Hey, That’s My Robe! [Note]

To: Ash From: Crecente Re: What I Did Today Yeah, I did a lot of hiking when I was in Australia. I live within driving distance of the Rockies, you can see them from my house, but they’re still not close enough to walk too. Which sucks. Last week the glass on our den fireplace broke. No one was near it, it wasn’t even on. Who knows? Anyway we had someone out today to work on it. And after he was done he picked up my robe and slipped it on to leave… only it wasn’t my robe, it was his jacket. Man, that would have been an embarrassing confrontation. What you missed: Video Games in Space Nixed Over Fears of Space Station Hacking Ancient Poet Joins WWE Smackdown There Are Secret Messages On Your BioShock 2 Posters Two Guests Are Better Than One: Chat with David Jaffe and Scott Campbell Live The Toys That Amazed Me The Activision-Wants-Harmonix Theory Are You Playing A Video Game Before You Are Playing It? Across Age Micro-Review: Slam Evil Mile Marker 16: Vessel While You’re Waiting For Heavy Rain To Install…

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Hey, That’s My Robe! [Note]

Ancient Poet Joins WWE Smackdown [Wrasslin]

Apparently it’s not enough that Dante Alighieri practically invented the Italian language and wrote an epic poem that solidified our views of Hell. Or that he’s the star of his own video game. No, now he’s a WWE wrestler too. If you check out the page dedicated to the “superstars” of Smackdown, you’ll find Dante’s picture neatly tucked between Curt Hawkins and David Hart Smith. Clicking on the photo gets you this bio: I won’t be impressed until they have someone dress up as the poet crusader and deliver a Soulreaper Duplex on Chris Jericho. Smackdown [Thanks Nav]

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Ancient Poet Joins WWE Smackdown [Wrasslin]

PAL PlayStation Store: Premature Commercialisation [Europe]

