Raimi, acclaimed director of the blockbuster Spider-Man series, will bring the forces of the Horde and the Alliance to life in epic live-action film. Charles Roven's Atlas Entertainment will produce alongside Raimi's Stars Road Entertainment.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – July 22, 2009 -- Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. and Legendary Pictures announced today that Sam Raimi has signed on to direct the eagerly-anticipated major motion picture based on Blizzard Entertainment’s award-winning Warcraft® universe. Raimi has, in the course of his career, clearly demonstrated a genius for developing and adapting existing fictional universes for mainstream audiences while staying true to the spirit of the original content.

Raimi directed the Spider-Man trilogy, which has broken box-office records around the world and garnered five Academy Award® nominations. Known for his imaginative filmmaking style, richly drawn characters and offbeat humor, Raimi wrote and directed the cult classic, The Evil Dead and produced 30 Days Of Night. He most recently wrote and directed the supernatural thriller, Drag Me To Hell.

"At its core, Warcraft is a fantastic, action-packed story," said Raimi. "I am thrilled to work with such a dynamite production team to bring this project to the big screen."

Charles Roven’s producing talents were recently seen with last summer’s blockbuster The Dark Knight, which grossed in excess of $1 billion, was nominated for eight Academy Awards® and won two. His body of work also includes the widely acclaimed Batman Begins and the sci-fi classic 12 Monkeys. Roven, with Atlas producing partner Alex Gartner, will be producing with Legendary Pictures CEO Thomas Tull, Legendary’s Chief Creative Officer Jon Jashni, Raimi and Raimi’s producing partner Joshua Donen. Raimi’s partner, Robert Tapert, will be an Executive Producer and Blizzard Entertainment’s Senior Vice President of Creative Development, Chris Metzen, a Co-Producer.

"Partnering with Sam Raimi exemplifies Legendary's mandate of marrying the highest quality intellectual property to world-class filmmakers" said Legendary’s Tull. "Sam's passion for 'Warcraft' is undeniable and we know that he will create an incredible film worthy of Blizzard's phenomenal franchise. We look forward to collaborating with our partners at Warner Bros. and continuing our successful relationship with Chuck in bringing this rich new world to the screen."

"Blizzard Entertainment and Legendary Pictures have a shared vision for this film and we searched at length to find the very best director to bring that vision to life," said Paul Sams, chief operating officer of Blizzard Entertainment. "From our first conversation with Sam, we could tell he was the perfect choice. Sam knows how to simultaneously satisfy the enthusiasts and the mainstream audience that might be experiencing that content for the first time. We're looking forward to working with him to achieve that here."

"Blizzard Entertainment’s Warcraft has become a second home for millions of players and Sam’s experience and talent make him the perfect director for this remarkable and action-packed world," said Atlas’ Roven. "Alex and I are proud to be working with Sam and re-teaming with our friends at Legendary and Warner Bros."

The film will fall under Legendary Pictures’ co-production and co-financing deal with Warner Bros. "Warcraft is emblematic of the kind of branded, event films for which our studio is best known. We have enjoyed great success with our partners at Legendary, and this is an incredible opportunity for us to work with Sam on a project that is so eagerly anticipated by so many," said Jeff Robinov, President, Warner Bros. Pictures Group.

Blizzard Entertainment’s Warcraft universe is a rich fantasy setting that revolves around the epic conflict between the opposing forces of the Horde and the Alliance. Since its debut in 1994, Warcraft has developed a loyal following across the globe, with several bestselling, award-winning PC games and a range of popular licensed products including novels, action figures, apparel, comic books, board games, and more. World of Warcraft®, Blizzard Entertainment’s subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game set in the Warcraft universe, is the most popular game of its kind in the world. Its most recent expansion, Wrath of the Lich King™, is the fastest-selling PC game of all time, with more than 2.8 million copies sold in its first 24 hours of availability and more than 4 million in its first month.

Further details about the upcoming Warcraft movie, including cast and targeted release date, will be revealed as development progresses.

These new features look great. This is what the Nintendo DS should have been the first time it came out. But when I was watching the video, I couldn't help but envisioning myself watching this video in 10 or 15 years and going "wow, that was such a shit system compared to the "Nintendo XXX". You know what I mean? But, this would be really cool to mess around with.

Most likely the PS3 will get a price cut very soon. It is the common sense thing to do if you are Sony. So the question really shouldn't be when? Rather it should be, will the price cut even matter?




For three years now the PS3 has been unable to sustain any momentum that it has gathered from time to time. While there are many contributing factors for Sony's tough outing this generation, the one main factor everyone agrees on is price.

So here we are amidst rumors that a PS3 price drop is imminent. The buzz has been there for a while, but now the slight hum is a pounding noise. Game developers have started to speak out publicly for a PS3 price cut. Sony has been firm and unflinching in denying all rumors.

Most likely the PS3 will get a price cut very soon. It is the common sense thing to do if you are Sony. So the question really shouldn't be when? Rather it should be, will the price cut even matter?

