A Bandai Entertainment press release yesterday announced the North American Blu-ray release of Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn, Sunrise's newest anime series in the long-running Mobile Suit Gundam franchise. The first Blu-ray disc, which is exclusively available for pre-order on Amazon.com right now, will hit retailers on March 12, 2010 (the same day as the Japanese release), and will feature TrueHD 5.1 and Dolby Digital 2.0 sound on both the English and Japanese audio tracks, a 16:9, 1080p video transfer, and ... just one episode of the six-episode OAV. The disc will go for a SRP of $49.98.

Furthermore, to "celebrate" the release of Gundam Unicorn, Bandai Entertainment will be providing six older Gundam series in streaming video format through the Anime News Network, Crunchyroll, and YouTube, starting on February 1. The six series that will be available are Mobile Suit Gundam (the original), Z (Zeta) Gundam, Gundam Wing, Gundam SEED, Gundam SEED Destiny, and Gundam 00. The first season of Gundam 00 is already available on Bandai's YouTube channel, so this announcement might signal a streaming release for the second season, which has only been available so far on the SyFy channel's Ani-Monday block.

Unicorn takes place in the "Universal Century" (UC), the same time period as the original Mobile Suit Gundam, and it is the first UC series since the 2004 CGI project MS IGLOO. The events depicted in Gundam Unicorn are based on the novel of the same name by Harutoshi Fukui, and take place three years after the events of the 1988 film Char's Counterattack.

I'm as excited as the next guy (actually, way more excited than the next guy) about Bandai streaming old Gundam shows, especially since I'm currently playing catch-up, trying to watch a bunch of the old UC Gundam series. Nevertheless, the release strategy for the Unicorn Blu-ray is simply unforgivable. $50 for a single OAV episode means that the entire show (whose six 50-minute episodes bring its runtime to around that of a 13-episode series) will cost an American a whopping $300 for the Blu-ray release. For what amounts to a 13-episode anime!

Bandai's Unicorn release is following the same strategy of most Japanese anime DVD releases: very few episodes on a disc with a criminally high price point. Because of Bandai's notorious fear of "reverse importation" (Japanese buying the significantly cheaper American discs), they are simultaneously releasing identical Blu-rays, which will certainly stop the few Japanese fans who actually reverse import anime DVDs. Coincidentally, it will also stop most American fans from purchasing this release, which completely defeats the purpose, as it were.

Details regarding the standard DVD release of Unicorn (if any) and more information on the streaming shows have not been released yet, but I will get in contact with Bandai PR to try to iron out some of the finer points of the announcement.

---

FULL PRESS RELEASE:

AMAZON.COM TO EXCLUSIVELY DISTRIBUTE MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM UNICORN V. 1 BLU-RAY; OTHER GUNDAM SERIES AVAILABLE FOR STREAMING

January 14, 2010 – Bandai Visual Japan announced today that Amazon.com will release the Mobile Suit Gundam UC(Unicorn) Vol.1 Blu-ray with a two-month exclusive window in North America under the “Honneamise” label. Amazon.com will be taking pre-orders starting on January 10 with a street date of March 12, 2010 at a SRP of $49.98. Bandai Entertainment Inc. distributes this Blu-ray product for Bandai Visual Japan.

Since its inception in 1979, the Gundam franchise is considered the introduction of the giant robot or “Mecha” genre in the U.S. Mobile Suit Gundam UC is a series of popular novels by Harutoshi Fukui, which was originally serialized from 2006 to June 2009 in the monthly Gundam Ace magazine by Kadokawa. Ten volumes of the novel have sold over 2 million copies. The story is set in Universal Century, three years after the events of the film Char’s Counterattack. The series will be comprised of six 50-minute episodes directed by Kazuhiro Furuhashi.

