On the left, The King of Games' new Kid Icarus t-shirt. On the right, new kid sizes of The King of Games t-shirts. Both go on sale (in Japan) next Friday at midnight Japan time. If you've ever thought to yourself, "I've always wanted a rather expensive Kid Icarus t-shirt" or "I'm a little person and would like a Mario Bros. t-shirt" you now know where to go. No word just yet on if they'll show up in the English language shop, but we'll bug KOG until they tell us.

Oh, they look quite nice don't they? The Kid Icarus tee will run you about $46 USD, with kiddy stuff at about $37 USD. Totally fair! Yep. More than fair.

The King of Games News

K2: Billy Mitchell As A Hunter Killer Robot

Sure it's a bit stupid, childish, hokey, and inane. Most of the time it isn't even particularly funny. What strikes me is how terrifying the thought of being chased around by Billy Mitchell with futuristic weapons actually is. I would be terrified, but practical, cutting off my own hands so the record could never come to pass. When a maniacal gaming hot sauce maker is ready to gun you down you have to think on your toes, people.

Finally! Good quality The King of Fighters XII screenies. There's images of the China stage and the Egypt stage. Just look at those shades and fire effects. Truly dazzling stuff.

KOF12 Screens [Famitsu]

Dungeon Siege DVD Dated

For those of you who decided that the theater just wasn't the right place to thoroughly enjoy Uwe Boll's In The Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale, Fox Home Entertainment has some great news for you. While normally you'd expect to have to wait a good six months before a quality film such as this made it to DVD, Fox is rushing it into the hands of eager fans on April 15th, complete with deleted scenes (he DELETED some?), a behind the scenes featurette, and trailers. All of this for a suggested retail price of $27.98, which translated into Wal-Mart money is roughly $14.99. Rejoice, movie fans! Our long, nightmarish wait is soon over!

In The Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale (R1) in April [DVD Times]

Hooray! This April, The King of Fighters XII is getting its first official play test in Japan. As pointed out in Famitsu, it's traditional 3 vs. 3 team match-ups. Also, the screen's edge forms a hard barrier that players will have to balance. What's more, attacks can cancel each other and there's a Guard Attack system that lets players switch from offensive to defensive modes on the fly. SNK says that the game system had gotten too complex and they were aiming showing that would be more approachable and put emphasis on "reading the opponent's mind." Famitsu scans below — which do the 100 percent hand drawn game no justice whatsoever.

KOFXII Info [mmcafe via Arcade Renaissance]

When SNK showed off The King of Fighters XII at arcade show AOU in Japan and industry event GDC in San Francisco, the unanimous reply was: Nice cell shading. That, or it's "just" hi-res 2D. Thing is, that's totally incorrect. And for SNK, who's been working on the game for the past three years, frustrating! Today, I checked out the game's latest build at SNK's Osaka office and saw a few stages that haven't been revealed. Screens weren't available, but there was a French stage, complete with fat, rich women and an Egyptian one that had loyal subjects worshiping before the Pharaoh. Colorful stuff and classic SNK. The company set out to make the ultimate 2D fighter — unparalleled by anything else out there, attempting not only to raise the bar, but snap it in half. KOFXII producer Masaaki Kukino tells Kotaku:

The game is one hundred percent hand drawn. There is zero cell shading in The King of Fighters XII.

First The King of Fighters XII Trailer [Updated]

Hit the jump for a higher quality clip. Do it!

Boll Retreats From Big-Budget Films

Uwe Boll's In The Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale didn't do so well at the box office this weekend, making back a mere $3.3 million of its $70 million budget. Hell, I even forgot to go see it in the face of more interesting pursuits - my toenails are now neatly trimmed and filed. Now that he's suffered three bombs in a row (BloodRayne and Alone in the Dark completing his hat trick of suck) and his German tax shelter funds have dried up, Boll concedes defeat reveals his true passion.

"In the future, I will focus on small films such as (the video game adaptation) 'Postal' or (the Vietnam war drama) 'Tunnel Rats,' " he said. "These are films that represent my true passion, and they can be done with small budgets."

Boll ejected from big-budget ring [The Hollywood Reporter]

Uwe Boll Explains Why You Should See His Movie Today

Uwe Boll's In the Name of the King opens today at theaters nationwide, so this serves as both a warning and a reminder... oh, and a plea straight from Uwe Boll himself.

The famously bad director emailed website Boll Bashers to explain why it's important for you to go see his movie. Among his reasons? Ice Cube's movie First Sunday is a "piece of shit".