Price cut or not the PS3 would still be the highest priced of the 3 consoles. And to the parents of eager kids everywhere, the lower price Wii and 360 are a more appropriate choice given the economic conditions that every family is starting to face.


Sure the PS3's cheapest model is a better value than the Xbox 360's basic model. But to most consumers this is unknown. We gamers at times tend to forget that not all consumers know the latest gaming news. The average consumer just doesn't understand the value argument.


Finally the PS3's target demographic is an older audience. Which is shrinking year by year. The target demographic for the Wii and 360 is younger and continues to grow larger each year.


It may be to late for Sony to catch up in the console war. However, by no means should anyone say they are finished. Sony will keep supporting the PS3 for years to come. The price will keep falling. There will be sales increase's as the price goes lower and lower over the years. The other two systems though are so far ahead of the PS3 in terms of pricing that I question if Sony's price cut will work, or if it is already too late.

The image of a pasty-skinned, greasy-haired young girl has become an iconic one in horror films like The Ring, and the original F.E.A.R. introduced a similar figure with great success. Of course, that game gave its ghostly visions a chilling context, drawing you into the unnerving story of a paranormal prodigy named Alma and the horrific suffering to which she was subjected. F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin returns to this fertile universe, but rather than scrutinize even darker reaches of the soul, it merely skims the surface, offering up a series of eerie visions without delivering a good mystery to bind them together. The good news for shooter fans is that the bullet-blasting core of the experience is sound, propelling you forward with enough intensity to keep the single-player campaign engaging. Most of what's here has been done better before, but the unspectacular elements have been stitched into an enjoyably moody first-person shooter that relies on rock-solid mechanics rather than true inspiration.

It turns out boomer women do play computer games.

And do they ever. The business of cranking out casual games--snack-sized alternatives to time-consuming fare like "World of Warcraft"--is mushrooming. Consumers paid $2.25 billion for such games last year, and the demand for titles like "Diner Dash" is growing 20% year-over-year, according to the Casual Gaming Association.

And while casual games appeal to everyone from pre-teens to old men (the world's richest man, Warren Buffet, 77, haunts online bridge parlors while using the handle "T-bone"), women over 35 are the most likely to pay for them; 75% percent of those who pay for casual games are women, and 72% are over 35 years old.

The result: The gaming industry is hustling to remake itself to please these paying customers. Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) is adding new titles to its online Xbox Live Arcade gaming hub. Nintendo (other-otc: NTDOY.PK - news - people ) will roll out a portal for bite-sized games for its Wii console, dubbed WiiWare, later this year. Even social networks like Facebook and Bebo are getting a makeover as developers hard-wire casual games into online social networks (see "Facebook's Winning Game").
In Pictures: Games That Charm Us

But while the crime-themed adventure game "Grand Theft Auto IV" will rake in big bucks this year from players with the time for hours-long, Mountain-Dew-fueled sessions, stealing cars and assassinating gang rivals is not for everyone."My wife is not going to buy that for the family," says Craig Holland, chief executive officer of casual game developer Freeze Tag.

To be sure, classifying casual games as "games for girls" would not be fair. But casual female-targeted gaming hits with female heroines, such as "Diner Dash" and "Wedding Dash," make it clear that casual game developers are attacking far broader swaths of the population than the traditional 18-to-35-year-old male demographic coveted by makers of hardcore games.

In addition to appealing to a broader audience, casual game developers also benefit from lower development costs. While a graphics-intensive game like "Halo 3" will take years and tens of millions of dollars to make, developers can build a casual game for as little $150,000 with a team of two or three in nine months or less, Holland says. They can also sell these games to users equipped with everything from mobile phones to older PCs: Cutting-edge graphics are not required.

And while game studios spending millions grinding out futuristic or violent epics have to rely on distribution via store shelves and online retailers like Amazon.com (nasdaq: AMZN - news - people ), casual game developers have more options. Most go for the "try and buy" model, distributing their games through portals, such as RealArcade and Big Fish, or sites affiliated with AOL, Yahoo! (nasdaq: YHOO - news - people ) or MSN. Gamers can download a game, try it for an hour and, if they like it, buy it.

Others, however, are experimenting with putting flash-based games entirely online. Some sites, such sas Kongregate, rely on developers to contribute online games and share online ad revenues with game developers. Yet others, such as the makers of "Scrabulous," are building a following on social networks like Facebook.

In short, casual gaming is everywhere. Which begs the question: Is it really a niche? Casual gaming's biggest star, Flo--unlike, say, Halo's faceless super soldier, Master Chief--is a recognizable character with a recognizable problem: She's got to keep her diner running. Culturally, at least, casual games--and the women who pay for them--aren't just part of the mainstream. They already are the mainstream.

Santa Clara, Calif., (October 24, 2008) - NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc., today announced that they will continue to support customers of PC game Hellgate™: London with online server support and play through January 31, 2009 despite the closure of Flagship Studios. In a further gesture of support, Namco Bandai Games will provide this server support free of charge to all fans and players of the game up until the shut down date.

