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VGN for February 24th, 2006
Video Game News:
Hilton in video games, without the green light effect?
By Pete Harrison Thu Feb 23, 5:48 AM ET
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Hilton Group (HG.L) said that after
the sale of its hotel division later on Thursday it would become a
pure gaming company using the Internet to exploit opportunities in
Europe and Asia.
The group was laying out its plans alongside its annual results,
following the sale of its Hilton International division to its
U.S. namesake Hilton Hotels Corporation (NYSE:HLT - news) for 3.3
billion pounds ($5.8 billion).
"Through e-gaming we reach into 200 countries around the world,
and there's the intention to push that even faster," Deputy Chief
Executive Brian Wallace told Reuters.
Hilton reported a 10 percent rise in year profit and said it would
return up to 4.2 billion pounds ($7.3 billion) to shareholders
early in the second quarter following the hotel sale.
Profit before tax rose 9.9 percent to 413.9 million pounds in 2005
and operating profit from online gaming nearly doubled to 41.4
million.
"When we said four years ago this business could make 50 million,
people laughed," Wallace said of the online gaming division.
"Well, we're a long way toward that."
What's with Sony?
By Alyce Lomax Wed Feb 22, 4:16 PM ET
What's up with Sony (NYSE: SNE - News) lately? For the last couple
days, rumors have been flying that the company may delay launch of
its long-awaited PlayStation 3 game console, and that could
certainly spell trouble for the company. The new console is a hot
product among the company's recent missteps, and a long delay
could certainly give its rivals an edge.
Sony's been a highly watched company lately, considering the fact
that the once-mighty consumer electronics giant has dropped a few
balls lately. There's the much-publicized fact that its Walkman
product lost its rep as the king of music players when Apple
(Nasdaq: AAPL - News) took the crown with the iPod. (Sony's trying
to carve out a new niche in digital books, though.) And of course,
its rootkit controversy is still fresh in many minds.
On the other hand, even a Sony skeptic like me had to note that
the PlayStation line of products has been a major bright spot. The
PlayStation is the number one game console. I was surprised to
hear that Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT - News) was beating Sony to the
punch by releasing the
Xbox 360 right in time for the 2005 holiday season, and that
Sony's PlayStation 3 was going to be a no-show. However, given
recent rumors, it seems PlayStation 3 may arrive even later than
that.
Some news reports point out that Sony downplayed PlayStation 3 at
the Consumer Electronics Convention in January. Meanwhile, some
analysts think PlayStation 3 won't launch here in the U.S. until
the 2006 holiday season -- or maybe even later. There's also talk
of the high cost to manufacture the product, with one analyst
pegging it at $800 per console.
Granted, PlayStation 3 is proposed to have some pretty incredible
features, such as inclusion of a Blu-ray high-definition DVD
drive. It's supposed to be one of the first devices that will
include that next-generation technology, which of course is one of
the reasons why the console is so anxiously awaited. In addition,
it will include a snazzy microprocessor that is reportedly several
times faster than Intel's (Nasdaq: INTC - News) Pentium 4, another
impressive addition.
Sony is standing firm on its past plan to launch the product this
spring, which could be somewhere in the April to June timeframe.
I've long wondered about the bullish price pegged on Sony's shares
when the company has made some major missteps over the course of
recent history. The rumors about PlayStation have helped Sony's
shares lose nearly 5% of their value over the last week. Given the
fact that Microsoft's Xbox 360 is having a problem meeting demand
for the product -- a mixed blessing, of course -- it stands to
reason that the longer Sony waits to release PlayStation 3, the
more market share it stands to lose to Microsoft and other rivals,
casting a shadow on one of its most popular products. It seems to
me that investors have good reason to be wary.
After an introductory segment which showed Keighley and Fils-Aime
being serenaded by a troubadour in Mario drag while racing Mario
Kart-esque go-karts, the pair got down to business. Keighley asked
Fils-Aime directly what is going on with Twilight Princess.
Without missing a beat, the outspoken executive confirmed that the
game was missing its current Q2 2006 window.
"It's coming out in the fall, it's coming out on GameCube," said
Fils-Aime. "There's been a lot of speculation. People have been
saying that we're holding it back or that it's gonna be launched
just on Revolution. Tell your people 'Not true,' it's gonna be out
on GameCube, it's gonna be out in the fall."
Addressing recent rumors, Keighley asked Fils-Aime if Twilight
Princess would have special features that could be accessed only
when it was played on the backward-compatible Revolution. When
Keighley asked if the Revolution's motion-sensing controller could
be used to control link's sword in the game, Fils-Aime demurred.
"It's a great idea," he said. "You should talk to [Zelda creator
Shigeru] Miyamoto about it. But right now the focus is on
GameCube."
What I've been playing:
Fable: Lost Chapters--XBOX
Burnout Revenge--XBOX
Animal Crossing: Wild World--NDS
Anime News:
Convention Corner:
Video game tournaments galore in a larger gaming area than last
year!!
Sunday:
Five teams of four Ninja’s test their skills for prizes.
3:00pm - 5:00pm, Room 222B
WTF?
posted by: Gary1059 at 07:02 |
link | comments |
VGN for February 17th, 2006
ARRRRRRGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!