The Blu-ray will feature Episode One with Japanese and English TrueHD 5.1 and Japanese and English Dolby Digital 2.0 audio with a 16:9 / 1080P High Definition transfer. Subtitle tracks will include Japanese, English, French, Spanish, and Chinese (in both Cantonese and Mandarin). The English voice cast features the talents of Steve Cannon, Stephanie Sheh, Rachael Lillis, Tara Platt, and others.

Additionally, to celebrate Gundam UC's Blu-ray release, Bandai Channel will begin streaming classic Gundam series starting February 1. This is a long-awaited opportunity for existing fans to revisit their favorites or for newer fans to become familiar with the world of Gundam before watching Gundam UC. Six TV series of Gundam (Mobile Suit Gundam, Mobile Suit Z Gundam, Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny, and Mobile Suit Gundam 00) are planned for free streaming in North America and Europe for limited time only on AnimeNewsNetwork (www.animenewsnetwork.com), Crunchyroll (www.crunchyroll.com) and YouTube (www.youtube.com/AnimeChannel). More series are to be added later.

For streaming schedule and more information, visit Gundam UC's official site: http://www.gundam-unicorn.net/en

*streaming information will be available on February 1.

For more information on Bandai Entertainment please visit: www.bandai-ent.com
For more information on Amazon.com please visit: www.amazon.com

Hosts: Evan "Vampt Vo" Minto, Mitchell "MitchyD" Dyer, and Patz
Topic: Digital Distribution

[This episode is NOT censored for swear words or sexual references. Listen at your own risk.]

We're back after another whole month between episodes, this time with a big, fat discussion of digital distribution (in terms of both anime and games), featuring none other than The Gaming Dungeon's very own Patz! Mitchy is along for the ride too, discussing his love affair with Steam and his burning hatred of moe shows. This show is a little longer than usual, and my track had some volume balancing trouble, so I apologize for that.

Anyway, next episode should actually be out very, very soon, since it's a quick discussion between the Anime News Network's Zac Bertschy, Anime 3000's Sean Russell, and me about fansub reviewing policies that needs to be up on the Internet while it's still relevant to the debate. Look out for that within the next week or so.

Show notes and links can be found after the break.

DIRECT DOWNLOAD - RSS Feed - iTunes - Send us Feedback! - More episodes


(Runtime: 1 hour, 11 minutes)

[0:00:00] Intro: Daryl Surat warns everybody about the 18+ content in this episode...OR DOES HE?!!

[0:00:11] Opening Song: "R.O.D Theme" by Taku Iwasaki (R.O.D. OVA opener)

[0:00:28] Patz introduces himself, then Mitchy is crowned king of the Internet. Not much beyond introductions here.

[0:01:19] What'cha Been Doing? Evan's watching Manabi Straight! and playing Dragonball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 (Wii), Mitchy's playing Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (DS) and DiRT2 (360/PS3), and Patz is watching Shin Mazinger Shougeki Z-Hen and Baki the Grappler and playing Onimusha (PS2).

[0:27:49] Promo: Luke and Elliot's Bearfighting Extravaganza

[0:28:31] Discussion: We rant for around 40 minutes about digital distribution, focusing on five central issues: Convenience, Affect on Sales, Ownership, Curbing Piracy, and Environmental Consciousness. Evan brings up each one in order and asks Mitchy and Patz where they stand on each specific issue.

[1:05:18] Promo: Dave and Joel's Fast Karate for the Gentleman

[1:06:19] The episode is over. At this point you are instructed to visit The Gaming Dungeon and go review the Ani-Gamers Podcast on iTunes. See you next time!

[1:10:54] Ending Song: "WORLD END (Instrumental)" by FLOW (Code Geass R2 second opener)

It's been a long time coming, but Disney has at last provided a dubbed trailer for Ponyo, the newest Hayao Miyaki-directed Studio Ghibli (Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke) film released in America by the massive Hollywood studio. Fans who have been paying attention to the movie over the past year will no doubt notice Disney's name change, from "Gake no Ue no Ponyo" or "Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea" to, simply, "Ponyo." The new name will definitely be easier for mainstream viewers to remember, though I'm sure many fans like myself will still think of it by the original name.

