History of Game Console Prices

Curmudgeon Gamer has a fairly comprehensive set of graphs comparing the prices of the major game consoles of the last two decades. The author provides no analysis of the data, but it is easy to draw quite a few conclusions from the graphs. In terms of absolute dollars, game console prices have actually remained relatively stable, with the exception of a few anomalies such as the NeoGeo and the PlayStation 3. In relative dollars (adjusted for inflation), we see that console prices have in general been declining. Of particular note, Nintendo's consoles seem to drop in price with each successive generation. The comments on the article tend to focus negatively on factors that the graphs don't account for such as reductions in manufacturing and materials costs, but taken at face value they contain a lot of useful information nonetheless. At the very least they put the current console pricing hoopla into perspective.

Christ has returned to Nintendo

HIT that See it in HI Rez button One thing i have learned from Steven Chow is that there is a thing called Kung-Fu. Its embraced by all people and is the oldest language in the world. It is action in motion. Some see it as violence. But at its base form its sparing. Its you vs. another(s) to see whos top dog. In Nerdom this "kung fu" language lives in Counterstrike, Halo, Goldeneye, and Mario Kart. But those only have a tentitive hold on your kung fu heart while as Smash Brothers rings true eternaly. Smash Brothers is action 4 player pornographic, vomit laden, balls out action. Its the ADD masterpiece of mashing franchises together in eclectic chaos. Few games demand the winner to grandstand in foolish ways and the losers to enjoy every minute of it. This IS Smash Brothers Brawl.

Grrl Gamer.com, the first to get girl-lead scoop for FFXIII...

Or they would have, if their blog was up to date. Sorry Grrl Gamer.com, I'm not interested in winning a pink Gameboy sp...But I am interested in this. Looks like Kyle beat me to the scoop, but the good folks over at IGN.com have given us pics and video of this great looking new title. Or should I say, three new titles. Apparently Square-enix's big plan is to have two PS3 titles and one cellphone title. The project is being call Fabula Nova Crystallis and according to the article "They all take place in the same universe, but aren't related to each other directly."

Revolutionary PS3 Controller Not Very Exciting

At E3, Sony has introduced what it is coining its new "4D" controller for the PS3. In addition to functioning just like a PS2 controller (minus vibration), the controller can be tilted to put movement into the game...albeit very little. This, of course, is in stark contrast to the Wii's controller, which is much more responsive and offers more than slight tilt capabilities. This makes one wonder if this new PS3 controller capability (which is only going to be supported by ONE game) is nothing more than just a way to say "See, we're innovative, just like Nintendo." An article on Twitch Guru had this comment to make about the new controller. The contest for leadership in next-generation consoles will be boiling down very quickly to the question of whether resolution or character adds the most value to content. Would a customer rather spend what we estimate to be a few hundred dollars more (Wii's price has yet to be revealed) for 1080p resolution - assuming they have 1080p HDTV displays - or save the money and get what will probably be recorded in history as the much cooler controller? At this stage of the game, Sony's 4D gamble is beginning to look like an afterthought. So we must ask ourselves this question: is Sony starting to panic after seeing what the Wii is capable of? Or are they simply trying to sway a few more people over to their side? Or perhaps they really added this feature without copying anyone, and believe that this feature will allow players to become fully immersed in their games.......ok, not likely. However, this shows that the video game battle is really starting to heat up.

Final Fantasy XIII

eToyChest has reported that Square-Enix and Sony have announced Final Fantasy XIII for the PS3. My first reaction was so what, another Final Fantasy but this one looks amazing. It's being created by the same guy who did VIII and X. And is titled the most "technologically advanced" Final Fantasy world yet, and the play seems to revolve around this one gun-blade (FFVIII anyone?) wielding young lady. Who is badass in her own rights, going one man army style on them. Final Fantasy is one player, so why not focus on one character. The gameplay movie was crazy detailed, and during the battle sequences (atleast the way the video was edited) they had crazy camera angles during the battles. I tried to post a picture of Final Fantasy XIII but blogger was having some issues over here at 2 east 8th. So hopefully I'll post a big picture later. Untill then go here to see the trailer!

