Video Games Blog

The $500,000 Atari 2600 game

We apologize for the crummy picture — if you can find a better image depicting Gamma Attack, an Atari 2600 game which is apparently in smaller numbers than los Chupacabras, then we’d like to see it. According to eBay seller Wyatticog, there’s less than 20 of this particular cart in existence, which may or may not justify his asking price for the game — a cool half mil.

We don’t doubt that the game is rare, but $500k is a ton of loot. With that kind of expendable income, we could buy a small island, a Crysis-ready PC, or 8,000 video games that are actually worth playing. Unless there’s some eccentric millionaire out there with an uncontrollable boner for games from the President Carter era, we doubt this one will fly off eBay’s virtual shelves.

Source: The $500,000 Atari 2600 game

PS3 Poll Police: The Format War — Aftermath

Nick Doerr
Filed under: Polls and Surveys, Community

When we say “aftermath” we mean after the supposed end of the war between two rival HD formats for the time being, or something. It’s been circulating around the streets that Toshiba is ceasing any more HD DVD player manufacturing and the Poll Police have heard this is the end of the line for said format. Now the police are curious: the harbingers of internet justice want to know how you reacted upon hearing the news so many Sony fanboys have waited for.

It’s not meant to spark any flames … we simply want to know how you reacted to the news. Personally, the staff at the Poll Police headquarters nodded our heads with our usual cautious optimism, laced with a hint of surprise at the sudden announcement. Curious about last week’s poll? Sure you are. Take the plunge and see the results.It seems that the PS3’s around the globe are getting loved. We understand that a lot of you are busy and can’t play with your sexy black behemoth as often as you’d like, but we’re sure it forgives you. Sure, it was a sort of weak question with an abstract Valentine’s Day theme to it, but still, the results are great news! Plus a lot of people voted; many more than usual. As such, we give our thanks to you and look forward to seeing you again next week!

poll-police

Source: PS3 Poll Police: The Format War — Aftermath

Deals of the Week: Target tossing specials your way

Nick Doerr
Filed under: Deals and Bargains

So you love buying video games, but that feeling inside your wallet afterwards makes you want to cry a little? You’re not alone. What you are afflicted with is a common disease called Retrospective Consumption Ensaddenment. Luckily for you, we have the cure. Deals! It seems Target (and Amazon) are pulling out the stops to offer you some great deals this coming week. Curious?

Well, first off, Target will give you a $10 gift card whenever you purchase any of these games. They’ve got the Rock Band Special Edition for $149 — which is $10 cheaper than Amazon’s deal. Finally, for those who don’t own a PS3 yet because of the price, you can nab a $40 gift card with the purchase of a 40GB PS3. Sure gift cards aren’t exactly cash off of games, but if you need a video game and some blankets/groceries/picture frames, two different transactions and a few minutes later you’ll be glad you took advantage of these deals.

deal, dealoftheday

Source: Deals of the Week: Target tossing specials your way

NIU Shooting: Why Are Games Even Under Discussion?

With his Friday appearance on Fox News, Miami attorney Jack Thompson has managed to once again introduce the video game violence issue into the aftermath of a tragedy.

In the past, some observers have referred to Thompson’s media tactics as massacre chasing. Frankly, it’s hard to disagree. Beyond that, one has to ask - given that NIU shooter, Stephen Kazmierczak, was 27-years-old - why are video games an issue at all?

Even if you buy into the notion that violent video games lead to real-world violence (and there is zero scientific proof to support that), the NIU shooter was far closer to 30 than 15. Short of an outright societal banning, how would Counter-strike - or any of the far bloodier games on the market - been kept away from Kazmierczak?

The bottom line at NIU, as at Virginia Tech, is that the shooter was a heavily-armed, deranged, homicidal adult. No video game rating system, no amount of retail enforcement of same, could have kept him from playing Counter-strike. No video game law - even if it were somehow constitutional - would have blocked him from buying Counter-strike or any other M-rated game. That’s because such legislation typically seeks to prevent under-18’s from purchasing violent games.

Moreover, Thompson has said in the past that the goal of his anti-game violence crusade is to keep mature game content out of the hands of kids. Stephen Kazmierczak was no kid. So, what’s Thompson’s point?

TV face time, perhaps?

GP: I’ve e-mailed Thompson to ask him to explain how the NIU case relates to his game violence crusade. If a response is forthcoming, I’ll update this entry

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 17th, 2008 at 1:03 pm and is filed under Controversial Games, Media, Jack Thompson. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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Source: NIU Shooting: Why Are Games Even Under Discussion?

Amazon planning digital game distribution

A recent job posting to Gamasutra has revealed that online retailer Amazon.com is planning a digital distribution service for games and software. Amazon currently has a tentative software download service in place — though only available for tax software — and this news at least partly confirms that Amazon will be extending that service to games.

The position is for a full-time software development engineer to join the “Software and Video Games Digital Technology team,” who are working on the Amazon Software Download store. Up to now Amazon’s digital distribution services have been limited to video, music and e-books; moving to digital distribution for games puts Amazon alongside other mainstream services like GameTap and Steam, making for some heated and (hopefully) productive competition. Let’s just hope it fares better than Amazon Unbox.

