Don't hate me because...

In late breaking news, The Boston Globe has reported that I am beautiful. It is official.... That's it, I am going to call my ex.

Merry Belated Xmas

another traditional Christmas

The best RvB ever

Burnie and Matt were out of town, so Gus used his artistic and technical powers to create an episode all by himself. The results are breathtaking. Look for episode 45.9.

Lawsuit Filed Against Guy Game Makers

"Developer Topheavy Studios, publisher Gathering, along with Microsoft and Sony are all named as defendants in a case brought against them by a woman who claims she was 17 when she appeared topless in the title (The Guy Game)."

[via: GameDaily Biz]

Games biz is NOT bigger than Hollywood

"The domestic US box office is estimated to be around $9B for 2004, and this is where the myth starts to take life. The problem is the movie industry is a lot bigger then just the U.S. box office. DVD sales and rentals for 2003 topped $16B. VHS sales and rentals for 2003 was $6.4B. VHS sales are declining fast, but most of that will just shift over to DVDs, which brings the grand total for non-box office movie sales to over $20B, twice the figure for the entire game industry."

[via: Grumpy Gamer]

EA Buys 20% Of Ubisoft

"December 20, 2004 - Well... wow... EA has purchased a 19.9% stake in Ubisoft, with figures placing the purchase between $85 and $100 million:

"Electronic Arts today announced an investment in international game developer and publisher UbiSoft Entertainment, headquartered in Rennes, France. The investment represents approximately 19.9 percent interest in the company -- shares purchased as a block from Talpa Beheer B.V. to be completed upon obtaining antitrust clearance from the U.S. government. Financial terms were not disclosed."

The $300m NFL deal, the purchase of Criterion & Renderware, special Xbox Live terms with Microsoft... where does it end?"

[via: Voodoo Extreme]

'Bounty Hunter' Job Posting

"When Nintendo advertised a bounty hunter position on Monster.com, they never expected the 90 serious applications they would receive from ex-military and other frightening backgrounds. We spoke with Nintendo's Beth Llewelyn about the viral campaign, and the unexpected response it generated."

[via: GameDaily Biz]

Splinter Cell movie in the works

"Paramount Pictures recently announced that they have acquired the rights to make a movie based on the Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell franchise. Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights) will be directing the movie. Berg will also be writing the script, along with Splinter Cell game writer J.T. Petty and John J. McLaughlin (Man of the House). Paramount says that the goal of the film will be to combine the series' stealth action with a "dynamic, original" character."

[via: Evil Avatar]

Penny-Arcade makes The New York Times!

"In 1998, after repeated submissions to a video game Web site were rejected, the pair struck a deal with another site, but not for money. In exchange for producing one comic a week, they were given passes to the Electronics Entertainment Expo, an annual trade show for the video game industry."

[via: The New York Times]

The Spike that broke the camel's back

Slashdot posted an editorial today bashing Tuesday night's SpikeTV Gaming Award show. I don't get cable so missed the show, but I can pretty much imagine what it was like (I mean we all saw the G4 awards... 16 times).

"If an awards show in general is a good idea, I believe the debacle that SpikeTV broadcast last night was actually counter-productive for the gaming industry. As far as I could tell, the show had little to do with games, and everything to do with advertising. 'Most Addictive Game Fueled by Mountain Dew'? Come on! If the Oscars had categories like 'Best Comedy driven by Ford' or 'Best Female in a Leading Role with makeup by Revlon' would you take them seriously? The night was a never-ending cascade of scantily clad women, rap, 'extreme' stuff, rap, people who had nothing to do with games, and rap."

While I appreciate his point of view and even agree with him, no one expected SpikeTV to actually be a "real" award show. I hang out with a dozen (newly unemployed) game journalists and no one said "hey, bring the pabst, and let's catch the Spike show!"

No one cared. It was a made-for-TV gimmick of the week used to reach a very desirable demographic that both Spike and MTV are trying to cultivate.

"Once a year, wouldn't it be nice to put the scruffy, anti-social gamer stereotype behind us? To sit down and watch some very intelligent people in tuxedos and gowns get their due for providing us so much entertainment? Seriously, wouldn't it be great to see John Carmack present an award? Or get to listen to a Wil Wright acceptance speech? A gaming awards show taken seriously would be a sight to see."

Honey, we already have that, Wil Wright and all. It is called the Game Developer's Choice Awards. Maybe this year someone will think to bring a video camera.

[via: Slashdot]

What is happening to print?

In a spread of bad announcements, three game magazines are closing shop. Gamestar, XBN and GMR. Was the market too saturated or has advertising money really moved from the standard double truck spread to more non-traditional marketing efforts in the U.S.? Whatever it is, I am very sad that San Francisco is now the home of way too many unemployed writers.

EA / NFL ink exclusive licensing agreement

"Five-year contract gives EA sole rights to the NFL, including teams, players, and stadiums. Take-Two reacts, calling it a 'tremendous disservice to the consumers.' (also the story back in May)"

[via GameSpot]

eBay item 8132264772 - Out of Control PS2

"When I first got this Playstation 2, we shared the sacred bond that only a man and his Playstation 2 can have. It ran all my games and played all my porn DVDs. I spent hours with it every night, playing and watching, watching and playing. But then it happened: I got a new job, had a new kid, and bought an XBOX. I didn’t have the time to spend with the PS2 anymore. And that’s when things started to go downhill."

[via lesigh

The FragDoodz

In what has become an increasingly popular clan name, the guys over at Bungie have followed pace with their own FragDoodz site. The FragDolls played them last night in the Bungie Humpday challenge. This made my day. Thanks guys!

IGN President resigns

Word on the street is the president of IGN and Gamespy resigned.

Crackdown on Prisoners

"blueZhift writes "Missouri's most violent criminals will no longer be permitted to play violent video games that simulate the kind of offenses that resulted in their incarceration in the first place."

[via GameTab]

Am I the only one who did not know prisoners had an XBox in their cell?

Annoucement Day

Lots of news today: Rainbow Six 4 will be released in March, Half-Life Deathmatch is available now (though the Steam servers have been busy all night), Trymedia is offering a new Worms game though download, and Katamari Damacy 2 is indeed under development for 2005.