City Of Heroes To Unleash User-Created Content

Similar in concept to our character creator, it allows you, the players, to create missions and story arcs for your characters and others to participate in. You'll be able to pick the map, villain group, and objectives, as well as write the dialog and any clues needed for the missions. When you are satisfied with it, you can upload it and have other players across all servers play it and rate it. Fame will come to the players whose stories rate the best overall.

Microsoft More Innovative Than Nintendo Or Sony

You read that right folks. According to BusinessWeek's annual World's 50 Most Innovative Companies, Microsoft comes in at number 5, beating out Nintendo at number 7 and Sony at number 9. Take that, Sony and Nintendo fanboys! Oh wait, we're talking about games, aren't we? Well then I suppose Microsoft didn't really even place for games. Their innovation was attributed to their Surface PC and efforts to catch up with Google in the search engine market. Both Nintendo and Sony, however, were specifically lauded for their video game systems, with Sony called out for PlayStation Home and the PlayStation Network, and Nintendo for tapping into an entirely new gaming audience. This doesn't mean the Xbox 360 isn't innovative. Just not innovative enough for BusinessWeek, that's all! Just look at it this way - three of our favorite companies are in the top 10 of the list. We should throw a party, or at least stop hitting each other for a minute.

The World's 50 Most Innovative Companies [BusinessWeek via Gamasutra]

Free Running Through Popular Culture

In an article over at Gamasutra, Andy Robertson takes a look at the use of popular culture in video games, specifically Parkour (or Free Running). He takes an in-depth look at some of the games that have used Parkour, namely Crackdown and Assassin's Creed, and discusses what they did really well, and what leaves much to be desired for free-running fans.

The biggest difference between the two games is that Assassin's Creed allows the users to do just about anything, moving up and over the whole sandbox environment using Parkour-style moves, but doesn't reward players for the fluidity and beauty that authentic Parkour demands. On the other side, Crackdown has specific Xbox Achievements that encourage players to be more fluid and artistic with their movements, but permits fewer grab points and forces the player into a more linear, less free and experimental path. What Robertson doesn't refer to is the upcoming game Mirror's Edge, based solely around the art of Parkour. If these two elements are married in Mirror's Edge, it could be a big Free Running hit. Then again, if it's only those elements, I can't imagine long-term play possibilities for the game.

Game Culture Vultures: Parkour

Sid Meier - Gaming's Three Greatest Innovations

The gaming industry is based on innovation, with each successive generation absorbing new, innovative ideas, making them a part of what gaming is today. At a special lunch last Friday at the Algonquin Hotel in New York, industry legend Sid Meier revealed what he thought to be the three greatest innovations in gaming history. His picks? First off, the IBM personal computer, which brought computing and as a result computer gaming to the masses. Next he citied video games that focus on creating rather than destroying, humbly offering Will Wright's Sim City as an example in lieu of his own Civilization. Finally, Nintendo's Seal of Quality...which might not mean much today, but back in the day was a sign that the industry wasn't going to allow the flood of crap that systems like the Atari 2600 were subject to, changing the face of console gaming forever and effectively revitalizing a briefly dead market. Profound choices from a profound voice in the business. How do your picks stack up?

The Three Most Important Moments In Gaming, And Other Lessons From Sid Meier [MTV News]

Next-Gen Picks Top Ten Game Design Innovations Of 2007

The Kotaku calendar indicates that we should be up to our eyeballs in "Best of 2007" lists by the start of next week. Fortunately, instead of focusing on the top ten games of the year based on some vague merit—that's typically just a list of the year's most hyped, biggest name titles—Next-Gen opted to focus on innovation. Don't worry, some of the bigger software is included, such as Mass Effect and Call of Duty 4, but a few titles that wouldn't normally make the cut are included.

While some of the inclusions will be contested—Warhawk gets props for dumping single player?—and some are certainly recycled—Ultima Online "innovated" with its graphical overhaul years ago—the argument could be made that at least these efforts were successful. Others, like Portal just being Portal, will probably find few detractors.

They might not have been my choices, but I suppose I'll have to back that up with my own list.

TOP 10 GAME DESIGN INNOVATIONS 2007 [Next-Gen.biz]

Innovation and the Casual Market

East vs. West: On Gaming Preferences

10tacle Carves Out TOTEMS

BioShock is just around the corner, and right now thousands of people are downloading the playable demo via Xbox Live just to get a small taste of what's in store for what could be one of the best reviewed games of the year, but things weren't always simulated sunshine and dead ponies for the eagerly anticipated FPS. Speaking to CVG, senior designer Joe McDonagh talks about how he was given a task that Ken Levine spent years trying to do with no luck. Finding a publisher for BioShock.

I remember pitching the game to one publisher who later told a friend of mine that it was 'just another fucking PC FPS that's going to sell 250,000 units.'

Pitching Bioshock - "just another f**king PC FPS" [CVG]

WiFi Plundr Coming to DS

Shut Your Eyes And Snipe At Me

Lead Civ Dev Praises Nintendo

Obviously, there will always be a place for a traditional console like the 360 and the PS3, but people forget so often that videogames are capable of almost anything. No one's imagination is ever big enough to grasp all the new ways people can play electronically - and great rewards are waiting for companies that actively seek them out.

Madden 07 Tops Five Million, EA Crows

Probst on EA Innovation and Microtransactions

Playing With My Wii - Dragon Ball Z

EA: "Gears of War? Zero Innovation."

Sony Survey: Does this Dress Make Me Look Innovative?