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VGN for December 30th, 2005
Video Game News:
Graffiti Ad leaves blanks to fill in.
By MARYCLAIRE DALE, Associated Press Writer Thu Dec 29,10:38 AM ET
PHILADELPHIA - Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE - news). scouted out an unusual place to advertise its PlayStation Portable before the holidays: the side of an abandoned building in a gritty North Philadelphia neighborhood.
The black-on-white graffiti shows wide-eyed cartoon characters riding the PlayStation like a skateboard, licking it like a lollipop or cranking it like a Jack-in-the-Box.
But there's no mention of the Sony or PlayStation brands — nor any hint the wordless display is an ad.
The stealth marketing campaign has popped up in San Francisco, New York and other large U.S. cities.
"It's all about hip-hop, urban and all that. They're just trying to get into the teenagers' minds," said Eddie Torres, 29, who works at a nearby furniture shop. "I think it's sharp."
Anti-blight advocates think otherwise.
"They're breaking the law," said Mary Tracy, who runs the Society Created to Reduce Urban Blight, a watchdog group that fights illegal or ill-advised billboards in Philadelphia.
Tracy said Sony ignored the zoning process that regulates outdoor commercial advertising in the city.
This Nissan Concept Car Brakes for Video Games
# The Urge comes with an Xbox 360 and uses the steering wheel and pedals to control play.
By John O'Dell, Times Staff Writer
Gentleman, start your video games.
Nissan Motor Co. next month will unveil at Detroit's auto show a concept sports car, called the Urge, equipped with Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 video game system.
When the car is parked, the steering wheel, gas and brake pedals and a 7-inch liquid crystal display screen that drops down from the rearview mirror turn it into a personal video arcade so the driver can play the "Project Gotham Racing 3" game.
The car-racing game, which works only when the Urge is stationary, allows players to virtually speed through the streets of London, Tokyo, Las Vegas and New York and to compete on a German test track.
Nissan designer Bruce Campbell said the car was developed after conducting an Internet survey asking young auto and gaming enthusiasts the kinds of features they would want in their ideal car.
Most of the nearly 2,000 respondents were young males who overwhelmingly wanted "a small, fun-to-drive sports car [with] the technology products they use on a daily basis," said Campbell, vice president of design at Nissan's advanced research and design center in La Jolla.
Installing the latest entertainment gadget on wheels is a staple in the auto business. Car radios date back to the 1920s and in the 1950s Chrysler offered a phonograph under the dashboard that played records. Today, DVD players and MP3 digital music player hookups are found in many vehicles.
In Nissan's latest concept car, the ignition won't work until the owner docks his or her cellphone in a cradle that transmits the phone's identification code to the engine control computer — so the phone becomes the key.
The lightweight aluminum and carbon-fiber Urge was designed in La Jolla and hand-built by Metal Crafters Inc. in Fountain Valley.
The sleek design was inspired by a racing motorcycle and features a see-through glass hood; narrow, oversize tires and wheels; and bulging, motorcycle-style fenders, Campbell said. The car has an open "T" roof reminiscent of the Pontiac Trans Ams and Chevrolet Camaros of the 1970s, plus a folding canvas cover for rainy days.
Nissan is one of several Japanese carmakers pursuing the youth market.
The company and rivals Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. will introduce competing small cars in the U.S. next year that are expected to start at less than $15,000.
Whoo-Hoo!
Jay Wrolstad, newsfactor.com Fri Dec 23, 5:11 PM ET
A federal judge in California on Wednesday blocked the implementation of a law designed to restrict retailers from selling or renting violent video games to minors. The law was slated to go into effect on January 1, 2006.
The decision by Judge Ronald Whyte, of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, drew upon the rulings in cases where similar legislation had been deemed unconstitutional. Whyte wrote that video games are protected by the First Amendment.
The ruling is a victory for the Video Software Dealers Association and the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), which initiated the lawsuit, and is a setback for those attempting to limit access to blood-and-guts video games.
Looking Past Legislation
"We deeply respect the concerns of the governor and the legislature that gave rise to the law," said Douglas Lowenstein, president of the ESA, in a statement.
For the sixth time in five years, he noted, federal courts have now blocked or struck down state and local laws seeking to regulate the sale of games to minors based on their content.
"It is time to look past legislation and litigation in favor of cooperative efforts to accomplish the common goal of ensuring that parents use the tools available to control the games their kids play," said Lowenstein.
The California law would have required game publishers to attach labels to especially violent games, identifying those that could not be sold or rented to younger children.
