Gary's Blog

Just a place to find out what's on my mind, or what's occupying my time whilst I avoid actual "work."

 

VGN for March 31st, 2006

Video Game News:

Less "Mature" titles sold to kids...

By Lisa Baertlein Thu Mar 30, 8:25 PM ET

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Trade Commission

said on Thursday a nationwide undercover shopping survey last

year found that fewer Mature-rated video games were being

sold to unaccompanied children.

The results come as many state and federal lawmakers -- who

claim that the industry's self-rating system lacks adequate

retail enforcement -- are pushing for laws that would ban the

sale of violent or sexually explicit video games to minors.

The FTC said that 42 percent of its undercover shoppers --

who were children between the ages of 13 and 16 -- were able

to buy an M-rated game last year. That is down from 69

percent in 2003.

Multi-player demos on Live Marketplace...

Ubisoft and EA's finest from the military available to all

via Xbox Live...
Posted: 23:33 on 30 Mar 2006
By: Chris Leyton

It's a great time to be an Xbox 360 owner at the moment; with

games such as GRAW, Oblivion and Fight Night Round 3,

Microsoft's next-gen format is really beginning to show signs

of its true potential.

The good vibes carried on today with the announcement that a

demo for EA's Battlefield 2: Modern Combat has made its way

to the Xbox Live Marketplace, in addition to the long-awaited

GRAW demo - though we'd imagine most people have probably

gone out and bought it by now.

A hopeful sign of things to come...

 

UMDs in hiding?

By Thomas K. Arnold Thu Mar 30, 10:11 AM ET

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Exactly a year after it

was launched in the United States, the Sony PlayStation

Portable's days as a hand-held movie-viewing device might be

numbered.

Disappointing sales have slowed the flow of movies on the

proprietary Universal Media Disc to a mere trickle. At least

two major studios have completely stopped releasing movies on

UMD, while others are either toying with the idea or

drastically cutting back.

And retailers also are cutting the amount of shelf space

they've been devoting to UMD movies, amid talk that Wal-Mart

is about to dump the category entirely.

Wal-Mart representative Jolanda Stewart declined comment on

reports that the retailer is getting out of the UMD business.

But studio sources say such a move is imminent, and a check

Wednesday of a Wal-Mart store in Santa Ana, Calif., revealed

a drastic shrinkage of UMD inventory. Several shelves of

movies in the PSP section were gone; all that remained were

seven UMD titles sitting bookshelf-style on the top of the

PSP section, with no prices or other information.

*SPECULATION!!!*

Revolution specs revealed?

IGN has been at it again with further details from an inside

source close to the Revolution...
Posted: 13:01 on 30 Mar 2006
By: Chris Leyton

In the continued absence of official specifications IGN has

once again been playing the guessing game when it comes to

the Nintendo Revolution, suggesting further details from an

"inside source".

According to the source the Revolution's "Broadway" CPU has a

clock speed of 729 MHz, whilst the "Hollywood" GPU runs at

243MHz; although clock speeds aren't the only means to

judging a processor's performance, these figures put the

Revolution comparatively faster then those of the GameCube's

"Gekko" (485 MHz) and "Flipper" (162 MHz) chips respectively.

The source further alleges that the Revolution will contain

24MB of 1T-SRAM (unique memory combining speed of SRAM and

the capacity of DRAM), along with an additional 64MB of

external 1T-SRAM that can be accessed as quickly as the main

allocation.

Figures such as these immediately scream of a generation

behind what the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 are capable of,

however it's worth remembering that specifications such as

these mean very little when they're not taken into account

with the overall picture of what the Revolution is all about.

Perhaps the most intriguing claim from the original IGN

article is the suggestion that Nintendo was working on

Revolution styled controller devices for the GameCube, as

part of the push for innovative peripherals that the Japanese

giant confirmed back in 2004.

Whether or not the Revolution is just a souped up GameCube

with the device now intact and of course the Virtual Console,

remains unknown at this stage, however it does little to

deter our anticipation for what is truly a fresh start for

the videogame industry.

 

What I've been Playing:

Oblivion on XBOX 360

Like, 20 hours this past week.  Yipes.  I'm at the point

where the game actually begins.  Yee-Haw!!

Anime News:

More Voltron Please!!!??

Media Blasters, in conjunction with World Events Productions,

is releasing Voltron: Defender of the Universe on a series of

DVD sets beginning in September. Each set will contain about

15 episodes, all with 5.1 audio and remastered video.

In addition to original character sketches, TV ads, and news

footage, the DVDs will contain new extras created "with help

from the original producers and staff."

Media Blasters is also planning to release Hundred Beast King

GoLion and Armored Squadron Dairugger XV on DVD starting next

year. They will be uncut and subtitled.

More information will be available from Media Blasters' new

Voltron site.

Convention Corner:

Jacon! 

In 2006 JACON will be celebrating its seventh year of bringing Japanese animation to the Central Florida Area. This Japanese Anime convention will host a full schedule of events and activities dealing with anime, manga, and other aspects of Japanese sub-culture, such as video games. JACON 2006 will be held April 28-30, 2006 in Orlando, Florida at the Sheraton World Resort.

The Wasabi Animusical II: Electric Boogaloo
The sequel! Come join us on a not-so Bogus Journey as the Wasabi Empire Strikes Back! This 2 Fast 2 Furious dancing and comedy show follows up where last year’s left off… but this time Wasabi Anime makes use of popular songs from movies it found in The Chamber of Secrets. So Escape From L.A. and come to Orlando, Florida for the most popular convention stage show because we Still Know What You Did Last Summer.

For more information visit http://www.animusical.com

posted by: Gary1059 at 07:01 | link | comments |