Miss Sony's PlayStation press conference? You're not the only one. Fortunately, G4 was there, cameras in hand, lens pointed directly at the stage, moments captured, off-screen video shot.

What's worth seeing? Previews of Resistance Retribution for the PSP, as well as inFamous and Killzone 2 for the PlayStation 3 with brand-new video, first previewed at CES — some of it you may have seen leak on to the internet in previous posts.

There's also video coverage of the Resistance 2 and Resistance Retribution connectivity that Sony revealed at the most recent Tokyo Game Show, if you haven't had the opportunity to be wowed by that technology.

North American fans eager for the next installment of the Star Ocean saga now have a week less to wait, as Square Enix pushes up the release date for Star Ocean: The Last Hope.

Originally scheduled to release in North American on March 3rd, North American Xbox 360 owners can now look forward to living the adventures of Edge Maverick and company come February 27th, according to an email alert sent out by Square Enix. The Japanese and European releases look to remain intact, holding firm at February 19th and April 24th respectively.

Good news to be sure, though February is already rather crowded as it is. I'm just hoping it's good enough to wash away the slightly bitter taste left in my mouth by The Last Remnant and Infinite Undiscovery.

‘Star Ocean: The Last Hope’ Release Moved Up a Week in US; Now Set for 2/24/09 Release [GameCyte]

Thanks to this week's sponsors: Audible, BJ's Beer Pong, Coraline, ESET, Kaplan, New Egg, Pernod, Playstation 3, Sharp, Zune. To become an advertiser, click here.

Halo Wars! No, Robbie Bach isn't bumping up the release and giving me early code, I'll just be playing it as much as possible at CES. That and some Killzone 2. Embargoes be damned!

Surely there's no embargo on the six level preview at Sony's CES booth, so I'll be plopping down in front of one of those Bravia monitors and firing away at Guerrilla Games' upcoming shooter. Then I'll be scouring the CES show floor for things to occupy my time, whether they be crossbow shaped Wii Remote holders or 3D versions of last year's biggest hits.

What about you, dear reader? Will you be playing any games this wintry weekend?

Criterion continues to rock the 80's as they reveal the remaining three Legendary DLC Cars for Burnout Paradise, which bear striking similarities to the most well-known vehicles of that decade.

Carrying on the proud tradition of the Ecto-1 from Ghostbusters is the Manhattan Spirit, a slow but stunt-friendly vehicle with a hidden secret. Then we have the Carson Nighthawk, which has the slick look and strobing lights of Michal Knight's ride. Get it? KITT Carson? Tee hee! Last, but definitely not least, there's the Cavalry Bootlegger. It may bear the Mexican flag instead of the Confederate flag, but old 01 is every bit the General Lee from Hazzard County.

The three new Legendary Cars join the previously announced Jansen 88, which of course pays homage to the DeLorean from Back to the Future. Never before have I wanted to pay for DLC so badly.

Criterion Unveils 3 More Legendary Cars [Criterion - Thanks Jamezorzlolz!]

Despite revenue of $7.5 billion in December, Best Buy still saw a drop in video game sales.

“While the environment continues to be as challenging as we expected, consumers are being drawn to brands that they trust, and they are responding to our customer-centric model. In this light, we believe the market share gains we’ve been making will be sustained," said Brad Anderson, vice chairman and chief executive officer of the national retailer.

Best Buy's entertainment software revenue category, which made up a quarter of Best Buy's revenue in December and includes movies, music and games, saw a drop of 12.2 percent. Video gaming sales saw a single digit drop, which the company blamed on a drop in console sales.

While video game sales seem to be doing fairly well in the current economy, they're certainly not recession proof, it seems.

Games! Or, I should say, games. Mostly older games, but games nonetheless. CES isn't the place for four year-old tech like the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. But that doesn't mean they're totally absent.

Killzone 2, for example, is playable in Sony's big booth, as is Resistance: Retribution. Microsoft brought pre-release builds of Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II and Halo Wars. While much of what Sony has in its booth shows off fancier tech — like PSP and PS3 connectivity and a massive stereo system — Microsoft seems more content to just give Lips and Banjo Kazooie floor presence.

The full list of games brought to CES by the big boys — there are plenty of booths with Rock Band and Guitar Hero set ups scattered about — is after this. We're off to go play some of this stuff!

Microsoft

• Gears of War 2
• Fable II
• Lips
• Fallout 3
• Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts
• Halo Wars
• Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II
• Scene It?
• Xbox Live Community Games

Sony

• Killzone 2
• LittleBigPlanet
• Resistance 2
• Resistance Retribution
• Home
• Super Stardust Portable
• Guitar Hero III
• PlayStation Network Games (The Last Guy, Pixeljunk Eden, etc.)

Atlus delivers old school beat 'em up gameplay with a badass 70's cop show vibe to the palm of your hand, announcing Tokyo Beat Down, coming in March to the Nintendo DS.

