Shinji Mikami is responsible for one of the most successful game franchises ever, horror series Resident Evil. It's not just the games that are scary. Mikami's own abusive childhood sounds horrific.

The game designer tells game magazine Famitsu about how his father would hit him "pretty much daily". Mikami does have respect for his father for dropping out of high school in order to work and support his family. "But he was such a violent person."

Mikami recounts one night when he went to bed without doing his homework. "He kicked me out of bed in the middle of the night and told me to go outside," Mikami says. "So I did, in my pajamas without any shoes on, and he told me to stand in front of the car. Then he started chasing me around in the car, and he wound up having me run about five or six kilometers, all the way to the seashore by our house."

When they reached the seashore, Mikami's father drove off without saying anything to his son, who had to walk home alone in his pajamas. "If you think about it, if the police had seen this barefoot boy in pajamas being chased by a guy in a car, they would've arrested him on the spot, wouldn't they?"

Let's hope.

Besides Resident Evil, Mikami also designed beat-em-up God Hand and action game Vanquish.

Shinji Mikami Discusses Resident Evil, Tango Gameworks, His Abusive Dad [1Up via Eurogamer] [Pic]

Is it sad that the closest video games are able to come to commemorating Veteran's/Armistice/Remembrance Day is the poppy flower featured in the intro to 1993's Amiga classic Cannon Fodder?

It is a little, yeah. Especially when you consider one of the only other games to evoke a feeling of loss and respect for those who died in the First World War is Toy Soldiers, which for all its gut-wrenching symbolism of the brutality of the conflict is, at the end of the day, still a game about little toy soldiers.

It's a strange indictment of the world we live in today that, when the clock strikes eleven and a minute's silence is expected to remember the actual war dead, millions of people will be killing each other on a virtual battlefield for fun. Maybe Ron Parkes had a point after all.

Popularity is a fickle thing. Some people are loved, adored. Some are not. Most never become accurately aware of what the masses think of us. Shizuka Oya did earlier this month.

AKB48 is not only Japan's biggest girl group, but one of the biggest groups in Japan. The outfit's most recent single, released on October 27, has already sold over a million copies! AKB is getting its own PSP game in which the object is for players to reject the advances of all the girls but one.

Some of those girls might take rejection a little harder than others. There are roughly 48 girls in AKB48, but only a handful of them appear on the cover of magazines or star in music videos. The rest are more or less background — like 18-year-old Shizuka Oya.

Much of AKB48's success is due to the group's accessibility. The group holds "handshaking events". Fans can meet their favorite idol, but they must buy the group's latest CD as an entry fee.

Purchasing a CD entitles fans to a ticket that can be redeemed to shake hands with one AKB48 member. Morning show Zoom-In Super! showed one schoolgirl who purchased 80 tickets for a recent event! The average length of each handshaking session? Seconds.

And it's not just Japanese guys that dig the group. AKB48 has a growing number of female fans. Those fans, male and female, lined up for hours for AKB48 stars like Atsuko Maeda (see above). They didn't for Oya.

And she started crying and actually left the event hall at Chiba's Makuhari Messe, home of the Tokyo Game Show. This incident was featured on one of AKB48's television programs, and Oya discussed the event, all teary-eyed. She also mentioned that she's not the best singer, nor is she a great dancer. Her lack of popularity at the handshaking event will, more than likely, actually endear her to fans.

Idol fans like "pure idols", but not necessarily "perfect idols" — hence the Japanese idols with bad teeth and whatnot. Their shortcomings become appealing as fans have something they can relate to. Whether this all translates into longer lines at these events, that remains to be seen.

人気メンバーと不人気メンバーの差が激しすぎるAKB48の握手会(´;ω;｀) [あるき亭]

Wet developers Behaviour used to be known as Artificial Mind & Movement. Then they shortened that to A2M (which has an alternate, rather NSFW meaning). And that's why they're now known as Behaviour.

Behaviour CEO Rémi Racine tells Eurogamer that initially, the team was unaware of any other meanings for the studio name, until the "issue became known to us five years ago. It was mentioned in a movie and it started to grow from 2005/2006."

