everybody to complete games. I'm sorry. I intend to play at least two to four before the end of the long weekend. Also, wondering what you guys think of this. At the dayjorb, there's a 20GB PS3 sitting around, still in its box. I think it was supposed to be a grand prize in a sweepstakes drawing we never had. I've asked if I can buy it off the company's hands, as it's not doing them any good on a shelf. I'd like it because it has hardware backward compatibility with PS2 titles. Of course I'm gonna say that this is a discontinued SKU and I'm doing them a big favor by being so willing to take it off their hands. The question is, what offer do I make? Here's some of what you missed this weekend led by Brian and A.J.'s PAX 2008 coverage. Also, I'm off next weekend. My college roommate is coming in from DC for an Earthquakes-United match that was looking like a waste of a plane ticket two months ago, and now is suprisingly compelling. More Cosplay of PAX 2008
Fable 2 Hours From Gold, Molyneux Awaits Gamer Reactions
Problems at PAX – Hundreds Turned Away From Fallout
Papercraft Half Life D0g is Amazle
The Protagonist, the Player, and the Game Designer
Challenges Versus 'Learn By Death' Frustrations
Man Faces 21 Years for Killing Baby Who Interrupted Game MORE »

Week in Games: Pinata Colada So, Mercenaries 2 is already out as of today. Tuesday has several drops with some anticipation behind them, whether that's Infinite Undiscovery, Facebreaker, or Viva Pinata. If anyone is planning on picking up Vampire Rain for the PS3 please do let us know so we can stage a Maury Povich-style intervention. Also, heads up, next Sunday is Spore's full release on PC and Mac. Today (Aug. 31)
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames (360, PS3) Monday (Sept. 1)
Combat Mission: Shock Force - Marines (PC) Tuesday (Sept. 2)
Infinite Undiscovery (360)
Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise (360)
Warhammer: Battle March (360)
FaceBreaker (360, PS3)
Pirates vs. Ninjas Dodgeball (XBLA)
NFL Head Coach 09 (360, PS3)
Rapala Fishing Frenzy (PS3, Wii, 360)
GTR Evolution (PC)
FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage (PC)
PictoImage (DS)
Vampire Rain: Altered Species (PS3) Sunday (Sept. 7)
Spore (PC)
Spore Creatures (DS) MORE »

Protest Over Army Combat Sim Dropped Out in Ohio, a veterans' peace group is dropping a protest against the Virtual Army Experience, a Humvee-sized simulation in which participants zip around through the desert with machine guns shootin' terrists. The Ohio chapter of Veterans for Peace weren't happy with the fact that kids as young as 13 were said to be playing the game elsewhere, if not targeted by recruiters outright. The group had begun a letter writing campaign asking the Army not to bring the simulator to shows and expos in Ohio. So the Army announced that it will limit the game to people 17 years and older at the Cleveland National Air Show this weekend. The Virtual Army Experience puts "players" in the Humvee in front of a wrap-around screen where the game is projected. They fire at life-size foes using simulated machine guns fitted with lasers. You know who else wishes a combat simulator had an age restriction? The Ko-Dan. Alex Rogan was, like, 16 wasn't he? "It's inappropriate and a little offensive that Earth teens were trained to destroy our armada," said Xur, from his exile. Peace Group Drops Protest Against Virtual War Game [The Plain Dealer of Cleveland, via GamePolitics] MORE »

Ubisoft: Europe More Important than U.S. As one commenter elsewhere points out, must be Europe buying all these Imagine titles, because for Ubisoft it's a bigger market than the U.S., "by more than five percent," said Ubi CEO Yves Guillemot in an interview with Gamesindustry.biz. From the sound of it, the strength of European currencies against the dollar has something to do with it. But Guillemot also says the market's growing because gamers are becoming "more accessible" to European games, and of course flacks Ubisoft titles as leading the charge. EndWar (out in October) features voice commands, for example. So will Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X., out next year. "A game like EndWar, for example, which you can control by voice - it's totally changing the industry because it gives you the opportunity to command what's happening, and to have a quick answer to the orders you give," he said. "And it's the same for a lot of other games, like the party games you can play - the games with guitars are also helping things to increase the fun, and bring more people. Because when you have fun with your family on the game, you take them into more games with you." If Europe is indeed Ubisoft's biggest market, fine, I don't know their numbers. But this to me sounds like sour grapes for getting beaten up by U.S. critics and gamers, especially over its Wii titles, and more than a little justification for going so heavy on the casual stuff. Whether that's retroactive justification — or pre-emptive — bears watching. Ubisoft: Europe is Now Our Biggest Territory [Gamesindustry.biz, via Joystiq] MORE »

