The biggest shock of E3 for me was that Sony didn’t announce another PSP. That is, until I remembered we still have the Tokyo Game Show. Adding fuel to the ever-raging PSP-4000 rumor fire is Japanese retailer Geo, who has recently listed the new SKU as part of its 2010 sale lineup. As Sony continues to brow beat consumers into submission with the PSP, a new model of the tired and barely supported system is doubtless on the cards....

This seems like a bit of a Captain Obvious post, but everybody’s treating Masahiro Sakurai’s comments like a big deal, so you might want to know. Basically, theKid Icarus Uprisingdirector has stated that you’ll want a set of steady hands in order to get the most out of your 3DS’ visuals. Since the 3D effect only works from a fixed position, Sakurai says that your hands will need to be kept free of exaggerated movements, which could spoil the illusion....

You know who knows how to make a good trailer? Sega. Like this one forYakuza 4which goes over biographical details and combat skills for the four main characters. The guy who does the voice-over is excellent, offering a nice bit of character to what is so often presented in either a dry or ridiculous manner. It’s just a lovely little package and hits all the right notes in getting me teased up for the game....

Let the real fun ofLeft 4 Dead 2commence … on the PC, anyway. Valve has announced today thatLeft 4 Dead 2‘s authoring tools are going to be made available on Steam. Whether you’re a designer who wants to show off how creative he can be with zombies or a mere player looking for some fresh campaigns, the authoring tools add-on needs to be downloaded post-haste! If you’re new to this sort of thing, just mosey on over to the Tools tab of your Steam window and look for theLeft 4 Dead 2 – Authoring Toolsfile....

Burger King has not had the strongest showing in Japan. In fact, all of the locations closed in the early 2000s, and it wasn’t until a year or two ago that they came back to the market. Now they’re back in full force, and it seems that they’re getting clever with a new promotion tie-in with a current videogame. King, meet King. Burger King is promoting Wii gameLittle King’s Storywith fun things like posters featuring both the Angry Whopper and the game’s characters....

Following Nintendo of Japan’s revealing press conference last night (or this morning, depending on where you are), Nintendo of America is holding their own media event in cloudy San Francisco, California. We’re here live, sitting in a tightly packed conference room with — surprise! — complimentary Wi-fi! You know what that means: live blog time. While we don’t anticipate that Nintendo of America will surprise us with any “new” announcements, we should get some North American-specific news for you to chew on....

In an interview withLocoRocodesigner Tsutomu Kouno, Gamasutra manages to get some pretty interesting facts out of him. Theinterviewfocuses on the design ofLocoRoco, which Kouno says he sketched out while riding on a train. He talks about how he designed the game for ease of play: I definitely wanted the game to be accessible to children. I also wanted it to be something people outside Japan could pick up and “get” without too much explanation, simply by pressing L and R....

March sadness? They called gaming recession proof, but it sure didn’t seem that way after looking at the March NPD data. It’s probably too early to call either way, but industry-wide sales have fallen 17 percent. But it’s not panic time, says NPD analyst Anita Frazier. She remindsGamasutrathat this March had to go up against last year’s, whereSuper Smash Bros Brawlwas released. Even the mightyResident Evil 5would find that difficult....

Just about everyone with an Xbox 360 lovedMass Effect 2. Well, everyone but PS3 owners. Times are a changing and PS3 owners can finally be part of the ever expandingMass Effectuniverse. In my chat with Bioware’s Casey Hudson we cover how PS3 owners will catch up onMass Effect1, we get a little insight on what it was like creating theMass Effectfranchise, and maybe even get a little taste of what is in store forMass Effect 3....

SPOILERS, first of all. Secondly: what you see abovemaybe a leaked gameplay video fromModern Warfare 2. We’re currently awaiting comment from both Infinity Ward’s PR guys and the community manager, Robert Bowling. Before one gets one’s panties in a twist about the subject matter, do keep in mind that this could be fake. Update:The video has been confirmed.Get the details about this level as explained by Infiniti Ward. Update 2:Activision has asked us to remove the video, so we’ve replaced it with a photo of a donkey....

Are you donewalking in circlesfrom last week? This week we have a spectacular game that shouldn’t be too hard to convince you to play. First question: did you loveDiablo 2? Thought so. Last question: do you like flash games? I knew it. Then you’re going to loveMerlin’s Revenge 2for the few hours while it lasts. Finding your way through its dangerous maze of an online world is enough of a mind teaser, butthis gamealso offers a mini action adventure RPG all in your browser....

You know how it works! With the help of each other, try to figure out all of the disguised game covers. They all share a common theme that, once solved, can help you figure out the harder ones. I’m pretty proud of this week’s theme idea. Actually, let me rephrase that. I’m pretty ashamed and humiliated by this week’s theme topic. Really, I am. Don’t worry, you’ll see what I mean when you figure it out....

You’ve seenDead Rising 2in action. You know it has a moose head, double chainsaws, and a motorbike. All of that, confirmed. But what of multiplayer? According to Capcom’s Keiji Inafune, hell yes. While Capcom isn’t ready to reveal this aspect of the game just yet, Inafune was more than happy to confirm its inclusion. “Single-player alone is not going to cut it,” hetold jounalistsat a recent Capcom press event. “So rest assured we are going to put multiplayer in the game, but I can’t go into specifics about what type of multiplayer as that directly relates to some of the game systems that we don’t want to talk about at this event....