Daily Wrap-Up 3.18.08
Posted by Stephen Johnson - Tuesday, March 18, 2008 6:01 PM
Here's what went down today in the world of videogames, popular culture and technology!
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TAGS: Daily Wrap-Up, Videos
New 'Gran Turismo 5: Prologue' Screens
Posted by Stephen Johnson - Tuesday, March 18, 2008 3:48 PM
This gallery of shots lovingly details the awesome-osity of Gran Turismo 5 Prologue's F1 car.
Here's more info for you, and the game's trailer is below. It's for the PS3 and comes out in the middle of May.
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TAGS: Cars, PlayStation 3, Videogames
'Requiem' Screenshots
Posted by Stephen Johnson - Tuesday, March 18, 2008 3:43 PM
Check out these screens from upcoming horror MMO Requiem: Bloodymare. It's for the PC and is currently in beta testing.
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TAGS: PC Gaming, Videogames
Vista Gets Update
Posted by Stephen Johnson - Tuesday, March 18, 2008 3:10 PM
Everyone's most super-special favorite operating system, Windows Vista, just got even better. The first service pack for the system was released today.
Vista SP1 mostly fixes bugs and streamlines operations--23 security updates and 550 hotfixes, actually. You can read all about it at the official site.
Microsoft.com
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TAGS: Internets Culture, Tech
700 Mhz Auction Ends
Posted by Stephen Johnson - Tuesday, March 18, 2008 3:00 PM
Do I hear 19 billion? 19 billion going once...twice...and...SOLD to the as-yet-nameless international corporations!
That's right, friends, the U.S. government's auction of the 700 Mhz spectrum has ended, and the winning bidders payed 19.6 Billion (with a "B") dollars for the airspace. 1,099 licenses will be granted, mostly so cellphone and mobile devices will be able to have internet access. AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Google Inc. and 211 others were involved in the auction.
The sale was the most lucrative in U.S. history.
Bloomberg.com: U.S. Airwaves Bids Total $19.6 Billion; Auction Ends
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TAGS: Internets Culture, Tech
Ubisoft Abandoning Hard-Core Shooters
Posted by Mike D'Alonzo - Tuesday, March 18, 2008 2:58 PM
Ubisoft will likely not foray into the hardcore shooter market again, preferring to leave it with heads held high, on the heels of Rainbow Six Vegas 2. Ubisoft developer Phil Therien says, as a matter of fact, that the hardcore shooter market is too narrow, and won't be in the business model of the company any longer.
Now, they didn't rule out the idea of making hybrid-style games, which combine shooters with other game features, but it appears that the time of the Ghost Recon-style tactical shooter is no more.
Shack News: Ubisoft Designer: Hardcore Shooter Market 'Too Narrow' to Support Development
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TAGS: PlayStation 3, Videogames, Xbox 360
New Gamer Shirts Rule All
Posted by Stephen Johnson - Tuesday, March 18, 2008 2:53 PM
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TAGS: Style, Videogames
Cosplay Record Set
Posted by Stephen Johnson - Tuesday, March 18, 2008 2:19 PM
The photo above documents a world record breaking for gathering of videogame-costumed characters, and is a good approximation of the nightmares I suffered for months after completing Super Mario 64.
The 80 gamers gathered on London's Millennium Bridge dressed as Sonic the Hedgehog, Yoshi, Lara Croft, Detective Gumshoe, Vincent Valentine and others. Thirty local school children dressed as Mario. The record attempt celebrates the inaugural Guinness World Record Gamer's Edition 2008 that is on sale now.
The photos are entirely ridiculous. There's another under the cut, as well as Attack of the Show's entry in the book of feats.
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TAGS: Videogames
Nugget From The Net
Posted by Stephen Johnson - Tuesday, March 18, 2008 2:11 PM
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TAGS: Nuggets From The Nets
'Rainbow Six: Vegas 2' Trailer
Posted by Stephen Johnson - Tuesday, March 18, 2008 1:32 PM
In honor of thursday's release of Rainbow Six Vegas 2, here's the game's trailer!
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TAGS: PC Gaming, PlayStation 3, Videogames
EA Giving NCAA Tourney Brackets
Posted by Mike D'Alonzo - Tuesday, March 18, 2008 11:56 AM
 EA is providing NCAA Tournament brackets online for their game March Madness '08, available for download for 400 points. Fans will be able to play through the tournament bracket, as well as having alternative uniforms for 25 of the teams participating in the tournament. Also, the Final Four floor in San Antonio will be part of the content.
This DLC is for XBox Live members only, which kinda sucks for PS3 college basketball fans, but it's an awesome way to experience March Madness for yourself while playing the game.