Classic Wii Controller

Kotaku posts a pic of another Wii controller (yes, I said WII, because it's fun). This controller resembles the classic SNES controller, except that it has as many inputs as the Sony controller, making this ideal for playing the large library of classic games that you get with the WII. WII. WII. The release of the controller also lets developers release games that are not dependent on the Wii remote, seeing as that one lacks buttons in place of interaction. More exciting material from Kotaku Shows off the use of the standard Wii controller when used for Zelda Twilight Princess. This game seems really promising, and the use of the "nunchucks" seems as intuitive as the presenter claims. Honestly, the reality of the Wii seems more and more impressive.

E3 is here and so are Wii

I'm suprised there's not more E3 news posted up here yet, but since there isn't I'll take advantage of it. Yesterday Nintendo's conference was shown and if you ask me it was mighty impressive. To start it off Shigeru Miyamoto came out with his Wii controller directing a full orchestra and they went on to show off such games as Zelda: Twilight Princess, Red Steel, Metroid, Warioware, Super Mario Galaxy, Wii Sports, Rayman: Raving Rabbids, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, Sonic, Fire Emblem and even Dragon Quest. Pretty Impressive. On top of that such games as Final Fantasy III, Starfox, Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, Mario 3 on 3, and Big Brain Academy were showcased for the DS. Sadly we didn't get an official price or release date for the Wii. If you ask me with Sony's $500-600 price and umm, well, Microsoft, Nintendo may do a little better than was expected....and by a little I mean a lot.

PS3 Announcement at E3

Sony officially announced at E3 last night that the PS3 will be released on November 17, and will retail for $499 for the 20GB hard drive version, and $599 for the 60GB hard drive version. In an apparent attempt to one-up Nintendo, Sony also introduced their new controller, which looks just like the PS2 controller, but is 20% lighter, uses a wireless bluetooth connection, and features a motion-sensitive gyroscoping feature similar to Nintendo's controller for the Wii. Unfortunately, with one a single game in development to utilize the gyroscope feature, it is debatable whether or not this feature will actually be useful.

Super Columbine Massacre RPG

Yes that is right, Super Columbine Massacre RPG. Somone with the balls made it. I was reading over a couple of sites and came across this. It is a fairly new game that has the events that happend at the Columbine school made into an RPG. It is taken from the view of the two killers, Eric and Dylan. The Game has a "vintage" feel to the game like a game on the Super Nintendo. Like I said above the game is played through the view of the two kilers. I however did not play the game or know how it works. I thought the idea of the game was just somone who wanted to make a game pure out of it offending poeple, there is going to be a lot of people offened. Here is the Link to where I read the article. http://www.watercoolergames.org/archives/000551.shtml#more Here is the Link to the game website. http://www.columbinegame.com/

College dept paid off... with virtual dollars?

Yup, you betcha. The overall idea is that a guy with a $4,000 real-life money dept via college funds is simply asking for an unsecured loan in the virtual world of Second Life. This request started in February, and is now actually dept free. As far as the real life goes, however, not so much in the game of Second Life... he still owes all the people the SL money. But hey, at least he didn't have to pay interest. I consider it almost astounding that people, some complete strangers were able to trust somebody they didn't even know with money that apparently can be very real. Especially with sites that are dedicated to transfering money betweel real life and 'second life' currencies. It will indeed be interesting to see where a virtual world like Second Life also pushes its limits.

Border Patrol

Border Patrol, a Flash game where players shoot Mexican illegal immigrants, has been around for a few days now. Almost every site that links to it accuses it of racist, which may not be my adjective of choice for a game where you have to shoot what the game calls "breeders" (pregnant Mexican women running along their small children). CBS claims that nobody claims authorship for this game. Here's a link to the game. Border Patrol I thought this was an appropriate post, since last class we were talking about game don't really try to do anything. I find it really funny though that the author of this game is anonymous. I also wonder why it is so easy for people to make offensive games on the internet, but they won't these types of games for the platform? I'm not saying that this was a good idea, because it's definitely offensive. It goes back to the whole sense of identity thing that we've reading. I guess it's just easier to be jerk when you're anonymous and you don't have to face the consequences of your actions.