THE FIREFOX ATE MY HOMESWORK!!
Sorry, computer crashed right after VGN this week.
Just go listen to the show, http://www.orock1059.com/onair/gary_holmes.shtml
It'll be there titled 2/17/06.
Blegh.
posted by: Gary1059 at 08:55 |
link | comments |
VGN for February 10th, 2006
Video Game News:
By MATT SLAGLE, AP Technology Writer Thu Feb 9, 12:52 PM ET
Nintendo Co. announced new wireless features for its DS portable video game player Thursday, including a free service that will let consumers beam game demos and other content directly to the device.
Beginning in late March, the company plans to deploy electronic kiosks at thousands of U.S. retailers including Best Buy Co. Inc. and GameStop Corp.
Owners of the dual-screen DS who go near the kiosks will automatically receive a notice on their devices offering game demos, movie trailers and other content for temporary download. The information will be erased from the DS once it's turned off.
The service uses the DS's local-area wireless networking capabilities, which until now had been used just to facilitate head-to-head play by gamers near each other.
Nintendo also said it was adding voice chat to the sci-fi action game "Metroid Prime: Hunters," available March 20. Players who join up for multiplayer battles over Nintendo's wireless Internet service will be able to talk to each other through the system's built-in microphone before and after games, but not during, said Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America Inc.'s executive vice president of sales and marketing.
Good old Jack talks shop with Bono from U2...
Excerpts:
"Allow me to provide some of the reasons why I make this fervent suggestion:
1. I appeared on CBS' 60 Minutes twice last year on behalf of two Alabama police officers and a dispatcher killed by a teen who trained on Grand Theft Auto: Vice City to kill them. We are now proceeding toward trial in our wrongful death action on their families' behalf, buoyed by three affidavits sworn to by experts who have testified before the US Congress as to this copycatting phenomenon that the American Psychological Association in August 2005 says is now irrefutably proven."
The SAME APA that used to say that high concentrations of Lithium were safe?
Who swore by Ritalin, and Serzone, both of which has also been linked to death/murder/suicide? Not statistically significant? Hi there, your point wants it's representation fee back. The APA is an admitted ever changing body of discussion, not an authority of absolutes, and you know that. Stop exploiting name recognition for evidence.
The same APA that has allowed regular doctors not versed in psychology to prescribe psychological medication as "maintenance" drugs? Medicate first, ask questions last and never EVER discuss the real problems. Instead, when they snap, blame it on video games. Nice.
"Indeed, the most recent such incident tying Take-Two to murder was found in the 18-year-old Jacob Robida who went from carving up homosexuals in a "gay bar" in New Bedford, Massachusetts, to a "sucide by cop" shoot-out in Gassville, Texas. Three lay dead. Robida was an obsessive gamer, whose games included, according to detectives in Massachusetts, the Grand Theft Auto games whose scenarios he replicated precisely."
Anyone remember doing this in any GTA? You're not blaming ICP for the hatchet, are you? Myspace for perpetuating the communication between this killer and those who supposedly egged him on, are you? The lyrics in a typical ICP song which has its "jugallos" "reppin tha hatchet" or a host of other things, just video games. You're blaming this on video games? Funny, I'm a stalwart gamer and seeing this ON THE NEWS made me sick. What about that news, eh? Oh, the kids should be in bed? PARENTS SHOULD WATCH WHAT THEIR CHILDREN PLAY.
"3. Sony and Take-Two designed the GTA: Vice City game to utilize the PS2's Dual Shock controller, which sends a visceral jolt back into the hands of the player each time he kills. Thus, the entire system is a biofeedback, operant conditioning system which desensitizes the user to the act of killing. Skinner would be proud. It is right out of his playbook."
Skinner wasn't a football coach, and you're not a psychologist. Many games take advantage of the interactive feedback available in the Dual Shock. Working backwards from the premise that "GTA is a killer simulator" is exactly how you arrived at this conclusion. Anything can be substantiated that way, the burden of proof that it was intentional is up to you. Sadly, you failed.
Just go read the rest of it. As always, he has a few points that seem correct and even reasonable. Then he goes off the deep end with his theories. Wow.
Tonight at 6 pm, on the Jody and Scott show, Vanilla Rice dances DDR for 4 hours!!
Tune in tonight at 6pm as Jody and Scott finally make Vanilla Rice come through with his promise of getting on the dance pad for a four hour round of the bemani game from Konami, Dance Dance Revolution!!
Microsoft confirms that the Master Chief sequel will be coming to PCs - but only on Windows Vista...
Posted: 17:24 on 09 Feb 2006
By: Jon Wilcox
Microsoft has today announced that Halo 2 will be released for PC following a joint development between Bungie and a 'dedicated' team at Microsoft Game Studios. But before all you PC gamers make a date in your diaries (a figure of speech, since an actual release date is yet to be confirmed), be forewarned: Halo 2 will only be available on machines running the long-awaited and long-overdue Operating System, Windows Vista.
