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Eidos Life President Livingstone speaks out against mainstream media's game coverage
During the Westminster eForum this week, Eidos head (and Life President) Ian Livingstone had some less than favorable things to say about the mainstream media's coverage of the gaming industry. "People just couldn't accept that games are a great learning tool," Livingstone told the crowd of "industry representatives and their advisors, interest groups, local authorities, the voluntary sector and academia, along with members of the reporting press," reports MCV. He asked for mainstream news outlets to focus less on violence in games and to instead look at "the poor skills the UK has to make games." In his eyes, the mainstream media's overwhelming focus on violence in games -- and consistent ignoring of the economically beneficial side of the game industry -- certainly isn't helping to bring the development tax breaks he's been pushing in the UK for quite some time now. To help change minds, we suggest that Mr. Livingstone get in touch with the two people who have been most able to clearly convey our feelings on the violent video game debate -- Penn and Teller, of course!
GamePro shutters BlogFaction websites, focusing on GamePro.com
For those of you visiting BlogFaction.com in the past day or two, the news that the handful of GamePro-owned sites aggregated there (including GameGirl and GamePro Arcade) are being shuttered isn't exactly fresh. The closing of the "BlogFaction" branded sites comes just weeks after the announcement of new leadership under ex-1UP/WhatTheyPlay owner John Davison. Joystiq spoke with Davison this afternoon about the change and confirmed that while the sites will remain online, they will no longer receive any updates. "We've invited all the BlogFaction contributors to pitch stories to GamePro," Davison told us. "A lot of my emphasis is going to be on building up online and really trying to think of GamePro as 'GamePro, the brand,' not just 'GamePro, the magazine' ... I started last week and the charge I was given was to help reboot GamePro as a brand." He explained that the reasoning behind discontinuing updates to the BlogFaction sites is to refocus effort on GamePro.com, and his next focus is on delineating between GP content that works online versus that which works in print. He left us with the hint that we'll hopefully be seeing the fruits of his labor by early next year.
Fight Night 4 enters the ring June 25th
EA's fourth iteration of the Fight Night series not only looks better than it ever has, but it's coming very soon to a store near you. EA tells us at their press conference in LA that the game will drop June 25th on the 360 and PS3 -- five days sooner than we expected it.So get the gloves on and taped up and make sure that mouthpiece is in nice and secure. You've got about three weeks to get down to fighting weight.
This year's fashionable Wii injury: Wii knee
'Tis the season when people buy a lot of Wiis, which can mean only one thing: a 29,392% increase in ridiculous Wii scare stories from British newspapers. Over the last few days, in a bid to squeeze a story from thin air, at least two UK publications featured articles about how playing on a Wii can cause physical damage to users; you know, in the same way that any physical motion whatsoever could conceivably hurt somebody, somewhere. The Daily Telegraph was first off the mark over the weekend, describing how brilliant young doctors at Leeds Teaching Hospital have "discovered" what they call "Wii knee." Alas, this exciting development for medical science isn't actually mentioned beyond its name, because all of a sudden the newspaper is too busy getting a scary quote from a hand doctor (eh?). Not to be outdone, The Sun followed up today with its own piss-poor take on the WII IZ THE END TIMES angle, pointing out that ten Brits are hospitalized through Wii injuries each week. It then wheels out that 2007 favorite, "Wii-itis"/"Wii-itus" (choose your own spelling -- The Sun couldn't), before also referring to Wii knee, all while I weep for my once-proud nation. Source: The Telegraph kicks things off ...Source: ... and The Sun follows.
House of the Amazing Swag
So far, we're loving Sega's marketing of House of the Dead: Overkill. We thought nothing could top the cracking grindhouse-style trailer released when the game was announced, but some of the swag associated with the game comes close.Destructoid's Jim Sterling (and we assume our other esteemed, Leipzig-attending colleagues in the press) just received the above video cassette box. Inside, Sterling discovered a postcard resembling a VHS tape, and a T-shirt that expands in water. Best of all, he notes how the box has been designed to look damaged and scuffed, so that it looks like the kind of under-the-counter filth that you may have found abandoned on a disused section of railway as a youngster; very subtle, Sega! Blast your way through the break for a couple more shots.%Gallery-29952%
New report: Gamers are not lonely losers
Gamers seem to get a lot of bad press. From controversial episodes in the early days of Dungeons and Dragons to WoW addictions that are more shameful than online porn. Anyone who doesn't know us might actually believe that we're 10 million basement-dwelling social troglodytes. The American Medical Association is even considering the addition of video game addictions to their big book of mental problems (also known as the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders). A new study by Victoria University found just the opposite. They found that about 15% of their 621 participants qualified as problem gamers, that is they spent more than 50 hours a week playing games. Even among that 15 percent, only one percent showed signs of poor social skills. While there are some who have a major problem gaming habit most of us are normal people who unwind with a video game.
