Kotaku

And we've received our first game pumpkin submission — Mega Man firing on Mr. Game & Watch from Super Smash Brothers. Reader Nathan G. carved it, about three weeks before Halloween, so, it should be good and slimy and rotted out by Oct. 31. Every year about this time we get hit with game pumpkins (not literally) so, if you're cravin' a carvin', get after it, snap it and send it to us. Check out last year's punkin roundup to see if your idea has been done before.

Pumpkin Roundup!! [Oct. 31, 2007]

Soulja Boy Now Offering Ass-Whoopins for Free

Noted game critic, aspiring developer and rapper Soulja Boy says there are four Xbox 360 titles on which he cannot be beat — any circumstances. Halo 3; Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare; Gears of War and Grand Theft Auto IV. (He's also a pure bastard at Viva Pinata, I assure you.) And at the end of this 7 minute video, which I dare you to tolerate, you can get his gamertag so you can sign up for your free assbeating. PlayStation 3 gamers, you are just shit out of luck, what can I say.

Soulja Boy Calls Out Xbox 360 Gamers [Xbox 360 Fanboy]

Revenge Of Public Day: TGS Attendance Rebounds!

The press has abandoned Tokyo Game Show, but the public hasn't. The business days have been a dud and two-thirds of the press have fled on the choked public days, but John and Jane Q. Consumer schlepped through the pissing rain to check out all of TGS's wares. Attendance was up over last year, some 7,000 more than 2007's first day of public access. Can Tokyo Game Show 2008 beat last year's final tally? Stay tuned for the thrilling conclusion.

When you can't convince 35 other people of your master plan to attack two Alliance capital cities, you really only have one alternative: Do it yourself. "Bradster" does. He owns that rig above — 11 computers that run 36 World of WarCraft account simultaneously. His infrastructure costs (to say nothing of his utility bill) weren't itemized, but he unashamedly admits he pays $5,711 per year in subscription fees to keep together his one-man raiding party (family photo of that on the jump).

Better yet? He's going to spend another $1,500 on 36 copies of Wrath of the Lich King so his army of level 80 Shamans can start pounding down Stormwind and Ironforge on day one.

One of the better booths at last year's TGS was Microsoft's. Mostly because they had a neat wall, which was displaying the game disc and cover art for every 360 game ever released in Japan. This year, they didn't exactly go one better (it's the same schtick), but they did make sure the game boxes weren't left out. Above, and below, you'll see Microsoft Japan's 360 timeline, charting every release of every game chronologically. They even cheat and show XBLA games. Somewhat interesting, no?

Xbox 360, Cave Shoot 'Em Up, Up, Up

There's no doubt. Your official Japanese shoot 'em up console is the Xbox 360. Shuffled away in the Microsoft booth, there are short lines for two very solid Cave shooters: DoDonPachi Dai Ou Jou Black Label Extra and Ketsui. Both games are getting Xbox 360 ports, and there's even a Hori arcade stick for Ketsui and thus really making the floor demo experience. Obviously, since it's the first Ketsui stage, it's hard to get an in-depth comparison between the port and the arcade version. However, when I asked a representative from the company that did the port, I was told that it was a straight-up arcade port.

Sure, it's not the same as playing it in an arcade — and the Xbox 360 cannot replicate how the arcade board slows down and tries to compensate for all the freaking projectiles on the screens. Still, it's good enough for home console play. DoDonPachi Dai Ou Jou Black Label Extra has two modes: arcade and Xbox 360 original mode. The original mode is way more forgiving to novice players than the arcade mode. The game also has a green-dress wearing new character (pictured), online ranking and a fresh coat of graphic paint.

When Tecmo's Logo Met Koei's Logo

Tecmo meet Koei. Koei, Tecmo. After rejecting Square Enix's "friendly" takeover, Tecmo announced on September 4th that it was in talks to merge with game company Koei. In an official announcement, it was stated the aim to integrate management was in hopes of creating a "stable and secure environment" as well as respect each other's individuality. The first fruits of that appear to be this plastic folder that shows a polite meeting between two Japanese companies who seem totally uninterested in getting gobbled up by a monolith like Square Enix. Want to know what the back of the folder says?

Klonoa Wii-make Hands On: Awesomely Waggle-Free

Klonoa: Door To Phantomile, in its PlayStation incarnation, is now almost 11-years old. In its remake journey to the Wii, it's been surprisingly unfucked with. There's no waggle gimmick — at least not in the portions of the Tokyo Game Show demo we played this week — with the only major change being a serious step up in graphical fidelity. It's a fantastic looking Wii game, looking better than the proper PlayStation 2 sequel, Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil, but dropping that game's cel-shaded look.

If you've never actually played the console Klonoas, as I was shocked to find my fellow Kotaku TGS crew hadn't, you really should. Really.

Video: Sony's Booth Companions Wish You A Good Morning

LittleBigPlanet's Sackboy was joined by a lovely and symmetrical black and white cabal of Sony Computer Entertainment Japan reps each morning, wishing Tokyo Game Show attendees a very good morning. The ladies of PlayStation demonstrate for us their poise, posture and politeness, a clip that ensures you'll have a swell morning. It's a little hard to hear amid the cacophony, so a full transcription is included after the jump.