Mobile RPG

Everyone is on their cell phones. Downloading ring tones, playing tetris, listening to music, checking email. Why not bring more developed games to the phones. Not all of us have handheld video game players. So lets put the games on the phones. Well thats what EA has decided to do. EA is creating a RPG for phones. It will use the Doom Graphics engine and will bring the world of gaming to more players. Where is this going to lead us. Possibly massively multiplayer games on the phones? I'm sure that next, we'll read next week. Blizzard annouces mobile WoW for cell phones, runs on windows mobile. You used to have to stop playing for a few hours while at your Grandma's. Not anymore play everywhere you go! Maybe I should patent this idea.... Do we really need more games on our phones? I mean it will have a wide market but sometimes people just might need a break. "Teen dies playing RPG on cell phone while driving". Is that next in the headlines?

Kingdom Of Heart 2

So I know I'm a total sap, but I just finished Kingdom Hearts II and have to admit that I leaked a few tears at the end. What I can't figure out is why... Well this is the first time i hear some cry at the ending of kingdom heart 2.All have to say is suck it it just game don't take it so serious.

DS users cheating in classrooms?

eToychest has posted about Kotaku (another blog site) that gave the heads up on a new craze of DS users in school using PictoChat (built in chat feature for the DS) to cheat on tests. How delicious, sitting in class an using a videogame console to cheat on my test. Nevermind the fact that in high school I think billy staring at his crotch is quite noticable and the DS will get attention if you place it on your desk. But which ever, the oppurtunity is out there, and I encourage (High School) students to go out and exploit this! Do it! This is no different than students text messaging during exams, so I suppose the rule leave all electronic devices excluding calculators at the door will apply to tests. Until Texas Instruments gives the graphing calculator WiFi ability for some unknown reason. No Good, Bad and Ugly today, maybe next week during E3. Edit: Haha, well considering Sean and I just posted the same thing within moment of each other, allow me to take the time then to post about Rayman 4, which will be debuting on the Nintendo Wii. The game has a new title of Rayman Raving Rabbits, in which the great limbless hero Rayman returns when his world is being threatened by being over run by crazed rabbits (yeah...). Michel Ancel (Rayman, Beyond Good & Evil, King Kong) returns to lead the design of this game, and plans to have it utilized the Revolution Wii's remote to the fullest. You'll be able to control Rayman and the magical creatures that aid you in ridding the threat of the rabbits by moving the controller in uniques ways, that offer a completely different experience from anything you've ever played before. Michel Ancel is one of many developers excited about developing for the Wii because of it's unique control functions. Look forward to hearing more about Rayman Raving Rabbits in the upcoming E3 coverage.

A gaming world and its market.

Gaming has increased to new heights. When the orginal Nintendo and Sega came out did any one think they would be on the top of the market right now? Gaming is now being used by schools as a learning tool, of course to a certain exctent. But a whole new generation of gaming is reaching out there. With more and more statstics being made each year people that hate video games whether for the violence or simply enough the fear of new and popular things. Developers and gaming industry seem to be on the top of its well...... game. As long as games to sell, and gaming industry rises it will almost be impossible to shut down the market. Even gaming industry stocks are rising each year. Whether it is because EA buys out everything or simply because the demand for video games is so high. It is uncertain where video games will be at in the next 10 years, but whatever comes to our imagination won't seem to far fetched.

DS Cheating

Over at Kotaku, dishonesty runs rampant as a user fesses up with :"we all managed to bring our DSes on the same day and then i personally had mine in my lap and when i got 10 awnsers i would type 1-10 on the number pad then write a,b,c,d,e,f or g under it." Now teachers have a new foe to watch out for:"about half of my teachers do like the DS tho, and have caught me cheating on it. They just havent relized what i was doing and would ask why i was playing game boy in the middle of class." The cellphone is no longer the only cheating boon of lamers. I'm actually suprised that this hasn't occured sooner, or rather immediately. Teachers need to be more tech savvy and realize (with paranoia) that EVERYTHING is wireless nowadays. I've even seen some website for a pen that can record what you write, and can play games and other crap.

Someday we might be looking through ancient records of...video games?

Today Slashdot had an short blurb about what the Library of Congress is starting to do. They're going to archive video games!. They say here, "We are faced with the potential disappearance of our cultural heritage if we don't act soon and act together to preserve digital materials... We have learned from our experience that long-term preservation of digital content is dependent on influencing decisions of content providers from the moment of creation." So who knows, maybe in a hundred years we'll have people sifting through hundred of "ancient" games...Morrowing, Grand Theft Auto, Tomb Raider, oh here we go, Final Fantasy VII! Now I can complete my book on the stone age of gaming!

