"What?" Says editor number 2.

"A blog for Twitch. You know, connect with the audience, give them a more open
place to talk to them about the twitch world outside of a few top story boxes on
the site."

"Aha," replies editor number 2. "That's a pretty good idea, actually."

Ohh if only we'd known... I'm going to leave it up in the air who is editor
number 1,and who is editor number 2 in the fable above, to protect the fool and
the fool who followed him. Suffice to say, I'm Aaron - editor of Tom's Hardware
Guide UK & Ireland - and that other guy (whom is 5 hours behind me and still
in bed, the lazy...) is Rob, editor of TwitchGuru, both of which are
publications of the distinguished TG Publishing family.

The reason for this blog is as anonymous editor number 1 described above: To
connect with you, dear reader, in a more fluid way than we can by simply
throwing a bunch of inanimate headlines at you and hoping that they press you to
click and have a read of our amazingly amazing content.

We want to show you around our world, and the world around us. We could wind up
going some pretty odd places together (Rob, after all, is a fan of the href="http://www.twitchguru.com/2005/11/21/the_suicide_girls_tell_us_what_gets_t
hem_going/">Suicide Girls), but also some href="http://www.twitchguru.com/2006/06/20/scary_monsters_and_super_freaks/">rat
her interesting ones. We'll href="http://www.twitchguru.com/2006/06/08/a_multiplayer_melee_on_politically_se
nsitive_games/">have rows, ponder href="http://www.twitchguru.com/2006/06/13/the_best_games_never_published/">Duke
Nukem (it'll take) Forever and href="http://www.twitchguru.com/2006/06/07/its_good_to_be_kong_part_2/">go to
the movies - and all this before we even consider the debauchery that's
bound to happen spontaneously now that we have at our disposal the instant,
throwaway ability to publish things in a blog.

I think Halo sucks. *runs*

And I don't believe that Halo "sucks," I do believe the game is perhaps the most
overrated title in the history of gaming. Can't understand the appeal of that
game, but that's another story for another time.

What's on my mind today is Microsoft and these href="http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=18106">reports of
the company's "iPod killer." There was talk earlier this year of the software
giant's purported efforts to make a mobile gaming device (some called it "Xboy,"
which I kinda liked). But reportedly Microsoft's new mobile device will be a
music and video player rather than a gaming handheld device that would compete
with Sony's PSP and Nintendo's DS/DS Lite. On one hand, as much as I like my
iPod, I'm interested in seeing a good, well-marketed and lower-priced
alternative MP3 player. On the other hand, I'm reluctant to see Microsoft once
again stand silenty in the shadows while someone else innovates (Lotus, Netscape,
Google, Apple) and then swoop in a years later with a cheaper version of a
popular product and then count their billions as their knock-off becomes the
market leader by virtue of massive amounts of advertising dollars and powerful
branding.

Reader feedback can be a mixed bag of tricks: Sometimes they flame you, other times they congratulate you on your work. And then, sometimes, you get a truly entertaining piece of feedback that just deserves to be read far and wide.

This time the honour goes to an Anonymous Shop Assistant, replying to the latest edition of my (now rather long running) Saturday Gamer column in which I question the lack of advice given to consumers in purchasing video games. You can read the column here. And the feedback, complete with costumer spelling (hey, the other piece of notable feedback I got today was a "Your grammar sucks", so nobody is perfect):

In reply to your article "Now son, are you sure this will work on your PC?" Mam, it's an Xbox game..." I would like to make a few defending statements regarding the accused lack of effort that store employees put towards helping patrons purchase a suitable product. This is in no way meant to used to defend for the evil corporation for which I work.

I work for a video game store in Canada and do understand where you are coming from with the issue of the uninformed consumer being inevitably unsatisfied with their purchase. However I can safely, at least for my own case, put your cynical thoughts to rest.

First off we don't get paid commission. None, I make the same whether I sell a good game, or a waste of store shelf real estate. All things being equal, I'd rather sell a good game that will bring the customer hours of entertainment. Not because I'm a terribly benevolent person mind you but because happy costumers are for less likely to come back to the store and scream at me.

