Disney Interactive Studios is starting work on a new Tron game at the same time it's joining the long list of companies laying off staff and consolidating development studios.

A spokersperson declined to comment, but sources tell me DIS is talking to developers about a "Tron" game that will be tied to "TR2N," the film sequel that its sibling studio is producing. The movie, which will star Jeff Bridges, Garret Hedlund and Olivia Wilde and be directed by Joseph Kosinski, is tentatively scheduled for 2011, which is when we can expect to see the game too.

This is, of course, a no-brainer. "Tron" was a movie about videogames that spawned several successful arcade games (classics of my youth), as well as a sequel in 2003. So with a new movie coming out, what were the odds Disney was not going to do a new videogame?

Nonetheless, it's exciting news to have a full fledged new Tron coming. And it's good news that the movie is more than two years out (i'll go out on a limb and say Disney won't release it in the Winter), since that means the game will have a solid amount of production time.

But it's not all light cycles and ricocheting discs at Disney Interactive. The media conglomerate's videogame arm laid off almost 30 people at its Propaganda Games studio in Vancover, maker of last year's fairly well received (I thought it was pretty good), so-so seller "Turok." According to Kotaku, that's tied to the cancellation of "Turok 2." From what I can gather, a sequel isn't necessarily dead, since Disney retains the rights it to the character it optioned from Classic Media, and two teams remain at work at Propaganda. But it is likely a follow-up is on hold, or back to the drawing board.

Also feeling the pinch are a pair of DIS's six internal developers: Fall Line and Avalanche. The two Salt Lake City-based studios are merging together into one entity that will focus on games based on Disney animated films. That has already been Avalanche Games' raison d'etre, while Fall Line's latest game was "Ultimate Band," which didn't sell too well or win over many critics (Variety's Chris Dahlen panned it). A Disney rep said that Fall Line will bring Avalanche expertise on Wii and DS, which are more than ever the platforms that matter for kid-focused titles. Upcoming games in the works from the newly merged studios include "Toy Story 3" for 2010 and, though it hasn't yet been announced, probably "The Princess and the Frog" for this December.

Other Disney studios unaffected by the layoffs include U.K.-based Black Rock, maker of "Pure" (a racing game I loved that just missed my top ten for 2008), Junction Point in Texas, Warren Spector's company that's rumored to be making some kind of platformer starring Mickey Mouse, and China-based Gamestar, which does outsourcing work.

...must have been for THQ's upcoming "50 Cent: Blood on the Sand." At least if this clip from IGN is any indication.

If you've ever been to a voiceover recording for a videogame, you know it's usually one person in a booth saying the same phrasez dozens of times to get multiple usable takes of the hundreds or thousands of different lines their character might be triggered to say.

Given that, how much would you love to be in a room and hear 50 Cent say lines like "Fire in the motherf*cking hole, bitchs!" or "Come on, you and me, f*ckin' p*ssy!" over and over and over? It definitely would have been a lifetime highlight for me.

PS Would it be embarassing to say that, as far as crude shooters aimed at young men that aren't embarased to be exactly what they say they are go, I'm kinda looking forward to this game now? Probably.

(Hat tip: Kotaku)

It’s no surprise, after seeing the 2008 NPD numbers, that the videogame segment of Sony’s earnings today were pretty dismal, while Nintendo’s were pretty fantastic. Just as in the U.S., Playstation 3 worldwide sales declined during the quarter ended Dec. 31 -- 9 % to be exact, to 4.46 million -- which is decidedly not good for a two year old console. Nintendo Wii sales, meanwhile, surged 50% worldwide to 10.41 million. (Microsoft, we previously learned, sold 6 million Xbox 360 consoles last quarter, up 28%.)

However Sony did point to one positive: a 57% jump in PS3 software sales. But software sales only matter compared to the total number of consoles (a ratio known as the attach rate). And after working that out, we find that the PS3 has virtually the same attach rate as the Wii. Meaning Sony really has nothing to brag about.

By Dec. 31, the PS3’s worldwide install base was 21.39 million, about double what it was last year. The Wii’s grew 123% to just under 45 million. On the software side, Nintendo and other publishers sold 82.4 million Wii games in the quarter ending Dec. 31, up 74%, while Sony et al sold 40.6 million PS3 games, up 57%. The comparative software sales growth rates for the quarter almost exactly mirror the comparative growth in the two consoles’ install bases.

So if software sales compared to hardware sales are growing at the same rate, are they ending up anywhere different? Nope. Sony says 40.6 million PS3 games were sold last quarter, or 1.89 for every console on the market. Consumers bought 82.4 million Wii games, or 1.83 per piece of hardware. Almost identical.

(Microsoft, alas, doesn’t reveal its worldwide software sales. And while it has traditionally had a very strong attach rate in the U.S., it’s tough to know how it all ads up when you combine that with the weak Japanese market and Europe.)

Playstation 3 owners might be willing to shell out more for a console, it turns out, but they’re not buying more games (though they are, to be fair, spending about $10 more per game). Microsoft has the advantage, in the U.S. at least, of a much higher attach rate than its competitors. Sony doesn’t have that. It’s third place in consoles and tied with its biggest competitor in comparative software sales. And compared to Microsoft, it’s not making nearly as much money online (since Sony doesn’t charge for subscriptions or run ads). Which means after two years, Sony still has a fundamental problem to solve: What is the business advantage of the PS3 over its competitors?

(Sony also has a problem in common with Nintendo: the devastating impact of the strong Japanese Yen on earnings. That's one of several reasons why struggling Sony has had to cut earnings forecasts, but the only reason why otherwise prospering Nintendo did the same.)

The Interweb is all abuzz this week with the news that Angelina Jolie won't be playing Lara Croft in the new Tomb Raider movie in development at Warner Bros.

But, maintaining my role as the guy who rains on everyone's parade when excitement builds about some big movie-gaming deal, I do feel the need to note that that day when this potential movie casts, or attaches, a star, is still far away.

What has happened now is that Warner Bros. got the film rights to the character as part of its 20% investment in Eidos, a fact we didn't previously know. And one of the studio's top producers, Dan Lin, a former production exec, is overseeing it, which means it's got a good advocate behind it.

But right now, it's an open writing assignment. Which means the studio still has to find a good writer, see if it can get a good script out of him or her (or the person or people who do rewrites), attach a director, either attach a star or cast an unknown, and then approve a budget that would probably be over $100 million.

Keep in mind that "Bioshock" got set up at Universal last spring with a writer and director already attached and has so far made little progress. There's been no casting and it's not about to go into production. The same goes for various other games adaptations that have gotten at least to the producer or studio level in the past year, including "Lost Planet," "Mass Effect," "The Sims," "God of War," "Uncharted," "Army of Two," "Dante's Inferno."

So what's actually happening? There's the the upcoming "Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li," the in production "Prince of Persia," and the partially cast "Kane and Lynch." Beyond that, from what I'm hearing the next movie likely to cast and get a greenlight is "Gears of War" at New Line.

Meanwhile, there's nothing wrong with having some fun speculating about who should play a game icon. But treating it as actual news that Angelina Jolie won't be playing Lara Croft in a movie that's numerous steps, and dozens of potential missteps, from happening.

 Back in November I reported that Electronic Arts was working on a sequel to last year's critical hailed and so-so seller "Boom Blox," co-created by Steven Spielberg as part of his deal with the publisher. Today EA is confirming that the name is "Boom Blox Bash Party" and the release date is very soon: this spring, just a year after the original.

Regular readers of this blog can guess I'm really happy. "Boom Blox" was my favorite games of 2008. I'm pretty sure I was the only critic out there to put it at number one on their top ten list. So to the extent that it's just more of the same, I'm looking forward to it. EA is promising 400 new levels, new block shapes, new weapons, new multi-player challenges, and team-based challenges.

The quote from senior producer Amir Rahimi in the press release is, "In the original 'Boom Blox,' we really focused on perfecting the game's physics so now we can push the boundaries of physics, offering exciting new challenges and completely new ways to play."

Translated out of PR-ese, that means it's pretty much the same underlying game, but with tweaks and new content.

That's an especially useful approach since, as I also wrote in November, "Boom Blox Bash Party" is being made with the distributed development approach EA pioneered in its now defunct Blueprint division. This isn't something EA is bragging about in its press release, but the development team is made up, in part at least, of programmers, artists and other freelancers around the world who are working together online. "Everybody is integrated, regardless of whether they're in the same physical location," my former Blueprint source told me at the time. "It's truly the spirit of what Blueprint was going to be."

Though this sequel appears to be mostly more of the same, there's one major change that I'm really excited about. It is, in fact, a solution to the only singificant critique I had of the game in my review last year: A fully functional online community for user-created levels. The original "Boom Blox" had a great level creator, but the only way to share creations was to send them to a specific person with a Wii friend code. In other words, it was a major pain in the ass and nobody did it.

This time, EA wised up and gave "Boom Blox Bash Party" the full "LittleBigPlanet" treatment. Meaning an online community where users can share, download and rate new levels.

I'm sure this statement will only endear me further to the "LittleBIgPlanet" lovers already mad at me because my review of the game wasn't good enough, but based on my experience with that game and with the original "Boom Blox," I think the latter is much more appealing and intuitive as a tool for the masses to create content. As I've argued, creating compelling platformer levels is damned tough, no matter how good the tools in "LBP" are. But building a single structure or puzzle for "Boom Blox" isn't nearly as daunting an affair. And the Wii is a much better platform for level building than the PS3 (or 360), for the obvious reason that it's much easier to manipulate items in a 3-D environment (though the PC is still the ideal). Not to mention that "Boom Blox" was, and it looks like its sequel well be, a thoroughly entertaining and satisfying experience even if you don't touch the creation tools and never go online

The explosion of the App Store for the iPhone and iPod Touch couldn’t have come at a more opportune time for the videogame business. As major publishers downsize and and the number of original properties shrinks, developers have a growing need for new creative outputs.

Which is exactly what the App Store provides. You’d be hard pressed to find a talented programmer or designer these days who, if they’re not working 80 hours per week at a senior level, isn’t working on some kind of game for the iPhone / iPod Touch either in their spare time or full time. Why not? The tools are widely available, it’s not that hard, and there are examples of hit apps generated by a single person generating tens of thousands of dollars for their creators.

You’ve also got major publishers like EA and Sega moving aggressively into the space, as well as start-ups with significant venture funding like ngmoco. But one of the biggest signs of how much attention the space is getting could be Appy. The team behind this San Diego start-up comprise most of the guys who founded and led High Moon Studios, the developer that began life as the US branch of Japanese publisher Sammy and then put out “Darkwatch” through Capcom and “The Bourne Conspiracy” for Vivendi Games, its corporate parent for two years.

Following Activision’s merger with Vivendi Games and decision to downsize or eliminate most of the studios in the Sierra label, it might have been tough for High Moon’s senior execs to stick around (even though the studio did survive). But the chief development officer, chief financial officer, chief creative officer, design director, and executive producer (amongst others), probably could have found jobs at major publishers somewhere. Instead, they put their heads (and wallets) together and headed where the action is: the iPhone and iPod Touch. Appy was founded in the fall and is aiming to release its first games by the spring.

I talked to Paul O’Connor, Appy’s creative director and the former design director at High Moon, about why they decided to aim their sights smaller (so to speak), what the opportunities and competition are like for games on their new platform, and how things went down at High Moon when Activision took over.

