Pokemon Diamond and Pearl sell 10 million

Filed under: Nintendo DS, RPGs, Business

Diamonds and Pearls are exactly what Nintendo is swimming in, as the latest two entries in the Pokemon franchise have hit 10 million units total worldwide. Japanese consumers are responsible for 5.2 million of those sales, with the U.S. taking second place for most addicted Pokegamers.

The pair of games just launched in Europe three days ago, so expect those sales figure to keep on rising.

[Via DS Fanboy]

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[via] Joystiq

Bizarre confirms PGR4's cities, comments on DVD constraints

Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, Driving

Bizarre Creations has divulged the final list of cities to be seen and recklessly raced through in the upcoming automotive extravaganza, Project Gotham Racing 4:

• Macau, China
• Las Vegas, USA
• London, England
• St. Petersburg, Russia
• Tokyo, Japan
• New York, USA
• Shanghai, China
• Quebec, Canada
• Nurburgring, Germany

The sequel to the Xbox 360 launch title will also boast weather effects, motorcycles and a Michelin-sponsored test track, with some of the returning tracks from the previous game seeing adjustments to enhance the flow of racing and prevent pileups. They will also be presented at a different time of day, though this aspect itself will not be adjustable. Posting in the official Bizarre Creations forum, a member of the development team noted, "You won't see different times of day per city because this involves recreating all the textures again (one for day and one for night). Whilst this wasn't a problem for our dev team, it was a problem fitting all this data onto a single DVD."

To counter this, Bizarre talks up its varied lighting models: "For example, Macau is always in the daytime, but if you play it during a storm everything looks darker and more foreboding. If you play during a blizzard then things are slightly tinged blue and everything seems more frozen. Of course, playing this track in sunshine will make everything appear bright and yellowy."

Expect to drive around a bright and yellowy Macau sometime in September (if the game's done, that is).

Gallery: PGR4 (Xbox 360)

Gallery: Project Gotham Racing 4 motorcycles

Read -- Bizarre Studio Update
Read -- Bizarre Creations Forums

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[via] Joystiq

MTV News foils Wii Fit, invents Wii Sit

Filed under: Nintendo Wii, Exergaming

After finding one of the Wii Fit games to be lacking in challenge, MTV News reporter and master of balance, Stephen Totilo, hoped to up the ante by lowering himself to the ground and turning the game's Balance Board into more of a stability seat. The resulting video confirms that Wii Fit can be played in full couch potato posture, most likely with a beer in one hand and a bag of nachos in the other. Take that, exergaming!

Of course, even minimal effort unlocks countless gaming possibilities and we honestly can't wait for the likes of Warioga, Metroid Meditation and of course, Mario and Ghandi at the Non-cooperation Gatherings. Careful you don't strain yourself too much though -- despite popular opinion, Wii Fit is not good enough... for you to poop on. (highlight to read)

Watch -- Wii Fit Played While Seated

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[via] Joystiq

Library lures potential readers with video games

Filed under: Culture, Rhythm

Beware, bibliophobes! Nefarious librarians are luring gamers into their hallowed halls with promises of Guitar Hero goodness. The Fort Dodge Messenger reports that a public library in Humboldt, Iowa is using Guitar Hero as a hook to get teens interested in reading. Gaming aficionados from local schools were invited to the library to play the rhythm music game, and peers from the library's Teen Advisory Board used the opportunity to encourage reading as an enjoyable past-time. Books? Enjoyable? Who knew?

[Via GamePolitics]

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[via] Joystiq

Dragon Quest IV, V, VI remakes bound for DS

Filed under: Nintendo DS, RPGs

New scans from Japanese gaming magazine Jump show that the Nintendo DS will be receiving three Dragon Quest remakes -- IV, V and VI -- each as separate titles. The scans can be found on the NeoGAF forums; according to a translation from IGN, the first game (DQIV) is expected to be released in Japan this winter.

