InFormers: Robots in the News

1. Newsbit: Coming soon to a Toys R Us near you: exclusives Wingblade and Jetstorm, based on Cybertron molds Wingsaber and Jetfire, respectively, and now featuring a military motiff.
2. Newsbit: But the REALLY good news? A Robot Heroes Dispensor toy is on the way! Shame he won’t be able to transform, though. Maybe soon…

   He’ll be squaring off against Ironhide, with a few other pairings finding their way into the wave as well.

3. Newsbit: Good news for those who’ve held out on buying a game based on TransFormers: The Movie: the price just dropped. Plus, Xbox Live is now letting you get all the unlockables unlocked for one fee.

Assorted Mushrooms

1. Newsbit: This diorama of Blade fighting Dracula is pretty slick.

Video Power

1. Newsbit: Smash Bros. DOJO!! finishes out the week with Pikmin & Olimar’s Special Moves.

   And elsewhere, Zelda’s Final Smash is revealed, along with another anticipated Special Move…

2. Newsbit: And wow… that’s quite a few EGM covers there for Super Smash Bros.… er, Brawk?

   …put me down for a Mario, I guess?

3. Newsbit: The Wii has made headlines in helping victims recover from disabling incidents, and now, Microsoft wants in on the action. Of course, it’s more a means of entertainment than assisting in recovery, but just the same…
4. Pics: New screens of Street Fighter IV! 25 of them, in fact.
5. Newsbit: Some big news today, as Nintendo Power has broken the first news and pics of the BioWare Sonic RPG since it was first announced.
6. Newsbit: So Goldeneye on Xbox Live? Not happening. The reason why?

   Money, money, yeah-yeah!

7. Newsbit: Good news for Metal Gear fans, as the latest title is almost ready.

   Cooler still is that the game will have pausable cut scenes. It’s about damn time.

   And on a related note… WRONG. SO WRONG.

8. Newsbit: Also coming sooner than expected is Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, which arrives on February 12.
9. Newsbit: PlayStation 3: now cheaper to make than ever.
10. Newsbit: A UK retailer takes orders for Wiis, then runs with the moneys.

    But is it fair to blame Reggie on this one? I thought the UK had their own monkeys in the truck to run this stuff over there?

11. Newsbit: Well damn, I missed out.

    20 bucks for Brawl, that obviously wasn’t going to stick. But I do wonder what they do about the people who preordered when it hit?

    Yeah, you guessed it: they cancel them.

12. Video: New trailer for No More Heroes. In light of recent developments, it’s a shame it has to be Ubisoft releasing it here. But I’d still get it, just to support the developers.
13. Video: A new trailer for Street Fighter IV, though it seems mostly like a splice of the original teaser and 1up’s in-game footage. The music takes me back, though.
14. Newsbit: Another reviewer has left GameSpot, though it remains unknown if it’s related to Gerstmann or not.
15. Newsbit: Son of a whore, I hope that this isn’t true. I still need to upgrade to a DS Lite, and the Crimson/Black one was just the one I wanted!
16. Newsbit: Want to see the new Bionic Commando swing onto the Wii? Well, there’s still a chance! Now, if only a good MegaMan Legends 3 movement would get started…
17. Newsbit: Father ruins boy’s game, boy tries to murder his father. Makes perfect sense to me.

    Sigh.

18. Newsbit: An official Wii lightsaber attachment? Not gonna happen.

–LBD “Nytetrayn”

InFormers: Robots in the News

1. Newsbit: Good news for TransFormers: Animated, as it’s #1 for boys in its timeslot.
2. Pics: A bevy of pics have surfaced of a new Animated Optimus Prime, now with battle damage! Though really, it just looks like he’s got tats. Or a Venom symbiote problem (it wouldn’t be the first time).
3. Newsbit: The third set of Movie Legends toys in the “Allspark Battle” line of two-packs has been revealed.
4. Pics: New pics of Premium Ironhide and Blackout have surfaced, too.
5. Newsbit: And speaking of the Premiums, Leader-class Optimus and Megatron will be mass-released.
6. Pics: TNI has a first look at Movie Autobot Evac.