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky Delayed and Recalled Shacknews got confirmation that S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky, for the PC, faces a delay of "a few days" after its revised drop date of Sept. 5 but, more importantly, there is a recall in effect for any copies of the game that have already shipped to North American retailers. This doesn't affect the game's European release date (also Sept. 5). Publisher Deep Silver had to recall the copies because of a printing error that left the game distributed without CD keys (that detail comes via Blue's News forums, which also have claims that some retailers are listing the game's new release as Sept. 15). Now, obvious question, WTF about getting it via Steam? Hrm. Steam says it's available Sept. 6 — think rationally, what are the odds something goes out digitally before its commercial release? So consider that a moving target date that only means "not Sept. 5." In the end, it's some bona fide facepalm when a game is delayed a second time (original date was supposed to be Friday) and then called back because of a printing error.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky Delayed Again, Recalled from North American Retailers [Shacknews] MORE »

Sackboy and Sackgirl: It's Wuv
It's such a familiar, yet timeless story, Sackboy meets Sackgirl, he helps her in a tough time in her life, they go out on a date — Sackgirl gets electrocuted and incinerated by lava, but Sackboy's charming laughter wins her over. Here's a look at the better half of Little Big Planet's power couple. As if you don't know already, the game drops in October, and it's PS3 only. Adventures of Sackboy Trailer [Gametrailers, thanks PsychE] MORE »

Papercraft Half Life D0g is Amazle Reader Metal Dom found this on 4chan — a 12-inch high, incredibly detailed papercraft model of D0g, from Half Life. 4chan user chamoo232 assembled it, said it took two weeks and nearly 50 hours of work. The pose captures D0g's lumbering, bucket-of-bolts gait and rip-your-arms-off awesomeness. Win. Several more pics at the link, which, I'm aware is 4chan, but /po/ is not at all like /b/, so don't worry about what you'll see. D0g is Finished [4chan, thanks Metal Dom] MORE »

Bionic Commando Comparisons
Show of hands, how many of you got Bionic Commando: Rearmed and then went out and found the ROM for the original Bionic Commando and played it? Tooling around on the Bionic Commando blog I found a link to two videos Gametrailers put up last week, splicing gameplay from both titles and highlighting some things you might have missed. MORE »

USB Heated Gloves for Chilly Gamers If you game in an igloo and have a USB connection, have we got a gadget for you: Heated gaming gloves. Jack these babies into two USB ports and they'll warm your hands by another 10 degrees in five minutes. They have the cut-out fingertips to give you that hobo-warming-his-hands-over-a-trashcan-fire style. Considering the U.S. economy, it's the "it" look of 2008. I had no idea this was such a common problem that someone would create and sell this sort of thing. Then again, I live in California where it's always 60 degrees and fair outside. But really, I think whomever made this did so just so people would look like total idiots playing wireless controllers with wired hands. Awesome Gadget of the Week: USB Heated Gaming Gloves [Team Teabag] MORE »

Man Faces 21 Years for Killing Baby Who Interrupted Game I'm not sure how this piece of garbage gets manslaughter and not murder — probably because it was a plea agreement. But a man in Arizona has pleaded guilty in the death of an 18-day old baby whose crying had interrupted his video game. In Tucson, Ariz., Rene Edward Barrios, 26, was playing a video game on Oct. 26 as his girlfriend had left him in charge of her infant son, Jaden Encinas.The infant's crying disturbed him while he was playing a video game. Enraged, he paused the game, picked up Jaden, shook him and hit him. Then Barrios went back to playing his game for another 10 minutes while the baby stopped breathing. Jaden was pronounced dead at the hospital. Barrios faces between 10 and 21 years in prison. The AP story had the decency not to mention which game or console was involved, as it's pretty trivial. I'm beyond revulsion at this. Have a nice next 21 years of your life, Rene. Newborn Killed for Interrupting Video Game [Associated Press and The Arizona Republic via Destructoid] MORE »

