Senate Violent Game Panel Today
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Gamers can get a little insight on the ongoing debate of violent vidgame regulation today by listening to the webcast of the Senate subcommittee hearing.
The amusingly long-titled Senate Committee on the Judiciary’s Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Property Rights will hold the hearing titled “What’s in a Game? State Regulation of Violent Video Games and the First Amendment” beginning 2 pm Eastern (that’s 12 Pacific). You can listen live (or later) from the hearing's website.
The Panelist will include Reverend Steve Strickland, brother of Arnold Strickland, police officer killed by teenager in 2004 and who is currently plaintiff in a civil suit against Take-Two Interactive. Panelists also include Patricia E. Vance, President of the Entertainment Software Ratings Board and several PhDs to discuss the psychology of games on youth.
Mar 29, 2006 at 11:38 AM by Austin Modine in Games | Permalink | Comments (0)
GDC: Zelda DS, Genesis Games for Revolution Revealed
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Nintendo has announced a new cell-shaded Legend of Zelda game for the DS which will be released alongside Twilight Princess. Nintendo also revealed that their next console (still officially codenamed Revolution) will be able to download games from the Sega Genesis and Turbo Grafx library to the Revolution’s “virtual console.”
Speaking at the Game Developers Conference in San Jose, Nintendo prexy Satoru Iwata revealed the new details during his keynote speech. Eurogamer.net has an excellent play-by-play of the event.
The new Zelda, titled The Phantom Hourglass, will be the spiritual sequel to Wind Waker, with 3-D cell-shaded graphics but a top-down perspective and 2-D gameplay like earlier incarnations of the series.
The keynote featured the Nintendo DS’s line of “brain training” games, which have been a huge hit in Japan and will be released soon in the States.
Mar 23, 2006 at 12:15 PM by Austin Modine in Games | Permalink | Comments (0)
EA's Godfather Gamble
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The game industry ethos of no intellectual property being too sacred to make into a game reaches a new apex with Electronic Arts’ The Godfather hitting shelves today.
Making a Godfather game has been both a major gamble and struggle for EA. Begin with a lofty budget of over $15 million, add public disapproval from Godfather film director Francis Ford Coppola and voice work from Brando (before his death) being largely unusable – a release delay that hurt EA's stock – and you’ve got a recipe for troubled game production.
Whether EA’s gamble will pay off will soon be apparent. Initial reviews are not glowing but mostly positive – but what really matters is sales. If The Godfather does well, expect more studios to open their archives to vidgame adaptations.
Will this reporter get a chance to live out his Jareth the Goblin King fantasies in a future “Labyrinth” game? Only time will tell.
Mar 21, 2006 at 12:55 PM by Austin Modine in Games | Permalink | Comments (0)
Microsoft Handheld in the Works?
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Microsoft may be planning to join the portable game/entertainment system bandwagon…and we’re not talking about the Origami.
San Jose Mercury News game correspondent Dean Takahashi published on his blog an entry from his upcoming book that Microsoft is throwing their hat into the portable console ring.
The device, which allegedly will be released in 2007, will take on Sony’s PSP, Nintendo’s DS and Apple’s iPod. That’s a tall order.
In fact, usually when a company tells the public they’re making an “iPod killer,” it is as good as dooming their media device to anonymity. With the iPod Goliath easily smashing any slingshot-wielding upstarts that try to compete, it is becoming likely it will take another corporate giant to compete. Microsoft certainly fits that bill.
Meanwhile, Sony’s PSP is doing well against Nintendo’s Gameboy dynasty, but whether or not the market can take another system is debatable.
If anyone can release a portable gaming device this late in the game and compete, it’s Microsoft. But until they announce something, keep your grains of salt handy.
Mar 20, 2006 at 03:54 PM by Austin Modine in Games | Permalink | Comments (0)
PSP Price Cut, New Features
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Sony’s PlayStation Business Briefing held last night unveiled new features for the PSP, including a price drop for the portable.
- PSP price will be dropped to $199 starting March 22.
- Sony will release an EyeToy for the PSP.
- Sony will also release a GPS receiver for the PSP.
- Macromedia Flash support will be integrated with the next update.
- PSP will soon support downloadable games.
- Sony is developing an emulator that will allow the PSP to play original PlayStation games.
Mar 15, 2006 at 12:10 PM by Austin Modine in Games | Permalink | Comments (1)
Official: PS3 to Launch in November
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Sony had themselves a little press conference hootenanny last night, lifting the curtain on some juicy PS3 details. Read the coverage here.
Finally, we have some answers from those carrot danglers at Sony:
- PS3 will launch worldwide in November.
- Six million units will be launched before March 31.
- Final dev kits won’t be shipped until June.
- PS3 will have a 60GB hard drive, which comes preloaded with LinuxOS.
- PS3 will have 100 percent compatibility with PS1 and PS2 games – and run in high def.
- Sony’s basic online service will be free – subscription service option likely.
- PS3 will have a Blu-Ray disk drive, all PS3 will be on Blu-Ray.