It's a 3D beat 'em up with shoot 'em up tendencies, allowing players to punch, kick, shoot, stab, parley, and explode their way out of any situation as they fight to restore justice to the mean streets of Tokyo as a member of the Beast Cops. They'll be able to play through the game as three different characters, with story branches leading to multiple endings, though no one really plays this sort of game for the story, do they?

Of course not. They play them to be the badass copy in a white blazer, and you'll find plenty of white blazers in the screens below. Tokyo Beat Down hits the Nintendo DS hard on March 10th.

ATLUS DELIVERS HARDBOILED RIGHTEOUSNESS THIS MARCH WITH OLD SCHOOL BEAT 'EM UP TOKYO BEAT DOWN™ FOR NINTENDO DS™
In this city, you shoot first, punch second, kick third, break for lunch, and then ask questions... if there's time...

IRVINE, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 9, 2009 - Atlus U.S.A., Inc. today vowed to deliver great justice and honor to Nintendo DS™ with Tokyo Beat Down™, a tale of greed, corruption, and good old-fashion violence. Experience the sweet nostalgia of classic coin-op beat 'em ups, where you must rely on your fists, firearms, and anything else that happens to be lying around to beat the sin out of Tokyo's criminals. What do you do when thugs and hoodlums put peace and freedom in jeopardy? YOU BEAT THEM DOWN!

Tokyo Beat Down is scheduled to be unleashed on March 10, 2009 with an MSRP of $29.99.

For more information about Tokyo Beat Down, visit the official website:
http://www.atlus.com/tokyobeatdown

About Tokyo Beat Down
Who has it within them to rise up against the ever growing threat of violence, crime, and terrorism on the streets of Tokyo? Enter the Beast Cops, tireless servants of justice. These men and women struggle night and day for the heart of the city. They'll match any villain punch for punch, kick for kick, bullet for bullet. They're Beast Cops because they will do whatever it takes, pay any price, inflict as much damage as necessary, in order to restore peace and security to the streets of Tokyo.

Key Features

* Beat 'em up that lets you shoot 'em up - When fisticuffs aren't enough, add guns to deliver a whole new brand of justice to the mean streets of Tokyo. Pick up a variety of weapons, ranging from handguns to rocket launchers, for intense action on each level.
* Badass 70's cop show vibe - Outrageous style, over-the-top substance, and no holds barred hardboiled police action mix with madcap humor and sharply-written dialogue. Dishing out justice to the seamy underbelly of Tokyo has never been this satisfying.
* Multiple characters & endings - This sordid tale of Tokyo's criminal set unfolds through the eyes of three different cops with unique play styles. Story branches lead to multiple endings that determine whether you'll get your shot to beat down the ultimate crime boss.

Tokyo Beat Down has been rated "T" for Teen with Alcohol Reference, Blood, Mild Language, Mild Suggestive Themes, Use of Tobacco, and Violence by the ESRB.

A woman dressed up as elven princess Firiona Vie stood off to the side looking uncomfortable at Sony Online Entertainment's private CES unveiling of the EverQuest: The 10th Anniversary Collector’s Edition book cover.

Yes, Everquest is 10 years old, and Sony Online Entertainment is celebrating their baby with a massive hardcover book detailing the rise and leveling off of their biggest, brightest MMO star. At a private event held at CES, the company presented the cover art for EverQuest: The 10th Anniversary Collector’s Edition, a gorgeous piece of work created by master artist Donato Giancola. Meanwhile, Firiona Vie stood to the right, possibly hoping that no one who knew her would ever see this picture.

It's actually a rather nice costume, and the book sounds interesting as well. Just not quite as interesting. It'll be available later this year from BradyGames for $49.99.

EVERQUEST®: THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTOR’S EDITION BOOK EXCLUSIVE COVER ART UNVEILED AT CES IN LAS VEGAS

Sony Online Entertainment Kicks Off Anniversary Celebration for Legendary Online Video Game

LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Jan. 9, 2008 — It has been a decade since Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE) rewrote the rules and forever changed the video game industry with its massively multiplayer online game, EverQuest®.

To celebrate the historic milestone, today SOE held a private event at the Consumer Electronics Show to unveil the exclusive cover art being used for an upcoming book that recounts how the story of Norrath became a global phenomenon and attracted millions of players.

The art for EverQuest: The 10th Anniversary Collector’s Edition, created by master artist Donato Giancola, shows iconic elf princess Firiona Vie leading a band of adventurers into battle against an evil wizard and his enormous dragon ally in the Swamp of No Hope.

“We are thrilled that a talented artist such as Donato has created an exclusive masterpiece in honor of the celebration of the EQ legacy,” said John Smedley, president of Sony Online Entertainment. “The cover brings together a special selection of EverQuest artwork and documents the quintessence of an intensive creative process over the last decade.”