At Last — a 4-foot SNES Controller that Works! You know, how many times have you been sitting there, thinking to yourself, "Self, not only do I wish I had a working SNES controller, but I wish it was four feet wide so that I had to hug it like a six-year-old on a swimming pool raft." Well, Gizmodo found this yesterday, an outfit called SCAD Inc., which has heard your cries and responded. Perhaps inspired by the coffee-table NES controller these guys have spent the past two months building a super-size Super Nintendo controller, with a comprehensive photographic record of their progress. As of last update, the project was in its final QA stages — detail painting, wiring, etc. Now I want to see a chaise longue made out of an Intellivision controller. Wicked Sweet Projects by SCAD Inc [SCAD, via Gizmodo] MORE »

Kotaku Originals: Labored Days We've got a short weekend coming up here in Kotakopolis, as Monday will be Labor Day in the United States. Maggie and I are both working half-days Saturday and Sunday. Bash and Luke will be back in tomorrow evening to pick up their usual shifts. So, fear not, we're still here. It might be light this weekend but we had a very robust report during the week, the highlights of which are below, with more on the jump. Square Enix President Discusses "Friendly" Tecmo Takeover
Ryan Payton Has Left Kojima Productions (Mentions MGS5)
Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest For Booty Review: Short Of Greatness
Screw Comic Book Movies, Where Are Our Comic Book Games?
Immersion Forced To Pay Microsoft $20 Million
Games As Art, But At What Cost?
Bringing Sports Psychology to the Realm of Video Games MORE »

Bringing Sports Psychology to the Realm of Video Games It probably wasn’t coincidence that Shane Murphy returned my call just after I’d thrown my third interception in NCAA ‘09 and punched off the machine in full perfectionist disgust. Murphy, a professor and researcher of psychology at Western Connecticut State, would later explain that I exhibited classic high-ego, low-task gamer behavior. That is, I am fixated on being seen as a winner, and not the process of becoming one. Murphy approaches video gaming as a sports psychologist, with 30 years of experience in that field. The American Psychological Association’s annual convention this month already discussed research showing the benefits video games deliver in learning and problem solving. Also at the convention, Murphy gave a presentation advocating for the study of competitive and cooperative behavior in gamers. I had called him out of curiosity about my own approach to video games, whether it was shared in great numbers by others, and what that may say about the gaming community. We ended up talking more about competitive behavior and performance psychology, how it can help define gamers, and be deepened by studying them. MORE »

Audiophonic Commando To: Luke
From: Owen
Re: Nice Apocalyptic Flick I did all my posting today listening to the musical score for Bionic Commando: Rearmed. I ain't too proud to say, yes, I bought that — off iTunes — because it's a hell of a good soundtrack. If you took everything that was awesome about 1988, brought it 20 years forward to the future to 2008 and kept only the best parts of both, the CD would be Bionic Commando: Rearmed. So, no off-topic ramblings this week. Capcom, via Grin's excellence on this title exempts it, plus the Capcom Trader Joe's and the Ranty Rite Aid, plus anything in that shopping center — including the Circuit City where I bought my replacement Madden for the copy I borked. My attention is more focused on Redwood City, because thanks to some unclear instructions (I am totally dodging responsibility here) we had a hell of a clusterf**k with our Madden League, the KFC. But once that gets resolved, you can expect in future weekend notes I'll be posting about the doings of the league in this note. Here are some highlights from the weekend.

