New Maps.

I KNOW I was supposed to post yesterday, but after a hellish day, it just slipped my mind. I did however find this little news blurb about new maps coming out for Halo 2 to hold those kids over who are dying to play Halo 3. Enjoy. Later.

New "Halo 2" video game maps coming
March 30, 2007
BY HEATHER NEWMAN
DIGITAL LIFE COLUMNIST
"Halo 2" players are in for a treat: two of their favorite multiplayer maps from the original "Halo" have been updated for online play in the newer game and will be posted for sale on Xbox Live as of April 17.

"Tombstone" is the new version of perhaps the most popular "Halo" environment of all time: "Hang 'Em High." The new version has, of course, new and better graphics, but also includes new features and some surprises, Microsoft says.
"Desolation" is a remake of "Derelict" from the original Halo, and is designed for deathmatches. The pair will sell for $4.
"Halo 2" is the most popular game on Xbox Live - players have logged more than 800 million hours so far. The next game in the series, "Halo 3," launches this fall.

So Stupid.

Hey, let's make a game that resembles another big selling game, but instead of doing something cool, let's use BATMAN! Idiots. Warner Bros. seem to have the case of the hope-to-god-it-sells syndrome when they confirmed that there is going to be a Lego Batman game. Let's look at Batman's video game track record for a sec. Crap? You bet. I HIGHLY doubt this is going to turn around the entire series, and doubt even more that someone is going to risk their hard earned cash for a game that has such flaws in the past as this one. Hey, who knows though, maybe the Star Wars Lego games' luck will rub off on this same game but just with different characters. Still, I highly doubt it. Lego Batman and Robin are set to release sometime in 2008. Thank God for another year without this. Let the hype begin....OK no more. Later

You Go, Old People.

Finally, people who lived during the great depression have found out how awesome video games really are. This just made me laugh.

Retirees take up wiing
03/25/2007
Ebert swung the Wiimote just like a tennis racquet and said playing the game reminded her of the feeling she had all those years ago. While she took the early on-court lead, the Wii beat her in the end.

Wii game console
Until two weeks ago, Ruth Ebert never had the slightest interest in the video games favored by her one and only granddaughter. "I'm 82 years old, so I missed that part of our culture. Soap operas, yes. Video games, no," chirped Ebert, who recently started playing a tennis game on Nintendo Co. Ltd.'s new Wii video game console at the Virginia retirement community she calls home.
"It was funny, because normally I would not be someone who would do that," said Ebert, who picked up the console's motion-sensing Wiimote and challenged the machine to a match. "I played tennis, if you can call it that, as a high school student. I had such fun doing it," she said.
Ebert swung the Wiimote just like a tennis racquet and said playing the game reminded her of the feeling she had all those years ago. While she took the early on-court lead, the Wii beat her in the end. Still, it hurt less than her real-world losses: "I didn't mind losing to a video game. It couldn't rub it in."

$ In The Bank.

If you play any of those Online Massive Multiplayer Games, you should really consider how much money is being generated by these types of games. Thank goodness I never got involved with any of these; my bank account is dying as it is. Sorry I haven't really been around. It's my only week off and the laptop is just too far away to do any typing at night. I am playing Yakuza and Lost Planet, I'll keep you updated if I decide to break something else open. Later.

Analyst: Western MMOGs worth $1.5B by 2011
British media firm predicts that after reaching $875 million in '06, revenue from European and American massively multiplayer online games will nearly double in four years.
By Tor Thorsen, GameSpot
Posted Mar 21, 2007 4:31 pm PT
You don't have to be a game-news junkie to know that massively multiplayer online games are big business. With more than 8 million players, World of Warcraft has become such a phenomenon that it's been sent up on South Park. The Burning Crusade, the first expansion for the game, sold more than 2.4 million copies internationally in the 24 hours after its January 17 release. (It has since gone on to top 3.5 million units worldwide.)
According to a new report from media-research firm Screen Digest, MMOGs generated roughly $1 billion in revenue worldwide in 2006. Of that sum, $299 million came from Europe and $576 million came from North America. The British company estimates that around 87 percent of the "Western" MMOG market's $875 million of revenue--roughly $761 million--was from subscription fees, the genre's traditional source of income.
While $875 is a princely sum, Screen Digest predicts the Western MMOG market will nearly double in size in the next four years to $1.5 billion. The report's authors believe that the jump will be in part due to new revenue streams that are being introduced into MMOGs, including in-game advertising and selling virtual items for real cash.
"During the past few years the Western landscape for massively multiplayer online games has become increasingly fragmented following the introduction of new genres of games including social networking, virtual pet rearing and virtual world building titles," said report author Piers Harding-Rolls. "These new games and platforms have brought with them many new gamers and also new business models that are generating revenue that is largely incremental to the incumbent subscription business."
Screen Digest believes the most growth in the MMOG market will be in Europe in general, and in France specifically. However, it believes that Germany will remain the biggest market for the genre on the continent through 2011.