Nintendo holding back WiiWare launch list
We have a rough idea of which software is coming to WiiWare, but when it's coming is a different matter. Apparently, Nintendo doesn't want to help us find out either. Game|Life's Chris Kohler recently spoke to a company representative, who revealed that there may not be a list of WiiWare launch titles until the launch itself, on May 12th. Why? We've no idea, but it's a mighty strange way of getting consumers excited, Nintendo.A few games (including Hudson's Star Soldier R, Konami's Critter Round-Up, and Two Tribes' Toki Tori) have already been confirmed for a release on May 12th by their publishers, but we're largely in the dark here. As Nintendo of America is planning to model the WiiWare release schedule on that of the Virtual Console, does that mean we'll be getting far fewer games than we originally expected when we turn our Wiis on next Monday morning?
How to put WoW Insider on your WordPress blog
In an ongoing series of articles we'll show you how to put WoW Insider on your own blog, guild website, personal website, or even on your computer's desktop. For a complete list of the software that's covered, check out our guide's index. About WordPress WordPress is a fancy blogging site that has a lot of features. In fact, I think it has more features than Google's blogger.com. However, it's not as easy to use, nor does it flow as well as blogger.com does. Nonetheless, it's a really great site and is pretty popular. Getting WoW Insider on your wordpress.com site isn't hard at all. How to syndicate WoW Insider on your wordpress.com blog 1. Open up the Dashboard of your wordpress.com blog. This is where you create posts and edit your blog site. 2. Click on the top "Presentation" tab, and then click on the "Widgets" tab right bellow that. You want to see the screen pictured above.3. Scroll down until you see the "RSS 1" widget. Left click and hold on the widget rectangle.
First LotRO: Mines of Moria images unveiled
Hot off the press from Connect08, we've snagged a selection of sensational artwork from the first LotRO expansion, Mines of Moria. Click through to the gallery to preview some of the environments and even get a first look at one of the fearsome creatures that you'll encounter in the expansion -- the Mammoth.%Gallery-18340%
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck to make a bunch of press kits?
%Gallery-14791%In the press room at Macworld there was a little foyer with alphabetized buckets where you could pick up press kits from the various vendors. This is an exercise in wastefulness, as many of the press kits are glossy folders filled with photocopies and CD's.Now, I realize the coordination required to put all this on a single DVD or USB drive would be immense, so I'm not blaming Macworld/IDG here, but surely there's got to be a better way. I've made a gallery of the leftover press releases, CD's and cases I was left with-- and I didn't even take everything! I also had to discard all the covering folders for what I did grab, because I didn't want to pay $60 extra for the additional weight in my luggage (no kidding, it was like an extra 10 lbs. of junk). Sadly, that stuff got trashed in my hotel room, and I'm sure it didn't get recycled. Maybe next year the dream of a "paperless" Macworld can be realized...
Second Life "Wonderland" scandal hits mainstream media
UK media outlets are blowing up with stories of "Wonderland", a virtual playground in Second Life where Ageplay is the go. Sister-site Second Life Insider has been following the various stages of this story over the last day, including its growing coverage by mainstream press and the reply from SL developers Linden Lab.For those who need a little background, Ageplay is when an adult roleplays a child. This need not be for sexual purposes, but to use the quote from SL Insider of Sky News reporter Jason Farrell, "Wonderland is a virtual children's playground where paedophiles cruise and kids are solicited." Even though there probably aren't real children controlling the characters, it is still an offensive community for others within SL, and a Kid Avs community representative has already spoken out about it. It is also something that SL fans wouldn't want to be mistakenly associated with -- now that it has hit the mainstream, it may be one of the first things that people remember about Second Life, akin to "Oh, wasn't that the computer game for pedophiles?".The response Linden Lab provided to SL Insider essentially says that they have found no wrongdoing after investigating the Wonderland community. I'm not sure how well the rest of the media will take this answer. Provided below is a link to SL Insider's on-going coverage of this story as it develops.