The trailer, available only on the Apple website, showcases the star-studded Hollywood voice cast, which includes such big names as Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Liam Neeson, and Tina Fey. And of course, who can forget the contributions of notable relatives-of-famous-yet-insignificant-pop-stars Noah Cyrus and Frankie Jonas? I'm SO EXCITED!!

According to today's press release from Bandai Entertainment, the hit television anime series Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion is now streaming on website CrunchyRoll, the quickly-growing provider of online, streaming video anime distribution.

For those unaware, CrunchyRoll began its life in 2006 as a provider of primarily Asian user-submitted videos. When questions of copyright infringement started to come up regarding the high number of fansubbed (and even licensed) titles on the service, Bandai Entertainment expressed particular concern with the popular website. After the introduction of licensed titles on the video service, CrunchyRoll made it an official policy that users would no longer be able to submit video content.

Bandai has been slow on the draw in terms of digital distribution of their (typically very popular) titles, but announced in February their plans to stream some of their anime titles – including Code Geass – on YouTube. The move to CrunchyRoll represents a natural transition for the fan favorite anime, and can only signal Bandai's willingness to stream even more shows on the service in the future. Is that, perchance, the smell of Haruhi season two in the air, my friends?

[via Anime News Network]

Wow, I blink and all the news flies past me. In the last couple weeks, we've seen some nice expansion of the anime industry with video distribution and theatrical plans announced for a whole slew of new shows. First off is today's announcement from Disney of a release date for Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea, the newest anime movie from award-winning director Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. Disney will release film in a currently unspecified number of theaters on August 14, 2009, the only week when it will face no major box office competition in the animation category. I haven't gotten a chance to see Ponyo yet (seeing as I don't live in Japan and didn't indulge in fansubs), but it looks like a movie that can really sell to the American family audience. Make sure you support Ponyo by going out to see it this summer!

In celebration of Hulu's first birthday, FUNimation has announced three new titles that will stream on the website, now the second-most-popular video streaming site (behind only YouTube). Those three titles are the baseball anime Big Windup (a.k.a. Ookiku Furikabutte), the sci-fi Heroic Age, and the full-length film Origin: Spirits of the Past. Clarissa of the Anime World Order podcast is a pretty big fan of Big Windup, and Uncle Yo recently gushed over Origin in an Ani-Gamers review, so I'm excited that FUNi has given us a chance to watch these titles for free.

On the topic of GDH (Gonzo Digital Holdings, the studio behind Origin), FUNimation has finally solidified a new deal with the struggling studio, which cut its anime production in half just a few months ago in response to economic and industry pressures. The company has been attempting to reap a profit from streaming its shows for free on websites like CrunchyRoll, but most reports are saying that the endeavor has not brought in much money for Gonzo. Oddly enough, the move to CrunchyRoll was seen by many as a betrayal of FUNimation, which has so often handled the American distribution of Gonzo's properties, but was now out of the loop as the studio dealt directly with video distributors.

In response, the apparently forgiving (or just smart) folks at FUNimation have agreed to pair up with GDH and take over North American distribution for all of its properties. That includes video streaming sites, presumaly meaning that FUNi would regain its place as the middleman between GDH and CrunchyRoll, which Hulu would probably also see an increase in Gonzo titles hosted on its service. The first titles to be taken over by FUNimation are The Tower of Druaga and Blassreiter, the first series that GDH ever broadcast simultaneously.

I think that it is simply amazing that Gonzo took such a risk in moving to a simultaneous broadcast, streaming video model, and despite their losses, were able to hold out until this new development. Now FUNimation has followed in GDH's footsteps and even supported the studio, and the entire anime industry (FUNi pretty much controls the whole thing) is finally participating heavily in the video distribution market – the true future of the industry in this blogger's opinion.

