Hilarious. Gran Turismo series creator (and professional procrastinator) Kaz Yamauchi has said that car damage - whose absence has long been the achilles heel of the venerable racing series - will be introduced "soon".

In an interview with an official Audi promo piece on the Audi R8 from earlier in the year (February), Yamauchi says that GT fans can not only expect to see in-race weather changes in the future, but "we will soon be able to simulate damage to the cars" as well.

Course, this was meant to happen in Gran Turismo 5: Prologue. Then didn't. Then it was meant to be released later, via a patch for the title. Hasn't happened. Which leads us to think he probably means it'll be introduced in Gran Turismo 5 proper. Whenever that turns up.

http://kotaku.com/5249931/gran-turis...amage-yes-soon ...

Hilarious. Gran Turismo series creator (and professional procrastinator) Kaz Yamauchi has said that car damage - whose absence has long been the achilles heel of the venerable racing series - will be introduced "soon".

In an interview with an official Audi promo piece on the Audi R8 from earlier in the year (February), Yamauchi says that GT fans can not only expect to see in-race weather changes in the future, but "we will soon be able to simulate damage to the cars" as well.

Course, this was meant to happen in Gran Turismo 5: Prologue. Then didn't. Then it was meant to be released later, via a patch for the title. Hasn't happened. Which leads us to think he probably means it'll be introduced in Gran Turismo 5 proper. Whenever that turns up.

http://kotaku.com/5249931/gran-turis...amage-yes-soon ...

Earlier this month, Tokyo's Bunkyo Gakuin University held a seminar on doujin and indie game development. On hand was Kenta Cho, freeware shmup developer.

According to Cho, there are three steps why indie games end up unfinished: "No good ideas", "Got tired of it after working on it for too long", and "The game wasn't so great after all after actually starting to make it".

Cho is considered one of the best game programmers in the work. All of his games are available free of charge on his website. I interviewed him for Arcade Mania. He's a good dude.

http://kotaku.com/5250281/three-reas...sh-their-games ...

Nintendo celebrates the first year of WiiWare titles, highlighting some of the platforms big releases while looking forward to even greater games to come.

Nintendo says that WiiWare removes the economic barriers from console game development, and the past year in WiiWare releases certainly holds true to their claim. Of the 81 WiiWare titles currently available in North America, more than half were created by small independent studios without the aid of a publisher. More than 40 developers have contributed to WiiWare so far, with games like World of Goo, BIT.TRIP BEAT, , and LIT showing off what can be accomplished on a console when publishing restrictions are relaxed.
"The first anniversary of our WiiWare service is a milestone that marks how far the service has come and how much great content is currently available," said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. "We encourage everyone to get their Wii consoles connected to the Internet so they have access to the full range of WiiWare games."
So what's in store for Wii owners in the coming year?

The list of upcoming titles is arguably far more impressive than anything that's already been released. Nicalis' Cave Story alone is enough to get the heart of any indie game fan pumping, with Super Meat Boy from Team Meat also adding a bit more flavor to the mix. Over the Top Games will be releasing Icarian Kindred Spirits, which is about a winged girl named Nyx who descends from heaven to find her lost friend Icarus in a game that might be the closest we get to a Kid Icarus sequel. Aksys follows up BIT.TRIP BEAT with BIT.TRIP CORE, and Square Enix is sure to outsell everyone with the release of Final Fantasy IV: The After Years.

So how has WiiWare treated you this year? Despite having covered the Nintendo Download nearly every week since WiiWare launched, I've only purchased two titles myself - Lost Winds and Pokemon Ranch. I've been meaning to pick up BIT.TRIP BEAT but simply haven't found the time. So that's three out of 81 that have piqued my interest. How about you folks?

http://kotaku.com/5250607/nintendo-c...ear-of-wiiware ...

Konami has announced that Wii party game Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party 2 will be out on 26th June.

You'll be able to buy the game solus or bundled with a dance mat, the square piece of plastic that people jump around on. The bundle costs around 50 quid, and the separate mats are roughly a tenner.

Matching footsteps to arrows on-screen will be only one element, however, as Konami has included Wii motion controls to make things tougher. Players can set calorie goals or tailor-make a strenuous playlist for a sweaty afternoon, we're told.

Miis can be used in-game and players can take on a friend in multiplayer. We're told there are 50 songs in total, featuring "Umbrella", "Walking on Sunshine" and "You're The One That I Want".

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/dd...rty-2-for-june ...

Sony has told Eurogamer there are no plans to release white DualShock 3 pads in the UK.

The platform holder speaks as Americans provide pictures of the controller in their great big shops, although SCEA has never confirmed the colour for the region.

Sony has offered white DualShock 3 pads across Japan for a while, however.

If there's any fire where there's this particular smoke, we expect E3 will be the place to see it. Join us from 2nd June for our tip-top coverage, including live reports from each of the platform holder conferences.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/wh...nlikely-for-uk ...

Black Bean Games has told Eurogamer that Superstars V8 Racing will be out on 26th June, costing GBP 30 for PS3/360 and GBP 20 for PC. There's also a demo planned for June.

The first official screenshots were released last week, accompanying the scraps of information offered so far. This is often a worrying sign so close to launch.

"You are absolutely right, this does have the hallmarks of something worrying," a spokesperson for Black Bean games retorted. "It is, however, simply a case of this being the first game in a franchise from a smaller publisher known for bike racing, and we wanted to ensure we released quality assets we could honestly say were from the title."

