Namco Bandai is sending Mr. Driller to the land of DSiWare, pegging the next entry in the puzzle series, Mr. Driller: Drill Till You Drop for a release on the Nintendo DSi download service in April.

You know the... erm, drill. Work your way through multi-colored blocks, rack up the chains and try your best not to asphyxiate in-between all the fun you're having. Namco Bandai promises "6 unique playable characters, over 40 stages, multiple modes, and dual screen action" in Drill Till You Drop, but has not priced next month's addition to DSiWare.

It's Kotaku Off Topic. What we do here is talk about things that don't necessarily related to video games, but we also don't discriminate. On or off topic, the conversation is up to you.

One thing I'm curious about, however, is how many Kotaku Off Topic readers and commenters watched the North American airing of the BBC nature documentary Life, the successor to the brilliant Planet Earth. Me? I didn't watch it yet, for many reasons—no cable television, preference to watch it at Blu-ray resolutions/without commercial interruption, out of respect for David Attenborough. But did you? Tell us what you thought.

Also, anybody reading Kotaku Off Topic have a quality condition copy of Nintendo Power #2 from Sept-Oct 1988? Let me know!! Seriously.

• How A $500 Craigslist Car Beat $400K Rally Racers - From Craigslist to World Rally Championship's Rally Mexico race.
• Google says bye-bye to China - Google is not pleased and neither is the U.S. government. Can't imagine China's too psyched either!
• Ben Folds does his own brand of Chatroulette improv - A response/ode to Merton's brilliant gag.
• Hello, new Bond girl! - Slumdog Millionaire fox Freida Pinto to make out with Daniel Craig at some point.
• Alexa Meade's painted people - Acrylic on flesh and real still-lifes.

Subliminal Pac-Man reflection created by unknown bridge; as seen on Epic Win FTW.

Rare's Nintendo 64 shooter Perfect Dark gets a high-definition makeover for Xbox Live Arcade, the lovely and talented special agent Joanna Dark looking ten years better than she did in her first-person shooter debut. Is Dark still "perfect"?

Perfect Dark for XBLA doesn't attempt to modernize the decade-old original beyond improving its visual fidelity and taking the offline game to Xbox Live, a chance for players of the split-screen original to test their special agent skills online in competitive and cooperative modes. The 4J Studios-developed upgrade packs in everything the original Perfect Dark offered and more, a chance for the N64 owner to play through a full story-driven single-player campaign or whack nostalgic from the comfort of their couch or across the country.

The console first-person shooter has evolved leaps and bounds since Perfect Dark first demanded Nintendo 64 owners plug in their Expansion Paks two generations ago. Is it worth going Dark one more time?

Loved
Perfectly Quaint: Amidst the endless, detached killing of DataDyne soldiers and the run-ins with otherworldly lifeforms, the junk food blast that is Perfect Dark is still surprisingly fun to play. It can hardly be taken seriously anymore, with its outdated voice-acting and ham-fisted visuals—everyone in Perfect Dark is making a fist at all times—but that's what makes it so charming. The fluffy deathmatch, king of the hill and assassination modes fall under the "Xbox Live chaser" category of throwaway fun as does the opportunity to speed run missions for Achievements.

Bang/Buck Ratio: There are few first-person shooters are Xbox Live Arcade, even fewer that offer something for the single-player fan, the multiplayer enthusiast and the something perfect for your four-player split-screen gamer. Perfect Dark HD is swimming in modes, maps, weapons and gadgets. Throw in Counter-Op mode, which lets players take control of enemy AI during campaign mode levels, and the option to burst through those same levels with multiple Joannas, and you've got yourself a deal at just 800 Microsoft Points.

Hated
Nostalgia Bankruptcy: If you don't harbor fond feelings for Rare's Perfect Dark of old or even Goldeneye, as I don't, expect the appeal of the XBLA version of Perfect Dark to be easily lost on you. The game has its glaring faults, from laggy online multiplayer to a hilariously outdated cinematic presentation to floaty controls that feel out of place on a more precise game pad. Add in repetitive trial and error gameplay and bland compact level design, when judged by modern standards, and you may wonder why you're playing Perfect Dark instead of, say, Battlefield 1943 or Call of Duty Classic for your FPS throwback fix.

First-person shooters rarely age well, as the Xbox 360 re-release of Perfect Dark helps to emphasize. The high-definition coat of paint can't obscure the now-antiquated mechanics and game design that wowed the game-starved Nintendo 64 fan looking for a Goldeneye replacement in 2000. But even for the first-person shooter fan without a shred of nostalgia for Joanna Dark and Rare's brand of run and gun gameplay, there's something undeniably entertaining about the game, even after all these years. Phone a old friend—or send them a game invite—and see how well Joanna has aged together. It might just feel like old times. Exactly like old times.