Finally, AD Vision, once the most preeminent anime distributor in the country, now nearly license-less and struggling to maintain relevance, has put some of its Anime Network titles on the iTunes store. While I don't think that this will have a big effect on the company's fortunes, it should be able to provide some income from their anime properties, since the sales through the iTunes Store are almost pure profit. The titles now available for download are Angelic Layer, Mahoromatic, Pet Shop of Horrors, Saiyuki, and Tsukihime.

And with that, I think that I can confidently say that the anime industry is finally moving in the right direction, with video streaming, simultaneous broadcasts, and direct downloads all options for those who want to watch their anime for free or cheap online (and without fansubs). Now that's change we can believe in. (I couldn't help it!)

Remember a while back, when IMAGI announced that they would be creating a CG-animated remake of everybody's favorite super-powered kid: Tetsuwan Atomu, better known by Americans as Astro Boy? In the coming attractions before popular kids movie Madagascar 2, IMAGI showed off the first trailer for the upcoming film, displaying the first direct footage that we've seen so far. Moviefone's got the video, in shiny HD format as well as streaming video for anybody so inclined.

The CG in the film looks pretty competent, and the aesthetic style seems perfect to bring in a good family crowd, but I have some doubts about the accuracy of the movie. Primarily, the character designs have absolutely no resemblance to Tezuka's originals. I understand the goal of "Americanizing" the franchise to better sell it to a mainstream audience, but really? Tezuka? The "god of manga"? His character designs really don't need very much change. Still, I think that the plot (at least from Moviefone's summary) is looking to retain much of Tezuka's original message about humanity amongst all of the superficial changes made by the scriptwriter.

What do you think of the trailer? Sound off in the comments.

[via Anime News Network]

An executive at Viz Media must have had some sort of corporate epiphany just now. I imagine that it went sort of like this...

A couple years ago, a bunch of guys (in suits of course) are sitting down at a long table, just like in the movies. "Listen guys, we need a way to really sell this Naruto thing to the kids here in America! It's about ninjas and headbands and jumpsuits and ramen!

"Well," remarks one small, shy man sitting in the corner, "all the kids have already started watching Naruto online. If we just sell DVDs, we probably won't make very much money--"

But another man interjects, telling his boss a brilliant plan about TV deals and merchandise and headbands. Inspired, his boss seals the deal without hesitation.

It's 2008, and the shy little man sits down at a table again, looking over the sad faces trying to figure out what to do with a dying anime industry.

"So... like I was saying before, guys," he begins, "how about we put this stuff online? Then we don't have to worry about it being stolen from under our noses. We can release subtitled Shipuuden within a week of its Japanese airdate, and publish the manga in America less than a month after it comes out in Japan. If we keep it going for a while, we can make Naruto fansubs obsolete."

His boss takes a look at him. "You, my friend, are a genius. Why didn't we think of that in the first place?" Before our poor hero can interrupt, the exec presses the big, red "WIN" button and is showered with the hot, smelly love of anime fandom.

Read the full press release, which may or may not contain any of the narrative details that I mentioned above. Also, go watch free Naruto Shippuden episodes legally on Naruto.com when they release January 2009.

The free, legal anime train rolls on as American anime giant FUNimation announced yesterday that video streaming site Hulu would be hosting free episodes of three additional anime series: Peach Girl, Shuffle, and Slayers. Hulu is already host to eleven other FUNimation titles: Black Blood Brothers, Blue Gender, Galaxy Railways, Kiddy Grade, Moon Phase, Mr. Stain on Junk Alley, Mushi-shi, Rumbling Hearts, School Rumble, Shikabane Hime Aka, and XXXHOLiC. Counting in titles from Viz (Bleach, Death Note, and Naruto) and other distributors (Astro Boy, Ikki Tousen, and Speed Racer), this brings the total number of anime series hosted on Hulu to twenty.

I think it's pretty clear by now that if you're not already using Hulu, you SHOULD BE. Free, legal anime? Online? On demand? How could any self-respecting, empty-walleted otaku pass this one up? Any readers already taking advantage of this great offer?