NAMCO BANDAI Games appreciate the enthusiasm of all the Hellgate: London players and looks forward to providing them with future entertainment products.

For questions regarding the shut down or additional information about Hellgate: London, please visit the game’s official website at www.hellgatelondon.com.

Nintendo has introduced the highly anticipated DSi, a revamped version of the popular DS portable gaming device that features a built-in Web browser, larger screen, and two integrated cameras.

In addition, Nintendo plans to launch an online store called the DSi Shop when the new gadget hits store shelves Nov. 1 in Japan, where it will cost about $180, or about $20 more than the DS. Nintendo has not said when the DSi would be available in the United States, but the Nikkei Business Daily reported this week that U.S. models would sell for around $130.

Nintendo chief executive Satoru Iwata launched the DSi Wednesday night U.S. time in a Tokyo news conference. Among the new features is a 3.25-inch screen, compared with the DS's 3-inch screen; and two 0.3 megapixel cameras, one inside of the DSi case and the other on the outside. In addition, the device has a slot for an external SD memory card up to 2 GB, and is thinner and lighter than the DS.

The DSi Shop will sell games and software that users of the device can download over a Wi-Fi connection. The shop bases prices on Nintendo Points. Products cost 0, 200, 500, or 800 points. The DSi comes bundled with 1,000 points, which are good until March 2010.

When Nintendo releases the DSi in the United States, it could prove to be a competitor to Apple's iPod Touch, which is emerging as a gaming platform, and the iPhone 3G. The DSi, like the iPhone and iPod, also plays music and video. The iPod is more expensive with a starting price of $229, but games are cheaper on the Apple product.

The video-game industry in general is heading for a strong year, with sales expected to hit $21 billion to $23 billion, according to the NPD Group. As of May, the industry had surpassed sales for all of 1997.

Posted by Tracey John on 8/12/08 at 10:00 am.

Not much has been revealed about “Diablo III“’s storyline, but lead designer Jay Wilson did tell me that the game will round out the story arc set up by the previous two games.

The plot behind “Diablo III” was developed with Blizzard’s VP of creative development Chris Metzen, who crafted the tales for the first two games. In the first “Diablo,” the player quests to kill the Lord of Terror.

Then in “Diablo II” and its expansion, the player is an adventurer set off to discover what happened to the warrior from the first title, who became corrupted, and fight the Prime Evils, other Hell-spawned superpowers unleashed by Diablo.

Wilson also told me that in addition to fan-favorite Deckard Cain, “Diablo III” will feature other characters from “Diablo” lore.

“We also tried to focus a little more on bringing characters back, and not just from ‘Diablo II’ but from ‘Diablo I,’” he said. “We feel like a lot of the focus is on ‘Diablo II’ but ‘Diablo I’ started it all and has a lot of really good stuff on the gameplay side and on the character side. So people can expect to see characters from ‘Diablo I,’ more characters from ‘Diablo II,’ and characters from some of the books. We’re definitely going to bring a few of them in.”

And while “Diablo III” ends the trilogy, fans needn’t worry — it’s not the final curtain for “Diablo.” “We’re not saying this is the end of the ‘Diablo’ universe, but we are trying to bring this storyline to a close,” Wilson said. “It’s not just ‘Diablo III’ — we’ve got plans beyond.”

Is it too soon to start complaining about the art style of “Diablo IV“?

As we look ahead to calendar 2009, even though it is early, the slate is strong.

Our lineup will be anchored by: multiple new Guitar Hero SKUs; an all-new Call of Duty, utilizing our leapfrog studio strategy; and a completely reinvented Tony Hawk. In addition, we will launch Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 and we will have a number of movie titles, including Marvel’s Wolverine, Transformers 2, DreamWorks’ Monsters versus Aliens, and 20th Century Fox’s Ice Age.

Nintendo unveiled a highly-sensitive motion controller add-on for its Wii system as it seeks to capitalise on its position as the global console leader.

At the E3 games conference in Los Angeles, the firm showed off its Wii MotionPlus, which it promised would add more realism and depth to games.

The company has sold more than 10 million Wii consoles and 70 million DS handheld machines worldwide.

Rival Sony has announced a larger capacity version of its PlayStation 3.

At a later press conference, Sony unveiled a film download service and an 80-gigabyte hard drive version of PS3 for gamers in North America.

Surprise success

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said innovation was key for the company.

"Even if it is revolutionary sooner or later, people become tired of a new form of entertainment," he said.

Addressing the rapid turnaround in Nintendo's fortunes over the last two years, Mr Iwata admitted that the success of the company had taken even staff at Nintendo by surprise.

Referring to the success of the Wii, and peripherals like the balance board, he said: "Everyone had a pessimistic view of Nintendo in 2003.

"Even Nintendo employees could not have imagined that five years later the market respond so quickly that we could sell millions of bathroom scales around the world."

Mr Iwata, who was speaking to media at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, said the firm's success had resulted in a paradigm shift in the industry, with hardware sales growing in periods outside the traditional high spots, and software titles like Brain Training and Nintendogs having two-year life spans on retail shelves.