Normally, I don’t write these until Friday Australian time. Yet here it is, Thursday night, and I’m writing up the PAL PlayStation Store update. What could possibly compel Sony to release it half a day early? Turns out, not much. The Heavy Rain demo is officially out, but then we told you how to get that days ago, so hopefully you’ve already played it. Aside from that, there’s a 1st Birthday party going on for Sony’s Flower, which is going for £2.40/€3. Bargain. PS3 STORE Special Offers * Flower (was – £6.29/€7.99 now – £2.39/€2.99) * Call of Duty: World at War – Map Pack Bundle (was – £19.99/€24.99 now – £15.99/€19.99) * Comet Crash (was – £6.29/€7.99 now – £4.79/€5.99) * UNO (was – £6.29/€7.99 now – £3.99/€4.99) * Tank Battles (was – £6.99/€3.99 now – £5.49/€3.19) * Nucleus (was – £6.29/€7.99 now – £3.99/€4.99) * Snakeball (was – £6.29/€7.99 now – £3.99/€4.99 * Buzz! Brainbender (PSP) (was – £19.99/€29.99 now – £11.99/€14.99) * Ape Quest (PSP) (was – £7.99/€9.99 now – £4.79/€5.99) * Go! Sudoku (PSP) (was – £11.99/€14.99 now – £6.29/€7.99) * Lilo and Stitch: Trouble in Paradise (PSone) (Available until the 4th of March) (was – £3.99/€4.99 now – £3.19/€3.99) * Bug’s Life (PSone) (Available until the 4th of March) (was – £3.99/€4.99 now – £3.19/€3.99) Permanent Price Reductions * Crash Commando (was – £7.99/€9.99 now – £6.29/€7.99) Downloadable Games * Frogger HD (£3.99/€4.99) * Switchball (£6.29/€7.99) Demos * Heavy Rain Add-On Game Content * NBA Live 10 – All Star Weekend Pack (free) * WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2010 – Stone Cold Austin (£0.79/€0.99) Rating: PEGI 16 * LittleBigPlanet o Valentine’s Day Level Kit (£2.39/€2.99) o Chinese New Year Costumes (free) * Fairytale Fights – Treasure Pack 01 (free) Rating: PEGI 16 * EyePet o Valentines Pack (£2.39/€2.99) o Winter Sports Pack (£2.39/€2.99) * Rock Band o Rust In Peace (Album) by Megadeth (£7.49/€10.99) (contains the following tracks which are also sold separately) o Dawn Patrol (£0.99/€1.49) o Five Magics (£0.99/€1.49) o Hangar 18 (£0.99/€1.49) o Holy Wars…The Punishment Due (£0.99/€1.49) o Lucretia (£0.99/€1.49) o Poison Was the Cure (£0.99/€1.49) o Rust In Peace…Polaris (£0.99/€1.49) o Take No Prisoners (£0.99/€1.49) o Tornado of Souls (£0.99/€1.49) * Guitar Hero 5 o Breaking Benjamin Track Pack (£4.39/€5.49) o Give Me a Sign (£1.59/€1.99) o Sooner or Later (£1.59/€1.99) o Until the End (£1.59/€1.99) Videos * Lego Rock Band Launch Trailer * Army of Two: The 40th Day Co-op Multiplayer Trailer * Army of Two: The 40th Day Custom Weapon Trailer * Army of Two: The 40th Day Extraction Trailer Themes * Trash Panic Dynamic Theme (£1.59/€1.99) * Valentine Fractal Theme (£1.19/€1.49) PSP STORE Special Offers * Buzz! Brainbender (PSP) (was – £19.99/€29.99 now – £11.99/€14.99) * Ape Quest (PSP) (was – £7.99/€9.99 now – £4.79/€5.99) * Go! Sudoku (PSP) (was – £11.99/€14.99 now – £6.29/€7.99) * Lilo and Stitch: Trouble in Paradise (PSone) (Available until the 4th of March) (was – £3.99/€4.99 now – £3.19/€3.99) * Bug’s Life (PSone) (Available until the 4th of March) (was – £3.99/€4.99 now – £3.19/€3.99) minis * Fieldrunners (was – £3.99/€4.99 now – £3.49/€3.99) * Kahoots (was – £2.49/€2.99 now – £1.74/€1.99) * Vempire (was – £2.49/€2.99 now – £1.74/€1.99) * Breakquest (was – £2.49/€2.99 now – £1.74/€1.99) * Pinball Fantasies (was – £3.99/€4.99 now – £3.49/€3.99) * Bloons (was – £3.49/€3.99 now – £1.99/€2.49) * Mahjongg Atifacts: Chapter 2 (was – £3.49/€3.99 now – £2.49/€2.99) * Dracula – Undead Awakening (was – £3.99/€4.99 now – £2.49/€2.99) * Monster Hunter Freedom Unite (was – £23.99/€29.99 now – £16.99/€20.99) * Pirates of the Caribbean – Dead Man’s Chest (was – £15.99/€19.99 now – £11.99/€15.99) * Pirates of the Caribbean – At World’s End (was – £23.99/€29.99 now – £15.99/€19.99) Downloadable Games * Blood Bowl (£23.99/€29.99) * Innocent Life – A Futuristic Harvest Moon (£15.99/€19.99) Rating: BBFC 12 Demo * SOCOM Fireteam Bravo 3 * Echoshift Rating: PEGI 3 * Undead Knights Rating: PEGI 16 * Thexder Neo Demo Rating: PEGI 7 minis * This is Football Management (£3.99/€4.99) Rating: PEGI 3 * Kurulin Fusion (£3.19/€3.99) Rating: PEGI 3 * The Terminator (£3.99/€4.99) Rating: PEGI 12 * Retro Cave Flyer (£2.49/€2.99) Rating: PEGI 3 Add-On Game Content * LittleBigPlanet o Lurve Costume (free) o Lurve Level Kit (£2.39/€2.99)

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PAL PlayStation Store: Premature Commercialisation [Europe]

Latest Dante Stunt Buries ASCII Art In Our Source Code [Guerrilla Marketing]

