Scans of some interesting pages from the latest issue of Japanese gaming mag Famitsu have surfaced around the net, and what they show should make some Wii owners very happy. It looks like Capcom is bringing some good old zombie-bashing fun to Nintendo’s console with a port of 2006’s XBOX 360 title, Dead Rising.

It looks to be a direct port, al la Okami and Resident Evil 4, and will be played with the Wii-mote and nunchuck. No word yet on whether or not Dead Rising’s rumor-shrouded sequel is in for the Wii treatment as well.

I love Dead Rising. It was the first game I bought when I got my 360, and there are few thing more satisfying that fending off zombies with whatever you happen to find lying around. Whether or not it will work on Wii remains to be seen… it doesn’t strike me as a game that lends itself well to the Wii-remote… then again, RE4 wasn’t half bad on the Wii, so I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

Sony’s E3 press conference ended not so long ago, and I am very disappointed with them. Their big announcement (courtesy of Venturebeat) is something I’ve been wanting to hear for a while now… Sony has decided to drop the price of the 80GB PS3 to $399.99 (a $100 drop!) starting in September. They’re also dumping the 40GB version.

But unfortunately, it comes at, in my opinion, a very steep cost. When the price drops, the 80GB will lose all backward compatibility with PS2 games. In a way, I understand. They’re still manufacturing (and doing pretty well selling) the PS2… but if this is a sign of their future attitude toward backwards compatibility, I have to say I’m a little pissed off.

The PS2 has arguably the best library of any system on the market, and Sony seems to think no one cares. They won’t be manufacturing the PS2 forever. They’re keeping PS1 compatibility (for the time being, anyway)… why not PS2? It’s bad enough they cut hardware emulation out of the original 80GB model and lost compatibility with a number of PS2 games in doing so… now we get nothing?

Personally, I’d sooner have less storage space than see backward compatibility tossed to the curb. Bring back the 60GB PS3, dammit! Or just sell us the PS3 without an HDD and let us add one on our own. Unlike Microsoft, Sony decided to make theirs non-proprietary.

Surprising absolutely nobody, seeing as the news has been floating around all over the net for weeks now, Microsoft did indeed annouce today that the XBOX 360 Pro (20GB) is getting a $50 price cut, dropping from $349.99 to $299.99.

While suppiles last, that is. Like the 20GB model of the PS3, the 20GB XBOX 360 is being phased out. The sku will be replaced sometime in August with a new 60GB model for the Pro’s old price point of $349.99.

Prices for the Arcade and Elite models will remain firmly at $279.99 and $449.99, respectively.

To be perfectly honest, I’m not a big fan of multiple skus for the same console… especially since the primary difference is just storage space. But if you’ve been holding off on buying a 360 because the Pro was too expensive, and the Arcade’s lack of a hard drive didn’t appeal to you, now’s the time to break out the credit cards. Head over to Kotaku for Microsoft’s full press release.

Also, today’s Target ad (page 7) shows that the store is offering a $25 gift card with the purchase of the reduced-price XBOX 360 Pro. Circuit City’s ad (page 21) offers a $30 gift card with the purchase of the console and NCAA Football 09. And Best Buy’s ad (page 32) is offering the console essentially for free when you buy the advertised Samsung 40″ 1080p LCD HDTV for $1399.97.

As often as it’s in the news anymore, I’m seriously starting to wonder whether or not that’s anything left that hasn’t been patented. Sony’s been sued over patent issues with their controllers, and with their Blu-Ray technology, Microsoft got slapped with a suit over XBOX Live, and Nintendo’s had their share as well.

Well Nintendo’s got one more to deal with now, courtesy of Rockford, Illinois resident John R. Martin. GamePolitics is reporting that the complaint filed by Mr. Martin is suspected to be related to the Nintendo DS’s touchscreen technology, though no product is mentioned by name, and the patent in question was filed in August 2005… nearly a year after the release of the Nintendo DS.

Hit up GamePolitics for the official complaint and patent filing.

Don’t you just love patent trolls?

We see it all the time. A game is released, or appears somewhere on the internet, that pushes the limits of good taste, and suddenly everyone from Fox News to CNN is up in arms about how is corrupting our youth. Critics tell us all how awful it is, some gamers defend the game, some agree, some couldn’t care less, parents panic, lawsuits are launched, etc., etc., etc.

What’s ironic here is that the public outcry just makes the game that much more popular. People who have never even heard of the game, or who have heard of it but just weren’t all that interested in trying it out, now flock to it, raising traffic and/or sales figures (just look at what the Hot Coffee scandal did for sales of GTA San Andreas…).

Today’s video game controversy is brought to us by Newgrounds and Kongregate, and is called “The Torture Game 2″. It’s a free flash game (well, really more of a ragdoll physics engine). It started with a parental alert from the Parents Television Council, then MSNBC picked up the story, and then it popped up on FOX News.

Don’t get me wrong… the game is one of those tasteless little creations that are kind of fun for a while because they’re so very wrong, and then people get sick of it. And a lot of the people commenting on the game even acknowledge this. Most of these titles enjoy a brief stint as a novelty and then fade away into the archives.