E307: Mainstream press loves WiiFit, constructs Wii robot as tribute
Though the gaming press's reactions to Nintendo's E3 media briefing have been, for the most part, lukewarm, mainstream publications are very positive about WiiFit's debut. Here are a few headlines that enunciate the differences in perception between the gaming hardcore and the general public: Forbes: "Can The Wii Save Your Life?" Washington Post: "Game On - Nintendo Is Star of E3 Show as Rivals Scramble to Catch Up" San Jose Mercury News: "Wii outplays Sony, Microsoft for now" (requires registration) The Mercury News went so far as to fashion together an automaton (see image above) out of coils and Wii scraps in order to illustrate Nintendo's domination. We'd be too scared to even compete with the company, knowing that this ED-209-esque villain could break into our houses and stamp us out at any moment. Jump past the post break for a better view of its hulking figure.
Joystiq live at the Midway E3 07 Press Conference
The press conferences just keep coming. Check out our live coverage of the Midway E3 '07 press conference after the break.
Steve Jobs profile in New York magazine
Never the advocate of subtle promotion, New York magazine's cover story this week bears a simple headline over a psychedelic picture of Steve Jobs: iGod. John Heilemann's story takes a humorous and surprisingly intimate look at the nigh-mythological arc of Jobs' career, including the most common epithet applied to him by colleagues and friends alike (hint: it's anatomical), and quotes like this one from Jean-Louis Gassée describing Jobs' RDF as almost a physical force: "[Jobs is] the most powerful person I've ever met. The word charisma-in the true, Greek sense-applies. He has the power to open up your chest and put his fingers inside you." Um, okay, Jean-Louis, does 'blech' translate to French?Naturally, with two weeks to go before some minor product launch, the story's focus is on the iPhone's potential success or downfall and the implications for Apple. On this point, the money quote is from a CEO of an unnamed but very large communications company:"The entire [bleeping] Western world hopes that it's a case of imperial overstretch... But everybody is quietly saying, er, what if people want to buy a $500 phone? What if, er, people have been waiting for a device that does all these things? What if this thing works as advertised? I mean, my God, what then?"What then, indeed.Thanks, Henry.
Getting to know you: The Microsoft E3 press questionnaire
One of the reasons blogs were invented was to pull away the curtain and show the reader, on some small level, what's really going on in the land of OZ. As journalists who were invited to E3 are digging their Nintendo invites out of the spam filter (yup, that's probably where it ended up), Microsoft's invitations to their briefing just arrived. No big deal, fill out the form per usual ... and then there's Step 3 of the registration. A gaggle of questions that are perfectly innocent, but just a little strange to be asked.Wondering what they are? Check them out after the break.
Min-E3 press conference confirmed, dated
We hath mourned the death of the one and true E3, but like a mentally handicapped phoenix, the new Min-E3 has risen from the ashes. And while the glitz, glamour, and majority of games will have vanished into thinnest air, the wondrous tradition of the press conference remains. All three players will attempt to outdo the other, yet again.This year, Nintendo is second on the list: 9:30 AM PST on Wednesday, July 11th. Prior to their engagement is Microsoft the day before, and Sony is naught but two hours later at 11:30. We expect solid release dates for at least one of Super Mario Galaxy or Super Smash Bros. Brawl, as well as more than a few surprises. C'mon, Iwata ... drop the bomb.
Manhunt 2 on Wii: A true murder simulator?