Nintendo said recently European sales of the Wii numbered more than 200,000 each week.

But Mr Iwata did not touch upon supply issues that have continued to affect Wii sales almost two years after its launch.

Screen Digest analyst Piers Harding-Rolls said Nintendo were proving to be very determined and targeted in their approach.

"They are very good at designing hardware and the production line of content; they have got a knack of producing great content and if they keep doing that, they keep innovating."

New titles to come

Launching the Wii MotionPlus, which plugs into the existing Wiimote controller, Nintendo America boss Reggie Fils-Aime said: "It renders every light shift of the wrist or arm into the gameplay."

The firm also unveiled WiiSports Resort, the first title to takes advantage of the new add-on.

Nintendo fans hoping to learn new details on established franchises like Mario and Zelda were left disappointed. Mr Iwata said only that the teams behind the games were "hard at work" and new titles were under development.

The company did unveil a Grand Theft Auto game in development for the DS console and a new Wii title, called Music, which sees gamers play more than 50 musical instruments by using the Wiimote motion-sensitive controller.

Mr Iwata said the success of the Wii and the DS was proof of a new form of social interaction developing.

He said: "I believe we must find more ways for players to feel engaged, different ways for them to be enriched. The overall experience from our products must be increased enthusiasm."

Online revolution

Across Los Angeles, at the Shrine Auditorium, Sony America boss Jack Tretton delivered his vision for the firm in the coming months.

He told the audience that Sony had succeeded in the business by taking a long-term view of a console's lifespan, pointing out that some of the biggest games for the previous generation PlayStation 2 were not delivered until a number of years into its cycle.

"We're well on the way to selling more than 10 million PlayStation 3s," he said.

The emphasis of the briefing was on the firm's online service, PlayStation network, which offers games, films and TV content.

Unveiling the new film download system, he said: "Just as our (online) game store serves all game publishers, the PlayStation Network video delivery service is open for business for all studios and networks."

Users will be able to download titles to their PlayStation 3 or PC, and transfer them to a PlayStation portable console.

"It's a huge step towards advancing the PSP and PlayStation 3 value. The PSP is part of our overall strategy to bring movies and games to the living room."

A number of new games were unveiled at the press conference, including MAG, a massively multiplayer online first person shooter. Up to 256 gamers will be able to do battle in teams of eight across the PlayStation Network.

Mr Tretton said it would "revolutionise online gaming".

God of War 3, a sequel to the popular Sony franchise, was announced for the PS3 and the audience was shown new footage of titles like first-person shooter Resistance 2 and action-platform game LittleBigPlanet, which has an October release date.

Mr Harding-Rolls said Sony's briefing delivered the most excitement in terms of announcements for gamers.

"The video store has been coming for a long time. But the download-to-own aspect of content is a coup in comparison to the rental model on Xbox Live.

"They are also more varied in their strategies for digital distribution of premium gaming content than their rivals."

Unless you're a member of the retro-gaming community, you probably never think about the SNES anymore. And yet, Nintendo is battling the EU over that very console all the way into 2008, following a hefty fine the EU laid down 6 years ago. In 2002, the EU accused Nintendo of price-fixing the SNES for several years in the 1990s, and sought to penalize them for their actions. They handed them a fine of 149.1 million Euros, a fine rivaled by very few others.

The EU asserts the fine was fair, whereas Nintendo claims it was not only unfair, but outright illegal. As a result, Nintendo is refusing to pay the draconian fine. That's quite a while to wait to fight back, but is still interesting.

It’s been rumored for some time now, but according to 1UP.com, 2K Games’ ultra-successful underwater shooter BioShock will definitely see a release on PlayStation 3 consoles this holiday season. Apparently, Electronic Gaming Monthly – 1UP’s sister print publication – is running a cover story with the details in its forthcoming issue.

Not much is being shared online on how the PlayStation 3 version will differ from the once-exclusive Xbox 360 and PC title other than it may include some “potential graphical improvements.” This is certainly great news for PS3 owners and especially Sony, as the game was received exceptionally well on its release for Xbox 360 and PC – Microsoft may not be as thrilled though. Even more so considering this is not the first game to lose exclusivity with the 360 as Lost Planet, Eternal Sonata, Vampire Rain and recently Overlord have all shared a similar fate.

Warcraft and StarCraft developer Blizzard has begun offering direct downloads of select PC titles via a new portion of its online store.

At present, the store's digital download section only contains three listings: the StarCraft Anthology, Warcraft III, and the WarCraft III Frozen Throne expansion. They mark the first digitally distributed releases of any Blizzard game, apart from World of Warcraft.

Furthermore, owners of certain Blizzard efforts can now register their CD keys on the site to add the titles to their Blizzard Account and download them for free at any time, though Diablo II-related downloads are not yet ready.

A new beta lottery program is also available, allowing registered users to be automatically entered into a drawing for beta access. However, no public betas are known to be underway.

At present, the company is known to be working on StarCraft II as well as a title only referred to as "an unannounced Next-Gen MMO," which some speculate to be a new Diablo game.

