That is, according to a pair of LinkedIn profiles. The crazy shooter, which Square Enix suddenly killed this month, seems to have been in development since 2007 and not by Square Enix. But now, it's dead. [via Siliconera]

Noted for her detailed and highly realistic cosplay, Omi Gibson is a regular at events like the Tokyo Game Show. But there's one thing she does better and more passionately than any other female cosplayer. And that's Metal Gear.

"Metal Gear cosplay is most representative of what I do," Omi tells Kotaku. "I pour everything I possess into it."

The diehard Metal Gear fan has an impressive resume of cosplay from Hideo Kojima's stealth series. She's cosplayed as a whole array of Metal Gear characters, from Olga Gurlkovich in Metal Gear Solid 2 to a paramedic in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops. Other characters she's donned include Raiden, Emma Emmerich, Sniper Wolf, Naomi Hunter, Sunny and Strange Love - among many, many more.

Omi has even cosplayed as characters from Kojima's other titles: Snatcher and Policenauts. Recently, the young cosplayer garnered a new fanbase with her masterful Catherine cosplay. She isn't a new cosplayer by any stretch, having first honed her skills as a kid. "I've been cosplaying since I was five or so," Omi says. "Back then, I'd dress up as my favorite movie characters."

This month, Omi put all of her previous cosplay photos in a handy round-up on her website. It's mostly game character cosplay as well as some S&M style fetish photos, which are not work safe.

まとめ 3/17更新｜子供はガマン、黙って寝てろ [OMI]

Vice City is my favourite Grand Theft Auto game. Yet Grand Theft Auto IV has the best visual effects and physics in the series. What to do? I know. Let these guys rebuild Vice City using GTAIV's engine!

Using the OpenIV set of mod tools, two teams are currently working on recreating Vict City using Grand Theft Auto IV's engine. One team, Vice City RAGE, have released the above video, which is obviously a work-in-progress (since there's still janky textures and a distinct lack of pedestrians).

The other team, Vice IV, are doing exactly the same thing, and have this video to show for it.

Both look like they're doing a good job, but are forgetting the two best things about the original Vice City: a crisp blue sky and Mister Mister. Get both those working and they'll be set.

[via Reddit]

When not hacking hardware, rapper George Hotz likes to spend his time in South America. And when he's not in South America, he's in court. The legal wrangling between Hotz and Sony Computer Entertainment of America continues to drag on.

Hotz's latest maneuver, reports Ars Technica, is not knowing that Sony Computer Entertainment of America even existed. According to Hotz's attorneys, this is because his new PS3 remained sealed, and the box only mentioned Japan.

"When one purchases a Playstation Computer and looks at its outer box, it has plastered on numerous places that it is a product of Sony Japan and all rights belong to Sony Japan. It only references Sony Japan-not SCEA.," explained his lawyers in court documents. "When one takes the Playstation Computer out of its box and inspects it, it states it is a product of Sony Japan and all rights belong to Sony Japan. It does not reference California. When one installs the Playstation Computer firmware update that Mr. Hotz allegedly circumvented, which can legally be obtained through the internet as Mr. Hotz did, upon installation, it only refers to Sony Japan."

This is to prove Hotz didn't know he was dealing with a California-based company, which is important in establishing jurisdiction. What's more, Hotz stated under penalty of perjury that he was totally oblivious to the existence of Sony Computer Entertainment of America. The used systems in his possession, he adds, didn't have instruction manuals or were thrown out without being read. According to Hotz, "The reason I kept the slim box (for the PlayStation I purchased new) was because it was pretty."

Sony Computer Entertainment of America is also attempting to prove that Hotz signed up for a PlayStation Network account. If successful, Sony might be able to show that the Terms of Service give jurisdiction to try Hotz in California.

