“Appealing to the West” has become a buzz-phrase among Japanese developers for the past year or so, as their own country’s market struggles with decline. SEGA had them all pipped to the post five years back, however, as Sonic Team revealsShadow the Hedgehogwas designed with that very mindset. “AfterSonic Adventure, we had two studios, in the US and Japan,” reveals Sonic Team boss Takashi Iizuka. “The Japanese Studio was to develop a Sonic game in the standard style, and the US studio was to develop something different which could contribute to the Sonic franchise....

A new trailer forSonic Generationshas been unleashed, and I am really finding it difficult to resist the squealing fanboy urges. Sky Sanctuary is among my favorite zones of all time, and hearing its beautiful theme tune redone in stellar form has made me very happy. I am still controlling my expectations of the game, having been burned one too many times, but I am definitely open to the idea of this one being good....

To be fair, the Sony person that said this is actually one of the main guys behind PlayStation Move. Speaking to The New York Times,  Richard Marks, senior researcher at Sony Computer Entertainment America, said that they also toyed (as in EyeToy) with the idea of controller-free gaming but came to the conclusion that gamers would not find it satisfactory. “I totally agree that there is this magical feeling with using your hands to select something,†Marks told NYT....

If there’s one thing Sony’s lacked since it started the PlayStation brand, it was a viable mascot. Back in the day, it looked like Crash Bandicoot would have the honor, or maybe Lara Croft, but no character ever felt truly representative of Sony’s hardware in the same way that Mario did with Nintendo, Sonic did with Sega and even Master Chief does with Microsoft. However, maybe withLittleBigPlanetand Sackboy, Sony hasfound its ambassador....

After Sony admitted that ourpersonal details may be at riskdue to nefarious hackers, one of the biggest issues customers had was the time it took for Sony to tell us.Even a senator got pissed off. Sony, however, has stressed that it knew of the potential threat only moments after telling us. “There’s a difference in timing between when we identified there was an intrusion and when we learned of consumers’ data being compromised,”said SCEA communications bod Patrick Seybold....

The collector’s edition for Ubisoft’s long-awaitedSplinter Cell: Convictionhas been revealed. Well, at least for Australia. According toretailer JB Hi-Fi, the collector’s edition comes with a slew of goodies, including: a code to unlock “exclusive” in-game content; a 32-page comic book that links theDouble Agentstoryline toConviction; the obligatory “making-of” DVD; and a code to downloadSplinter Cell: Chaos Theoryfrom “Xbox LIVE Arcade.” We’re assuming that last one refers to “Games on Demand,” unless Ubisoft has something up its sleeve we don’t know about....

EEDAR and the Guildhall at Southern Methodist University recently conducted a study to measure how professional game critic review affect game purchase behavior. As you’d expect, there’s a strong connection between what we say about games and how many copies gamers buy. I read the entire study.[I loved that a mock Mass Effect 2 box featured a Destructoid quote on the box in the study data.]While I wasn’t surprised at any of the results, there were some pretty interesting findings....

You’ve watched delicate dancers gyrate withbouncing breasts exposed, now consider watching nine more minutes captured from the opening of Pandemic’sThe Saboteur, the studio’s last releasebefore EA closed their doors. These first few minutes (beyond the boobs) reveal how lead protagonist Sean Devlin becomes involved with the French resistance. His temperament during this initial scene is no good — a point that I stressed by murdering two women as soon as the game gave me the reigns of the man....

Well, it’s about time. Square-Enix have finally whispered the nameFinal Fantasy Versus XIIIagain, and released a precious few screenshots for those of us who’ve been watching for such things. As someone who’s not incredibly stoked for the vanillaXIIIor the inexplicably already-hypedFFXIV, This pleases me. It’s said to be done by the programming team who developedKingdom Hearts II(with its oh-so-sweet combat) and the visual arts team responsible forAdvent Children. It’s also the only part of theFabula Nova Crystalisproject I’m actually excited for....

[Update: Some of the story has been detailed.Asura’s Wrathstars a former deity seeking revenge against gods who had betrayed him and stripped him of all his godly powers. This sounds AWFULLY familiar, doesn’t it. Luckily, this game looks beyond epic. Check out the trailer we just got.] Capcom has partnered up with developer CyberConnect 2 on a new series calledAsura’s Wrath. The game is a heavy hack ‘n slash game using the Unreal Engine 3....

I don’t know understand technology, movie special effects, or voodoo. Here’s what I understand — this commercial spot forThe Beatles Rock Bandis pretty damned slick. If you don’t understand the reference, well… this is a videogame Web site, not a music history lesson. Consider picking upThe Beatles Rock Bandon September 9. Maybe you’ll learn something, eh?

The stock market is at itslowest in nearly ten years. The American economy is inshambles. Major investment banks like Lehman Brothers havecollapsed. Basically, people are freaking out. But I say, turn those frowns upside down! Instead of worrying about putting food on the table, why doesn’t everyone just play videogames? Sure, it may be hard to hear what is happening on-screen over the deafening sounds of your starving children’s cries, but that’s what headphones are for....

Metal Gear Solid 4 As readers of this feature may have noticed, I try not to focustoomuch on recent games. Not that there aren’t some unbelievably incredible moments found in this current generation, I just do what I can to not ruin things for people who haven’t played the game I may be talking about. But, man, the last couple years in particular have played host to almost too many classic moments to count....