Joystiq

Look, we know, alright? Cliff "Not CliffyB" Bleszinski has a lot to say, and as such, he ends up in the headlines a bit more than anyone could expect. But how can we resist when he says such interesting stuff, like what he said during a recent interview with Develop. He dropped some pretty serious hints about the future of shooters -- and in turn, his own franchise, Gears of War. "I had a conversation with Harvey Smith – one of the lead designers on Deus Ex – and said to him the future of shooters is RPGs," the Cliffster said during the interview. "He said he completely agreed."

So, Deus Ex of War with RPG elements confirmed? Not quite. Bleszinski made sure to mention immediately afterward, "One could wean that from the comments I made earlier about the future of shooters is RPGs and see where things are going with us. It depends on where things go." Here's hoping "things go" right back to work on the game and less of the gum flapping!

(Just joshin' ya, Cliffy. We still love you.)

Folks, it's time to break out the party hats and noise makers because, just as expected, Bit.Trip: Core is the 100th WiIWare game to release on the service. Why, we remember our little pal doing finger paintings and learning to ride a bike like it was yesterday. They grow up so fast!

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Remember a couple weeks ago, when Ars Technica's trusty, eerily accurate "mole" prophesied that the 80GB PS3 would be ushered off store shelves in order to be replaced by the 160GB model, ultimately leading to the introduction of the oft-rumored PS3 slim? Remember when he (or she) said the 80GB model would have boosted sales thanks to the creation of new, attractive bundles? Did you notice the image above? Do you see where we're going with this?

One week after releasing an 80GB bundle containing Wall-E and LittleBigPlanet, Best Buy will supposedly be upping the ante with the package you see above, which includes Killzone 2 and Metal Gear Solid 4. Said photo was sent in to Kotaku from a Best Buy employee, and several other Best Buyers have confirmed its legitimacy. We won't know for sure until the bundle hits store shelves, but it certainly looks like the ol' "mole" might have another notch in his accurate-prediction-belt.

Update: We've received confirmation from two Best Buy employees stating the bundle is real. One employee's store anticipates the bundle will go on sale within the next week (possibly on Sunday), while the other employee says the bundle is on sale in his store in Louisiana. They claim the price of the bundle is the standard $399 price point for the 80GB system. We recommend asking your local store if it's carrying the bundle, and finding out when it'll hit shelves! Thanks, guys!

After the announcement of Two Worlds II, we assumed -- erroneously, it turns out -- that developer Reality Pump had ditched the subtitle attached to the previously announced Two Worlds: The Temptation, and gone with a number. In reality, there was a lot more to it than that.

The short version, from publisher Zuxxez PR director Joerg Schindler: "The Temptation had been canceled due to technical outdating [sic]. We use a complete new engine for Two Worlds II."

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Xbox European Community Manager Graeme Boyd tweeted word that 1 vs. 100 will begin its beta in the UK on July 10, with France and Germany joining on July 12. There is currently no information about 1 contra 100, 1 contro 100, 1 tegenover 100, 1 против 100 nor any other territories.

The US version is also currently still in beta, but begins offering "skill-based prizes" on July 10 (this Friday). Oh, and a word of advice for our European friends: Never trust "The Brain!"

• UK beta details
• German beta details

Atlus has announced that From Software's PlayStation 3 action-RPG, Demon's Souls, will be released in North America on October 6. Of course, Atlus is throwing extra stuff into the package, in this case an art book, for pre-ordering.

But it is also going beyond its usual Atlus Spoils content and offering a "deluxe edition," with a 150-page strategy guide and a fancy slipcover for $69.99. According to Atlus, pre-orders for both versions will begin on July 8. Giving away extra stuff seems like a smart way to entice a repeat purchase out of the many Demon's Souls players who already imported the English-language Asian edition of the game.

FCC documents originally believed to have revealed that the PSP Go had a 480MHz processor -- over 40% more than the PSP (1000-3000) -- were actually talking about another part of the device ... the USB. Sony Computer Entertainment has stated that those extra megahertz are being used to clock the USB transfer and not the CPU.

So, other than the body and a slew of new accessories, it appears the PSP Go continues to be the same as its non-flipping cousin -- at least the processor won't put any extra drain on the handheld's batttery.

[Thanks, Rooshma]

Unlike the previous week, the last seven days were actually fairly slow. But we still have some news and exclusive articles for the PC gaming crowd to check out:
Exclusive articles

• Microsoft Games For Windows Interview: We chat with the marketing manager of their PC gaming team to find out more about their future plans.
• The Top 10 Biggest PC Game News Stories of June 2009: We look back at a particularlly busy month for gaming news.
• Light of Altair review: We give our final verdict to the recent indie space strategy game.
• Mac Monday: Our weekly look at Mac games takes a gander at the space action title Escape Velocity Nova
• Boot Disk: Our retro PC game features looks back at 3DO's turn based strategy game Heroes of Might and Magic 2.
• Big Ideas: Our look at game themes wonders if games should move away from the typical fantasy setting.
• Freeware Friday: Our look at free PC games this week checks out the space shooter title Tyrian.