This is all dependent on the fun factor and responsiveness of the controls, but Manhunt 2 for the Wii could be a fantastic murder simulator for the M rated set. Following the announcement of Manhunt 2 by Rockstar on various consoles, GamePolitics took the obvious next step and asked Nintendo how they felt about having the ultra-violent game on their motion control system?Speaking for Nintendo, Beth Llewelyn, senior director of corporate communications, said, "Manhunt 2 is not developed or published by Nintendo. It is one of many titles released by third party publishers for our system that appeal to people of all ages and interests ... retailers and purchasers are strongly encouraged to follow the age-specific ESRB ratings when considering what software to sell or buy. If parents are concerned about kids having access to inappropriate Wii games, we encourage them to utilize the PIN-operated Parental Control features built into Wii."The original Manhunt was about getting jollies from up-close and personal impaling. That mechanic will certainly be more satisfying and personal on the Wii. For the most part, we're just waiting for the mainstream media to get their hands on this story. It'll have all the clichés we've come to expect: Surface treatment of facts by the nightly news, kids under 17 saying they love to stab people in the game and parents talking about how they have absolutely no control to stop their children.See also: Manhunt 2 Wii box art more interesting than teaser
T-Press automatically irons your trousers
There's a plethora of washing machines out there to take care of the average cotton tee and junker jeans, but when dressing to impress, you need something a notch above dry and wrinkled. Enter the T-Press, an automated robot that desires nothing more than to press your trousers to perfection, and can flatten even the most minuscule, unwanted creases right out of your designer pants. Churning up 1,600 watts, this brushed aluminum machine perfects your pants by using a movable press and offers varying temperature settings to boot, and unlike a typical bout with the steam iron, this process takes just 2.5 minutes to complete and isn't likely to torch your hand in the process. Still, there's no information whatsoever regarding price or future availability, nor any indication of an emergency stop button being included for when it inevitably decides to eat your Van Heusen's for lunch, but feel free to click on over to see the live action mockups if nothing else.[Via SciFiTech]
Why don't portables get more respect?
The DS sells more than most consoles. The PSP has some games that look better than many PS2 games. Despite this, there are few magazines or websites devoted to portables. When the web or a mag do focus on a portable, it always seems to be to a lesser degree. If you need any proof, just look at the number of portable games that go un-reviewed compared to consoles. But when the sales are up as is the quality of the games, why do handhelds still get shafted? They're a substitute It seems as though some gamers and press view portable games as a substitute for "real" gaming. Just something to pass the time when you're somewhere unpleasant and unable to play a console game. While it is true that the very nature of a portable game is to give you gaming on the go, it doesn't necessarily mean it isn't as fun or as valuable of a gaming experience as console games. Anyone who's gotten sucked into Lumines or Vice City Stories for hours can attest to that. Kid Stuff While it's true that many games aimed for children have been released for portables through the years, there's no shortage of great games for any age. Especially this generation of portables, it seems more and more portables are aiming their sights for older gamers. Brain Age, Metal Gear and GTA are proof enough that in no way are portables just for the playground. Less vocal fan community One thing that hurts the portable gaming community is that despite the great sales for systems and games, the fan community is far less vocal than the typical console fan base. Of course part of this seems to be self perpetuating since if there aren't many online or print sources for portable gaming, there are obviously less places for those fans to express their feelings. Not as many huge titles Some would say that the portables lack blockbuster titles and that is why they garner less attention. This hardly seems like a good excuse though since at this point nearly every blockbuster franchise has a version on handhelds. From Metal Gear to Mario, if there is a big game on a console there is typically a counterpart on the portable. Not only that, but some portable games consistently sell better than most console games. So while there may be no good reason portables get overlooked, it does seem like they're on there way to reversing this fate. With the increased importance of blogs and forums in the gaming world, it seems like only a matter of time before portable games do get the equal respect they deserve. Until then, the average gamer may just be too busy playing their PSP to even care.
Analyzing the press' Second Life obsession
For the past few years, journalists in both the gaming and mainstream press (Joystiq included) have been enamored with Second Life, covering every minor new "first" in the quickly growing virtual world as more evidence that it is destined to become the first true metaverse. Valleywag contributor Clay Shirkey has taken a good look at this press hype and determined that Second Life is a phenomenon "built on sand."Shirkey's major argument is that Second Life's impressive registered user numbers are inflated by a "Try Me" effect where people sign up, tinker around, and then leave in relatively short order. While there are over 1.9 million registered Second Life accounts, Shirkey estimates that there are less than 10,000 or so active users walking the game's servers at any one time. That's not nothing, but as Shirkey puts it, "in a billion-person internet, that population is also a rounding error."Shirkey points to other failed metaverse experiments like MUDs and VRML that were once touted as the holy grail of virtual spaces only to quickly fade to obscurity. He doesn't quite make the same prediction for Second Life's eventual fate, but he makes a good case for the virtual world becoming more of an social niche than an Internet revolution.Maybe we're all just focused on the wrong virtual world -- after all, World of Warcraft just recently passed seven million registered users.[Via Boing Boing]
