Late Night Consoling

When Metal Gear Solid 4 was first announced, the mantra of the event was that Solid Snake would have "no place to hide." Did this signify a transition from stealth-based action to more action-action? Don't be silly, you big silly goose! Kojima was just trying to say that this time around, there is no guaranteed safe spot for Snake to hide. Instead, the player will always to be on their toes because the truck or crate you're crouching behind can easily be moved.

Sony is none to happy about certain stores selling imported PSP systems to European gamers, most notably in the UK. Sony will be going to the high court next to get an injunction against importers. With the PSP not releasing in Europe for a few more months, gamers have been gobbling up imported systems, which will eventually hurt domestic sales. There was a brief furor raised over the fact that Sony wants the sellers to turn over customer records, but Sony reassured the media that they would not be trying to reclaim sold hardware.

That's what the results show in a recent informal survey conducted by Japanese magazine Otonafami. The mag talked to 1,000 gamers and 25% owned a DS, 14% a PSP, and 19% both of them. Of those remaining, 35% wanted a DS and 31% wanted a PSP. Other interesting numbers included the top-selling games for each platform. WarioWare: Touched! rules the DS with 740,00 units sold whereas Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee is the PSP's #1 at 350,000 units. Hardware sales has the DS beating the PSP, 2.2 million to 1.39 mil.

Midway recently hit up the United States Patent and Trademark Office and filed two titles: Rampage: Total Destruction and Ballers: Rebound. This would seem to indicate that Midway has these two games in development. Of course, no further details are available at this point but a new Rampage title makes me giggle with glee.

Ah, now here's something we haven't seen in a while. A good 'ol public ribbing! Remember those old commercials with Crash going to the Nintendo headquarters and trying to start something? Now Sony are the ones being stung. Earlier this week in Paris, France, Sony opened up The Factory, a showroom designed to showcase the PSP. Well, across the street is a typical laundry service. Microsoft went ahead and paid the owner to host some signs all over his storefront. Translated, the signs say "Save your strength for winter," obviously referring the launch of the Xbox 360 later this year. Well, it didn't last long as the signs were removed a day later when supposedly Sony paid the guy to take 'em down for more than Microsoft paid to put 'em up.

1UP chats with American McGee about Bad Day L.A. GameSpot talks with devs on Beat Down: Fists of Vengeance and Condemned: Criminal Origins.