Ben Fritz: Were you guys interested in the iPhone before you left High Moon, or did you look around the market at that point and realize that this was the smart place to start a business.

Paul O'Connor: We’ve been interested in it for a very long time. [CEO] Chris Ulm especially has been an evangelist for the iPhone since its inception. He bought one on day one and was convinced it’s the next gaming platform…

Also, we know from being at High Moon and having access to the brain trust at Vivendi that they were not very aggressively interested in this space. Vivendi sold its mobile unit at the end of the year, in fact.
We didn’t have a master plan about moving into this market until fairly recently, but it was always a glimmer on the horizon: “Wouldn’t it be nice if…?”

After the Vivendi acquisition we were focused entirely on shipping “Bourne.” At the tail end of shipping “Bourne,” with the merger underway, we were focused on making sure the studio would survive and have a place in the Activision empire.

Once it became clear that High Moon would survive with Activision and it wouldn’t need a thick layer of management, we asked “what next?” and iPhone was on the top of the list.

 BF: So was the decision to start Appy at that point purely what you knew you wanted to do, or a matter of you being pragmatic as you looked at the opportunities in the market, given how tough it is for an independent developer to sell AAA console games, and so on?

PoC: It was pragmatic, but it helps when pragmatism aligns with what you believe. I would go so far as to say that the iPhone market is the only place where an independent developer can make money right now.

There might be a market for Xbox Live games or ad supported web games, but in terms of a market that’s growing and in which there aren’t any established players, I think the iPhone App Store is it.

Chris is fond of pointing out that you know Microsoft is going to make the best games on the Xbox,
Nintendo on the Wii, and so on. But who’s going to make the best games for iPhone? Nobody knows right now. And many of those other players are in direct conflict. Nintendo has the DS, Sony has the PSP, Microsoft has Windows Mobile. The major players really have a disincentive to get into this space. That opens up the app store for smaller developers.

BF: But some big companies are on the app store and doing well.

PoC: We are seeing larger publishers camping out on the top of those sales lists, like EA. What I see there is an indication that those guys who have got 20 or 30 or 40 years of brand equity, the gamers know their products and are going with established brands.

BF: They can probably afford to treat the iPhone as an experiment, but for you its your whole business. Do you feel like the model is well established for you to make money?

PoC: I worked in the console business a long time and I know there are a lot of hands in the pockets between the final material and the creators of the games. It’s a legacy of the way business has done and its has driven the industry into a crazy upward spiral where it needs sure things and swings for the fences to get big hits.

Activision is in that space and god bless ‘em. They wanted High Moon to tighten down and work on their core brands year to year and that’s just not a place where we were interested in being.

Apple takes their bite, of course, and we’re happy to pay them [Apple takes 30% of all sales on iTunes and the App Store – B.F.]. But still it’s an extraordinary opportunity. What it does is reduce the amount of money you’ve got to pay someone other than yourselves. As a result it reduces budgets and allows you to experiment and try new things you can’t do in a $60 retail game.

Since people have started asking, I wanted to acknowledge that yes, I was laid off from Variety. However my hope is work out an arrangement to keep up this blog on a freelance basis. I'm talking to the powers that be about doing that right now and will share details as soon as I have them.

For now, I'm taking a day or two or three to clear my head and will post a few interesting items I already have in the works soon. And then very soon this blog will be continuing as it always has. Hopefully right here at Variety.com, or else possibly at a new location.

Meanwhile, thanks for the tons of support I've already been getting via email, phone, comments, twitter, XBL, etc. etc.

I have no particular problem with the content of the Interactive Academy Award nominations (full list here). They're not incredibly inspired, but most of the year's best games are included.

Then again, they'd have to be. The most striking thing about the Interactive Achievement Awards is that there are 29 categories. By contrast the Oscars, a ceremony that, rightly or wrongly, is a tad bit more prestigious in our culture, has 24 awards. (Warning: Rant coming)

The distinct impression you get browsing through the IAA categories is that they want to give a prize to almost everyone. Given that it's an organization funded by the videogame publishers who receive the prizes, that doesn't make the best impression. The motion picture academy may receive its funding in the same way, but somehow it keeps itself under control.

Why, for instance, are there 10 different genre awards? Can't adventure, action, casual, family, MMO, rpg, strategy, sports, racing and fighting games compete against each other? And honestly, are there clear differences? If you haven't peeked yet, answer this: Is "God of War: Chains of Olympus" action or adventure? Is "Boom Blox" a family game or a casual game? Is "WWE Smackdown vs Raw" a sports game or a fighting game? (scroll to the bottom for your answers)

The distinctions are utterly ridiculous. And some of these categories have to be really padded to come up with five nominees. Were there really five great racing games last year? Or five great fighting games? Perhaps I'm forgetting a bunch of great titles, but nominating "Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe," "Soul Calibur IV," "Super Smash Bros. Brawl," "Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix" and "WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2009" for fighting game of the year seems less like a recognition of excellence than a simple list of the five major fighting games released in 2008.

Here's another quiz for you: Outside of three nominated music/rythm games, which two titles had the best soundtrack? Keep in mind this is separate from original score.

Why in the world are we even judging the soundtracks in games like "Guitar Hero: World Tour" and "Rock Band 2" anyway? They're as much a matter of licensing deals as taste. And since they don't have to be matched to gameplay, it's basically an award for "what songs do we like best?" And while we're on the topic, how can there be ten genre awards, but not one for music/rythm?

I'm not even close to done. Someone explain this to me: What's the difference between game design and game direction? Apparently "Fable 2" is better designed than "Metal Gear Solid 4," but "MGS 4" is better directed. I did not know that.

I'm as big a fan of storytelling in videogames as you'll find, but has the medium really advanced so far that we're ready to recognize both original and adapted stories? If the Golden Globes can get away with one writing award, can't the Interactive Achievement Awards? Talk about stretching: to come up with five nominees for the adapted category, they had to include "Mortal Kombat vs DC." I totally enjoyed that game, but nominating it for the writing? Dear God. All of a sudden "The Reader" getting nominated for best picture over "The Dark Knight" isn't bothering me so much.

Quiz number three: In the category of outstanding character performance, which guy from "Gears of War 2" was more deserving: Dom or Marcus?

And finally, do we really need separate categories for console, PC, handheld, and cellular games? Giving a separate award for handheld and cellular (probably merging the two) I could maybe see since, much like animation in film, there are technical limitations that make it tough for them to compete with console/pc games. But is it really that hard to judge PC titles against console? I simply don't believe it. And is it really necessary to give a "console game of the year" award separate from "overeall game of the year?" It shouldn't be, since four of the five nominees are the same. (For some reason, "Left 4 Dead" was nominated for computer and overall, but not console, even though "Fallout 3" got the nod in all three. Huh?)

People wonder why the Interactive Achievement Awards don't get much mainstream attention... Perhaps because they give 29 of them. Somehow the Game Developers Choice awards manages to give just 10 and they come out fine. A lot better, in fact. I just went through all the interactive achievement categories and, off the top of my head, eliminated all the unnecessary ones and combined the duplicative ones and came out with just 11 (my formula is below). Feel free to disagree, but can anyone really argue that giving 29 awards is smart if they're supposed to be taken seriously by the people who receive them or the culture at large?

Quiz answers:

-"God of War: Chains of Olympus" is adventure, not action.

-"Boom Blox" is family, not casual

-"WWE Smackdown vs Raw" is fighting, not sports

-"LittleBigPlanet" and "Motorstorm: Pacific Rift." Duh.

-Trick question. They're both nominated!

How did I get to 11? By eliminating all 10 genre awards, killing character performance (animation should be able to cover that), combining handheld and cellular, combining soundtrack with score, combining adapted and original story, killing the innovation award (to win a prize you should be innovative and good, in which case you can win game of the year), combining game design and game direction, killing console and PC and just letting those titles fight for overall game of the year.

Now we know why "Braid" wasn't nominate for one of the Writers Guild videogame awards.

Creator Jonathan Blow puts a good old fashioned beatdown on the WGA videogame awards on his blog, calling them "a membership drive masquerading as an award ceremony."

His reason is that, to be eligible, the credited writers of games have to join the WGA's videogame writers caucus. It only costs $75, but as a matter of principle, Blow, who notes he's not at pro- or anti-union (after all he is self-employed) thinks this is not the way to recognize the best game writing:

I would not mind participating in an award ceremony that is honestly trying to recognize the best in video game writing. When the WGA sat down to create their awards, they could have made this their priority: that the awards would go to the people most deserving, and over time would build a reputation of respectability, giving game writers something real to aspire to. Along with the award nominations they could have sent out a letter saying “Hey, please join our guild; guild membership does not influence the awards in any way, but we feel that we have a positive contribution to make to the game industry.”

Instead, they mandate caucus membership, with the obvious effect that the awards probably won’t go to be best games. So the structure becomes this: you give them a little something by making their guild more powerful, they give you a little something back by maybe giving you an award. It’s just slimy, and if the public were to assume that these awards were chosen based only on quality, then it would be fundamentally corrupt.

In fairness to the WGA, they've never pretended the award doesn't exist, in part, for this exact reason. When the videogame award was announced in 2007, caucus member Micah Wright, who's now the chairman, said, “This is the first time game writers have been honored by their peers in the writing community, and it's an important step toward the WGA's goal of covering everything that moves on a screen."

But that's not all that annoys Blow. He observes that membership in the videogame writers caucus isn't full membership in the Guild, since they don't get to vote, attend membership meetings, etc. It's more of a group affiliated with the WGA than part of the WGA. "[A]pparently, by joining the caucus you are not even a real member of the WGA, because hey, just because we are giving you an award for outstanding video game writing doesn’t mean you are a real writer," Blow adds in an extra jab.

(In fairness to the WGA, it wouldn't really really work for game writers to join since the guild has no jurisdiction in the space, just an optional contract.)

And he's not done yet. He finally notes that the WGA only recognizes games with an explicit "written by" credit. Which doesn't work for "Braid," on which one person did everything and just took "a game by" credit (though Blow postulates, and I think he's right, that the WGA would have easily made an exception for him). "[T]his, and other parts of the application," he writes, "make clear that the WGA is targeting large-team industrially-created games, and that indie games are out of their area of concern; this reinforces to me the notion that this is about business, and money, and union power, rather than being about quality."

Between Blow's arguments and the many publishers that, as I previously reported, didn't submit their games most likely out of anti-union sentiments, the WGA isn't exactly putting together the most representative award. It's totally understandable why the WGA is using the prize as a tool to organize an important industry, but the cost is turning out to be significant.

[For more, check out this article in tomorrow's Daily Variety]

Posting will be light today and tomorrow as I'm in Park City, Utah,  at the Sundance Film Festival to moderate a panel on storytelling in videogames (basic info here). It looks like a great panel and I'm told that it is being filmed and that it should be digitized so hopeuflly I'll be able to post it here for you all to cringe at watch next week.

Here's the panelists. FYI, it's sponsored by Activision Blizzard, which is why you'll find three out of the four of them do or have worked for the company. Still a very good group, though, I think:

Meanwhile, there is news today and unfortunately I don't have time to lend much analysis. So I recommend checking out Gamasutra for solid write ups of disappointing earnings and layoffs at Microsoft and Sony, as well at slightly better news at Ubisoft, including a solid launch for "Far Cry 2," a more disappointing debut for "Prince of Persia" (perhaps because it came later in the year and deeper in the recession) and the official if unsurprising announcement that "Assassin's Creed 2" is coming by next March (and probably this holiday season).