Featuring the single-player campaign and multiplayer maps of the Xbox version (so this will be the so-called Halo 1.5 released at the end of 2004), Halo 2 for Windows Vista will also include the nine-maps from the Multiplayer Map Pack, and will give players the opportunity to create and customise their own multiplayer maps.
What I've Been Playing:
Nothing but WORK!!!!
Anime News:
Con Corner:
Next Show:
February 24th - 26th, 2006 In Orlando, Florida
Show Hours
Friday 1pm - 7pm (advance ticket purchasers get in at 12pm)
Saturday 10am - 6pm
Sunday 10am - 5pm
AOLIM: VGNOROCK
For Scott: Hot chicks of Cosplay.
posted by: Gary1059 at 07:54 |
link | comments |
VGN for February 3rd, 2006
Video Game News:
We received the following from a young man who we will call "Mr. Smith."
(CW)TB
Hey guys,
I interviewed for a guerilla marketing business in San Francisco that targeted web forums.
I was told that if I accepted the job, I was to have at LEAST 50 identities on as many forums as I could muster (they wanted 100 eventually), with a goal of 5 posts an hour. The posts had to be well thought out, and the idea was that I was to establish multiple identities with a history on the forums, so that when the timing was right a well written but subtly placed marketing post could be finessed in. And regular visitors would recognize the post as coming from a long time poster.
They had 12 people working there full time, and were hiring 10 more. You do the math. No wait, I'll do it for you: that's 880 posts a day (if minimum was met). However he said the better ones could do around 8 or 10 an hour. And they had different "verticals" so there was the sports guy, and the games guy, the hentai, excuse me I mean anime guy, etc.
But the most critical point was this: develop and integrate the identity. No random "HEY EB GAMES IS AWESOME BUY THIS" stuff.
Kinda spooky.
Didn't take the job. It was a ****ing mill.
Apparently they hire out on LiveJournal and MySpace too.
Take Two and Rockstar sued over Hot Coffee
Robin Arnfield, newsfactor.com Mon Jan 30, 5:55 PM ET
A video minigame allowing users to engage in explicit sexual acts has triggered a lawsuit by Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo. The sex game was secretly included with "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas," a video game originally rated M (Mature 17+).
The city says the Grand Theft Auto (GTA) game generated sales of over $600 million and wants Take-Two Interactive and its subsidiary, Rockstar Games, which produced and developed the game, to disgorge a portion of their profits.
Murder and Sex
GTA, released in the last quarter of 2004, has players performing a variety of criminal acts. These include murder, pimping, home robbery, tagging, and drug-dealing. Unknown to the industry-rating board and to consumers at the time, the game also had a sexual minigame embedded in it.
By hiding the adult material, Take-Two Interactive was able to obtain an M rating for GTA, and the game went on to become a best-seller.
Study suggests link between parent and child through video games
By Laurie Sullivan
TechWeb.com Fri Jan 27, 12:58 AM ET
Study Suggests Video Games Bond Parent And Child More than a third of American parents play computer and video games and 80 percent do so with their children, according to a survey released Thursday by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA).
The study suggests that 66 percent of the parents surveyed believe playing video games with their children creates closer family ties. Thirty-six percent of parents who play video games introduced their children to the technology.
To put the gaming market into perspective, U.S. computer and video game software sales grew 4 percent in 2005 to $7 billion, according to the ESA. The industry group also said more than 228 million computer and video games were sold in 2005, almost two games for every household in America.
The ESA's study, which sampled 501 parents who have children between the ages of 2 and 17 at home, said the typical parent who plays video games is 37 years old, 47 percent are women, and 45 percent said they play games on both computers and game consoles. While many said they have been playing for 13 years, one-third acknowledged having played video games for 20 years or more.
What I've been playing:
Half Life 2 for XBOX
No time for anything else this week, unfortunately.
Anime news:
posted on 2006-02-01 13:29:54
The Anime Network has sent out an e-mail announcement stating that TAN will be available on DirecTV Pay per View Channel 177. Samurai X: The Motion Picture and Gantz are among the offerings.
We previously reported that The Anime Network is available on DirecTV Pay per View Channel 117. The channel is actually 177. ANN Apologises for this error.
Howl's Moving Castle up for Oscar
Howl's Moving Castle Nominated for Oscar (2006-01-31 10:08:51)
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced the nominees for the 78th annual Academy Awards. For the Academy Award for Animated Feature, the nominees are Howl's Moving Castle, Burton's Corpse Bride and Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit. The Academy Award winners will be announced on Sunday, March 5 in an awards ceremony starting at 5pm Pacific standard time.
According to this site and Billy's own forum, they're going to begin making four new Futurama DVD movies this summer!
Hopefully, before Mega-Con this month, I'll interview Billy West and talk about this exciting announcement!!
Con Corner:
Next Show:
February 24th - 26th, 2006 In Orlando, Florida
Show Hours
Friday 1pm - 7pm (advance ticket purchasers get in at 12pm)
Saturday 10am - 6pm
Sunday 10am - 5pm
Please Note: Some panel and breakout rooms remain open to 11:30pm
Con wrap up:
FX Show
Otronicon
AIM: VGNOROCK
Listen the this show now!
posted by: Gary1059 at 08:02 |
link | comments |
