Nintendo is hosting a Super Smash Bros. Brawl Wii Father's Day Tournament at the Nintendo World store in Rockefeller Plaza on the 15th from 1 to 4 PM, with the winners of the bracket-style playoff walking away with two Wii, two copies of the game, and a trophy commemorating the event. Photographers will be on hand throughout the event to offer framed father and son pictures so at least you come away with something if the tourney only drives home the fact that you and your father have absolutely nothing in common.

The third annual Come Out & Play Festival once again attempts to turn New York City into a playground. In 2006, when the festival first hit NYC, gamers were given a chance to play life-sized Pong and real world Pac-Man, among a list of other interesting games. This year's list of games features two dozen ways to play outside including Humatar, which uses Xbox 360 controllers, headphones and Nerf guns to turn people into real-world avatars.

In Humatar one set of players controls a second set with the use of the Xbox 360 controllers. They don't get into specifics on the site, but since headphones are worn by the avatars I assume that moving the thumbstick sends out audio commands to the avatars. Sounds like it could be fun.

Hit up the site to check out the full list of games and Manhattan this weekend to play them.

Come Out & Play Festival 2008

Sightseeing in Liberty City [Matthew Johnston @ Flickr]

Wii Fit takes over Times Square [Go Nintendo]

The Great Wait for the Wii [via gonintendo]

The Nintendo World Store in New York's Rockefeller Plaza will be host to Majesco's first ever Cooking Mama: Cook Off Challenge.

The event is scheduled for this Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and will feature an on-site chef preparing real snacks as competitors prepare virtual meals.

Winners will take home a copy of the game and if you show up you get a limited edition Cooking Mama apron, if they don't run out before you arrive.

If you go make sure to take pictures and send them our way. Brian Crecente

Majesco holding NYC Cooking Mama Cook Off [Gamespot]

British band The Go! Team feature a 1970's style Ms. PAC-MAN chase scene in one of their music vids. Sure, we've seen live-action Pac-Man stuff before, but never sounding this good! Brian Ashcraft

Ms. PAC-MAN Runs Through NYC, No One Notices [Aeropause]

I'll post the full details after the jump, including the questionnaire to fill out and the email address to send it to .In case this is not enough notice, Elizabeth does mention there might be more testing next week, so all is not lost. I fully expect some of the folks we partied with this past weekend to jump on this and report back to us with your findings. We didn't get you all liquored up for nothing! Michael Fahey

Update: 2K Games contacted us to let us know that the announcement for this play-testing was, in fact, a bit premature. Whoops. We'll repost once they're ready for the Kotaku rush.

Sure New York has the giant Playstation Portable video billboard, and that's cool and all, but it's not routine. These images of video game ads are.

It's kinda cool to see the likes of Bully and Lost Planet advertising getting slapped up on buildings like they are ads for movies or perfume. I think it kinda shows just how mainstream gaming has become. Brian Crecente

If you weren't drinking and didn't have a chance to hit on gamer girlz or play retro games the Kotaku Party is worth about 55 seconds of your time. So here it is, in 55 seconds at the party by Richard Blakeley. Brian Crecente

Jowy was kind enough to shoot us the photos he took from the Kotaku Barcade party last week. I've thrown them into our official photo gallery so we can add yours and our own to the big gallery. Send away, I want to see more pics of Mike and Ash glassy eyed. Brian Crecente

Mission #5: Last one! You're almost there. We brought on three new writers late last year: Flynn, Luke and Fahey. Find their first posts. Send *all* of your answers with links to kotakucontest@gmail.com and sit tight until we pick the winner.

The Kotaku Crew weren't the only ones having adventures in the big city. Kotakuite Emperor Avaine has posted the story of his incredibly long journey across the upper east coast and down to Brooklyn for the now two days infamous Kotaku party. And while the Emporer may have just had a terrible break-up, he shares the heartwarming tale of a night of free booze at Barcade, ending in his meeting the next great love of his life: The World of Warcraft Burning Crusade Collector's Edition. True love conquers all! (cue romantic music) Flynn De Marco

An Epic Barcade Adventure [almostalways - Thanks Chilly]