Gary's Take:
Here's my take...this "law" is obsolete. With the advent of the XBOX 360 and the message it sent to others, the future of parental controls is now. With all the next gen consoles, lazy parents can lock out ESRB rated games that they feel are innapropriate. So, there's no need to over react, a few minutes and a fairly friendly learning curve and they control what their kids play, no matter who sells what to whom.
2005 Highlights
The Xbox 360 rush is on
Microsoft kicks off the Xbox 360 era at a special launch event in California's Mojave desert.
November 21, 2005
Reality check on Xbox 360
It didn't take long for some gamers to start griping about the new consoles. But just how widespread are the problems?
November 29, 2005
Will small publishers still have game?
With rising development costs, the little guys are facing tough choices when it comes to new consoles.
November 18, 2005
Senators target 'graphic' video games
Clinton and Lieberman call for a crackdown on sex and violence in video games, while another senator vows to target "indecency."
November 29, 2005
Sex content leads to adult rating for 'Theft'
Following heated controversy over racy hidden images, "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" will now bear an adults-only rating.
July 20, 2005
ESRB to investigate 'San Andreas' sex content
Ratings board will look into claims that explicit minigames are hidden in "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" code.
July 8, 2005
Sony spills PlayStation 3's guts
On a cloudy Los Angeles film studio lot, long-awaited details of new gaming console follow news of Microsoft's rival Xbox 360.
May 16, 2005
Game fans clamor for PSP
Hundreds wait in line for hours to snag one of Sony's new portable game players.
March 24, 2005
Trojan sucks life from PSPs
Malicious software claims to undo Sony's patch attempt to deter customizers, but turns game player into a useless "brick" instead.
October 6, 2005
ESA will sue to block Michigan game law
Video game industry's lobbying arm plans to file suit against the governor over legislation banning the sale of violent games.
September 14, 2005
Illinois seeks to restrict violent video games
Proposed bill makes Illinois latest state to tackle growing concern over increasingly graphic games.
February 28, 2005
Nintendo's NES game console turns 20
It's been 20 years since the NES first hit American shelves. And today, Mario's still going strong.
October 18, 2005
'Dungeons & Dragons' goes virtual
Call it one for the old-timers. A virtual version of D&D hopes to stoke the nostalgia and creativity of the original role-playing game.
November 14, 2005
EA invests big in the future
The game giant's recent licensing deals may be paying off, even as it fights off tough competition.
August 24, 2005
What I've been playing:
Indigo Prophecy.
Beyond Good and Evil.
Tony Hawk on NDS here at work.
Happy New Year!!!!
posted by: Gary1059 at 05:00 |
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VGN for December 23rd, 2005
Video Game News:
Games you can get now.
Check out your local Toys 'R' Us, sales running until Saturday night!!!
For those of you who want to trade in and get what you want:
Get an account at cheap ass video games for this and lots more video game deals!!
3 Arrested for Modding XBOXs...
Jay Wrolstad, newsfactor.com Wed Dec 21, 4:36 PM ET
Three California men this week were charged with selling modified
Xbox game consoles that allowed the machines to play pirated games that were copied onto a hard drive installed in the consoles.
According to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Los Angeles, the three individuals, including two store owners, are accused of conspiring to traffic in a technology used to circumvent a copyright-protection system and conspiring to commit criminal copyright infringement.
The owners of ACME Game Store allegedly sold Xbox gaming systems that had been altered by a third man, who installed modification chips and large hard drives into the consoles. These chips and hard drives allow the user to copy rented or borrowed games for future playback.
What I've been playing:
Beyond Good and Evil
Indigo Prophecy
Tony Hawk on DS
posted by: Gary1059 at 08:03 |
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VGN for December 16th, 2005
Video Game News:
Video Games in a slump, panic ensues...
Thu Dec 15,10:51 AM ET
NEW YORK - The video-game industry saw software sales decline from 2004 levels for a third straight month in November as the launch of Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 console helped erode demand for existing titles.
U.S. video-game sales plunged 18 percent from last year to about $700 million in November, market research firm NPD Group said on Wednesday.
The overall results were buoyed somewhat by hardware sales, which gained 10 percent to about $456 million over November 2004. Including accessories, total industry sales slid 9 percent to reach $1.3 billion last month.
Analysts say the November figures are difficult to compare with the year-ago period, when blockbuster hits "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" and "Halo 2" drove a sharp rise in sales.
Still, last month's sales were almost twice those in October as the industry ramped up for the critical holiday spending season.
Much of the decline in software sales can be attributed to consumers holding out for the next wave of consoles, such as the late November debut of Xbox 360, said Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter.
