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Thus far, Bayonetta has exposed us to a litany of disturbing oddities. First we were exposed to the expression "non-stop climax action." Then came the uncomfortable revelation of Bayonetta's "sexy" dancing. And now, we must forever live with the term "hair moves." As the ancient Egyptians figured out long ago, hair is gross. Short of the occasional Rita Hayworth hair toss, hair really shouldn't be moving at all. And it certainly shouldn't be transforming into giant boots, fists or demons.

Alas, this is the proposition you face should you desire to play Bayonetta. You've been warned.

Rare's bear and backpacked bird make their debut in this latest Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing trailer. The Banjo-Kazooie team tear up the track big-truck style -- mainly because they're in a big friggin' truck. The trailer also takes care to remind us Avatars will be playable in the Xbox 360 version of the game -- but, really, who cares? Banjo and Kazooie are in a big friggin' truck!

Sega has announced its victory in the fight over whether or not Australians will get to (legally) play Aliens vs. Predator. According to a statement given to Kotaku, Sega has successfully appealed the OFLC's decision to refuse classification to the FPS and has secured the game a rating of MA-15+, which has yet to be reflected in the OFLC database.

"We are particularly proud that the game will be released in its original entirety, with no content altered or removed whatsoever," Sega Australia general manager Darren Macbeth told Kotaku. "This is a big win for Australian gamers. We applaud the Classification Review Board on making a decision that clearly considers the context of the game, and is in line with the modern expectations of reasonable Australians".

We now urge our Australian friends not to do anything that might appear even the least bit inspired by this game. If you see a ravenous, monstrous alien, let it go unblasted.

Super Monkey Ball: Step and Roll is something of a troubling proposition. Sure, it might be fun at first -- something we can attest to -- but it could very easily become the most maddening experience in video games. Remember all the times you fell off the old Monkey Ball levels while using the precision inputs of a controller? Yeah, that's probably going to happen a lot more with the Balance Board. That said, after watching the above video, we'll be darned if we don't wanna give it a try.

One of these box arts is not like the others. Yep, you'll notice that the Xbox 360 version of Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing has two added bonuses: Banjo and Kazooie. At first, we were quick to dismiss the image as nothing more than a fan mock-up. However, TSSZ discovered that all of these box arts can be seen on Sega's server (Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii).

If the addition of Banjo and Kazooie to Sega's kart racer sounds familiar, it's because it was part of a Sega leak earlier this year that contemplated this exact partnership. Revisiting the supposedly leaked Sega document reveals a number of bullet points that have already come true: the PS3 price drop, Alpha Protocol's delay and Yakuza's localization. The addition of Banjo & Kazooie to the Sonic racer is a nice bonus; however, should other aspects of the Sega document come true, it could mean PS2 and Dreamcast games are coming to PSN.

[Thanks Tristan!]

Being the stylish, fashion-way-forward gal she is, Bayonetta (of, um, Bayonetta) likes to accessorize. Sometimes she gets tired of having guns for shoes and hair that can take the form of giant demons, so she politely barrows steals weapons from her enemies, to use against ... her enemies.

In this short-but-sweet clip from next month's Platinum Games action spectacle, we get to watch her do just that -- nabbing a giant mace (not of the "spray into a mugger's eyes" type) and use a very long, forcefully procured spear to pole-dance-kick the hell out of heavenly foes. Best of all, the clip is narrated by a velvety-voiced English woman who sounds just like Bayonetta, if she were real. Which she's not -- so please, stop calling Sega asking for her number. Yes, we're onto you.

An intrepid Sega fan going by the name Bacteria would like you to see what he's spent the last four months building: a portable Sega Dreamcast -- complete with a built-in VMU (Visual Memory Unit, should you have forgotten). Called the IntoDream, the handheld is actually comprised of some non-Sega components, specifically a 5" LCD screen for the PSone and ... a third-party N64 analog stick? The full specs are listed on his blog.

Bacteria says the rest of the buttons and innards came from a PAL Dreamcast console, and that it "was primarily made to play Quake 3 and also Unreal Tournament on the Dreamcast, and it does it very well indeed." Just not for long -- the IntoDream's six amps of battery juice powers the device for just over two hours on a single charge. Still, for such a commendable custom carry-along, you take what you can get, right?

Check out two videos -- one a making-of, the other of the IntoDream in action -- after the break. Oh, and in case you're wondering, it's not for sale.

We've got a duo of high-profile titles to check out here on VC in Brief this week. Come for the shooting stuff, stay for the Pig Chutes.

