Take the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. Those 29 giant firework footprints that made their way to the Bird's Nest National Stadium from Tiananmen Square were actually computer graphics. Apparently, the Beijing Organizing Committee was worried it wouldn't be possible to capture the fireworks over Beijing. According to The Oregonian reporter Jon Canzano:

I was in Tienanmen Square on Friday evening, reporting and writing a column on the tens of thousands of jubilant Chinese citizens who gravitated there to celebrate. Those people saw two tiny flarelike blasts pop in the sky, followed by a lot of nothing, and they were probably baffled by the widespread reports of the lit-up sky, exploding footprints and brilliant fireworks. And today, I'm thinking those people are relieved to learn they're not losing their marbles.

...You don't mislead the public. You don't Photoshop the goods, or use a computer generation, in an attempt to create events that aren't there, especially when you're presenting an event to the public as if it's a true happening.

It took something like a year to create that CG fireworks sequence. The ceremony's visual effect team head, Gao Xiaolong, said: "Most of the audience thought it was filmed live — so that was mission accomplished."

This isn't the first instance of a government doing this. Heck, Iran recently PhotoShopped missile test pics to make them look more impressive. And no doubt, these two countries aren't the only two using CG and Photoshop to make their countries look good. This is something gamers have been dealing with for a while now, but here, the stakes are higher than a US$70 game, much higher. Frighteningly, so.

Joe Q. Public, look at everything with a raised eyebrow and discernment, because nothing that looks that nice looks that nice. Not even Olympic fireworks in the Beijing night sky.

If it looks too good to be true, it probably is [The Oregonian]
Giant footprint fireworks in Beijing Olympics opening ceremony 'faked' [Mail Online]

Putting aside the fact Yahoo are a few weeks late on the last time this story did the rounds, and seem to be running the story solely to take delight in linking a gaming console with human rights abuses, the fact the original Toward Freedom article repeatedly points the finger at Sony - and in particular the PlayStation 2 - is more than a little, well, strange.

To give you some background, the Democratic Republic of Congo, in Central Africa, is sitting on a reserve of a metallic ore known as coltan. From coltan, we are able to extract tantalum, which is used in all kinds of modern consumer electronics products, from PCs to mobile phones to DVD players to, yes, games consoles. Specifically, it's used to make resistors and capacitors. The DRC's coltan supplies constitute around 1% of the world's total, with the bulk coming from Brazil, Canada and Australia.

During the late 90s and early 00s, as war engulfed most of Central Africa, people also fought over the DRC's coltan supply. Just as they fought over diamonds, over people, over ideals, over religion and over land. It was during this fighting that, aside from the theft of coltan by the DRC's neighbouring states, some terrible atrocities took place in the DRC, including the enslavement of local children, who were sent into dangerous mines to extract coltan, which was then sold to overseas buyers to help further fuel the conflict.

These human rights violations took place. There's no doubt about this, nor is there any doubt that it was Western and Asian demand for consumer electronics that helped sustain the battles over the DRC's coltan. This isn't some political think-piece, however. We're just curious as to why someone would call this a "PlayStation War", when really, PlayStations had very little to do with it.

See, it's believed that the war was at its worst when the price of tantalum spiked between 1998 and 2001, due to "increased demand". Yes, that timeline coincides with the roll-out of the PS2. But come on. Tantalum is used to make personal computers and mobile phones and DVD players, the sales of which dwarf those of games consoles. 1998-2001 happens to be the time when DVD players first hit the market, when mobile phones first became common place and the internet hit the big time, bringing increased PC usage with it. It was those market conditions that increased demand, not the building of a few million PlayStation consoles.

Yet no PC manufacturers are named by Toward Freedom. Or by Yahoo, or by any other mainstream media outlet which reported this story. No mobile phone companies. Or any other consumer electronics manufacturers. They're not called the "Nokia Wars", or the "Samsung DVD Player Wars". They're called the "PlayStation Wars", regardless of how minuscule a contribution the PS2 actually made, because that's sexier, and will help get your story picked up by a game-fearing mainstream media.

Nintendo – We did have a bunch of individual Nintendo-related things in here. We don’t want to see Mother’s Day cards. We don’t care about broken wrists. We don’t ever, ever want to see anyone playing Wii Music on a stage ever again. But the list just kept going, and going, and going, so we’re just going to lump them all into one category: Nintendo. Anything and everything you did at E3 this year, Nintendo, don’t ever do it again.

Talky-Talky – You may have missed it if you caught it in bullet-point-form, but Sony’s E3 press conference ran for an hour and a half. And what did they manage in that hour and a half? The video marketplace announcement, a God of War III trailer and MAG. The other 87 minutes was stuff we either already knew or didn’t care to know. An E3 address is the time for sizzle, Sony, not slumber. We’re gamers, not investors. Next time, get to the point, even if getting there only takes you 15 minutes.