Mar 15, 2006 at 11:44 AM by Austin Modine in Games | Permalink | Comments (1)
BAFTA Makes Vidgames 'Third Arm'
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The British Academy of Films & Television Arts will make video games the “third arm” of the organization – giving games the same status in the org as film and television.
The change has been driven by newly-formed BAFTA Games committee consisting of representatives of Europe’s largest publishers, developers and trade associations.
“We have moved to re-emphasize video games as an art form of the moving image on a par with film and TV as a result of a strategic review we conducted last year,” said BAFTA chairman Duncan Kenworthy.
BAFTA will start by raising the profile of the British Academy Video Game Awards, which were moved from March to October to coincide with London Games Week, the industry’s premier European event.
The first hurdle – tweaking the award show’s 17 categories and giving it some good ol' fashion award show glamour.
Mar 13, 2006 at 03:05 PM by Austin Modine in Games | Permalink | Comments (1)
Politicians Want To Study Childrens' Brains
Senators Joe Lieberman, Hillary Clinton, Sam Brownback and Rick Santorum announced today a senate panel has approved legislation which will study the effects vidgames have on children.
The Center of Disease Control and Prevention will work with the National Institutes of Health to investigate “the effects of viewing and using electronic media, including television, computers, video games and the Internet on children's cognitive, social, physical, and psychological development.”
Considering the origins of the study (if a negative correlation is actually found) will likely fuel future anti-game legislation. Check out the story at C/net’s News.com for details on how the study could affect the industry.
Mar 9, 2006 at 02:29 PM by Austin Modine in Games | Permalink | Comments (1)
Namco Bandai prez: PS3 Spring Release 'Impossible'
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Namco Bandai prexy Takeo Takasu doesn’t think Sony’s spring release schedule for the PS3 is going to happen.
Speaking Bloomberg, the head of Japan’s second-biggest game publisher connects the dots on the mounting evidence for a PS3 delay.
From the article:
"We are developing titles for PlayStation 3, but the release of the games depends on the timing of the hardware," Takasu, 60, said in an interview yesterday in Tokyo. Sony, maker of the world's most popular game machines, hasn't announced any marketing plans, making "the spring release impossible."
However, he has another date in mind; “We would like Sony to realease the PS3 this year for the Christmas season,” said Takasu.
If Sony isn’t planning on delaying the release of the PS3, somebody aught to tell poor Takasu.
Mar 8, 2006 at 12:46 PM by Austin Modine in Games | Permalink | Comments (0)
Variety Drops a PS3 Date?
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Did Sony CEO Howard Stringer confirm the PS3 launch window with Variety?
Our own Jill Goldsmith stirred up the game blog hornets’ nest with a story about Stringer 's struggles at Sony that mentions a possible release window of the console;
Sony's new PlayStation 3 was widely expected to be introduced this spring, but will be delayed as the company fine-tunes the chips that are crucial to the success of the console's Blu-ray function….
Sony will roll out the PS3 by year end, in time for the holidays. If PS3 "delivers what everyone thinks it will, the game is up," Stringer boasts.
Her words have spread around the gaming blogosphere like wildfire, much to Goldsmith's surprise. Some people believe it. Others...not so much.
So what did Stringer say? Well, read the story. He said that the PS3 will be out by the holidays.
For all those saying it was idle speculation or, dare I say, incorrect —bzzzt—try again. Those who think it’s conformation…well…some time before the holidays isn’t exactly specific, but if it makes you happy, there you are…
Either way, it's not coming this spring.
Mar 6, 2006 at 04:22 PM by Austin Modine in Games | Permalink | Comments (0)
Family Guy Vidgame Imminent
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When a license appealing to the young male demographic like Family Guy gets tapped by vidgame makers, it’s less an inspiration as it is an inevitability.
No eyebrows were raised when 2k games bought the rights to Family guy – but like Fox who was airing the show, the game maker didn’t seem terribly interested. Now that Family Guy is back, 2k2 is re-announcing their ownership.
It will be developer High Voltage Games to conceptualize how Family Guy will translate into a video game. Managing Director of 2k Games Christoph Hartmann tells Gamespot it will be an "action/adventure style game."
Hopefully we’ll see fewer misses in that game department than The Simpsons have brought us.
Mar 6, 2006 at 02:48 PM by Austin Modine in Games | Permalink | Comments (0)
XBox Games for $10
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Ten dollars is a good price for a game. That’s a scientific fact. Go ahead – look it up in a science book. It’s there. Right next to the section about rocks.
Employing this truth, Microsoft has announced the Best of Platinum Hits line of discounted games – chopping the tag of the most popular of the $19.99 Platinum Hits line in half.
The catch is M’soft somehow made the Best of Platinum Hits boxes even uglier than the foul-looking Platinum Hits that begat it.
The line-up begins with Counter-Strike, MechAssault, Project Gotham Racing 2, Soul Calibur II, Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six 3, Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow and Ghost Recon: Island Thunder.
Mar 2, 2006 at 11:39 AM by Austin Modine in Games | Permalink | Comments (1)
