Kotaku
File under UNFAIR. In North America and Europe, 3D Classics: Excitebike can be downloaded free of charge until July 7, 2011. In Japan, it can be downloaded until July 31. What gives?
Share: 
File under UNFAIR. In North America and Europe, 3D Classics: Excitebike can be downloaded free of charge until July 7, 2011. In Japan, it can be downloaded until July 31. What gives?
Call of Duty Elite, Activision's attempt to make even more money out of the venerable shooter franchise, will go into beta on July 14. It'll be invite-only, and only Black Ops' multiplayer users will be considered.
Not one screen, but two. Until now, we've only had 27 seconds of a teaser, but here are apparently Hitman: Absolution's first in-game screens.
Slated for a 2012 release, multiplatform Hitman: Absolution is the fifth Hitman title.
The latest screenshots for Hitman: Absolution screens sneak in [Eurogamer via Rock, Paper, Shotgun]
I see literally hundreds of people trying to cosplay as Final Fantasy characters for this feature, and few even get close to matching Square Enix's vision of vertical, spiky locks.
So this authentic mess of hair is something to be both admired, and applauded.
I don't care if it's a plastic wig. The entire point of cosplay is dressing up in stuff that's not real, so if you've got to supplement your natural hair to get the look right, then that's what you do.
Also in this week's Fancy Pants, you'll find some inappropriate Darkstalkers groping, Dante, Xenosaga and quite possibly the strangest Zelda cosplay arrangement I've ever seen.
As seen on kdthompson.
As seen on Shadowgrass.
As seen on Malindachan.
As seen on Abessinier.
As seen on aicosu.
As seen on Paper-Night.
As seen on HexReedfly.
As seen on Yuriko-san.
As seen on LilleahWest.
As seen on epi-corner.
Keeping track of E3's big press conferences-where all the important announcements are made-can be hard enough. But keeping track of them and then knowing what time that is in your particular part of the world? That's really hard!
So we figured, let's make it a little easier on you guys, and put together this chart showing the relevant times for the bulk of our readership. Think of it as your ticket to the big dance. Well, the big dances.
The times listed are those when the big five press conferences are due to commence. We'll of course be LIVE at each and every one of them, bringing you the news as it happens, so take note of the times that interest you, make sure you've got a cup of tea handy and join us as it all goes down.
Before anyone asks "WHERE IS MY TIME ZONE", sorry! We couldn't fit everyone in, so had to just stick with the majority.
Today, it has been revealed that Sony Europe was the target of a cyber attack. No confidential data was leaked, said the electronics giant. [Yahoo! News]
On June 6 (in the US, June 7 elsewhere), the Nintendo 3DS is getting a system update to stabilize the system and add the 3DS Shop. According to Nintendo, Ridge Racer 3D owners "may experience a disruption in their gameplay experience under certain conditions".
This issue will be resolved later this month with an additional system update. Sit tight!
For around a week now, I've been meaning to write up a post about King Arthur's Gold, and never got around to it. I am truly sorry about this. So today, without further ado: King Arthur's Gold.
If I were to be crude and unfair with a sweeping generalisation, I'd say it's a cross between Worms, Fat Princess, and Minecraft. Seeing as that's both crude and unfair, though, you should just know that the game is about digging up gold and getting it back to your base.
The trick comes with the fact there are two teams digging, and that the terrain is not only destructible, but you can build stuff out of it as well. So you can build forts for the enemy to knock them down, or dig up gold only to have the enemy kill you and cart it back to their base.
You can grab it from here.
The mech title will be out on October 20 on the PS3 and Xbox 360, priced at ¥7,800 (US$97). [4Gamer]
Today isn't just Monday, it's the day that gaming's biggest show, the E3 gaming expo, kicks off in Los Angeles.
There will be a flood of gaming news. There will be excitement. There will be disappointment. And there will be awkward press conferences.
Before the craziness starts, Kotaku is taking a step back, surveying the situation and making predictions—some bold, some not so.