Checked the source code of our front page lately? We didn’t think to until we got a tip. Dante’s Inferno ASCII art is buried with in it – along with one of six clues to unlock some kind of download. Loyal reader Kyle K. pointed us out to the ASCII art in the front page source for Digg, and lo and behold, we checked and found an image in ours, too. (Kotaku’s editorial operation had no knowledge this was being done.) They’re also available in the front page sources for Daily Motion, the WWE, GameSpot, Games Radar IGN and, presumably, others, as the clue in our source code is the same as the one in GameSpot’s. Just load the front, go to your view menu and hit “view source,” you’ll see it after some scrolling. The ASCII art directs you to this site , where you enter the password you found and then go off in search of the other five. For brevity’s sake, here they are: Password 1: excommunicate (found on Digg) Password 2: scythe (found on IGN) Password 3: grafter (found on GameSpot and Kotaku) Password 4: styx (found on Daily Motion) Password 5: unbaptized (found on Games Radar) Password 6: alighieri (found on WWE) What do you get? Well, as of publication, the server for this page is utterly overwhelmed. I plugged in the correct answers and was treated to a 189 megabyte mystery download that, at this rate, will take until tomorrow to finish . My guess is it’s a trailer of some sort, but who knows. When I find out, I’ll update here. Meantime, enjoy the pretty ASCII images. Update: Reader Lyokowarirtitan managed to download the entire pack. His description is as follows: The file is quite good including; 8 about 1900×1200 wallpapers(which look awesome), 5 posters in both tiff and pdf format (of the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th and 9th circles of hell), 6 ASCII art(the passwords i believe), a book of concept art in pdf format(cool), and last but not least, 3 dark sounding songs (of doom) apparently from the game. Password 1: excommunicate Password 2: scythe Password 4: styx Password 5: unbaptized Password 6: alighieri

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Latest Dante Stunt Buries ASCII Art In Our Source Code [Guerrilla Marketing]

Latest Dante Stunt Buries ASCII Art In Our Source Code [Guerrilla Marketing]

Checked the source code of our front page lately? We didn’t think to until we got a tip. Dante’s Inferno ASCII art is buried with in it – along with one of six clues to unlock some kind of download. Loyal reader Kyle K. pointed us out to the ASCII art in the front page source for Digg, and lo and behold, we checked and found an image in ours, too. (Kotaku’s editorial operation had no knowledge this was being done.) They’re also available in the front page sources for Daily Motion, the WWE, GameSpot, Games Radar IGN and, presumably, others, as the clue in our source code is the same as the one in GameSpot’s. Just load the front, go to your view menu and hit “view source,” you’ll see it after some scrolling. The ASCII art directs you to this site , where you enter the password you found and then go off in search of the other five. For brevity’s sake, here they are: Password 1: excommunicate (found on Digg) Password 2: scythe (found on IGN) Password 3: grafter (found on GameSpot and Kotaku) Password 4: styx (found on Daily Motion) Password 5: unbaptized (found on Games Radar) Password 6: alighieri (found on WWE) What do you get? Well, as of publication, the server for this page is utterly overwhelmed. I plugged in the correct answers and was treated to a 189 megabyte mystery download that, at this rate, will take until tomorrow to finish . My guess is it’s a trailer of some sort, but who knows. When I find out, I’ll update here. Meantime, enjoy the pretty ASCII images. Update: Reader Lyokowarirtitan managed to download the entire pack. His description is as follows: The file is quite good including; 8 about 1900×1200 wallpapers(which look awesome), 5 posters in both tiff and pdf format (of the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th and 9th circles of hell), 6 ASCII art(the passwords i believe), a book of concept art in pdf format(cool), and last but not least, 3 dark sounding songs (of doom) apparently from the game. Password 1: excommunicate Password 2: scythe Password 4: styx Password 5: unbaptized Password 6: alighieri

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Latest Dante Stunt Buries ASCII Art In Our Source Code [Guerrilla Marketing]

Darksiders ships 1.2 million as THQ posts small profit

Publisher reports $542,000 in net income–way up from $191.8 million quarterly loss one year ago; MX vs. ATV Reflex to top 1 million by April 1, WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2010 sells 3.5 million units in three months.

