Hey, Star Wars: The Old Republic, you know what other MMOs are doing right now? They're helping with the harvest and aren't hanging out on Tatooine down at Toshi Station, wasting time with their friends and checking out all of the power converters for sale. They're adult MMOs who understand the need for a few helpful hands to repair the units in the South Ridge. They aren't zooming around in their landspeeder, checking out the scummy alleys of Mos Eisley or stopping by Uncle Owen's farm for a friendly chat about that crazy coot Old Ben Kenobi -- not like you.

So go ahead, have fun zipping around the dunes and avoiding the Sarlacc Pits, while we're over here wearing the big boy pants, behaving like adults.

Speaking to Develop, Traveller's Tales director Jon Burton voiced concerns about Microsoft's motion control solution, Project Natal. Specifically, Burton stated that Natal's lack of controller input as well as input lag could limit the kinds of games made for it, though he did admit that the device is "exceedingly clever." Burton prefers Sony's motion controller, noting that it will be "cheap, accurate and will put buttons at your fingertips," which should make it suitable for a wide range of games.

Still, Burton admits he was "stunned" by the technical wizardry of Natal. With the experience of having his own motion capture studio at TT, Burton states that getting "anything resembling mo-cap" in real-time from a single camera is "nothing short of amazing."

For what it's worth, Burton has not used a final version of the device. We noted Natal's input lag when we tried it at TGS earlier this year, where Microsoft's Kudo Tsunoda assured us the final product would iron out, or at least ameliorate, the issue.

Kotaku reports that a survey from IPSOS Online Research has been sent out, gauging interest (again) in premium subscriptions to PSN. One of PSN's most-touted features has been its low price of free, so if Sony's thinking about asking for membership fees, it had better offer some extra goods, right?

Well, the survey hints at such goodies as hour-long trials for full PS3 titles, access to PSOne Classics and cross-game voice chat; the latter being a feature that PS3 gamers have been waiting on for decades but, if this survey is to be believed, would be exclusive to premium members. The survey also discusses the addition of Cloud Storage -- online space that allows users to store saved data, instead of housing it on their hard drive -- and Tokens. These Tokens would be a kind of added currency, which can then be used to redeem goods on PSN. But that's not it! It gets even crazier. The survey also adds member-exclusive programs into the mix, such as streaming Netflix without a disk and special Hulu support, as well as free access to Minis and premium themes.

The survey also details a few different subscription models, including a $69.99 yearly plan and several options for monthly fees. Hit up Kotaku for some supposed screen grabs from the survey detailing the subscription plans.

We were really hoping this Nier trailer would help answer some of the questions we had about the title. For example, what's up with the two different games? We're getting just one game on PS3 and 360 -- but that game is a 360 exclusive in Japan, with a different Nier game being released on PS3. Why not release both games in the larger North American market? And how will the gameplay be evolved since the E3 demo? Because if there's not some improvement, the number of Nier games may not matter.

It does not answer any of those questions. In fact, we have several more questions after this trailer, which features the voice (but not much else) of the AI partner, Kaine. Questions like "what?"

Announced earlier this month (though fate had ensured its arrival since the beginning), Brütal Legend's second pack of downloadable content landed on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network this week.

In celebration of the release, Double Fine has handed over a brand new trailer for the grab bag of multiplayer maps, skins for Eddie Riggs, and items with which to brutalize (as seen above). As we previously noted, the DLC also gives players the opportunity to endow Mt. Rockmore with Tim Schafer's beautiful face. If that doesn't sell you on it, we can't imagine what would.

This past Saturday brought us the Spike TV Video Game Awards and – before experiencing the litany of world exclusives that awaited us inside – we spent some time outside cruising the red carpet and talking (briefly!) to many of the game developers and talent. We squeezed them for information as fast as we could while simultaneously wishing them holiday cheer and good tidings. Yes, it was as awkward as it sounds. HHere's what we learned from Bungie's Halo-matic composer, Marty O'Donnell.

Why was the music such a departure for Halo 3: ODST?

It was just a completely different story with different characters, it was a small scale, it took place in a lonely city where it was raining. It was a detective sort of story where one lone ODST was looking for his buddies. From the very beginning Joe Staten, the writer, wanted to create an atmosphere that felt very film noir, very detective story. I'm the main composer, but my partner Mike Salvatore in Chicago and a couple of other guys in Seattle, Stan Laparte and C. Paul Johnson contributed stuff. I tried to keep all of the themes in that noir, jazz, dark area. There's a few times where we're in the rooftops or doing some high-action regular old Halo stuff in vehicles and we went back to that big, bombastic, epic stuff, but I always wanted to bring it back to that noir feel.

Were there any musical references to classic Halo during those moments?

I didn't do any actual thematic callbacks. I still wanted to do .... well, number one was no monks. But I still thought the big orchestral epic sound had a place. With some other stuff, you know. Piano, guitar, etc. It's like three hours of music, and you can't narrow yourself down to a small palette, you have to really be as expansive as possible.

So now you're working on Reach?

Yes, we're premiering the first look at the opening section of Reach. It's right out of the game. I'm really excited about it. It has a really different feel.

As promised, the PlayStation Store has been updated with Minis that actually work on your PS3. The process of finding new and old Minis to play on your PS3 system couldn't be simpler; but, just in case you're a little baffled by firmware 3.15, Minis developer Halfbrick has created a tutorial video explaining the process.

If you've already purchased Minis and want to play them on your home console, all you have to do is go to the Download List of the PlayStation Store. We tested a few Minis on the PS3, and we'd have to say that the PSP upscaling is good, but not perfect. While the games are very playable on a TV, it's clear they're still low-res games being played on a high-res screen. Still, it's a good value-add for those that have both a PS3 and PSP system.