Initially, Sony said the PSN account "Geo1Hotz" was Hotz's, even though there was nothing other than a screen handle to link it to Hotz. Then, Sony says Hotz created an account under the name "blickmaniac" with one of the four PS3s he purchased. Thing is, the serial numbers don't match up. A comment on Hotz's blog apparently made by his neighbor claims that the account is not Hotz's. "See, I live next door to George Hotz and we've always been good friends," reads the comment. "At the time I bought the console, I was waiting to be connected to the internet by my ISP so I asked Hotz if I could use his for a while. Good neighbors, that's all."

The serial number for the PS3 Sony is trying to pin to Hotz was purchased at a GameStop near his house. Sony Computer Entertainment of America did not submit into evidence any receipts that directly tie Hotz to the machine.

"Factually, it's true I'm in South America, on a vacation I've had planned and paid for since November," Hotz blogged last week. "I mean, it is Spring break; hacking isn't my life. Rest assured that not a dime of legal defense money would ever go toward something like this." Hotz added that he is in contact with his lawyers daily, and he wouldn't let the case suffer. "That said, I also won't let this ridiculous lawsuit run my life either. Then the fearmongerers win." Hotz closed his post by saying he'll be back, adding, "I hear it's hard to come by the Xperia Play down here." Also, we hear Hotz's rap flow in Spanish isn't so great.

Sony v. Hotz: mismatched serial numbers and sealed manuals [Ars Technica]

Finland's two biggest exports are Nokia phones and casual game Angry Birds. Here, the two combine for a popular-as-hell live tournament that brings this shopping mall to a stand-still.

Seriously, if you ever needed proof of just how popular this game is with regular folk, look at the crowds being pulled here. And yes, it's in Finland, which I'm sure has a special affinity with the game, but I bet there are plenty of places in the world, from London to New York to Sydney, where you could just as easily get people going "oh my GOD a live Angry Birds tournament".

This particular tournament, in Helsinki, was the final of a competition that was held all over Finland. The winner scored a trip for two to Hollywood, some phones, an Angry Birds certificate and a hug from a Finnish girl.

[via Pocket Gamer]

In June, Kotobukiya will be releasing this figure based on Eleanor from Phantasy Star Online. She'll sell for USD$35.

Mike Rosenthal made an absurdist game based on the absurdist play Waiting for Godot. It's a parody, a send-up of Samuel Beckett's famous work. But you know what's really absurd? How Beckett's estate reacted to the game.

Rosenthal says he was inspired by Beckett's work, because Waiting for Godot asks the audience to interpret the play. Likewise, early video games asked players to interpret the graphics.

"Ultimately, I wanted to make something selfish, something I thought would be funny without ever considering the audience's opinion," he tells The Rumpus.net. "Taking all the fun out of a game is funny. Basing a game on a play where nothing happens is funny. And people played it!" One guy apparently made it to the 99th level.

Beckett's estate, however, didn't think it was so funny and asked Rosenthal to change the name, which they own.

"Under American law, my game is considered parody and is protected under fair use, but I complied since I'm just a college kid who can't really afford a lawyer," says Rosenthal. "So I changed the name to Samuel Becketttt's Lawyers Present: Waiting for Grodoudou." Rosenthal even explicitly stated on his site that the game was referring to the Australian Samuel Becketttt, not to be confused with the Irish Samuel Beckett.

The lawyers of Beckett's estate weren't amused. Thus, the game is now simply titled "Game".

According to Rosenthal, "Personally, I find it ironic that a publishing house established to surreptitiously print works censored by occupying Germans wants so strongly to censor my game."

The Rumpus Interview With Mike Rosenthal [The Rumpus via Quarter to Three]

Trip Hawkins, who not only founded EA but was the driving force behind the 3DO, is often described as a "colourful" figure in video game history. Part of that is because he's been so important, but it's also because he's in a world of trouble.

Over the decades, Hawkins amassed enormous profits from his stake in Electronic Arts, the publisher he helped establish in 1982. He especially cleaned up when he began selling his EA shares in the early 90s to fund his 3DO venture. The thing is, he didn't pay all the taxes those profits accumulated, and the man currently owes the state of California over $20 million in unpaid taxes.