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Darksiders ships 1.2 million as THQ posts small profit

Modern Warfare On Wii Hooks Players, If Not Big Sales… Yet [Wii]

Modern Warfare usually is discussed as a major franchise for the Xbox 360 and PS3 and is subject for debate on the PC. By at least one measure, it’s significant on the Wii too. Those who follow our monthly tally of Wii playing time (the so-called “measure of pleasure,” as I’ve dubbed it) know that the average amount of time that Wii gamers spend playing 2008 Call of Duty: World At War is sky-high. At last count, gamers were averaging more than 51 hours with the game, which has sold more than a million copies, according to reporting I’ve done in the past. Only three games boast more hours per player: The similarly multiplayer-centric Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Guitar Hero III along with Animal Crossing: City Folk, a game designed to be played daily. I was interested in seeing how this past November’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Reflex Edition, a remake of 2007’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare would fare. I’ll get to sales figures a little lower, but let’s look at something impressive first: its average playing time per player. As of December 1, the game had an average playing time of 17 hours, 22 minutes. As of January 1, that average is up to 24 hours, 55 minutes. People who play this game are keeping at it, likely due to its online play. There’s a caveat to the rising numbers for Call of Duty on the Wii. Because I’m only tracking average playing times, a game that is owned by five people who each play the game for 50 hours, will have an average playing time that exceeds a game that a million people have bought and played for 10 hours each. There’s also the issue that these average playing times are tallied by the Nintendo Channel, a Nintendo service that only pulls the data of Wii gamers who download the channel, opt-in for data-sharing and re-visit the channel. There’s a way to account for those caveats, to at least have some context. As of January 1, the Reflex Edition was listed as having a cumulative 237,615 hours of play time among people sharing their data with Nintendo. World At War, as of December 1, had more than 7 million hours logged by users sharing their data. Compare those totals to The Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess, which has 45 million hours tallied as of Jan. 1, and it’s obvious that not that many Reflex Edition players are out there and/or sharing their data… yet. A better comparison for the Reflex Edition might be New Super Mario Bros. Wii, which was also released in November. That game has an average playing time of 15 hours, far fewer hours than that of the Reflex Edition but more than 1.5 million hours of that Mario game have been played and logged by the Nintendo Channel, dwarfing those 237,615 hours for the Reflex Edition. On the other hand, we’ve got September 2009’s WWE Smackdown Vs. Raw 2010 which has a wonderful average playing time of 27 hours and 28 minutes, but across just a cumulative 90,066 hours played. There’s no starker contrast than with sales, of course. Nintendo announced today that New Super Mario Bros. sold three million copies in the U.S. through December. The NPD sales-tracking group, which has not released sales for December yet, told me today that, in its first month of release, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Reflex Edition sold 81,000 copies. These Nintendo stats that we track measure the passion players have for the games they have, if not the popularity. Sales aren’t the only stats that are interesting to look at. Call of Duty games may not be the immediate blockbuster launches that they are on other platforms, but the playing time patterns here suggest that those who do have the game are as into the series as the most fervent fans on other platforms. World At War proved that on Wii. Reflex Edition seems set to do the same.

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Modern Warfare On Wii Hooks Players, If Not Big Sales… Yet [Wii]

Settlement Gives THQ the WWE License Until 2018 [Legal]

THQ wrapped up two big loose ends at the end of this year, reaching a settlement with Jakks Pacific over who owed what for the rights to World Wrestling Entertainment and, separately, extending its deal with the promoter to 2018. In the first case, a three-party settlement among all involved will see THQ paying WWE $13.2 million, and Jakks another $20 million in four installments over the next four years. THQ and Jakks had been partners in the WWE venture, and this settlement effectively buys out Jakks, as the two sides have announced that their partnership ends Dec. 31. THQ and Jakks had been in litigation since July, after Jakks had notified WWE it would renew the two sides’ license, but THQ then sued, saying Jakks wasn’t authorized to make such a decision. The payments to both WWE and Jakks resolve those entanglements. Secondly the license renewal between THQ and WWE begins on Jan 1. and lasts eight years, which is three years beyond the original renewal term. Terms of that were not disclosed. Got all that? What’s it mean? One, THQ will continue to make WWE games, such as its Smackdown vs. Raw series. And, two, it puts that license out of reach for the next eight years. The lack of resolution on this issue had led some to speculate that EA Sports, which has teased a new game announcement come January, might be moving in on ‘rasslin. We now know that not to be the case, so EA Sports’ new game will have to be something else.

