Newsdump

Too much Devil May Cry

The web is magical. No one source seems to have the whole story, but if you browse around enough, you can pull it all together. Fortunately, we take away the work... and just leave you with the tender fruit.

First up for PS3 hit-to-be Devil May Cry 4: a new hero. According toKotaku(via a shoddy translation of top Japanese mag Famitsu) the latest adventure in the series will not star white-haired hemi-demon Dante, but instead a new lead character called Nero Angelo. The gameplay is built on the basis of Devil May Cry 3, though, so don't get too worked up.

If that weren't enough, one of our British sister sites,CVG, reportsthat the series is heading to the PSP as well. That's about it - aside from the confirmation that the game is action-based... as you'd hope, but not necessarily expect. This is the PSP, after all.

But wait! That's not all. Theofficial Devil May Cry 4 siteopens tomorrow. The teaser, which you can see right now, is bilingual in Japanese and English, so hopefully there will be something there worth digging into tomorrow. We'll keep you posted.

Work for it

Those clever monkeys at Valve are up to something atwww.aperturescience.com. It's making the geek rounds today, and it turns out it's an interactive marketing "alternate reality game" to promote the upcoming Portal side-game, shipping with Half-Life 2 Episode Two next year. It's an appropriately cryptic hacking challenge: Visit the site and you're presented only with a blinking block cursor, like you'd find on an old, old computer. Type HELP and you'll get a little info. We'll give you the first nudge: LOGIN as whatever name you like and try the obvious password of PORTAL. After that, it's up to you. See? Advertising can be fun!

Actual size

We're sure nobody needs these, but they're certainly adorable.ThinkGeek(and probably other sites, but we're too lazy to check) is now selling Atari 2600 controller keychains... that actually play games. In the logical extension of the plug and play TV games that were irritatingly popular a couple of years ago, these palm-sized toys actually offer two or three playable games a pop... as well as hold your keys.

Uwe Boll is actually good at something

Awhile ago, we reported that talentless hackUwe Boll(Alone in the Dark, Bloodrayne) was dropping his camera and putting up his fists - in honor of his newest movie, based on the essentially worthless Postal 2, he's decided to try and beat up people who've given his movies bad reviews (i.e. everyone.) Well, the first fight has taken place, andKotaku has video of it. We're sad to report that Boll, who used to box semi-pro, smacks the shit out of his first opponent, who is repeatedly driven to cowering in the corner. It's pretty pathetic. If Boll wants a real challenge, we'd like to see him enter into a filmmaking competition.

Hitting the streets

Word out of Tokyo is that a Yakuza movie - directed by violence-obsessed cult directorTakashi Miike(Ichi the Killer, Audition) - is on the way. Lots of info about the film and its cast is available atryuganji.net- but they're all Japanese and we bet you haven't heard of them, you culturally imperialist swine. With Yakuza 2 in the works and now this film, we're happy to say the series alive and kicking the shit out of the Japanese mob. Read ourreviewof the original, released in the US this week, if you're not up to speed. It's worth your time.

Tell us something we don't know

Where do we start?

Our sister siteNext Generationreports that The National Institute on Media and Family, which is still pretending that video game companies are deeply evil and would like nothing better than to seduce small children into violence by packing GTA into their breakfast cereal, has announced the National Videogame Summit. We'd like to hope that this will be a fair look at the world of games, tackling the sticky issues of video game ratings and how to keep kids from playing what they shouldn't in an age of ignorance and easy access. But we remember NIMF from its November 2005Video Game Report Card- which didn't seem to tell anyone much that they shouldn't already know (hint: don't buy your kids M-rated games.) We're not too optimistic.

New screens

FIFA 07 (PS2,Xbox)
NHL 2K7 (PS2,Xbox,360)
Dance Factory (PS2)
Just Cause(PC)
Dynasty Warriors Vol. 2(PSP)
Jade Empire: Special Edition(PC)

New video

God Hand(PS2)
Okami(PS2)
Sonic the Hedgehog (PS3,360)
Lego Star Wars II (GC,PC,PS2,PSP,Xbox,360)
Dead or Alive: Xtreme 2 (360)
Half-Life 2:EpisodeTwo (PC,PS3,360)

September 7, 2006