A list of PC titles that can be registered and downloaded from the Blizzard Store follows, as well as a description of the beta lottery.

* Diablo II*
* Diablo II: Lord of Destruction*
* Diablo II Battlechest*

* StarCraft
* StarCraft Battlechest
* StarCraft Anthology

* Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos
* Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne Expansion Pack
*digital download coming soon

Blizzard Beta Lottery
Enter the Blizzard Beta Lottery to put your Blizzard Account in the running to participate in the beta tests for future Blizzard games! By registering, your account will have a chance to be added to the list of invites for each Blizzard public beta test as it begins.

Alienware , known for designing high-octane PCs, has just announced an update to its Aurora desktop line. With prices starting under an astonishing $1,000, these new rigs will feature quad-core AMD Phenom 9850 processors, and your choice of ATI Radeon 3870 X2, HD3850, or HD3870 graphics cards set up singly or in a dual CrossFire arrangement.

The powerful gaming systems are built around an AMD Spider/ASUS 790FX-based motherboard, and can be configured with up to 4GB of main system RAM and a vast 4TB of hard drive space—with drives ranging in speed from 7,200 to 10,000 rpm. Keep in mind that tricking your machine out to the limit will seriously raise the sticker price.

All Aurora systems will feature the traditional alien-head chassis. The case is fan-cooled by default, but can be upgraded to use a more efficient liquid-cooling system. The new Aurora Desktop is currently available for purchase directly from Alienware's Web site.

Despite Activision being sued by some of its own investors over the proposed merger with Vivendi, which will purportedly result in the world's largest, most profitable video game publisher, the companies today cleared yet another hurdle with the European Commission approving the $18.9 billion deal under its antitrust guidelines.

The Commission found no evidence that the deal would halt competition in the gaming market, stating that the merged company, to be called Activision Blizzard, would still face strong competitors such as Electronic Arts and game console manufacturers such as Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft. With this, the merger is moving ahead as anticipated and should be concluded by June. Hopefully, the combined company will continue to bring the same standards we’ve seen in popular games such as Call of Duty, Guitar Hero, and World of Warcraft to the map.

The fine reporters at MTV News have netted themselves quite a scoop: an unnamed source tells them that Microsoft has secretly been working on a motion controller for the Xbox 360 styled after Nintendo's Wii remote (pictured), which may see release before the end of the year. The project has been rocky, however, with the source reporting difficulty hitting deadlines.

The source, who wished to remain anonymous so as to not jeopardizing their business relationships, says the project has been in active development since last August. Rare has reportedly taken a major stake in the project, tasked with designing the interface and look of the controller. The source even passed along a rough sketch of the last prototype, which may look a bit familiar.

According to the source, the controller would have four face buttons, a trigger button, an analog stick and a built-in microphone. It would not have a port for any controller attachments, such as the Wii's nunchuck. There have also been plans for the remote to somehow work in conjunction with the Xbox Live Vision Camera.

When contacted by MTV News, Microsoft spokesperson Jessica Lange stated that "Microsoft does not comment on rumors and speculation." Helpful! In addition to their unnamed tipster, though, MTV News reports other industry sources have confirmed to them that Microsoft has been working on a motion controller.

The latest PSP firmware update enhanced the music functionality of the portable device, and an upcoming PlayStation 3 firmware update plans to do the same for movies.

Scheduled for later this month, the update will include Blu-ray Disc Profile 2.0, which enables the hi-def format to take advantage of extra downloadable videos, ringtones, and games.

The update will also allow photo and music playlists from the PlayStation 3 to be copied onto the PlayStation Portable, along with other new features that include resuming Blu-ray disc play even if the disc was removed, PSP remote play interfacing with music, an enhanced internet browser, noise reduction, and a bump in the accepted size for DivX and WMV formats.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will help the new firmware update with the release of Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story and The 6th Day, both with extra downloadable content. No word on pricing for the extra content, but ideally "free" is always a nice answer.

Dude, this is so not metal: Gibson is suing Wal-Mart, Target, Toys "R" Us, Amazon.com, K-Mart, and Gamestop for selling Guitar Hero, the overwhelmingly popular game from Activision .

The reason? Because Gibson claims that the controller used in the game is in violation of one of its patents, according to the Associated Press. The patent in question seems a little iffy: "...simulate participation in a concert by playing a musical instrument and wearing a head-mounted 3-D display that includes stereo speakers," it reads in part.

The company had already sued Activision, and has extended its suit to protect its intellectual property, according to the company: "In Gibson's lawsuit, it states the company 'has been damaged and will continue to be damaged by the aforesaid infringement unless defendants are enjoined, preliminarily and permanently, from selling and offering for sale infringing products ...'" the AP reported.

Naturally, those retailers that have responded have said the suit is without merit. Activision stopped just short of indemnifying them, though, which would have offloaded all legal liability onto Activision's shoulders.