It’s when mainstream news gets ahold of the story that they become something more. Is there really anyone out there who can say that they never once wanted to do something even more after their parents told them no? Had it not been for the overzealous critics and the warnings about how “dangerous” it is, the game would have made the rounds online and then quietly the attention would die off.

But thanks to outlets like MSNBC and FOX News, even more traffic is being driven to the game, gaming blogs like Game Politics are posting about the mainstream attention on the game, and traffic to game itself is up.

It’s a perfect example of the old axiom “there’s no such thing as bad publicity”.

Square Enix released a new trailer today for their Final Fantasy mash-up fighting title, Dissidia: Final Fantasy (coming eventually to a PSP near you). In addition to some new character reveals, the trailer also show 2008 as the release window for the game… at least in Japan. It’s anyone’s guess when it will make it stateside. Check out the trailer at GameTrailers.com

Does anyone actually remember “Hot Coffee” from back in 2004? You know… the “sex” mini-game (that had no nudity) in GTA San Andreas that you could only access it if you had the PC version of the game or an Action Replay for Xbox or PS2 and applied the mod? The one that had the media up in arms and resulted in a lawsuit? We all know that they settled, now the numbers are out for the settlement.

It was settled for $1.3 million in legal fees and a whole $30,000 to resolve all 2676 claims brought by people who purchased the game and were offended by the Hot Coffee content. Just to put that in persepctive, the game has sold 21.5 million units (that’s as of March 2008) making it one of the best selling games of all time.

All I can say is this:

Best. Advertising. Campaign. Ever.

Ever want to build your own MMORPG? If the time I’ve spent hanging out in the various gaming sections on Yahoo!Answers is any indication (no, I really don’t have any life at all…) quite a few people do. Well, that, and they want to know how to pirate games, but since I disagree on moral grounds with the latter, we’ll concentrate on the former.

Personally, I’ve never really had the desire to go nuts making my own game. I did it once, for a competition, and that was enough. I prefer to play them, and for my daily dose of geekiness, I’ll stick to PHP, thank you very much. But I know a lot of budding game developers out there are just dying to make their own game, so here’s something that might help them along.

MMORPG Tycoon. It’s a free download, and it’s unique in that it’s a game where the object is to… um… create a game. Think Railroad Tycoon, but even more nerdy. The player must make a popular online game (and turn a profit) by balancing in-game elements, business expenses, and technical details like servers ‘n such.

Just to be clear, now… you’re not actually creating a game per se… you’re playing a game about creating a game that people in the game play (how’s that for recursive gaming?).

If you’re interested, you can read more about it (and download a copy… it’s free!) here. You may also want to hit up the official site.

So… Nintendo is suing Nyko.

I can’t exactly say that I’m shocked. As anal as companies are about their patents and licensing these days, I’m amazed that third party controllers can even exist anymore.

The backstory on this is that Nyko decided to make something that Nintendo wasn’t making… a wireless Nunchuck peripheral for the Wii-Remote. Personally, I think it was a great idea. That cord is just a giant pain in the butt and kind of defeats the whole point of a freakin’ wireless controller (and it’s REALLY annoying if you have cats…).

So naturally, what does Nintendo do? Files suit saying that the design of Nyko’s add-on infringes on it’s trademarked design… which, granted, it does. But rather than working out a licensing deal with Nyko, Nintendo wants a cash settlement and a cease and desist on sales of the nunchuck.

Of course, it’s wholly possible (and fairly likely) that Nintendo is working on a wireless nunchuck of their own, but in this case, it’s their own damn fault Nyko beat them to the punch. Nintendo has been dragging it’s feet on Wii peripherals for ages now. The thing’s been out for going on two years, and there’s still nothing first party that makes use of the Wii’s USB ports. There’s no external hard drive, no wireless Wii-remote add-ons, and for a long time, there was no USB wired ethernet adaptor from Nintendo themselves, despite the demand for such products.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my Wii, but come on Nintendo… get in tune with the current generation of gamers. We were playing on the PSX while the N64 sank into virtual obscurity. The GameCube was great, but the PS2 and the XBOX spoiled us. The PS3 and the 360 have spoiled us even more. Nowadays gamers expect to have the option of expanding their gameplay experience if they so choose, and if the first party doesn’t provide, you better believe a third party will.

I think a large part of Nintendo’s problem is that they have been very first-party centric since the days of the NES. Unfortunately, that mindset isn’t going to fly forever, and suing the people who fill the void won’t make the gamers happy.

That being said, if you want one, you might want to grab it now.

MGS4 hits on June 12… so be ready at 11:59pm on June 11.

Courtesy of Gamestop.com the list of Gamestop/EB Games stores that will be holding a midnight launch for Metal Gear Solid 4 has hit the net. Champaign is way down there on page 9 of the PDF file, but the EB on Green Street in campus town made the list.

The Best Buy on 2103 N Veterans Pkwy in Bloomington will also be open at midnight for MGS4, but sadly our local one will not.

If you know of any more area stores that are having a midnight launch for the game, the comments section is anxious to hear from you! So prepare to line up on June 11 to Snake (and I will not apologize for that pun) your copy of MGS4 when the clock strikes midnight.