[via Anime News Network]

Earlier this week, Japanese animation giant Toei Animation announced that they would be bringing some of their titles to the infamous CrunchyRoll video sharing service. The titles currently being uploaded to CrunchyRoll's free service are Digimon Adventure 02, Fist of the North Star, Pretty Cure, and Slam Dunk. All four are subtitled. A similar scheme was employed by Gonzo earlier this year as they made themselves the first anime studio to bring their shows over from Japan quickly and without going through an American distributor.

I still hear varied complaints from the more "legitimate" quarters of anime fandom about CrunchyRoll and their continued ad revenue from uploaded fansubs. Nevertheless, I stand firm in my opinion that regardless of CrunchyRoll having an unfair business model, this is a step in the right direction for actually combating the quick releases and availability of fansubs. What do you guys think of this big development?

[via Anime News Network]

According to an Anime News Network tipster, American anime distributor FUNimation's YouTube Channel has scheduled the release of studio Gainax's (Evangelion, Gurren Lagann) latest project, Shikabane Hime: Aka, for "next week" (as of October 16th). The only episode currently planned is episode one, though more are surely to come. This unprecedented move shows a surprising willingness from FUNimation to bring their shows to Americans in record time; Shikabane Hime, after all, premiered just this month in Japan.

Shikabane Hime: Aka is based on Yoshiichi Akahito's original manga, Shikabane Hime ("Corpse Princess"), which portrays an undead girl who must collect 108 corpses so she can go to heaven.

Presumably, the YouTube video will be subtitled (there's not enough time to assemble and record a dub cast), and FUNimation will likely be releasing the show later to DVD. Regardless, this is a fantastic opportunity to watch a brand new show through totally legal means. Take them up on it, people!

[via Anime News Network]

Bethesda Game Studios, Fallout 3’s developer, has confirmed that their post-apocalyptic action RPG will be hitting retail in North America on October 28th, 2008 and in Europe on October 31st, 2008 for the 360, PS3, and PC. The game has come under some fire recently from the Australian OFLC ratings bureau who denied the game a rating, effectively banning the title from retail, for the referencing of drug use in the game. Bethesda has since decided to cut those references, resubmitted the game to the OFLC, and met with its approval.

Vlatko Andonov, Bethesda's president, has high hopes for the success of Fallout 3, stating: "We are very excited to let gamers get their hands on Fallout 3, the latest chapter in this beloved and highly acclaimed franchise. To meet the huge demand for this title by our fans worldwide, we are planning one of the biggest launches of any game released this year."

[via Opposable Thumbs]

This week Mega64 released their latest video for an undisclosed DS guitar title (see if you can guess which one) which got rejected by the ratings board for having "unsavory content." Most artists would be pretty put down at having their work flat out rejected, but Mega64 persevered and re-cut the video to make it more..."savory."

Also, I keep thinking that the song they're playing is going to turn into this song, but it never does.

[via Mega64]

So we've all played difficult games, and probably haven't finished most of them. GameTrailers nicely provides everyone with a list they've comprised of--arguably--the hardest games of all times. There's not much to say about this, so enjoy.

[via GameTrailers]

I can't believe that we missed this rather important bit of news, but a big announcement came out on May 22 in the long line of CrunchyRoll evolutions. ADV Films, one of the largest anime distributors in North America, announced their agreement with online video streaming website CrunchyRoll, in which the site will stream the official ADV dub of the GONZO anime Welcome to the NHK for free. This means that anyone in the United States, United Kingdom, or Canada can watch Welcome to the NHK on CrunchyRoll for free, and ADV will make money through ads included in the video and its enclosing page.

Just months before, GONZO (creators of WttNHK) formed their own agreement with CrunchyRoll to allow streaming video of their newest television anime, The Tower of Druaga and Blassreiter, to be published on the site directly after they air on Japanese television.