When 15-year-old Olivier Baptiste refused to hand over the video game he was playing to his 18-year-old friend William Suarez, Suarez pulled out a .32-caliber Smith and Wesson from his waistband and shot Baptiste in the head. This according to police, who have charged the alleged killer with manslaughter, illegal possession of a firearm, assault with a dangerous weapon, and discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a dwelling.

Witnesses told authorities that Suarez then put the gun down on the kitchen counter and began saying, "This just didn't happen," according to court documents.

Two hundred endings. See, I love me some Fallout, but this is the kind of sh*t that gives gamers a bad name. Of course, I applaud the creativity and time it must take to create two hundred endings to a game, but you know hardcore Fallout fans are going to try to get as many of those endings as they can, which means no life outside of playing the game and maybe going to a day job if you don't quit the damn thing so you can have more time to play Fallout.

March 19, 2008 - It seems like only yesterday that The Sims 2 came out, so EA's announcement today of The Sims 3 might seem a bit premature. However, do a quick Google search and you might be startled to realize that The Sims 2 turns four this year, which is an epoch in computing terms. PCs today are massively more powerful than their counterparts in 2004, and the designers at EA's in-house studio Maxis are taking advantage of that to make some titanic changes to the series. We know because we went down to Maxis earlier this week for a very first look at The Sims 3, and what we saw made us a bit giddy at the possibilities.

This easily represents the biggest advancement for the series to date, much more than what The Sims 2 meant to the original game. After all, the big feature in The Sims 2 was a full 3D engine that was a huge step up from the series' original 2D graphical look, but apart from that, almost everything else remained the same. You still created single-lot homes where your virtual people spent 90-percent of their lives, and leaving those lots to visit other homes or businesses meant hitting a load screen.

Meet the next generation of sims.

The Sims 3 looks to finally evolve beyond that limited scope by simulating whole neighborhoods and towns. You still control your sims and you still can design, build, and furnish a home, but now your sims can venture across the street or across the neighborhood without hitting a load screen. It's a seamless, dynamic world that you can explore, one populated by dozens of computer-controlled sims. While you're busy playing, you may see neighboring sims fall in love, get married, have kids, and die. If anything, the world of The Sims 3 sort of reminds us of Simsville, the cancelled 2001 game that tried to fill in the gap between the intimate scope of The Sims and the gigantic scale of SimCity's urban landscapes.

"We want to get people off the lot and out into the neighborhood around them and get them to experience this complete town in a way that they've never been able to before, and frankly we've never been able to deliver before just because we didn't have the technological means or the design expertise," executive producer Ben Bell told us.

Bell gave us a short PowerPoint presentation of the new features in The Sims 3, but then he showed us a pre-alpha version of the game running itself. Maxis has been working on The Sims 3 for years now, so it's in a fairly advanced state, though there's still plenty of work to do. Much of what we saw was filled with placeholder art or user interface data, as the designers are still trying to tweak many aspects of the game. But right off the bat, we watched as the camera could zoom from a scenic panorama of a town right down to the familiar confines of a single home. Each lot in the town, be it a business or a home, is fully modeled and exists within the simulation. In other words, these aren't Potemkin villages. Associate producer Lyndsay Pearson told us that the town we looked at consisted of 97 different lots.

The sims themselves have gotten a huge overhaul when it comes to their personalities. Fans of series know that determining a sim's personality depended on allocating points that determined how shy or outgoing they were, or how lazy or active. The problem with this system was that it was very limiting, since the options were so vague and you only had a handful of points to distribute between them. That's all thrown out the window in The Sims 3. Now each sim can have up to five traits that are selected from a pool of about 80. That calculates out to millions of potential combinations, according to Pearson. We saw traits like flirty, dreamy, perfectionist, paranoid, genius, frugal, brave, clumsy, artistic, kleptomaniac, inappropriate, daredevil, schmoozer, and more. Imagine trying to break down people you know or characters you see on television and the movies to their four or five key traits, and you can recreate them in The Sims 3.

Whole towns will be your playground.

You'll not only be able to model the traits of your friends and family, but you'll also be able to do a pretty good job of creating sims that look like them, too. Sim creation is much more powerful in The Sims 3, as sliders will let you adjust body weight and muscle tone, and there are options to create a greater range of faces. The graphical leap between The Sims 3 and its predecessor isn't as huge as The Sims 2 was from the original game, but the emphasis now is to create more believable human beings. The sims have been softened and rounded a bit more; they're less cartoony and more realistic.

Another aspect of the game that the producers touched on is the moodlet system, which is how you'll be able to get feedback on your sims' emotions and thoughts. The details are a bit vague, but it sounds like the mood bar will overhaul the hunger, bathroom, and other meters. For sure, the bathroom mechanic is being reduced, as Bell emphasized that you won't "have to spend your whole life staring at the pee bar all day long." The idea is that the game focuses more on the bigger picture, like what sort of life do you want your sim to lead? It's less about having to worry about the minutiae of everyday existence.