Since the Writers Guild of America announced it videogame writing nominees last week, there's been a lot of reaction to the list. Were "Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3," "Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble, "Fallout 3," "Star Wars: the Force Unleashed" and "Tomb Raider: Underworld" really the five best written games of 2008?

Like most award organizations, the WGA doesn't disclose which titles, or how many total, were submitted. So I put together a list of the games I thought had decent writing and would have had a shot at a nomination and then I asked the publishers or developers directly.

The answers were none too inspiring, at least for those who want there to have been as broad a mix of potential nominees as possible. A few of the publishersr/developers offered a "no comment" or didn't respond, but the vast majority told me they didn't submit to the WGA awards. These are the games I've found out weren't submitted to the WGA, as well as the ones I asked about but didn't get an answer:

Didn't get an answer (at least not yet): Fable 2, Gears of War 2, LittleBigPlanet, Metal Gear Solid 4, Silent Hill: Homecoming

Many of these specific "no's," I should note, came from companies that gave me blanket statements that they didn't submit to the WGA Awards at all, including prominent names like EA (with "Command and Conquer" being an exception apparently driven by the LA studio), Rockstar,and Ubisoft.

The obvious question is: Why? Don't videogame companies like winning awards, for the PR boost if not the prestige? There has been some speculation on the Web that the reason is the writers have to be members fo the Writers Guild, but it turns out that's not true. For any game that wants to be considered, the credited writers mere need to join the WGA's videogame writers caucus, an offshoot group sponsored by the guild. Membership costs a whopping $75.

It's possible some companies just weren't organized enough to get it done or they didn't think the WGA awards were prestigious enough to merit a few hours of time and a few hundred dollars for videogame writers caucus membership. But my best guess is that many of these videogame companies are flat out anti-union and don't want to encourage them in any way, even for an award. After all, the subtext of these awards are that the WGA would like to organize all of videogame writing (currently it offers an optional contract for members who can convince companies to sign on, but it has no mandatory jurisdiction in the space). And most videogame companies are about as interested in that as porting their new titles to the Gizmodo.

Update: Jonathan Blow explains why he didn't submit "Braid," and why he thinks the WGA videogame award is not a real award, here.

Last month I conducted a giveaway of the blu-ray version of Uwe Boll's lastest masterpiece "In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale," with one caveat: the winner had to watch the movie with Uwe's commentary playing and report back to us all on the, ummm, highlights.

Today seems like an auspicious day to share that report, since the both Uwe and movie received a rash of Razzie nominations (although "The Love Guru" got more, amazingly). Every video game player's favorite filmmaker himself got four nominations, as well as a special "career achievement" award, while "Dungeon Siege" also got four. My favorite, by far, is the nomination for "worst screen couple" of "Uwe Boll & any actor, camera or screenplay."

Cut Scene reader Aron Dunn was the unlucky winner of the "In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale" blu-ray and here's his full commentary on the commentary. Aron did fall asleep (twice!), but we I think he still deserves credit for soldiering on through this gruesome assignment. Trust me, it's worth reading, especially for the part about the four phone calls Uwe took during the recording:

---

Right off the top, I have to admit that I had an agenda in pursuing this opportunity to review Dr. Uwe Boll’s commentary track for this film. I’ve been fascinated by the public persona of Herr Doctor. He’s made a lot of critically unpopular yet financially viable films and courted controversy at every step of the way. He was even hailed for a short time as a boon to Canada’s film industry when he earned his citizenship in my country. I’ve listened to him speaking articulately and passionately both about his craft and his detractors and he has made some very reasoned arguments. As I said in the blog comment that secured me this assignment, I called him a “genius” because he “must have to work four times as hard as your average director to make a film as spectacularly bad as Bloodrayne.” I wanted to glean from this commentary track further insight into his process, creativity and artistry. It is with a curious mix of relief and disappointment that I can honestly say that I found none. 

I took this assignment very seriously and watched the film twice. Once for story and once for commentary and I fell asleep at virtually the same place during both screenings. It was right at the start of the epic battle that makes up the last third of this 2 hour and 42 minute director’s cut epic.

The insights found on Boll’s commentary regarding his choice of the material and process were thin on the ground. He liked the everyman quality of FARMER from the game on which he based his film. Since it was a top down “real time strategy” game, there was no story from which to adapt, so he had a Hollywood writer take a stab at crafting one, which he found too close to Lord of the Rings. A highlight for me was when he said a writer based in Toronto (my home town) saved the day and turned in a script he was satisfied with.

He talked politely about his cast. Jason Statham and Jonathan Rhys-Davies are gentlemen by all accounts. Burt Reynolds needs a lot of attention. That he probably shouldn’t hire method actors to play evil wizards was the subtext I took away from his clipped praise for Mr. Ray Liotta. For a director who’s courted as much controversy as Dr. Boll, he did nothing but pussy-foot around the obvious difficult on-set relations he had with some of his bigger name cast members. For someone who called out Jerry Bruckheimer, I expected bigger balls.

Apparently he loved shooting in Vancouver and the time he spent on the Stonebridge village set was among some of the happiest days of his life. The Orc stand-in Kruggs – who looked marginally more convincing than the lizard heads in V – took more than three hours in make up. What summed the whole experience up for me was the fact that Dr. Boll took four phone calls of several minutes duration, in German no less, about his other projects during the section of the commentary for which I was awake. Perhaps there were more during my nap. 

A passing acquaintance once said movie making was “just a bunch of overgrown children playing Action Man with a lot of money” and that has always stuck with me. It is that, but it’s so much more. There are thousands of creative, financial, logistical, and interpersonal decisions that a director must make during the course of a film while bringing an artistic alchemy to process to render all of the elements into a compelling story. I sincerely believe that Herr Doctor loves playing Action Man on set and he has most of the skills that are required to come in on schedule and on budget. For this, I tip my hat to him because you have to love what you do to get up and do this every day and anyone who earns a living doing what they love to do is very fortunate.  But, the artistic alchemy is missing. While I think he’s a savvy businessman, Boll the person appears to be as boring and uninspiring as Boll the filmmaker. Yet there is clearly an audience for his work.  He’s become his own brand and you have to respect that. Ultimately, I don’t want to live in a world where Dr. Uwe Boll cannot have a career because it means there is no hope for any of us to have our shot at success.

I've got a piece this week on NPR's syndicated program "The Business" (that business being entertainment) this week about independent videogames. The example we focus on is "World of Goo," the best selling and award winning puzzler from 2D Boy for the Wii and PC, though I also mention "Braid,"  "PixelJunk Eden" and "Crayon Physics Deluxe" and speak to some very interesting folks from Sony and Georgia Tech, along with "Goo" co-creator Ron Carmel.

Those of you who already know a lot about indie games won't learn many new facts, but will hopefully enjoy the interviews and get some new perspectives and insights (the sound f/x from the Wii sex game are worth the price of admission alone). For those of you who didn't know there was a thriving independent games market that's mirroring the growth of indie film, well, listen up. It's a fascinating space. My piece starts at about 19:30.

Those of you who'd prefer to hear me while on the go can get the podcast via iTunes here.

And before you leave a pointed comment about the reporter, keep in mind that I prefer to think of my voice as "This American Life"-esque, rather than ridiculously unsuited for the radio.

In Hollywood we're very used to the concept of the "review-proof" and even the "unreviewable" movies -- ones about which reviewers struggle to say anything relevant that perform extremely well commercially. This past weekend's $39 million grosser "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" springs to mind. As do some of the biggest movies of the past few years, like "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," "Twilight," "Transformers," Pirates of the Caribbean 3"... You know what I'm talking about. They may get reviewed, but reluctantly, and there's rarely much in the way of follow-up discussion and online buzz the way there is about, say, "Slumdog Millionnaire" or "The Wrestler."

I always thought that videogames were different. Most of the top sellers were usually games thoroughly discussed by reviewers (and, more recently, bloggers), usually very positively. As recently as last year, four of the top 5 titles (Halo 3, Call of Duty 4, Guitar Hero II, Super Mario Galaxy) fall exactly in that category. Out of the top ten, "Wii Play," "Mario Party 8," and maybe "Pokemon Diamond" were games that didn't exactly have critics buzzing.

Even three games seems like a lot, historically speaking, But this year, and this holiday season especially, I think, the number of top selling videogames that simply eluded critics exploded. Here's NPD's top 20 games of December, ranked and followed by the number of reviews each title received in Metacritic (that doesn't include everything, of course, but for comparison's sake, it's a good sense of what videogame critics are talking about):

Notice a trend? Eight of the the ten least reviewed games are for Nintendo consoles. Only five of the top ten and two of the top five are (and two came out more than a year ago, making them only arguably relevant).

Then there's the vaguer issue of buzz. I can't quantify it, but I'm willing to argue that videogame bloggers, message board posters, etc. were talking a lot more about "Fallout," "Gears," "Call of Duty," "Left 4 Dead" and even titles that sold beneath the top 20 like "Dead Space," "Mirror's Edge," "Prince of Persia" and "LittleBigPlanet" than almost all of these Nintendo games.

The simple reason is that most of these Nintendo titles are either the umpteenth revision of very familiar formulas ("Mario Kart," "Animal Crossing") or "games" that aren't really games, at least in the sense that we critics and writers usually think and talk about them ("Wii Fit," "Wii Music," "Personal Trainer: Cooking," etc.) And then there's the multi-platform titles like "Call of Duty," "Shaun White Snowboarding" and "Guitar Hero" for which we clearly prefer to review and discuss the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions.

It's a growing trend, but again, I feel like it really exploded this year as, for various reasons I and others have discussed, Nintendo took control of the sales charts and did so with a very different slate of titles. Last December, by contrast, videogame critics and writers were eagerly discussing four of the top five titles ("CoD 4," "Super Mario Galaxy," "Guitar Hero III," "Assassin's Creed") and a much bigger percentage of the top 20 (see for yourself).

 I don't really have a proscriptive take on all this. Should we find more to say about "Wii Fit" and "Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force?" (Hey, Variety reviewed it!) Well, if all artistic criticism mirrored the sales charts, that would be a sad thing for our culture. Should we review the Wii version of multi-platform franchises more often? Perhaps, but if it doesn't have as many features as PS3 or 360, that seems a bit bizarre (at least for publications like Variety without the resources to review multiple versions).

It may in fact be a good thing. The videogame industry is maturing and we need our review-proof blockbusters just as much as we need everything else. It's also, perhaps, no coincidence that 2008 was also the year that we saw an explosion of interest in, discussion about, and a business model coalescing around independent games. The market may simply be expanding and some parts of it need critical attention more than others.

 Last week the Writers Guild announced its nominees for the best written videogames and provoked a bit of controversy on the 'Net. I wonder if the Visual Effects Society will have the same effect now that it has announced its pick of the most visually impressive videogames, both in real time and pre-rendered, along with its full list of 2008 nominees.

I don't know that any of these would be my picks, but they're all decent choices. And of course it raises a question about how games are and shoudl be compared, since on pure quality nothing for the Wii could ever stand up, and even 360 and PS3 games may have a disadvantage compared to those rendered on the most high-end PCs.

