Mark Rein engages in a bit of punditry in this interview at Eurogamer.

Developers did not have finished Xbox 360 hardware last year at E3. So Sony’s actually maybe in a better place vis-a-vis Microsoft in relation to launch.

Yeah, Mark. Except Sony’s launch window was three months ago.

Oh right, I’m talking to Mark Rein.

Yeah, Mark. Except Sony’s launch window was… at least two weeks from the end of April.

Gears of War designer “Cliffy” shares with us on his blog that he was really excited to meet Kelly Clarkson, then offers the following note about her fans:

comprised of bored housewives, 12 year old girls, and really, really gay men

Then he leaves us hanging as to which of the three he is penciling himself in under in the fan club guestbook. Metafuture bucks the trend and guesses option two.

Here’s the latest offering of contract work disguised as a contest prize. It’s from Atari, for Test Drive Unlimited. If you win, you get paid.

Read – Contest Rules [via Team Xbox]

It’s something more marketing folks should try: there’s a simple, somewhat illicit method of obtaining the Chromehounds demo on your filthy American Xbox 360: just make a new, free, Xbox Live Silver account and fill in “Australia” as your country of origin. Log in to Live with that account and you beat the system that is unfairly denying you a demo of next-gen mech combat.

It’s hacking-lite. It gets you posted on blogs. It’s certainly more fun and more immediate than loving bees.

Aeropause gets the credit for being the place I noticed this trick, which may or may not work. I can’t verify, since I don’t even have an Xbox 360 due to me not being related to an old lady with a limited vocabulary. My new grandpa-in-law plays Civilization III or Diablo II just about every day, but he talks like a human being instead of a sailor, so I doubt anyone would care.

After eight years of consistently producing commercially successful titles for various leading publishers, Edge of Reality has decided the time is right to give life to its own internal vision.

…

In Cipher Complex, a recon satellite is mysteriously blasted from orbit, and when diplomatic requests for information are stonewalled, the US government is forced to call in its last resort – Operative John Cipher. Charged with uncovering the truth by any means necessary, Cipher is going behind enemy lines to extract information the hard way.

Don’t you mean the complex way?

Though the real question is: how much high-tech espionage stuff can you do saddled with an old-timey, hand-cranked nazi-code-breaking machine sort of last name? Especially when your first name is just John. Put it this way: if these guys were making a porn game, the lead’s name would probably be Joseph “Marital” Act.

In fact, unless there’s a swerve in the plot and you get transported back in time to Little House on the Prairie and help Laura pass her frontier arithmetic exam with your super surname powers, I’m going to have to pass on this one from the get-go.

Metafuture, in cooperation with the Prey demo, is pleased to present this handy, concise guide to the history and customs of the Native American tribe known as the Cherokee.

(more…)

When you’re dying of tuberculosis at age 39, in your final hours you may have a fever dream. In that dream you may be an anime version of yourself in a world where the terminally ill have magic powers.

Well, it could happen. Turns out Japan would like to say that it happened to Chopin— who did in fact die of tuberculosis at 39, but most likely was dreaming about drowning or being crushed instead— and use that as the premise for an RPG. Since it stars Chopin and a cute, also terminally ill little girl, I’m guessing it will have a little bit of pathos as well as a small portion of piano music.

Personally, I can’t wait, but if it’s not your bag maybe Rockstar will entertain your suggestion of a knockoff based on the syphilitic final ravings of Al Capone.

Read – New Namco RPG For 360 [IGN]

• Nintendo DS Lite on sale starting at midnight.
• Wipe all patches and cached game data from a 360 hard drive. Only commonly agreed use so far is for rolling back the iffy Oblivion patch.
• Hell Tycoon. Satan, satan, lend me a dollar.
• FTC investigation into San Andreas “Hot Coffee” mod ends with nothing but a warning for Rockstar.