Kotaku reader Jowy Romano, my wife and I were, I believe, the only three sober people at the party. And that's they way it should be. Romano, a photographer, brought along one of his fancy cameras and shot a shitton of pictures from the party and then went home and threw them up on Webshots so I could share the good times with everyone. I haven't had a chance to go through all of the pics yets, so if the one with Ashcraft wearing a party dress and riding Fahey like a taunton isn't in there it's not my fault. Brian Crecente

Don't forget the entire Kotaku crew will be at the Barcade in Brooklyn tonight starting at 7 p.m. We'll be paying for some alcohol and giving out some stuff. Just show up and try to spot one of us for your hand stamp. Brian Crecente

Party with Kotaku [Kotaku]

While most of Friday will be spent blogging and trying not to kill one another, Friday night is all about the Par-Tey. Don't forget to head on over to Brooklyn's Barcade tomorrow night to drink some brain-killer on us and talk games.

Hit the link for the full details or to go post about how we should be holding this party in your hometown. Brian Crecente

Party With the Kotaku Crew, Yes Even Ash [Kotaku]

Judging from the video, there were quite a number of higher-ups present for the demonstration. I'm not sure who all is in the audience, but I noticed Paul Steiger, the paper's managing editor and a gamer, as well as Tom Weber, the paper's Pursuits Editor. Who I think was creating the abomination... I mean creature.

OK, here's the deal. Will's gotta ski, right? So the next time you're visiting lovely Colorado, swing by the Rocky Mountain News so we can make some Spore snow bunnies. Brian Crecente

Update: The geniuses at the Wall Street Journal managed to include the wrong embed code for their video of Will Wright's visit. To watch it go to the site.

Former Gawkerite and hellofaniceguy Joel Johnson is hosting the second, we can now say it, annual Funde Razor at Brooklyn's Barcade next Wednesday.

The event, officially-sanctioned by Penny Arcade's Child's Play Charity, will be raising money specifically for The Children's Hospital of Montefiore in the Bronx.

While giving cash to sick kids is a wonderful excuse to go out and get drunk at a bar packed with arcade games, you also will be able to play Guitar Hero on a giant screen and sign up for a chance to win dozens of ROFL RAFL prizes including several custom Guitar Hero guitars, a DS and, if I can get off my lazy ass and send it to Joel, a bunch of swag I've collected over the year.

Last year the event raised $1,600, this year Joel is hoping to double that. So get out there, give cash, get drunk and be rowdy. I expect to hear at least one story of people shouting Joel down with chants of Kotaku. Brian Crecente

Funde Razor

Graphics so.. very... tiny. I saw this one in person, though I didn't play it. From what I saw, I'd say it's maybe a half-step forward from current 360 BB games. Of course, do we really need to have high-def sweat? At some point I just don't care about higher res. Brian Crecente

Not sure on this. Don't get me wrong, I'm all about lopping off giant, city-smashing robot arms, but Gundam games can only be judged after playing them for a few weeks. The line between royal sucktatude and awesomenessatude is very fine. Any anticipation for this? It's not really on my radar as far as PS3 games. Brian Crecente

Too bad Motorstorm isn't a launch title, it looks like it's going to be a lot of fun to play, though it's hard to tell if the terrain really does change drastically as you drive a course over and over again. Brian Crecente

Holy cow, Call of Duty 3 just hit my most wanted list for the Playstation 3. The game looks amazing, and that with janky YouTube pixelizing our vid. I really like how you have to use the Sixaxis to do things like set detonations and that blur effect after a bomb goes off. Wow, just wow. Videographer Richard Blakeley tells me the game is simply amazing and he's not even a gamer. Brian Crecente

Richard Blakeley gets a Sony rep to show off the PS3's photo browsing abilities. I friggin love that dropping-a-photo-on-a-table effect. I wonder why they used a Canon camera to take these shots and not a Sony one? Odd. Brian Crecente

Sony held a Playstation 3 event in New York City today to show off the games and console interface. Gawker's very own Richard Blakeley was on hand to shoot some footage for us. Here we've got a brief demo of the movie browser for the console. I love the way it can show so many moving thumbnails, then again I'm easily amused. Check back later for tons more clips from games and such. Brian Crecente

I kinda felt sad when I heard that New York City was declaring today Final Fantasy XII day and that I wasn't going to be able to catch it... and then I saw the videos, they're almost as boring as the plot to most of the FF games.