Duffy – Who the hell is Duffy? We had no idea. The Googlepedia mastermind tells us she’s a Welsh singer, and that she’s got the biggest-selling album in the UK this year. Good for her. Pity the Microsoft press conference wasn’t Top of the Pops. Don’t ever do that again, Microsoft.

Tell Us, Damnit– “Oh, I’d like to ask you that”, said an interviewee on more than one occasion. No. We’d like to ask you that. That’s why we’re here. We’re the ones asking the questions, thank you very much, and we ask them to get answers.

Navel-Gazing – We get it, E3 is dead. But does the world need any more people reminding us of the fact? Talk is cheap, and worse, most of the E3 talk thus far has been cheap and selfish, based almost entirely around what a games writer thought of the event from a games writer’s perspective. What about the publishers point of view? The developers? The PR teams? The mass media? Or, you know, the public’s? It may well be dead, but for once, it’d be nice to first check with everyone else concerned, see what they think.

Killzone 2 – Looked good in 2005. And 2006. And 2007. And...look, we don’t ever want to see it at E3 again.

Over-Excitement – Gamers are no different to any other type of consumer. They can smell bullshit marketing a mile away. So when senior company executives get up on stage like they just drank crack-laced Kool Aid, it’s only going to end badly. Nintendo and Microsoft were equally guilty of this. You’re grown men/women, and that’s how we see you, and expect you to act. Anything otherwise will only generate suspicion. Unless you’re The Cliffster. Then you get a pass.

Posts About Stuff We Never want to see at E3 again – They’re kinda boring and self-serving, aren’t they? You always start them with the best of intentions and they always come off looking all whiny. We never want to see, or write one, ever again.

And I ask: Does no one else realize that all this rubbish is pushing out of the charts legitimate games, which could use the extra exposure? And if we allow dictionaries and restaurant guides on our game charts, why not allow other generic software applications? MS Office, for example. Or Photoshop or Oracle or even Windows Vista. I mean if we open the floodgates there won't be any space left on our charts for anything other than a Final Fantasy or a Grand Theft Auto — and at the end of the day Windows Vista is far more of a game (with its included Minesweeper, FreeCell and Solitaire), it's far more fun to fuck around with, than any shitty Japanese "fashion guides" or "language learning" apps. So let's just park Vista at the top of our charts then for the next five or so years and call it a fucking day.

EA made the initial decision to charge for guns so they could make some money off you. That's what they do, they're a business. No harm in that. The way they went about it, though, well, it wasn't ideal. You can nickel-and-dime the kids for soundtracks CDs and tin boxes and action figures and gamerpics all you want, but when you open up a game's mechanics to the free market, giving those paying for content an advantage over those who don't, well, you're paddling right across the Rubicon.

Yet cross the river EA did, and an outcry followed. Petitions were begun. Boycotts threatened. "Don't you fuck with this game, you heartless corporate bastards" was the gist of mutterings by thousands across their dimly-lit keyboards. And for once, for a single week, the various warring tribes of internet fanboys set aside their differences and united against EA under a single banner. Tear-jerking stuff.

So a few days pass, the unrest grows louder, the petioning and emails continue, then...and then the darndest thing happens. EA announce the guns are coming for free (something I'm sure they were going to announce down the line anyways). Your complaining and crying and petitions worked. They'd seen how angry you, the consumer, had become, and rather than shout "let them eat cake", have instead said "here, cake's on us, sorry for the trouble". In other words, VICTORY.

Except...it isn't. And anyone who thinks it is are kidding themselves. Remember, EA made this decision so they could make some money. No doubt somewhere at Electronic Arts HQ is a ledger, and next to Battlefield Bad Company on that ledger is a projection saying $XX is estimated to be made by selling guns in the game. Now that they're not selling those guns, do you think they're just going to write $XX off the books? Not a chance.

No, they'll replace that "lost" money with the advertising dollars they rake in via the "marketing programs" anyone wanting the game's better guns will need to sit through. Or with other DLC offered later down the line (premium grenades, perhaps?), when this has all died down. They're not giving the money away, then, just shuffling it around a bit so you won't notice it so much. This isn't the end of stuff like this. The next EA game will have silly DLC, and the next one, and the next one.

Which means the boycotts (for a game you weren't going to buy anyways), the anger, the petitions, they're all pointless. This is a hollow victory. Why am I bringing this up, even though it will rain on more than a few people's parades?

Because while your hearts were in the right place, you all went after the wrong guy.

