Virtually Dumb

Joystiq looks at IdeaFactory's new game, My Wife: A Bride Just For You.

While my own bride would probably not be thrilled with me bringing another woman into the house (even if she was just virtual), I'm curious if she herself would play it.... My wife is a gamer, and generally likes these sim type games. Hmmmmm....

Would it be worth the arguments of "You pay more attention to your virtual wife than you do me!" just to see if she would play it?

Nah. Probably not.

Shiny

UGO wants a Firefly video game, like now.

I completely agree. Would it be better than Star Wars? Yeah, it probably would.

The New Coin-Ops

When I was a wee lad, working one of my first jobs at a pizza shop, after hours I would spend hours with the other cooks dropping what little money I had earned into Galaga or Ms. Pac-Man or various other coin-operated machines.

While they can't even compare to modern games in terms of graphics and depth, they more than made up for it with playability.  They were loads of fun to play, even if they were repetitive.

Gamepro compares games in social media sites (like Farmville or Mafia Wars) to the old coin-ops. 

You know what?  They've got a point.

Hand Over Fist

Blizzard is raking it in again in World of Warcraft.

Yesterday, they offered the Celestial Steed for sale at $25. This "pet" allows players to fly in the game at whatever flight speed they have the skill for.

Well, they sold about 80,000 of the little jewels yesterday. Yep, that's $2,000,000. At the time of the story, they were averaging $500,000 per hour in sales.

And who says micropayments in games won't work?

One for the Kiddo

Pokemon has announced their next generation of game: Pokemon Black & White

Warning, the site is in Japanese.

If True, I Fear for Society

World of Warcraft predicts the future

Tolkien believed that all good people could come together on the same side. This is one of the biggest questions that humanity faces: can we have a world consensus by which we're all partners in finding a solution? Or, like the Hoarde vs Alliance situation in WoW, are we doomed to be in separate factions competing ultimately to the death? It touches on very serious issues but in a playful way.

Interesting read, but kind of disturbing. If the way people act online in an MMO setting can be extrapolated to their actions in the "real" world, what does that say for us?

I guess what it says for me is Well-geared Paladin LFG - No noobs!

And This is Why I Won't Purchase Wii Curling

This might be a bit obscene for my children.

Sometimes Hardcore Doesn't Mean Hardcore

I think I just found my new favorite gaming site.

Hardcore, Softcore…or Is That Casual

The first time anyone ever mentioned a game being hardcore I was interested. Not because I love a good challenge but because until that moment my definition of hardcore had only one context and if they finally made a game suitable enough to be marketable as such…well all right. Unfortunately this was not the case and as far as I know it has never been.

You Get What You Pay For

Fake Game Installer Punishes Pirates Via Epic Privacy Breach

This is brilliant! If one downloads this game via a torrent, then goes to install, the "virus/trojan" then acts like the game asking for user information. It then posts this information to a public website, along with pictures of the desktop! To get their information removed, the pirates have to offer a public apology and promise not to do it again.

Wow, even though I have absolutely no desire to play this game, I may just buy it to support these guys.

Collection of Talent

I recently started playing Dragon Age: Origins. As I played along, I noticed that some of the voices of the characters sounded real familiar. One quick search on IMDB.com later and Holy Cow! Bioware outdid themselves on getting talent for the roles in the game. Kate Mulgrew, Claudia Black (my personal favorite), Tim Curry, and many more one would recognize.

I've been told that a lot of the technology used in this game will also be in the upcoming MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic.

If you haven't played Dragon Age: Origins yet, I highly recommend it. I'm only a few hours into it, but it's the best RPG I've played in years. Bioware, as always, knocks it out of the park!

Han Said it Best

Can I get a "I've got a bad feeling about this"?

SyFy's launching a BattleStar Galactica MMO. The problem? It's going to be completely browser-based.

I don't know if you've looked at any browser-based games, but in my experience, they're usually pretty lousy. And if Eick and Moore aren't involved (and there's no indication that they are), I suspect an attempt by SyFy to milk a cash-cow.

Wow, That's Some Mistake

Girl mistakes gun for Wii controller- shoots herself

Sad story. The girl was a toddler. Another good example of the need for responsible ownership. You don't leave a loaded weapon laying around, period.

Just in Case You Were Curious

All the Gnomerigan punch card binaries translated
Heh

Redefining Civilization

Remember Sid Meier's Civilization? Everyone seems to have played it at one point or another. My favorite of the series was Civ II. I still pull it out and play it on occassion. I bought Civ III, but was so disappointed that I steered clear of Civ IV.

Now they're getting ready to release the latest variation, Civilization V.
We'll see. I'm still smarting from III.

I'll give them this much, the trailer is pretty.

See it at ShackVideo

Pretty Freakin' Cool

Home-built Ghostbuster's Wii Peripheral

Modder Jack Rossi took it upon himself to build the controller for the ‘Ghostbuster Wii’ game that we all dreamed about. Yup, your very own ‘Ghostbuster Proton Pack’.

The replicate ‘Ghostbuster Proton Pack’ is fully functional, even the back pack which tells the player how much power left in the pack and which player is selected in the game.

More pix at the link above

Star Wars: The Old Republic

In case you missed this, it's the cinematic trailer for the upcoming (March 2011 projected launch) MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic.

As many know, I'm an avid MMO gamer. I've played for many years and tried virtually all on the market at one point or other. During those years, I've been a big fan of Bioware, so I have really big hopes for this one.

Even if you're not interested in the MMO, watch this trailer. It's really well done.

Save Your Money, Son

My boy wants to get himself a Nintendo DSi. I have no idea why (and I suspect, neither does he--he just wants one). Well, fresh from the oven, CVG has the scoop on the DS2.

"It's genuinely the best thing I think I've ever worked with," he said. "I can tell you that it's got a 'tilt' function that's not dissimilar to iPhone, but does a lot more. We know that The Pokemon Company are getting special attention with it."

Wonder if I Could Talk the Mrs into Wearing One?

via Gizmodo

Excited

I'm pretty excited about an upcoming game that I've spoken about before: Star Wars - The Old Republic.

So excited in fact that my son and I spent the afternoon looking for a copy of Knight of the Old Republic II. We finally found one, but the wife called while I was on my way to work and said it wouldn't load. I'll have to puzzle that one out tomorrow.

Update: STTORStrategies just released a nice article with the latest information on the upcoming title

Just in Time for the Zombie-pocalypse

Zombie Outbreak Simulator

It uses Google maps but right now only does Washington DC. Funny, instructive, and fun! Two thumbs way up!