What movie? This (again, NSFW) movie.

"At first it was funny, and we didn't mind. Locally, it's funny. Not on the international scene, but locally, some people have fun with it.

"As much as it was funny, sometimes it becomes not funny."

Sometimes? This is coming from a man who had to introduce himself as the CEO of A2M, and he says only sometimes it wasn't funny?

By 2009 it had gotten a bit much, and the studio made a move to change its name, though because it took a while "to finalise the process", that move has only recently been finalised.

Why did Wet dev A2M change its name? [Eurogamer]

Apple's App Store is flooded with short burst games to play... but what if you don't feel like paying for the privilege? Here's a selection of some of the best free gaming the iPhone and iPod touch have to offer.

There's no lack of free things to play, but why waste your time with iPhone and iPod touch games that you can only play for a few minutes before being prompted to pay to keep going? With a few exceptions, we've steered away from the "Lite" demo versions of most apps and away from the "freemium" stuff that offers very little play time for your precious bandwidth. Show Apple what you think of iPhone gaming by playing, but not paying for, some of these great iOS games.

Words With Friends Free

Developer: NewToy Inc.
Genre: Multiplayer Word Puzzle

NewToy's multiplayer Scrabble clone is a highly addictive version of the wildly popular board game. The free version of Words With Friends is surprisingly playable, an ad-supported version that has deep hooks into Facebook and Twitter. Everybody's playing it; you should too.

Extras: Not much, but you may be motivated to invest in the paid version to drop the product placement.

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Gun Bros.

Developer: Glu Mobile
Genre: Twin Stick Shooter

The iPhone take on twin stick shooters like Smash TV and Total Carnage, Gun Bros. adds progression and experience points to the mix, letting you upgrade and outfit your muscle bound Gun Bro with new weapons and gear. There's a lot of content in here, but there's also a lot of advertising. Still, it's a great looking arcade game with decent shoot 'em up depth.

Extras: You can purchase in-game coins to unlock gear earlier.

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Lux Touch

Developer: Sillysoft Games
Genre: Strategy Board Game

It's a game of classic world domination… because Lux Touch is a clone of strategy board game Risk. There's very little meat to this version of Lux and the interface could use a little work, but it's the best Risk imitator zero dollars can buy.

Extras: Nothing to speak of, but Lux DLX comes loaded with maps for a price.

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Topple

Developer: ngmoco
Genre: Puzzle

How high can you get? Stack charming blocks and tetrominoes while fending off the forces of gravity in this addictive stacking game. It's one of the iTunes App Store's older games, but also one of its best freebies.

Extras: Nothing extra here. Topple 2 might be worth your buck.

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GravBot

Developer: Team Phobic
Genre: Arcade Puzzle

Guide an adorable little 'bot on wheels toward hidden keys by flipping gravity and avoiding spikes. Simple controls and a solid interface make this platformer that's short on content, but challenging and fun, worth the download.

Extras: Players can download level packs from within the game. The developer recently released a free Halloween level pack.

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Cube Runner

Developer: Andy Qua
Genre: Arcade

This simple looking but highly addictive arcade flight game may suck hours of your life away. Cube Runner looks as sophisticated as the Super Nintendo game StarFox, but its tilt controls work like a charm. Strangely consuming.

Extras: Players can download and create their own free level packs.

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Real Racing GTI

Developer: Firemint
Genre: Racing Simulation

One of the best looking driving games on the iPhone, Real Racing GTI is also extremely limited in what it offers for free. This is a sponsor supported version of Firemint's more robust Real Racing, but worth the download.

Extras: Not much in the free version, but the full version packs in tracks and drivable cars.

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Farmville

Developer: Zynga
Genre: Social Farming

The insanely popular Facebook app can absorb more of your life while you're commuting or waiting in line. Tending to your virtual farm on the iPhone may be better done on your iPad, but having access to potentially withering crops from anywhere may be the best reason to download Farmville.

Extras: As with the Facebook version, FarmVille players can purchase Zynga money in order to buy special items to improve their farm.