This new agreement will likely face similar criticisms as the former, due to concerns over the clearly illegal business practices of much of CR's site. (They feature fansubs but make money off of site ads, which is both illegal and contrary to the "Fansub Code of Honor") In addition, it seems that the only Japanese animation studio willing to make the jump to digital distribution as of yet is GONZO, prompting fears that, at the end of the day, the controversial studio may fail in this ambitious experiment.

Nevertheless, this deal makes ADV the first North American anime company to distribute an anime title over a third-party video-streaming site. It is the hope of many fans (including myself) that this will put pressure on its competitors (namely FUNimation and BANDAI) to move into the same realm of distribution. This change could potentially turn around the faltering worldwide anime industry, and might specifically help ADV Films move out of the seeming rut they have been in since canceling many of their titles this past January.

[via Anime News Network]

As mentioned in a previous post, Asian media streaming website CrunchyRoll received over $4 million in funding, and has announced its partnership with oft-criticized Japanese anime studio GONZO (Gankutsuou, Trinity Blood, Samurai 7).

GONZO planned to release their new series nearly simultaneously in English and Japanese on various streaming websites, and on Friday, April 4 they did just that with the release of The Tower of Druaga: The Aegis of URUK (pictured). The three lucky(?) websites that streamed the subtitled first episode were YouTube, BOST TV, and of course, CrunchyRoll. In addition, GONZO released another anime (Blassreiter) in much the same way, utilizing all three services to deliver the first episode.

If anybody didn't catch that, that would make these two series the first ever anime to be released (essentially) simultaneously in both Japan and the United States.

While many critics (i.e. Daryl Surat) are apt to decry the alleged vapidity of GONZO's plotlines or shadiness of CrunchyRoll's business practices, one cannot deny the important impact an event like this will have on the domestic anime industry here in America.

Two things are (hopefully) about to happen here: One, legal releases will mix with illegal ones until the unwashed masses will end up watching predominantly licensed anime, paid for with online advertising. Two, GONZO will force the hands of not just other Japanese anime companies, but American companies like FUNimation (who they essentially screwed over after having years of licensing deals) as well. Now, even though these companies don't appreciate GONZO's backstabbing, they will be forced to enter the new realm of digital distribution or face the uncertain future of continued physical media distribution.
[via Anime News Network]

The Tower of Druaga: BOST TV - YouTube (CrunchyRoll's video is currently down for unexplained reasons)
Blassreiter: BOST TV - CrunchyRoll - YouTube

Sometime last week it was announced that CrunchyRoll, the popular Asian media streaming website, acquired over four million dollars of funding, most of it from Venrock, whose partner David Siminoff will join CrunchyRoll's Board of Directors. According to an interview with blog Kokoro Media, CrunchyRoll has been negotiating licensing deals with a "select number of Japanese firms" in order to legally license the anime content that is often posted illegally to their site.

So what does all this business jargon mean for you, the average anime fan? Well, it means that the anime episodes you're watching on CrunchyRoll will now most likely have ads either at the beginning or in the middle of them, but the huge upside to this is that you will be watching your anime legally. If CrunchyRoll can market themselves well among major Japanese anime companies, they could easily help springboard the anime industry into the world of legal digital distribution. And that, my friends, means more anime for you, licensed quicker, and sold cheaper (if not totally free). Future of the industry, here we come!
[via Kokoro Media]

The long-awaited Viz dub of the smash-hit anime Death Note premiers Saturday, October 20th at midnight, on Adult Swim. However, Adult Swim has also announced that they will stream the same episode this Friday (that's tonight) on their website, starting a 6:00 PM. I'll be sure to watch it tonight and give my opinions on it, as I might not be able to catch it this Saturday. Enjoy the episode, all you crazy Death Note fans.
[via Anime News Network]

Kotaku's Flynn De Marco braved Square Enix's Closed Mega Theater presentation today at the Tokyo Game Show, and after watching the Final Fantasy XIII trailer, he was treated to text at the end stating "For PS3 Only." There it is, my friends: plain as day. Final Fantasy XIII is a Playstation 3 exclusive, at least according to this TGS video. Of course, fully official confirmation still needs to be given, but lets consider 360-Final-Fantasy-XIII rumors to be effectively punched in the face and subsequently beaten with a SIXAXIS.