[Thanks, James]

Source: Amazon planning digital game distribution

Toshiba drops HD DVD; Blu-ray wins

The rumors were true. Japanese news source NHK (english translation and Reuters validation) is reporting that Toshiba is planning to drop support of HD DVD, striking a final blow to the format and conceding victory to Blu-ray. The Sony-backed high-definition disc has been gaining strides for some time, most notably after Warner Bros switched to Blu-ray exclusively. Toshiba is expected to face hundreds of millions of dollars in losses.

The so-called “format wars” seems to be at an end, and now we’re left to ponder about the future, such as how big is the office party Sony is throwing in honor of its victory? More related to video games, might we see a future Blu-ray add-on (and subsequently rumors of a built-in drive) for the Xbox 360?

[Via Engadget; thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

Source: Toshiba drops HD DVD; Blu-ray wins

Ziff-Davis survey hints at MS handheld

Xav de Matos
Filed under: News

Ziff-Davis media, the company behind the 1UP Network website and it’s related print publications, recently distributed a survey to subscribers of their various brands (1UP, EGM and Games for Windows Magazine). Question 8 of the survey asked whether or not the subscriber was interested in an Xbox handheld gaming device, asking them to rate it from Very Likely to Not at All and Don’t Know for the indecisive bunch.

While we’ve heard rumblings of a Microsoft branded handheld device (Read: Not the Zune) and even Shane Kim won’t “say never,” we wonder how well anyone could do in a market dominated by Nintendo. Now we’re not saying that the Z-D survey is confirmation that it could happen, there is a likelihood that Microsoft is looking for information on the acceptance of such a device. According to a poll on our Mama Bear site Joystiq, they should stick to the Xbox 360.

[Via Joystiq]

portable-xbox, xbox-handheld-gaming-device, xboy

Source: Ziff-Davis survey hints at MS handheld

Upcoming Warhawk expansion hinted at on PS.Blog

Jem Alexander
Filed under: PlayStation Network, Game Patches

Dylan Jobe’s latest post on the PlayStation.Blog was a long list of upcoming features for Warhawk’s v1.3 patch. Not only that, but the post also contained a number of subtle hints towards a future expansion. In the image above, showing how Home-launched Warhawk games will appear in the server list, is a listing for a level, “Vaporfield Gl…”, that isn’t currently available.

When asked by a commenter about an expansion listing that has appeared on a number of PSN release date lists under the name of “Operation Broken Mirror”, Dylan oh-so-subtly remarks on how interesting his own ASCII art looks. Clicking on the ASCII art at the bottom of his post takes you to this image. It’s a broken mirror! How clever.

No doubt we’ll be hearing more about this before too long, especially with GDC happening next week. If we learn anything new, we’ll be sure to let you know.

dylan-jobe, operation-broken-mirror, Playstation-blog, Warhawk

Source: Upcoming Warhawk expansion hinted at on PS.Blog

Video Marketplace Weekly: one lovely edition

Dustin Burg
Filed under: News, Video Marketplace

We’re just trucking along with our newish Video Marketplace Weekly feature and it’s actually getting to the point where we enjoy digging up the information to divulge to our fellow movie loving fanboys. We aren’t saying that it was a chore for us before, it’s just that we’ve been inspired and have a new passion for Video Marketplace Weekly. She’s so special.

So, let’s get to it already. Making an appearance this week is a diverse selection of seven new films including The Game Plan, 30,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Valentine’s inspired movies like Good Luck Chuck and Heartbreak Kid. We also came across an odd occurance that probably has happened before, but we just noticed it. We discovered that a few new releases are only available as HD downloads. Usually we see SD only downloads due to the nature of the medium, but releasing HD only is kinda odd. XBVM renters who are connected to a SD set are getting screwed a bit, paying more for a rental in which they can’t utilize the extra pixels. Oh well, we’re in a loving mood today and are willing to turn a blind eye to how unfair it all is. Enjoy this week’s list of new U.S. Video Marketplace movie rentals after the break.

U.S. XBVM Movie Releases: February 9th - February 15th

video-marketplace, video-marketplace-weekly, xbvm

Source: Video Marketplace Weekly: one lovely edition

Rumor: Toshiba gearing up to drop HD DVD

Xav de Matos
Filed under: Rumors

Our friends at Engadget stumbled upon information that seems to mark the final nail in the HD DVD coffin. Citing unnamed industry sources, The Hollywood Reporter says they’ve been told the dying format will be buried in the next coming weeks. Jodi Sally, vp of marketing for Toshiba America Consumer Products insists that nothing has been confirmed for the future of HD DVD saying, “based on its technological advancements, we continue to believe HD DVD is the best format for consumers, given the value and consistent quality inherent in our player offerings.”

While nothing has been set in stone for the format Sally did offer a hint that Toshiba is considering the exodus of the HD format. “Given the market developments in the past month,” she said, “Toshiba will continue to study the market impact and the value proposition for consumers, particularly in light of our recent price reductions on all HD DVD players.”

After the recent announcements of studios, retailers and rental companies ditching the format is anyone really surprised that HD DVD will go the way of the Betamax?

[via Engadget]

format-war, hd-dvd, hddvd

Source: Rumor: Toshiba gearing up to drop HD DVD