Hawkins and his wife tried to dodge this by filing for bankruptcy in 2006, but a judge ruled this week that, essentially, that doesn't count, and that he still owes an estimated $20-25 million in taxes

Video Gaming Pioneer Trip Hawkins Is Still On The Hook For Big Taxes [Forbes]

Are you a nerd or a geek? If calculations are correct, I've probably pissed off oodles of others, who have also pissed off their fair share of fellow nerds. It's a vicious cycle: otaku (loosely "geek" or "nerd") pissing off other otaku. But it exists and, otaku being otaku, there's not much one can do about it.

I'll be a nerd and point out that, yes, there is a nuance of difference between otaku and their Western counterparts. One of the big differences is that otaku refer to people who are very much into something. Thus, there are train otaku, Gundam otaku, sticker otaku, game otaku, movie otaku and so on and so forth.

Yes, in the West, you could say that a "nerd" or a "geek" is someone who is obsessed with something. So you have film geeks and comic nerds and so on. There is a nuance of difference between "nerd" and "geek", with geeks being slightly more socially acceptable. Nerds are, in my construct, more passionate and more angry. Thus, you have the somewhat cute term "geek out" (to get excited about something), but then also the more vitriolic "nerd rage" (to get utterly pissed off).

Otaku are somewhere in the middle, but different in that for a long time they have been painted as socially unacceptable in Japan. While in the West, nerds or geeks are typically painted as awkward, but good at math or science, otaku were viewed as obsessive types, who spent their time in dark rooms. In 2005, the perception changed with Train Man, a book of collected BBS postings about an otaku who wins over a pretty girl. For a brief moment, otaku became cool. That is, until the Akihabara Massacre, and the spectre of the malevolent returned. Often people in the West think it's cool to refer to themselves as "otaku", but many in Japan find the word somewhat embarrassing, preferring the term "Akiba-kei" or "Akiba-type".

All of this being said, I think that for all intents and purposes, nerd, geek and otaku can be used somewhat interchangeably. The English words "geek" and "nerd" do a good enough job expressing the spirit of the word "otaku".

Japanese polling site Goo Research (via What Japan Thinks) polled over one thousand members of its research pool. Note that ages ranged from teens to over sixty, with the majority being in their 20s, 30s and 40s. Over 67 percent of those polled were female!

The question asked folks what otaku behavior might make other otaku annoyed. Number one with a bullet was when people get names or explanations slightly wrong. Included in the top ten were things like those who suddenly start spouting info to impress the opposite sex, pretending like they know more than they really do, being smug about stuff everyone knows or saying they are otaku, but only know about mass market things. The whole list can be read here.

Many, if not most, of online arguments are simply nerds duking it out. Or nerds trying to out nerd each other. Some of that ends up as trolling. Some of it is an honest-to-goodness exchange of ideas. The purpose of the survey, of course, is to attempt to pin point what otaku behavior ticks off fellow otaku. What it obviously doesn't broach is how otaku (nerds, geeks, whatever) can be an endless source of knowledge - some useful, some utterly useless. There's passion there, annoying, enlightening and everything in between.

Culture Smash is a daily dose of things topical, interesting and sometimes even awesome - game related and beyond.

[Pic]

This is veteran actor Jeff Steitzer. He's done Broadway. Law & Order. Oh, and if you've ever played Halo, chances are you've heard his voice more than Master Chief's, Sgt. Johnson's and Cortana's combined.

Why? Because he's the voice of the game's multiplayer announcer, meaning any time you've heard a gravelly, distant voice grunt "DOUBLE KILL', or "SLAYER", Steitzer is the man behind it. Stay tuned until the end for an awesome Dick Cheney gag.

Like all good voice actors, he looks nothing like you expect, does he?

[via Reddit]