simblr.com

Microsoft may not be winning Japan over with its Xbox 360—it typically sells under 10,000 consoles a month in the region—but that doesn’t mean it’s going to stop trying. Tomorrow in Japan the company is holding a press conference to focus on its RPG line-up, presumably to show off future wares geared toward the market like Infinite Undiscovery and The Last Remnant from Square Enix, but it may have more than that. News from the event should start to hit late tonight, very early tomorrow morning in the West.
We know that Mistwalker is working on Cry On and a Blue Dragon sequel, so we may get some updates on that, but perhaps Microsoft has a megaton or two squirreled away. If you stay up late enough, you might be able to catch wind of what’s going on, but rest assured that whatever drama awaits, it will be here in the morning. Get some sleep!
It makes me angry that microsoft has pretty much DESTROYED the Japanese RPG because of the way they have gotten studios to release on the 360. All these games would have millions of fans on the PS3, in Japan, and the US, and Europe. On the 360, they are ignored in Japan, ignored in the US, and ignored in Europe. Why? Because no one wants a 360 in Japan, because no one with a 360 in the US wants RPGs, and because Europe is a mix of the US and Japan and still ends up favoring the PS3.
Microsoft should just bow out in Japan, and these wonderful games [Eternal Sonata, Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey, hell, even games that aren’t RPGs like Idolmaster and Aquazone] should be released on the PS3 where they can find a good home.
Star Ocean 4. Going to 360 WOULD be a megaton.

kotaku.com

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Choose the one that’s best for you.
With “American Idol” continuing to give ground, Fox is seeing its weekly ratings advantages diminish.
In the penultimate full week of the season, Fox did win for an 18th straight time among young adults, but both CBS and ABC were within striking distance. The Eye tied Fox for the lead in adults 25-54 and won in total viewers for a third straight frame, while the Alphabet ran second in 18-49 with its best average (excluding Oscar week) since late November.
Fox will win the season easily in all categories, though it’s worth noting that CBS would likely have prevailed in total viewers had it not been for the writers strike. The Eye has drawn the most overall viewers since the beginning of April.
Overall for the May 5-11 frame, Nielsen estimates that Fox led among adults 18-49 with a 3.3 rating/10 share, with ABC (3.0/9) and CBS (2.9/8) not far behind. NBC ran a distant fourth (1.9/5), closer to fifth-place Univision (1.6/4) or sixth-place TNT (1.2/3) than to any of its Big Four rivals.
In total viewers, CBS (10.6 million) was well ahead of ABC (9.5 million) and Fox (8.9 million).
As for “American Idol,” it remains comfortably television’s top-rated program, with Tuesday’s performance episode (8.4/23 in 18-49, 21.76m) and Wednesday’s results show (8.2/21, 22.87m). Still, the skein’s two hours were down a combined 18% in 18-49 rating vs. the same week a year ago (8.3/22 vs. 10.1/28).
Also pitching in for Fox were Monday’s “House” (a slot-leading 5.1/13 in 18-49, 13.48m) and Tuesday’s “Hell’s Kitchen” (5.2/13, 11.00m), which retained a best-yet 62% of its “Idol” 18-49 lead-in.
And NASCAR’s Darlington 500 race on Saturday (2.7/10 in 18-49, 7.81m) won the night for Fox, easily topping ABC’s coverage of the Cleveland-Boston NBA playoff game (1.7/6, 4.70m).

variety.com

Richmond Special Olympics Virginia is looking for 3,000 "fan-atics" to help cheer on more than 1,500 athletes from across Virginia at the Summer Games June 6-7 in Richmond. To sign up to cheer at local venues or learn how to raise funds, visit www.volunteer2cheer.com. For information on remaining corporate support opportunities, contact Katie Botha at (804) 726-3024 or kbotha@specialolympicsva.org.
Colonial Heights This city of 17,000 is celebrating its 60th birthday this week, culminating tomorrow and Sunday at the Fort Clifton Arts, Music and Crafts Festival. Although Colonial Heights’ existence as an independent city is relatively new, the community got its name during the Revolutionary War when the Colonials — French troops under the command of Gen. Marquis de Lafayette — retreated north and deployed artillery on the heights overlooking Petersburg. The name "Colonial Heights" stuck. The Fort Clifton festival will be held at Berberich Park, behind Tussing Elementary School off Conduit Road.
Hanover The Metro Richmond Crime Stoppers recently selected the work of a Hanover County student, Nathan Duke, as the winner of its 2008 poster contest. He was awarded a $1,500 U.S. savings bond in recognition of his efforts.
Chesterfield Midlothian District Supervisor Dan Gecker will host a community meeting May 19 on the 2008 General Assembly session. The speaker will be Sen. John Watkins, R-Powhatan. The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. in the sanctuary of Winfree Memorial Baptist Church, 13617 Midlothian Turnpike.
Henrico The county Extension Office is accepting applications for the 2008 Henrico Junior 4-H Camp, scheduled for June 16-20 at the Jamestown 4-H Center in Williamsburg. The camp is open to boys and girls ages 9 to 14 as of Sept. 30, 2008. The $185 fee covers lodging, food, transportation, programs and materials. Call (804) 501-5160 for an application or log on to the Extension Web site at www.co.henrico.va.us/extension.