Tue Dec 13,12:23 PM ET
TOKYO (AFP) - Microsoft's chances of challenging Sony's dominance in the Japanese video-game market were left looking increasingly remote as surveys showed sales of the new Xbox 360 got off to a slow start.
Some 28 percent of Xbox 360 consoles on store shelves were sold in the first two days after its launch on Saturday, according to a survey by market research company Media Create, which declined to say how many outlets it polled.
Microsoft sold a total 41,817 consoles over the weekend in Japan, according to the consultancy firm's initial estimates.
Another survey from magazine publisher Enterbrain put Xbox 360 sales in the first two days at 62,135 units after a survey of 3,500 stores.
Nintendo To Displace Revolution???
A newly discovered patent shows how Reggie's porting claims may be substantiated...
Posted: 12:23 on 12 Dec 2005
By: Jon Wilcox
Despite the lack of figures it's been known for some time that the Revolution won't be powered to the levels of Xbox 360 or PlayStation3, but last weeks claims by Reggie Fils-Amis that third-party ports for the next-gen system "...can be as easy or as complex as a team wants it to be..." will have had many pondering as to how that can be accomplished.
A recent patent filed at the US Patent Office, number 6,971,957, describes how Nintendo aims to utilise Displacement Mapping techniques to cut down on the processing power required to generated high quality models. Displacement Mapping is a technique where a high-quality mesh physically transforms (displaces) a lower-quality object. Using the technique, a displacement map can be placed over a mesh of only a few hundred polygons and still look as comparable to a model consisting over thousands, even millions, of polygons. What this means in effect is that by using displacement mapping, Revolution games could look as good as Xbox 360/PlayStation3 titles without the need for high-powered processors such as CELL.
Techniques to create an illusion of depth such as Bump Mapping, have merely faked an impression of depth; what Displacement Mapping does is actually create that depth, and was a technique used WETA Digital to create the Cave Trolls in Lord of the Rings. The next-generation of systems will be the first to take advantage of the technique, with Microsoft filing for a similar patent with regards to the Xbox 360, so never mind this round of the console wars being the "HD-era", it could instead be the age of displacement.
Whether this patent is the smoking gun to Fils-Amis' claims will have to be seen when titles for the Revolution are unveiled in 2006, but it certainly continues to build up the intrigue around the next-gen system.
What I've been Playing:
Finished GUN!!
Far Cry: Instincts
Beyond Good and Evil
Next week, my personal guide to last minute shoping for that gaming enthusiast in your life.
Anime News:
ANIME EXPLOSION: Pretty Cure Max Heart
Join us for our free, monthly showing of anime on the big screen!
When: Midnight, Friday, December 16th
Where: Loews Cineplex at Universal Studios Orlando
We will begin wrist banding at 10:30 pm at the table just inside the lobby.
Pretty Cure Max Heart
Join us to close out the year with this magic girl anime. The Courageous Warriors of the Garden of Hope have come to ask the legendary warriors, Pretty Cure, to help defend the Garden's Diamond Line. An evil witch plans to steal the Diamond Line to plunge all worlds into darkness and revive the Dark King. Can Pretty Cure and the Warriors prevail?
Running Time: 1 hour and 10 minutes
Cya at the Movies
Funny google video:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5430343841227974645&q=the+internet+is+for+porn
posted by: Gary1059 at 07:53 |
link | comments |
VGN for December 9th, 2005
Video Game News for December 9th, 2005:
REGGIE ATTACKS!!
Bleak outlook highlights the need for a Revolution...
Posted: 01:04 on 09 Dec 2005
By: Chris Leyton
Drawing parallels between the videogame industry and Hollywood, Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime Vice President Sales and Marketing continued to illustrate the Japanese giant's forward thinking direction and the reasons behind it at the 33rd Annual UBS Global Media Conference.
Describing the popularisation of special effects amongst Hollywood during the 1980's and the subsequent bread-and-butter nature of the big-budget blockbusters, Reggie attributed the recent struggles of Hollywood to the single-minded approach and highlighted recent comments from Jim Gianopulos, Co-Chairman of Fox Filmed Entertainment, "It makes no sense to continue aiming all your films at the same demographic quadrant, eventually they all become stale." Nintendo believes the same.
The downward spiral of the Japanese videogame market has been well documented, with software sales showing year-on-year declines for the last eight years. Despite this the general consensus is that videogames are thriving within the United States and Europe, however Reggie's sobering figures painted an industry that may have grown, but whose penetration has remained largely the same for the United States at least.