Last Few Days.

In the last few days, I have seemed to do a million things that have not involved video games AT ALL. I drove home in that crazy snow storm (which was fun as hell), had to do all that garbage stuff as an R.A. and I finally got the chance to just relax. On the list for this week: Resident Evil 4, Lost Planet, Gears Of War, and Gran Turismo 3. wish me luck! Later.

Going Home.

Oh thank the lord. After being stuck here from Jan. 13th, I am kind of glad to be able to go home and just play some video games and play Playstation 2 and Xbox 360 without any stupid interruptions (residents, class, homework). I'll be doing nothing but that, so expect some hardcore reviews and opinions. Just not right now, today and tomorrow are going to be hard to get through. Later.

Buying Them Up.

In the past 3 days, I've bought Resident Evil 4 and Yakuza...better fire that Playstation 2 back up. ALL NIGHTER!

Two Worlds.

Two Worlds, due out in the Spring for the 360 and PC, looks to be nothing less than an awesome RPG that will last for then just a few hours like most of the games being set out nowadays. There have been many comparisons to Elder Scrolls game, and with good reason. They are both open-ended games with millions of options of what to do. This game however, can have up to 8 players. All of the combat in Two Worlds is real time and the camera will apparently pull back as you watch all of the action unfold. Interesting to say the least. Weapons and spells are a given but what is really cool besides upgrading them is stacking and mixing spells to unleash a world of hurt on the enemy. There is also a horse, which kind of reminds me of Shadow of the Colossus where the character is always on one. The graphics look amazing, and with the elements of snow, this should be a game that looks as beautiful as it plays. Later.

China Knows What It's Talking About.

This is direct from the China Post, so read and enjoy.


Ultra-realistic battle game Gears of War and sports simulation Wii Sports have been voted the best video games of the year at the Game Developers Conference, the video game industry's top annual summit that runs through Friday in San Francisco.
The awards are often considered the video game equivalent of the Oscars and can significantly boost game sales.

Gears of War, which was created by Epic Games and Microsoft Game Studios exclusively for Microsoft's X-Box 360 console, also won technology and visual arts awards. The game, which retails in the U.S. for US$60, has sold more than 3 million units since its November debut.
Wii Sports, which is included for free with Nintendo's revolutionary Wii console, won awards for game design and innovation. The game allows users to play video game versions of golf, tennis and bowling using Nintendo's motion-sensitive controllers. Wii designer Shigeru Miyamoto, whose creations include Mario Brothers, Donkey Kong and Legend of Zelda titles, received a lifetime achievement award.

Sony was shut out of the awards, in a further blow to the ailing Japanese giant's hopes for its powerful Playstation 3 console that has met with only lukewarm reaction since its launch late last year, amid complaints of high prices and lack of compelling games.

Taking Over the World

According to one report, video game consoles are indeed everywhere.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) — "The number of video game consoles in U.S. homes with televisions have rise more than 18% to nearly 46 million since the fourth quarter of 2004, Nielsen Wireless and Interactive Services said Monday.
At the end of 2005, there were 43 million at the close of 2005 and nearly 39 million the previous year.
The number of U.S. households with televisions rose less than 2% between the end of 2004 and the end of 2006, Nielsen said.
More than 148 million people had access to at least one video game console system at home at the end of 2006 — representing more than half of the total U.S. television population.
More than two-thirds of all men aged 18 to 34 had access to a console in their homes, while the percentage rose to 80% for boys aged 12 to 17."

Blech.

So i'm very, very, VERY ill. Just looking at the computer screen bothers me...time to take my 5th nap of the day, I'll have something tomorrow.

Guessing Game Part 2.

If you don't know what this game is, you're not an American. That is all.

Conan in '08

Damnit, I have to wait almost another YEAR for this title? I know they need to hype it up ahead of time, but a fricken year or more ahead? GAWD. Anyways, Conan the Barbarian looks to be a title on both the PS3 and the 360 that will use the consoles to their full capacity since developers always need time to see what they can actually do. I see 20 weapons, and over 100 unique moves. It's always great to have a lot of combos, but could this be a little too much? I don't appreciate having to memorize that many different combinations to rip faces off, but if I have to, I GUESS I can manage. Take a nice little gander at these pictures and read the full preview at IGN.com. Later