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First I wake up to ninjas, and now this. Happy Monday to me, indeed! A demo for Tri-Crescendo’s gorgeous looking music-themed RPG,Trusty Bell(orEternal Sonata, depending on where you live), has hit the Xbox Live Marketplace … in “Japan only.” Luckily, dusting off my Japanese Silver Live account did the trick, and before you know it, I was slicing up onion creatures like a true professional. I’m not here to yap about what I thought of the demo — find out for yourself....

It’s not really “too hot for TV,” it’s too long for it. At a minute and thirteen seconds, this is just a large collection of clips. Of those clips, they took the ones that were most cohesive/socially-acceptable-yet-suggestive and put them into athirty-second spotto air on television. Then they release this to the web because, hey, why the hell not? It’s still kinda funny. But, since they want people to really talk about it, instead of calling it the “uncut” ad, they call it “TOO DIRTY FOR TV” and get the people thinking it’s a controversy....

John Madden has become a household name in America. Aside from EA’s flagship football franchise,a certain stand-up comedian’s impressionof the analyst has made Madden even more ubiquitous. But as time has passed, Madden himself has actually had less and less involvement in the video game series that bears his name. WhenMaddenmade the next-gen jump, the Hall of Fame coach was relegated to the seldom-used “Ask Madden” function. He and his play-by-play partner, Al Michaels, were replaced in the broadcast booth by a “radio announcer” who showed more enthusiasm for the on-field action....

It’s always interesting when an older Japanese game finally makes it out West, as was the case withWhite Knight Chroniclesthis week. I remember hearing the game being hyped back when I bought my PS3, but I quickly forgot about it since the release date was so far off. This week, it finally game out. How does a game made in 2008 rank today? Most reviews agreed it was pretty average, although a couple reviewers just flat out didn’t like it (and a few thought it was just fantastic)....

Here’s more fantastic news from the Nintendo Media Summit, specifically for fans of theFire Emblemseries. Coming to the Nintendo DS in the first half of 2009 is a remake of the original FamicomFire EmblementitledShadow Dragon. Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragonwill feature a new look and updated music as well as four brand new prologue chapters and six difficulty levels. Even more exciting is the game’s use of Wi-Fi: you can join other human players by bringing five of your units online, the DS’ microphone can be used for voice chat, there will be an online store with ever-changing items, and lastly, you can loan your own units to friends for use in their single-player campaign....

Since announced, some of us have been a bit curious as to how Electronic Arts’ attempt to take down Tony Hawk withSkatewould look. Wonder no more, hipsters, ’cause here’s the first “gameplay” video ofSkatein action. What do you think?

It looks like all may not be all puppies and daisies in Wii-land after all. That is, if the Florida Attorney General has anything to say about it.GamePoliticscame across an interview with Fox News in which Bill McCollum expressed his extreme displeasure over the thought ofManhunt 2finding a place on the Nintendo Wii. As you might have guessed, the same controller hailed for its ability to finally make videogames truly interactive does have the potential for being a bit too good at it for its own sake....

Finally, the years of handwritten letters and dozens of signatures to your online petition have paid off! Konami has announced that it’ll be releasingFrogger Returns, an update to the arcade classic, this fall for WiiWare and PlayStation Network. The game looks to keep core gameplay of the original, updating the graphics, adding new levels, and switching up the camera angle. Frogger Returns also gives our (or someone’s) favorite amphibian power-up abilities, like time reverse and time freeze....

Get ready for the non-console wars. Wars involving cloud computing game providers like Gaikai and OnLive will have no consoles whatsoever because every game will be streaming straight to you while being handled by servers elsewhere. The technology may be in its pre-infancy, and no one actually knows if it is going to take off, but that doesn’t mean that the trash talking can’t start nice and early. David Perry, founder ofGaikai, a streaming games service that was announced the day after OnLive, discusses why he thinks OnLive is not going to work....

Last weekSamus Aran went face-to-female-face with Lara Croft for the role of best gaming heroine ever, and Dtoiders spoke more loudly in unison than ever before. Here were the results: This whirlwind of women has only just begun though, an estrogenocide is in order! Dtoid will leave no babe’s boobs untouched, literally, until only one girl remains. It’s up to you to suggest other females worthy of fighting for the role of best gaming heroine ever....

Game Republic, the studio behind such original titles asFolkloreandMajin and the Forsaken Kingdom, has sadly disappeared from the face of the earth. The company’s website has been taken offline and its Tokyo offices are vacated. Without so much as a one-line announcement, it would appear that Game Republic has closed down in the most tragically whimpering way possible. It is rumored that studio founder Yoshiki Okamoto has incurred a huge amount of debt and has proven almost impossible to track down....

You know, I’ve always got time for the fine masterpieces created byFilmCow, so for this week’s video I’m going to use their latest opus,Gods of Olympus. It is kind of a funny thing you can watch, so you can do that after the jump. I think it’s the repeated use of the name “Reginald” that really sells it. Also, while I’m here, I’m going to do some shameless self-promotion. This weekend I appeared on theSuperHappyFunTimeShow podcast, spreading the good word about Modern Method Network and generally making a foul arse of myself....

It’s that time of the week where we discuss the videogames we’ve been playing here on Destructoid and frankly, if you are yet to experience the Engrish greatness that isOmega 5‘s “narrator,” then we really, really pity you. The game itself is pretty damn fun, but Gracial Fortlesses put it over the edge. Give that voiceover a medal. So, another week, more games. You know the drill by now, hit that jump and see what the Dtoid crew have been up to....