If you're a fan of The Sims who loves to just build homes, then there's going to be plenty to like in The Sims 3. Bell promised greater customization options, and they showed off how easy it's going to be to select patterns and materials that go on objects. Let's say you have a great pattern on a couch. In earlier games, that pattern was pretty much restricted to the couch, but in The Sims 3, you can take any material from any object and drag it over another object to populate it. So take that pattern you like from the couch and drag it around to other furniture to create a matching set.

Pretty much every aspect of The Sims as you know it has been rewritten for The Sims 3, which is why we're so excited for the game. The series is nearing its 10th anniversary, and the formula that has served it so well to date has certainly reached its limitations in addition to feeling very dated. The Sims 3 promises to recharge and reinvent the way The Sims is played, and that's something that will affect millions upon millions of fans around the world.

Acer eyes future desktop systems, including game machine
By Jacqueline Emigh, BetaNews
March 13, 2008, 10:14 AM

Over the next year, Taiwan-based notebook PC maker Acer will start to produce desktop units under the Acer brand...and a senior Acer official told BetaNews yesterday that a PC-based game machine is one of the ideas being bandied about.

NEW YORK CITY (BetaNews) - Right now, the Acer brand name is still equated with PC notebooks only, despite Acer's acquisition of Gateway. But in an interview with BetaNews at its press event on Wednesday, Acer's senior vice president, James T. Wong, said that his company has a game machine in mind, and that it will be based on "open standards."

"If you look at most of the other game machines that are out there right now -- Nintendo's, the Xbox -- they are 'closed' and proprietary systems," he told BetaNews.

Wong said that, beyond "openness," all of the Acer-branded systems being eyed right now, including the game machine, are envisioned as offering new and innovative form factors and applications.

In addition to its future Acer-branded desktop PCs, however, Acer will also provide desktop systems under the Gateway name, as well as under the eMachines and Packard Bell brands inherited through the Gateway buyout, according to the senior VP. The Acer, Gateway, eMachines, and Packard Bell desktop systems will each incorporate two separate line-ups, one for consumers and the other for SMBs (small to medium-sized businesses), he said.

During a press conference attended by BetaNews earlier on Wednesday, which focused mainly on Acer's notebook PC products and strategy, officials cited Gateway's expertise in desktop systems as a big reason for buying that company.

But Wong told BetaNews that Acer had already been making desktop PCs for other vendors, anyway, with desktop systems constituting some 30 percent of Acer's huge OEM business.

Acer, though, will not be offering either desktop or notebook PCs geared to enterprise use, at least for now, according to the executive.

"You need different kinds of resources for [enterprise systems], and we don't have those kinds of resources right now," he told BetaNews.

Take-Two Interactive announced today that BioShock 2 was officially in the works, under the development wing of the recently formed 2K Marin studio. The sequel—rumored to actually be a prequel—to the Xbox 360 and PC shooter is planned for a fourth-quarter fiscal 2009 release date. Take-Two's fiscal year ends October 31, so expect it to hit unspecified platforms (read: Xbox 360) before the '09 holidays.

Take-Two also noted that the original BioShock has 2 million unit sales under its belt since its August '07 release. No pressure, 2K Marin! No pressure at all.

EA's efforts to purchase Take Two are moving into hostile territory as the gaming giant is taking its case directly to shareholders, bypassing the board of directors with a buyout price of $26 per share. This deal is similar to the February 24 offer that was made public after Strauss Zelnick, Take Two's chairman of the board, rejected it. Both deals give the Grand Theft Auto developer a valuation of around $2 billion, but this time Zelnick's hands are tied: if the shareholders wish to sell directly to EA, there is little that can be done to stop them.
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Take Two has responded to the offer. "The Board of Directors of Take Two Interactive Software, Inc. today recommended that Take Two stockholders take no action at this time in response to the announcement by Electronic Arts Inc. that it has made an unsolicited conditional tender offer to acquire all of Take Two's outstanding shares of common stock for $26 per share in cash." The company says it will review and evaluate EA's new offer and will subsequently issue a new recommendation along with a justification.

The shareholders may be more willing than Zelnick to agree to EA's offer, and in fact one shareholder has already begun litigation against Take Two, alleging that since the company didn't negotiate with EA, it has failed to "maximize shareholder value." Could Take Two have convinced EA to sweeten the deal? It's very possible, in the letters EA was very clear about the value it placed on finishing the deal quickly, and the stock buyout was a cash deal. "If EA really is desperate to land this deal, it could easily afford to raise the bid," Ars noted previously. "These guys have $3.4 billion in cash equivalents and no debt to speak of."

Zelnick is going to get paid either way. Last month, the board approved a change in ZelnickMedia's (an investment firm with a significant stake in EA) payment schedule. If the company is sold, its management fees and bonuses will total $16.5 million insted of $3.8 million. In other words, once EA began making moves to acquire the company, the board of directors increased the payout to ZelnickMedia over 400 percent, should EA succeed. The shareholder lawsuit calls this increase, made just nine days after Riccitiello's first letter to Zelnick, "exorbitant."

There is also a severance plan for other employees that has been put in place; they stand to get up to 1.5 times their salary for up to 18 months if Take Two is purchased by another company.