OUTSTANDING REAL TIME VISUALS IN A VIDEO GAME

Crysis Warhead
Zoltan Pocza, Gabor Mogyorosi, Tamas Schlagl

Dead Space
Ian Milham, Ben Wanat, Christopher Stone

Need For Speed Undercover
Henry Labounta, Steve Barcia, Dave Taylor, Carl Jarrett

OUTSTANDING PRE-RENDERED VISUALS IN A VIDEO GAME

Command And Conquer  - Red Alert 3 - Chrono-Lab, Empire And Allied Scenes
Richard Taylor, Benjamin Hopkins, Katai Tang, Mical Pedriana

Need For Speed Undercover - Cinematics
Henry Labounta, Steve Barcia, Dave Taylor, Mark Raham

World of Warcraft - Wrath of The Lich King - Intro Cinematic
Jeff Chamberlain, Phillip Hillenbrand

There's also the question about the nominating process. In the case of the VES Awards, I don't yet know how many and which games were released and which were even eligible. Trying to find out.

But in the case of the WGA Awards, there does seem to be a misperception out there on the Interwebs that only games written by guild members are eligible. In fact, wannabe nominees who aren't members simply need to join the Videogame Writers' Caucus, a group started by the guild to promote the field. Membership costs a whopping $75. Some people may not want to join, but they don't need any special guild memberships. They do, however, need a "written by" credit. "Designed by" or anything like that isn't allowed.

I had thought that when NPD sent out its list of the top 20 games of December, (with no sales figures for 11-20, as is traditional), we might see some of those big non-Nintendo games from the holidays that didn't make the top ten (on which six games were for Wii or DS).

But instead, the evidence points even more to utter Nintendo domination. Of games no. 11 through 20 sold in the U.S. in December, seven were for Wii or DS and four were published by the house of Mario itself.

Sometimes I think these facts are hard for those of us who write about games, or play them "hard core," to get our minds around, so I want to emphasize them carefully:

Also of note on the top 20 beyond Nintendo:

-Disney's "Club Penguin" DS game scored a very impressive no. 15 Now that it owns the virtual world and this first effort was such a success, we can expect to see plenty more "Club Penguin" videogame spin offs (and hey, this first effort wasn't too bad, according to Variety's Chris Dahlen)

-"Guitar Hero: World Tour" sold better on PS2 than 360 or PS3 (but not, of course, Wii). It was the only PS2 game in the top 20. Now that's a maintream franchise. And it's still beating "Rock Band 2," which didn't make the top 20 in any form.

Let's not forget the high profile games released in November and December that didn't manage to make the top 20:

Here's the full top 20, with sales figures for the top 10:

Game                      Console     Publisher     Units sold in Dec.  Release date

Wii Play                    Wii           Nintendo        1.46 million          Feb 12, 2007

Call of Duty 5            360           Activision       1.33 million          Nov. 10

Wii Fit                      Wii           Nintendo        999,000               May 19

Mario Kart                Wii            Nintendo        979,000               April 27

Guitar Hero: WT        Wii           Activision       850,000               Oct. 28

Gears of War 2         360           Microsoft       745,000                Nov. 7

Left 4 Dead              360           EA/Valve        629,000                Nov. 18

Mario Kart                DS            Nintendo        540,000               Nov. 14, 2005

Call of Duty 5           PS3           EA                533,000               Nov. 10

Animal Crossing...    Wii           Nintendo         497,000              Nov. 16

Wii Music                Wii           Nintendo             -                      Oct. 20

New Super Mario...   DS           Nintendo            -                      May 15, 2006

...Trainer: Cooking    DS           Nintendo             -                      Nov. 24

Fallout 3                  360           Bethesda           -                       Oct. 28

Club Penguin...        DS           Disney               -                       Nov. 25

Links's Crossbow...  Wii            Nintendo            -                       Nov. 19

Guitar Hero: WT       PS2          Activision           -                       Oct. 28

Madden '09              360           EA                   -                        Aug. 12

Call of Duty 5           Wii           Activision           -                       Nov. 10

Shaun White...        Wii           Ubisoft               -                        Nov. 16

I think the overwhelming predominance of Nintendo games on this list, and the fact that so many of them are titles that those of us in the gaming press and blogosphere just don't talk about, is a really important fact. One that I'll probably have more to say about on Monday.

Last year there were rumors about a "Dark Knight" game from EA that might have come out with the blockbuster film's DVD, and then further rumors that the game had been killed, which it obviously was.

Kotaku Australia has a good story of how things went wrong. Why Kotaku Australia? The game was in development at EA subsidiary Pandemic Studios' Brisbane office (which has recently gotten the axe amongst EA layoffs). The basic story is the oldest one in the book when it comes to licensed games: Not enough time to make the game (only 18 months) so then, when the studio encountered technology problems (as happens so often with videogame development) it couldn't possibly hit its date in time with the movie, not even the DVD date. 

With all the talk about quality and making sure games, especially licensed ones, have the necessary development time from both EA and Warner Bros., it's pretty sad that it's the same old story here.

It's a shame for numerous obvious reasons, not the least of which is that a game based on the biggest movie of the year could have made a lot of money, even if it wasn't all that good.

Of course it won't be too long until we get a new Batman game, since Eidos is working on "Arkham Asylum," based on its license of the comic book IP in 2006.

 There are plenty of surface problems with EA's new "Lord of the Rings: Conquest" that make it a badly executed game: the visuals are mediocre; characters spawn out of thin air right in front of you; gameplay is repetitive and sometimes tedious; on-screen directions are sometimes unclear; and so on and so on.

But the real problem with the game is a conceptual one. "Lord of the Rings," whether in book form or movie, is an epic fantasy. That's really it's defining trait. It's three books that are 600,000 words long in total taking place in an entire land with numerous regions, species, and landmarks. The characters are big (some physically, some just personality wise), the themes are big, the story is huge, the battles are massive.

And then you have "Lord of the Rings: Conquest." Choose one of four different character types and relive the books/films' greatest battles via small missions that feature as many as several dozen enemies on screen at a time (or up to 16 in multi-player) and no sense of what's going on around you. Notice a problem? Here's what I wrote in my review:

There are some cool moments, like the first time you control an ent (giant trees) or balrog (big stone monster) and the beginning of the "evil" campaign when you have to stop Frodo from throwing the one ring into Mount Doom (that's one of the very few levels in which you actually understand the larger point of your goals). But they're fleeting.

Other allegedly exciting moments, like controlling the "Rings" heroes like Aragorn and Gandalf, aren't, since they are simply new models of the same characters you've played before (Gandalf's a really powerful mage, Legolas is a really powerful archer, etc.), with not very good sound alike actors imitating the film stars.

So yes, it's not a very well executed game. But more importantly, it's not a misguided approach to a really great property.

Full review: Lord of the Rings: Conquest

Comes on Sony's analysis of the new NPD data, which is full of bad news for PS3 and PSP:

PlayStation Brand Staged for Continued Momentum in 2009

It had better be.

I just changed the title of this post (thus the different url for you nitpickers out there) for one simple reason: After thinking about the new NPD data for a little while, that strikes me as the real story.

Despite the ongoing recession, the videogame industry had a grew 19% in 2008, a figure most any other industry, especially every other sector of media, would envy.

But there's no denying that figure is being hurt by the recession. In October, the biz grew 18%; November, 10%; December, just 9%. Just a year ago, in December of 2007, the U.S. videogame biz grew an astonishing 28%. It's looking very likely that industry is looking at single digit growth in 2009.

Almost every major company is feeling the pain of the economic downturn to one extent or another. All the big publishers have admitted in recent investor calls that they are retail traffic and ordering grow more conservative. Electronic Arts, the nation's biggest publisher, had to warn it wouldn't hit earnings targets.

And then there's Sony. The latest NPD data is just plain dismal for the Playstation maker and explains why it's likely on the verge of major layoffs. Forget slowing growth -- sales for the PS3 and PSP actually declined in December compared to a year ago, the second month in a row that happened. All those great reviews for "LittleBigPlanet" and the victory of Blu-ray and the "Ratchet and Clank" PSP entertainment pack just didn't make a difference. Though total PS3 sales did grow a healthy 40% from the terrible 2007 figures, the console remains mired far behind 360 and Wii with virtually no chance of catching up (here's one theory why).

So with all those problems, how is the industry even doing as well as it is? One word: Nintendo. Wii sales boomed 62% this year, breaking NPD's all-time record by selling more than 10 million units. DS grew 17%, coming in just a hair behind the Wii with 9.95 million. Both figures are more than the 360 and PS3 combined.

The story's the same in games. Five of the top ten games of the year were for DS and Wii and all five were published by Nintendo itself. And things are only getting better. Six of the top ten in December were for those platforms with five published by the "Mario" maker itself.

For those of us interested in the wide variety of innovative, interesting games released on all five consoles (and PC!), it's important to keep this fact in mind: In a year that featured new releaes like "Dead Space," "LittleBigPlanet," "Fallout 3," "Far Cry 2," and "Metal Gear Solid 4," none of those games sold more than 1.65 million units domestically (in a single sku, anyway) and made the top ten.

Particularly notable is the staying power of Nintendo's games (as I noted last month, it really does have the best legs in the videogame biz). While every game from competing publishers in December's top 10 chart was released in October or November, Nintendo had two games release in the spring, one in 2007, and another -- the astonishing "Mario Kart" DS -- came out in November of 2005.

Microsoft remains right in the middle. 360 sales grew 2% in 2008. It continued to boast strong sales for its biggest franchises -- "Gears of War 2" sold over 2.3 million units -- and very strong third party sales, with three of the top ten games third party titles for the 360. It may be losing that advantage, though, as the Wii ended up with the most third party third party games sold in December for the second month in a row.

More thoughts coming soon, no doubt. Meanwhile, here's the data to ponder yourselves:

Game                      Console     Publisher     Units sold in Dec.  Release date

Wii Play                    Wii           Nintendo        1.46 million          Feb 12, 2007

Call of Duty 5            360           Activision       1.33 million          Nov. 10

Wii Fit                          Wii           Nintendo        999,000               May 19

Mario Kart                Wii            Nintendo        979,000               April 27

Guitar Hero: WT        Wii           Activision       850,000               Oct. 28

Gears of War 2         360           Microsoft       745,000                Nov. 7

Left 4 Dead              360           EA/Valve        629,000                Nov. 18

Mario Kart                DS            Nintendo        540,000               Nov. 14, 2005

Call of Duty 5           PS3           EA                533,000               Nov. 10

Animal Crossing...    Wii           Nintendo         497,000              Nov. 16

Game                      Console     Publisher     Units sold in 2008  Release date

Wii Play                   Wii            Nintendo        5.28 million          Feb 12, 2007                                   

Mario Kart                Wii            Nintendo        5 million               April 27                                        

Wii Fit                      Wii           Nintendo        4.53 million           May 19                                        

Smash Bros...        Wii            Nintendo        4.17 million           Mar. 9                                          

GTA IV                    360           Rockstar        3.29 million           Apr. 29

Call of Duty 5           360           Activision       2.75 million           Nov. 10

Gears of War 2         360           Microsoft       2.31 million            Nov. 7

GTA IV                    PS3          Rockstar        1.89 million           Apr. 29

Madden NFL '09       360           EA                1.87 million           Aug. 12

Mario Kart                DS           Nintendo        1.65 million           Nov. 14, 2005

Console       Dec. unit sales  Growth   2008 units sales  Growth     Lifetime-to-date
DS              3.04 million         23%      9.95 million         17%             26.6 million
Wii              2.15 million         59%     10.17 million        62%             16.6 million                                 
360             1.44 million         14%      4.7 million           2%               13.9 million
PSP            1 million            -4%        3.8 million           0%              14.2 million
PS3             726,000             -9%       3.5 million          40%              6.8 million                             

Category             Dec. revenue   Change     2008 revenue       Change
Total industry     $5.29 billion        9%       $21.33 billion          19%
Hardware           $1.88 billion        2%       $7.81 billion            11%
Software            $2.75 billion       15%       $10.96 billion          26%
Accessories       $662 million        8%       $2.57 billion            14%

(Thanks to Justin Kroll for help compiling data. And apologies if the charts don't look good on your browser. I did my best!)