Assorted Mushrooms

1. Pic: NECA’s Michelangelo figure is almost ready, just a couple of small color changes and he’s set!

Video Power

1. Newsbit: At the end of December, a mention was made here in passing about Microsoft’s customer service practices in regards to one fellow who moved to the United States from England. He was able to move his Xbox Passport over with no problems, and yet they won’t allow him to change his billing address. Their best advice?

   “Go back to England.”

   Ouch. That’s just not right, and is in fact pretty much the very definition of inexcusable. But it’s gotten better, as things have escalated and Microsoft have purportedly attempted to get the man fired from his job with a video game website, so as to “remove any potential sources of contention” between the site and Microsoft.

   As Penny Arcade user Djiem so eloquently put it:

   So, let me get this straight.
   Some people at Microsoft have enough time, ressources and energy to deny your legitimate request, insult you, google you and try to get you canned, but they can’t just do a little magic trick to your gamertag?

   This is ridiculous.

   Seeing where this goes… not sure what to do. Maybe stop reporting on them? Guess we’ll see.

2. Newsbit: Craziest story of the day: Star Wars characters in Soul Calibur IV.

   You can find my thoughts at the Editor’s Take here. But really, keep Cassandra in that outfit, and they can add anyone they want.

3. Newsbit: Smash Bros. DOJO!! brings forth a smashing bit of news… Final Smashing, in fact, as Solid Snake cuts loose.
4. Newsbit: New info on the Street Fighter IV front today, as a new female fighter by the name of “Crimson Viper” has appeared in the pages of Famitsu. Just seeing that makes me want to shout out “Co-BRAAAA!!!”

   Plus, it’s been confirmed for arcades. But does that effect the US at all?

5. Newsbit: According to Engine Software, Wii Ware should be launching around March.
6. Videos: Capcom brings to CES 2008 a two-part Bionic Commando presentation.
7. Newsbit: Excellent, Burnout 3: Takedown is coming to Xbox 360 as an “original” next week. Definitely one of, if not the best, in the series.

–LBD “Nytetrayn”

InFormers: Robots in the News

1. Preview: Simon Furman gives us a glimpse at the final chapter of Beast Wars: The Ascending.
2. Pics: Images have surfaced, showing off the Premium Movie figures of ’09 Bumblebee, Jazz, and Barricade.
3. Newsbit: Bay and Co. hope to start filming TransFormers 2 on June 2nd, but with the Writer’s Strike…

Assorted Mushrooms

1. Preview: It’s almost upon us… Spider-man‘s “Brand New Day” hits stores today, and Newsarama offers a look.
2. Newsbit: An update from the Producer of G.I. Joe tells a bit about what’s going on with Destro, Hawk, and Zartan.
3. Newsbit: Much to Michael Bay’s chagrin, I’m sure, Paramount has decided to continue backing HD-DVD.

Video Power

1. Newsbit: So Sony is finally looking to go after the casual crowd. Can the PS3 compete in that market? Probably not. Even Xbox 360 is finding it challenging. But the PS2, on the other hand…
2. Newsbit: Hey, remember Xbox Live Diamond?

   Yeah, neither did I, until earlier when I found out that they’re going to start charging for it. So that’s one perk lost for Gold subscribers, and apparently it wasn’t handled terribly well anyway.

   But! It all matters little to me, since I’m in Canada. Of course, with a look at the deals, I might have been willing to drop 7 bucks for discounts at some of those places.

   Did any of you sign up for Diamond? Did you ever get it?

3. Newsbit: Whup, looks like that crazy Nintendo has won itself another Emmy. I guess they’ll just toss that one in the pile with the rest of their awards.
4. Newsbit: Smash Bros. DOJO!! updates with word of a NEW CHALLENGER!!

   Make way for the Pikmin and Captain Olimar!!

   And as a bonus, they’ve included a glimpse of the track for the Pikmin World Map.

   On top of all that, it seems to now officially render the icon theory a bust, as Pikmin could only fit in spot 19, but is instead 22.

5. Newsbit: Ouch, it looks like some developers are deciding to play hardball, and Electronic Gaming Monthly isn’t going to stand for it. They’ve outted three companies who are no longer supplying them with games due to poor review scores received in the past:

   Ubisoft
   Sony (sports division)
   Midway?s (Mortal Kombat team)

   Much like RMC, I too would like to hear their side of things. Most interesting to me is that it’s no single part of Ubisoft, while the other two are specific divisions or teams.