EverQuest: The 10th Anniversary Collector’s Edition celebrates EverQuest’s legacy by taking a look at the past, present and future of the brand. The book, written by veteran video game book author Rusel DeMaria, includes essays and photographs of the events, products, personalities and art that graced the world of Norrath over the years. Rich in vivid detail, each page will help tell the story of the evolution and its place in our culture.

SOE will also hold special events around the country in honor of the 10th Anniversary of EverQuest throughout 2009.

The book, published by BradyGames, will be available for purchase online and at select retailers in North America later this year for a suggested retail price of $49.99. Pre-orders are available at www.bradygames.com/everquest10.

About the artist:

Donato Giancola balances modern abstract concepts with realism in his paintings to bridge the worlds of figurative and non-representational arts. From “The Lord of the Rings” to Gericault’s ”Raft of the Medusa,” Donato’s influences encompass visits to the local game shops and pilgrimages to the greatest of museums. Donato recognizes the significant cultural role played by visual art and makes personal efforts to contribute to the expansion and appreciation of the science fiction and fantasy genre that extend beyond the commercial commissions of his clients. To those ends, the artist teaches at the School of Visual Arts in New York City and appears at various institutions, tournaments and conventions, from San Diego to Rome to Moscow, where he performs demonstrations in oil paint and lectures on his aesthetics.

About the author:

Rusel DeMaria is the author or coauthor of more than 60 books, most of them in the gaming field, including Myst: The Official Strategy Guide, which sold more than 1.2 million copies, as well as one of the most comprehensive histories of the industry, High Score!: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games. He founded and served as creative director for the most successful strategy guide publishing imprint in the industry and is a former senior editor and columnist for several national video game magazines.

About Sony Online Entertainment:

Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE) is a recognized worldwide leader in massively multiplayer online games, with hundreds of thousands of subscribers around the globe. SOE creates, develops and provides compelling

entertainment for the personal computer, online, game console and wireless markets. Known for its blockbuster franchises and hit titles including EverQuest®, EverQuest® II, Champions of Norrath®, Untold Legends™ and PlanetSide®, as well as for developing Star Wars Galaxies™, SOE continues to redefine the business of online gaming and the creation of active player communities while introducing new genres on various entertainment platforms. Headquartered in San Diego, CA, with additional development studios in Austin, TX, Seattle, WA, Denver, CO, and Taiwan, SOE has an array of cutting-edge games in development.

SOE, the SOE logo, EverQuest and PlanetSide are registered trademarks of Sony Online Entertainment LLC. Untold Legends and Legends of Norrath are trademarks of Sony Online Entertainment LLC. All other trademarks and trade names are properties of their respective owners.

As mentioned in the Test Realm patch notes we posted on last month, a blue Blizzard post confirms that they are indeed removing restrictions to allow players to create Death Knights on any server.

Previously you could only create a Death Knight on a server which housed a level 55 or higher character on your account. The next update takes away that restriction, allowing Death Knights to pop up all over the place...well, almost.

With the next minor content update for World of Warcraft, we will be opening up death knight character creation so that if the account you play already has a level 55 or higher character in World of Warcraft, you will be able to create a new death knight on any realm within your region. Please keep in mind that restrictions still apply to new, non-transfer realms such that death knights cannot be created on those realms until you level a character to level 55 on that realm or until transfer restrictions are removed.

Those of you who paid $25 to transfer a 55+ character to a friend's server in order to play Death Knights with them before this announcement remain completely screwed.

Account-Wide Death Knight Creation [World of Warcraft Forums via WorldofWar.net]

I've been all over the place on Rolando. When I first saw the idea for this LocoRoco-esque iPhone game I was eager to play. When it finally arrived, it struck me as too LocoRoco.

But a tilt-control puzzle game with catchy music and interesting art should be a sure thing, right?

Loved
Concept: Combing the tilt-a-world idea of LocoRoco with the ability to touch the screen to interact with the landscape and those ball-like Rolandos is a perfect fit for the iPhone. The game's on-the-fly save system, which updates the home screen's icon for the game, is another nice touch. It's obvious this is a game plugged deeply into all of the iPhone's abilities.

Depth of Play: The game starts out feeling an awful lot like LocoRoco. In fact, it feels so much like the Playstation Portable game initially that it aggravated me. But as you work your way through the game's 36 levels, Rolando quickly comes into its own, moving past what the PSP title did to deliver a different experience, one with much more depth and difficulty.

Controls: Tilting your iPhone back and forth gets the Rolando balls rolling across the scenery. Tapping the screen gets them to jump. Pretty familiar stuff. But later on you get to draw lines that characters can roll across, explode bombs with a touch, shift conveyor belts, open trap doors, even defy gravity.

Rolando is a surprisingly deep and enjoyable game, so far the most enjoyable game I've played on the iPhone and I've played a lot. While the character design never managed to completely win me over, I eventually came to love Mikko Walamies' swirling backdrops.