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Tap Tap Revenge 3

Developer: Tapulous
Genre: Rhythm

A simple, touchscreen take on Guitar Hero style rhythm gameplay that's wildly popular. Tap notes as they travel down a three lane note highway for short bursts of fun. Comes with a few tracks already playable and the option to unlock plenty more.

Extras: Players can download reasonably priced premium track packs from within the game.

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Solitaire

Developer: MobilityWare
Genre: Card game

This ad-supported version of Solitaire may be on the thin side, but it's free, you can use custom themed decks and serves as a very capable version of the classic card game. An ideal time waster.

Extras: No ads or paid upgrades; just good clean Solitaire fun.

Your Turn

We've shown you our picks for some of the best free iPhone and iPod touch games available today. Now it's your turn. What free gems have you found lurking in the iTunes App Store?

Previously: The iPad's Best Free Games Right Now [Kotaku]

With a (mostly) disappointing launch lineup and some niggling problems, it's easy to get down on Microsoft's Kinect. Try sparing a thought, though, for the parents of a four year-old autistic boy, for which it's been a revelation.

Gaming Nexus writer John Yan has penned an account of his experiences playing with Kinect with his son, who with autism finds controlling a game and navigating menus with a control pad difficult.

Kinect, though? By making him the controller, he was not only able to easily pick up how to play the games, but could find his way around normally-abstract things like menu screens.

It won't go changing your mind on how useful a product it is for you, but it's a touching story to end your day with regardless.

I think Kinect is OK, but it's the best $150 I spent on a console [Gaming Nexus]

At least, that's what these new commercials for the console in Latin America are saying.

The Move one below is...OK, but boy that top one is something special. It's great to see some quality PlayStation ads again that don't involve Kevin Butler. It's not that I don't like Kevin, it's just...he's very brash, and Sony's thing used to cool and classy ads, not fake executives talking shit.

Britain's hedgehog population is in crisis, with many falling victim to roadkill. Sega staged a "hedgehog road crossing" to raise awareness of the creatures, and, of course, Sonic Colors. Here one's fitted with red booties. Seen via Daily Mail.

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, let's put this Wednesday to rest with a little off topic conversation as we enter... Kotaku After Dark!

My day was busy writing about video games, buying video games, playing video games and making travel arrangements for the holidays. If you're in the New York City or Orlando areas next month, I'll see you there! What holiday based plans are you making a month in advance? And what else is going on in your life?

Hit us square in the comments and talk about whatever strikes your fancy.

• ThinkGeek's My First Bacon talking plush - Even your vegan infant will love it!
• The FDA's new proposed cigarette warning labels look fun - "Give me the one with tracheotomy guy"
• Google's Instant Preview looks... like something I'll never use, actually - Might be good for avoiding shock porn/gore sites though!
• OK Go's "Last Leaf" - That's a LOT of toast.

Adafruit, which laid a $3,000 bounty for the first open source driver for the Kinect, has declared a winner. "Hector" delivered the goods, verified as workable by a third party in the hacking community.

He's putting the $3,000 toward "hacking tools and devices for a group of people he works with closely," on projects such as the iPhone, Wii, and others. "They don't have much expendable income to buy tools and devices to hack, and sometimes this hobby can be a bit expensive, this will be a good investment that will allow them to hack more and newer devices."

Writes Hector: "Here's my take on the Kinect driver. Supports depth and RGB images and displays them on an OpenGL window. It's very hacky right now but it does prove the concept :)"

Adafruit also said it's using the bounty claim occasion to donate another $2,000 to the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "They defend our digital rights, our right to hack, reverse engineer and do things like this project," Adafruit wrote.

You may recall Microsoft vowed to ""work closely with law enforcement and product safety groups to keep Kinect tamper-resistant." Adafruit made the EFF donation to recognize its advocacy for tinkerers, programmers and, yes, hackers to perform such reverse engineering.

WE HAVE A WINNER – Open Kinect driver(s) released – Winner will use $3k for more hacking – PLUS an additional $2k goes to the EFF! [Adafruit, thanks Ryan C]