inrich.com

Seriously. Watch an episode of or The Sopranos and you'll get more Violence and T&A. And you don't even need to buy that! It's just on TV. Likewise, Xbox 360 has parental controls that lock out mature games. I use this with my kids, and it works great. Stop being an idiot and bitching about it when all the tools that are necessary to protect your kids are available. Give me a break, you goody two shoes fascists.
Why isn't VE3d posting ALL the news on GTA4?
I hate Jack Thompson but the guy has real ammo this time and I hope he wins.
The IGN video shows what pure shit this game is.
Just curious, does he ever succeed in any of these mini-crusades of his? Some days I wonder if he's not actually receiving compensation for all the publicity he provides.
Cheat codes in GTA are almost needed. Yes, I always beat the whole game legit first. It ruins the game if you play with them the first time. But come 3-6 months from now when i just want to go ballistic, I'm totally going to give myself some weapons, spawn a police chopper and jack my crime rating through the roof for scenario / fun purposes. Whats wrong with that? Not buying a game because of cheat codes is !@$#ing lame.
Again, this site has always been a culmination of gaming news. Just cuz it has been predominantly PC games, doesn't mean that it can't have all games.
Just because a game is on a console doesn't mean it is automatically inferior. Games are games, they are supposed to be fun. you may not like them, maybe you do… but this site has always been the place to go for major news and announcements.

ve3d.ign.com

‘89. Ed Harris. Oil-platform workers, including an estranged couple, and a Navy SEAL make a startling deep-sea discovery. (PG-13) (4:00) SCI-FI: Thu. 11 P.M.
• Ace in the Hole
‘51. Kirk Douglas. A New York newsman in New Mexico delays a cave-in victim’s rescue to milk the story. (NR) (2:00) TCM: Mon. 2 P.M. (CC)
‘05. Charlize Theron. In the last city on Earth, underground rebels dispatch their top assassin to kill a government leader. (PG-13) (1:35) TMC: Tue. 11:45 A.M., 10 P.M. (CC)
‘90. Mel Gibson. CIA-funded pilots hit drug traffic while flying supplies for the covert war effort in Laos. (R) (2:00) TBS: Fri. 10 A.M. (CC)
‘97. Michael Jeter. Abandoned by a disagreeable clown, a golden retriever with a knack for basketball befriends a lonely boy. (PG) (1:40) ENC: Mon. 6:20 P.M. (CC)
‘80. Robert Hays. A pilot afraid to fly follows his stewardess ex-girlfriend and must take over for the poisoned crew. (PG) (2:00) COMEDY: Sun. 11:30 A.M., Sat. 4 P.M. (CC)
• Akeelah and the Bee
‘06. Laurence Fishburne. Akeelah, an 11-year-old girl living in South Los Angeles, discovers she has a talent for spelling, which she hopes will take her to the National Spelling Bee. (PG) (2:00) SHO: Wed. 4:15 P.M., Sat. 2:45 P.M. (CC)
‘35. Joe E. Brown. An eccentric ballplayer known for his unorthodox pitching style finds major-league trouble with a girl and gangsters. (NR) (1:30) TCM: Fri. 1 P.M. (CC)
• Alien Nation: Dark Horizon
‘94. Gary Graham. A police detective and his humanoid partner unearth a plot to destroy aliens in near-future Los Angeles. (NR) (1:35) MAX: Wed. 5 P.M.
• All About the Benjamins
‘02. Ice Cube. A bounty hunter and a con artist work together to retrieve a lottery ticket from a group of diamond thieves. (R) (2:00) USA: Sat. midnight (CC)

post-gazette.com

The fellas at Shacknews have a couple GTA IV videos posted today that show the complete intro to the game as well as a couple minutes of gameplay footage. Altogether the two videos contain over 10 minutes of footage.
Someone out there has Rockstar’s latest in their dirty rotten hands, and you don’t. Terrible, I know–but hey, at least that someone took the time to capture a little video for your viewing pleasure.

