In anticipation of Rhythm Heaven Fever for the Wii, I’ve been replaying the DS version. Go see the real-life Moai statues while you still can. I’m on Travelocity right now booking a trip to destroy them.

News Blips:

Markus “Notch” Persson, the creator of Minecraft, asks players if it’s OK with them if he tracks anonymous usage in his popular indie game. The developer hopes to discover things like which OS users are running, if they are playing alone or multiplayer, and whether people are using the download client or the webpage applet. Notch has posted a poll to his blog which asks: “Can we track some anonymous data?” Voters can select either “Yes, that sounds cool!” or “No, that sounds evil!” I expect that those two choices will likely reflect the community response with great precision. Full disclosure: Notch is Swedish, so he always sounds evil to me. [Joystiq]

Star Wars: The Old Republic’s Game Director James Ohlen admits that the audience for massively multiplayer online games with a paid subscription is “limited.” In a market crowded with free-to-play competition and the huge World of Warcraft, The Old Republic is trying to carve out a slice of pie for itself. “Obviously, there can only be a few subscription-based games,” Ohlen said in an interview with IGN. “There is a limited MMO audience and not a ton of that audience is playing more than one MMO, but I still think there’s room for more than just one really successful online game.” Well, I would hope he believes that, otherwise he would be living a very sad and unfulfilling existence. Ohlen went on to explain that as long as those games that are charging a monthly premium continue to produce high-quality updates, then they will justify their expense to cost-conscious gamers. [ShackNews]

BioWare reveals more Mass Effect 3 bonuses available with related merchandise. Earlier this week, the developer announced that consumers who purchased any of the official Mass Effect 3 action figures would get a code for special in-game items or characters. That trend continues for gamers who decide to pre-order The Art of the Mass Effect Universe book. Those who put their money down for the Dark Horse Comics-published tome will receive the Collector Assault Rifle, which -- according to the press release -- appears to be powered by an internal organ, which totally makes it sound like a pee gun. As with the action figures, this piece of downloadable content will only be accessible to those with the PC or Xbox 360 versions of the game. 

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