WOW had a small updated runs better on macs now

WOW got updated this week to fix some crap they didnt even tell us broke. They fixed up our weather problems and a few game mechanic issues. Now with less nerf! Oh btw Druids get innervate? Hurray!

New games

As you well know that if someone wants to make money off something elses success then make a video game of it. Well right now we have 3 of this type coming out, The Da Vinci Code, Xmen 3 as im sure everyone knew about that one, and Mission impossible 3. Each promising to stay close or fill in the blanks at certain parts of the movies.

Tragic entertainment

Unfortunately, I still have not found much to share from my beat. Unfortunately, most of the posts seem to be a re-cap of an on-going soap series. I think that you need to be an “SLer” to really appreciate it. However, I have read post after post and my reactions have varied from laughter to sadness. In my last post on this beat, I talked about how politics were played in the SL world. It is interesting to note and read about the protest that was held in protest of the pro-amnesty marches held over the past few weeks in that virtual world. I find some of the ideas and images humorous. It is hard to tell when those involved are being serious. On the other side, I was disturbed by the fact that Second Life has a Darfur. Evidently, activists built an information site in the virtual world. It includes a refugee camp with a small fire. Shortly after being built, the site was attacked and leveled by griefers. It was rebuilt and it is now being guarded by a group of superheroes. I appreciate the efforts of those who want to inform the world of the on-going tragedy, but for me this mixing of real world tragedy and entertainment is really eerie!

GPU-Accelerated Rendering

Nvidia has released a free piece of software that will allow the GPU on certain Nvidia video cards to acts as a secondary mathematical coprocessor in order to speed up renderings. The software will work on GeForce 5200 cards and higher as well as Quadro FX workstation cards. An article on Tom's Hardware states: In previous demos of an earlier version of the Gelato software, Nvidia executives showed TG Daily near real-time rendering of frames. This software could greatly reduce the cost and time for large renderings of 3D scenes in 3ds Max or Maya. While not as good as the dedicated mathematical coprocessor we have talked about before, this software could nevertheless likely be applied to games as well, especially in SLI solutions, if one card were to act soley as a mathematical processor. I believe we'll see much more innovation like this in computer systems as bus speeds and processors are pushed to their limits.

Video Game Voters Network

I don't know if I should be impressed and proud, but I find myself more than a little horrified at the prospect of the Video Game Voters Network. I suppose it is to magnify and organize the video game community in order to protect the rights of artistic and creative freedom by preventing censorship. The sickingly designed site even has a link to a letter by Will Wright urging people to join the network. The problem I have is for one thing, it isn't really necessary. If you want strength for protection from censorship then form a union for the designers of the game itself. Also, the site says that politicians like Hillary Clinton, Joe Lieberman and Evan Bayh are attempting to prevent the sale of violent games to minors and other preventative measures must be stopped as well! Why? I hate to break it to the "Video Game Voters Network" but that isn't censorship, that is stricter enforcement of an already established law. If the politicians were to get involved in the design process itself, then it would be censorship. And why is Will Wright attaching his name to a paper tiger that can't even compose a visually pleasing website? He either has other invested interests or (gasp) he isn't nearly as brilliant as a lot of people give him credit.

Silent Hill: Critics Chant

Ray Bennet of The Hollywood Reporter - “Witless, soulless and joyless” “displays its video game origins throughout.” Nathan Lee of the New York - “wraps up like the outrageously overwrought fantasy of a French movie nerd obsessed with horror (the director Christophe Gans) who has been given obscene amounts of money to adapt a video game. Which is, in fact, exactly what it is.” Presently, Metacritic ranks the film an underachieving 31% rating. I haven't seen the film yet, but i do know in the past, game-to-movie adaptations were generally looked at as cheap cash-ins aimed at a broad, general audience. Gamers were pretty much guaranteed to attend and depending on promotional buzz, curious social moviegoers bought tickets to see what all the hype was about. People were entertained while some were not, but at the end of the day, everyone left the theater unchanged: gamers were still gamers, non-gamers were still non-gamers. "Silent Hill has taken over the number one spot for box office returns in its opening weekend, and most websites’ user review ratings put it far above the critics’ take on things. Even if the film is not exceptionally profitable, it appears to be shaping up to be a minor mainstream hit and a successful return for its investors. More importantly, though, it represents a significant step forward in the cross pollination of both film-to-game and game-to-film adaptations, as well as the public face of the videogame medium."