Online petitions aren't worth the bandwidth they're slung along. It's like trying to break down the walls of Helm's Deep by pissing on them. EA, who are a massive global corporation, sell their games to millions of people, and millions of those people don't ever read a messageboard or comment on a blog or sign online petitions. So your opinion doesn't mean as much as you think it does. You should know this. We're years on from stuff horse armour and "key codes" and paying-for-cheats and EA are still lacing their games with extortionate DLC, so it's obvious there are people are out there who are not only buying this content, but buying it in sufficient quantities for EA to keep on doing it.

They're the ones you need to be going after. Not EA. This is a free market. If something sells, EA will keep selling it. If something doesn't sell, they won't. Simple stuff. Clearly, DLC is selling. And you can hate and vent and write and bitch and moan all you like, EA won't stop selling it just because it makes you angry. You weren't buying it anyway. But if the people who are buying it stop buying it, well, that'll get you some results.

And I know, convincing them will be hard. These are your family we're talking about. Your friends, your co-workers, that kid you talk to at the bus stop. It's a lot harder having to explain this to them, and maybe even listen to their counter-points, especially since they're a real person and not some faceless corporation at the other end of an anonymous messageboard post. But hey, you want a real victory, and not a hollow one, you have to expect the fight to be longer and tougher than a few day's worth of words on the internet and some mouse-clicks.

His targets? Piracy on the PC platform and dealing with hardware vendors, two factors which make developing for the platform "an uphill slog", are at least partially to blame.

Fitch says that Titan Quest actually did okay. But that's about as positive as his venting gets.

"We didn't lose money on it," he says. "But if even a tiny fraction of the people who pirated the game had actually spent some god-damn money for their 40+ hours of entertainment, things could have been very different today."

Fitch goes on to lament, "Some really good people made a seriously good game, and they might still be in business if piracy weren't so rampant on the PC. That's a fact." He also points to distressing data that "pegs the piracy rate at between 70-85% on PC in the US, 90%+ in Europe, off the charts in Asia."

The whole thing is at parts depressing and enraging, but also worth the read if you didn't catch the link to it in our comments section earlier.

Venting my frustrations with PC game-dev [Quarter To Three Forums]

The reality is this: publishers generally hold the enthusiast press in utter contempt, and they have for a long time. This disdain began as scorn for the enthusiast media's roots in videogame fandom, rather than traditional journalism from "respectable" publications, but it has since metastasized into a veiled but nonetheless seething anger over the advent of the Internet and with it the rise of fan sites, forums and blogs over which publishers can exert little pressure, let alone control. The contempt emanating from the publishing community, by the way, is not limited to the enthusiast press. In our view, it extends to publicists, whom certain executives believe can and should be able to dictate the nature of their coverage and secure review scores of a certain magnitude. It even extends to their own developers, for whom Metacritic and Game Rankings scores can dangle as precipitously as the sword of Damocles, as if these executives were incapable of determining for themselves the quality of their games and taking action accordingly.

The only solution to this problem is for the editorial divisions of these enthusiast outlets who are being strong-armed by publishers and/or their own business operations to shine a light on these practices, much as Kotaku did with Sony earlier this year. Of course, it's easy for us to call for this sort of resolute bravery when Newsweek isn't dependent on videogame advertising and our livelihoods are not at stake. We recognize that some companies literally can't afford to alienate their advertisers, so far be it from us to knock another publication's hustle.

In the interest of developer-accessible census—what is the sweet spot for a single player campaign length? Personally, I like something that's about 8-12 hours...15 tops. Anything longer and I will absolutely never beat it. Anything shorter and if I feel gypped—not for what I paid as much as the accomplishment. Ultimately, gameplay always triumphs and exceptions apply. But for your average game, how long should it be?

[neogaf via gamernode]

Introduced in 2004, the Nintendo DS (for Dual Screen or Devil Screen), this game machine has sold some 700 million or so units. That's an epidemic. It's undeniable that it has been a "success" for its Japanese manufacturer, Nintendo (makers of Donkey Kong aka Monkey Donkey, a game in which a monkey kidnaps a young girl to satisfy his bestial desires). It's also been a tremendous success for pedophiles everywhere.

In retrospect, I would have bought my DS even sooner had it actually stood for Devil Screen, and I was in line the day before the first model came out. The writer seems to have a lot of repressed sexual feelings stirring in their loins, as evidenced by the 'satisfy his bestial desires' bit.

The article then goes on to present a completely made up story as a matter of fact.