• "We're going to see Wii 2 stuff in spades. There won't be a lot we don't know about the system by the end of E3." (Joel Johnson)
• "New Rainbow Six shown." (Brian Crecente)
• "Xbox Live support for Android." (Stephen Totilo)
• "God of War 4 closes out Sony's E3 2011 press conference." (Michael McWhertor)
• "Either Satoru Iwata or Shigeru Miyamoto will pull the Wii successor's control out of his pocket." (Brian Ashcraft)
• "Nintendo will only show half the console, or reveal half its feature set." (Luke Plunkett)
• "So Many Kinect Dance Games." (Michael Fahey)
• "Kevin Butler will make the only mention of the PlayStation Network outage during Sony's presser. It's solid joke, takes a sly dig at RRoD, and gets a 10-second applause break." (Owen Good)
• "Microsoft talks new hardware for Xbox 3. Probably not—it's still looking like a 2013 launch at the earliest—but it's possible." (Joel Johnson)
• "Xbox 360 price drop." (Brian Crecente)
• "Xbox Live support for iOS." (Stephen Totilo)
• "EA reveals a sequel to System Shock." (Michael McWhertor)
• "Nintendo will price the Wii successor." (Brian Ashcraft)
• "Microsoft will unveil a new piece of hardware. Not necessarily an all-new console, just a new piece of hardware." (Luke Plunkett)
• "Nintendo becomes serious competition for Sony and Microsoft." (Michael Fahey)
• "3DS Shop comes online." (Owen Good)
• "Sony announces new console hardware. They're too far in the danger zone, plus NGP is plenty on their plate for now." (Joel Johnson)
• "New Xbox or new PS3 shown." (Brian Crecente)
• "The original Super Mario Bros. redesigned to be played as an augmented
reality game via the 3DS, though, damn it, this should happen." (Stephen Totilo)
• "The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is delayed as a launch title for Nintendo's next console." (Michael McWhertor)
• "New home console hardware from Microsoft or Sony teased. Those guys are going to play wait-and-see." (Brian Ashcraft)
• "Microsoft makes it through its press conference without making fun of the PSN downtime." (Luke Plunkett)
• "Final Fantasy VII remake." (Michael Fahey)
• "Hot topic right now, but we're not gonna hear a thing about any EA Sports subscription." (Owen Good)
• "The Revolution. (Just kidding!) I can't guess what the name will be, but I suspect it will be as pithy and playful as 'Wii'. And it will cost $249." (Joel Johnson)
• "Nintendo. $350" (Brian Crecente)
• "I think it'll be called the Wii 2. It'll cost $349, but the price isn't going to be announced this far out." (Stephen Totilo)
• "Nintendo HDX. $299.99 USD" (Michael McWhertor)
• "Nintendo Wii 2. It will cost $349.99!" (Brian Ashcraft)
• "Never saw 'Wii' coming, so won't both hazarding a guess at this. Though Super Wii Entertainment System would be rad. $399." (Luke Plunkett)
• "Revolution. It'll cost $400." (Michael Fahey)
• "The Nintendo Glii. $349." (Owen Good)
• "PS Vita, which everyone will shorten to just 'Vita'. But will it be Vee-ta or V-eye-ta? I hope it's Vee-ta because it reminds of Rita which is a nice name for a nice lady. $299 launch, which will drop to $249 if sales droop even a little." (Joel Johnson)
• "Vita. $250." (Brian Crecente)
• "Vita seems right. I think it'll cost $299." (Stephen Totilo)
• "PS Vita. $299.99 USD and $399.99 USD." (Michael McWhertor)
• "PlayStation Vita! The 3G version will be $349.99, and the regular model will be $299.99." (Brian Ashcraft)
• "PlayStation Vita. Base model will be $249, and the 3G model $349." (Luke Plunkett)
• "The Sony Playman. $250." (Michael Fahey)
• "The PlayStation Q.mpaqt. $349." (Owen Good)
• "More details on Star Wars Kinect, but the main Kinect game will be Forza 4, which everyone will say is a 'pretty good' use of head tracking. And hopefully we'll see something about Dance Central 2, AKA 'the only Kinect game.'" (Joel Johnson)
• "Alan Wake and Gears of War." (Brian Crecente)
• "I'm guessing there will a Viva Pinata Kinect game, a Gears of War Kinect game, Alan Wake for Kinect and a Lego game for Kinect." (Stephen Totilo)
• "Too many leaks already, so I'll go with something unexpected: Banjo Kazooie Kinect." (Michael McWhertor)
• "Obvious titles like a new Kinect Sports as well as an Alan Wake title. I see Kinect controls being put in Gears of War 3 and the new Fable game." (Brian Ashcraft)
• "Something Halo-related, no doubt. And around 17 more games that have the word "Dance" in the title." (Luke Plunkett)
• "Kinect the Dots." (Michael Fahey)
• "Star Wars Kinect and that game where you move your hand and then the thing happens and you get an achievement for it." (Owen Good)
• "X-Com: UFO Defense will get a remake in HD in the original isometric but upscaled for iPad and iPhone." (Joel Johnson)
• "Metal Gear, Halo." (Brian Crecente)
• "Halo." (Stephen Totilo)
• "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic? I don't know, the well's starting to run dry." (Michael McWhertor)
• "The Wii successor is apparently HD, so get ready for HD Nintendo remakes." (Brian Ashcraft)
• "Halo. Devil May Cry. Metal Gear Solid. Onimusha. You name it, if it was on Xbox/PS2, it'll be in the pipeline." (Luke Plunkett)
• "Tobal 1 and 2." (Michael Fahey)
• "NFL Blitz." (Owen Good)
• "Lady Gaga will saunter through a Zynga event somewhere." (Joel Johnson)
• "Hulk Hogan." (Brian Crecente)
• "Hulk Hogan." (Stephen Totilo)
• "Kevin James, there to inexplicably shill Zookeeper." (Michael McWhertor)
• "Tim Curry. Please?" (Brian Ashcraft)
• "Peter Jackson!" (Luke Plunkett)
• "Elmo from Sesame Street." (Michael Fahey)
• "Thierry Henry, now with New York Red Bulls, will appear on behalf of FIFA at EA's show; Peter Moore makes a crack about his infamous handball in explaining the game's new physics system, and it's all ice-cold from there." (Owen Good)
What about you? Hit Kotaku up in the comments with your predictions and feel free to answer our questions.