–LBD “Nytetrayn”

InFormers: Robots in the News

1. Pics: Some new pics of Animated Bumblebee have surfaced, making the wait all the more difficult.
2. Newsbit: On the upside, Nightwatch Optimus Prime is now available at US retail.
3. Newsbit: Also good news… well, sort of… is that knock-offs of Metroplex and Metrotitan are on the way! Here’s hoping the quality is decent.

Assorted Mushrooms

1. Newsbit: Some neat stuff coming out of CES, which kicked off yesterday. One of the most impressive being this 150″ TV. I’d love to try playing Wii Sports or some Pac-Man Championship Edition on there.
2. Newsbit: The 5th turtle gives us a peek at a production pic for the “Cyber Foot” soldier that will be a part of Playmates’ 2008 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles line.
3. Preview: If there’s one thing that Spider-man‘s “One More Day” story has left fans wondering, it’s “what the hell is the new status quo?”

   Luckily, Marvel and Newsarama are here with a splash page preview of “Brand New Day” to help us try to wrap our heads around it.

4. Newsbit: Good news for fans of books from Archie Comics, as they are launching 18 new Archie blogs, a blog for every title.”

   It sounds pretty cool; Sonic writer Ian Flynn and artist Tracey Yardley have already been in pretty close-contact with the fans, but it sounds like this may open up yet further opportunities.

5. Newsbit: GameSpite once more comes through with the week’s releases in DVD and video games.
6. Newsbit: IGN checks out who’s in the GI Joe movie so far, and some discrepancies which have arisen.
7. Newsbit: Wow, they’re still releasing Married… with Children DVD seasons? I figured they’d be done by now.
8. Pics: Early images from the set of the Dragon Ball movie.

   …I am keeping an EXTREMELY open mind about this, as I’ve realized the last thing I really want is just more of the same old story told again.

Video Power

1. Newsbit: Good news! The PSP is getting a GPS!

   (GPSP?)

   The bad news, however, is that the interface at present seems a little awkward…

2. Newsbit: Sony is also capitalizing on their forward momentum with BluRay by making it work with the PSP.
3. Newsbit: Disappointing news on the Super Smash Bros. Brawl front. Seems that they’ve finally revealed the Stadium’s Multi-Man Brawl, and there doesn’t appear to be any wholesale Mii slaughtering to enjoy.

   Instead, meet the Fighting Alloys!

   Plus, in his first update back from the New Year break, Sakurai has presented more returning Melee stages. I’m happy for Onett.

   Plus, some news has cropped up about the game’s costumes and more.

4. Newsbit: Fans of Street Fighter are about to get a two-hit combo, with toy manufacturer SOTA teaming up with card maker Sabretooth Games to package figures and cards together.
5. Pics: Wondering what the packaging looks like for Master Chief and the Brute Chieftain? Wonder no more.
6. Newsbit: Only two Virtual Console updates this week: The King of Fighters ’94 for the NEOGEO, and one I’ve been waiting to get my hands on, Startropics, an America-only NES game.

   …Mike ought to be in Brawl. We’ve gotten Japan-only characters from the Fire Emblem series, which helped break them into the American market, why not return the favor?

7. Newsbit: Skype is coming to the PSP, but you can only use it if you have the slim version.
8. Newsbit: Among all the other grief Xbox Live has caused lately, it seems that it’s prone to erasing Achievements, too.
9. Newsbit: Interplay has re-registered the trademark on Clay Fighter, among others.

   So the question then is: next-gen revival, or Virtual Console release? Or both?

10. Newsbit: First came the Xbox 360 Achievements, and now Devil May Cry 4 is bringing them to PS3. It’s also bringing something else: an unoptional 5GB installation on your hard drive.
11. Newsbit: Who in God’s name comes up with a title like “Wii Shaft” without it being a complete and utter joke?
12. Newsbit: Wii60 lives!!

    *looks at the pricetag*

    *looks at Kotaku poking holes in the designers’ decisions*

    …Wii60 dies!!

–LBD “Nytetrayn”

InFormers: Robots in the News

1. Pics: The upcoming Robot Heroes, featuring the likes of Hound, Sunstreaker, Galvatron, Blitzwing, Black Arachnia, Cheetor, Rattrap, and Predacon Megatron can now be seen here, live and in color.