The real delivery, though, is in the game's clever level design and use of the iPhone's accelerometer and multi-touch surface. This game does things that could not be done on any other gaming platform and it pulls it off without feeling like a gimmick.

Rolando was developed by Hand Circus and published by ngmoco:) on Dec. 18 for $10. Finished the game.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

Looking just as good as it did during my time with the title at the 2008 Games Convention in Leipzig, the new trailer wastes no time in getting electrified protagonist Cole into the thick of things, clinging to the sides of buses and leaping about as he serves up dish after dish of delicious electrified doom.

How many superpowers can you possibly create using electricity from the source? Check out the CES powers trailer below and see just how much Sucker Punch has managed to mix things up.

Phantasy Star fans rejoice! The Nintendo DS entry in the series that hit Japan last month is coming to America, as Sega announces Phantasy Star Zero for U.S. and European release next winter.

Phantasy Star Zero is set on an alternate Earth 200 years after a massive war called "The Great Blank" brought civilization to its knees. Humans rebuilt, as they always do, and adventures soon began to strike out beyond the boundaries of human cities in order to hunt monsters.

Players choose one of 14 customizable character types and head out into the wilderness, alone or with friends via wireless or internet play, using the DS touchscreen to scrawl helpful messages and pictures of genitalia in order to communicate.

Definitely a DS title I am looking forward to. Check out the screens below, and then settle back and wait for winter 2009 to roll around.

Phantasy Star Ø Announced For European and US Release

An All-New Phantasy Star Adventure Begins on The Nintendo DS

LONDON & SAN FRANCISCO (January 9, 2009) – SEGA® Europe Ltd. And SEGA® of America, Inc. today announced that Phantasy Star™ Ø (pronounced “zero”), the brand new Phantasy Star RPG adventure, will be coming to Europe and North America. Phantasy Star Ø is one of the most highly anticipated DS titles coming out in 2009, and will feature an innovative touch screen based Visual Chat interface, addictive action-RPG gameplay, impressive visual quality and thrilling multiplayer modes.

“The Phantasy Star series has enjoyed great success because of its intuitive gameplay, unique style and engaging online multiplayer modes, we are therefore very excited to premiere the first Phantasy Star game on the Nintendo DS™,” commented Gary Knight, European Marketing Director for SEGA Europe. “With the advanced features of the Nintendo DS, Phantasy Star Ø will thrill fans of the series but will also appeal to a new generation of gamers.”

Phantasy Star Ø takes place on an alternate Earth 200 years after the “Great Blank,” a massive war that has reduced the once-prosperous civilization to almost nothing. The surviving Humans have worked hard to exist peacefully and have rebuilt thriving cities. Those that adventure past the outskirts of these cities, Hunters, explore the vast wilderness and hunt dangerous monsters in an effort to keep their cities safe. Players will take up the role of the Hunters and select from three types of races, classes and gender for a total of 14 customisable character types. Each character type will provide a unique experience and give players access to a great range of items, armour and weapons.

Featuring over 350 unique weapons, gamers will need to venture out to combat dangerous monsters, gain experience and meet new major characters. As players explore, they will unravel the mystery of the “Great Blank” and discover a dangerous new force that must be stopped.

Featuring both wireless and full Wi-Fi multiplayer options, Phantasy Star Ø takes advantage of the touch screen capabilities of the Nintendo DS and the new Visual Chat feature. Gamers can now design their own Visual Chat commands that can be used in multiplayer modes. These Visual Chat commands will be displayed as “text bubbles” above the user’s character, enabling easy and fun communication when adventuring with friends.

Phantasy Star™ Ø will be released in Winter 2009 exclusively for the Nintendo DS, more details will be revealed in the coming months.

SOCOM: Confrontation's 1.30 update should now be available for download on your Playstation 3.

The release of the patch was proceeded by a couple-hour outage to update the servers with the new code. That's the good news. The bad news is that in order to "resolve incorrect player stats" and to correct the stats for the Trophy support, the developers cleared all player stats.

Doh, time to start over.

In an interview with Eurogamer, Fallout 3 lead producer Jeff Gardiner reveals that the Broken Steel downloadable content due out in March allow players to take their character all the way to level 30.

Along with the promised raise in the level cap to 30, Broken Steel also removes the ending for the game, allowing players to continue on in their adventure rather than having to deal with those pesky ending credits.

"Along with removing the game's 'ending' with Broken Steel, we figure raising the level cap would allow them to [enjoy the game for longer]. We plan on raising it to level 30 - but it will be a long, hard climb to get there!"

Yes, yes, we've heard the long, hard climb statement before. Bet you $10 some European WoW guild hits 30 after the DLC is released.

Bethesda to raise Fallout level cap to 30 [Eurogamer]

Blizzard has updated the official Diablo III website with a set of four bits of artwork and five new screens, one featuring an opponent that could even the bravest player pee a little.