Second of all costumers don't always listen to the humble store clerk, after all I only work at a video game store, and spend my free time playing video games, what would I know. I bring before you, that you may interpret as you will, a hand full of actual conversations and event, only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Scenario 1

Costumer> "Excuse me will this run on my computer?" (The costumer holds up a copy of F.E.A.R. (this was about 2 weeks after its release)

Employee> "Well can you tell me the specs on your computer?"

Costumer> "Oh it's really new!"

Employee> "Can you tell me when you bought it?"

Costumer> "Not long ago, it's really new."

Employee> "Hmmm. Well F.E.A.R. is a really demanding title and even a high end retail computer is going to have a hard time running this game. Until you find out what the specs for your computer are I'd suggest you hold of on buying this as we can't take an open product back on return. www.belarc.com has a program that will determine your system specs bring that in, and will be able to tell you which games will run on your pc."

Costumer> "Well I really wanted to finish my Christmas shopping today, so if it doesn't work that will be his problem" (The Costumer skips happily off to the till only to return on boxing day.)

Scenario 2

Costumer> "Excuse me do you have another game in this series? (The costumer holds up a copy of 'True Crimes: New York City' for Xbox)

Employee> "Just let me check for you." (seriously, we do use the computers to check our inventory, I'm still working on memorizing it) "You were looking for 'True Crimes : Streets of LA' ?"

Costumer> "Um yes that's the one."

Employee> "We don't have any copies left for Xbox but there are a number available for GameCube."

Costumer> "No. I have Xbox"

Employee> "Yeah, I'm sorry we don't have any copies left if you like I could phone one of our other stores and see if they can ship us one"

Costumer> "No that's OK"

3 minutes later the costumer returns to the counter. Holding a copy of 'True Crimes : Streets of LA' for GameCube

Costumer> "You see. You lied to me. You had a copy I had to find it myself."

Employee> "Umm sir you do realize that, it's for GameCube right?"

Costumer> "NO! I told you already I don't have GameCube I have Xbox"

Employee> "I think you misunderstand sir this game IS for GameCube."

Costumer> "What you wont sell me this game, why not. You have to sell me the game."

(Employee looks at manager, manager shrugs shoulders)

Employee> "Alright sir, I'll ring that up sorry for the delay."

.........Yeah he was back

Scenario 3

Mother> "Are you sure that's the game you want? It's gonna cost you all you money"

Son> "Yup I'm sure, I love this game" ( hold game to chest)

Employee> "Hey what's up, how can I help you?"

Mother> "He wants to get this game" (places a copy of 'Jaws' on the counter)

Employee> "Ok but i have to point out that this game is rated M for blood gore and intense violence, so it may not be appropriate for someone his age."

Mother> "Ah sweety maybe we should get another game, this one doesn't sound like it's for you"

Employee> "Ya know it really isn't a very good game either a lot of the people that have been buying it haven't been very happy with it"

Mother> "You hear that dear it isn't even very good are you sure there isn't another game you'd like to get?"

Son> "mmmm Nooooooo"

Employee> "Well if you havent tried 'Lego Star Wars' yet its a really good game"

Mother> "Hey how's that sound, you like lego..." *interrupted*

Son> "NO! I want Jaws!"

*silence*

Mother> "Well I guess we'll get Jaws"

Well ultimately I am biased so take these for what you will. But the humble shop keep really does try to please the costumer we're the ones that hear about it if we don't. Perhaps some of the onus should be placed on the consumer. The thing is that no matter what your shopping for the phrase to live by really is "caveat emptor."

Your local 20 something gamer shop assistant.

After my breaking discs debacle (try here, if you're in the UK and have trouble with that... odd bug, don't ask me... I'm only the editor _) a short while back, I went out and sprung for a new copy of Battlefield 2 over the weekend. That's nigh on €130 I've spent on Battlefield 2 so far, between the expansions and the replacement. Darnit anyways, it's worth it... though the whole issue of expensive games is another matter entirely (not to mention how we Europeans are being screwed with our pants on... €600 and $600 for a Playstation 3, or about $765 for a PS3 in Europe... *sigh*)

Still, I have my Battlefield 2. I loaded it up, listened to the familiar music once more and went to load Wake Island 2007, the updated version of the first ever Battlefield map I ever played online way back when we got the multiplayer demo of Battlefield 1942 (Tobruk, in the single player demo, was the first ever Battlefield map I ever played.)

