Nintendo amusement park?

Patrick Klepek - 1UP Thu Jun 1, 6:21 AM ET

Nintendo fans are known for their obsessive nature; it's part of their lifeblood. Who knew such an infatuation with a fat, Italian plumber who can't score with the chick he keeps saving would manifest itself into the conceptualization of an amusement park based on the principles of the platforming series: jumping, hitting blocks and destroying Goombas.

That's exactly what Dan Albritton, Noah Shibley and Quanya Chen have envisioned with the Nintendo Amusement Park, though; an idea that plans to harness mechanical technologies (how else will you jump so high?) to "give a player super powers which they must learn to control as they bound through a massive obstacle course in three-dimensional space."

This can't be true?!?!

Video games push for Olympic recognition

Global Gaming League talking with China to bring competitive gaming to the Beijing 2008 games

Game Over is a weekly column by Chris Morris

May 31, 2006: 11:50 AM EDT

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - A mouse, keyboard and/or Xbox controller don't seem like the standard gear of an Olympic athlete, but Ted Owen wants to change that.

Owen, who runs the Global Gaming League (GGL), a media company focused on the lifestyle and culture of gaming, is currently talking with the Chinese government in hopes of bringing competitive video gaming to the 2008 Games as a demonstration sport.

Admittedly, it's an uphill battle. Even if you can look past the lack of physical skills necessary to play video games, the Olympics haven't had any sort of demonstration sport since 1992 - and Olympic experts say there has been no movement to bring them back.

Owen, though, said he believes gaming's worldwide appeal - especially to a younger audience - could be the biggest boost to the Games since snowboarding.

"People aren't watching [the Olympics] as much anymore," he argued. "You need to bring younger viewers back if you want to keep making money. To do that, you need to embrace non-traditional sports. They did it with snowboarding - and look how the popularity of that has surged in the Games. Video games deserve to be seen as a non-traditional sport. ... They would bring something to the Games that [that age group] engages in and everyone understands."

Though gaming doesn't take much physical prowess (a quick glance at many of the most talented competitive gamers is confirmation enough), it does demand incredible hand-eye coordination - arguably as much as golf and tennis.

Wii by October?

Posted: 17:59 on 30 May 2006

By: Chris Leyton

Although Nintendo won't tell anybody about when the Wii will arrive, it seems GameStop may have inadvertently given a hint at when we can expect to be waving our arms around, discovering all-new gameplay techniques.

A leaked listing from the US retailer has a provisional line-up of titles, with Rayman Raving Rabbids, Avatar: The Last Airbender and SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature from the Krusty Krab all listed for release on October 2nd - perhaps the same date that the Wii goes on sale across North America.

Madden NFL 2007, Need for Speed: Carbon, Red Steel, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, Call of Duty 3 and Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam are all scheduled to follow shortly after in November if the list is accurate, with confirmation that EA's Medal of Honor: Airbourne will arrive on the Wii during February 2007.

Corporate mouth pieces that need to shut up:

SONY INVENTED 3D!!

Translated from German:

Originally Posted by Phil Harrison

We invented realtime 3D graphic 1994 with Playstation. Nintendo 64 came out 1996 and had Realtime 3D graphics too. But we didn't blame Nintendo and said: "Nintendo, you stole our idea!"

He expects that every PS3 game will use the motion sensor technology.

I and the consumers don't care about Live Anywhere.

Sony has some plans with MySpace but Harrison can't talk about it.

He believes that PS3 is the place where consumers will use the internet, watch movies and play games. "The Playstation 3 is a computer. We don't need the PC"

Infinium becomes Phantom for all the right reasons.

Developer of Phantom gaming service and Lapboard peripheral to change name pending stockholder approval; former CEO sues company.

By Brendan Sinclair, GameSpot

Posted May 26, 2006 1:11 pm PT

Infinium Labs has endured no small amount of criticism for its choice of "Phantom" as the name of its yet-to-materialize gaming console. Originally announced in 2002, the Phantom has been subject to endless delays, false starts, numerous changes to Infinium Labs' executive roster, and even a scandal or two.

But now the company has told investors that it plans to change its name...to Phantom Entertainment, Inc. Infinium has called a special stockholders' meeting for July 13 in Tampa, Florida, where the company hopes they will vote in favor of the name change. In the SEC filing detailing the meeting, the company gave the following reasoning for the switch:

"The Board of Directors believes that the name change would be in the best interests of the Company because the new name better reflects the long-term growth strategy of the Company."

What I've Been Playing:

Oblivion

Uno

Ultra Marble Blast

Con Corner:

MetroCon