Guitar Hero II

The makers of Guitar Hero are offering an opprotunity to independant musicians to submit their original songs and possibly have them featured on the sequal to Guitar Hero. The game is scheduled to be released on November of 2006. Heres the grand prize to the winner of the competition who they choose to be the next guitar hero. The grand prize winner will have their song featured in the top-secret track list for “Guitar Hero II” and is eligible for additional publicity through game launch promotions. Graveyard BBQ, the winner of the first “Be a Guitar Hero” competition, will rock live at the RedOctane booth (Kentia Hall #6521) during the upcoming Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles next month. Their song “Cheat on the Church” is featured as an unlock song in “Guitar Hero”, currently on retail shelves nationwide. Apparently the game has a large following and has inspired many wannabe rockstars. Im sure they will get a large turnout for this little competition which will be a good form of advertisement for their new game.

Don't get it? Wii do!

I found two slightly humerous things on my blog this week, the first of which was a few comments about the new name of the Revolution, one which I'm personally having trouble coming around to. I have my fingers crossed that E3 will reveal its still the revolution. I've heard some good points as to why the name has been changed, and thought about how stupid some other console names are that have ended up being just fine, but I just can't get used to "Wii" yet. Meh. Here's a few jokes my blog made about the name. Fans Go “Whee!” For Wii Nintendo Upgrades Wii-fi Connection Nintendo Weens Gamers off Traditional Controllers Nintendo Wiins! Nintendo Wiipes Up Nintendo Whiips The Competition Nintendo Wiis on Competition Nintendo Wii Gets More Wee (For the inevitable redesign) Competitors Cry Wii-wii-wii all the way home Second off, he mentions coming across a Wikipedia article titled "List of video games considered the worst ever." Hearing about something like this was of course something I couldn't just leave be. So, I went to check it out for myself. It turned out to be quite a bit more than I thought it was going to be, I went there expecting a tiny list of 20 games or so, but instead I found all the things that make games bad, along with a fairly large list and short descriptions for each game. If you want to check it out for yourself go for it it was kinda fun. I don't know if this kid is really qualified to judge the worst games ever, but hey, who is?

Angry Gamer

This was a great blog. It talks about kids getting mad while they play games and doing things such as: - Screaming on XBox Live - Bashing the keyboard like an ape would the ground. - Sweedish gamer takes it out on the monitor. - Getting angry (and freaked out) because of someone else - while playing games. I know games are supposed to be fun but I have experienced alot of frustration while playing games. It comes from an intense urge to win and putting urself in a place where you are in the game and you just can't lose. Games need to have a certain level of difficulty or they would be too easy to play and too easy to win. And also, people need to learn life and know that they cant always win but if they try then they can suceed but not always on the first try. I think it also depends on the personality of the player. I get mad easily at games because I may take it too seriously. But also I think that frustrating games can and will bring out the ANGRY side of people. So I will lastly add that if you are angry dont break the game or your expensive console just go run around and scream at trees. That will help! :)

GS Beat

Gamespot Beat Soon, John Carmack of Id games and a mobile gaming developer are going to conjure up some orcs and elves for the masses. This doesn’t really come as a surprise since mobile gaming is apparently becoming a much bigger business, but the move of such a big guy to such a small scale is what strikes me as odd. I’ve never played mobile games myself. Partly because I have never owned a cell phone that could play them, but then again I’m completely happy with a phone that does what its supposed to do (make phone calls), so I’m curious how big the market really is. I can see piddling with a game on a train or riding with someone else who is driving, but I cannot see getting all excited to get out of class rush to the Verizon download store on your phone and getting a game you have been dying to try, the scope of that isn’t apparent to me. Although I could be wrong and there could be people like this, I wonder how valid or even how long these games are that high name people and companies are developing. http://www.gamespot.com/news/6148693.html

Sequels

So anyway, it would seem that there's going to be a Virtua Tennis 3... I wasn't aware that there was a 1 or a 2. Also, a new Monkey Ball game is in development, which, if I had ever played one, I'm sure I'd be excited to hear it. A third sequel that Idle Thumbs has a little on is a sequel to Lumines for the PSP. I don't have a PSP, nor have I ever played Lumines, but I've heard only good things. I guess there are a bunch of excited people out there about all that and maybe I'll play some of the previous games and get excited with them.