Assorted Mushrooms

1. Newsbit: Sounds like Warner Bros. has officially thrown in with Blu-Ray. Exclusively, that is.

   I’ve been pretty neutral in this whole format war thing. I think it’s pretty stupid, frankly. But if I had to pick a side, it’d probably be HD DVD, only because I don’t think Sony really needs to be encouraged to create more proprietary formats.

   Toshiba is said to be “particularly disappointed.”

   And seemingly as a result, the HD DVD pre-conference at CES has been cancelled.

   If you decide to throw in with the Blu-Ray lot, then it seems that the PlayStation 3 is still the top choice.

Video Power

1. Newsbit: If you’ve been waiting to get your replacement Guitar Hero III disc for the Wii, fixing the audio issues of which much controversy has erupted, then know that the time is soon, and you can pre-register now.
2. Pics: Some new images from SEGA Superstar Tennis showcase some of the game’s unique themed courts. Loving these.
3. Newsbit: Elsewhere in the music-gaming world, there’s been a small problem with Rock Band, in that it only includes one guitar, and if memory serves, they aren’t sold seperately. But now, MTV has signed into a deal with Mad Catz to produce controllers for the blockbuster game.
4. Newsbit: Interesting, I thought the whole “Gerstmanngate” thing was behind us, but apparently some are still rather sore over the whole thing, as one freelancer apparently decided to make a stand.
5. Newsbit: Toys R Us has decided to trade in their huge “sucker pack” for two smaller such packs. Um, yay?
6. Newsbit: Good news! No More Heroes has been pushed up on the release calendar by a few weeks– January 22nd is the new date. God, I hope I can get the money for this one.
7. Newsbit: So Xbox Live ran into some trouble over the holidays. The users weren’t happy, and neither was Microsoft. And to make it up to Gold users, they’re even giving them free Arcade games.

   And yet, people still want to sue.

   I’m no Microsoft fanboy, but I certainly don’t hate them, either, despite everything. But I do think this is just a little unwarranted.

8. Newsbit: Been playing the Burnout: Paradise demo? You might have noticed a recent change… they’ve doubled the online multiplayer, as well as added some new challenges. Now I just need to find seven friends.
9. Video: No “official” new Smash Bros. info this week, but it looks like a pretty good one after all with three Japanese commercials.

   Plus, an extra “online” commercial or two.

   Not enough? Then how about some more details. Balloon Fight music? Score!!

10. Newsbit: Whoopsie, looks like the New York Times report on the DS having “full downloadable games” was inaccurate.
11. Newsbit: Go Nintendo reports that tomorrow, we should be seeing two new additions to the Virtual Console in the form of Startropics for the NES, and King of Fighters ’94 for the NEOGEO.

    Startropics? At last, I’m there!

12. Newsbit: First, pink nunchucks, now pink jackets? What’s going on here?

–LBD “Nytetrayn”

InFormers: Robots in the News

1. Pics: Some new high-res imagery is available of TransFormers: Animated‘s Starscream figure.

Assorted Mushrooms

1. Interview: Captain America is back!! …sort of.

Video Power

1. Pics: Updated images of the Halo Master Chief mini-busts (coming in red, blue, and green) are now available.
2. Newsbit: Wanna be a star? Well, this may not have you walking the red carpet alongside Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan (wait, that’d be a good thing then, right?), but a fan movie is being put together by a gent named Eddie Lebron based on Mega Man, and he is taking auditions.

   Even if I could get out there, though, looks like I’m in between the two desired age brackets. Not that it would stop me, but it’s too far for me to go right now. Dang.

3. Newsbit: If you’re a paying Gold member of Xbox Live, then there’s good news for you, after all this downtime and service issues that the service has had over the past week.

   Even though the service was never completely down, Microsoft is still taking the incident to heart, and as a result, will be offering Gold members a free Xbox Live Arcade game for their troubles.

   Not too shabby, but we’ll wait and see what these upcoming “details” entail before judging. As for me, well, I’d probably be among them, but as it turns out, the Gold membership we got as a gift from a friend in America doesn’t work here.