I have been notified by one parent whose child was solicited to "come to the mall and we can go shopping and do other fun stuff. Don't tell your mom because she might spoil our fun. Parents are such a drag. LOL." Fortunately her parent was watching Susie (a pseudonym) that day, as all parents should, and reacted the way any good, loving, responsible parent would. She deftly ripped the offending device out of her hands, sent the reply "stay away from my baby, you psycho" and triumphantly snapped the unit in half. Nintendo TP (two pieces). It's garbage now.

Perhaps the writer is trying to create a fictional role model for parents to look up to. After all, Betty Crocker wasn't real but she is the champion of baked goods that come in boxes and tubs of frosting, so I suppose Susie could be the champion of symbolically tearing child molesters in half to keep them away from her baby, you psycho.

To round out the article, the writer dredges up the old PlayStation Pornable video from ages past, in which the mainstream media warns us that there are dirty pictures on the internet, no matter how small the screen is. As icing on the cake, they throw in a video of JT talking about Grand Theft Auto.

With supporters like these it is no wonder than Sam Brownback is pulling out of the running for Republican presidential candidate. Either there are too many sensible people who would never support him in a million years just to avoid association with these idiots, or the man realized that being a presidential candidate representing people like this would only encourage them.

Early Christmas Alert: Nintendo DS [Blogs 4 Brownback via Game Politics]

Even with the generous warranty, this still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. The inevitable is around the corner — as are big games like Mass Effect, Halo 3 and BioShock. Games that are likely to be monster hits and kill a shit ton of Xbox 360s. Not looking forward to sending off my console in the middle of playing those titles. Not looking forward to that at all. Better than paying to have the 360 fixed or buying a new one, I guess...

Microsoft, let's try to get the quality right with the next Xbox hardware iteration, 'kay? This one is crap.

For a generation of marketers raised on TV and print, the internet is a gray nebulous. What works in traditional media? Getting as many eyes on a new product as possible — that creates buzz. But since the internet doesn't have "Prime Time" per se and is powered by a series of sites (not channels or publishers), focusing those eyes all at one time and one place poses a challenge online.

Hence countdowns.

We've touched on this before. Yesterday, even. We hate countdowns. Lemme reiterate that, we HATE countdowns. They're lazy, unimaginative marketing. The hope is with these countdowns that everyone will be looking at something at the same time — like with TV and print to a lesser extent. It's a way for people in business suits to measure publicity. Thing is, with the internet, more eyes doesn't always mean good publicity. This of course is not unique to the internet, but the key different is that we interact with the internet more so than traditional media. Of late, we've seen the following:

• Super Smash Bros.
• Island of Rhodes? ISLAND OF CRAP
• Bethesda Counts Down To "Please Stand By"

There are of course more. Are the game developers to blame? To extent yes and to an extent no. Developers develop games. That's what they do. The success of these online campaigns should not reflect on the actual game because they don't. Yet, the front office people hire marketers and approve plans. In that regard, they are at fault. What about us? Why do we cover them? That's what we do, we cover gaming trends, news and other stuff. Are we to blame? Yes and no. If we report on them, gazillions of people find out about them. If we don't and actual information is released, then we are not doing our job. But, just for second if companies had a month or a week countdown for a press release. That would annoy every press outlet to no end! But companies have no problem doing this via a game's site, and we have a big problem covering this lackluster marketing.

What works online? From what I can see, snowballing. Take a look at internet memes. They start small and get bigger and bigger. Sometimes they are unintentional, sometimes intentional. But they all start with something being posted. And because that original post is interesting, it gains ground. Companies tried this with viral marketing, but that style is often insulting. So now, these countdowns build up to that original posting. Why don't companies just release that info without announcing that they plan to do so X number of days later? Because it's scary, risky. What if nobody looks at their site? What if nobody notices? How horrible! Having faith in whatever information they are releasing means not hyping up that information. If it's really important, people will find out about it. Put it up on your site, don't lie to us and if it's good, we'll click away and crash your site with traffic. That's how the internet works, and that's how it works beautifully. Wise up, companies. The rules have changed. Brian Ashcraft

Thirty-four days ago, Bethesda began a countdown for its upcoming RPG Fallout 3. And what did this huge build up count down to? A screen that says "Stand By." Why? Probably a gazillion people clicking "refresh" in unison.

Thirty-four days. Think about it. Building up to a technical snafu. This Fallout 3 countdown Bethesda clusterfuck shows exactly why countdowns suck. They're unnecessary. What would be so wrong if Bethesda threw up a Fallout 3 trailer with out hyping a count down for over a month? People would be greeted with a pleasant surprise! It'd be top news of the day. What's more, minus the annoyances, false promises and people staying up all night for no reason.

