Starting today, TheLastBoss.com is going on an indefinite hiatus.  Our goal from the beginning has been to extend our love for gaming to the masses, and in order to do so more effectively we feel it's time to take the site in a new direction.  Unfortunately, this transition isn't something that can be executed overnight, so there will be no new content for a while. We are just now starting the process of recruiting talent for the new positions on the site.  If you would like to be a part of the new TheLastBoss.com team, feel free to tell us about yourself in an e-mail to contributors(at)fatpenguinmedia.com

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Instead of taking the overly comedic kiddy route, this short cinematic went for professionalism and still made me laugh. I love how they tackled the star power item in stop motion animation. Made by a group of college students in thirteen nights of filming, this video is one of ten short films competing in a Harley Davidson contest at this year's UCSB Department of Film and Media Studies video project. If you enjoyed the invisible trip down Rainbow Road, take the time to vote for them here. You don't need to make an account or sign up for anything, it just takes one simple click to support some fellow gamers.

Three months ago, TLB reader Dexter345 and I pieced together the mystery behind the Wii game Opoona. That it's not the horrible looking, lifeless, visually impotent game that it appears to be. It's a sexual odyssey that takes children deep into the Japanese perverse psyche. Sure, the awful gameplay tactics might look like a retarded revisiting to Wakka's FFX heroic dodgeball combat skills, but don't be fooled so easily, in reality it's a profound pollination metaphor. For teabagging. Helping you in combat is General Ovary Ourumov on the right, and Captain Condom on the left. We've already seen penis battles, and this video steps it up a notch with plenty of freaky STD tentacle enemies. There's still no release date announced yet, so we'll just have to save up our skeet strategies until next year for an explosion of joy when it finally gets released.

In the newest LEVEL Magazine issue, there were several interviews with Final Fantasy XIII employees talking about the direction the three new games were headed in. The main thing they confirmed, was that each of the FFXIII games they're working on will be mostly independent of each other:

Motomu Toriyama: "The development of the three games was started at the same time and we gathered to try and find a common platform to stand on and try to build from. But since then, we've been working completely independently of each other. Each game is evolving in its own direction and take place in separate worlds with their own main characters. There exists basically no cooperation between the different teams. I wouldn't even want to claim that we communicate with each other."

Tetsuya Nomura: "The only similarity between the games that you can find is in the vague crystal theme."

The other thing the interview finally addressed head-on, was how far Square Enix is willing to go with the futuristic setting. In the past, every Final Fantasy game nails down a visual theme, then staples a story to the graphics. Or maybe it's vice versa. When asked how far they would take the futuristic story, Square Enix answered with "we took the futuristic theme to its limit. FFXIII will truly define the term futurism. You've never seen anything like it." Nomura even elaborated a bit more:

"There's been times when I've wanted to take FF in a completely different direction than the game's producer has wanted. I'm not saying that his or mine opinions have been right or wrong, just different. One thing I've always wanted to explore deeper is human emotions. By going in that direction, you risk to make the target group for the game narrower, and FF is appreciated by a very large audience. But with Versus XIII, it feels like the right time to take that risk. Since the script isn't done yet, I still don't know exactly how far I dare to go, but I know I want to squeeze humanity out of these characters. I want Versus to feel in the entire body."

Me too, Nomura, me too. I want to feel Versus in my pants, we're all hoping your you'll fulfill our fantasies. Since we didn't see too much of FFXIII at the Square Enix Party, hopefully more will be revealed at E3 or other approaching events. You can read the other interview exerts here.

PlayStation 3 owners have grown immune to outrageous rumors, and now Xbox 360 is getting a taste of its own medicine. Recently a rumor was started that Gears of War was coming to PS3, and Epic Games' Mark Rein didn't hesitate to make a statement:

"This story is complete bull****. I emailed the site and asked them to take it down. We're very happy with our relationship with Microsoft. If it weren't for them Gears wouldn't be the huge hit it has become."