We've seen quite a bit of Diablo III since the game was announced, so when I was first flipping through the new art I wasn't all that impressed, until I came to that one particular screenshot. That gigantic thing who stole a pair of Voldo's hand weapons from Soulcalibur? Yeah. That's one big sonofabitch, and knowing Blizzard he probably isn't the toughest foe we'll face by far. Sure it isn't as dark as the previous two titles, but hell - you couldn't see most of that guy if the sides of the screen were dimmed, and he's definitely a critter you'd want to keep your eye on.

Update: Now I'm told the big guy has already appeared in gameplay clips, but his size remains the same.

Call it hints 2.0.

Nintendo is working on a gameplay system meant to ease the pain of completing a difficult game, without watering it down so much that it turns hardcore gamers off.

The new system, described in a patent filed by Nintendo Creative Director Shigeru Miyamoto on June 30, 2008, but made public today, looks to solve the issue of casual gamers losing interest in a game before they complete it, while still maintaining the interest of hardcore gamers.

The solution would turn a game into a full-length cut scene of sorts, allowing players to jump into and out of the action whenever they wanted. But when played this way, gamers would not be able to save their progress, maintaining the challenge of completing a game without skipping or cheating. It would also allow players to bring up in-game hint videos and skip directly to particular scenes in games.

While the patent doesn't describe how the automated gameplay (referred to as "digest moving image" in the patent) would be presented to gamers, either as a true cut-scene or as a recorded play-through, it does state that the playthrough will likely come from a game developers playing of the game.

In a game, this new play style would be broken up into three options: Game, digest and scene menu, according to the patent.

Game allows gamers to play the game in the normal way, though they can bring up video hints whenever they get stuck. These hints will appear in a screen that pops up in the top right corner of the screen.

Digest allows gamers to watch a video of a game developers play through of the game, which lays out the storyline and "flow of the scenario" from beginning to the end. At any time a player can press a button to jump into the action of the scene currently being shown. This is done by loading game saves downloaded automatically through a network.

Players will start the scene with the appropriate character attribute boosts and items for that part of the game. Saving is not allowed in digest mode.

The scene menu allows gamers to skip directly to a specific scene to play, without having to watch the digest or load a saved game.

This patent, if implemented correctly, could successfully help gaming make the leap from narrative fun, to something more open-ended and free range, the first real sandbox video game.

Imagine being able to play a game with all of the benefits of characters, story and goals, but without having to spend 10 to 20 hours of your life to enjoy doing so.

Of course, that's the best case scenario. The worst, is that this turns gaming into an interactive cut-scene, removing all of pleasure of achievement from gaming and instead turning it into a glorified demo.

Kind Code [US Patent Office, via NeoGaf]

Sony Online Entertainment president John Smedley is in love with the idea of massively multiplayer games on the PlayStation 3, suggesting that one day the console will account for nearly half of the company's business.

Smedley made the statement during an interview with GameDaily regarding the evolving MMO space, explaining that the PlayStation Network's 15 million player plus players are a ripe audience for more involved gameplay experiences.

"I think a lot of the people who play PS3 games right now aren't the same people playing MMOs right now. I think [MMOs on PS3 is] going to bring in a lot of new players. There are certainly people who have consoles and PCs in their house. The difference is what they actively play. PS3 gamers are used to playing Resistance 2 instead of a shooter on the PC. I think we can bring this kind of gaming to this audience and I think it's going to be huge."

I remain skeptical about how successful an MMORPG can be on a console. Final Fantasy XI does well enough, but most users wind up getting themselves a keyboard in order to chat, and once you've got a keyboard sitting in front of you you may as well just be sitting in front of a computer. There are controller-based keypads out there, but you cannot chat as effortlessly as you could with a full keyboard. Voice chat is an option, certainly, but players who prefer to roleplay the opposite gender would be left out, barring some pretty innovative voice masking.

Still, Smedley could certainly be right. There are 15 million plus PSN users out there, and how many people still play Everquest 2 regularly? Vanguard? The Matrix Online? Star Wars Galaxies? Yeah, the PS3 could easily match that.

PS3 to Account for Half of SOE's Business, says Smedley [GameDaily]

The Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association rings in the new year with news of their first anti-piracy raid of 2009, in which they seized computers and more than 1,000 illegally copied games.

The raid occurred in Staffordshire, England, at a house that was running an illegal copied games business via online classifieds site Gumtree.com. The raid kicked off with an ELSPA investigator and a Staffordshire Trading Standards officer visiting the house of a 30 year-old unemployed man, delivering a console to be altered. While they waited, the game pirate offered them copied Xbox 360 titles, which were purchased to be analyzed.