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We have the extreme misfortune of writing this piece whilst still in the dank, viscid clutches of July 5th -- a 24-hour period universally accepted as the worst day ever. There's nothing pleasant about nursing broken ribs obtained during feverish slip n' sliding, nor is there anything worth celebrating in that $300 receipt for the illegal explosives you acquired last night -- yes, they were beautiful, but they were so brief. That money could have been spent on more important things, such as rent, or rib-doctor bills.

On this crummiest of days, it's as important as ever to try and find the silver lining in your life's costly, nauseating rain clouds. Sure, your highly illegal "Bottle Rocket Surprise" maneuver didn't work as well as you'd intended, but now that you don't have any hair left on your arms, you'll be able to swim really fast, like Michael Phelps, who is awesome.

Oh, and we've got Japanese Hardware Sales for you to digest! They may not be as juicy or flavorful as the nine Cheddarwurst you consumed last night, but at least they won't attempt to escape your body during the slimy alien autopsy scene in the middle of your annual viewing of Independence Day.
- DSi: 39,885 579 (1.43%)
- PSP: 26,789 1,095 (3.93%)
- Wii: 21,790 2,404 (12.40%)
- PS3: 11,310 951 (9.18%)
- Xbox 360: 5,766 968 (14.37%)
- DS Lite: 5,595 64 (1.16%)
- PS2: 3,578 192 (5.09%)

[Source: Media Create]

See: The hairless archives

If you have a comprehensive knowledge of Japanese literature or flight combat games that never saw an American release, you probably already know about The Sky Crawlers. We fell in love with Namco-Bandai's book-to-game adaptation when we were teased with tons of gameplay footage last year -- sadly, the game was never visited by the localization fairy, and never made it to the States. Since then, we've been sad all over.

Fortunately, a recent XSEED press release has turned our melancholy into melan-jolly (ugh) -- the capitalized company has purchased the North American publishing rights for The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces, due out this holiday season on the Wii. The game, which was developed by Ace Combat veterans Project Aces, will have players using the Wiimote and Nunchuck to simulate actual flight controls. It's a bit overdue, but we're thrilled about the Americanization of this aeronautical gem nonetheless.

Things are on the up and up for Super Meat Boy developer Edmund McMillen. After releasing This is a Cry for Help last year and subsequently announcing SMB for WiiWare, he put his indie cred on display for the world in adding Braid's Tim to his upcoming game. And now, during a live video interview with Bytejacker, McMillen revealed The Behemoth's Alien Hominid as another playable character!

Quickly panning to his computer screen during the interview and teasing it, one of our wonderful readers snagged a screen grab so we could share it with the world. Now the real question: Castle Crashers characters playable as well? Hmmmm, McMillen? Hmmm?

(We love you. Please?)

Update: It was pointed out by a few astute Game Informer readers in the comments section that Alien Hominid was actually revealed as a playable character in a recent issue. Sorry, folks!

(Thanks, Zack!)

You're probably getting sick of our frequent comparisons between the God of War series and EA's upcoming poem-to-game conversion of Dante's Inferno. Well, GameTrailers recently got its hands on the first Infern-al gameplay footage to hit the internets, so now we invite you to make your own judgment on the two franchise's similarities. The video's posted after the break -- go ahead and watch it, we'll wait.

...

See? We know! Crazy, right?

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When Electronic Gaming Monthly closed its doors back in January, it not only left behind an issue that never got published but also a brand that gamers everywhere easily recognized. The magazine's original founder, Steve Harris, recently bought back the rights to the magazine (as well as online rights), and this week he spoke with Publishing Executive to detail a bit of his plans for his new venture.

"The new Electronic Gaming Monthly will let you take your magazine and its content from print to computer to wireless devices -- even to your television," he says in the piece, continuing, "Content will be delivered via a digital device included with each issue." He doesn't go on to explain whether he means a thumb drive or a CD or what, but we're just as curious as you are to know more about the rebirth of a magazine we grew up reading -- and hated after hours spent trying to find Sheng Long. Curse you, early-to-mid-90s game magazine editors!

[Via Bitmob]

VideoGamer.com's recent interview with Blizzard's Tom Chilton, game director for the totally underground MMO World of Warcraft, is full of interesting tidbits for the WoW-innoculated -- info on the possible new races and classes that could make their way into the new expansions, in-game territories yet to be explored, etc. However, one blurb from the interview has the online gaming world a-buzzin' -- probably because said blurb references the possibility of a free-to-play, micro-transaction business model for the monolithic title.

Don't get your dander up too fast -- Chilton merely said, "I certainly think it's possible that we could do some kind of micro-transaction stuff," later adding that, "whether we ever shift to a free-to-play model is really too hard to say at this point." It's unlikely they'll make the switch as long as the game continues to be a veritable assembly line for giant bags of money, however. What do you guys think? Would you support a transaction-based WoW?