Perfect Dark was developed by 4J Studios and Rare and published by Microsoft Game Studios for Xbox Live Arcade on March 17. Retails for 800 Microsoft Points. A copy of the game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes. Played through single-player missions on Agent difficulty, tested all online multiplayer game types, dual wielded Klobbs to great success.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

Cloaking devices? Oh yeah, we can totally do that. Telekinesis? Suuure! In this video, Real Actual Scientist-mans Dr. Michio Kaku, speaking more like a futurist and less like a physicist, tackles the plausibility of what you see in Mass Effect.

I recommend getting good and high for the discussion of dark matter, although he does point out that "when you put negative matter into Einstein's equations," - i.e. divide by zero!! (!!!) - they "curl up into knots." And hedging that the big unknown it creates will be more good than bad we can get stuff like faster-than-light travel and real-time pan-galaxy communications.

The Science of Mass Effect 2 [Game Trailers]

Model hobbyist and Gundam fan Angelo Guibone's custom Master Chief Zaku crossover not only appeals to two camps, its will probably appear in a proposal for Microsoft Tecmo Koei's Halo: Dynasty Warriors: Gundam: Combat Evolved at some point.

In more serious matters—this hasn't happened yet? I see more than one Master Chief custom Transformer out there on the internet, but not another Spartan Gundam. That can't be right, can it? More pics of the MC01-Zaku at Guibone's blog.

MG HALO - Master Chief - Zaku [mech designer gelo via Mecha Damashii/Figure.fm]

Creative types like game directors saying they'd love to do a remake of Final Fantasy VII, that's one thing. But now the CEO himself says the company will, at least, "explore the possibility" of doing so.

Yoichi Wada, the president and chief executive of Square Enix, told Siliconera that the company has heard its fans' pleadings to remake FFVII, made nearly 13 years ago for the original PlayStation.

"Right now we don't have a clear direction, but many fans have requested we remake Final Fantasy VII," Wada said. "We're going to explore the possibility - whether or not we're going to do it, if we're going to do it, and the platform."

Previously, Final Fantasy XIII director Motomu Toriyama said Final Fantasy VII was the remak he wanted to do most. "If we can get the number of people we need by all means that would be the one I would really want to remake."

Before that, Yoshinori Kitase, the director of Final Fantasy VII (and producer of FFXIII) pegged the likelihood of a FFVII remake to Square Enix's ability to finish such a project inside of a year. "But if any such situation came about by any remote chance, then yes, we'd do it!" Kitase said.

So who knows. Doing it inside of a year sounds nigh impossible, but it may no longer be an operative statement. Siliconera dropped this as a teaser for a more complete interview later, implying that Wada might be thinking about a PSP remake. More whenever that comes out.

Square Enix CEO Comments On Final Fantasy VII Remake [Siliconera]

Nintendo game designer Shigeru Miyamoto may be toying with new ways to shake up The Legend of Zelda, adding more than just Wii MotionPlus support for the next adventure of Link. Is he also considering Wii Vitality Sensor-based gameplay?

While Miyamoto didn't confirm whether the next Wii Zelda game would feature pulse-pounding, biometrics-based additions, he told Games TM that its "fun to think of ways in which we might apply that new technology to existing forms of gameplay – just like the way we are working on the new Legend Of Zelda together with Wii MotionPlus."

"So maybe you might like to ask me to incorporate the Vitality Sensor into Zelda so that as you become more scared, the enemies become even tougher," Miyamoto offered. That would be... interesting.

Nintendo hasn't shown any games based on the new pulse oximeter sensor attachment for the Wii, but Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime promises that the device will "wow" us, telling Kotaku that we should expect "new and unique experiences" from the peripheral. Adding Wii Vitality Sensor support to a more mainstream title like The Legend of Zelda would definitely elicit some wows, especially if that means dropping Nunchuk control in favor of Vitality Sensor support.

Of course, that's all conjecture, as Miyamoto may have been simply riffing with the Games TM guys about what he'd like to experiment with. We'll know more after this year's E3, when Nintendo plans to showcase both the Wii Vitality Sensor and The Legend of Zelda, perhaps at the very same time.

Miyamoto: 'Vitality Sensor For New Zelda Possible' [NowGamer]

When two prolific popular properties combine (again)—not that you should eat anything Lady Gaga cooks—as seen on deviantArt via Gamefreaks.

What's a good encore after winning two gold medals at the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games? For one of the world's most accomplished cross-country skiers, it's playing alongside his world champion counterpart in Counter Strike at Norway's largest LAN party.

Petter Northug (pictured, left; you can see his translated gaming profile here) will be taking on all comers in 2-on-2 Counter Strike matches at "The Gathering," to be held over Easter. While Petter's golds weren't in biathlon (that's skiing with the pew-pew-pew) he does look to be a serious shooter enthusiast. Further, his partner for this promotion will be Patrik "f0rest" Lindberg (pictured, right) of the clan Fnatic; Lindberg is a world champion in his e-sport.

Northug was last at The Gathering in 2007 playing with Team Amentio, a clan named for one of his sponsors.

Olympic Skiing Champion Takes on Counter Strike?! [FragYou via CatchGamer, thanks Miguel O.]