The scans show that the games will be receiving a graphical upgrade from their original form. While these games are only going to further cement the DS's dominance in Japan, the RPG trio is not guaranteed for release in other regions; of the three, only DQIV has ever received an official launch elsewhere.

A word to Square Enix: you're running out of games to remake.

[Thanks, hvnlysoldr]

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[via] Joystiq

Halo 3 gets its first 'real' Spartans with Brute

Filed under: Culture, Microsoft Xbox 360, Action, First Person Shooters

The Brutes could actually be Halo 3's true "Spartans" as a recent preview article reveals they take comrades as lovers -- if the audio clip stays in the game. The information comes from a standard preview article where the writer goes into a bunch of audio facts and says, "One Bungie employee slyly asks the visiting reporters if anyone heard a Brute lament the death of an ally with the words: 'He was my lover.'" Apparently Brutes can actually answer the question if their comrade is a better lover than a fighter.

Now before the comment threads fill with: "Brutes R teh ghey? I'm not playing this game." Let's just take a moment to go over Halo lore. We checked with our own resident Halo aficionados and even a close Bungie source. Currently in the fiction there is no mention of any female characters in the whole Covenant, so we have no idea how the Covenant reproduce or if they even need females to reproduce. All we do know at this point is that even Brutes need love. Bungie still has bigger controversy to deal with as they still haven't decided if gamers can have a female Spartan warrior voice in multiplayer. We'll find out if Bungie leaves the Brute line in there on Sept. 25 -- hopefully they do.

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[via] Joystiq

First trailer for Project Offset

Filed under: PC, Microsoft Xbox 360, Action

Remember Project Offset? The tech demo that blew your socks off back in 2005? Well, it's back and this time it's a game! As mysterious as ever, this hybrid of first and third person combat claims to sport five unique classes, rideable creatures, squad based multiplayer and more. Now if they'd just let us know who's publishing this beast, that would be fantastic.

Naturally, there isn't a release date in sight, just pretty graphics. We're going to assume that this is still coming to the PC and maybe Xbox 360.

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[via] Joystiq

Epic's Mark Rein: Consoles will define look of PC games

Filed under: PC, Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Business

Speaking to CVG, Epic Games vice president Mark Rein has expressed his belief that graphical advancement in PC games will be partially reined in (OOF!) due to the limitations and financial viability of consoles. "Publishers are generally putting their money where the highest return is, and in the past that's been on consoles and I think that's still the case," said Rein. "So if you build the game that's a really super amazing high-end game, how do you make all the money you could make from that game, because it'll be too high end eventually to be on PS3 or Xbox 360."

As a result, Rein expects consoles to "pretty much define what the next five years of games look like on the PC" and titles pushing the DirectX 10 envelope to be in the minority. PC versions should, however, benefit from several enhancements a la Gears of War. "That's the value to me of the PC, that the source content we have is still really high resolution, much higher than we can show on a 512MB machine. You can use that content on the PC, you can express it in higher resolutions and higher frame rates and turn on more effects. I think that's what you'll see, PC games where we turn it up higher."

Though it sounds like console technology is cramping the PC's style, the Xbox 360 and PS3 (and those who develop for them) are still immersed in the design transition from single processors to parallel architectures. There's a lot more wind to be coaxed from those sails yet.

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[via] Joystiq

Job listing is similar to Nintendo's Perrin Kaplan

Filed under: Culture, Nintendo Wii

GameDaily has discovered a recent job listing for a VP of corporate affairs at Nintendo, which seems awfully similar to the title already held by VP of corporate affairs Perrin Kaplan. The job listing gives a little bit more fuel to the Game Informer story that with Nintendo's move some big executives are out.

What the executive switch means to the company and gamers is still far from being answered. We just know certain members of the media will be beside themselves heart-broken if Kaplan leaves. The transition is expected to be finished by September, so announcements about who stays, who goes, and their replacements should be announced in the relative future.

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[via] Joystiq