It loads and it loads, and suddenly the bar reaches 100%.............and the game crashes to desktop. I hate buggy games. But I love Battlefield. I'm sure there's some good Shakespearian quotes I could lift here to hammer home my point, but I'd rather get back to fixing my phantom Battlefield problems.

This has upset real-life Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, a leftist politician
and big-time critic of the Bush Administration here in the U.S. Some Venezuelan
politicians have even suggested the video game is, shall we say, state-sponsored
and is the first step leading to a U.S. invasion of Venezuela.

I don't know about that, but I am intrigued by some of the sordid details in
this case, particularly those involving U2 lead singer and political activisit
Bono. What's the connection, you ask? Well, it seems Bono is a prominent partner
of the private equity firm Elevation Partners (get it? "Elevation"?). Last year,
Elevation Partners bought a majority stake in Pandemic through a $300 million
investment that essentially merged Pandemic with fellow game developer BioWare
(Elevation Partners also tried to buy Eidos Interactive last year, but failed,
and was reportedly interested in Take-Two Interactive earlier this year).

Bono has remained silent so far about Mercenaries 2, but some media members and
politically active folks are criticizing the rock star for having any
involvement with a war-mongering game that resembles political propoganda.

Grand Theft Auto this, Grand Theft Auto that, Grand Theft Auto the other. Rockstar certainly have made an impression with their unquestionably fun series of steal 'em ups (if you have a better moniker for the genre, feel free...) However I've never really liked the companies PR methods - they've always seemed like cheap attention seekers to me.

Of course there's always going to be an element of brinksmanship in the marketing of a game like GTA, as controversy has been its main marketing asset since Max Clifford was first employed to do the campaign for good old top-down GTA 1. However Rockstar have always seemed to go that one step further, rubbing it in as much as possible and then following up with games like Bully.

And so I really don't feel sympathy for them now that they're shedding marketing staff and (presumably) replacing them with lawyers. I doubt they'll go bust, but I do hope they get knocked down a few pegs.

1. Former Enron chairman, CEO and founder Kenneth Lay dies suddenly of a heart
attack last week, and because a legal loophole in America's screwy justice
system, Lay's conviction of fraud and conspiracy charges related to the Enron
scandal are abated because he was appealing the convictions -- meaning, in the
eyes of the law, Lay is now completely innocent, albeit dead.

2. France captain and soccer/football icon Zinedine Zidane wins the Golden Ball
for the World Cup's best player, a day after Zidane lost his head (pun intended)
and got thrown out of the championship match for head-butting an opposing player
in the chest, which was a key factor in France losing to Italy (personally, I
can't wait until some video game incorporates the "Zidane Headbutt" as a combat
move).

3. A pirate movie based on a Disney theme park ride starring a
guy from "21 Jumpstreet" has the biggest weekend opening in U.S. box office
history, making more than $132 million.

4. Nintendo sends (I swear, if I can type this out before dying of laughter,
it'll be a damn miracle) President George W. Bush a new DS Lite for his 60th
birthday, complete with...(oh my god, stomache pains)...a new game to play
(gasping for air)...called Brain Age! The game, which has become a sensation
over in Japan and was recently released in North American and Europe, features
are series of puzzles and quizzes that test players and calculates their "brain
age" or level of intelligence. Seems like the perfect gift for the U.S.
president! Yet another reason why Nintendo rules...

So, John Romero eh? Former bigwig at id launches yet another game development house, Slipgate Ironworks this time (charmingly spelled slipg8 in the URL, and featuring all the usual sombre language), and it's news. I love this industry - we're about one step short of Hello and OK magazine chasing down famous developers at their weddings and sons christenings to get the exclusive snaps.