If uninspired cosplay, politicians yammering on endlessly and lines of fanboys and girls alternately cooing over Square art and asking stupid questions, is your cup of tea, here's two heaping mouthfuls courtesy of The Software Pirates. Brian Crecente

Happy Final Fantasy Days [The Software Pirates]

Yes, I totally stole the Wii-Mo idea from a Kotaku commentor. Brian Crecente

NYC Wii Event Gallery [Kotaku]

Luke Smith, former mop-headed Kotaku writer and current moppier-headed 1Up news editor, totally whipped me in a little impromptu game of Big Brain Academy on the Wii, during the NYC event.

In my defense, the game was in Japanese and some Wii pimp was trying to explain the game to me as Luke zipped through the, apparently, timed match. The winner of the game is the first person to get 12 questions right.

It was kinda cool. Once the game started we both had to zip through a bunch of short, Brain Age meets Warioware split-screen challenges.

In one challenge you're given a total and a column of squares with numbers on them. The object was to remove the squares until the remaining numbers equaled the total shown on the screen.

In another challenge, half the screen is filled with an almost Tetris-like image of stacked blocks. The other half of the screen is filled with a bunch of blocks. The object is to remove blocks from the bottom screen to match the top image.

The final challenge I can remember was having to use the pointer to match a picture by moving objects around on part of the screen.

The quick match I played with Luke was fast-paced and fun and, as I mentioned earlier, felt an awful lot like a Warioware game. I think this is another game with great potential, especially given the dual-screen multiplayer mode.

Hit the jump for the official spec sheet. Brian Crecente

Big Brain Academy (temporary name)
Format: Wii
Date Available: TBA
ESRB: RP (Rating Pending)
Game Type: Fun Mental Training
Accessories: TBA
Players: 2
Developer: Nintendo

KEY INFORMATION
The Wii Remote controller's hands-on control makes playing a cinch. This rethinking of the popular Nintendo DS game will test players' brains with fun problems and allow people of any age to play together. Multiplayer versus and co-op play modes also have been added, allowing players to use the title as a brain-training exercise or a raucous party game.
The Wii Remote's hands-on control makes playing the game a breeze, and revamps the DS game that exercised players' minds with enjoyable brain-teasers.
In addition to single-player mode, there are versus and co-op multiplayer modes that people of any age or education level to play together.
Mii data compatible.

Special powers/weapons/moves/features: The game features a two-player versus mode that uses a split screen. The same problems will appear in a different order. The first player to get 12 correct answers wins.

I ended up spending an inordinate amount of time playing around with Wing Island at the NYC show. I hopped onto the game just to check out what flight felt like with the new controller and ended up getting into a conversation with Bill Trinnen about how he's secretly taking over Nintendo. (He denies this, adamantly).

About five minutes into our conversation, Bill asked me what the heck I was playing. He said he'd never seen or heard of it before. We both searched around the kiosk, but couldn't find any developer's name. (I found out later it was Hudson.)

The game seemed sorta like a technology demo for a flight sim, though it did have a lot of gameplay elements.

You control the game's various planes by holding the remote in your hand and twisting, turning and moving it around. The plane does exactly what you do. One of the remote's buttons lets you lay on the turbo and the other was used in various ways, depending on the mode you were playing. The controls were incredibly intuitive. It felt like I was holding the plane in my hand and swooping it around the island on the screen. This is probably the most responsive game I've checked out yet for the Wii.

I only played two modes, despite my time on the game. One had me flying around an island in search of cows. When I found the cow, I had to fly in very close and snap a photo by locking on and pressing a button.

The other mode had me controlling a half-dozen or so planes flying in formation in a race. I had to race through a series of aerial rings in a set time limit.

The game was fun, though it did feel a little light on the content. Brian Crecente

I didn't spend a lot of time with Red Steel at last week's Wii event. I had played with it quite a bit at E3 and figured I didn't need even more time with the game. But what time I did spend with the shooter reaffirmed my feelings that the controls need some work.

It just feels like the controls are a little too loose for a shooter. I didn't feel like the reticule was aiming where I was pointing exactly, or when I was pointing there.

Even worse, the game would just lose my controller at times. Apparently what would happened was that my pointer would slip out of the sensor's borders for a second, making the screen kind of slip around while I tried to get it to start recognizing my remote again.

It was annoying, and shouldn't happen at all, let alone a few times in five or so minutes of play. I suspect this has something to do with a sensitivity setting that can still be tweaked. I noticed Metroid Corruption, which could run into the same problem, seemed to re-find the remote very quickly when it happened.