Call me cynical, but when a Hollywood production company with no history in the space announces it's getting into the videogames business, I don't take it all too seroiusly. After all (shocking news!), a lot of people in the entertainment industry say they're going to do a lot of things and many of them don't really happen.

But Red Eagle Entertainment, a company formed solely to produce media based on the "The Wheel of Time" fantasy novels (I've never heard of them, but they're apparently a big deal, having sold 44 million copies worldwide) apparently has its act together enough to sign up an impressive partner: Electronic Arts, which will distribute the "Wheel of Time" game (or games) worldwide through its EA Partners program.

The plan is to develop a series of games for "all major platforms," as well as an MMORPG, which EA will distribute at retail.

At a minimum, this means Red Eagle Games (the company's videogame division, natch) really has the money to finance these titles and impressed EA enough to show they know what they're doing when it comes to making them.

Don't expect the games anytime soon, however. There's no release date announced and a source I spoke to said that Red Eagle doesn't yet have a developer working on production. So it's going to be a couple of years, at least.

Meanwhile, as Variety reported last summer, Universal has the rights to develop a "Wheel of Time" movie, or movies.

With NPD's December and total 2008 sales data coming out tomorrow, it seems like a timely moment to ask: Why is the Playstation 3 performing so badly? After a decent start to the year, Sony has been slipping further and further behind its competitors. By November, it wasn't just a distant third place, but the only current gen console to see sales actually decline from 2007, despite two heavily hyped new games, one of which got overwhelmingly stellar reviews and was touted as a system seller (starts with an "L," ends with "anet").

There are lots of potential reasons that we're all aware of, including price (even though the PS3 is arguably the best value given its features, it still costs $100 more than the standard 360 and $150 more than a Wii), developers' difficulty working with the system, price, consumers' confusion over blu-ray, price, a lack of good exclusives, price, and, oh yea, price.

Sony's aware of all this, of course, and there are are reasons it can't solve them (on the price front, especially, SCE apparently feels an intense need to turn a profit, even if that means ceding volume). But an interesting question is why Sony's efforts to stand out -- the advantages it does have over its competitors -- aren't working. One reason: Odd as it is to say, I think Sony may just be too artsy. It's giving smart gamers (a category in which I'd include myself) what they want and it's not helping the bottom line.

Example #1: What was Sony's biggest release this year? "LittleBigPlanet." Sony may have attempted to market this as an all-aged fun-stravaganza, but given the weak sales so far (215,000 domestic units in October; far less <outside the top 20> in November; only 1.3 million registered users worldwide, meaning it sold far fewer), it hasn't yet hit a mass audience. So who does love it? From what I can tell, fans of quality, "artsy" games. The reviews are spectacular (one of the worst reviews on Metacritic coming from this largely positive crank) and there's tons of buzz amongst game critics, bloggers, aspiring designers, and others who like to really think about the games they play.

Similarly, Sony has put a lot of emphasis on the Playstation Network Store. It's the only one of the big three console makers that's investing its own money on downloadable "indie" games, resulting in innovative exclusives like "flow," the "PixelJunk" series, "Echochrome," and soon titles like "Flower" and "Fat Princess." Xbox Live Arcade and WiiWare have fewer exclusive "indie" games, more ports of old favorites, and, frankly, more junk (though there are a few gems, like "Braid" and "World of Goo").

Of course there's "Home." Sony's answer to Xbox Live is to basically mimic "Second Life," the heavily hyped virtual world that was actually used by just a small number of artsy-minded Web obsessives.

The Cross Media Bar (XMB) is much cleaner and more Google-esque than Xbox Live, filled as it is with ads and other clutter, or the boring grid on the Wii menu.

Even the console itself is smoother, prettier, quieter -- a superior work of art.

And yet... there's little evidence any of it is helping sales. Sony has all these advantages, and plenty of smart people touting them, but it's mired in third place. It's not that being artsy is a bad thing. Substantively, it's great. And impressive that such a big corporation manages it. But as a question of where the company dedicates resources, I wonder whether Sony's being too high minded.

That's not to say Sony hasn't made any efforts to hit other audiences. "Resistance" 1 and 2, "Uncharted," the upcoming "Killzone 2" are all games that broader audiences should be able to appreciate. But so far, none have really caught on. Certainly not the way that "Gears of War" or "Wii Fit," to mention some new franchises aimed at mass audiences from Sony's competitors, have.

It's notable, if obvious, that the PS3's best month in 2008, the only one in which it sold more than 400,000 units domestically, was June, when "Metal Gear Solid 4" came out. And looking forward, the best hope on Sony's horizon to really move consoles in 2009 is probably when "God of War III" is released.

When all is said and done, Sony's efforts to do something different are impressive, but not enough to change the game, or at least overcome that $400 price tag. Compared to, say, Nintendo's efforts to do something different with the Wii, the PS3's artsy ambitions are barely moving the needle at all.

Which isn't to say it's a bad idea. "LittleBigPlanet" is a major achievement in videogame design and Playstation Network is undoubtedly leading the way in the indie gaming movement. XMB and the PS3 console are elegantly designed. But if Sony want more people to appreciate them, it looks like the old rules apply: it needs more hit core or family franchises, and probably a price cut.

Plus ca change...

Rentrak just provided the data. It's pretty standard stuff, basically the most popular games released from fall of 2007 to spring of 2008, since those of course had the most time to rack up big rental numbers throughoug the year. The two notable exceptions:

-"Mario Party 8," from all the way back in May of 2007. This is the Wii game people were still renting? More than "Super Mario Galaxy?"

-"Fallout 3" was the only game released this fall to rack up enough rentals to make the top ten. In just nine weeks. That's impressive.

Here's the list, as well as the platforms:

There was lots of debate last month amongst gamers about the quality of the Spike Video Game Awards, but I don't think we ever found out how it performed.

It's a question I myself almost forgot to ask, until the topic came up recently. So I checked with Variety's ratings expert Rick Kissell, who provided me with the figures, via Nielsen: 680,000 people watched the Spike Video Game Awards in their debut airing on Dec. 14. That's down 26% from the 2007 total and the second lowest since they started in 2004 (a bit higher than 2006's 618,000 but barely more than half of 2004's 1.23 million).

Of course, as a network for guys, Spike particularly cares about hows its shows perform amongst men 18-34. But the story is no better there. 229,000 men 18-34 watched. That's down 29% from 2007 and it's the lowest ever for the show.

The one piece of good news is the VGAs did better with teenage boys (12-17) this time around, perhaps due to Jack Black's fans. Viewership in that demographic rose 30% over 2007 to 199,000 and was no. 3 amongst the five years of the show.

Before you draw any conclusions about what this indicates about the appeal of this year's show, keep one very important fact in mind: the VGAs were up against the Cowboys-Giants game on NBC, which drew the biggest audience ever in three seasons of Sunday Night Football. And a lot of young guys who might otherwise be interested in a videogame awards show also like to watch football.

Nonetheless, whether it was due to scheduling or content or both, Spike can't be thrilled with these results for what was clearly a pretty expensive awards show by cable standards.

Update: The numbers were much better on the digital front, I'm told. Average weekly uniques on the VGA website more than tripled from 2007 and there were a total of more than 1.3 million pageviews. Total online video streams -- show clips, red carpets, those exclusive trailers  -- rose 30% to 353,000.

IGN is reporting that LucasArts long-in-development "Indiana Jones" game really is, as many of us have speculated, dead and gone.

It's not a surprise in the sense that we haven't heard anything about it in so long, but perhaps it is a surprise in the sense that the success of last summer's film (despite its many flaws), as well as "Lego Indiana Jones" (despite its flaws) prove the franchise is still very viable.

LucasArts did release a statement to Kotaku, amongst others, stating the following:

Like Kotaku's Brian Crecente, I think the fact that the PR folks used the word "franchise" and didn't deny IGN's report means that this particular title indeed ain't happening, at least in the form it was previously shown. Given how commercially viable it would have been, development must have gone really badly.

It also brings up the bigger question: Is LucasArts planning to do much or any internal development? I don't believe they have any announced games being developed in-house anymore. A sequel to "The Force Unleashed" is a virtual certainty, but will it be produced internally? And will LucasArts do future Indy games, or anything else for that matter, internally? Or, as some have been buzzing, will it all be farmed out?

One of my goals for the blog this year is to increase my coverage of independent games somewhat. In terms of independent reporting, one big part of that will be a story for another outlet I'm almost done with that I'll be linking to hopefully next week. I also finally downloaded Crayon Physics Deluxe, the first highly touted indie game of 2009, and hope to have some thoughts on that soon.

But meantime, I realized I've been very remiss in not linking to the finalists for this year's Independent Games Festival, the videogame industry's Sundance, which takes place at the Game Developers Conference in March. There's an excellent list of them all at the Offworld blog, where they also provide video links to as many of them as possible. I highly recommend checking it out to see some of the coolest independent games around and see which ones you'll be rooting will win at in March and hoping you'll get to play soon.

Offworld guide to the Independent Games Festival

Last month when we started our countdown of Variety critics' top ten games of the year, I asked Cut Scene readers to weigh in with their votes and 47 of you responded. 74 different games received votes, a wide array ranging from most of the year's most acclaimed AAA titles to some indie Web titles like "I Wish I Were the Moon" and "I Fell in Love with the Majesty of Colors," both of which received multiple votes, but didn't make the top ten.

Amongst the biggest vote getters, it was a very tight race between the top eight, with only a 30 point spread between #8 and #1 (description of how I calculated points at the bottom).

Ultimately, Cut Scene readers aren't all that different from the rest of gamers, with our top ten representing many of the most acclaimed, and best selling, titles of the year. Perhaps the only real surprises to me are "Dead Space," which got good but somewhat mixed responses, doing as well as it did; indie darling "Braid" making it well into the top ten; "LittleBigPlanet," for which we Variety critics got so much flack when we called it "overrated," scoring a somewhat distant #9; and, I'll admit, I didn't think the game at #1 would actually make it all the way to #1.

But anyway readers, I'll let you all evaluate your own choices. Here they are:

(I assigned ten points to #1 choices, nine points to #2, etc. For people who declined to rank their choices, points were distributed evenly. Games that weren't released in 2008 were disqualified, though I did allow 2007 games like "Mass Effect" and "Bioshock" that had versions released in 2008.)

The personal tragedy of Electronic Gaming Monthly closing after UGO bought its website 1UP and Ziff Davis disposed of the remains is obvious, given the 30 people laid off. The editorial tragedy is clear to anyone who reads videogame magazines, since EGM was the only one -- well, the only one published in the U.S., anyway -- that remotely resembled a real magazine -- you know, one with really interesting features thought up by smart editors and writers -- as opposed to just a vehicle for game companies to promote their wares.