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Settlement Gives THQ the WWE License Until 2018 [Legal]

Average Mario Wii Playing Time Just Under 10 Hours So Far [Wii]

Following up yesterday’s Kotaku report of Wii play-time stats, here’s how much time some of the bigger Wii games of the summer and fall are getting played by those who have them. The following are average playing times, per Wii user, since the launch of the game through December 1, 2009. The data is collected only from users who volunteered to share their data with the Wii’s Nintendo Channel. In the case of Call of Duty, for example, that appears to cover a little over 3,700 consoles’ playing history. The Mario number is from the stats collected in just under 29,000 consoles. (For more on the methodology I use in these Wii stats posts, check yesterday’s article ). The Beatles Rock Band (Released Sept. 9) – 14 hours, 50 minutes Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Reflex Edition (Released Nov. 10) – 14 hours, 56 minutes Madden NFL10 (Released August 14) – 15 hours, 45 minutes Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (Released Oct. 13) – 10 hours, 50 minutes Metroid Prime Anthology (Released Aug. 24) – 22 hours, 53 minutes Muramasa: The Demon Blade (Released Sept. – 12 hours, 48 minutes New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Released Nov, 15) – 9 hours, 47 minutes Wii Fit Plus (Released Oct. 4) – 9 hours, 50 minutes Wii Sports Resort (Released July 26) – 18 hours, 39 minutes (No data available yet for Lego Indiana Jones 2, Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, EA Sports Active More Workouts, Dead Space Extraction and WWE Smackdown Vs. Raw 2010) Bear in mind that these numbers do not represent sales or popularity. Many more people bought New Super Mario Bros. Wii than did Muramasa. But how much time did people who got these games spend with that? That’s what is measured here. Consider it a satisfaction index, a measure of pleasure.

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Average Mario Wii Playing Time Just Under 10 Hours So Far [Wii]

Average Mario Wii Playing Time Just Under 10 Hours So Far [Wii]

Following up yesterday’s Kotaku report of Wii play-time stats, here’s how much time some of the bigger Wii games of the summer and fall are getting played by those who have them. The following are average playing times, per Wii user, since the launch of the game through December 1, 2009. The data is collected only from users who volunteered to share their data with the Wii’s Nintendo Channel. In the case of Call of Duty, for example, that appears to cover a little over 3,700 consoles’ playing history. The Mario number is from the stats collected in just under 29,000 consoles. (For more on the methodology I use in these Wii stats posts, check yesterday’s article ). The Beatles Rock Band (Released Sept. 9) – 14 hours, 50 minutes Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Reflex Edition (Released Nov. 10) – 14 hours, 56 minutes Madden NFL10 (Released August 14) – 15 hours, 45 minutes Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (Released Oct. 13) – 10 hours, 50 minutes Metroid Prime Anthology (Released Aug. 24) – 22 hours, 53 minutes Muramasa: The Demon Blade (Released Sept. – 12 hours, 48 minutes New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Released Nov, 15) – 9 hours, 47 minutes Wii Fit Plus (Released Oct. 4) – 9 hours, 50 minutes Wii Sports Resort (Released July 26) – 18 hours, 39 minutes (No data available yet for Lego Indiana Jones 2, Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, EA Sports Active More Workouts, Dead Space Extraction and WWE Smackdown Vs. Raw 2010) Bear in mind that these numbers do not represent sales or popularity. Many more people bought New Super Mario Bros. Wii than did Muramasa. But how much time did people who got these games spend with that? That’s what is measured here. Consider it a satisfaction index, a measure of pleasure.

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Average Mario Wii Playing Time Just Under 10 Hours So Far [Wii]

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