Four years' sales data split across half year increments depicted a downward trend in each first-half, turned around this year only by the launch of the Sony PSP and Nintendo DS. Typically the first half of the year is a weak and barren time propped up by the Christmas blockbusters; however a look at the critical second-half highlighted Nintendo's projections of a decline in 2005, despite the Xbox 360 being accounted for.
Xbox 360 launches in Japan.
By Yukari Iwatani Kane and Lisa Baertlein
8 minutes ago
TOKYO/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. begins selling its new Xbox 360 video game console in Japan on Saturday, launching its attack on the industry's third-biggest market and the home turf of market leader Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE - news).
Xbox 360 will the first next-generation game machine to enter the market, putting the world's biggest software maker at an advantage versus competitors Sony and Nintendo Co. Ltd, which plan to launch their latest consoles next year.
But some have tempered expectations for Microsoft's Japan launch even though the console quickly sold out in North America and Europe. It remains in short supply in those markets.
"Pre-orders on the Internet look solid, but I don't think the retail stores will sell out of Xbox 360s in the first day," said Takeshi Tajima, an analyst at BNP Paribas in Tokyo.
"Serious game fans will likely rush to buy them, but I think most people are going to wait and see," said Tajima, who added that "Dead or Alive 4," a 3-D fighting game that was supposed to be the hot new game for Xbox 360 in Japan, has been delayed until after the launch -- removing a key reason for fans to rush to buy the console.
PS3 Still set to ship in Spring...in Japan.
By Sue Zeidler
Thu Dec 8, 9:22 PM ET
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Sony Corp. (6758.T) on Thursday said it remained on track to roll out its PlayStation 3 game console by spring 2006 despite industry speculation that the scheduled launch could face delays.
The timing of the release of Sony's updated PlayStation console has become a matter of speculation in the $25 billion video game industry and among the studios, hardware makers and other companies looking to handicap the battle over next-generation DVD technology.
A spokesman for Sony, the No. 1 provider of game consoles, said it was still targeting a spring 2006 launch for the PS3, which is key to maintaining its lead in the game console market against Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT - news), which recently launched its competing Xbox 360 console.
Redux
The Family Entertainment Protection Act aims to prohibit the sale of mature titles to minors in the US...
Posted: 11:09 on 30 Nov 2005
By: Jon Wilcox
US Senators Hilary Clinton and Joe Lieberman are to introduce their Family Entertainment Protection Act to the Senate when the body reconvenes in a fortnights time. If passed, the Act, a response by the two Democrats to the Hot Coffee scandal earlier in the year, will prohibit the sale of Mature and Adult Only ESRB games to under 17 year olds.
The Act will also ensure that the ESRB system undergoes an annual independent analysis so that content is accurately rated, as well as allowing the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to execute random retailer audits – so-called mystery shoppers – to discover how easy it is for minors to purchase mature titles. A recent survey announced that 42% of boys under the age of 17 had been able to purchase M for Mature rated games. The Act would extend the powers of the FTC to investigate misleading ratings on titles to discover how inherent the problem actually is.
What I've benn Playing:
Gun--almost finsihed!
Far Cry Instincts.
Anime News:
AZN network?
Jeff Yang reports in SF Gate that that Comcast has laid off AZN's Channel Chief, and will lay off the bilk of AZN's 43 employees. Most of the senior programming, acquisition and promotional staff are to be laid off with only a "handful of mostly junior staffers" to remain.
Regarding the changes being made at AZN, Comcast released this statement, "We are restructuring AZN to leverage consolidated network functions in Comcast's programming operations. As we complete this restructuring, we will continue to deliver high-quality programming for Asian Americans, and the programming and viewing experience will remain essentially unchanged."
Yang reports that this means that the station will remain largely unchanged from what it is now, and that a large number of new projects planned for the station will not go through. Furthermore, with senior acquisition and development staff being laid off, Yang wonders what will happen to the station once the content that it has already licensed is used up.
Tasha! 
posted by: Gary1059 at 08:02 |
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VGN for December 2nd, 2005
Video Game News:
VGA on Spike TV December 10th:
The Nominees:
Game of the Year God of War, Resident Evil 4, Call of Duty 2, World of Warcraft, F.E.A.R.