The collective groans and sighs from fanboys on the 360 and PS3 sides respectively were accidentally registered as small earthquakes in observation stations around the world today.
[via Kotaku]

E3 is, of course, one of the best conventions to get new video footage from. The major game companies did not disspoint this year, with major trailers and game footage from such games as Super Mario Galaxy, Metal Gear Solid 4, and Halo 3. Below are Ani-Gamers' picks for the best and most important game videos of E3, courtesy of E3 Insider and GameTrailers.

Halo 3 Trailer (360)
Arms Race (Halo short film) (N/A)
Resident Evil 5 Trailer (360)
Wii Fit Trailer (Wii)
Reggie Unveils Mario Kart Wii (Wii)
Super Mario Galaxy Trailer (Wii)
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption Trailer (Wii)
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots Trailer (PS3)
Killzone 2 Trailer (PS3)
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Trailer (PS2/PS3/360/DS)
Portal Developer Walkthrough (PC/360/PS3)
Rock Band Trailer (360/PS3)
Sakurai's Surprise 15-second Brawl Video (Wii)

Phew. There were a lot of good videos, but I personally suggest the MGS4 and Resident Evil 5 Trailers, as well as the Super Mario Galaxy one. Happy E3 everyone! Save This Page   Slashdot It!   |Share on Facebook|

After presenting an amazing Metal Gear Solid 4 trailer to the eager gaming press, Hideo Kojima relayed the bittersweet news about the latest entry in the Metal Gear series: He is done with the games, and as far as he is concerned, Metal Gear Solid 4 is the final game in the series. For this reason, Kojima will reveal all of the secrets and plot threads that he has left dangling throughout the course of the games. This is not to say that Metal Gear is officially over, but the father of the series is leaving, so it will definitely not be the same. And what better way to leave a series like this than with what looks like a spectacular game, and your character in the hugely popular Super Smash Bros. Brawl?

(And in case anyone was wondering: Yes, MGS4 is still a PS3 exclusive...for now)
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At yesterday's press conference, Nintendo officially announced release dates for two of the "big three" Wii franchises. Super Mario Galaxy releases on November 12, 2007, while Super Smash Bros. Brawl releases on December 3, 2007. Since Metroid Prime 3: Corruption's date was announced a few weeks back as August 27, that means that the big three are finally dated for the North American market.

In addition to the dates, Nintendo also released trailers for Galaxy and Corruption. The Galaxy trailer clearly shows the ability to transform into other creatures, like bees and Boos, and the Corruption one shows the traditional new enemies and such along with a scene from the Ridley fight. View the new Galaxy and Corruption footage here and here, respectively.
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Peter Moore, always the man to bring us steaming hot Halo news, has announced details on the previously discussed Halo film, and shown Halo fans a new model of Xbox 360.

The new live action short film, titled "Arms Race," is a collaboration between Bungie and Weta Studios. The video shown in the press conference showed preparations for battle and various technology from the Halo universe. You can catch both the Arms Race and Halo 3 trailers here. Please note that Arms Race is a standalone short film, and that the shown trailer is the entire thing, not just a preview. Director Neill Blomkamp intends to use the film not only as Halo 3 marketing, but also as a way to get producers interested in his Halo film.

On the gaming side of things, Moore also showed off another new Xbox 360. This one is colored Spartan green, while the disc slot and other parts are painted with the orangeish-gold of Master Chief's helmet. You'd think that they'd quit making new 360s and just drop the price already. I really don't care if it's green, black, or lightish-red. Just make it cheap.
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