Hideo Kojima has revealed that the Western version of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker will be the 'uncut' version, much to his disappointment.

Kojima revealed on Twitter last night that the PSP Metal Gear had a scene removed from the Japanese version in order to keep it from getting an 18 rating equivalent in the country.

Kojima says that the PSP is supported by a younger audience and so during Peace Walker's production the staff made the effort to avoid 'grotesque' scenes.

However, there's "a certain scene", a "standard element" that's "absolutely necessary for MGS," that apparently could not make it under a 15 rating equivalent in Japan, so they had it removed.

The European and North American versions of the game are the original version without the adjustments made for the Japanese version.

Kojima expectedly isn't happy about the need to remove content from his game. He wrote: "There's tolerance for fantasy games, but for games where you show war or real violence between people, you apparently can't complain about anything. With this, it seems impossible to communicate something through games."

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...VG-General-RSS ...

Crysis 2 developer Crytek has for the first time revealed an interest in the burgeoning mobile game market – but the group’s CEO fears for the future of the App Store.
Cevat Yerli told Develop that “the social and mobile spaces are certainly something we’ve been looking at for a while now”, though the studio co-founder balanced his optimism with a large quantity of caution on the future of App Store games.
“I think the App Store changes the perception of game prices, which I really don’t like. It’s pushing out games at such a low price that it distorts the perception of what a game should be priced at,” he said.


“iPad and iPhone are both doing a real disservice to game prices by allowing games at such low price points – it is an issue the industry has to address at some point.”
In an interview with Develop, CryEngine managing director Carl Jones concurred, adding that the App Store is “so saturated now, that a lot of iPhone developers won’t be making a second game. They just aren’t getting a return.”
Yerli continued: “These games launch low as well. I mean, an iPhone game will launch at maybe $1.99 and go down from there. If the prices were higher, the store would be less crowded, have a higher competitive pressure, higher quality and better returns.”
He also foresaw a knock-on effect that the App Store may have for handheld games, full retail titles, and perhaps, future Crytek titles.
“The App Store games are under such pressure that, to make money out of it I would find very challenging. If you look at someone who now takes a casual interest in games; they can get their iPhone and iPad games for something like $4.99, and that drives down sales on mobile platforms, and that in turn will drive down sales of handhelds, and eventually all this pressure will drive down the prices of full console retail games.
“That in turn could put all sorts of pressures on how the games are made. Perhaps in the future, the big retail games will take two hours to complete. Maybe in the future – let’s say we develop Crysis 5 – that game might be a two-hour game selling for $4.99.
Yerli wouldn’t commit explicitly to any plans to release a mobile game in the future. In the interview he said that the App Store’s pricing policy had not put the studio off mobile game development, adding that “we’ll have to see what time brings, but that’s all I can say right now.”

http://www.casualgaming.biz/news/300...-Stores-future ...

Apple is rumoured to be preparing to launch a new version of the iPhone on June 22nd.
According to various reports, the firm has booked the date at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, which it has used for numerous hardware launches in the past, most recently with the iPad.
Speculation towards the new hardware launched kicked up a a gear after Apple unveiled its latest mobile operating system last week.
“iPhone OS 4 is the fourth major release of the world’s most advanced mobile operating system,” said Steve Jobs at the launch. “We’re delivering over 100 new features, including multitasking, folders, a unified inbox, deeper Enterprise support, and an iPhone version of our iBooks reader and online iBookstore.”

http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/33442...-for-June-22nd ...

Redspotgames press release:

Oh course this begs the question, how many units were made? ...

The folks at mental_floss magazine always said reading their publication will make you smarter. They never expected it could make someone a quick $31,600.

Last month, Tanner Sandlin of Austin, Texas, read a mental_floss article about rare video games that had been republished on CNN.com. Mr. Sandlin recognized one of the games – Air Raid for the Atari 2600 – and headed for his garage. After finding the thirteenth known copy of Air Raid, he put it on eBay, and on April 10th, the game sold for $31,600 – the second-highest price ever paid for a video game.

Sandlin said he paid between $5 and $10 for Air Raid in the mid-1980s at a store called Tuesday Morning in Arlington, Texas. He still had the original packaging, which gave him the only known complete copy of the game in existence.

Oddly enough, Sandlin remembered that the game wasn't all that fun. In fact, the only reason he still had it was because it was so bad. He and his friends used to borrow games from each other all the time – sometimes you'd get your game back, sometimes you wouldn't. Back then no one else wanted Air Raid.