4. Video: GameTrailers has the opening cinema from Harvey Birdman.
5. Preview: Speaking of which, 1up also has a mini-preview of Birdman’s courtroom escapades.
6. Newsbit: Nintendo may not be interested in creating a sequel to Wii Sports (pity that, I suppose), but that doesn’t mean that Hudson isn’t interested in filling the gap with Deca Sports, a similar compilation disc of games that seems more suited to complement the Wii pack-in, rather than usurp it. The games included, which of course will use the Wii’s motion controls, are beach volleyball, snowboard cross, badminton, basketball, curling, figure skating, archery, supercross, soccer, and kart racing. Deca Sports ought to hit the field in summer.
7. Newsbit: Now, my recollection might be a tad fuzzy here, but it seems like the local news somewhere was chasing ghosts by saying the Nintendo DS was a top target for predators to stalk children. Yet, I don’t seem to recall them ever saying anything about Xbox Live, which I imagine is now painted as a more viable threat.

   Go figure. This seems to go beyond the game service, anyway.

8. Newsbit: The Smash Bros. DOJO!! may not be updating this week, but luckily, there’s some new info anyway.
9. Newsbit: Hope you didn’t like the Metroid Prime 3: Corruption preview channel TOO much… it’s gone now.

   I think it’s all archived at GameTrailers, anyway, so not a tremendous loss…

10. Newsbit: Mega Man ZX Advent has finally been dated for a European release of… February 29th? *shrugs* Ok then.

    Word of advice, though: play on EASY. You’ll thank me when you reach the end.

11. Newsbit: Pre-registration for your Wii Guitar Hero III replacement disc is now open.

–LBD “Nytetrayn”

InFormers: Robots in the News

1. Newsbit: IDW is planning a trip down memory lane… to the very beginning, in fact, as they seem to be poised to explore the original 13 TransFormers.

Assorted Mushrooms

1. Newsbit: Ok, even if you COULD replace sleep with some sort of brain-hormone spray, I’m not sure I’d really want to. At least, not regularly.

Video Power

1. Newsbit: Could Bill Gates be poised to deliver a big Xbox announcement come CES 2008?
2. Newsbit: Over in the UK, Nintendo’s General Manager sees “huge room for improvement.” As most gamers there would probably say, “duh.”
3. Newsbit: Hitting Xbox Live Arcade now is Metal Slug 3, of which GameTrailers provides two videos.
4. Newsbit: No plans for Rock Band on Wii at this time? Phooey! I wanna rock!
5. Pics: If I had a nice, big server of my own and could handle the potential traffic, I’d be hosting these new pics and screens of Bionic Commando myself. But since I don’t and I’m not, there you go.
6. Videos: And only a week and a half late, GameTrailers lets us see a little footage of Christmas Eve Virtual Console release Donkey Kong Country 3.

   Less late is this week’s New Year’s Eve releases, Light Crusader, Top Hunter, and Bubble Bobble.

7. Newsbit: Looks like Best Buy is clearing out some old stock, including eReader cards for 99 cents a pack. Damn, wish I could get my hands on some of those, especially if there are any Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 packs.
8. Newsbit: A look at the fighting within No More Heroes. Plus, some new screens and art.

–LBD “Nytetrayn”

InFormers: Robots in the News

1. Newsbit: Good news for lovers of pink femmebots and beaten women, as Hasbro seems to be releasing Battle Damage Arcee from the Movie line all by her lonesome.
2. Newsbit: The latest on the second movie seems to indicate that we might see more robots in disguise, but it might take a little longer. Maybe.
3. Newsbit: Still can’t find Masterpiece Starscream at a Wal-Mart near you? Then worry not, for he is now in stock at Wal-Mart.com!
4. Newsbit: Latest word on the black Soundblaster bust featuring Ratbat is that it’ll be available this May for $60. He’ll be 6″ tall and limited to one thousand pieces.

Assorted Mushrooms

1. Newsbit: From WebbAlert: Walmart’s online video service is gone. It was six days before anyone noticed.
2. Newsbit: For fans of Osamu Tezuka’s Phoenix and Black Jack, Organic Hobby has something special coming for you.
3. Newsbit: Coming soon: the six-armed Spider-man mini-bust. Buy three so he’ll be perfectly capable of enacting dirty deeds for the devil!

Video Power

1. Newsbit: These system-bricking updates are getting out of hand. I’m starting to miss the days when games were made around a system’s limits, not by trying to change them. It seems to do more harm than good.
2. Newsbit: Good to know Microsoft has finally decided to at least look into Skyllus’ unfortunate situation of being hacked out of his Halo 3 Recon armor. And all it took was some bad publicity!