Seriously, enough with the countdowns. If something's really worth showing, this sort of build-up is not necessary. At all. Brian Ashcraft

Fallout 3 [Official Site]

You can please some of the fans sometimes, but none of the Nintendo fans none of the times. Over at Newsweek's Level Up, GoNintendo's Kevin Cassidy (cool sunglasses, dude) takes the mic and challenges how some view all things not truly Nintendo:

So when it comes to third party games, Nintendo fans are almost impossible to please. They seem to want everything and nothing at the same time. They want massive third party support, but when they get it they turn their backs. They have no problem with the rated-E for Everyone titles when Nintendo makes them, but the same designation is unacceptable when coming from third parties.

Huh. From reading this, you'd get the impression that Nintendo fans are unstable misery whores. Brian Ashcraft

P2P With GoNintendo [Level Up]

Why aren't there more female gaming bloggers?

Don't get me wrong, I know they're out there and most of the ones I know of are quite good. My favorite, by far, is probably Alice Taylor who McWhertor and I are constantly browbeating into posting on Kotaku despite her busy schedule with the BBC and her own blog Wonderland.

And there's, quite famously, Jane Pinckard once from 1Up now with the GDC folks, who I wish would do more stuff on her blog, and Brenda Braithwaite, who's work in the game development community, as a professor and her blog on gaming and sex keeps her quite busy.

So I know they're out there, but why aren't there more of them out there, or more specifically, why aren't they, you know, more out there.

While I think that strong woman writers who cover gaming are not proportional to the number of women playing games, the bigger issue it seems is that there aren't a whole lot of immediately recognizable female writers on the net. I think the ones out there now need to be more vocal perhaps, or maybe I'm just not reading the right sites.

I have, for the past month or so, been trolling around on the net to find a woman to write for Kotaku because I feel very strongly about having a diverse group of writers. I know that people with different ethnic, gender and social backgrounds can offer different perspective; and perspective, insightful perspective is where it's at in blogs.

But despite my digging around and my somewhat overt nosing around at GDC, I was hard-pressed to find the same sort of, for lack of a better term, job pool that I usually find with male writers.

Why is that?

If you're a woman and a gamer, get out there and blog. Raise the flag, let the industry know what you want from games. It's up to you to help change perceptions, because god knows we've had enough Barbie Adventures for a lifetime. Brian Crecente

In the letter, written in the royal third-person, he claims that he is being persecuted for his beliefs about Bully and that now his First Amendement rights are being trampled.

Interesting. So I called him. First at his office and then on his cell.

Only to be hung up on twice, ranted at for a good three minutes, called a hypocrite and "curious" and told I had to "listen to him for a change."

We did chat for a few seconds before Jack went into rant mode. He said he was honored to speak with me. I laughed and accused him playfully of being sarcastic and he asked if I had played the game yet. I have, about 10 percent. Then he started down the familiar road of the hypocritcal media, the violence in Bully. Yada, yada, yada.

I did manage to ask him one question. What is the basis for the claims in this contempt charge.

To summerize, Jack says that the judge wants to hold him in contempt for appealing the case and that it has nothing to do with the rambling, and insulting letter he sent the judge after losing his bid to stop the sale of Bully in Florida.

Good luck with that argument, Jack. Make sure to smile for your booking mug. Brian Crecente

Ps. Hit the jump for Jack's letter.

Immediate News Release - October 25, 2006

Is Miami Attorney and Video Game Critic Going to Jail Today for Contempt?

Take-Two, the makers of Grand Theft Auto games and the Columbine simulation game Bully, are the great defenders of their "First Amendment right" to market and sell mature video games to children. Bully, for example, according to the world's leading authority on the harm caused by violent games to kids—Dr. David Walsh of the Institute on Media and the Family—has weighed in on Bully and stated, categorically, that this game has been incorrectly rated by the ESRB and should have been rated "Mature." As a result of this fraud, Bully is being sold to children as young as ten around the country. Walsh says this game clearly teaches kids to be violent in response to bullying. Columbine's Klebold and Harris would be proud.

Two weeks ago, Miami attorney Jack Thompson, the nation's leading critic of the sale of violent video games to children, sought an injunction in Florida courts preventing the sale of Bully under existing nuisance laws. It turns out, now that experts have played the game, that it is even more violent than Thompson knew. The game routinely rewards the use of explosives, slingshots point blank to the face, and the crushing of craniums with baseball bats and metal fire extinguishers. All of this rewarded violence is by the game's hero "Jimmy Hopkins." Take-Two has lied about what is in the game, and now the lies have been proven. Thompson will be back in court to secure the injunction he sought earlier, and he will now get it.

