At the Atari Live event in London, Bozek spoke about her involvement in setting up Atari London and the kind of social gaming she will be pursuing at the new studio now that she isn't tied to the PS3.

"I'm working on something brand new," said Bozek, "It's still very much in the social, mass-market space, that's the area that I'm very, very much interested in. And now cross-platform. Or potentially on any platform which could include PlayStation of course.”

Bozek eyeing social games on all formats [GamesIndustry.biz]

...Wait, wait, don't glaze - in plain language, this means making it possible for the levels you built in Echochrome or your Spore creature creations, for example, to be swapped around to any platform where the game resides. Ever wonder why you can't transfer user-created Echochrome levels between the PlayStation 3 and PSP versions of the game, when it seems so theoretically possible?

Echochrome associate producer Kumi Yuasa explained at Croal's Level Up:

There is a large size difference between PS3 levels and PSP levels, PS3 levels being 8 times larger than PSP levels. So if a user decides to create a small PSP-size level on PS3, technically it may be possible to have the levels downloaded to PSP.

However, Yuasa told Croal that the goal for different platforms was decidedly different experiences - meaning more than technical compatibility is at issue here:

The team didn't want to implement the markup solution to make PS3 and PSP levels compatible because of the basic rule of this game: optical illusions. This game is based on optical illusions when you see a level as a whole, not when you zoom in certain parts of levels. So if you were to convert a level into something 8 times smaller and transfer to PSP, it would make it very difficult to see levels unless you can zoom in.

Basically the team wants users to experience the difference between PS3 levels and PSP levels solely. PS3 levels are larger and more dynamic, whereas PSP levels are smaller and more condensed/concentrated. Smaller the level does not mean easier it is to clear.

Ohhhh. See, this is why I just write about the games. I'll just duck back into my media cave now.

The XML-ization of Videogames, Part I: A Chat With Echochrome Associate Producer Kumi Yuasa [Level Up]

Finally!

A non-Xbox 360 game, two actually, managed to work their ways on to the most popular games being requested from GameFly crossplatform.

If anything was going to track it Xbox 360 stronghold I knew it was going to be Wario Ware: Smooth Moves... but Rogue Galaxy? Obviously I'm missing something here.

1 Lost Planet: Extreme Condition Xbox 360 Action Adventure Capcom
2 Crackdown Xbox 360 Action Adventure Microsoft
3 Battlestations: Midway Xbox 360 Action Adventure Eidos
4 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas Xbox 360 Shooter Ubisoft
5 Wario Ware: Smooth Moves Wii Arcade/Puzzle Nintendo
6 Rogue Galaxy PlayStation 2 RPG Sony Computer Entertainment
7 Call of Duty 3 Xbox 360 Shooter Activision
8 Grand Theft Auto IV Xbox 360 Action Adventure Take Two
9 NBA Street Homecourt Xbox 360 Sports Electronic Arts
10 F.E.A.R. First Encounter Assault Recon Xbox 360 Shooter Vivendi Universal

Brian Crecente

Microsoft predicts that PC/Xbox 360 cross-platform gaming is going to explode by 2008. The first cross-platform game, Shadowrun, is expected to hit in early 2007, said Msoft's UK third-party manager Steven Blackburn at a Games Convention session, but he doesn't expect the "floodgates to open for all titles" until 2008.

He did say that Shadowrun will have some achievements geared toward getting console gamers to play against PC gamers and that third-party cross-platform games will start dribbling in by autumn of 2007. Brian Crecente

GCDC: "Cross-platform floodgates will open in 2008" says Microsoft [Cross-Platform floodgates will open in 2008 [Games Industry]

The lastest dip into the Need for Speed money trough is going to be hitting streets this November in the form of Need for Speed Carbon.

Best I can figure is that it's Need for Speed in the wild. According to the description, after plenty o city racing, the cops drive you from town and you take to Carbon Canyon to race it up. It sort of sounds like these idiots here in Colorado who occasionally race along the mountain roads in and around the Rockies.

Carbon will be coming to the 360, PS3, Wii, PS2, Xbox, GameCube, DS, GBA, PSP, cell phone, PC, and, if EA ever figures out how to, your microwave. Brian Crecente

Carbon [EA]

Not sure how excited I am about this, OK probably not at all, but I'm sure children (including my son) will love Open Season. The Ubi game is based on the movie of the same, which hits theaters later this year. The game is due out on the PS2, Xbox, GameCube, computer, GBA, DS, PSP, Xbox 360, and if they can figure out a way to do it, the toaster.