   Remind us to find a creative way to kill ourselves in a popular game the next time we need help from Microsoft.

3. Newsbit: Rare has stepped forth and given a little more info surrounding the upcoming Banjo Threeie.
4. Newsbit: It’s not much, but Reggie Fils-Aime shared a little tease of what to expect of the DS in the coming future.
5. Newsbit: Oh, great. The Wavebird wireless GameCube controller? Nintendo’s stopped shipping them. But if you want wired, you’re still good.

   Dammit, I still need to get one or two.

6. Newsbit: To ring in the New Year, the Virtual Console has brought forth yet another three games: Light Crusader for the Genesis, Top Hunter for the NEOGEO, and Bubble Bobble for the NES.
7. Newsbit: Hmm, I think the title says it all here:

   Pepsi Develops New Videogame To Combat Mexican Fatness

   Maybe it’s time for another Pepsi-Nintendo partnership?

8. Newsbit: If you have $700 handy, but not a Wii, then Toys R Us may just have a deal for you!
9. Warning: It’s probably best that, out of the different Wii remote chargers that are on the market, you don’t get Psyclone’s.
10. Newsbit: Seems some Wii Fire Emblem discs have run afoul of problems, and Nintendo is making good to repair the discs.
11. Newsbit: Apparently, gamers aren’t the only ones miffed by the problematic Xbox Live service as of late; Major Nelson finds it unacceptable as well.

–LBD “Nytetrayn”

InFormers: Robots in the News

1. Pic/Newsbit: The next issue of the TransFormers Collector’s Club magazine is going to show off the next wave of Classics, and we already get a sneak peek at a S.W.A.T.-themed Onslaught from the cover!
2. Pics: Plus, some pics of two Movie recolors have come up, those being a red Dropkick-recolor thought to be named Salvage, and a black version of the ’09 Concept Camaro Bumblebee toy, sporting some gold highlights. THAT, I want. Bad. It was nice of Hasbro to make the toy in my colors, but I just hope I can afford it when it reaches shelves.

Assorted Mushrooms

1. Blogging: Sounds like the same interim agreement that Dave Letterman’s Worldwide Pants company agreed to are the very same terms which the media conglomerates walked out of on December 7th. That’s gotta sting, for someone. But it could be beneficial to the WGA in the long run.
2. Birthday Greetings: A day late here, but just the same, Happy Birthday to Stan Lee, of Marvel Comics fame.
3. Poll: And speaking of Marvel Comics, Newsarama is running a poll to gauge fans’ reactions to the Spider-man “One More Day” storyline.

   Let’s just say that people aren’t exactly full of support. By a wide margin.

Video Power

1. Pics: For those who like Halo action figures (and really, who wouldn’t?), here are the first pics at McFarlane’s version of the Arbiter.
2. Video: Great news! The first footage of Street Fighter IV is now available!

   Awful news! Your only way to see it (presently) is to sit through The 1up Show to see it!

   Talk about a ploy to get people to watch…

   Whoops, back to good news! They eventually uploaded some seperate videos of it in action!

   Ken seems to look ok, but what the hell’s with Ryu?

3. Newsbit: So Banjo 3 finally has a name– I think. It’ll apparently be called Banjo-Threeie, but is that what they were calling it before? It just sounds so danged familiar.

   The game will also have a new form of multiplayer, and be more “play-oriented,” meaning less time spent watching cutscenes. There will also be new game mechanics, classic settings brought back, and “a change to the collecting aspect of the title,” which I’ve long heard to be a chief complaint with the originals.

   More questions and answers are yet to come, and hopefully the game will be one to look forward to.

4. Newsbit: If you missed out on a Wii for Christmas, and are still searching, try your local CostCo.
5. Newsbit: Guess this would explain why I can’t even shop the damn Xbox Live Marketplace for demos, now that I finally have the thing hooked online. Way to prep, Microsoft.
6. Newsbit: If you’re in the market for an HDTV, then shop smart, and you could get a PS3 with it.
7. Newsbit: What on Earth could be causing the wires and analog sticks on Wii Nunchucks to turn pink?
8. Pics/Videos: Some new screenshots for Endless Ocean. I haven’t followed this one very closely, but it looks like it might be kind of interesting.

