In the olden days, you used to get this sort of thing as a lovely big poster, which came folded neatly inside your game’s large cardboard box. These days, you’ll have to make do with viewing your Starcraft II tech trees online.

These shots come courtesy of the gentlemen at Giant Bomb. And before you get too slavish over them, remember, Starcraft II is in beta. Stuff changes in beta.

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Gemaga magazine has polled its readers about which upcoming title they want the most. The front runners: Hostess game Dream C Club and role-playing-game Dragon Quest IX.

Before we start, realize that this list is not what the ENTIRE NATION OF JAPAN wants, but rather, the readers of Gemaga — the readers who respond to Gemaga polls, that is.

Drum roll please…

30. NUGA-CEL! (PS2)
29. Love Plus (DS)
27. SaGa 2: Hihou Densetsu Goddess of Destiny (DS)
27. Doki Majo Plus (DS)
26. Mushihime-sama Futari Ver 1.5 (Xbox 360)
25. Strike Witches: Anata to Dekiru Koto - A Little Peaceful Days (PS2)
24. Ys Seven (PSP)
23. Tales of Vs. (PSP)
22. Final Fantasy Versus XIII (PS3)
21. Ys I&II Chronicles (PSP)
20. Sweet Honey Coming (PS2)
19. Queen’s Blade Spiral Chaos (PSP)
18. Tekken 6 (PS3/Xbox 360)
17. Dragon Quest VI (DS)
16. Canvas3 (PS2)
15. Monster Hunter 3 (-tri) (Wii)
13. Tsuyokiss 2nd Semester -Swift Love- (PS2)
13. Magna Carta 2 (Xbox 360)
12. Gears of War 2 (Xbox 360)
10. Melty Blood Actress Again (PS2)
10. Tayutama – Kiss on my Deity (Xbox 360)
9. Tales of Vesperia (PS3)
8. Bayonetta (PS3/Xbox 360)
7. Little Busters! Converted Edition (PS2)
6. SD Gundam: Generation Wars (Wii/PS2)
5. ToHeart 2 Portable PSP (PSP)
4. Final Fantasy XIII (PS3*)
3. Hatsune Miku Project Diva (PSP)
2. Dragon Quest IX (DS)
1. Dream C Club (Xbox 360)

*The Xbox 360 version is not scheduled for release in Japan.

For the sake of comparison, here’s how the top ten most wanted list reads for a recent issue of Japanese gaming mag Famitsu:

10. The Last Remnant (PS3)
9. Pokémon Heart Gold (DS)
8. Tales of Vesperia (PS3)
7. Ni no Kuni (DS)
6. Final Fantasy Versus XIII (PS3)
5. Dragon Quest VI (DS)
4. Dragon Quest X
3. Monster Hunter 3
2. Dragon Quest IX (DS)
1. Final Fantasy XIII (PS3)

Dream C Club is number 23.

【Xbox360】 『ドリームクラブ』 [はちま起稿]

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To recap: First there was a landscape and the number four. Then a dragon. After that, a boy. And now? A girl.

There looks like there is enough space on the back of that dragon for at least another rider, maybe more. Check back tomorrow! It should be oh so thrilling.

NEW Game [Square Enix Thanks, Ryto!]

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Microsoft’s “Kodu Game Lab” - often labelled the “LittleBigPlanet of the Xbox 360” - is now available for download via Xbox Live Community Games.

It’s only $5, which considering that it lets you create many different types of game, is a pretty good deal.

Kodu comes with some basic single and multiplayer game modes includes, as well as a world builder, along with some simple tools to create AI and programming commands.

Sure, it’s not as pretty or as stylish as LittleBigPlanet, but then, it’s only $5.

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Worst thing about blurry magazine scans? They’re blurry. Here’s a crystal clear look at Jin Kazama’s outfit for TEKKEN 6’s PS3 console version. So spiffy.

Famed female manga collective CLAMP (xxxHolic) designed this home console exclusive.

TEKKEN 5 on the PS2 also had costumes by various artists.

Take A Closer Look At Clamp’s Tekken 6 Costume [Siliconera]

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Here’s some new screens from Forza 3, featuring a wide range of vehicles, from the humble Honda Jazz to an Impreza STi all the way up to some LeMans-lookin’ cars.

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Sean Alexander, director at Microsoft’s Advertising Business Group, has suggested that you could soon be seeing advertisements every time you fire up your 360 dashboard.

Apparently, Microsoft “plans to bring IAB specifications for rich media technologies, including Silverlight, to Xbox Live within the year”. With Silverlight being Microsoft’s version of/competitor to Flash, MediaPost say “Silverlight-powered media on Xbox will have the same appearance as ads seen on a Web browser”.

Since the goal is for advertising companies to launch the same campaign across multiple platforms - desktop, TV, mobile phone and Surface (Microsoft’s touch-screen table) - it sounds a lot like the tech would be used on the 360 to display ads on your dashboard. And not the gaming ads you already see. Regular ads.

This had better only be for Silver users. I’m not paying an annual fee to get stuck with ads.

We’ve contacted Microsoft for an explanation of how exactly this tech will be used with Xbox Live, and will update if we hear anything.

Microsoft Silverlight For Xbox Live Eases Creative Across Platforms [Media Post, via Gamasutra]

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With golden skin and bleached blond hair, fairy Sandy doesn’t look like your typical Dragon Quest character. She talks and dresses like the Japanese equivalent of a Valley Girl.

Dragon Quest IX producer Ryutaro Ichimura describes a meeting regarding what kind of character would be best for the pivotal role of guide for the adventure. During these discussions, DQ creator Yuji Hori said “I think a ‘gal’ is good.” Hori then chuckled.

“This time around,” explains Hori, “I wanted to see us go with cute. Because of Koakuma Ageha or the ‘gal’-style or whatever, we tried it.” More chuckling.

And voilà , we get a tanned fairy girl with a bad dye job.

Creator’s Voice [Touch-DS]

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Several former employees at Blue Omega, developers behind the recent Damnation, have confirmed with Kotaku today that the entire dev team has been laid off following “issues” with Codemasters, Damnation’s publishers.

They allege that there were a raft of lawsuits behind the sackings, which stem from Blue Omega being “taken off” their own game by Codemasters, as well as a dipsute between Blue Omega and two subcontracting studios, one of which stands accused of having continued work on Blue Omega’s title even after Blue Omega had been stood down, and the other of having performed shoddy work.

In addition to those messy behind-the-scenes affairs, the former employees also stated that poor sales of Damnation were a contributing factor.

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According to Taiwanese site UDN, Sony have signed production contracts with two companies to begin manufacture of the rumoured PS3 “Slim”, with a delivery date of…oh, next month!

Now, with a PS3 price cut heavily expected around August, and with stocks of the existing 80GB PS3 supposedly dwindling, a July delivery date for the “new” PS3 makes sense. Ship it out in July, have it ready to sell in stores for August.

That is, if it’s real. Which, remember, it may not be!

PS3代工 鴻海搶到大單 [UDN, via Engadget]

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