Romero, Molyneux, CliffyB, Wright (not ours, the other one)... there are a handful of chaps (mainly chaps) and brands (Atari, anyone?) who generate headlines anytime they see fit to put themselves in front of The Great Masses. They also get an infinite amount of lives - Romero is remembered fondly for inventing the Deathmatch (we're told) alongside some of the most iconic games of id's heyday, but can anyone else over the age of about 20 tell me what else he's famous for? Come on, I'll give you a hint - he was going to make us all his bitch(es) at one stage. Not remember? The name "Daikatana" ring any bells? Ohh yeah, I thought so. You had hoped never to hear that name again...

And yet after a stint with Midway Mr Romero is back, developing an MMORPG ("or something," as these vague fashion icons of the gaming world aren't big on specifics... why should they, after all he's hiring a new big team who will presumably fill in the details).

Atari is another good example of this. How many iterations of the company have we been through now? And ohh look, they're dropping all their game prices and bailing water at a frantic rate.

Again.

Will this industry never learn? If a developer or a company has a few hits and then it all turns sour there's a good chance that it may remain sour. No, let us not pray for another eleventh hour saviour for Atari, and let's not pour our hopes into Mr I Will Make You My Bitch. You had your day in the sun, and then you gave us that game.

In some of my writings on TwitchGuru,
I've lamented about the state of the video games business here in the U.S.,
which isn't terrible but has seen better days. Despite a next-generation
consoles arriving, game sales have been so-so and some well-known publishers and
developers are ailing as a result (see Aaron's post below on Take-Two, a prime
example of top-tier game company struggling). So more reports from market
analysts and research firms are trickling out now that show June U.S. game sales
are down once again for the month of June.

However, news of Japan this week indicates that the country's video game maket
is surging. In fact, Nintendo's DS handheld has helped boost game sales, which
rose 30 percent during the first quarter of this year. So the Japanese market
appears to be doing quite well these days, and it may do even better once
Nintendo's Wii and Sony PlayStation 3 arrive later this year.

The news got me thinking -- maybe Japan would be a nice place to relocate. I'm
serious. For one, the Japanese have got a sweet video game industry over there
and you can get a number of games over there that you can't get in the States.
And they don't ban, censor, or edit games with the same uptight approach to
content that we Americans do.

What else, what else. Let me see...

1. Sushi. It's pretty much my favorite food, mercury poisoning and all. Fatty
tuna, here I come!

2. Japanese cinema. It's pretty darn good, especially some of the recent horror
flicks like "Ju-On," "Ringu" and "Audition." And you can get a lot of American
films unedited and uncensored over there as well (for more on that, check out href="http://www.twitchguru.com/2006/07/06/inside_fangorias_weekend_of_horrors/"
>David Konow's article on Fangoria's horror film convention at
TwitchGuru.com.

3. Baseball. It's big in Japan. Sure, I'd miss Fenway Park and my beloved Red
Sox, but at least I'd have the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters and the Tokyo Yakult
Swallows.

Ham Fighters and Swallows. Better end this post now before it gets out of
control...

"This industry man," a wide eyed, possibly stoned, game developer once told me, "is the next form of high art. I mean, look at the things we can do man, we can do anything we want!" And so it shall be. EA has today announced that the actress Emmanuelle (no, not that one) Vaugier will be appearing in the upcoming Need For Speed Carbon.

"Being able to work in a video game for the first time and working with the Need For Speed Carbon team at EA has been a great experience for me. This is a game that evolves the racing genre, and I'm thrilled to be a part of it", doubtlessly wide-eyed, enthused and somewhat richer Vaugier said. "Playing the role of Nikki allows me to take a completely fresh approach to acting and push the boundaries of the creative process." Yes, being animated and saying a few lines really pushes the genre.

Now, go and image search this girl and when you return, doubtlessly with a new background wallpaper, tell me in five words or less exactly what merits Ms Completely Fresh Approach was chosen to take the role upon for.

World of Warcraft meets The
Village People

Halo Kitty Cat Dance

Tidus and Yuna, Listen to
Your Heart

Metal Gear Solid does the
Jungle Boogie

World of Warcraft's Amish
Paradise

The Thought Police have won another victory, it would seem, in the pulling of the white PlayStation Portable advertisements by Sony. The ads, featuring a painted white woman holding a painted black woman to highlight the new white PSP, has stirred up the hornets nest in places. Sony appears to now be pulling said advertisements.