However, there is first something going on in a court room today. The Miami Judge who unleashed Bully on America's children is Ronald M. Friedman, who had promised and ordered a full review of the game to its conclusion. He violated that order. He allowed paid employees of Take-Two to take him on a guided tour of the game, with no cross-examination by Thompson, in which they falsely told the Judge how nonviolent the game was and that violence is uniformly punished in the game. All lies. Finally, the judge violated his own order by publicly and falsely describing the content of the game before its public release. The judge violated another order by refusing to conduct a hearing on all this, as he had promised on October 12.

As a result of the Judge's multiple errors and violations of his own orders, Thompson took an appeal of his flawed decision and explained to the appellate court and to the media what really happened. As a result, Take-Two has asked this same Judge Friedman to fine Thompson or throw him in jail for being "disrespectful" of this Judge.

This Judge is apparently delighted by the prospect of throwing into jail the party who blew the whistle on his judicial misconduct. Today, at 4pm, on the 13th floor of the Dade County Courthouse, Jack Thompson is being asked to explain to Judge Friedman why he should not be held in contempt and thrown into jail.

The Take-Two lawyers asking for this are the delightful folks at Blank Rome who are a) the registered lobbyists in the US Senate and House for Take-Two, and b) the largest bundlers of campaign cash contributions to President Bush. This is the same President Bush who invited Jack Thompson to his Presidential School Violence Summit two weeks ago because of Thompson's expertise on the link between violent games like Bully and school massacres.

What this Judge is doing violates 18 USC 241, which prohibits any state official from using his authority to infringe upon the Constitutional rights of a citizen.

Jack Thompson may be going to jail today upon the request of people who claim the First Amendment protects the sale of pornography to children but does not protect public debate about that distribution.

By the way, Bully contains homosexual activities between Jimmy Hopkins and other male students. Is this a great country or what?

I was talking over the weekend with some friends about the World of Warcraft. I'm not a WoW player, but I did play it back when it launched.

I played the game very sporadically for about a month before I lost interest and moved on to other things. And I was thinking this weekend that I might want to give the game another try. But the thing is that everyone who really plays the game already has a 50 to 60 level head start on me. And they always will have some sort of step-up in the game because they started way before I did. And I'm guessing that they're starting to get a little bored with the game too.

That's the problem with MMOs, I think, you never die permanently. I'm not saying in battle or on a quest, I mean death by old age.

I think in the rush to create a fantasy experience, MMO developers have forgotten to include some of the non-fantasy elements of the real world that help the people experiencing the game connect with the characters in it.

That's where MMOs need to go to break free from this cycle that has gamers losing interest and drifting away over a five to ten year period.

Imagine if someone created a triple-A MMO that included aging, natural death and legacy. There's no way to add stuff like that well into a game, I don't think. But if you know going into the game that your character had a set number of years to make a mark on the world, to amass wealth and power, before dying, wouldn't that be cool?

The game could let you have children and you could pass down your property and maybe some of your fame or notoriety, but the rest would sort of be a start over.

That way if someone started in the game fresh, they would be starting with a mix of characters who are, despite the experience of their players, relatively new to the world.

I know there are some smaller titles, most notably Sociolotron, already playing with this concept, but I'd love to see how a Blizzard, Sony or NCsoft with work this into a game.

What do you think? Am I on crack or just tragically misinformed? Brian Crecente

Okay, so the name sucks. The general consensus is that Nintendo's boffed naming their new console. The moniker is reminiscent of everything from the French word for "yes" to the childish word for "urine." Not exactly the association that Nintendo was looking for, but is that why everyone is freaking out?

Traditionally, game consoles sound like, well, game consoles. The machines either invoke play (Atari 2600 or the PlayStation), technology (Intellevision or TurboGrafx-16), entertainment (Super NES or Xbox) or adventure (Magnavox Odyssey or Dreamcast). "Wii" invokes something far more mundane: us. The horror.

Fans across the global have truly been surprised, some delighted and others disgusted. Over what? Love it or despise it, Wii does not change what's inside the console. Between an innovative machine with a stupid name or a stupid machine with a fab name, I choose the stupid name.

With the DS, Nintendo's showing that they really aren't making traditional consoles anymore. Luke at 1Up writes, "Is Nintendo now just the weird uncle in gaming that we look at and say, 'Oh, don't mind him, he's a little bit off.' I for one, hope not, but I am starting to wonder." The Nintendo-of-late has been off and slightly strange. But isn't that the point?

We Wee Oui Wii [Ninendo Japan]

Ah, nothing like a bile-clearning rant to kick-start a Monday. Clive Thompson's latest column is all about the pure, simple, violent pleasures of running-and-gunning first-person shooters. Screw plot, screw game mechanics, screw intricacies, screw complexity, sometimes all you really need is to deliver an up-close-and-personal gut shot to a friend with a sawed off.

Let us now praise insanely violent first-person-shooters.