But the business tragedy is that publications like EGM have been so tremendously unable to expand their advertiser base beyond videogame publishers. That, in a nutshell, is what killed the publication. This is what Sam Kennedy, editorial director for 1UP (which EGM was a part of) said to MTV Multiplayer    :

The obvious retort is: Why did you need the games industry so badly? I work for a publication that relies heavily on advertisements from the businesses we cover -- studios, networks, agencies, and those who work with them -- although perusing the paper and website I can see we have expanded a bit to include fashion, alcohol, automobiles, etc. But to me that makes a bit more sense since our print readership is way more attractive to companies that are in, or work with, the entertainment industry, and thus they're willing to pay a premium (our website draws a much broader array of readers).

But that shouldn't have been a problem for EGM. Their core readership is teenage boys and young men. 18-35 year-old men are the #1 most desirable demographic for advertisers, as they're so hard to reach since they're often doing things like, well, playing videogames. EGM had that audience. GameInformer and GameSpot and Kotaku and others have it. Yet I rarely see ads beyond game companies and, occassionally, military recruiters. A few times I remember seeing car companies and a TV show or two, but that's about it.

Of course it's easy for me to sit here and say what the ad sales people shoulda/woulda/coulda done, but to me, the fact that they were unable to crack that nut is teh true tragedy, because it could have turned publications like EGM, and thus quality videogame journalism as a whole, into a much more viable business.

The Writers Guild just announced its five nominees for the best videogame writing of 2008 and they're a pretty good cross section of the industry, ranging from hugely popular AAA titles ("Fallout 3," "Star Wars: The Force Uleashed") to a downloadable game I've never heard ("Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble!" Actually, Variety's Leigh Alexander has a good write up of the game if you want some info) and from the self-consciously kitschy ("Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3") to straight ahead adventure ("Tomb Raider: Underworld").

Here's the full list of nominees:

Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 (EA). Writer: Haris Orkin. Story Producer: Mical Pedriana.

Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble! (Mousechief). Writing: Keith Nemitz. Additional Writing: Adrianne Ambrose.

Fallout 3 (Bethesda). Lead Writer: Emil Pagliarulo. Quest Writing: Erik J. Caponi, Brian Chapin, Jon Paul Duvall, Kurt Kuhlmann, Alan Nanes, Bruce Nesmith, and Fred Zeleny. Additional Quest Writing: Nate Ellis, William Killeen, Mark Nelson, and Justin McSweeney.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (LucasArts). Writers: Haden Blackman, Shawn Pitman, John Stafford and Cameron Suey.

Tomb Raider: Underworld (Eidos). Story: Eric Lindstrom and Toby Guard. Screenplay: Eric Lindstrom.

For those who aren't aware, this is actually the second year the WGA has given a videogame writing award. Last year's inaugural winner was "Dead Head Fred." The WGA Awards are the only Hollywood kudofest (that's a Variety term; I bet you can all figure out what it means) to include a prize for videogames.

The nominees and the winners are picked by panels from the WGA's Videogame Writers Caucus (which has 200 members), as well as other winners active in the field. The nominees are picked from games that submit their scripts to the guild. One caveat is that the nominated writers need to either be WGA members of have recently applied. Although that's not too big a restriction really, since anyone who wants to be nominated can simply apply and will almost surely get the nod. I suppose the only restriction would be the cost of joining for independent developers with little funds, or those with employers who simply don't want to pay. I have no idea yet how many scripts were submitted and for what games, but I've asked and will hopefully have an answer soon.

The winners will get their prize at the WGA Awards ceremony on Feb. 7.Meanwhile, can all of us in the videogame world engage in one of Hollywood's favorite pastimes: Awards prognostication? My guess is that the front runner is "Star Wars: The Force Unleashed" is the front runner, since it was almost universally acclaimed for its excellent writing, even by those who didn't like the gameplay. "Fallout 3" may have a shot for the sheer quantity of content in that game, but even the most hardcore fans (of which I am not one) don't seem to think it really stood out for the quality of writing. The wild card is surely "Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble," since so few of us (including me) have played it, but it sure sounds like it has a smarty, wry sense of humor.

Update: There seems to be a misperception out there on the Interwebs that only games written by guild members are eligible. In fact, wannabe nominees who aren't members simply need to join the Videogame Writers' Caucus, a group started by the guild to promote the field. Membership costs a whopping $75. Some people may not want to join, but they don't need any special guild memberships. They do, however, need a "written by" credit. "Designed by" or anything like that isn't allowed.

The picture on the top right is "Command and Conquer." The one on the left is "Dangerous High School Girls..."

I spoke to Microsoft entertainment and devices president Robbie Bach at his company's booth at CES to go a little more in depth on his company's entertainment business, particularly videogames, in the face of a recession. He was largely upbeat (shocker!), but opened up a bit about how the slowdown is impacting the mix of what Microsoft sells. In addition, we talked about how his company is doing in its efforts to expand its audience to families (and other people mostly buying Wiis), music videogames, and how online is effecting the Xbox business's bottom line.

How do you see the recession impacting the videogame business? You have growth rates other media sectors would love, but the holidays were certainly down from earlier this year and last year.

I think what’s happening is people are still buying consoles, they are excited about consoles and gaming. They want to be entertained even when the economy is not entertaining.

What we will see and we saw a little in the December period is that when people go into store to buy a console, if last year they were buying five games, maybe this year it’s four. We do see people making value choices. The other thing I think we see happening is AAA content is still selling exceptionally well, but as people buy a little bit fewer games, the stuff they’re not buying quite as much is A titles or portfolio titles from the previous year.

So for Microsoft, are you seeing the $200 arcade version of the Xbox 360 perform proportionately better in the slow economy than it did in the past?

We don’t break those figures down, but we have seen the $199, 179 Euro product do very well. It varies a little by retailer as well. At a place like Wal-Mart, the arcade edition does a little better than some other places. At Gamestop, the arcade does very well, but it’s a different customer mix where more are looking for a hard drive [only included in the $300 pro and $400 elite editions].

Reaching the family audience was a big push for Microsoft this fall, from the redesign of Xbox Live to new games. While the redesign seems to be doing fine, I haven’t seen much sales momentum for “Lips” or “You’re at the Movies.” Do you think you’re succeeding at expanding your audience?

It’s still a little early to tell. We have to go survey. It’s a research project. I will tell you anecdotaly I know the audience is expanding quite nicely. The two areas helping us expand the fastest are music titles, like “Lips,” “Guitar Hero,” and “Rock Band,” and the second area is the Netflix arrangement [Xbox 360 owners can now stream Netflix movies through the console]. A number of people have come up and said, “Wow, Netflix is so cool, that’s how I was able to convince my spouse we need an Xbox and put it in the living room.” That expands the demo to people who aren’t traditional gamers, even if they start to watch movies, they end up playing games.

You mentioned the importance of the music category, but it seems like “Rock Band” and “Guitar Hero” sales are slowing. Do you agree and how is that impacting you?

Music is still very strong. You’re not going to see the same growth this year as last year because of where the business is. But I think category is still very, very strong. It has a visceral appeal. We see it in the download numbers on Xbox live. We’ve had an amazing 60 million songs downloaded.

Between all those music downloads, the games and videos available to download that you’ve said are growing in popularity, and the new advertising opportunities on Xbox Live, is that business becoming meaningful for you compared to consoles and retail games?

Xbox Live is a good business for us and a good business for our partners. If someone says, “Walk me through the contributions to your P&L,” I’d say [in order] consoles, plus or minus, are break even; software, both first party and third party licensing, are very good; peripherals are very good; and finally Xbox Live is a good business.

Can you tell me a little more about “Kodu?” Is it a game or an application?

It starts as a set of tools. It’s a “Hey you can create your own environment!” product. But then once you create the game, now it is a game and you can share that with other people and play on Xbox Live. So this is both things.

But it doesn’t ship with a full campaign story mode? Because the obvious comparison is “LittleBigPlanet.”

I don’t think it’s a lot like “LittleBigPlanet.” It’s a new game every time. It’s a development environment, in which you can download and share.

And “Kodu” would be something that users pay to download on Xbox Live? Would there be a full social network where you rate user created games, tag them, and so on?

It’s a little early to talk about. We’re still developing how that plays out. The [Xbox Live] community channel as a whole has that rich environment where  a lot of feedback. The opportunity to get feedback on variety of different games is a hallmark.

Keep in mind the audience we’re targeting it to initially probably ends up being a very young audience. People who are interested in some fun learning activities. What I’m interested in is whether it catches on with the broader Xbox audience… How far into that audience does it go? Would Ben want to be creating a game?

In the keynote you touched on Zune Social, the online store and environment, but not the devices. Are you trying to separate them more so you can grow Zune Social apart from how the players perform?

It’s not a separation. We continue to work on devices, build devices in that ecosystem. Certainly, we recognize music is a genre that isn’t just isolated to these devices. You have it on PC, Xbox, on mobile phones. We do think Zune Social could play a role in that.

Much more from the Consumer Electronic Show at Variety.com's CES blog.

Meaning no offense to my friends at G4, I was pleasantly surprised at the caliber of power execs who came to their "Best of CES" showcase and party last night (that's "Attack of the Show's" Kevin Pereira" hosting on the right). If CES had a Hollywood party, this was it.  Amongst those I saw at the event:

-"Pirates of the Caribbean" and "CSI" producer Jerry Bruckheimer

-Google CEO Eric Schmidt

-Comcast CEO Brian Roberts (OK maybe he's not a surprise, since Comcast owns G4)

And apparently there were even more who I didn't see. Speaking to G4 president Neil Tiles near the end of the party, he told me Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer and MGM CEO Harry Sloan stopped by as well.

Seems like G4 has got the connections and or the sway to get all the big names from the entertainment biz who wanted to see the hottest gadgets at CES -- and see each other and be seen, perhaps -- to come by its shindig.

I won't be able to transcribe my interview with Microsoft entertainment president Robbie Bach (who oversees videogames, amongst other things) until tonight, most likely. But between my talk to him, Microsoft's keynote last night, and Sony's keynote today (which included a section with Playstation topper Kaz Hirai talking videogames), I got a few interesting statistics worth comparing:

-Number of worldwide members of Microsoft's online videogame service Xbox Live: 17 million. Number of registered accounts on Sony's competing Playstation Network: 17 million. (Even though there are substantially fewers PS3s on the market than Xbox 360s, Sony does have the advantage of people going onto PSN from the PSP. In addition, PSN is free to play online, but Xbox Live costs money, though anyone can "join" just to browse downloadable content)

-In the last three months of 2008, Microsoft added 3 million Xbox Live members. In December, Sony added 2.1 million Playstation Network members.

-Playstation Network users have downloaded more than 330 million pieces of content. Microsoft's content downloads went up 70% since it launched the new version of Xbox Live in November (not comparable, I know)

-Over 25 million "Halo" games have been sold and the average player spends more than 150 hours online (given that some people don't play online, that means some people have played a lot more than 150 hours. wow.)

-More than 1.3 million "unique users" have played "LittleBigPlanet." Note that this is not the same as Sony saying it has sold 1.3 million units of the game. There are more than 300,000 user-created levels already. It would take two straight years, non-stop, to play them all.

