Konami is desiging a new Dance Dance Revolution game exclusively for the Wii. The game will use classic DDR pads which plug into the Gamecube’s controller ports in conjunction with hand movements using the Wii Remote and Nunchuck.

With support of up to 4 players it’s a good thing the Gamecube pads for Dance Dance Revolution Mario Mix are also compatible. Since this is a more traditional Dance Dance Revolution game when compared to the Mario Mix variation this will be the first standard DDR game made available on a Nintendo system. Many of the more classic modes of play will also be available in this title.

This IGN articles gives us a very in depth look at the prelimenary game though as they note many aspects could be changed or polished before this title is actually released.

As any avid Castlevania fan can tell you, one of the true highlights of the series was Symphony of the Night. However, many fans believe that Dracula X for the Super Nintendo was Symphony’s prequel, without realizing that the Japanese-Only released title “Akumajou Dracula: Chi no Rondo” (Rondo of Blood) for the PC Engine Duo was the true beginning chapter for one of the most reknowned Castlevania titles to date. True enthusiasts have dreamt of the day when Rondo of Blood would finally make the transition to American shores. (as many believed Dracula X to be a bastardized version of Rondo to begin with)

After over 10 years, it seems as though we’re finally getting that wish.

Konami is releasing “Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles for the PSP, slated to hit the markets this coming fall. One of the extras about waiting as long as we all have for a port to make the transition is that, not only will we be able to play the original 2D version of Rondo, but the game will also be sporting a redone 2.5D version of the game as well.

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It was the biggest security scare in the United States since September 11, 2001. Officials stopped traffic on a major highway, and cordoned off areas after “suspicious devices” were found under a steel beam and in other areas around Boston.

Boston law enforcement leapt into action after “suspicious devices” were reported bearing magnetic lights. In the shape of a Mooninite. Waving a middle finger. Boston bomb squad detonated 8 of them before someone from Turner called up and explained it was an ad for Aqua Teen Hunger Force, not some elaborate terror plot. A terror plot from the Moon.

Heroic Boston police have captured Peter Berdovsky and Sean Stevens, employees for the marketing company Interference Inc., under a law declaring it a crime to place a hoax device that causes a panic. Turner has also issued an apology. Boston Mayor Thomas Menino calls the situation “outrageous” and has not ruled out a lawsuit to Turner to pay for the millions in stupidly wasted man-hours.

Why was there a panic? New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Portland, Austin, San Francisco, and Philadelphia all had these same exact signs and no one lost their crap in those cities. I mean, just look at the sign! Aside from Ignignokt flipping the bird, theres nothing remotely threatening. Its a sign, posted to a beam. It lights up.

I’m surprised Turner and the marketing company are catching hell for this. Boston police should be ashamed for being so damn jumpy and sicking the bomb squad on a bunch of LED signs bearing the visage of a cartoon character.

Video of the signs being posted after the break

Full CNN report
CBS 4 Boston TV report
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Ghost Rider Finale
written by Ivan Velez, art by Javier Saltares & Mark Texeira

Time for a history lesson.

In 1998, the then-current Ghost Rider series was canceled at issue #93. The catch is, the big end of the storyarc was scheduled to take place at issue #94. Issue #93 simply ended with the death of Dan Ketch, leaving fans with one crapper of a cliffhanger. As Mike Sterling – comic book shop owner – says, “The result? My having to tell customers for eight years that, no, there never was a #94, honest, I’m not kidding, and having them look at me like I’m 1) an idiot, or 2) lying to them.” This took place during some of the harshest time for the comic book industry, and the simple fact of the matter was, Marvel couldn’t afford to publish it. If you want some more of the details, as well as see a glimpse of the unpublished pages and the script, you can see read on here.