Weee.

While I think IGN and 1Up were overly harsh in their reviews, giving the game scores around 3, Gamespot seems to match my opinion, giving the game a 5.7 mediocre score.

I only played through the single player portion, which I said was like SOCOM Light (something the GS writer seems to agree with.) I was hoping the multiplayer part of the game would bolster the title, because it seems like the short single player portion was just thrown on at the last minute, but it sounds like that didn't happen.

I'm still awaiting my retail build to play the multiplayer myself and form my own opinion of the game. But it's sounding like it's going to be getting mediocre from me as well.

A reader in the know writes to confirm that Electronic Arts is indeed working a VG adaptation of Casino Royale and to clarify it's current status. He says that the next-gen version of the game hasn't been delayed, it's been canceled. However, the development team (I'm told they are in Europe) is still working on an adaptation for the current generation consoles.

Unannounced Casino Royale Game Placed on Hold [Kotaku]

Adaptec is selling a cool little, over-priced device that lets you hook up your consoles to your computer. The GameBridge TV lets you "Play console games in real time through your computer, plus record your best moves. Watch and record TV shows in full screen on your computer."

Adaptec GameBridgeTV [Adaptec]

A year-long study of in-game ads by Nielsen and Activision show that the damn things are effective unfortunately. On the bright side, the study also showed that ads that were intrusive or didn't fit into the theme of the game had the opposite effect desired.

So go ahead and put ads in games if it makes sense, like as a billboard in a racing game, but don't even think about smacking them into loading screens.

Study Backs in Video Games [AP]

Our globe-tripping brothers over at Gridskipper put together a cool little list of games that feature real world locations. Check it out and then shoot him an email with the ones he forgot. He said he's planning on updating it down the line.

City Games [Gridskipper]

The Today show s annual Toy Test Holiday Guide look at video games used a very... interesting process this time around.

According to the story, they tested 63 titles from Spiderman to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The story goes on to say that producers for the show contacted Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo to choose this year s hot titles. But there was some rules: No shooting and no stabbing of human characters on-screen and nothing could be rated higher than teen.

The show then set up a play test area and let a bunch of people (I m assuming kids) play each game for 20 minutes and then rate them from terrible to most excellent.

The test center stayed open for two weeks of eight hour days and resulted in 11,000 ratings. The results are after the jump, with a summery of the Today show s reviews:

Burnout Revenge: The winner and clear favorite.
Super Mario Strikers: A colorful and zany soccer game.
Mario Superstar Baseball: It s just really fun, as one kid told us.
Dance Dance Revolution Mario Mix: The Dance, Dance Revolution game with a Mario twist.
EyeToy: Play 2: It s kind of like virtual reality in a way, as one player said.
The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction: Simply put, the Hulk is having a bad day.
The Incredibles: Rise of the Underminer: We found that girls liked the game just as much as boys.

Video Games [Toy Test Holiday Guide]

Has there ever been a good Olympic video game, I mean besides Track and Field? Why do companies keep signing up to make these games? Does the Olympics pay them or something?

Take-Two announced today that they signed-up to make Torino 2006, the official game of the XX Olympic Winter Games. So this isn't just an Olympic game, it's a winter Olympic game. Shudder.

From the release:

Featuring eight winter sports, 15 thrilling events, extraordinary wintry landscapes and authentic commentator analysis, Torino 2006(TM) gives gamers the chance to participate in one of the most exciting sporting events of 2006. With a multiplayer mode for up to four players, gamers can compete head-to-head or in turn-based play that simulates the global stage of one of the most exciting sporting events in 2006. The XX Olympic Winter Games will take place in Torino, Italy from February 10-26, 2006.

Something Awful has a great Photoshop Phriday up featuring game titles with new box art retooled to be more honest.

Photoshop Phriday [SQ]

25 to Life [Official Site]

My sources tell me that Eidos is preparing to announce a ship date for 25 to Life, the game They don't want you to play. Contrary to rumor that the cops and robbers first-person shooter is being canned, Eidos should be sending word of their release date shortly. My gut feeling is that the game will be hitting early next year, but definitely not in time for the holidays.

25 to Life Canned? I think not [Kotaku]

After 25 years of running around in mazes gobbling up dots and popping power pills, Pac-Man is going to speak. What do you think he s going to say. My money is on: Enough with the fucking dots already.