-Over 80% of all "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" downloads have been on Xbox Live, which means only about 20% are on Playstation Network. Microsoft says it has sold over 60 million song downloads. Assuming that just an infinitismal number of those are for new karaoke game "Lips," that means Sony has sold about 12 million songs on PSN for those two franchises (and probably a few million more for its "Singstar" karaoke franchise).

Say hello to “Kodu.” It might look familiar. Kinda like Sackboy’s little brother.

At tonight’s pre-CES keynote, Microsoft unveiled a new "game creator" (their term) that will look pretty familiar to anyone who follows the videogame world, or pays attention to  Sony ads.

“Kodu” is, as Microsoft entertainment president Robbie Bach describes it, a way to "empower everyone, the entire breadth of our audience, to create their own games."

What does it look like? Well, it’s an accessible, adorable application that lets regular people design and share their own own videogame levels. Microsoft can protest as much as it wants, but in the big picture, it's about as distinct from “LittleBigPlanet” as avatars are from Miis.

The most obvious difference, however, is that "Kodu" is 3-D. It's not just a platformer. In the demo that Bach did with a 12 year-old girl named Sparrow, the game she created in her little 3-D world was essentially fetch, in which two robots tried to get objects spit out of a machine and return them to a spot for points.

Watching Sparrow create the game, it's largely based on equations (like the ones on the right). Telling the factory that every 10  seconds it spits out a new item, for instance. When I say "equation," I mean you're literaly using + and = signs to make in-game rules.

The menus are still tricky (just like in "LittleBigPlanet," you have to navigate through a lot of stuff), but it's a language that anyone who graduated elementary school can probably understand.

Unlike "LittleBigPlanet," "Kodu" isn't the result of years of work by a development studio. It came out of Microsoft R&D, where it started as a way to help teach kids how to program. Because it's not a "game," per se, it won't come with a rich campaign or, I'm going to guess, arch voiceovers by Stephen Fry.

It's coming in the spring and it'll be downloadable. Microsoft hopes to use it to fuel lots of user creations on its Community Games channel, though it's not clear if there will be a rich social community a la "LittleBigPlanet" (rating, tagging, etc.) or if users will just be sharing the games they create with friends.

"Kodu" is definitely not a "LittleBigPlanet" killer. Sony's game is inarguably the richer experience. But Sony will no longer be able to claim it has the only console with an accessible and intuitive level builder. And based on what I say, "Kodu" may even offer a few tricks that make videogame building even simpler than "LittleBigPlanet" has shown us it can be.

Speaking at a pre-CES videogame panel Wednesday afternoon, Alex Rigopulos, CEO of "Rock Band" developer Harmonix (owned by MTV), reportedly said his studio isn't focusing on making a third annual version of its key franchise this year (details here or here). Instead, all its energy is going into the "Beatles" focused-spin off game (details on that are here).

As Rigopulos said, that's no surprise for creative reasons, since making that Beatles game good is really important. But it also makes sense business-wise. MTV paid a LOT of money to get rights to the Beatles and needs it that game to sell better than any of the "Rock Bands" have. perhaps more importantly, "Rock Band 2" has sold significantly worse than the original "Rock Band" since launching. It would be hard to justify a third iteration, especially under the assumption that the economy will still be weak next fall. In fact, "Rock Band" for Wii (that's the original one, not "Rock Band 2") was the only version of the game to break NPD's top 20 in November. So there's no reason to think that interested buyers won't be perfectly fine with "Rock Band 2" this fall.

I'm departing momentarily for Las Vegas and the Consumer Electronic Shows, where there will be lots of tech news, but only a limited amount of stuff about videogames. Those of you interested in everything tech, especially as it impacts the entertainment biz, should keep up with Variety.com's CES blog (just launched, still a few kinks right now), where Scott Kirsner and I will be updating on the hottest news and trends.

For my loyal Cut Scene readers, though, here's the videogame-related stuff that will be on display at CES:

-Microsoft, as always, will have a big presence and give the keynote address. I expect they'll be touting the latest stats that over 28 million Xbox 360s have been sold, giving it a comfortable lead over Playstation 3 (never mind that pesky Wii), touting the success of Netflix streaming on the box, showing more content from "Halo Wars" and "Halo 3: ODST" and maybe a few new things. In addition to covering the keynote and checking out the products, I'll be talking one-on-one with Microsoft's entertainment and devices president Robbie Bach, who usually has good insights on his own company and the market.

-Capcom will be in town showing off "Street Fighter IV" and "Resident Evil 5," complete with a "SF IV" match-up between players picked by Microsoft and Sony (details here). If I get any hands-on time, hopefully I won't be quite as humiliated at "Street Fighter IV" as I was at E3.

-Sony Computer Entertainment. Though the Playstation 3 and PSP -- and their games -- got virtually no mention at the ocmpany's press conference Wednesday afternoon, they're sure to ge ta spot in CEO Howard Stringer's keynote Thursday morning.

-Sony Online Entertainment will be at CES with "DC Universe Online" and "Free Realms."

-Activision Blizzard publishing president Michael Griffith is giving a speech on Friday. Perhaps not coincidentally, the website for Activision game "Prototype" is counting down to tomorrow, indicating he'll be bringing a new trailer or something with him for the game.

A recent story in weekly Variety by my colleague Jill Goldsmith, our very experienced and astute Wall Street reporter, was musing on what 2009 held in store for the major media conglomerates and included this fascinating bit of speculation based on interviews Jill did with various financial professionals who follow these companies closely:

That would be quite an event, huh? When you think about it, it makes some sense. Disney has been investing heavily in videogames these past few years. And while its stock is down (31% off its 52-week high), EA stock is way down (67% from its 52-week high), which means buying EA could be a potent way for Disney to jumpstart itself to a lead position in this still relatively fast growing space.

And when you think about it, Disney might not be the only media conglomerate considering such a move. Most of the conglomerates are interested in videogames and have started dipping their toes in the water, some (Disney, Time Warner), Viacom aggressively and others (NBC U, News Corp.) more conservatively. but right now, they're in an interesting position. DVD sales, long the studios' cash cow, have flattened and there's no sign Blu-ray or digital downloads/streaming will pick up the slack (for more details, read this story). So big media is looking for new ways to ignite growth.

The videogame business has been having problems, with growth slowing of late, but it's still red hot compared to movies, TV, and music. And many videogame publishers, not just EA, have seen their stocks take major hits in the past six months, much more than the declines for big media shares. That means videogame publishers are more affordable for the conglomerates than they were a year ago. Which means we could just see a Disney-EA acquisition, or others like it, in 2009

Got some schwag accumulated during the holidays crowding up my cubicle (now even smaller since Variety moved offices, meaning there's less room to store junk). That means it's time for a blog giveaway. The rules are below. Here are the prizes:

Gears of War 2 remote control Centaur Tank. Keep in mind mom and/or dad: The toy is fine for anyone over 8, but the game's rated M! If you've over 17, though, keep this in mind: You are an adult trying to win a remote-controlled tank.

Playstation Home t-shirt. Advertise your love for a videogame virtual world in which you can do stuff... soon. I've got two of these bad boys, both in XL.

"Rolando" t-shirt. This apparel advertising ngmoco's new iPhone game featuring adorable little rolling balls (not to be confused with Sony's trademarked "Loco Roco."  Shame on you for even thinking that!) features the logo way down on the bottom left, so you know it's cool. XL only, so if you're short, the logo will be around your hip.

Little Sister figurine from "Bioshock." For that special daughter or niece you want to give nightmares to.

How do you win? Easy. Leave a comment with the following two features in it:
-Tell me what item you want and why. If you have a good reason, I'm more likely to give it to you.
-Mention some Cut Scene post you have read in the past and why you liked it, or didn't like it. Just my way of making sure winners are people who have been to the blog before, or are taking the time to poke around.

Restrictions on winning:
-You can't have fun a Cut Scene schwag giveaway before.
-I can't know you
-Don't be greedy or indecisive. Choose one item you want and ask for it. If you ask for more than one, you don't get any.

Post your comments by Wednesday night. I'll pick a winner by the end of the week

If you haven't seen "The Wrestler" and you're a fan of, well, good movies about interesting people, see it. Nothing revolutionary, but great performances and an excellent melding of themes with settings.

But Cut Scene readers might also be interested for the way it uses a Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) as a narrative device. Specifically, Mickey Rourke plays a washed up old pro wrestler who's now suffering for his success, alienated from his family, living in a trailer park, punishing himself mentally and physically by wrestling in third-rate local matches, etc. One of the most poignant, and saddest, moments of the film comes when he fires up an NES in his trailer.

First, just the idea of a grown man playing an original NES -- and not out of nostalgia -- signals how sad his economic circumstances are. Perhaps equivalent to turning on an 8-track player as your only way to listen to music. But much more dramatic is the fact that he's playing a videogame starring... himself. It's an old wrestling game featuring his character, Randy "The Ram" Robinson, in all his 8-bit glory. What better sign is there of faded stardom than seeing your visage in an old NES game?

I thought it was very cool that videogames have now reached the point in our culture that, even in an independenet film aimed at sophisticated audiences, they can be used as a narrative device for which we can assume virtually everyone will understand the meaning. If you ask me, that's convergence, much more than the latest movie studio starting a videogame division.

Hopefully we'll see more use of videogame as narrative devices, especially because as I was watching it I was thinking how easy it must have been. I bet one guy could have made '80s state-of-the-art videogame animations in Flash in, what, a day or two? Simple enough for even this low-budget indie movie to afford.

Update: Variety critic Tom Chick, writing on his Fidgit blog, points out that the NES demo is followed up by a very spot on, and meaningful conversation between The Ram and the 12 year-old kid he was playing his wrestling game with about "Call of Duty 4." Tom even took the time to transcribe the convo. Check it out.

I'll be counting up readers' votes for the top ten videogames of 2008 tomorrow (Tuesday) afternoon, pacific time. So if you haven't voted yet, be sure to leave a comment on this post with your 10 favorite (or fewer, if you don't have 10) games released in 2008. I'll plan to announce the winners of Wednesday

A few realizations I had while taking more time than I have had in a while to play videogames over the holidays...

Grand Theft Auto IV is better than I remembered, probably because the recent mini-backlash amongst some videogame writers has had me focusing on the flaws, particularly the weak writing later in the game (a feeling emphasized when all three of Variety's freelance critics listed it as either "disappointing" or "overrated"). But as I got to know Brucie and Roman and the McCreary brothers again, went on a motorcycle chase all over the city (including through the subways), and got in a car accident on a bridge that sent Niko hurtling through a windshield and into the river, then simply swam to the other side of the river without the game losing a beat, I remembered all the amazingly awesome things about this game that nothing else in 2008 matched.

The World Ends With You, which I gave a try on the recommendation of several critics, including one of our own, is not my kind of game. Given what a hard time I had with the old school RPG elements of "Fallout 3," perhaps I shouldn't be surprised that I really couldn't engage with the old school JRPG elements of this game. And the new stuff, like the d-pad rhythm based combat, really didn't work for me. I can't even say the game is bad, since I spent only an hour with it, which I found unbearable.

Nintendo's Wii is not such a dust collector after all. I admit I didn't engage with a lot of the best selling Wii games this year -- "Wii Fit," "Mario Kart," "Super Smash Bros. Brawl" -- so I thought I was of the "there's nothing good left on the Wii" camp that seems to be growing. But then I looked at my top ten list and realized three of the titles, including my no. 1, were Wii exclusives, and a fourth was also on PC, but I played it on the Wii. And then I played some more of them all and realized that while I still play 360 the most, the Wii has at least as much to offer me as the PS3.