Having enough evidence for a warrant, the house was raided earlier this week, netting the investigators more than 1,000 copied games - 700 Xbox 360 titles, 300 Wii games, and 100 for the PlayStation 2 - along with several modded consoles. The man confessed to his crimes, admitting to running the operation for two years.

And he would have continued running it if not for that damn team of ELSPA investigators and their dog. Congratulations, ELSPA, for successfully solving the mystery of the chipped 360. May the Scooby snacks flow like wine.

First Raid of 2009 Busts Chipping Operation

Computers with burners and over 1,000 illegally copied games seized in raid

Friday 9th January/... A raid at a Staffordshire house has resulted in the apprehension of an unemployed man who operated an illegal chipping service on several websites – all linked to Gumtree.com, a classified ads and community site. In an intelligence-led operation involving Staffordshire Trading Standards and investigators from ELSPA (the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association), the home of an unemployed 30 year-old man was raided this week.

Prior to the raid, an ELSPA investigator and a Trading Standards officer had visited the residence and handed over a console for alteration that would enable the console to play illegally copied games. Whilst at the property, the offender also offered the undercover investigators pirated Xbox 360 games and three rogue Xbox 360 titles were purchased. The console and games were then forensically examined to provide the evidence needed to obtain a search warrant.

Four computers with burners and more than 1,000 illegally copied games were seized in the raid – including 700 Xbox 360 games, 300 Wii titles and 100 PlayStation 2 games. Three Xbox 360 and two Nintendo Wii consoles were also seized. The offender, who cannot yet be named for legal reasons, made a full confession at the time and admitted to running the illegal operation for approximately two years.

Michael Rawlinson, managing director of ELSPA, said: “ELSPA works closely with Trading Standards across the country and we would like to thank Staffordshire Trading Standards for their excellent work in bringing this online operation to an end. Our team in the Intellectual Property Crime Unit (IPCU) will step up its fight against counterfeiters and illegal chipping services in 2009. Such illegal activity can pose real health dangers for the public and certainly deprives gamers of any proper quality control. Furthermore, it can cause the industry to lose vital income and with it jobs across the UK. “

Nigel Cotton, Senior Investigating Officer for the Staffordshire Trading Standards Department, added: ”Staffordshire County Council Trading Standards Officers will continue to take enforcement action to reduce counterfeiting to protect the people and businesses of the county. Offenders face up to ten years imprisonment and an unlimited fine. We also pursue any proceeds of crime with a view to confiscation.”

A POCA (Proceeds Of Crime Act) investigation has already begun to estimate the criminal gain from the offender’s illegal activities.

Ends.

This detailed glimpse of a bit of Halo War gameplay does more than show off the snowy terrain and unit design. We also get a chance to see how simplified they've made unit selection and description. I'm not sure if I love or hate that when you select a unit it tells you, clear as day, what that unit is good for.

To: Crecente
From: Bashcraft
RE: Hellooooo CES

Today my editor Cathy Layne passed the word that the arcade book I wrote, Arcade Mania, has gone into its second printing. I was rather flabbergasted as the book's been available outside Japan since December. And in this cratering economy? It's beyond flattering that people are spending their money on the book.

Hope it makes other publishers realize there is a market for game books from other writers. (More culture books, plze.)

Really want to thank Kotaku for supporting it (esp. you Crecente for writing the book's foreward!), everyone who has picked up a copy and everyone elsewhere who's been nice enough to write about it or write to me about it.

Also big thanks to Cathy and Andrew at Kodansha, Yuki the book's photographer and contributor and buddy Jean Snow.

Oh! And those who won the Arcade Mania contest? You'll be getting signed first editions. Not sure if that's a good thing or not, but hey, there you go.

What you missed last night
So, Which Games/Publishers Have The Best Resale Value?
Government Agent Leaks Xbox Game Proposal Online
Blizzard Can't Design A Starcraft II Unit, Want You To Decide
Nintendo Patents Show Wii-mote Originally Designed For GameCube [Update]
The Ten Biggest Selling Games In Japan For December
CES 09: Prototype Impressions: It's Been A While, Alex
Sony: We Announced Home Too Early

Retro Sabotage, back at it. Their latest work? This create-a-Mario tool, which allows you to customise a few lines of text that appear in-game as giant banners. Made of coins.

So you can fill in your name, your mum's name, a season's greeting, whatever tickles your fancy. Your imagination's the limit!

Golden Words [Retro Sabotage]

Can't appeal more directly to the soppy FFVII fan than this, a 13" statue of Cloud standing, sword over shoulder, amidst "the protecting light of Aerith's church with flowers of remembrance at his feet".

What, no bloody, lifeless Aeris corpse at his feet? You've gone soft, Sideshow Collectibles, you've gone soft.

Blu-ray won the format war. One HD game console (the PS3) already uses the format. The other one (the Xbox 360) doesn't. Microsoft says it plans to keep it that way.

