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Japanese PS3 owners recently discovered that Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection, which was essentially a remade version of Tekken 5 with some new characters and modes, was available for download from the Playstation store at no cost.  The big difference in this version of Tekken 5, of course, is that it is High-Def (HD), running in 1080p.  There are many modes in this game, including arcade battle, ghost battle, versus battle, and a gallery for viewing and downloading images and movies.  At 830 megabytes and about $17 in value, Japanese PS3 owners must feel the Sony love.  Can’t wait for this one to come to the US!

Sometime next month in Japan, SimCity for the DS will be released!  However, there is no listed release date for the American version, which is a little dissappointing.  Even if all they told us was that they would begin development on such-and-such a date, or were ever planning it in the future, I would be content.  Let’s hope this one isn’t just a Japan-exclusive for the Nintendo DS.  Check out the exquisite screens below:

That’s right.  Electronic Gaming Monthly has confirmed that Valve’s upcoming PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the Half Life 2 bundle have been renamed Half Life 2: Orange!  Joystiq quips: “Valve has come up with an entire world of alien life forms, postmodern physics and government conspiracies and the best title they could come up with is a color? We guess it’s better than Half-Life 2: Head Crab-tacular Edition.”  HL2:O will include the original Half Life 2 game, along with Episodes One and Two, Portal, and Team Fortress.

In his letter to Bill Gates, Microsoft is only again abused by anti-game activist Jack Thompson’s latest barrage of threats, threats that stem from an over-zealous confusion of moral value and necessity of legal action.  The game that’s pissing Mr. Thompson this time is Halo 3 for the Xbox 360, a game that he calls “hyperviolent.”  Furthermore, he erroneously alleges that the original Halo was the source of inspiration for Lee Boyd Malvo, the DC Beltway sniper, and that Halo allowed Malvo to become “remarkably efficient” in his killing.  However, JT couldn’t leave his letter as a mere judgment of Halo 3’s content, so he decided to threaten Gates with legal action if it didn’t prevent the sale of it to minors.  Here’s Jack Thompson’s letter in full to Microsoft’s Chairman Bill Gates:

Bill Gates
Microsoft Corporation
Redmond, Washington

Re: Halo 3

Dear Mr. Gates:

As you know, the Federal Trade Commission has repeatedly found that games rated “Mature” by the video game industry-captured Entertainment Software Rating Board are routinely sold to kids under the age of 17 despite the age rating. The most recent failure rate of the ratings on “Mature” games, according to the FTC, is 42%. The entire rating system is a fraud, and “broken,” the latter description aptly provided by Senator Hillary Clinton.

As you also know, Lee Boyd Malvo trained on Microsoft’s Halo to further enable him to become the remarkably efficient “DC Beltway Sniper.” That was reported by NBC News at the time and was noted in Malvo’s criminal trial.

You appeared on CBS’ 60 Minutes II and rather revealing and usefully noted that “the cool thing about these games is that they transport you to a world you think is real.” Precisely. Capcom has recently disclosed to investors that your video game industry’s violent games, sold to children, pose a real hazard to the health of the industry. Right on.

The hyperviolent Microsoft Xbox 360 game Halo 3 is scheduled by your company for commercial release in September of this year. The Beta version that was released last week shows us all just how violent the game is and how inappropriate it is for play by anyone under 17, as the “Mature” rating it will surely receive indicates.

Here’s the deal, Mr. Gates: Either Microsoft undertakes dramatic, real steps, through its marketing, wholesale, and retail operations to assure that Halo 3 is not sold, via the Internet and in stores, directly to anyone under 17, or I shall proceed to make sure that Microsoft is held to that standard by appropriate legal means. I have done that before successfully as to Best Buy, and I shall do so again as to Microsoft and all retailers of Halo 3.

Regards, Jack Thompson

I wonder what will come of Mr. Thompson’s latest endeavors.  Will he successfully sue Microsoft for perceived crimes of passivity?  How will he be able to prove Microsoft culpable for the legal violations of retailers who sell its games?  We’ll keep you posted.