Best Action Game Resident Evil 4, Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie, The Warriors, 50 Cent: Bulletproof, God of War
Best Individual Sports Game Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06, SSX On Tour, Tony Hawk's American Wasteland, Top Spin, EA Sports Fight Night Round 2
Best Team Sports Game Blitz: The League, Madden NFL 06, NBA 2K6, World Soccer Winning Eleven 8 International, NBA Street V3
Best First Person Action Call of Duty 2, Far Cry: Instincts, F.E.A.R., Battlefield 2, Perfect Dark Zero
Best Graphics Peter Jackson's King Kong, Call of Duty 2, F.E.A.R., PGR 3, Resident Evil 4
Best Handheld Game Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, Lumines, Nintendogs, Meteos, Burnout Legends
Best PC Game Call of Duty 2, F.E.A.R., Sid Meier's Civilization IV, World of Warcraft, Battlefield 2
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Winners were announced earlier tonight during the 3rd annual Spike TV "Video Game Awards 2005" ceremony held at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Los Angeles, CA. Hosted by Samuel L. Jackson, the two-hour "game vs. game" extravaganza will premiere on Spike TV Saturday, December 10 (9:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT).
Resident Evil 4 (Capcom) took away the Vector Monkey trophy for "Game of the Year" as well as "Best Graphics." Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Movie of the Game (Ubisoft) won three awards including, "Best Performance by a Human -- Male" for Jack Black; "Best Game Based on a Movie" and "Best Cast." World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment) won four awards including "Best Multiplayer Game" and "Best PC Game."
The Spike TV "Video Game Awards 2005" ceremony featured musical performances by 50 Cent, Def Leppard and Missy Elliott and show appearances by Charlize Theron, Kiefer Sutherland, Jack Black, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Rock, Vin Diesel, Carson Daly, Donald Faison, Jaime Pressly, Josie Maran, Snoop Dogg, Xzibit, Carmen Electra, Natasha Bedinfield and Dane Cook, among others.
The show also featured the Television World Premieres of 24: The Game (2K Games), Spyhunter: Nowhere to Run (Midway Games) and Star Wars: Empire of War (Lucas Arts) Scarface (Vivendi Universal) as well as a 25th anniversary comic tribute to Pac Man (Namco).
Categories and winners for the Spike TV "Video Game Awards 2005" are:
GAME OF THE YEAR
-- Resident Evil 4 (Capcom)
BEST ACTION GAME
-- God of War (Sony Computer Entertainment America)
BEST INDIVIDUAL SPORTS GAME
-- Tony Hawk's American Wasteland (Activision, Inc.)
BEST TEAM SPORTS GAME
-- Madden NFL 06 (Electronic Arts)
CYBER VIXEN OF THE YEAR
-- Maria Menounos as Eva in James Bond 007: From Russia With Love
(Electronic Arts)
BEST GAME BASED ON A MOVIE
-- Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie (Ubisoft)
Clinton/Lieberman To Introduce Video Game Act
The Family Entertainment Protection Act aims to prohibit the sale of mature titles to minors in the US...
Posted: 11:09 on 30 Nov 2005
By: Jon Wilcox
US Senators Hilary Clinton and Joe Lieberman are to introduce their Family Entertainment Protection Act to the Senate when the body reconvenes in a fortnights time. If passed, the Act, a response by the two Democrats to the Hot Coffee scandal earlier in the year, will prohibit the sale of Mature and Adult Only ESRB games to under 17 year olds.
The Act will also ensure that the ESRB system undergoes an annual independent analysis so that content is accurately rated, as well as allowing the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to execute random retailer audits – so-called mystery shoppers – to discover how easy it is for minors to purchase mature titles. A recent survey announced that 42% of boys under the age of 17 had been able to purchase M for Mature rated games. The Act would extend the powers of the FTC to investigate misleading ratings on titles to discover how inherent the problem actually is.
What I've been playing:
Gun. Only Gun. Must play more Gun.
Anime news:
Christmas Eve Movies and New January Schedule
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On Saturday December 24 at midnight (Early morning December 25th) the first two InuYasha movies will air back-to-back, with Affections Touching Across Time at midnight and Castle Beyond the Looking Glass at 2:30 a.m.
Starting on Saturday January 7 the Saturday night (Early Sunday morning) schedule will feature new episodes of Fullmetal Alchemist at midnight, Ghost in the Shell: 2nd Gig at 12:30 a.m. Repeats of Neon Genesis Evangelion at 1 a.m. and Cowboy Bebop at 1:30 a.m.
As of January 2 the weeknight schedule will feature s-CRY-ed at 1 a.m. slot, followed by Lupin the 3rd at 1:30 a.m. The 12:30 a.m. slot will rotate programming every day, with FLCL on Mondays (Tuesday morning), premieres of InuYasha on Tuesdays, premieres of Samurai Champloo on Wednesdays and Neon Genesis Evangelion on Thursdays.
I'll try to get a photo of Tasha next week. Maybe a tattoo or two, too.:)
posted by: Gary1059 at 08:11 |
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