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Hideki Kamiya offers director commentary for Bayonetta

Look, you can interpret the "story" of Bayonetta however you wish, but there's only one definitive authority on the game: director Hideki Kamiya. Because people were uploading so many commentary and walkthrough videos, Kamiya thought he'd offer his own.

So over the course of the next however long it takes, Kamiya will be replaying the entire game, offering his own insights and anecdotes from the game's developments on the Platinum Games blog. Honestly, we can't wait to hear what he has to say about that whole "masturbating angel" scene.

You'll find the first two videos just past the jump.

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Sony's PSN regional breakdown, by the numbers

Wondering how at risk your country is percentage-wise for theft identity due to PlayStation Network's recent breach? This handy charted tweeted by 8-4's Mark MacDonald should help break down just that for you! ... continue reading.

Amazon price matches Portal 2 discounts on 360 and PC, drops Mortal Kombat to $40

You there, in the check-out line of Walmart, with the debit card in your swipin' hand! Put that away, man. Amazon's price matched Kmart, knocking that 360 version of Portal 2 you've got your eye on down to $34.99 (or $29.99 on PC), as well as both versions of Mortal Kombat down to $39.99. ... continue reading.

Some PSN services to return this week, full services 'within this month'

Sony's US PlayStation blog tonight announced that "some PlayStation Network and Qriocity services" will become available this week as the company scrambles to build a new server home in the wake of a security breach earlier this month. Though no specific time or date is named, the post lays out a plan to "begin a phased restoration by region" of services "shortly," alongside a mandatory system update for all consoles forcing a change in password, before the full return of services "within this month."

With the return of services will also come a new position at Sony Corporation: chief information security officer, a position that will report to current chief information officer Shinji Hasejima. Additionally, the company says it is expediting an "already planned move" of its data center -- a data center the post claims to have been "under construction and development for several months," despite the attacks having only occurred within the past few weeks. Sony also detailed its "Welcome Back" appreciation program a bit more thoroughly, though it still remains unclear what content the company will be offering in various regions as an apology. The list of known services returning to PSN this week are listed after the break.

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PSN 'welcome back program' includes a free download, 30 days free PlayStation Plus, Qriocity

Notes handed out before a Sony press conference today (timed so conveniently at 1am EDT in the US, and noon on the Sunday of Golden Week in Japan) reveal that Sony plans to offer free downloads of unidentified "content," 30 days of free PlayStation Plus access to new and existing members, and 30 days of free Qriocity service. The paper also says that PSN service will be restored "soon."

Two days ago, a PlayStation Blog Q&A post mentioned that the company was considering a "goodwill gesture" to PSN users (and sure, why not Qriocity users too) put out by the two-week outage. The company will likely have to provide much more dramatic gestures to appease all the government organizations who have taken interest in the case (and, you know, that enormous data leak).

Follow along after the break for pseudo-liveblog coverage of the presentation by Kaz Hirai and other executives.

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Weekly Webcomic Wrapup is all about the breach

Obviously, the gaming webcomic community isn't really big into the "never kick a gigantic technology company while it's down" philosophy. Just about all of our regular contributors had a strip about the PSN security breach -- but only a select few made it into the list below. See, we're not big into rewarding mean-spiritedness; unless, of course, it is very, very funny.

Check out our seven favorite gaming-related webcomics from this past week in the list below! Make sure you vote for your favorite in the poll posted after the jump!

Cry Wolf (Awkward Zombie)
Gaming the System (Life in Aggro)
Negative Reinforcement (Digital Unrest)
It Only Doesn't (Penny Arcade)
Overgrowth (Brawl in the Family)
Fort Knox (VG Cats)
Co-Op Consternation (Of Noobs and Men)

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MX vs. ATV is Alive with DLC trailer

The latest trailer for THQ's "budget" priced MX vs. ATV Alive shows off some gameplay and where the company hopes you'll be spending plenty of time: the DLC store.

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Make-A-Wish and PopCap help 9-year-old create his own iOS game

PopCap and the Make-A-Wish foundation recently teamed up to help 9-year-old Owain Weinert, who was diagnosed with Leukemia last year, realize his dream of creating his very own iOS game. The developer took Weinert's idea for the title -- a real-time strategy game called Allied Star Police -- and turned it into a fully-fledged product which is set to launch on the iPad and iPhone App Stores sometime within the next few months. Best of all, the proceeds from the game will go directly to Make-A-Wish, forming some kind of beautiful circle of altruism.

Check out a video report from Seattle's FOX affiliate after the jump to see the launch party PopCap threw for Weinert and his friends. You might want to brace yourself, though, because you're about to have a new favorite kid of all time.

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Chaos Rings Omega announcement trailer is fairly chaotic

Were mere words not enough to sate your excited curiosity about Square Enix's recently announced prequel for its pricey iOS RPG, Chaos Rings Omega? The company's handheld branch has launched a trailer to go along with the title's unveiling, which you'll find posted after the jump. ... continue reading.

Congress sends inquiry to Sony about PSN security breach

The list of organizations Sony's going to be answering to about the PlayStation Network security breach is growing with alarming speed. The latest addition to the horde is the United States House of Representatives Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade, which sent a letter to executive deputy president Kazuo Hirai yesterday with a number of inquiries about the nature of the breach, as well as the company's response to its consumers' collective exposure.