hardocp.com

n Selectmen — Nowak Room, Town Offices, 7 p.m.
n Conservation Commission — Nowak Room, Town Offices, 7 p.m. The commission will review RiverWoods at Exeter’s proposal for a secondary access road, which would cross two wetlands, leading from its proposed third facility to Pickpocket Road.
n Heritage Commission — Wheelright Room, Town Offices, 7:30 p.m.
n Planning Board — Nowak Room, Town Offices, 7 p.m. Board members will discuss the Linden Commons subdivision on Linden Street, RiverWoods application for The Boulders and a 58-space parking lot expansion at the Lincoln and Main Street school properties.
fire forestry truck
EXETER — Selectmen approved the disbursement of not more than $46,000 from the capital reserve fund for purchasing a forestry reserve truck for the Fire Department.
The department requested the board approve $33,465 to purchase the Ford F-350 Diesel 4-by-4 pickup from McFarland Ford. The former truck is intended to be sold for $10,000 to a department in Fryeburg, Maine. An amount of $10,000 will be used to pay for the tank, pump and other components that make the vehicle a “forestry” truck. Selling the former vehicle will allow the purchase to come in much under budget, said Fire Chief Brian Comeau.
In March, voters approved $81,000 to be placed in the vehicle replacement capital reserve fund, $25,000 of which would replace a 1984 forestry truck and $56,000 of which would refurbish engine No. 4 for the department.
The two items were partially funded last year as part of a new capital reserve account set up for vehicle replacement. The 1984 truck is a 1-ton Chevrolet originally built by the department and refurbished six years ago. The Fire Department has replaced both fuel tanks and the body of the truck and the age and wear and tear has made it a drain on the department maintenance account.

seacoastonline.com

PHOENIX — Ben Howland began buttoning his black, double-breasted suit with 11 seconds remaining in UCLA’s blowout win against Xavier in the West Regional final. Howland knew the drill.
Shake hands with losing coach Sean Miller.
Report to the scorer’s table, where CBS’s Bill Raftery waited with a microphone and a handshake for the postgame interview.
This is the third consecutive year Howland has led the Bruins to a Final Four. The guy spends more time on aluminum ladders than your roofer. If he cuts down any more nets, UCLA ought to give him his very own pair of personalized scissors.
This time it was Xavier, the No. 3 seed with an attitude, that got Bruin-ized, 76-57. XU was so intense that when a flag-waving, UCLA cheerleader planted himself at halfcourt during the pregame warm-ups, Musketeers senior guard Stanley Burrell told him to get off the floor. When the cheerleader didn’t budge, Burrell gave him a baby forearm shiver.
“He was cursing me,” the cheerleader said. “Most disrespectful thing I’ve ever seen. But no big deal.”
See, even UCLA’s cheerleaders man up. Makes sense. If you want to be on the same court as Howland and the Bruins, you don’t back down — not even to the Atlantic-10 Conference Defensive Player of the Year.
UCLA won it’s 35th game of its extraordinary season, but does it have enough to win a Final Four semi and then a national championship?
Yes, but with a Barry Bonds-sized asterisk.
UCLA beat Xavier by 19, but the Musketeers don’t reside in the same tony cul-de-sac as the two teams — Texas and Memphis — that played Sunday for the right to face the Bruins in San Antonio. Sorry, but it’s true.
The same goes for the other two sides of the bracket. There’s North Carolina and the winner of Sunday’s Davidson-Kansas game (5:05 p.m. ET). In short, it will be a brutally tough Final Four.

sports.espn.go.com

It was a genuine, tender moment that all but made up for the somewhat silly “Stop the nerve gas!” antics that preceded it. Lost’s Juliet, haunted by Ben’s obsession, shared a rain-soaked lip-lock with Jack. Luckily for “Jacket” fans, more of the same seems to be on the horizon. Elizabeth Mitchell shares with us what’s ahead, names the episode she deems “perfect” and talks about returning to work after the strike. (Lost airs Thursdays at 9 pm/ET on ABC.)
TVGuide.com: What was with that bait-and-switch you did for the TV Guide cover shoot? I saw you and Naveen [Andrews] and thought, “Oh, Sayid is going to pop up in Juliet’s flashback or flash-forward” and… no such thing.
Elizabeth Mitchell: You know, it was more wishful thinking, wasn’t it? I called it “a little fantasy episode.”
TVGuide.com: It was a hot photo shoot, though.
Mitchell: It really was! Naveen and I have known each other for a long time, so we’re comfortable together and we were able to play. It was very film noir-ish, and we both enjoyed that tremendously.
TVGuide.com: Let me pull out this quote you gave me a year and a half ago: “I don’t know what kind of past Juliet and Ben have, but it definitely is complicated and intricate.”
Mitchell: Yeah! [Laughs] I guess so!
TVGuide.com: And you were probably just pulling that out of your bum!
Mitchell: Well, I knew it was something really, really bad. But I didn’t anticipate standing over the body of my dead lover with a stake sticking out of his heart, and having Ben claim responsibility. That wasn’t in my imagination. I thought it was an interesting twist.
TVGuide.com: Can we talk about the ill-advised decision to engage in an extramarital affair on a small, isolated island? I mean, people are going to talk.

seattlepi.nwsource.com