Err, why? What exactly in those ads was racist? Was Sony setting out to tell us that white people are in some way superior to black people? (Or is that coloured people, these days? The Political Correctness brigade changes their mind on that one so often I can't keep track, and so I apologise for any offence unintentionally caused.)

Or maybe, just maybe, Sony was attempting to show that they now have a white coloured PSP to go alongside a black coloured PSP. And maybe, just maybe, if we walk around looking for racism everywhere we go, we might just find it everywhere we go.

Pray nobody tells the PC brigade that there's a game called Black & White...

So, one of the most reclusive musical geniuses of his time, Syd Barrett, is dead at just 60. For those of you who don't know him, Barrett was one of the founding members of Pink Floyd (and if you don't know who they are, well there's no hope for you I'm afraid) who left a major mark on their early work, and inspired quite a few artists since with his quite acidic style of music that is a lot sharper than the later, post-Barrett Floyd music that's probably much better known (Dark Side of the Moon, The Wall and so on.)

I'm a big Pink Floyd man, and unlike most of today's flash-in-the-pan bands that last four years if they're lucky, Pink Floyd has been around for about four decades, making music for three. You can chart their music, their influences and those of their front men across a wide spectrum of periods and events.

One reason I mention them here, apart from extolling of their virtues, is because I listen to a lot of Pink Floyd whilst gaming. It has me thinking, how many people actually do that? And in what type of games do they do it? For example, I rarely listen to music whilst playing first-person shooters, as it can take away from the atmosphere. I also rarely do it whilst playing online games that require intense tactical concentration, where hearing footsteps and so on is important, but I do listen to it whilst playing more frantic, Unreal Tournament, type games.

One also listens to different types of music for different games - frantic rock whilst playing a shooter, and more mellow music (think Shine On You Crazy Diamond, to stick to the Floyd theme) whilst playing turn-based strategy games, or city building ones. Not many games have soundtracks that can hold themselves up, unfortunately. The likes of the Hitman series, with their Kyd music, do it well. But fire up City Life and tell me you don't want to bleed out your ears after listening to the cheerful music for an hour or two.

Well lucky me I have the likes of Bike and Jugband Blues to see me through... Rest in Peace Syd, and thanks a lot.

Sadly, Amanda is no longer with Rocketboom because of a dispute with the co-
founder and producer of the show; it's a messy situation, apparently, and I'm
not going to try to make heads or tails of it here. Instead, I wanted to take
this opportunity to profess my love the the vlog formerly known as Rocketboom
and its departed hostess.

I probably won't watch Rocketboom anymore -- I simply can't imagine the
experience being the same without Amanda's unique brand of physical comedy, her
delightful monologues, and infectious enthusiasm. No doubt, her legions of fans
are heartbroken, especially the male viewers, as Amanda clearly put the "boom"
in many of their "rockets." I'd list my favorite segments, but frankly, there
are just too many (though I can safely say I'll never forget the "Karl Rove
drinking game"). Say it with me: funny, sexy, smart. It's the Holy Trilogy, the
trifecta, the Triforce, the triple threat. Amanda is a special talent, and I
have no doubt she'll land on her feet in a better place sometime soon.

Good luck and Godspeed, Amanda.

Mark Rein, of Epic, got heckled today during his keynote at the Develop Conference in Brighton for suggesting that the pioneering new episodic content model is a load of crap. They called him a dinosaur for suggesting that "Customers are supposed to buy half a game after 20 months, then wait six months for an episode? When I put a game down, I want to try a new one. Episodic games that offer faster turnaround will inevitably be using a lot of recycled content, walking through the same environments and shooting the same enemies with the same weapons."

Tut tut Mark, and all that. Unfortunately for the mass consensus in the room, I agree with the man - and I'm well known for being a fan of Steam, the system by which episodic content has recently taken its large strides towards the mainstream. I was, like everyone else, looking forward to experiencing the new episodic content, in the form of the first of SiN: Episodes and Half-Life: Episode 1.