Let us praise the joys of double-wielding a pair of Uzis with unlimited ammo; let us delight in the gorgeous fractal carnage of a rocket launcher as it slams into your target. Let us talk openly about how just totally awesome it is to grab a fully loaded railgun in Quake 4 and wade into a mass of gibbering Strogg aliens and kill and kill and kill again, until there are guts on, like, the ceiling.

While we're at it, let us meditate on the subtle joys of deciding, while playing Far Cry, that this sneaking-around "stealth" stuff is for the birds, and it's way more excellent to just barge out into the open with fully loaded machine guns and slice through waves of oncoming mercenaries with the crimson fury of the angel of death himself, blasting and blasting until your trigger finger is aching and you are basically tripping over the corpses, and the battlefield is silent but for the distant plaintive cawing of seagulls on a far-off beach.

I probably sound like I've lost my mind.

I haven't. No — it's just time to defend the indefensible: The allure of grotesquely violent shoot'em-ups.

Amen. And now, let us gib.

The Glory of the Shooter [Games Without Frontiers]

Yoshihiro Maruyama's business card reads "Executive Officer, General Manager, Xbox Division." Rather, it read. The Xbox Japan's boss has been moved into another position within the company due to the company's poor domestic sales.

A few months back, I met Maruyama at TGS and interviewed him for Kotaku. Immediately, I was impressed by the exec and admired his frankness and tenacity. Here was a businessman with loads of industry experience, sensitivity towards developers and able to take on a room full of game journos. In English. He seemed perfect for the task of bridging the big-in-America Xbox to the largely indifferent Japanese market.

"Simply coming early doesn t guarantee success," Maruyama told me. "Many people think coming early is an advantage, and my answer is yes. But, it won t be enough. Sega came to the market like 15 months earlier than PlayStation 2 came to the Japanese market. By the time PlayStation 2 came out, the install base for the Sega Dreamcast was 1.5 million. Sony reached the same install base by the end of the first month. The Sega lesson is that coming early won t guarantee success unless you keep supplying compelling content."

MSoft wooed Japanese game giants to design and publicity machine went full force. At launch, the console was everywhere in Japan. Yet, consumers didn't bite. The company regrouped and went on the attack again with PR events at the Xbox Lounge and started even looking for Japanese game testers. The content just wasn't there to support the system. And when it was, the games were delayed or buggy.

By firing Maruyama, the company has lost ground. The new Xbox Japan boss will come in, rearrange the furniture and make some announcements, but the situation won't dramatically change. The feeling that if-I-don't-succeed will loom, causing any sort of business risks or innovative to be expunged. There is the compelling 360 content Maruyama wanted, waiting in the wings. Perhaps feeling pressure from investors, MSoft wouldn't let him directly handle those big releases. This lack of faith in management could be translated as lack of faith in product. Meanwhile, the competitors inch closer and closer.

Taking Lessons From Sony [Kotaku]

Guess what? Just because the PSP can play movies on it, doesn't mean that the majority of people want to run out and watch movies on its screen. Variety reports that Sony's handheld hasn't turned out to be the second coming in movie viewing that Sony hoped it would be. UMD sales aren't blowing anyone away (they for the most part blow) and as a result studios are cutting back the number of UMDs they make. Gee, what could've caused UMD sales to sag? Could it be that the UMD format movies were grossly overpriced? Could it be that watching movies on a handheld doesn't appeal to the "average consumer?" Could it be that not everyone has a public transportation commute where something like watching a movie on a handheld would be a pretty decent way to pass the time? UMD Prices were too high from day one and with studios starting to pull back the titles they were going to issue on UMD the window of opportunity that otherwise may have been there - is closing.

A Pause in the Action [Variety]

It was d j vu. The topics were the carbon copies. The post titles were the identical. Hell, even the file formats were the same.

We posted the entire DS Lite manual yesterday. Thing is, we did just that months earlier when we ran the Xbox 360 instruction manual. At the time, Kotaku Erzengel wrote, "This is going to be the first time I read a console instruction manual." At the time, I merely scoffed and chalked up the remark as witty banter. Little did I know how telling it was.

Consumer don't read instruction manuals. It's a pain in the arse and less time you can spend with your new lovely. When I bought my PS2, I didn't read it. Same for the Xbox, GameCube and every other console I have ever purchased. Instead of reading it, I fiddled with some wires, plugged the damn thing it and was in business.

But, alas, thanks to MSoft's and Nintendo's pre-release leaked instruction manuals, I actually did read them. Strike that, I didn't read them. I poured over them, looking for clues, hints, anything. Reading an instruction manual was suddenly Shakespeare with me hanging on every single word. Should companies want gamers to actually read their instruction manuals, leaking is the way to go.