• Blaster Master (NES, 1 player, 500 Wii Points)
• Earthworm Jim 2 (Sega Genesis, 1 player, 800 Wii Points)

Sega and Rebellion won't release a "sanitized" Aliens vs. Predator for the Australian market, but it appears the companies are at least going to try and appeal the government's decision to "ban" the game. Refused Classification noted over the weekend that the classification board will hold a review of AvP's status this Friday, December 18.

The most recent high-profile game to attempt an appeal with the Aussie ratings board was Valve's Left 4 Dead 2 -- it failed. However, an edited version of the zombie apocalypse survival trainer was released in the region. We've contacted Sega for comment on the matter.

[Via GamePolitics]

Sega has released a demo of Vancouver 2010 - The Official Video Game of the Olympic Winter Games. We're not sure about the gameplay, but the title definitely deserves a medal. Come on, it has the word "game" in it twice. As for the demo, it has a sample of one of the Olympic sim's fourteen different modes, as well as the Landing Zone challenge. If you think your well-trained thumbs are up to the task, the demo can be yours for only 684MB of free space.

Shortcut: Download the Vancouver 2010 [via Xbox.com]

As promised, Sunsoft's brought Blaster Master to the Virtual Console -- though we think the impact is somewhat dulled by the quantity of other games available for download this week. There's a total of 11 different games available, so head past the break for the full list.

We've heard from Australian Attorney General Michael Atkinson in the past on why he thinks certain games shouldn't be available to Australian consumers. And when he was asked recently by ABC why the upcoming Aliens vs. Predator was refused classification in his country (read: banned), he echoed previous sentiments on the interactivity of games having a stronger affect on people than other mediums. "I accept that 98 percent, 99 percent of gamers will tell the difference between fantasy and reality, but the 1 to 2 percent could go on to be motivated by these games to commit horrible acts of violence," Atkinson said.

When the subject of AvP comes up, though, Atkinson put on his game reviewer cap and offered, "You don't need to be playing a game in which you impale, decapitate and dismember people." So, what're you thinking, Mr. Atkinson -- 5.0/10 maybe? 4.7/10? We're all ears.

[Via GamesIndustry.biz]

Sega, Rebellion, some Aliens, Predators, and even Space Marines are all teaming up in February to get your money. Sega announced that Aliens vs. Predator will be released in Europe on February 19 of next year.

The game will arrive in three versions, each for three different levels of enthusiasm about the FPS. The Standard Edition is for the average gamer looking for a new game. The Survivor Edition comes in the requisite steel case and includes codes for extra multiplayer maps, to be released after the launch date. The Hunter Edition is for the collector who may not even be opening the game, as it includes a facehugger model, a lenticular postcard, and a "Weyland-Yutani sleeve badge."

How do we sign up for the bundle Lance Henriksen's getting -- the one with your own likeness in the game? That one's probably really expensive.

It may seem like just yesterday that we learned the release date for Yakuza 3, but that's only because it was. Just one day after Sega finally announced a Western release for Kazuma Kiryu's third adventure, the Japanese side of the company demonstrated just how far in the future it lives, by announcing a release date for the fourth game. And both release dates are in the same month.

Specifically, Yakuza 4 arrives in Japan on March 18. That means, if you don't mind reading Japanese, you can be exactly one Yakuza game better than everyone else. A whole new group of hostesses awaits! As do some new playable characters. In addition to Kazuma, this game features three other playable mobsters, each with a separate storyline.

As fans of Sega's Yakuza series (known as Ryu ga Gotoku in Japan) will quickly point out, the lengthy wait for localized versions is somewhat of a disorganized crime. With two PlayStation 3-exclusive installments already available in Japan (and a third on the way), Sega Europe's online community manager, Kevin Eva, offers an enthusiastic answer to the impatient question: "YAKUZA 3 IS COMING TO THE WEST." So enthusiastic, it seems, he's already busting some CAPS.

Writing on the European PlayStation Blog, Eva confirmed that Yakuza 3 will hit the US, Europe and Australia in March 2010, and emphasized the game's adherence to its cultural origins -- not to mention Sega's budget. "As part of the lengthy localisation work Yakuza 3 will feature full English subtitling," he wrote, "whilst maintaining the rich Japanese voice actors that bring an extremely engaging atmosphere to the game – this will no doubt please the purists out there!"

Plus, you wouldn't want to upset those rich Japanese voice actors by replacing them. Who knows how well they're connected?