With a lot of new tweaks in place, including fixing a major bug with the Ogre Magi and limiting the number of power treads you can carry, DotA Allstars 6.49 (not AI) and DotA 6.49b (not AI) are available for download.  You can download the beta version here.  DotA 6.43b with AI version 1.4 is also now available for download here.  The changelogs are as follows:

6.49b Changelog
================
* Fixed a major bug related to Ogre Magi from last version
* Few other minor fixes
* Can only carry one Power Treads now
* Fixed the recoded Fissure to work properly with Aftershock

6.49 Changelog
===============

* Added a new recipe item (Armlet of Mordiggian)
* Added a new recipe item (Orchid Malevolence)
* Added a new recipe item (Shiva’s Guard)
* Added a new base item (Javelin,139527)
* Remade Power Treads
* Changed Monkey King Bar recipe
* Remade Vladmir’s Offering
* Reduced Ultimate Orb price by 50 gold
* Mystic Staff price from 2900 to 2700 gold
* Reduced movement speed bonus from Boots of Travel by 5
* Reduced Linken’s Sphere recipe by 100 gold
* Changed the second secret shop model (to Goblin Shop) and the shop’s carried items
* Bottle and Ring of Basilius no longer shift positions in your inventory when used
* Reduced Black King Bar cooldown from 100 to 85 seconds
* Increased Kelen’s Dagger of Escape cooldown from 25 to 30 seconds
* Improved Bloodstone’s charge regeneration rates
* Reduced mana cost on Hand of Midas
* Lowered mana cost on Helm of the Dominator
* Purchasing Bottle fills it to 2/3 instead of to maximum.
* Lowered Eaglehorn price from 3400 to 3300 gold
* Dagon’s mana costs and cooldown now decreases per level
* Reduced mana cost on Nathrezim Buckler
* Euls and Guinsoo now share cooldown
* Lowered Gloves of Haste price from 610 to 550 gold
* Recoded Aghanim’s Scepter. It can now be dropped, sold and disassembled. It also properly updates itself in deathmatch.
* Decreased Linken’s Sphere cooldown from 60 to 40 seconds
* Reduced Hyperstone price from 2300 to 2100 gold
* Remade N’aix
* Changed Crystal Maiden’s Brilliance Aura to a global effect
* Increased Acid Spray duration by 4 seconds
* Undid previous Jugg armor buff and increased starting strength by 3 and movement speed from 290 to 295
* Removed the invulnerability period while Priestess of the Moon is leaping
* Lowered Puck’s initial Intelligence and Intelligence Growth
* Lion’s Mana Drain is now faster (same mana drain over 4 seconds instead of 5)
* Changed Dark Rift from channeling to cast delay and reduced mana cost
* Increased cooldown on Call of the Wild
* Increased Lich attack range from 500 to 550
* Increased Pit Lord’s movement speed and starting Intelligence
* Improved cast and attack animation time on Broodmother
* Decreased cooldown on Death Coil from 15 to 11 seconds
* Rewrote Fissure to avoid Entangle and Impale based spell conflicts
* Improved Chen’s movement speed by 5
* Reduced Bristleback’s strength growth from 2.7 to 2.2
* Reduced Poof’s cooldown and mana cost
* New loading screen art (kunkka.deviantart.com)
* Added player index flags to replays
* Fixed a typo with Reaper’s Scythe
* Fixed some rare exploits with the Freeze Leaver system
* Improved Harbinger’s story (Terrorblaze)
* New Spectre background story (-Jenova-)
* New Visage background story (Grujah)
* New Storm Spirit background story (Inferno[DK])
* New Ogre Magi background story (Digital Anomaly)
* New Alchemist background story (Inferno[DK])
* New Lion background story (vertigo12)
* New Centaur background story (-Jenova-)
* New Slardar background story (Inferno[DK])
* New Tinker background story (Grujah)
* New Rigwarl background story (Volcove)
* New Zeus background story (Inferno[DK])
* New Pudge background story (Inferno[DK])
* New Traxex background story (Volcove)
* New Vengeful Spirit background story (-Jenova-)
* New Mortred background story (Inferno[DK])
* Fixed various item tooltips