New Dead Space Hands-On Impressions
Left 4 Dead Box Art To Change? "Stay Tuned"
Possible Explanations for This Dumbass Sears Ad
Creating an Elitist Gaming Review Culture
Cosplay Runs Rampant At Games Convention
Sony: LittleBigPlanet *Not* Region-Locked
Games Convention's Most Ignored Games MORE »

Week in Games: Prison Tycoon?! Big week for new releases to take advantage of the Labor Day weekend shopping. Tuesday, Tiger Woods gets his Jesus on and Disgaea 3 comes out. Thursday, the highly anticipated Castle Crashers finally arrives on XBLA. And Friday, we have not only The Sims 2: Apartment Life, but also Prison Tycoon 4: Supermax. If you rent in San Mateo, don't buy both, one will cover your entire range of experience. Really, though, Prison Tycoon? Prison Tycoon FOUR?! How did I never hear of this? And Supermax? Supermax is administrative maximum, isn't everyone like in solitary there? (Fun fact: My landlords in Boulder did time in Florence, Colo. — scroll down to "A Trial With Teeth" — across the street at Supermax's little brother.) How is Prison Tycoon 4 any different from those sociopathic Sims videos where they box a guy in a tiny room and watch him go bonkers over the course of nine hours. Anyhow, here's the roster, let us know what you're gettin' and how many hours of pay that computes to and don't forget to unload your Prison Tycoon 4 shower jokes. Monday (Aug. 25)
Commando: Steel Disaster (DS)
MLB Power Pros 2008 (DS)
Mario Super Sluggers (Wii) Tuesday (Aug. 26)
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 (PS3, 360, PS2, PSP, Wii)
Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice (PS3)
Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli (PS3, PS2, Wii, DS)
DT Racer Refueled (PS2)
Vampire Rain: Altered Species (PS3)
PictoImage (DS)
Kidz Sports: Crazy Golf (Wii)
GTR Evolution (PC)
Pajama Sam in Don't Fear the Dark (Wii)
Freddi Fish in Kelp Seed Mystery (Wii)
Spy Fox in Dry Cereal (Wii)
Tales of Vesperia (360)
N+ (PSP, DS)
From The Abyss (DS)
Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness (DS)
Rebel Raiders: Operation Nighthawk (Wii)
Digimon World Championship (DS)
The Sims 2 Apartment Pets (DS)
Falling Stars (PS2) Wednesday (Aug. 27)
Penumbra: Requiem (PC)
Castle Crashers (XBLA) Friday (Aug. 29)
Prison Tycoon 4: SuperMax (PC)
The Sims 2 Apartment Life (DS, PC)
Infinite Undiscovery (360) fuckup, sorry
Garfield's Fun Fest (DS)
Sid Meier's Pirates! (Mac) Saturday (Aug. 30)
Ford Racing: Off Road (Wii)
Hacker Evolution - Reinsertion (PC)
Project Powder (PC)
James Pond - Codename Robocod (DS)
MindHabits (Mac)
FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage (PC)
OPERATION Mania (PC) MORE »

David Perry's Keynote: Sony Will Never Make Money on the PS3 Dontcha just love it when top execs start commenting on someone else's financials? Opinionated Acclaim chief David Perry ain't above it, in fact he used his keynote address at the Games Convention Developer's Conference to declare that Sony will never make real dough off the PlayStation 3, 10-year plan or no.

"Because of the cost of making the PlayStation 3 and because they sold it at a loss, Sony basically has pretty much no chance of making money on the PS3, because it's lost more money than they made during the entire peak of the PlayStation 2 — it's not going to happen again for Sony."

He went on to say that a PlayStation 4 coming out in the next eight or so years would be a bad idea. "If they release the PlayStation 4 and have an even more expensive console and raise the cost of games by ten dollars, that would not be good." Thus, Perry said, this 10-year-plan for the PS3 is a long-term bid to wring out as much money to pay for the console's development, since the pricing and sales so far haven't done it. "This is going to force them to make the PS3 last longer and they're kind of positioning to do that," he said. Perry: "Sony has No Chance of Making Money on the PS3" [GamesIndustry.biz] MORE »

Madden KFC Update Everyone: Leave Kotaku Football Conference. The new league with a more reasonable schedule is KFC Kotaku Football. If you joined the first league, email me at owenATkotakuDOTcom with the subject header Changing Leagues and your gamertag so I can send you the password for the new league. And to EA: You could have done much, much better with the documentation on creating this league and what your choices mean. I'm sure I'm not the only one who thought 11 meant an 11 game season, plus playoffs. MORE »