Your move, Sony.

We've Got the DS Lite Manual [Kotaku]

Boing Boing points to a piece of software that self-installs when you install certain PC games, and although it's designed to prevent pirating it actually damages your system. From Boing Boing: "The software causes system instability and crashes." Ouch. There's a list of games that currently employ the Starforce security measures here. Check out your game library, and more importantly, check out the literature over at the official "Boycott Starforce" website. It's like rootkits all over again.

If a company effing with your machine isn't enough to piss you off, how about Starforce themselves failing to recognize the issues their malware causes? And they even go one step further suggesting that user error is what causes the problems, not their janky-ass code. Nevermind that users didn't sign up for this self-installing garbage. Shame on you, publishers who use this crap. Shame on you.

Anti-copying malware installs itself with dozens of games [Boing Boing]
Boycott Starforce [Official Boycott Starforce Site]

These days, it doesn't matter if politicians are conservative or liberal, Democrat or Republican — they all use hatred against video games to score cheap political points. Oddly, the industry continues to put up a feeble fight, even as politics has endangered some companies. Compare the gaming industry's response to how the publishing, movie and music companies have retaliated against efforts to ban sex, violence and dirty words. It's embarrassing.

By no means am I a fan of lobbyists and the corrupt Washington culture. But I am a fan of video games. I think the industry needs to take off the gloves and put on brass knuckles. It needs to visibly, loudly, fiercely retaliate against politicians who grandstand. There's no shame in working the system. Ask Google.

Net Firms Raise Capitol Hill Profile [Wall Street Journal]

Take a look at Microsoft Japan Release Calendar, and you'll find an empty hole. Two titles are listed. There's the mahjong Toryumon and Kameo. That's all, folks.

Swing by the US site, and you're swimming in titles. They've got Fight Night: Round 3, Full Auto, College Hoops: 2K6, Ghost Recon, Frame City Killer, Top Sin 2, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and The Outfit. Wait, there's more. The announced titles are Dead Rising, Demonik, Final Fantasy XI, Gears of War, Prey, Saint's Row, Test Drive Unlimited, The Darkness, Tomb Raider: Legend, and Too Human.

Okay, this sucks. It sucks as a gamer and a consumer. I live in Japan and have an Xbox 360. I'm very happy with the product and the games so far. I am interested in purchasing more. However, it does not seem there will be many games for me to choose from. Game Watch Impress announced Final Fantasy Online for the 360 today, and I know that Mizuguchi and Sakamoto have new titles somewhere on the horizon, but that's about it. Honestly, what is Microsoft thinking? We need more games, not only slick ads, green cakes and Xbox Lounges. Do a quick localization of those US titles and put them out ASAP. Because things aren't going to get any easier.

MSoft Update This Please [Xbox Japan] Thanks Higon!

Seriously, why is garbage like this seeing the light of day? No, not the AP piece itself, but the story of video game critics taking aim at cannibalism in gaming. Apparently gorging on some player-character or NPC's flesh in a game now really chaps the National Institute on Media and Family's ass. Stubbs the Zombie isn't a threat to the youth of America, bad parents and irresponsible adults blaming gaming companies for their shortfalls as people are.

Video Game Critics Take Aim at Cannibalism [MSNBC]

Another week, another anti-Xbox 360 rant. At least this one has some talking points. Gamestay has an article up about "what's going to suck about Xbox 360." The article actually starts by talking about what will be good about the next-gen console, like wireless controllers and Perfect Dark Zero. The rest of the article is a pretty thoughtful rant about some of the 360's major short-comings.
How many of you knew, for instance, that there will be no options to transfer your original Xbox saves to the 360? I didn't know that, actually I can't believe that. I'm going to email Msoft right now and see if it's true. Boy would that suck if it is. It sort of defeats the purpose of backwards compatibility.

Do game saves matter to you? I can tell you that if I can't port over my saves, I probably won't play half of my old games. I have no desire to start over on all of them.

Rants and Raves [Gamestay]

Somewhat outspoken on his web presence, God of War deity David Jaffe couldn't be more pissed that retailer Best Buy is going to test selling used games. Jaffe quickly targets game rental companies like GameFly who allow gamers to play a game for a month for $10. Are these rental practices and Best Buy's plans to sell used games going to affect the industry overall? Retailers like GameStop and EB make a mint on used games annually, and they're already leeching enough from the industry. As the cost of games and development rise, gamers are going to resort to more innovative ways of getting games cheaper the cycle this could start cannot be good for the industry. Jaffe might have a right to be pissed, but God of War was worth every penny I spent, even if I picked it up on the cheap.

Best Buy to Sell Used Games [David Jaffe's Blog]