The letter, which was penned by subcommittee chair and California representative Mary Bono Mack, imposes questions including why the company is unsure whether users' credit card info was taken, as well as what steps Sony's taking to prevent future breaches. We're assuming that the question of "When's the PSN coming back online, because some of us are trying to get some Portal 2 co-op Trophies over here," was omitted, as it was found to not be "governmenty" enough.

SSX dev diary brings back some familiar faces

Though it sounds like SSX is mixing up the franchise in some fairly bold ways, it won't be throwing out the series' tried and true cast of downhill daredevils. Check out the developer diary after the jump to see how EA Canada is breathing new life into these powder-caked veterans. ... continue reading.

Rumor: Ocarina of Time 3D to see limited initial release

Japanese retail news blog Sinobi (translated by Andriasang) reports Nintendo has a somewhat surprising supply strategy for its upcoming, three-dimensional remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. According to the blog, Nintendo's initial shipment of the title to retailers will be "extremely small." Furthermore, Nintendo supposedly isn't letting retailers order extra units of the game, and is allotting a limited number of copies for all retailers, regardless of their respective size.

It seems bananas to limit supply on the 3DS' most anticipated title to date, but Sinobi suggests this could be a reaction to the overstocking of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, which ended up in Japanese bargain bins faster than the franchise is likely used to. If that's the case, then Nintendo is forgetting one very important factor: Spirit Tracks is a pretty okay game, while Ocarina of Time is the best game ever made.

Portal 2 'Insane Cube Tricks' video is true to its name

We anticipated that we'd be seeing some Portal 2 trick videos sooner or later -- but we wouldn't have predicted the tricks therein wouldn't really involve that many portals. Check out the video after the jump to see some truly impressive cube throws, by way of YouTube user Schrobotindisguise. ... continue reading.

Hirai to address PSN security breach at 1 a.m. EDT

Though we've been getting frequent updates from PlayStation Blog on the state of the recently intruded-upon PlayStation Network, one of the massive corporation's higher-ups is now planning to step forward to field some of our questions. According to Reuters, Sony Corp executive deputy president Kazuo Hirai is scheduled to address the media about the PSN outage and security breach in Tokyo tomorrow at 2 p.m. (1 a.m. EDT).

The predicament must be weighing heavy upon Hirai, who was promoted last month to a position meant to groom him for possibly inheriting the CEO seat from Howard Stringer. Then again, this might be the perfect opportunity for Hirai to set himself apart from the other contenders: If he singlehandedly manages to fix these problems using the ol' Hirai charms, he's a lock for the job.

It's raining mechanical men in Robot 99 for iPhone/iPad

We're not sure why, but it's starting to seem like our favorite iPhone and iPad games are also the most adorable iPhone and iPad games. We could see ourselves really starting a relationship with Robot 99, a casual iOS title about attaching parachutes to falling robots, and bouncing them into ... continue reading.

Amazon clearance sale: 3D Dot Game Heroes, Sonic Colors on the cheap

Amazon has quite a clearance sale going on right now, knocking serious dollars and cents off of some big name titles. Highlights include 3D Dot Game Heroes or Scribblenauts for $13, the Wii version of Sonic Colors for $20 and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 Collector's Edition for $26 or $37 on the Xbox 360 or PS3, respectively. Head on over to Amazon to check out the full spectrum of savings.

[Thanks, Chris]

Readers pick best webcomic: Tool of Destruction

We hate to break it to Wile E. Coyote, but we're not sure that a Portal Gun is going to be the best weapon of choice against the Road Runner. It's a nice sentiment from last week's Webcomic Wrapup winner, Extra Life's "Tool of Destruction," but if Wile's experience with the Aperture Science tech is anything like ours, he's probably just going to end up flinging himself off of a cliff, or into a pit of death-goo, or into an infinite feedback loop. Congratulations, regardless!

Second and third place went to Nerf Now's "Potato" and xkcd's "Heaven," respectively. If you've got a strip you'd like to see in the next Wrapup, don't be shy! Drop a link in the comments, or send in a tip!

FireFall team deathmatch trailer is very classy

Red 5 Studios has released a new trailer for its upcoming free-to-play FPS, FireFall. The video shows off the various classes, or rather the classes of "frames" with which players can outfit their avatar. Try not to worry about the technicalities and focus on the jet packs and ice bullets.

Red 5 has also announced that there will be a FireFall live streaming event next Friday, May 6. "A group of e-Sports broadcasters" will take part in the event in order to "provide their insights into the game and help [Red 5 Studios] tune the competitive side of Firefall." Red 5 will be showcasing a live match of FireFall during the event, which will be hosted on the studio's Justin.tv channel.

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WRUP: Sooo, about that PSN

Some of you out there have been at work all week or busy with school, so let's get you caught up on the PSN outage situation.

What's everyone playing ('cause we know what you aren't)?

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Monster Hunter Tri players have spent millions of hours hunting monsters

Gaming and caffeinated beverage-centric news site Coffee With Games has once again compiled a number of statistics for Monster Hunter Tri, Capcom's Wii-based online action-RPG -- which celebrated its first birthday last week.

The results are, well, startling: Out of nearly 70,000 players who have reported playing the game through Wii's Nintendo Channel, an astonishing 6,313,120 total hours of play time have been logged. That's an average of 90 hours and 25 minutes for each reported player.

Of course, that figure's predicated on the idea that those 6.3 million hours are spread evenly among the player base. There's a good chance that a majority of the crowd played the game for a much more modest amount of time, while about 500 people have played the game unceasingly for the 8,800 or so hours that the game's been out. Oh, man. We accidentally bummed ourselves out, there.

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