Boy makes Cancer Game

Ben Duskin, a nine-year old, boy has created a video game showing the effects of leukemia on the body as well as emotional and medicinal effects. He made his request through Make a Wish foundation and was almost disappointed as video games can take time creating as well as money. The head of office, Patricia Wilson, stated, ""Some people almost laughed when I presented the request," she told the BBC programme Go Digital, "just saying do you understand what you're asking for? This is not possible, this is millions of dollars. This will take several years in the development." Fortunately for Ben, Eric Johnston of LucasArts stepped forward to make it happen. The game has been downloaded 35,000 times and can be played/downloaded at www.makewish.org/ben *Sorry for double post, tried to delete it but it doesn't seem to be coming down

They're Everywhere! -Halo Grunt

While we strapping young men still outnumber women in terms of how many of us play games, in the 25-34 age bracket it would seem that is not the case. Due to rampant increase of interest in casual games for both sexes, there are now more women of that age range than men that play games. Now, obviously, the majority of these women aren't hosting halo tournaments, or doing anything we would call real gaming, but this study included such hardcore gaming entries as Tetris, myriad card games, and the sort of games you find on internet gaming sites like Pogo.com and their ilk. Don't take this to mean that 1) I don't consider those games and 2) I don't think women play mainstream console or pc games. However, if these casual games had been excluded from the study, the male participating population would still have been exceedingly dominant. So the question is, how do we as game developers generate the female interest in the games that we make? There are far more casual gamers than us hardcore gamers, yet the industry still caters overwhelmingly to us. Since the majority of the female gaming population seems to be part of the casual gamer crowd, perhaps we can either start making casual games too, or find a way to make our less casual games more attractive. Or a third option would be to continue making our mainstream games but remake the mold on how games are constructed so that a casual gamer can enjoy them as much as a harcore gamer can. To do this, I believe games need to include things like being able to save everywhere, and abundant single player content across the board would make a casual gamer less intimidated by the games that we play. Think it over. Later

The REVOLUTION In User Interactivity

Despite rumblings in the gaming underworld, the Wii (formerly Revolution) firmly holds its own when it comes to respectability and innovation. Those of us that own any piece of "next-gen" hardware can attest to the fact that even though these new fandango graphics seem to draw us closer to the metaphorical flame, we are left in shock; simply playing recycled titles over and over again. Hate it or love it, Nintendo always had the cutting edge when it comes to taking risks and thinking outside of the box. Granted, huge risks can be dangerous; but huge risks often lead to huge rewards. In this case, the reward has been consistent loyalty to the brand. This leads to the idea behind a peculiar control scheme, still in development at Nintendo. Schappert mentions that the Nunchuku controller, like the popular Revmote Wiimote handset also has an acceleromator in it - meaning that the "juke" moves performed in Madden will be mapped to the Nunchuku and moving that controller will also move your character. --This refers to the new Madden, planning on being released on the Ninetendo Wii. This new type of controller, dubbed the "Nunchuku controller" will grant users a much more responsive experience to playing games. Imagine the possibilities of utilizing a control such as this; it would introduce new people to gaming, as well as breathe new life into an otherwise stale "catch as catch can" industry.

And the new nintendo system went Wii, Wii, Wii all the way home

So as I am sure everyone knows the name of the Nintendo's new system is Wii. All I can say is way to go Nintendo, way to go. You have everything in place to really shake things up and rattle a few cages, but you went and blew it with the name. Maybe I'm wrong and it will caputre a more casual gamer, but if they think it's stupid then it's game over. Sure, I'll be in line to get one but I will never like the name.