Check out the Selection Sunday Bracket at the website.
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TAGS: Sports, Videogames
Diddy Says 'Me No Kill Tupac!'
Posted by Frank Meyer - Tuesday, March 18, 2008 11:55 AM
 LA Times reporter Chuck Philips penned an incendiary article last weekend about the 1994 ambush and shooting of rapper Tupac Shakur at Quad Studio in New York, an event many feel was directly related to his murder months later in Las Vegas.
The article, a follow-up to several previous controversial articles Phillips has written about the Tupac/Biggie murders in the past, reveals what he calls “newly discovered information,” including interviews with people who were at the studio that night, supprt’s Shakur's claims that associates of rap impresario Sean "Diddy" Combs were behind the assault. Tupac had always said that he was shot as punishment for disrespecting them and rejecting business offers.
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TAGS: Music
Internet Addiction May be Classified as Mental Illness
Posted by Ty Colfax - Tuesday, March 18, 2008 11:54 AM
An editorial piece in the March issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry says compulsive internet use which can include "excessive gaming, sexual pre-occupations and e-mail/text messaging" should be classified as a mental illness, under the parameters of addiction.
**WANT MORE? - Click the link below!!!**
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TAGS: Internets Culture, Other People's Misfortune, Videogames
Fresh Prince Ain't Down With Xenu
Posted by Mike D'Alonzo - Tuesday, March 18, 2008 11:42 AM
 Will Smith would like you to know that he's not a Scientologist. Yes, he and his wife Jada hang out with Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, but that doesn't mean they worship the same...um...god. So, stop believing the celebrity rags out there, because Will Smith is a Christian.
And Tom Cruise is still a nut job. Tip your waitresses, try the veal.
TMZ.com: Will Smith -- I Am (Not) Scientologist!
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TAGS: Movies
Singstar Goes '90s
Posted by Frank Meyer - Tuesday, March 18, 2008 11:26 AM
 Today Sony is releasing SingStar '90s, available exclusively for the PS2.
SingStar '90s brings a hit list of Grunge, R&B, Rap and Pop music from artists that defined the decade including Paula Abdul, En Vogue, Vanilla Ice, Boyz II Men, Nirvana and more.
Available both as a stand-alone disc and packaged with two high-quality USB microphones, players can easily access any of the song lists while playing from SingStar '90s, SingStar Rocks!, SingStar Pop, SingStar '80s, or SingStar Amped with the disc swap feature which allows for seamless transition between titles.
God knows I have been waiting to sing along to "Ice Ice Baby"...
Seriously, God knows that…he knows everything…
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TAGS: Music, Videogames
Hundreds of 'Super Smash Bros. Brawl' Images
Posted by Stephen Johnson - Tuesday, March 18, 2008 11:10 AM
Did you hear the news: Super Smash Bros. Brawl is out and available for the Wii. To celebrate we're brining you more screenshots than you could possibly imagine! Provided you can't imagine a number larger than 386,.
Check out the overflowing bounty of official screenshots!
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TAGS: Videogames, Wii
Console Wars Heat Up in UK
Posted by Ty Colfax - Tuesday, March 18, 2008 11:00 AM
The Xbox 360 saw a recent sales spike of 40% in the United Kingdom, after a pan-Europe price slash. Dorian Bloch, a games industry expert said, "The real litmus test will be over the next three to four weeks – it's too early to read too much into it at this stage."
While clearly no winner can be declared in the European front of the console wars, all of the players seem to be doing well. The PS3 is jazzed about a hardware bundle they're offering in conjunction with the exclusive release of Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, which should boost sales, and the Wii/DS continue to top software sales charts with Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games. Meanwhile, the PS2 continues to surprise analysts doing well in console and software sales which speaks to Sony's console longevity.
Not to start a flame war or anything but which of these consoles is your favorite and why? Ha, c'mon take the bait. It's so shiny.
gamesindustry.biz: UK Xbox 360 sales up 40%
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TAGS: Nintendo DS, PlayStation 3, Products
Yahoo's Buzz Numbers Look Promising
Posted by Brian Leahy - Tuesday, March 18, 2008 10:58 AM
Digg gets 26 million visitors a month, but how often are they actually clicking through to the website where the story originated? Not as much as people would like.
That's where Yahoo Buzz hopes to come in. Yahoo's new service is showing a lot of promise when it comes to driving traffic to the source of the news and has almost caught up with Digg's rate.
Business Week has an interesting article about Yahoo's initial Buzz numbers. We could tell you here, but then you wouldn't click through and read the original story.