However the proof is in the pudding, and after experiencing these two games - both of which were technically fun games which just ended too soon - I have to say that I prefer the good old fashioned model of full-course dinners for games. What's more, I think that most of the gaming world at large (except the episodic developers) prefer the old model as well - it's just that we're all too afraid of sounding like regressive party poopers to come out and say, after all this build-up to the episodic age, that it's a bit crap, really.

Read most of the reviews and comments on the likes of Half-Life: Episode 1 and almost everyone hints at it, saying "It's over too quickly," and suchlike. It just doesn't feel like you get the same bang for your buck when the game is over inside an afternoon. A game like Half-Life 2 itself is a full, four course meal of a game. Episode 1 was a starter, the soup, and not much else. You can't get your teeth into it, and so it's extremely unfulfilling.

I'd say Rein's prediction of seeing the same stuff rehashed might have some merit as well, but we'll have to wait for Episode's 2 and 3 before we can figure that out for sure. One thing I do know is that I got two weeks solid gaming out of Half-Life 2, and I got an afternoons worth out of Episode 1. Frankly I prefer the two weeks of chunky, meaty gaming.

Taking violent and graphic video games. Lately, American politicians are giving
the Australian government a run for its money by attempting to take over the
title of "strictest video game legislators." The recent efforts by the U.S.
Congress have led to some questionable tactics an even more questionable
statements. For example, during a June 14 hearing, dubbed href="http://energycommerce.house.gov/108/Hearings/06142006hearing1921/hearing.h
tm">"Violent and Explicit Video Games: Informing Parents and Protecting
Children," for the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer
Protection, Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Penn.) made the following statement:

"I think it's safe to say that a wealthy kid from the suburbs can play Grand
Theft Auto or similar games without turning to a life of crime, but a poor kid
who lives in a neighborhood where people really do steal cars or deal drugs or
shoot cops might not be so fortunate. And I should add that this isn't a
hypothetical question; Grand Theft Auto is one of the best-selling video games
in America. There's almost certainly a child somewhere in America who is going
to be hurt by this game. Maybe his dad is in jail or his big brother is already
down on the corner dealing drugs. Maybe he's just fallen in with the wrong crowd.
But this game may be all it takes to nudge him on to the wrong side of the
fence."

Rep. Pitts went on to say that he is "a defender of the First Amendment" but
believes the video game industry has a "moral responsibility" to keep video
violent video games away from at-risk kids and impressionable minds.

You know, this is truly ironic. Here Rep Pitts is saying that poor ghetto kids
are going to act out GTA, yet legislators and video game critics for years have
been citing their favorite case study, Columbine High School -- which just
happens to feature two white, middle class kids from a nice little suburb in
Colorado.

A clip of the hearing can be found href="http://energycommerce.house.gov/108/Hearings/06142006hearing1921/hearing.h
tm">here, and Rep. Pitts' remarks begin at around the 27:30 minute mark.

Darren Polkowski has, for many years, been the man for LAN parties at Tom's Hardware Guide. So when he says that the modern LAN party is turning out to be rotten at the core I'd tend to believe him.

Personally I've never actually liked large LAN parties. I'm more a fan of the small to mid-sized LAN of around 10 - 20 likeminded gamers inhabiting (or rather, occupying) the bottom half of a house or similar. No set pieces, no swag, just a lot of games, a lot of cabling and a lot of (oftentimes not so clean) fun. These LAN parties are spontaneous, homely and most of all, fun.

They are, to me at least, what LAN'ing is all about. You know almost everyone at the party, or else you have the time and space to get to know them by the time it's over. No holds are barred and I've seen Counter-Strike knife fights devolve into real-world water fights (quite an interesting sport, with about thirty grand of equipment present). This sort of thing would get you milled out of any big LAN party, and it shows the more spontaneous nature of these smaller LAN parties.

Screw these big LAN parties, be they "corporate" or not, give me 15 gamers, a house, tables, chairs and miles of cable and I'll give you more fun than you can shake a half-chewed candy bar at.