Midway's countdown to possible doom -- otherwise known as the 50 day deadline it had to pay back an impossible $150 million in debt -- is getting a one-month extension. Probably, anyway.

The struggling "Mortal Kombat" publisher, recently sold by Sumner Redstone to private investor Mark Thomas for a measly $100,000, has reached an agreement on $75 million worth of its debt to extend the deadline by which it must repay or renegotiate to Feb. 19, one month after the initial due date. The company also announced it is "in discussions" with the holders of the rest of its debt for a similar delay.

The question now is: Does Midway have something in the works for that it will accomplish, or is hoping to accomplish, during that month? Or is it just stalling for time? ("Wheelman" will be released on Feb. 16, but I don't exactly see that curing what ails Midway)

Here's a convenient list of Variety's videogame critics' top ten games of 2008, along with our most disappointing and most overrated, all in one place. For full details on all our choices, read the detailed posts we've been doing for the past two weeks. And don't forget to vote for your favorite games of 2008 in the Cut Scene reader awards here.

A few interesting stats:

-The only thing all four of us agreed about: "LittleBigPlanet" as one of the year's three most most overrated videogames (Thus the not-too-unexpected barrage of comments)

-The two games listed by all four of us in different categories: "Fallout 3," on three top ten lists and one (ok, my) most overrated; "Grand Theft Auto IV," on my top ten, Leigh's most disappointing, and Tom and Chris' most overrated

-The game mentioned the most on our top ten lists: Tie between "Fallout 3," "Braid," and "No More Heroes," all listed by three of us

-If points were awarded based on our rankings, what game comes out as Variety critics' overall top choice? "Fallout 3" with 25 points, followed by "Braid" with 19 and "No More Heroes" with 15. Even if you take away a few points when one person calls a game overrated, "Fallout 3" remains number one. Which doesn't make me happy, but I know when I'm outnumbered...

Leigh Alexander

10. Midnight Club: Los Angeles
9. Chrono Trigger DS
8. Braid
7. Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
6. Mega Man 9
5. PixelJunk Eden
4. No More Heroes
3. Fallout 3
2. Persona 4
1. Metal Gear Solid 4

Most disappointing: Far Cry 2, Grand Theft Auto IV
Most overrated: Professor Layton and the Curious Village, LittleBigPlanet

Tom Chick
10. The Club
9. Sacred 2
8. Multiwinia
7. Midnight Club: Los Angeles
6. Patapon
5. EndWar
4. Fallout 3
3. Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts
2. Saints Row 2
1. Far Cry 2

Most disappointing: Too Human, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Haze
Most overrated: Grand Theft Auto IV, LittleBigPlanet, Braid

Chris Dahlen
10. Fable 2
9. Gears of War 2
8. Everybody Dies
7. No More Heroes
6. Rock Band 2
5. Professor Layton and the Curious Village
4. Left 4 Dead
3. The World Ends with You
2. Braid
1. Fallout 3

Most disappointing: Spore, Mirror's Edge, Fracture
Most overrated: Grand Theft Auto IV, LittleBigPlanet, Castle Crashers

Ben Fritz
10. Metal Gear Solid 4
9. Grand Theft Auto IV
8. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
7. No More Heroes
6. World of Goo
5. de Blob
4. Braid
3. Fable 2
2. Left 4 Dead
1. Boom Blox

Most disappointing: Wii Music, Wall-E, Spore
Most overrated: Fallout 3, LittleBigPlanet, Patapon

(Part of our series counting down the top ten videogames of 2008 -- with interruptions for the most disappointing and most overrated -- according to Variety critics Leigh Alexander, Tom Chick, Chris Dahlen and Ben Fritz. Full details are here. To check out the rest of the list, click here. Most importantly, vote for your favorite games of 2008 in the Cut Scene reader awards here.)

Drumroll, please, as we present our picks for the #1 best game released in 2008. A first-person shooter, an RPG, a casual family game and a stealth actioner with 30 minute-plus cutscenes. An original, a "2," a "3," and a "4." Two American games, a French Canadian game and a Japanese game. A PS3 exclusive, a Wii exclusive, and two multi-platformers. Two unqualified hits and two moderate sellers. I'd say this is a pretty diverse and interesting set of choices...

Tom Chick

Far Cry 2 (Ubisoft / Ubisoft Montreal)

Of all the places I went this year without leaving my house, "Far Cry 2's" lush African countryside was my favorite, and not just because these are currently the best graphics I've ever seen. Here is a game that breathes without breathing down my neck. It's not afraid to let me roam without making the gameplay equivalent of idle chit-chat. With its emphasis on an interface-free interface, it does a tremendous job getting out of my way (in this respect, it is the anti-"Fallout 3") and letting me just be here. If Terence Malick were to make a videogame, it would be "Far Cry 2." And when things happen, they happen dramatically and dynamically. There's a glorious sense of spontaneity in the way the shooting erupts, unfolds, progresses. I almost never feel that these firefights were built by the developers. In fact, I almost never feel that about any of the moments in "Far Cry 2." These moments are mine. Some games unfold. Others are revealed. Some are like thrill rides. Others are like  playgrounds. But "Far Cry 2" is a beautiful place where amazing things simply happen. 

Chris Dahlen

Fallout 3 (Bethesda Softworks / Bethesda)

I could go on about each of the core elements the game got right – that it was so much more than "Oblivion" with shotguns, that even the escort missions were fun, and that the sight of the Chinese army invading a ‘50s "Leave it to Beaver" cul-de-sac will stay with me for years to come. But the single reason I loved "Fallout 3" was that I never knew what was around the next corner.

Ben Fritz

Boom Blox (EA / EA Casual)

The first great game for the Wii that would only work for the Wii is also the most surprisingly deep, universally accessible, and  unyieldingly enjoyable videogame of 2008. Using the Wii-mote to play with blocks seems like the most obvious concept in the world (no offense, Mr. Spielberg), but the development team at EALA crafted an experience so rich that I’ve enjoyed it with non-gamers, with hardcore gamer friends, with kids, and by myself late into the night. The diverse array of challenges and huge number of levels stands as proof that “casual” and “core” are not mutually exclusive. “Boom Blox” is the videogame that demonstrates, truly, we all can play together.

Leigh Alexander

Metal Gear Solid 4 (Konami / Kojima Prods.)

Simultaneously one of the highest-rated and most controversial titles of the year, it polarized its audience. Sure, there were those who loved the game's uncontested technical polish and the most sophisticated implementation yet seen of the franchise's stealth mechanics -- but much of the discussion revolved around the merit (or lack thereof) of Hideo Kojima's self-indulgent directorial style and the game's long periods of non-interactivity badly in need of an editor.
 
But a brilliant director who's overambitious is essential to a medium long constrained by narrative status quo, risk aversion and repetition. Look closely at the subtleties of "Metal Gear Solid 4's" brilliant postmodernism -- underneath the overt sprawl lies an exercise in stunning elegance whose largest failing was that it imposed itself on an audience that prefers a different format.

And that's a wrap. I'll provide a convenient summary of all four of our top ten lists in a post later today. Don't forget to cast your votes for the top games of the year here.

(Part of our series counting down the top ten videogames of 2008 -- with interruptions for the most disappointing and most overrated -- according to Variety critics Leigh Alexander, Tom Chick, Chris Dahlen and Ben Fritz. Full details are here. To check out the rest of the list, click here. Most importantly, vote for your favorite games of 2008 in the Cut Scene reader awards here.)

These are not games we thought were bad, or even disappointing. They're the videogames that Variety's critics found fell the shortest of what most other critics and/or the public thought. It also, interestingly, the only category in this whole process in which all four of us agree about a game.

Chris Dahlen

Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar / Rockstar North)

It’s a lie to say that sandbox games let the player “do anything they want”; they still have an underlying vision, as we saw in "Fallout 3." So what’s "GTA IV’s" vision? That the American Dream ain’t perfect? That consumerism infects our lives? That talk radio lies to us? This is dimestore cynicism. It’s easy to admire the parts – the drunk effects, the jazz fusion station, the consistently interesting mission design, the Ricky Gervais cameo, and the way the cars go so much faster when you hit the highlife. But the sum ain’t there.

LittleBigPlanet (Sony / Media Molecule)

A niche game for budding game designers, disguised as an all-ages, endless dreamscape. And here’s a question: why do the games that bet big on user-generated content consistently expect users to dive into specialized skills such as platformer level design, puzzlecrafting, or 3-D modeling, when the two types of content that real life people actually put on the web – text, and photographs – are neglected?

Castle Crashers (The Behemoth)

It’s not like me to bash an indie. But "Castle Crashers’" single-player campaign was repetitive and undistinguished, and four-player co-op was good for maybe an hour – an hour that’s now better spent with "Left4Dead."

Ben Fritz

Fallout 3 ( Bethesda Softworks / Bethesda)

When fans rattle off all the awesome things they saw and did in “Fallout 3,” I can hardly argue. But I don’t understand why all the tedious, old-fashioned RPG tasks in between don’t bother them more. Whether I’m agonizing over how to distribute all my points and perks after finding out I made a bunch of bad choices the last time I leveled up, working through a dialogue tree with one of the information repositories known as “people,” struggling with the mediocre combat, or just trying to find the stuff I need so I can move on, 80% of “Fallout 3” is a slog to get to the 20% that’s actually worth experiencing.

LittleBigPlanet (Sony / Media Molecule)

The ultimate problem with “LittleBigPlanet” is that it’s impressive, but nothing more. Wow, sackboy is cute. Damn, those level-building tools are remarkably easy to use. Holy cow, that user created level looks just like a working calculator / a lamborghini / “Duck Hunt” / “God of War.” But there’s nothing remotely engaging about the experience, unless you’re in that small minority with dozens of hours to kill and the desire to make an awesome platforming level.

Patapon (Sony / Sony)

The fact that you push four buttons to a beat and everything's really cute doesn't make up for the fact that this is a painfully simple RTS with absolutely no substance.

Leigh Alexander

Professor Layton and the Curious Village (Nintendo / Level 5)

Why are charming little animations an excuse to glorify the sort of dull school workbook designed expressly to validate Mensa wannabes?

LittleBigPlanet (Sony / Media Molecule)

It's adorable, I'm heartened by the vision behind it and couldn't be more impressed with Media Molecule and its beautiful execution. But at the end of the day, I'm a fan of video games because I want the professionals to make them for me. I don't want to make video games, I don't really care what my "friends from the Internet" have made, and I often wonder how many people really do care -- and how many people just leapt on board the bandwagon of positive sentiment surrounding an effort they admired. 

Tom Chick

Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar / Rockstar North)

One of the most amazing realizations of a real-world-ish place and one of my favorite games this year. Also the setting for a poorly told
story and uninspired gameplay, and the subject of a system-shattering
PC port.

LittleBigPlanet (Sony / Media Molecule)

Awesome graphics! And those little sack people are so cute I could just eat them up! Now where's the game? 

Braid (Number None)

This is not a game that moves and it's not very accessible. You need to have a stomach for old-school platformers and mental brick walls. Which is a shame, because the place Braid eventually goes is sublime.

Coming Monday morning: The best videogame(s) of 2008