Business Week: Digging Deeper into Yahoo's Buzz
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TAGS: Internets Culture, Tech
Around The Net 3.18.08
Posted by Eugene Morton - Tuesday, March 18, 2008 10:33 AM
Chances are, you probably did something stupid last night. After all, booze and good judgment don’t go together. Whatever dumb thing you did in public probably brought the drunken ridicule of your buzzed cohorts and it likely didn’t feel too good. At least you were inebriated. The big thinkers in today’s videos weren’t even under the influence when they decided to embarrass themselves publicly.
College Humor: Awesome Basketball Shot
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TAGS: Videos
NVIDIA Releases Dual Video Card
Posted by Brian Leahy - Tuesday, March 18, 2008 10:15 AM
Processors went dual core as a natural evolution and it makes sense that graphics cards would follow suit. NVIDIA is dropping the 9800GX2 on you and it's going to cost you $600.
Crysis got you down? This will be more than enough to run it.
Check out the press release, features and specs after the cut.
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TAGS: PC Gaming, Products, Tech
ESA Urges Mass. Gamers To Stand Together
Posted by Justin Fassino - Tuesday, March 18, 2008 10:14 AM
Get to know Massachusetts bill HB 1423. It's the newest in a long line of anti-video game propositions that would seek to restrict or outright ban the sale of video games that depict violence unless the buyer is over 18. The bill seeks to categorize this type of video game as equivalent to pornography by arguing that violent games lack any sort of artistic merit and/or are insensible to community standards.
In response to this proposed law, the Video Game Voters Network and the Entertainment Software Association are urging gamers in the state of Massachusetts to take a stand against this bill by submitting a letter to their representative stating their opposition to drafting the bill into law. If you're not a resident of Massachusetts there's no need to weigh in on this with your local government just yet, so for now just continue to fight the good fight on all things related to you.
So far legal precedent has favored the video game industry by declaring all previous bills of the same type as unconstitutional, with judges making the point that video games, just like any other form of media, will be protected under the First Amendment.
The VGVN and ESA contacted X-Play to also point out that the ESRB rating system that every game follows is a perfectly satisfactory for informing consumers of in-game content they might find questionable, leaving the responsibility of moderating video game habits up to parents and buyers and not the government.
"Massachusetts deserves better," said RIch Taylor, Senior VP for Communications at the ESA. "The proposed legislation ignores the unbroken chain of circuit court rulings and other decisions that already determined similar laws were unconstitutional.
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TAGS: Videogames
Moore's EA Blog Has Wii Info
Posted by Mike D'Alonzo - Tuesday, March 18, 2008 10:11 AM
Peter Moore has a new blog that talks about the wonderful world of EA Sports and all that is contained therein. Rest assured it is news from Peter's mouth, and is very much written in his style, which is awesome. Also on this new blog, Moore let it slip that EA has eight new sports games in development for the Wii, which is also awesome.
Now, that was the extent of the information. We have no idea what those games might be, although Madden is certainly a slam dunk, as well as some sort of variant of the NBA Live franchise. The rest, however...well, you're going to have to wait, just like the rest of us, but you can be sure that as soon as we know something, you will as well.
Peter Moore's Official Blog
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TAGS: Videogames, Wii
'Bionic Commando: Rearmed' Voted to be $10
Posted by Brian Leahy - Tuesday, March 18, 2008 10:02 AM
Capcom ran a poll asking fans what they wanted to pay for Bionic Commando: Rearmed on XBLA and the PSN and the majority voted for... *drumroll* ... the cheapest option.
Yes, it comes as no surprise that given the option, people want to spend less money on things.
The HD remake of Bionic Commando will run you $10 or equivalent MS Points when it releases this year.
Kotaku: The People Have Spoken: Bionic Commando To Cost $10
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TAGS: PC Gaming, PlayStation 3, Videogames
GameStop Makes Big Dough
Posted by Ty Colfax - Tuesday, March 18, 2008 9:57 AM
GameStop, love it or hate it, is making big bucks off the gaming industry. They just reported that their annual sales were $7.1 billion for February, 2007 - February, 2008, which is up 33% from the year before.
New game sales accounted for the bulk of that revenue up 38.4% from the previous year due to the big success of their top five selling games: Call of Duty 4, Rock Band, Assassin's Creed, Super Mario Galaxy and Guitar Hero III.
They opened an amazing 586 stores last year. That's one every 15 hours! So, while the economy is supposedly slumping and may get worse, GameStop is doing just fine and doesn't expect to feel any economic pinch in the near future.
next-gen.biz: GameStop Rakes in $7.1 bln in 2007
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