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Louisville Kentucky will host the first World Series of Video Games (WSVG) this week. Over 500 professional gamers are expected to participate in the contest presented by Intel and sponsored by Xbox 360. “Video games are now a true competitive sport,” said Matt Ringel, WSVG founder, who decide it was high time someone create a pro circuit for video gamers. Registered participants will vie for $110,000 in cash and prizes from Thursday through Sunday of this week. There will be other activities available for gamers and non-gamers alike. Lanwar will present MillionManLan 5 offering some seats to amateur gamers in conjunction with the tournament. There will also be a Miss WSVG contest. The event will be held at the Kentucky Exposition Center.
Read More 
| The Courier-Journal
Gallery: The First World Series of Video Games
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A new online game, a MMOG called “Naughty America: The Game” let’s players do everything, including have virtual sex or even choose to meet in the real world. The game will retail in adult stores as well as be available for download online. The download option is causing some controversy, as some worry about the techniques being employed to verify that a downloader is not a minor. The game developers insure that the game is only targeted to a mature audience and that appropriate age validation techniques are in place. Still, some child-protection agencies, like “Enough Is Enough,” aren’t buying it. Those in the industry seem to feel the self-policing works. It will remain to be seen however, whether the controversy and associated publicity will translate into an increase in game subscribers.
Read More 
| ABC News
Gallery: Naughty Adult Game Debuts
PSP Vending Machines Coming Soon To A Mall Near You
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Accessories, Culture, Hardware, PSP, Release Dates,
Buying new video game systems is always an experience that gets your heart racing - the thrill of removing the shrink wrap, the joy of getting your first fingerprints on the glossy exterior. Well, now you can have all the excitement of getting a PSP without the pesky nuisance of actually dealing with people. According to twice.com, Sony is test-marketing a series of “Sony Access” vending machines that will sell items such as PSPs, video games, MP3 players, and digital cameras.
Three trial machines were recently placed in malls in Georgia, Colorado, and California, with more to follow (assuming they’re successful.) Fortunately, you don’t have to pay with hundreds of singles…the machine accepts both debit and credit cards and will automatically cancel your order if something goes wrong.
Read More | twice.com via TechLiving.com
Gallery: PSP Vending Machines Coming Soon To A Mall Near You
Why Low Frame Rates, Dumb AI, and Glitches Are Here To Stay
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Culture, Hardware, Internet,
1up.com has posted an interesting piece talking to a bunch of game developers about next-gen consoles and why we’ll never quite get the amazing AI and smooth-as-silk graphics we’re always promised. Nathan Martz from Double Fine notes that creating smart AI is still one of the most difficult programming problems out there and tends to get sent to the back-burner since the purpose of most enemies is to “put up a bit of a fight and then die in an interesting way.” He also comments on framerate issues, noting that “features tend to be more marketable than framerate, so most of the time features win out.”
Good reading for anyone interested in how the games industry operates. Made me think back to the days when I was wowed by the visuals on the 7th Guest box art, only to find that my poor 486-SX could only manage about 5 fps. Things have definitely improved since then. Still, according to these folks, even with the processing power that the Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii are offering us we’re still likely to see our fair share of choppy framerates and monstrous load times. Hopefully some folks in the industry are taking notes and working on making games play better as well as just looking better.
Read More | 1Up
Gallery: Why Low Frame Rates, Dumb AI, and Glitches Are Here To Stay
Bad Week For Gold Farmers
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Culture, Internet, MMORPG, PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360,
This week proved to be a bad week for gold farmers. Blizzard first announced that they have closed over 30,000 accounts in their MMORPG, World of Warcraft. Along with these accounts, over 30 million in gold was removed from affected in game economies. Square Enix followed up with a statement saying that, following an in depth investigation, they have removed 250 accounts that were participating in what they call “Real Money Trading” or RMT in their online game Final Fantasy XI. Square’s instance was a little different, in that the traders in Final Fantasy were more heavily using item and gold duping hacks to gain vast amounts of the in-game currency, gil. Over 250 billion gil was removed from the Final Fantasy servers in this operation. Given the resources available to gold farmers, it is doubtful that these measures will have a lasting affect on the RPGs, but do make for a good show of faith from both Square and Blizzard.