Take Two still isn't a profitable company; for its most recent quarter, it posted losses of $38 million, compared to a loss of over $21 million a year previous. Preorder activity for the upcoming GTA IV have allowed Take Two to give optimistic guidance for the current quarter. It now expects earnings of $1.00 to $1.10 per share on revenues of between $450 million and $500 million.

One factor working in favor of EA's bid is Take Two shareholders' history of taking things into their own hands when they don't agree with management. The current board of directors is in place because the shareholders revolted against the company's previous executive team last March in the wake of the company's $185.9 million losses in 2006 and a stock options backdating scandal.

The pressure for Take Two to accept the offer is growing, and with stock trading below EA's $26-a-share offer we could see a major shakeup in the industry if Take Two ends up falling into the hands of the gaming giant. If that happens, EA will basically have the world of sports gaming cornered, as well as control of the influential Rockstar Games. That may not be the best thing for gamers, but one person will have come out far ahead in the deal: Strauss Zelnick.

"Take Two's management has rejected EA's offer for $26 per share, claiming that it is not enough. Then it stuffed its own pockets with options and instituted a generous severance plan for employees if the company is taken out," Todd Mitchell of Kaufman Brothers wrote to his clients. If EA remains determined, there is little incentive for Take Two to remain independent.

GameDaily BIZ has received the February video game sales data from The NPD Group and software sales were even higher than analysts had predicted. Total software sales came to $668.7 million, up 47 percent, while hardware sales grew 19 percent to $480 million. Accessories also grew 36 percent, totaling $185.3 million. Overall, total industry sales increased 34 percent to $1.33 billion.

In terms of hardware, it was once again pure Nintendo domination. The DS sold a whopping 587.6K units while the Wii sold 432K units. The Xbox 360, which Microsoft said would likely trail the PS3 because of supply constraints, sold 254.6K units. The PS3 sold 280.8K units. Surprisingly, the old PS2 put up very respectable numbers with 351.8K units. Finally, the PSP also fared decently with another 243.1K units sold.

"So far this year the growth volume has surprised me a bit especially considering the state of the economy right now." - Anita Frazier, NPD

On the software side, Activision's Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare continues to show its long legs, securing the top spot with more than 296,000 copies sold. Capcom's Devil May Cry 4 (on Xbox 360) was hot on its heels with 295.2K units sold. The Xbox 360 version of the game outsold the PS3 version by more than 60,000 units. Nintendo's Wii Play was also once again near the top, showing that packaging a Wii remote controller with some mini-games is a winning combination.

Here's the top 10 (ranked by units) as provided by NPD:

1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - Xbox 360 – Activision – 296.2K*
2. Devil May Cry 4 - Xbox 360 – Capcom – 295.2K*
3. Wii Play w/remote - Wii – Nintendo – 289.7K
4. Devil May Cry 4 - PS3 – Capcom – 233.5K*
5. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock - Wii – Activision – 222.9K*
6. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games - DS – Sega of America – 205.6K
7. Lost Odyssey - Xbox 360 – Microsoft – 203.6K
8. Turok - Xbox 360 – Touchstone – 197.7K
9. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock - PS2 – Activision – 183.8K*
10. Rock Band - Xbox 360 – MTV Games/EA – 161.8K

* Includes Collector's, Limited, Legendary, Bundles (Guitars) Editions

BIZ: The PS2 hardware sales figure is surprisingly high to me. It's the system that never dies. What are your thoughts on PS2 sales and how long this aging system can keep this up?

Anita Frazier: Yes, while I continue to expect strong PS2 sales for some time, the number surprised me as well. I think a number of things - price, promotional activity, and strong "mass-friendly" titles like Guitar Hero and Rock Band to name a few - are contributing to the robust sales of PS2 hardware. I've said for awhile that I see the PS2 continuing to be a strong foundation for the video games market, and my opinion is only strengthened by these latest figures. In fact, PS2 hardware, software & accessories sales accounted for nearly 14% of total dollar sales this month.

BIZ: What kind of growth are you seeing from Rock Band? It's in the top 10 but Guitar Hero is still ahead.

AF: I don't see why there has to be a race between Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Both games are generating terrific sales, and players are enjoying the experiences that both of them provide. What is more interesting to me is that in what many are now deeming a recession, that games with such a premium price point are thriving. It's certainly a testament to the experience that both of these games deliver.

BIZ: Judging by the large growth in software vs. the growth in hardware this month, 2008 will really been driven by software, right?

AF: Yes, while hardware sales are still closely followed, at this point in the console lifecycle the focus once again returns to the heart of this industry - the games. There are some big games yet to drive sales in the first half of the year so I think we'll see more and more attention paid to games and how they affect the entire games ecosystem.

BIZ: Any big surprises for you in February or trends you want to point out?

AF: At the end of 2007 I expected 2008 to again be a record-breaking year for the video games industry, but with more modest growth than what was realized in 2007. So far this year the growth volume has surprised me a bit especially considering the state of the economy right now.