Bring out the Legislation

Three states, Michigan, Illinois, and California, have recently passed laws establishing penalties for selling violent games to minors. While the Michigan and Illinois laws will not come into play until the end of the year, California has started their inforcement. This push by California was brought on by GTA San Andreas. In a touching tribute to the cult classic Pulp Fiction, GTA put a suit in the game that resembles "The Gimp," a minor charactor from the movie. Because this charactor was a sex slave in the film, the game felt that it would make the suit part of the sex slave mission. Combined with the dildo, a weopen in the game, this suit managed to disturbe California's legal repersanitives into forcing the bill through. The problem with these new laws is the are unclear. What they are saying is that the retailer must decide what is to violent for children. The laws are very unclear and force game sellers to determin what is OK for kids. I think this is unfair. I say, "Bring out the Gimp."

Halo 3 Footage to Be Shown at E3

One of the biggest video game franchises in the past decade is about to debut it's third installment. In just a few short weeks we will get our very first glimpse of Halo 3. The game is set to shown at E3, one of the biggest gaming conventions of the year. Because of it's huge success on the Xbox, there has been much speculation about Halo 3 despite it not even being an officially announced title up until just recently. A specific release date is still yet unkown, but it will most likely see a 2007 release date on the Xbox 360. The video clip is suppose to run about 2 minutes in length and is specualted to contain all in game footage as is customary with Bungie.

Defending the Wii

Game Girl Advance has posted a positive take on Nintendo's decision to rename the Revolution to Wii and they make some unexpected but excellent points. They discuss the expected points about the name being a viral marketing tool for Nintendo. The controversy it creates is ultimately just free advertising for them. Afterall, most gamers who were planning on buying the system in the first place probably aren't going to change their minds because of this. The gamers who are still on the fence will probably wait until the game announcements at E3 anyway. However, the argument I find most poignant is that: "Furthermore, the name simply distances Wii from the other consoles. Although Sony has a greater vested interest in home entertainment systems - hence the whole Blue-Ray push - Nintendo is doing a better job of making its new system seem like an addition to an entertainment system rather than one of them fangled video games. 'Wii' isn't a cool name. It's not as hip to skateboarder as 'Xbox 360.' It's not as brand-loyal as 'PlayStation 3.' In fact, 'Wii' as a name distances the console from both Nintendo itself and the competition. As Chris Kohler points out, if you ever listen to non-gamers refer to game systems, they often use brand names in reference to all systems. My Mom, for example, still calls all game systems "Nintendo." I've heard non-gamers enter stores and ask to buy games for the 'PlayStation, the Microsoft one.' This isn't particularly ignorance, but just brand-identification. However, with such an outrageous and stupid-sounding name like 'Wii,' I don't imagine that being a huge problem for Nintendo." Nintendo's target market for the Wii has arguably been the casual gamer all along. To me that seems to be the whole impetus behind trying to design a naturally intuitive control device. If you look at it this way, distancing themselves from the other consoles seems like a brilliant strategy for reaching their target audience. When you think about it, the name Xbox 360 does seem a little too hip for the casual audience which in a way could almost work against them if they want it to be perceived as an entertainment hub (which I would argue they do). Likewise one could argue that Sony's decision to name their console Playstation 3 could scare off casual gamers unfamiliar with previous consoles. While ultimately the games available for each console will determine their acceptance among casual gamers, Nintendo definitely seems to have a leg up in this regard. For further discussion I recommend Chris Kohler's take on the subject over at Game|Life. However, just for the record, I still think it's a stupid name. Discuss.

Command & Conquer 3 Announced

EA announced that it has begun development on a new game in the Command & Conquer series of RTS games. Tentatively titled Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, the game promises to return to the classic roots of the C&C series, marking the first sequel of the "Tiberium" based storyline in seven years. While details are scarce, leaked scans of the June issue of PC Gamer Magazine has shed some minor information on the game's current state and goals. The article claims that the game will mark the return of Kane, the Brotherhood of Nod's evil mastermind, however it is not currently known if he will be played by Joe Kucan (the man who gave the character life). The game will also take place in 2046, roughly a decade after the end of Tiberian Sun. Many classic units and gameplay styles are said to return, including the Mammoth Tank, Orca Aircraft, Mobile Construction Vehicle (MCV), and possibly even the sidebar style of control from the previous games. Tiberium Wars is currently slated to see light sometime in 2007.