Read More | World of Warcraft Forums
Read More | PlayOnline.com
Gallery: Bad Week For Gold Farmers
The title of “hard-core gamer” officially has a luxury price tag attached to it, as game console prices and the cost of outfitting PC’s with the latest high-end gaming capability climb to the stratosphere. For an industry which thrives upon technology upgrades, it’s a good thing that gamers who crave the bragging rights of being the first on their block to own the latest thing are largely insensitive to prices. However, some are wondering if the video game industry might be about to face its first dip within the “rush-to-upgrade” demographic. “You never had to buy a new TV before to play video games,” said Michael Pachter, a video game analyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities. Industry analysts like Pachter fear that the sharp price increase required to upgrade to the latest consoles in particular will keep the average gamer sidelined. If the video game industry forces the majority of its customers out of the game, it will eventually only succeed in bringing about its own demise. But for now, the early-adopters are enjoying the ride.
Read More | Yahoo.com
Gallery: The High Cost of Gaming Enthusiasm
As revenue from in-game advertising rises, the market for video game advertising is poised to explode. “Revenue from in-game advertising was $56 million last year, but that figure is expected to grow to at least $732 million by 2010, according to the Yankee Group.” The increasing cost of bringing the latest high-end gaming experience to market has persuaded more and more video game developers to become accepting of advertisements being placed within their games. And now with the boom in online gaming, advertisers are excited by the prospect of offering more timely messages and updating their product placements on-demand. “Dynamic advertising is still in its infancy,” but because game console manufacturers have now effectively bundled online gaming networks with their consoles, the market is really starting to heat up.
Read More | SFGate
Gallery: Video Game Ad Market Heats Up
Video Games Used In Minneapolis English Class
Posted by Josh Smith Categories: Culture, PlayStation 2,
An eighth grade English class in Minneapolis has started using video games to engage students in learning. The students are drawing parallels between the video games and other literature read in class as well as studying the plot of video games. Recently a student noted the similarity between Sonic the Hedgehog’s journey home and the plight of Odysseus. Brock Dubbel, the instructor, acquired the video game equipment on Craigslist as well as accumulating equipment from around the building. Mr. Dubbel also teaches a summer course to educators on using video games as a tool to educate their students. This is a prime example of how video games can be a positive experience for today’s youth. Somebody should copy Hillary Clinton on the article.
Read More | WCCO
Gallery: Video Games Used In Minneapolis English Class
Last week’s “Sex in Video Games” Conference spawned some interesting discussions, including one on “Emergent Sex,” or the “salacious activities that show up in non-sexual games.” Players who bond while adventuring together online will sometimes take the game play to another level by engaging in virtual sex. And this even occurs in games that don’t allow the avatars to fully disrobe – the people controlling the virtual characters just have “to get very creative.” Sex happens, in even the virtual world.
However, the biggest question lurking beneath every discussion at the conference was whether money could made from combining these two already lucrative industries, namely the adult entertainment and the video game industries. Although some conference participants expressed worries that adult content and video games could never lawfully marry, others were already developing games with explicit sexual content. Gabe Zichermann, the marketer who handled the “adults only” version of “Leisure Suit Larry,” stated that, “As long as companies create an “adult content” catalog that’s separate from its “family friendly” catalog, he said it’s easy to reach adult and mainstream markets without backlash.” Considering the enthusiasm of conference participants, it’s only a matter of time before adult-oriented video games become mass-market items.
Read More | Wired
Gallery: Scoring with XXX Games
Halo Graphic Novel Digital Preview
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Culture, First Person Shooters, Xbox, Xbox 360,
The Halo Graphic Novel will hit the streets on July 26, 2006, but those gamers looking for a preview of the stories that will populate the book can find such on Marvel.com; user registration is required for the interactive preview, but there are glimpses into the stories that will be told, as well as some previews of the one-shot art pages. Included in the preview are some of the pages from famed artists Simon Bisley and Jean “Moebius” Giraud. The graphic novel hopes to expand the Halo universe, and back fill some of the open questions left by the game.
Read More | Marvel.com
Gallery: Halo Graphic Novel Digital Preview
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