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I showed this fantastic commercial for the original Sony PlayStation to the rest of the Destructoid crew and sadly, being a European-only advertisment, none of my American colleagues were at all familiar with the satirical-ahead-of-its-time brilliance that was S.A.P.S – The Society Against PlayStation. This was the commercial that heralded the coming of Sony’s premier and iconic gaming console to Europe and it’s a reminder nowadays of just how fantastic Sony can be at marketing when the boys are on top form....

Where there is a new system, there is Tecmo Koei with a new hack n’ slashWarriorsgame. Omega Force has chosen to christen the 3DS with theSamurai Warriorsbrand of button mashers, announcing thatSamurai Warriors Chroniclewill hit the system in March. Character customization and the ability to switch between four characters on the map are the new gimmicks in place, because for some reason Koei never wants to give us a normalWarriorsgame on a handheld....

You know howBioShock 2has thatcool website(Something in the Sea), with the interactive room you can click on for hints about the game’s storyline? Yeah, well, 2K decided to take it up a notch at this year’s Comic-Con by recreating the entire room down to the tinest details. A closer look at some of said details actually yielded some pretty interesting information — for instance, check out that book lying in the corner about UFOs....

WHAT HAS SCIENCE DONE? EA Sports took the first bold step in the fight against used games when it implemented its “online pass” system, a scheme whereby new consumers play a title’s online mode for free, while a used copy required a $10 code from the publisher. THQcopied it, Ubisoft obviouslyloved the idea, and it seems Sega too is licking its lips in anticipation. Western president Mike Hayes has called the pass system a “very clever idea” and adds that Sega is “certainly taking a look” at what happens with it....

Today’s piece of hilarity comes from a video taken at fighting game tournament Final Round XII just last month. The footage (after the jump) was of two fighters,Kensou (C. Viper) andListon (Sagat), who were all tied up and on match three of three. Whoever came out on top would place in the top 16 out of hundreds of participants. Nothing too out of the ordinary, yet. But then, as the two fighters whittle each other down to low health, something funny happens....

Patrick Marchal, technical director at Cities XL developer Monte Cristohas warned thatpiracy will be the death of PC developers, attacking the ongoingSporeoutragein the process. “We have looked at what happened withSporeand, even if we are not fans of DRM, we think that the outcry was a bit over the top,” claimed Marchal.“I think that people need to recognize that piracy is going to kill PC game developers.We will have to find the best way to defend our property without being harsh on legitimate clients....

This neat video popped up on our radar tonight. It’s Mushroom Hill Zone fromSonic & Knuckleslovingly reproduced as a rendered 3D video. The creator is an Australian 3D animator named Robert Medina. It looks great to me but, predictably, people are bitching about it in comments of the video on YouTube. Maybe my eyes are broken, but I don’t see anything upsetting about the character model. Certainly not enough to work up the energy to poorly phrase a complaint and post it to the internet....

Have you been waiting patiently to hear news on when you’ll be able to get your grubby mitts on Sonic’s latest adventure,Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1? I didn’t think so. You people can be soeagerat times, you know that? Well, wait no longer. Sonic will be hitting PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade very soon indeed. Xbox UK spokesperson Dom Carey updated his Twitter recently with the news that the blue blur would be available on XBLA October 13th....

Busted! Remember when a leaked build ofManhunt 2managed to make its way out? Now it looks like a representative from SCEE was the responsible party, and Take-Two has just released a statement. “Take-Two Interactive has confirmed that a former employee of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) has acknowledged his responsibility for the unauthorized online distribution of an unrated play-test version of Manhunt 2 submitted for the European PAL PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system,” the publisher toldGamePolitics....

The next round of Sony vs. The World continues with news that the company sent German police to the home of Graf_chokolo, a well known contributor to the PS3 hacking scene. The cops took everything related to console hacking, along with his “accounts.” By means of vengeance, Chokolo released the “Hypervisor Bible” online. The Bible is his collection of tools and information to help anybody reverse engineer their PS3, and its release is the nerd equivalent of an “If I’m going down, I’m taking you with me” scenario....

Despite emails telling publishers that the PlayStation Storewould be returning today, it has become apparent that such a thing won’t be happening. Not today and not tomorrow. Instead, Sony has gone back to the slightly more vague “by the end of May.” Fans were looking forward to normality returning today, spurred on by news that the PlayStation Network was receiving maintenance. It looked like the way was being paved for an update tonight, but no update shall be forthcoming....

I love discounted prices on downloadable games. It’s not because I’m a cheap ass or anything. It’s just that I still feel that some of these downloadable games are overpriced for what they are. Sometimes these sale prices feel just right. Sony is doing their Spring Fever sale again this spring, and with it comes some really good prices on some great games. The discounted games were actually the winners from their first PlayStation Network Gamers’ Choice Awards, so you know you’re not getting crapware....

While not always 100% accurate, retailer release lists often contain gems of information on game delays or unannounced releases. As the premiere videogame specialty retailer in the United States, keeping an eye on their release lists is at least worth the giggles. Obtaining GameStop retail release lists doesn’t require top-secret espionage tactics. As reserves are one of the companies key indicators of performance, employees are more than happy to waste reams of paper on providing customers with lists of upcoming releases....