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Last year Yasuhiro Wada and Yoshiro Kimura, creators ofHarvest MoonandLittle King’s Story, respectively, joined Suda51’sGrasshopper Manufacture. It was an exciting addition to the company. Both producers had previously been at Marvelous Entertainment and Wada co-developedFlower, Sun and Rainwith Suda51. Wada left to work alone and Kimura was considering ending his career before they moved to Grasshopper. Now, less than a year later, both of them haveleft the developer. They have not commented on what led to their decision to leave or what they will do now (however, since Kimura had planned to retire from the industry before, he may decide to follow through on that) and neither of them had been linked to any of the companies announced titles —Sine Mora,Rebuild of Evangelion: Sound Impact,Codename D,Lollipop ChainsawandBlack Knight Sword....

Haloidis quite possibly the most interestingHalo-related fan movie in existence. It manages to combine multiple genres and provide non-stop action as well as answer the question, “who would win in an ultimate showdown, Master Chief or Samus?” While the answer to that very question might not be what most of us had in mind, it’s definitely worth checking out. Whether or not you enjoy theHaloorMetroidgames, you can still get some enjoyment out ofHaloid— the creator,Monty Oum, made sure of that....

Tomorrow is the day that theHIDEO concertgoes down in the San Francisco Bay Area. It’s going to feature music from games likeMega Manas well as selections from many Final Fantasy games, and arrangements fromICO, Legend of Dragoon, Chrono Crossand more.ÂWhat’s cool is that they’ll all be wrapped up into a cohesive plot. How? I dunno. We’ll see tomorrow. What’s almost as cool as the concert is the players jamming live in our office....

THQ has announced that Kaos, the developer behindHomefront, has been shut down. It’s deemed likely that THQ will offer employees a chance to relocate to Canada. Quite a move considering the fact that Kaos is based in New York. The publisher has also closed down its Digital Warrington studio following the completion of its first full game,Warhammer 40,000: Kill Team. THQ to axe Homefront studio Kaos[Develop]

At least one person at id Software wasn’t buying the news that 3D Realms’ fabledDuke Nukem Foreverproject was canned. Speaking withVideoGamer, id’s director of business Steve Nix said he initially thought the announcement of the cancellation was a joke — as did many familiar with 3D Realms — before expressing sadness. “For me it was personally sad,” Nix said. I know a lot of people at the studio (id) were really surprised and saddened for sure....

As usual, Nintendo like to do things differently. In a recent Q3 financial results conference, Iwata expressed that the company did not feel the four year lifespan was fitting for the Wii, among other topics. Here’s a bit more in detail: “I’m quite doubtful that such a notion of platform cycles can be applied in the future…As we continue our research and study for new hardware, when we will be able to launch a new kind of hardware will actually depend on when we can change entertainment completely, and so have a strong impact on people around the world....

Community member Torzelan has been making some pretty sweet heavy metal covers as of late. His newest cover sees him taking on theKiller Instincttheme — a theme which is pretty epic in its own right. Check outTorzelan’s YouTube pageto download the cover. My favorite of Torzelan’s work can be found right after the break.

Oh Jessica, ever since my first love, Angelina Jolie, decided to get knocked up and adopt seventy children, I have had a huge void in my heart. I thought me and Ange were inseparable. I even came up with a Hollywood couple name for us: Hamgelina. Luckily, I came across this wonderful piece of news today fromYahoo! videogamesabout how you, Jessica Alba,enjoy video games. What a coincidence, Jessica. I like video games (as well ashalf naked womens) too!...

Ever since the whole Kevin Butler campaign started up, people sure have been digging the efforts of Sony’s marketing department. This latest one, centered around the PlayStation Move, is no exception. As ridiculous as the crying baby doll and thumbpenis ads were, I’ll happily admit it’s a step up. A jab atWii Sportshere, a jab at Natal’s button-free nature there — it’s all highly entertaining. If nothing else, I am now really excited to see how marketing between Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft will be handled once the latter two motion control devices are out on store shelves....

The Force Unleashed 2carries on its “tradition” of alternate universe DLC in the upcoming Endor bonus mission. This mission will let you kill Ewoks, fight Leia in a lightsaber duel, and thanks to IGN we can now see how you’ll kill Chewbacca and Han Solo. Because obviously the best fan pleaser is to let them unceremoniously destroy two of the most iconic characters in the Star Wars universe. In the DLC missions for the originalThe Force Unleashed, you got to kill Boba Fett, Obi-Wan and Luke....

Rockstar has confirmed thatL.A. Noirewill require three DVDs to contain all of its facial expressions and digital pubic hair, compared to the single Blu-ray that the PS3 version will need. “To tell the story and make the game we wanted to make, we knew that it was going to take an entire single layer Blu-ray disc and three Xbox discs,”stated Rockstar’sJeronimo Barrera. “Since the game is built around the concept of progressing through individual cases from desk to desk, players on Xbox will find disc-swapping is hassle-free....

You love him, I love him — the good Professor Layton will be making his return to Nintendo’s handheld on September 12 withProfessor Layton and the Unwound Future. Puzzled as to why this is news, considering a release date for the title had previously been announced? No need to a hint coin, I’ll just tell you — the game was previously scheduled for a September 20 release.ProfessorLayton and the Unwound FuturejoinsKane and Lynch 2: Dog Daysin getting its released pushed up a week....

Distribution rights aren’t just for publishers and record labels. Now you too can enjoy all the fun of intellectual property protection withLittleBigPlanet‘s “copyright” system. Media Molecule’s Alex Evanshas been talkingabout how players can “own” their in-game creations and make sure it only gets into the hands of their choosing. It’s almost like you get tobeViacom! We have a very simple system that we call “copyright” in the game, which isn’t copyright in the legal sense....