Sandlin's not complaining now.

When mental_floss asked what he intended to do with the money, he wasn't quite sure. He did know that he wanted to buy something tangible; something he could point at it and say, "I bought that with a video game!" ...

Activision may have been too generous with its pricing for the first Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 downloadable content (DLC).

Electronic Entertainment Design and Research analyst Jesse Divnich told IGN that Activision could have priced the Stimulus Package higher than $15 and still achieve its record first week sales.

"The accepted commercial success benchmark for DLC for a console game is 20% of the install base," said Divnich. "The stimulus map pack was able to reach that benchmark in just a week, and should reach 30 – 35% (of Modern Warfare 2 owners purchasing the add-on) through its lifetime,"

"It is evident that 2.5 million Xbox Live players felt that $15 was either just right or a good bargain and given the enormous quantity sold (2.5 million), I'd argue that Activision could have charged more and still obtain the same results," he added.

Divnich said the $5 price increase may pose a problem for Activision, however, as it continues to release more downloadable content in the future.

"Unfortunately, now Modern Warfare 2 consumers are anchored with the calculation that 5 maps equal $15, so deviating from that will be difficult for future Modern Warfare 2 DLC content," he explained. "However, Activision could employ some psychological tricks, maybe 5 new maps (no remakes) for $20? Or 5 maps and 2 skins for $20?"

"Whatever the case, you can bet that DLC prices are going to rise to the point where pricing reaches its most optimum in relation to demand," Divnich added.

Divnich said it comes down to what consumers feel is the best value proposition for their dollars, and that choice will ultimately decide what publishers charge for downloadable content.

"Of course the rate hike from $10 to $15 was met with many complaints from consumers, but the commercial success makes it evident that gamers felt the price tag was a good deal," said Divnich.

"It's not a rate hike on a necessity such as electricity or water where consumers have no choice but to accept higher prices. Consumers have a choice and there are plenty of available options if you felt that $15 was too much for 5 maps."

"The consumer has spoken," he said.

http://uk.xboxlive.ign.com/articles/108/1082840p1.html ...

Any seasoned gamer who owns a Wii is probably familiar with this scenario. Family has come to visit and so you bust out the “Wii Sports” and start in with a round of boxing. You, with years of gaming under your belt, hold the motion controllers in your hands and punch the air with careful precision and thoughtful timing. Meanwhile, your 6-year-old niece grips the controllers with pint-sized zeal and flails her arms with all the thought and precision of a goose on fire … and thusly proceeds to beat you at this game time and time again.

Playing goofy games with friends and family is fun and watching people flail about is always amusing. But if you’re a gamer’s gamer, it’s not exactly the kind of experience that’s going to sell you on motion controls. As soon as your niece leaves, you may just shove the Wii into the closet to gather dust.

Nintendo’s motion controls have done the seemingly impossible: They’ve turned non-gamers into gamers in droves and they’ve made video gaming a social, family affair like never before. But meanwhile, seasoned, adult gamers — the hardcore gamers specifically — have abandoned the Wii in droves, aggravated by the lack of precision in the controls, not to mention the lack of games that cater to their interests.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36528035...cience-games// ...

A 23-year-old Connecticut man out on bail for drug and gun charges was arrested after sending threatening messages to a witness across Xbox Live. According to the New Haven Register, Anthony Hayward allegedly sent an Xbox Live message, stating "Rats die slow" and including the witness's home address, in December.

The previous summer, Hayward had been arrested after a stolen gun was found under the passenger seat of the car he was driving. The witness stated that Hayward placed it there. Hayward surrendered himself to police Tuesday and was charged with "witness tampering, intimidating a witness and two counts of second-degree harassment."

The judge set bail for this latest offense at $50,000. We set ourselves to facepalm.

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/04/14/xb...-with-witness/ ...

Ilan Spillinger, Microsoft's Xbox 360 VP, was on hand in Tel Aviv yesterday for a showcase of Project Natal. Although there wasn't much in the way of groundbreaking stuff, the resulting video does show off the motion control system's gender recognition (done through Natal's facial recognition ... you filthy child) and ability to track two players within the frame at the same time. A tipster from the audience tells us that earlier lag issues have been eradicated, although some jitter was indeed apparent when the second person stepped into Natal's field of vision. Either way, it's looking like Microsoft's Xbox 360 peripheral is progressing well toward its release near the end of this year. Go past the break to see for yourself.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/15/m...ls-eyes-video/ ...