We have a better movie and a bigger movie with a better script, better cast and we proved in europe that our movie has the power to stay 3 weeks in the TOP TEN and that we can get at least 50% good reviews. FIRST SUNDAY is a direct to DVD title in europe but in USA Sony puts 40 mill. $ in advertising to win that weekend. And this is completly absurd.

Ah Uwe, maybe you should give up directing and take your show on the road. I know I'd pay $5 to watch you on stage rant about the man and how he's to blame for your abysmal movies.

Uwe Boll: why people should go see In The Name Of The King [Boll Bashers]

7:15 p.m. Flick finally starts. Appear to be in a medieval castle. The bedroom. Naked Ray Liotta spoons naked Leelee Sobieski. Close-up of Ray. Looks like he just jetted first-class into Middle Ages. Straight from Goodfellas. That's some Witness Protection Program.

Uwe Boll on Larry King Live?

By John Gaudiosi

The year 2008 is going to be a very busy year for controversial film director Uwe Boll, who has a legion of detractors in the gaming community after films like Alone in the Dark, BloodRayne and House of the Dead. The prolific filmmaker, who independently finances every one of his movies, has a slate of movies in the can. He talks about what the coming year brings in this exclusive interview.

First up for Boll is his $60 million fantasy epic, In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale. The movie, which stars Ray Liotta, Jason Statham, Leelee Sobieski, Ron Perlman, Kristanna Loken, Matthew Lillard and Burt Reynolds, will open on 2,500 screens across North America on January 11—making it Boll's biggest film release yet.

"In the Name of the King is tracking well," said Boll. "Eighty percent of the TV spots for the film will begin January 1. The film opened in Germany and other foreign territories already and remained in the Top 10 for the first three weeks in every territory.

Boll concedes that In the Name of the King is by far the best movie he's ever made with the best cast and the best script he's ever worked with.

Ring In The New Year With KOF, Metal Slug, Wet T-Shirts

Christmas cards from developers are big thing in the West. Similarly, no developer in Japan would be rude enough to neglect sending cards commemorating the New Year. Metal Slug and King of Fighters developer SNK Playmore has already done the honors for this holiday, creating a batch of a half-dozen Happy New Year 2008 card mock ups that you can send to your favorite fan of whatever SNK Playmore games the kids are playing this year. Designs for Metal Slug (above), Samurai Shodown, The King of Fighters XII, The King of Fighters '94 and The King of Fighters '98 are all currently available for your downloading and redistributing pleasure.

For your own enjoyment, plenty of wallpapers that are not holiday related, including some fabulous desktop worthy World Heroes Gorgeous pieces are just a downward scroll away.

Happy New Year 2008 [SNK Playmore]

The official site for Uwe Boll's film adaptation of hack and slash game Dungeon Siege features a truly epic trailer for the flick, which should be fresh on the minds of anyone who saw the poster that made star Leelee Sobieski all frowny. Fortunately, the trailer for the movie, dubbed In The Name Of The King, is nothing but smiles. It features Ray Liotta as a king who can turn a regular library into a deadly book tornado and a team of forest ninja who will fight trolls or whatever. Also featured? Armies. Vast armies of phoned in performances.

Boll may not win any awards for his Hollywood translation of the PC game, but Jason Statham deserves some sort of official recognition for his ability to deliver the line "Tomorrow, we gouge evil from its shell!" with a straight face.

In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale

Kinnear of Kong

I saw that documentary. I loved it. I thought it was a very cool documentary. If they make that into a movie...I wouldn't want to play Kong. So that guy [Wiebe] would be better.

The Queen of Fighters

It's been a banner several weeks for new games and this one is no different. No matter what your taste there is a little something for everyone. Mass effect, Rock Band and Uncharted: Drake's Fortune will be on my holiday play list as I sit in my parents rec room after ingesting too much food. What will you be playing post-turkey time?

Mass Effect (X360)
Space, ho!

Rock Band (PS3, X360)
Rock out with more than just a guitar.

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (PS3)
Relive every great 80's adventure movie you ever saw.

Unreal Tournament 3 (PC)
Get real with Unreal..3!

Kane & Lynch: Dead Men (PC)
It's like a buddy movie with killing.

Ghost Squad (WII)
Fight the war on terror at home on your Wii

Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings (DS)
More Final Fantasy... more!!

College Hoops 2K8 (X360, PS3, PS2)
Next-gen college basketball.

Soul Calibur Legends (WII)
The Soul Calibur franchise tries a new style.

Time Crisis 4 (PS3)
Shoot those bad guys up. Now with scrolling.

Link's Crossbow Training (WII)
Test out the Wii Zapper Zelda style!