However, tomorrow, with the Ghost Rider movie looming near, Marvel has seemingly decided to increase product on the shelf (despite the lack of any connection to the movie characters or its story), and they’ve done a good turn by finally bringing issue #94 to the stands. While 12 pages were originally penciled, it seems (based on solicitation info) Saltares and Texeira were brought back together to finish the thing, which is a pleasantly surprising effort from Marvel. This “Finale” issue will also include issue #93 (to give the reader a complete story), and also some undescribed “bonus material,” whatever that includes.

Whether or not this book will be worth your money … well, your mileage may vary. But at least now you’ll know what the hell this thing is when you see it on the stands.

If you haven’t seen it, it’s probably is as bad as you’ve heard. If you’ve watched it, you probably didn’t see much or any of the fourth season. That’s a shame, because that’s when the show actually got good.

Both Star Treks Voyager and Enterprise are the brainchild of Brannon Braga, a scriptwriter-turned-producer from the days of Next Generation. His signature trademark consists of stories based on strange temporal/spatial anomolies, hence their preponderance in Voyager (and indeed the premise of the entire show), and the ill-advised Temporal Cold War that consumed Star Trek: Enterprise from the inside out.

The beginning of the fourth season saw Braga replaced by Manny Coto, who put an end to this horrible storyline. What followed were several three-episode arcs dealing with Trek history. From Kahn-like genetically-enhanced humans, to the history of Surak and Vulcan, and an explanation for the Frito-Lay (i.e. “ridgeless”) Klingons of Kirk’s era, this season fulfilled the inherent promise and potential of the series after three grueling years.

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The Four Horsemen have posted the fifth round of their FANtastic Exclusive polls to determine this year’s action figure. This round focuses on weapons. The Elephant Swordsman will feature two large swords as seen in his concept art, but this poll will determine a third bladed weapon. You can check out the next round at the FANtastic Exclusive site.

Some of you may remember a little video I made on the 2006 exclusive.

The Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commision has approved a request by YTV to have an anime themed channel in Canada. The target of the channel would be 18+ which is a change considering YTV stands for “Youth Television”.

A lot of numbers are thrown around in this broadcasting decision which serve only to confuse people but so much to say the channel will have to be exclusively anime and anime related shows. I suppose it remains to be seen exactly what the CRTC counts as anime. Interest in a similar French channel was mentioned though no details are included. As YTV does not have a French equivalent these requests likely came from elsewhere.

Still far too early to talk about when this may happen or what cable packages will offer it but this is promising for Canadian anime fans who are unable to watch many anime programs broadcast on US exclusive stations such as Cartoon Network. Equivalent Canadian channels such as Teletoon play a fraction of these shows often months to years later.

Of course the reason we can’t just watch Cartoon Network in the first place is because of the CRTC but hey just for today let’s be glad they’ve done something good for a change.

Thanks to Cybersnark for pointing out this post with the news.

I’ve been a loyal GameFly subscriber for several years now. I love being able to try out something new without spending $50 or putting up with ill-tempered EBGameShlub employees. It’s made me a better gamer, and more open-minded.

So, it’s with sadness I mailed back the last game I’ll ever get from there today. You see, I have 15 Xbox 360 games in my queue. All of them have “Short Wait” or “Long Wait” next to them. I tried looking in at the full list of Xbox 360 games and of 127 titles listed, not a single one is available for rent right now. What the hell? I understand a lot of people got X-boxes for X-Mas but this is X-treme.

Then it hit me: Gamerscores. So many people are renting games to up their gamerscores that it’s rendered the service useless to a weekender like myself. I could probably leave those 15 games at the top of my queue for months and still get fed random DS games sitting at the bottom of the list. I was lucky to get Chromehounds one time, though unlucky when I fell asleep during the training level. If the best I can get is that slow moving snoozefest, my money is not being well spent.

So, I’m cancelling. Prices are still sky-high on even used 360 games; but by saving my $22 a month, I might be able to afford them. Or at least I can enter a brick-and-mortar shop and get a game in hand right away. GameFly does share the blame here though, when launch titles are still in high demand, they should be upping the stock to meet that demand, instead of letting me sit and wait for a good game.