I wonder how well Gears of War would sell on PS3, since most PS3 owners I know swear that the game of the year was shit compared to their beloved Resistance: Fall of Men. Although, it probably won't be much longer until we hear more about Epic Games bringing their game to the PC.

There's no pictures to go along with the news like in the Halo 3 preview below, but the newest issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly has these new details towards the end of the magazine:

"If you're hankering for a virtual fistfight, top-quality options about -- the Virtua Fighter, Tekken, and Dead or Alive franchises all offer satisfying punch-up action. But if you're truly looking to give your opponent something to cry about, it's all about wielding sharpened steel, and nothing beats Namco Bandai's Soul Calibur series for weapon-based fighting thrills. In our world-exclusive preview, we'll reveal the future direction of this beloved series."

We still don't have any confirmation of when to expect the fourth game, or which consoles to expect it on, so hopefully the new EGM issue offers even more insight. I haven't received my copy in the mail yet, so feel free to give us an update if it's already arrived at your place.

The newest Gamepro magazine issue has more than a dozen preview pages showing off Halo 3's updated weapons, vehicles, equipment, beta maps, and the levels Shrine, Epitaph, and Last Resort. The most exciting new feature they reveal is the ability to extensively customize your player armor:

"Tired of staring at Master Chief's mug? Halo 3's online mode offers new armor permutations that allow players to customize their personas from head to toe. Will the Covenenat Elite player models be eligible for similar upgrades? Only Bungie knows."  

Create-A-Spartan opens up many questions, none of which Bungie is willing to talk about yet. Will the armor permutations affect your online health meter? Do different sets of armor portray different ranks of any sort? Or is it all just for a fun change of appearance to visually set Halo 3 apart from Halo 2? We'll have to wait and see, Bungie doesn't want to spoil all their secrets, but it's obvious they've still got at least a few more they're keeping from us. Check out the high quality scans from Arrogantics below.

To celebrate the release of Tomb Raider Anniversary in Europe today (comes out in America on June 5th), Eidos has booty-called each of the Lara Croft models from the last ten years for a family reunion photo at their London studio. If I had the chance to invite them all over for four player polygamy, I'd pass and call up a few of the Chinese Lara Crofts instead.

I've never even seen these ladies before, how did two of them get cast for the role with blond hair? The totem pole with tits on the left looks like a less ugly Morgan Webb in her other photos, and I couldn't even fit the beast on the east into the damn picture. Last time I was in Europe all the women were hot, what the hell happened? If the one in the middle pretended she was Sophie Marceau we might have a deal, but she'd have to be convincing.

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By now you guys should know I'll post anything that involves Bubble Bobble in any way, and it gets a shout out in this montage of the most memorable video games in the history of the industry. Spanning all genres of gameplay from 1972 to 2007, and pulling from several consoles and handhelds, there's easily a hundred different games that were included in the four minute video. So take out your notebooks and get ready to jot down a few time markers of games you don't recognize but want to know more about, and try to help each other figure out which games were which. The one that caught my eye was Out Of This World at 1:40 into the video. It always looked like an intriguing Super Nintendo game to me, but I never got around to playing it. Are there any games you didn't see that you think deserve to be on the list?

Last month we had a lot of Square Enix news, but very little video to go along with that was shown at the Square Enix Party. It wasn't until just a few days ago that we finally got to see the Final Fantasy IV cinematic DS trailer, and a week before that the Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Crystal Bearers Wii trailer. Spike TV has another video for us to finally get a peek at -- late tonight on Game Head, at 1AM, they'll be showing the video preview for The Last Remnant that was shown previously at the Square Enix Party.

With a combat system altogether different than what Square Enix has attempted before, it will be fun to see the battle tactics in action. The Last Remnant still doesn't have a target release date yet, although it will be released in America and Japan simultaneously when it's ready to be shipped.