We've heard this before. Microsoft isn't going Blu-ray. Still, Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's Entertainment & Devices Division, lays out three years why the company isn't keen on the format:

It’s not a feature we get a ton of requests for. We really don’t. When you ask people the list of things they want to see us spending time creating in Xbox, Blu-ray is way, way down on the list.

The second thing is, from a technical perspective, it doesn’t help us in the core of what Xbox does, which is in gaming. We can’t have publishers produce games on Blu-ray disc. Because then they won’t play on the 28 million Xboxes we’ve already shipped. So it doesn’t help us in the core gaming space.

The third thing, and this maps to all three of those, is that it costs a lot of money. And so the scenario is, OK, let me get this straight: I’m going to add something to the product that’s going to raise the cost, which means the price goes up, consumers aren’t asking for it, and by the way, my game developers can’t use it.

If HD DVD had won the format war, would Microsoft be singing this song?

Q&A: Microsoft's Robbie Bach on economy, Zune glitch and iPhone [TechFlash via VG247]

It's OK, geography fanboys. We know the UK is technically part of Europe. But we're dealing with two different dates here - one for Britain, one for the continent - so cut us some slack.

According to several British retailers, Killzone 2 will be out in Ol' Blighty on February 27. Sony aren't coming out and confirming that to the press, but since they are confirming that to retailers, that's about good enough for us.

Several territories on the continent will be getting their Killzone 2 on a little earlier, with the same sources telling Eurogamer that it's due on the mainland on February 25.

Killzone 2 out on 27th Feb - retailers [Eurogamer]

UK game publisher Eidos says Tomb Raider: Underworld sales are below forecasts. Eidos blames the cratering US economy. We blame the high kicks.

According to the BBC, North American game retailers are already selling Tomb Raider: Underworld at a sizable discount — not a bad thing if you want to buy the game, but not so good for Eidos. The company had put full year revenue forecast at somewhere between £180m and £200m.

The 2008 revenue results will actually fall between £160m and £180m. Eidos said it might have to discuss debt repayments with its lenders.

According to Eidos: "In an difficult North American economy, we have seen retailers restricting inventory levels and...products priced discounted above our expectations." Eidos isn't the first company to complain about this stinky economy and certainly won't be the last.

Lara Croft battles sales downturn [BBC]

Slim pickings this week, as the PlayStation store warms itself back up after a frosty, lonely winter. Just the one demo, some rubbish music game tracks and some practical, if unheralded, PSP content.

Pick of the bunch is probably the LotR Conquest demo, along with the PSP's Go! Explore stuff, since if you have to venture east of the Danube, you may as well do it via your PSP!

PS3 Store

Demo
LORD OF THE RINGS: CONQUEST DEMO, FREE

Packs

Rock Band
FUNK #49, £0.99/€1.49
HYMN 43, £0.99/€1.49
SPACE TRUCKIN, £0.99/€1.49
TAKE BACK THE CITY, £0.99/€1.49

Guitar Hero World Tour
REGGAE TRACK PACK, FREE
DEGENERATED’ BY BACKYARD BABIES, £1.59/€1.99
HILLBILLY DELUXE’ BY BROOKS & DUNN, £1.59/€1.99
JOHNNY’ BY DI-RECT, £1.59/€1.99
ME AND MY GANG’ BY RASCAL FLATTS, £1.59/€1.99
POR LA BOCA VIVE EL PEZ’ BY FITO Y FITIPALDIS, £1.59/€1.99
TICKS’ BY BRAD PAISLEY, £1.59/€1.99
COUNTRY TRACK PACK, £4.39/€5.49
EUROPEAN TRACK PACK 2, £4.39/€5.49

FACTION ELITE PACK, £3.19/€3.99
Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm Pack 4, FREE

Video
PLAYSTATIONSTORE EXCLUSIVE TEKKEN 6, FREE
Lord of the Rings GOOD TO BE BAD TRAILER, FREE
BRAIN CHALLENGE™ TRAILER, FREE

PSP content available to download via PS3 Store

Game
FREE RUNNING, £15.99/€19.99
Flatout Head on, £9.99/€12.99

Packs
Go! Explore
Eastern Europe Map Pack, £31.99/€39.99
Explore North American Map Pack, £24.99/€39.99
Explore Russian Map Pack, £15.99/€19.99

PSP Store/Media Manager Store

Game
FREE RUNNING, £15.99/€19.99
Flatout Head on, £9.99/€12.99

Packs
Go! Explore

Eastern Europe Map Pack, £31.99/€39.99
Explore North American Map Pack, £24.99/€39.99
Explore Russian Map Pack, £15.99/€19.99

Video
BRAIN CHALLENGE™ TRAILER, FREE

PSN Update… [Three Speech]

PC computer game Pangya is coming to the PSP and bringing a lot of costumes with it — about 1,300 costumes, actually. Like, this bikini outfit.