For those of you who aren't familiar with "28 Days Later," I'll explain: Danny
Boyle's zombie flick was the scariest movie in quite some time. Not only that,
but it was a great movie, too. And it could have been a great game as well.

So why did Electronic Arts and Sony, among others apparently, shoot down the
idea of converting the movie to a game? Why is that we have poor movie
adaptations like "The Da Vinci Code" instead of having a movie with a can't-miss
premise (zombies!) that would fit right in with a lot of popular games out there
today? Why, why, why? I want answers! RAGE!!!!!!

Hopefully, the sequel to "28 Days Later," dubbed -- I kid you not -- "28 Weeks
Later," won't ruin all chances of seeing a game based on the movie.

Do you know that feeling when you're falling over, or something terrible and inevitable is about to happen, and it seems like it all happens in slow motion? You can see the ground rushing up towards your face and you know there's sweet f-all you can do about it. That's kinda like what it must feel like to be Bruno Bonnell these days.

The CEO of Atari has had to put a positive quote and spin on so many dodgy press releases these days that I'd say he has to sit in front of his mirror most nights saying positive things to himself. Following on from some ongoing and pretty dire financial results (and a near delisting from the NASDAQ last year), and the company slashing all their game prices to $20 in North America, we now have them selling their big assets in order to keep money in the bank.

The Driver series has been sold to Ubisoft for a princely $26 million. "The Atari name has been synonymous with innovation since the beginning of interactive entertainment," said Atari, Inc. Chief Executive Officer Bruno Bonnell. Indeed, the Atari name has been known for quite a lot over the years. Collapsing as a business, having the brand bought up and then collapsing as a business again being one of the recurring themes... "Over the years, we have created and nurtured some of the industry's most successful franchises and we will continue to do so. We are focusing the energy of the Company on a select number of franchises in order to optimize their impact among consumers and increase shareholder value. In the driving category, we consider Test Drive our key franchise which will require more resources and attention to build it as a landmark of its genre."

Aye, the words of a man not updating his CV at all.

Then I played God of War. Oh, wow. What a sick game. Sick in a good way. I can
honestly say I've never played a game -- PC, console, arcade or otherwise --
that had such graceful cinematography. We don't typically think of games being
"directed" the way that movies are, but God of War changed all that for me. The
game beautifully shifts the views and perspectives with zooms, overhead shots,
and rolling "camera" movements; it also seemlessly integrates cut scenes with
actual game play (in fact, on more than one occasion I failed to realize after a
cut scene that game play had resumed).

Oh, and let's not forget the visuals and game play -- they're both exceptional.
It's ironic to think that nearly six years after PlayStation 2 was launched and
with PlayStation 3 on its way, Sony creates a game that is flawlessly executed.
God of War is a pure console game -- lots of action and bloodshed and lots of
button pushing -- and I'd argue that few such games are as complete as this one.

So with God of War being praise-worthy, what about God of War 2? Well, I always
thought it was a little strange that Sony's making a sequel to their its hit
game -- schedule for January of next year -- but isn't releasing it for PS3
(though that's more of a red flag for the console than for the game). I watched
the trailer again after I had familiarized myself with God of War. I'm still not
that impressed -- it looked too much like the original -- but we'll see. Sony
game designer and God of War creator David Jaffe recently wrote on his href="http://davidjaffe.typepad.com/jaffes_game_design/">blog that we may
see a God of War trilogy.

Jaffe wrote: "I CAN tell you that God of War 2 is shaping up very, very nicely.
I played a bunch of levels last week and it's really, really fun. The art and
music is much better than the first game and there is some damn fine level
design going on in the new game. As Cory and I have said to the press, this is
the second act of a bigger story. And when you are making a game, you never
really know if the game will turn out good enough to merit another one in the
series. But after last week, I can say I am very confident of our chances to be
able to complete the GOD OF WAR trilogy. You never know, but that's me just
putting it out there."

Thanks for being vague, David.

That's what Peter Molyneux, OBE, has been telling the games industry at their
annual Brighton shindig. The inspired and ever inspiring Officer of the British
Empire sold his development company Lionhead, responsible for Black & White,
Fable and The Movies among others, to Microsoft ear