   There are also some videos of the game, too.

9. Newsbit: Go Nintendo says that the Virtual Console releases for this Monday will be Bubble Bobble for the NES, Light Crusader for the Genesis, and Top Hunter for the NeoGeo.
10. Newsbit: Ghost Squad, for ten dollars? Sigh, now if only I had a Target near me…
11. Newsbit: Oh, this is rich:

    In a press release sent out yesterday, controversial attorney Jack Thompson claims he has found a correlation between the gaming industry and the US Department of Defense, who, he adds, are using videogames to teach “an entire generation of kids that war is glamorous, cool, desirable, and consequence-free.”

    Read on for more, at your own risk. PMO is not responsible for fits of laughter nor injuries sustained by eye-rolling.

12. Newsbit: I’ve been hesitant to follow Destructoid, ever since they put a spoiler in one of their headlines, but by chance I got to glimpse a couple of stories from them today, one being that Sony is surprisingly quite ok with replacing your hard drive on your PS3. We’ll see how long that lasts, though.
13. Newsbit: …but what really got my attention was this piece, which we’ll close out with today.

    Remember that story awhile back, where the developers of Halo at Bungie were giving away Recon armor to users who made cool videos, such as this suicide shot?

    Turns out that one of those winners had their account hacked somehow, and Microsoft won’t do anything about it, even going so far as to hang up on the guy, and adding to the numerous complaints that Microsoft’s customer service is, in a (NSFW) word, absolute shit.

    With this, telling people to go back to England, and numerous other discrepancies reported far and wide across the net, I’m imagining I’d get no help from them regarding the Xbox Live cards I got from people who live in the US but won’t work in Canada (anyone interested in buying?).

    The whole lot of it disgusts me, makes me sick, quite frankly. Question is, what can anyone do about it?

–LBD “Nytetrayn”

InFormers: Robots in the News

1. Pics: Some new pics depict the difference between the original Sky Lynx, and the encore version. Nothing huge, though.
2. Newsbit: The TransFormers Collector’s Club has revealed the focus of their Spring special, a Timelines comic set in the Classics/Marvel universe, featuring Slag, Sludge, Siren, and Nightbeat in a new bod!

Video Power

1. Newsbit: So, at first, Xbox 360 had their Dead Rising and Lost Planet exclusives, and PS3 owners had Devil May Cry 4 and… maybe something else as an exclusive. Then Capcom said they were putting Devil May Cry 4 on Xbox 360, and PS3 owners complained, wanting at least some games coming back their way.

   At first, Capcom said “no dice,” but then later caved with Lost Planet. And now, word is spreading that the PS3 version of Devil May Cry 4 may just be the superior version after all.

2. Video: Another Virtual Console pick-up for earlier this week is Blades of Steel.
3. Newsbit: Amazon had a strong holiday, with Wiis going at a rate of 17 per second from the online retailer.
4. Newsbits: Go Nintendo has some new info on Super Smash Bros. Brawl, including Kirby feeling more like his N64 self, and Rosalina as an Assist Trophy (awesome, Galaxy is in!). Be sure to check the comments for more.

   And in other news from the Smash Bros. DOJO!! itself, we find out about sharing, and a new multipart item, the Dragoon from Kirby Air Ride.

5. Video/Newsbit: I had a pretty good Christmas when it comes to DVDs, particularly the kind based on video games. I now have pretty much every classic Nintendo cartoon’s DVD set, save for Zelda, thanks to some great friends who helped me get what I was unable to find in Canada.

   Of course, then there’s still Sonic, whose latest set for Sonic Underground has just come out. But honestly, Underground is probably at the bottom of my list…

6. Newsbit: GameStop has a pretty good preorder bonus for Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword: a sword-shaped stylus, complete with sheath! Pretty slick, if I do say so myself.
7. Preview: …they’re making a Final Fantasy fighting game? I don’t really play the games, but this seems kind of fun, especially since they’re taking characters from all over the franchise, from the first and second to VIII and IX.

   Let’s get us a Rydia/Tifa/Rinoa/Garnet rumble, shall we?

8. Newsbit: Midway takes a big step this year, promising fewer, bigger, and better games.

   C’mon, Midway. I know you’ve got the magic there somewhere, let’s see you bring it back.

–LBD “Nytetrayn”