Tecmo previously brought Pangya to the Nintendo Wii. Dubbed Fantasy Golf Pangya Portable, the PSP game allows up to 8 players for multi-play golfing. It'll be out April 9 for ¥5080 (US$56).

PC用ゴルフゲームの定番から生まれたPSP用ソフト『ファンタジーゴルフ パンヤ PORTABLE』が2009年4月9日に発売決定 [Famitsu]

We're big fans of Flashbang. Big fans of Velociraptor Safari. And big fans of the iPhone! Best way to combine all three would be an iphone Velociraptor Safari, but this is almost as good.

It's Raptor Copter (iTunes link), a new iPhone game by Flashbang that takes the spirit of 3D, jeep-based Raptorcide and moves it into a 2D Choplifter-esque title. Your brief: "Capture raptors, drop them into factories, and teleport their sweet meats to the future."

Game's fun, and for a limited time only $0.99, but the good news keeps coming. Flashbang say that Raptor Copter was little more than a tech test, see if the iPhone could handle their Unity engine. Seeing as it can, they "are planning a Off-Velciraptor Safari iPhone port at some point", and if they're planning that, then hopefully an iPhone Minotaur China Shop can't be too far behind.

Raptor Copter Teaser (iPhone) from Flashbang Studios on Vimeo.

Remember when you were a kid, and going to Chuck E. Cheese. Play some Pole Position, a little skeet ball. Back then, it was something Atari founder Nolan Bushnell could be proud of. Now?

Now, now it's not. According to PennLive.com, the amount of violence (among adults!) at Chuck E. Cheese continues to be high. For example, there were 13 arrests for disorderly conduct at the Susquehanna Township restaurant alone. The year before, police had to respond to incidents 18 times at the same restaurant.

Susquehanna Twp. Police Chief Robert A. Martin explains that the reason for these incidents is often people with ongoing disputes bump into each other at Chuck E. Cheese. "They see each other at Chuck E. Cheese, and before you know it an argument turns into something physical," says Martin. "It's madness, absolute madness."

We think there's too much Chuck in that Cheese.

Perhaps it's divorced parents at a kid's birthday party, Martin added. Last spring, a man slapped his estranged wife in the head at their child's party.

It's not just this one Chuck E. Cheeses that is going bonkers, but other franchises as well. Other incidents include a man yelling that he had hepatitis C as he ran around the restaurant spitting or 17 year-old girl that was dragged by her hair in the parking lot.

According to Chuck E. Cheese, all the restaurants have security cameras to protect customers, restaurants employees and the poor schmo who dresses as the chain's mascot.

First Atari turns to crap, and now Chuck E. Cheese goes apeshit? Nolan Bushnell is truly King Midas in reverse.

Conduct at Chuck E. Cheese described as 'madness' [PennLive Thanks for the tip Yokai Attack!] [Pic]

Let us find out. Video Game Price Charts have crunched the numbers to come up with which games, publishers and platforms had the best (and worst) resale values in 2008.

Tracking the sale prices of games over both eBay and Amazon then comparing them to the original recommended retail price, VGPC's results show that amongst publishers, Bethesda's games (so, mostly Fallout 3) enjoyed the highest resale value, while poor old Sierra's had the worst.

When it comes to individual games, Wii Fit came #1, with the average resale price of $140 a ridiculous 55% over the rrp, while Sega Superstars Tennis' price of $6.90 was 82.7% down. That's what a hardware bundle will do to you.

Plenty more data at the link below.

2008 Game & Publisher Resale Values [Video Game Price Charts, via Dtoid]

Ask anyone with eyes, they'll tell you: Valkyria of the Battlefield: Gallian Chronicles looks great. And now, it now only appease your pupils, but also your pockets.

On March 5, the PLAYSTATION 3 the Best version hits Japanese retailers for ¥3,330 (US$37). Buy it, your eyes will thank you.

Cave Story Wii isn't the same Cave Story you already know and already love. For starters, it's getting a graphical facelift, character art and all. But that's not all; it's also getting downloadable content.

Yes, posted on the game's official blog yesterday was the following:

We’re still working away at Cave Story trying to make sure it’s faithful to Amaya-san’s original while adding a few things for the console release. One of these new additions, I’m happy to announce is Download Content. I think we received enough e-mails demanding it that we’re doing our best to include some new surprises in the WiiWare release. You’re going to have to wait for more info on that.

New levels? New characters? New weapons? Goodness me, it's enough to make a man faint from all the excitement.

And Hello Again! [Nicalis]

Hilton Hotels — the PSP game. The Hilton Garden Inn developed an employee training tool called ULTIMATE TEAM PLAY (their caps, not ours.) Here's a description of the game:

ULTIMATE TEAM PLAY puts the player in control of key Hilton Garden Inn hotel roles including front desk, housekeeping, maintenance and food service. As players roam the virtual hotel they interact with guests as they would in the real world seeking to perform their jobs in specific