The girls of Dead or Alive 5: Ayane and Hitomi

5 minutes ago - 11:00 AM on 12.08.2011   |   Dale North

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Team Ninja sent along images of Dead or Alive 5's female characters, Ayane and Hitomi. I have them here for you if you missed our preview of the game. There's some good action shots of the two returning female leads in our gallery below. As you'll see, both ladies have a new look, but they're still the girl ninja and German karate fighter. Wait, is Hitomi wearing golf shoes?

Of course, these two probably aren't the only female fighters in DOA5. As of now, we only know that Ryu Hayabusa, Hayate and these two ladies are on the character roster. I'm sure we'll hear more between now and the 2012 release date.

Miyamoto NOT retiring, role at Nintendo isn't changing

3 hour ago - 8:00 AM on 12.08.2011   |   Jim Sterling

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It turns out that Shigeru Miyamoto's "retirement" yesterday was the result of a misunderstanding at Wired. The legendary Nintendo designer is not stepping down from his current position, although he will be training a new breed of developers for the future. 

"Video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto's role at Nintendo is not changing," confirmed Nintendo. "He will continue to be a driving force in Nintendo's development efforts. In discussing his priorities at Nintendo in a media interview, Mr Miyamoto explained how he is encouraging the younger developers at the company to take more initiative and responsibility for developing software.

"He attempted to convey his priorities moving forward, inclusive of overseeing all video game development and ensuring the quality of all products. Mr Miyamoto also discussed his desire to pursue fresh ideas and experiences of the kind that sparked his initial interest in video games."

The idea of Miyamoto ever retiring is ridiculous, as every schoolboy knows that he has access to a Lazarus Pit that keeps him young and healthy forever. He's going nowhere, for he will never die. 

Miyamoto not retiring, says Nintendo [Guardian]

25 Days: Win Dead Island and the Bloodbath Arena DLC!

11 hours ago - 12:00 AM on 12.08.2011   |   Hamza CTZ Aziz

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Dead Island is a zombie game that takes pleasure in being an unadulterated smorgasbord of violence and mayhem. If that wasn't enough, the recently released Bloodbath Arena downloadable mode offers even more carnage with arena combat featuring wave after wave of zombies.

One of my favorite things about Dead Island is that you can combine objects to make a new insane weapon. Baseball bats with nails attached to it, explosive knives to so much more. We're giving away five Steam codes for Dead Island along with five code for the Bloodbath Arena DLC and to win, you're going to need to leave a comment below telling us what two objects you would combine to create a super weapon of your own.

We'll be picking five of you at random to give a Dead Island and Bloodbath Arena code to after the contest closes at 11:59PM CST tonight. No limit to entry and contest is open to everyone! GO GO GO!

Those alternate Batman skins for Arkham City are now DLC

11 hours ago - 11:30 PM on 12.07.2011   |   Jordan Devore

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As promised by Rocksteady Studios, the extra character skins for Batman: Arkham City that retailers were using as pre-order incentives are now purchasable online. While I'm not thrilled with the idea, at least this option exists for consumers. And the outfits certainly could have been more expensive.

The seven costumes -- 1970s Batsuit, Year One Batman, The Dark Knight Returns, Earth One Batman, Batman Beyond Batman, Animated Batman, and Sinestro Corps Batman -- are being bundled together with an asking price of $4.99 (400 Microsoft Points) on PlayStation Network, Xbox Live, and Games for Windows.

Miyamoto to 'retire' from current position at Nintendo

14 hours ago - 8:45 PM on 12.07.2011   |   Jordan Devore

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[Update: There was a bit of a misunderstanding on Wired's part, because Miyamoto will still be around for a good while.]

Speaking with Wired.com, Nintendo's iconic game designer Shigeru Miyamoto revealed he will be retiring from his "current position" within the company. "What I really want to do is be in the forefront of game development once again myself," he stated. No, he's not leaving Nintendo, but he does seem to really like that word.

"Probably working on a smaller project with even younger developers. Or I might be interested in making something that I can make myself, by myself. Something really small." He's hopeful this project can begin in 2012.

"The reason why I'm stressing that is that unless I say that I'm retiring, I cannot nurture the young developers," says Miyamoto. "After all, if I'm there in my position as it is, then there's always kind of a relationship. And the young guys are always kind of in a situation where they have to listen to my ideas. But I need some people who are growing up much more than today."

He closed with a teaser: "I'm interested in doing a variety of many other things." I had always figured Miyamoto to be the type to press on until work was a physical impossibility, right up until the bitter end. His willingness to stay with Nintendo continues to suggest as much.

‘I’m Retiring,’ Nintendo’s Miyamoto Tells His Staff [Wired]