Fabio Paglianti, senior producer for developer Milestone, added: "The game has very high quality, but the licence is not so famous. So we start with a mid-price so we can show to the audience we can do a very good game, a very beautiful game, to play, to see, to watch, with a good price. Because a mid-price game with that graphics, that content is a very good game for the audience."

Paglianti said Superstars V8 has around 80 per cent of the content of a full-price title like SBK, the motorbike racing series Milestone is noted for - although the studio's racing heritage goes right back to 1995 and Screamer on PC.

Superstars V8 will be a friendly simulation racer, according to senior producer Fabio Paglianti, that will be "easy to start" and feature racing aids that can be turned on and off. One of the special features is an Orbit mode, where races can be paused and a camera flown freely around to assess positioning.

The game is based on the real-life Superstars V8 championship, where well-known racers show what road cars are capable of around a track, a bit like Top Gear but less hairy, fat and obnoxious. "The hook for the audience is to see their own car [in action]," explained Paglianti.

Superstars V8 Racing has quick-race online multiplayer for up-to 12 players, who can be substituted for bots if needs be. This is Paglianti's favourite part of the game. "It's really, really fun," he said, "it's easy to play, it's aggressive."

The AI will be no push-over, either. "The AI have the same behaviour as the human," explained Paglianti, pointing out that different drivers have different skills as well as different cars.

"It's a very good game, but we have absolute faith that in the future we can improve Superstar a lot," said Paglianti, who would like a bigger championship mode and a racing school mode in the future.

He also said the real-life Superstars V8 event "can become a very interesting championship for the audience", and he hopes the game - via annual releases - can grow with it.

That's the benefit of a licence like this, he argued, although he isn't allowed to smash cars up more than mildly, front and back, and has no customisation. So is a licence more important than creative freedom?

"I don't think the limits a licence can have are so high," said Paglianti. "In our view the licence is, every time, a very good opportunity to give to the players a branded game that he or she already knows. "

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/su...-in-june-cheap ...

Black Bean Games has told Eurogamer that Superstars V8 Racing will be out on 26th June, costing GBP 30 for PS3/360 and GBP 20 for PC. There's also a demo planned for June.

The first official screenshots were released last week, accompanying the scraps of information offered so far. This is often a worrying sign so close to launch.

"You are absolutely right, this does have the hallmarks of something worrying," a spokesperson for Black Bean games retorted. "It is, however, simply a case of this being the first game in a franchise from a smaller publisher known for bike racing, and we wanted to ensure we released quality assets we could honestly say were from the title."

Fabio Paglianti, senior producer for developer Milestone, added: "The game has very high quality, but the licence is not so famous. So we start with a mid-price so we can show to the audience we can do a very good game, a very beautiful game, to play, to see, to watch, with a good price. Because a mid-price game with that graphics, that content is a very good game for the audience."

Paglianti said Superstars V8 has around 80 per cent of the content of a full-price title like SBK, the motorbike racing series Milestone is noted for - although the studio's racing heritage goes right back to 1995 and Screamer on PC.

Superstars V8 will be a friendly simulation racer, according to senior producer Fabio Paglianti, that will be "easy to start" and feature racing aids that can be turned on and off. One of the special features is an Orbit mode, where races can be paused and a camera flown freely around to assess positioning.

The game is based on the real-life Superstars V8 championship, where well-known racers show what road cars are capable of around a track, a bit like Top Gear but less hairy, fat and obnoxious. "The hook for the audience is to see their own car [in action]," explained Paglianti.

Superstars V8 Racing has quick-race online multiplayer for up-to 12 players, who can be substituted for bots if needs be. This is Paglianti's favourite part of the game. "It's really, really fun," he said, "it's easy to play, it's aggressive."

The AI will be no push-over, either. "The AI have the same behaviour as the human," explained Paglianti, pointing out that different drivers have different skills as well as different cars.

"It's a very good game, but we have absolute faith that in the future we can improve Superstar a lot," said Paglianti, who would like a bigger championship mode and a racing school mode in the future.

He also said the real-life Superstars V8 event "can become a very interesting championship for the audience", and he hopes the game - via annual releases - can grow with it.

That's the benefit of a licence like this, he argued, although he isn't allowed to smash cars up more than mildly, front and back, and has no customisation. So is a licence more important than creative freedom?

"I don't think the limits a licence can have are so high," said Paglianti. "In our view the licence is, every time, a very good opportunity to give to the players a branded game that he or she already knows. "

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/su...-in-june-cheap ...

Majesco has announced that its Cooking Mama franchise has sold a combined 4 million units in the United States.

According to the publisher, combined sales of the five titles in the Cooking Mama franchise reached the 4 million milestone in less than three years, starting with the original Cooking Mama on the Nintendo DS.

"We are thrilled to reach this significant milestone," said Majesco CEO Jesse Sutton. "Majesco's number one franchise continues to resonate with gamers of all ages and genders."

Follow-up titles to the original Cooking Mama, originally released September of 2006, include Cooking Mama: Cook Off and Cooking Mama World Kitchen for the Wii, and two additional DS titles, Cooking Mama 2: Dinner with Friends and Gardening Mama. Each of these games was developed by Cooking Mama Limited, originally known as Office Create prior to the series' success.

The franchise generated 1.6 million sales as of January 2008, a number that has more than doubled since that time.

"We will continue to explore ways to expand the Mama brand with innovative and compelling products that offer new entertainment experiences," said Sutton.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-million-in-us ...