MMORPGs calm the savage beast

A blog by Edward Castranova states that the social gameplay of MMORPGs may be therapeutic in keeping troubled kids unmotivated towards violence. According to Castranova, kids who feel outcasted or worthless in real life, may receive mentoring and genuine friendship in online communities such as Everquest or World of Warcraft. The rest of the blog is here: http://terranova.blogs.com/terra_nova/2006/04/why_do_kids_kil.html#more

Video Games Becoming Mainstream

The blog I read was talking about a TV show that the person was watching in which two of the main characters play as video game designers, something you would have never seen merely ten years ago. He talked specifically about the third episode of the season in which the guy actually goes in front of a bunch of producers and proposes his new idea. He goes on about all these different features the game will have and then mentions how they will have a huge sign at the next E3 and it will "never be the same game twice." What’s more, Brian and Dave don’t represent the nerdy, socially reclusive stereotype of the video game programmer. Game design is shown as a relatively minor part of their standard TV-style fantasy life of (1) having relationships with hot women (2) talking about relationships with hot women and (3) generally managing relationships with hot women. So, its interesting to see how games are moving into main stream tv shows, in my opinion. It's not to often that games don't get shown as "nerdy, socially reclusive" type of people mentioned above. There's no doubt in my mind that games are indeed becoming more mainstream, and theres also no way to avoid it. It's not really a bad thing (yet,) I'll just keep my fingers crossed that games don't loose quality because of this main streamness. I want my games like and Killer 7 and Psychonauts that are creative and don't appear to be worried about not hitting the top of the sales charts (even though there is no doubt that they should have because they were both outstanding games.) So, as long as games aren't hurt by the mainstream population then by all means let them in, if anythings its more people to buy our games when we are out making them...and thats a good thing.

DVD/HD-DVD hybrid

I like consumer friendly articles, so this grabbed my attention. Warner Home Video is shipping Hybrid DVD/HD-DVD titles featuring both 480p DVD content on one side and 1080p HD-DVD data on the other. The only downside at the moment is that there is a $10 markup on the HD-DVD hybrid version compared to the normal DVD. This probably isn't a real issue for the 7 or so wealthy people who puchased the first HD-DVD players. I really hate the whole format wars, but compromises like this make me less depressed about it.

What are you talking about? Girls don't play video games...

While reading grrl gamer, I found an interesting article where the author was proclaiming her frusteration at the gaming industry. The topic in question was Wired magazine and it's biased opinion toward it's reader base. One of the major topics was an interview with Will Wright (the creater of the Sims) and how he made no mention at all that the reason his series became so successful was due to the female gaming population. The author also made mention of how the voice of women were not being represented in the gaming industry and that some of the articles that did make mention of the female gamer were such topics as cyber sex and USB prehensibles that can contect dildos to a computer, the new way for a woman to pass the time with teledildonics.

EA Engineers Settlement Check 14.9 Mil

EA Engineers won a settlement over unpaid overtime. I went to some event with a speaker from EA that came to Columbia to recruit graduates and students interested in internships. He came in the fall semester and the question was asked, "I have heard rumors that work hours at EA are long and brutal...is this true?" An article in Game Informer went on to say, also about EA, that at "crunch-time," or the time when a game is to be completed, the workers are expected to work over-time from 50-70+ hour weeks. The speaker however said, that workers do not HAVE to work over-time, but put it upon themselves. EA's normal work hours are average. People should come in around 8 or 9, but workers tend to stroll in at about 10, play games for a few hours, then go to lunch, and THEN maybe do some work. By the time the games are to be completed, they are rushing to get things done. This sounds sketchy don't you think? Looks like this EA rep was trying to make it look like it was the employee's fault and not the company's. Courts did't think so. The 14.9 million dollar settlement will go to programmers at various levels who worked at EA between February 14th, 2001 and February 14, 2006. Along with this settlement, changes were made so that various job positions held could claim overtime, and major deadlines were moved from Mondays to Fridays to encourage a regular five day working week.

Let Live Decide

My blog has been killing me softly with no real content to blog about, but I do have the NBA Live 06' simulated results of the NBA Finals already in. In the East, LeBron showed up pretty big against the Pistons, but Chauncey decided to take matters into his own hands, leading the Pistons past the Cavs i