Namco is unveiling Pac-Man s voice in his latest pill-chomping adventure, Pac-Man World 3. According to the release: Pac-Man will talk throughout the new title; he will provide helpful back-story information, as well as interact with the other characters. Backstory? Isn t this the game about a big yellow circle eating little yellow circles in a maze? How much backstory can their be?

Pac-Man will be voiced by Martin Sherman of Gangs of New York, Band of Brothers, Sahara and Batman Begins.

What s next, a plot for Astreroids, maybe voice-over work for Pong? To completely misquote Freud: Sometimes a game should just be a game.

The Rockstar folks dropped me a line yesterday about a couple of cool contests they've whipped up to celebrate the upcoming release of The Warriors.

To enter the first, hop on over to Spike TV to watch The Warriors trailer and answer some trivia questions. Two finalists will be selected to travel to New York City with three buddies for a weekend to compete against each other in The Warriors video game.

for the first contest, Rockstar teamed up with Spike TV for the "Can You Dig It?!" contest. simply click on the link below and watch The Warriors trailer and answer the trivia questions to win. Then, two finalist gang leaders with three friends each travel to NYC for a weekend and compete against each other in The Warriors video game.

The winning gang gets an extended stay in the city, including a private tour of Coney Island, and Central Park, hotel accommodations and a three day subway pass for unlimited use of the NYC Subway system (bats not included.) They also win an Xbox, PS2, JVC 1000W 5.1-Channel Home Theater System with Progressive-Scan DVD/CD/MP3 Player, Philips 50" Widescreen Digital-Cable-Ready Plasma HDTV with Dual HDMI Inputs, Sony VAIO TV-PC Desktop with Intel Pentium 4 Processor 550, a copy of The Warriors video game and other delicious Warriors swag.

Rockstar's second contest is with Adidas. To enter head over to the adidas site and answer some trivia questions. Prizes for that contest include, limited edition The Warriors/adidas classic trefoil t-shirts, limited edition The Warriors/adidas classic trefoil track tops, The Warriors - The Ultimate Director's Cut DVD, and a bevy of other Warriors swag like hoodies, T-shirts and hats.

Can you dig it?

Spike TV contest and Adidas contest [Official contest sites]

Since we're not going to be seeing a new Evil Dead movie any time soon, good thing the cross-platform Evil Dead Regeneration for PS2, Xbox and Windows drops Sept. 20th.

Evil Dead Regeneration is not a sequel to any of the previous games, but to Evil Dead 2. The game picks up where the movie ends with Ash being arrested by the police, who blame him for murdering his friends. Ash is sentenced to an asylum, where a psychotic doctor tries to harness the Necronomicom (book of the dead) and releases a hoard of monsters. It's up to Ash to kick ass.

Back in July, our own Brian Crecente sat down with Bruce Campbell for a Q&A. Campbell had this to say:

What s weird about voicing a video game is you have to allow for what a gamer might do. So, what I recommend with any of the games I work on is go into a corner or go somewhere and keep clicking on something, keep doing something really stupid because eventually you will hear This is nothing there. You know, Step away from the window, or whatever. We record a lot of things most gamers would never hear.

I suck at video games so I let me son play. So he rated the first three Evil Dead games. The first one he said sucked, the second one was OK and the third one was good.

Bruce Q&A
New Evil Dead Too Short?

A few weeks back I mentioned a game called Fahrenheit, which the GamesBlog said had all of the makings of a spectacular ride, perhaps even a game of the year.

Well Atari sent word today that the adventure game, known as Indigo Prophecy in the U.S., has gone gold. From the press release:

In Indigo Prophecy, New York City is stunned by a series of mysterious murders, all following the same pattern: ordinary people are killing absolute strangers in public areas. Lucas Kane becomes another one of these murderers when he suddenly kills a stranger in a men s bathroom. Covered in blood, Lucas regains consciousness with no recollection as to why he committed murder. Hunted by police, Lucas must uncover the supernatural forces behind his crime before being incarcerated for life.

By encouraging players to assume the role of multiple characters and experience the game from multiple viewpoints, Indigo Prophecy allows players actions to affect the plot by offering a scenario driven interactive experience each and every decision made by the player will impact how the in-game story unfolds. Through motion picture techniques such as actor direction, multi-camera views, motion tracking and a contextual music score, players find themselves intimately immersed in the game

The game is expected out on Sept. 20. Did I mention that it has a depression meter?

Indigo Prophecy [Official Site]