Check out the walkthrough after the break.

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In the roughly 24 hours since Square Enix dropped Final Fantasy XIII into retailers across Japan, over 1 million consumers have snagged the game for their PlayStation 3s. The Japanese publisher says that the number doesn't include the Lightning Edition PS3 hardware bundles, which would presumably add another handful of copies to the grand total. With another few months to go until North American gamers can hungrily grab up the sequel, we'll have to focus our time on jewelry contests instead.

[Via Kotaku]

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See all of this week's links (and what games we played) after the jump.

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Split/Second now has a much narrower release window, having been winnowed from a vague '2010' to a much more manageable 'May 2010,' according to CVG (and confirmed by Joystiq with Disney Interactive).

For those who haven't been keeping up with it, Split/Second is a racing game that lets players use the environment against their opponents. For example, you can cause a whole building to topple directly onto the road, thus changing the course of the race -- and possibly crushing a few opponents in the process. In short, it's great fun, to which our E3 hands-on can attest. Fans of racing and big explosions may want to mark their Michael Bay Swimsuit calendars pronto.

Namco Bandai is unsurprisingly working on a sequel to Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm. Revealed in the latest issue of V-Jump, the sequel will take place right where the first game left off, at the beginning of the Shippuden series. Not only will the cast of characters be older in the sequel, Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 is promising some big new features, primarily 4-player support and a multiplatform release. Yep, unlike the first game, Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 will be released on both PS3 and Xbox 360.

Details are slim at the moment, but with a planned 2010 release in Japan, we'll undoubtedly find out more soon. So long as CyberConnect 2 can expand on the game's depth while keeping its good looks, anime fans will want to keep an eye out for this one.

[Thanks Fidoboy17; Via Siliconera]

While Army of Two's focus has always been cooperative gameplay, EA Montreal's Eric Chartrand is responsible for designing the competitive multiplayer aspects of The 40th Day. In an interview with with That VideoGame Blog, Chartrand notes that one of the big changes for the AoT sequel is to adapt the multiplayer aspect, and make it play differently from the campaign mode. Whereas the story can feature designed bottlenecks (such as doors that require both players to open), multiplayer cannot, simply because humans play differently than AI. "The toolset we use in single-player has to be different from the one we use in multiplayer," Chartrand explains.

Interestingly, Chartrand notes two games as his main inspiration for The 40th Day's multiplayer offerings: the decade old Counter-Strike and the recently-released Killzone 2. "What works in Counter-Strike is that you don't get progression," a stark contrast to the level-up gimmick common in most online shooters. "So why it works is because the gameplay in it. The second-to-second, the movement of the character, the shooting, the intensity of the combat is still fresh, even ten years after. So that's why we wanted to craft an experience that is as close to this as possible."

Chartrand has even more praise for Guerrilla's FPS. "Killzone 2 has great maps, probably the best maps out there," he admits. However, what inspired Chartrand the most appear to be the game's community features, particularly its stats-laden website. "This link between stats, profile, friends, leaderboard ... all the community aspects, I think the Killzone guys did a very good job and we strive to imitate them."

Yes, some adventurers are still exploring Spore and its would-be vast, online universe -- at least, they're trying to. Since late last year, some Spore buyers who purchase the game through Valve's Steam distribution service have been unable to access the game's online component. The issue seems to be related to the serial number that's required when setting up a Spore account, but not provided with Steam copies of Spore.

Users who contacted Steam were told that Valve is working with EA to fix the issue and to continue to play offline until a fix is delivered. A Steam representative, posting in one forum thread, addressed angry users, claiming, "The ETA for a fix is 'as soon as possible.'" In the meantime, if you're about to buy Spore from Steam ... just buy it somewhere else.

This past Saturday brought us the Spike TV Video Game Awards and – before experiencing the litany of world exclusives that awaited us inside – we spent some time outside cruising the red carpet and talking (briefly!) to many of the game developers and talent. We squeezed them for information as fast as we could while simultaneously wishing them holiday cheer and good tidings. Yes, it was as awkward as it sounds. Here's what we learned from Nolan North.

You're quickly becoming one of the recognizable stars of video game voiceover acting. How did that happen?

You know ... I don't really know how that happened. I was lucky to land a lot of good roles in good games that became really popular ... Assassin's Creed, Uncharted, Prince of Persia, and they became really popular so fast and my name just happened to be attached to them. And you know, with the success of Uncharted -- the first one and then the second ... I don't know. It's just a phenomenon that I'm just lucky to be a part of.

Claudia Black told us that the motion capture sessions were the real key to making the relationship between Nathan and Chloe seem real. What do you think?

Absolutely. A lot of times we're just in a booth behind a microphone, unshaven and just ready to go ... and alone, more than anything. I mean, working with all of these actors, it's like doing theater somewhere. As a matter of fact, it's like what we used to call Black Box Theater back in college. There really wasn't much of a set ... we were just out there doing our thing, but the interaction was there and I think that's what translated so well to a video game.

There's nothing quite like being placated by material things -- it's what gets us by in this cold, Capitalist world. Knowing that us North Americans are heart-hurtin' over the lack of a localized Final Fantasy XIII demo, Square Enix recently announced plans to give us merchandise based on the upcoming game though a sweepstakes, as teased by Square's Sonia Im on her Twitter account recently.

Starting December 23, the contest website will open for entries and 13 "lucky winners" will get their hands on the FFXIII-inspired merchandise seen in the gallery below. More specifically, four people will get their necks adorned with one of the four pendants while nine others will get an "accessory" (keychain or card holder). Sure, you might want to play the game instead, but isn't getting stuff nice?