I didn't leave myself enough time to get far enough into the new demo to test out the improved sword play, but I did get to check out one of the new features: Zoom. By holding in a button and extending your arm toward the screen, the image would magnify, sort of like a full-screen zoom. Kinda cool.

I'm still on the line about Red Steel. It just seems to have to many control issues to make it worth my while to buy. Hopefully that will change by launch, because shooters definitely seem to work on the Wii.

Hit the jump for the updated Red Steel fact sheet. Brian Crecente

Red Steel

Product Description
Red Steel is an exclusive Wii launch title that takes full advantage of the console's innovative controller and puts players directly into the action-packed first-person experience with the weapon in their hand - literally.

An engaging storyline unfolds as you learn that your fianc e has been kidnapped and her father - a Japanese mafia kingpin - murdered by a rival gang. The only way to save your loved one and defend your honor is to journey from Los Angeles to Japan and confront the Tokyo underworld.

By learning the ancient art of Japanese fighting with your katana and the focused precision of modern firearms, you will progress and adapt yourself to this foreign environment, where skills alone may not guarantee you victory.

Key Features

Exclusively for Nintendo's new-gen system Wii
Red Steel is the only original first-person action game built from the ground up for the Wii.

The Weapon Is in Your Hand
Take full advantage of the revolutionary Wii controller, and control the action like never before. You'll replicate sword-fighting movements and eliminate enemies quickly by directly targeting and shooting them.

Master the Deadly Steel
Execute deadly combo moves using multiple swords or choose from a variety of firearms for longer-range attacks.

Focus Is Key
Learn to harness your mental power to unleash powerful attacks in dire situations, and use the "focus system" to freeze time and effectively target several enemies at once.

Become a Modern Samurai
Learn the art of Japanese fighting, and then use these skills to take out your enemies or gain their respect and loyalty by sparing them.

Multiplayer Modes
Challenge friends with various split-screen multiplayer modes to see who the real master is.

Product Specifications:
Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft Paris
Ship Date: Holiday 2006
Category: First-Person Action
Rating: Rating Pending (T anticipated)
Website: www.redsteelgame.com

2006 Ubisoft Entertainment. All Rights Reserved. Red Steel, Ubisoft, and the Ubisoft logo are trademarks of Ubisoft Entertainment in the U.S. and/or other countries.

Wii and the Wii logo are trademarks of Nintendo.

To celebrate the Halloween launch of FFXII in America, New York City (yes, New York fuckin' City) has declared October 11th as "Final Fantasy XII Gamer's Day." Playable English versions will be on display at New York's DigitalLife's Gaming Pavilion. Taking a page from the Japanese PR handbook, there will also be hosting a costume contest. Cosplaying at a FF event? Didn't see that one coming. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [College Gamer]

Couldn't see it when it was sunny, anyway.

Hmmm... Sounds slightly familiar. But, I hope this doesn't mean Sony has given up on its giant PSP billboard. Perhaps, they are simply replacing it with a pepto-pink one. Fingers crossed! Brian Ashcraft

The PSP Nation decided to hold their latest weekly meet-up in the bowels of New York City. The group gathered at the Manhattan Mall and then descended to the subways where they caught a ride to Coney Island. On the way the group of gamers played some hot PSP-on-PSP action.

It sounds like it was a lot of fun. This sort of mass commuter game action is what I think Sony envisioned when they released the Playstation Portable. Too bad it never happens without a plan. I'm going to start taking the Lite Rail to my work in downtown Denver starting in August. Hopefully, I can find someone to play with during the ride.Brian Crecente

PSP Gamers Take Over NYC Subway System [The PSP Nation]

If you were in New York City this morning and noticed a giant Pikachu scooting up and down Broadway, don't worry you're not losing it.

The city's Office of Emergency Management and Macy's used the parade float from last year's Thanksgiving Day parade to test flight patterns in high winds.

The tests are part of a task force examining parade float procedures. The task force was formed after two people were injured in last year's parade when a balloon knocked out a light fixture, injuring two sisters.

I'm not sure why they had to drag Nintendo into it, I mean last year's unprovoked balloon attack was caused by a giant M&M. They should have had a big ass Snickers or Hershey's bar inciting the homeless into raving lunacy today, not a Pokemon. —Brian Crecente