Recently in Video Games & Gaming Category

Sears is offering VenJuvo's Trade4Credit program to Sears.com shoppers that will allow you to earn Sears store credit in exchange for trading in pre-owned gadgets that have been determined to still hold value.

The program, which offers free recycling and shipping, will accept a variety of gadgets, including iPhones, digital cameras and camcorders, MP3 players, GPS systems and gaming systems.

To use the service, simply have to log onto www.sears.trade4credit.com, select your gadget and then enter the specifics about it so the system can calculate an estimated trade-in value. Once the value is established, the user can print out the prepaid mailing label and send the device to VenJuvo.

After the device is received, VenJuvo will validate the value and within three days you will be able to collect a Sears gift card for that value. 

A quick look at the site tells me the product categories are narrow and the prices low.  Now, wouldn't eBay be a better choice in some cases?

More at TWICE.

Too bad, but Best Buy really blew it with the launch of Guitar Hero World Tour.

We were very excited to be notified that we could pre-order the little ditty a few weeks ago, but were not happy that we were not given the option to pick it up in the store.

Instead, we shelled out some more money so they could send it to us directly. And not a bad idea to save a trip to the store with the price of gas ...

Anyway, was in the neighborhood of Best Buy yesterday so decided to pick up The Shining DVD -- one of my all time best movies -- and still scary after all these years.

So what do I see when I'm checking out? Boxes and boxes of Guitar Hero World Tour.  Not happy that I've preordered this when I could have just walked in and bought it, I got really unhappy when the Best Buy email arrived today to say that shipping of my preordered one would be delayed one to two weeks, but I could call about store pickup instead. 

So I called? And guess what, it's sold out in all of my local stores -- what a surprise! And of course there is nothing they can do about it.    

Talk about stupid!

So now I'm waiting longer and I've gone from a happy customer to an unhappy customer to a fumin' mad customer ...

(Thanks to Gamingmmo.com for the image.)

It wasn't all that long ago that the gaming world was crazy, crazy, crazy about RuneScape, with thousands of players simultaneously online and with all kinds of personal things that needed attention.

When I last looked, 146,523 players were online playing RuneScape -- that's the size of a large city in most states!

Doesn't sound much different than what's happening with Halo, don't you think?

Online game playing, virtual teams shooting up virtual worlds and all kinds of personal things that need attention -- now Halo is what I'm talking about.

How many out there have moved from RuneScape to Halo?

Come on! Don't be shy to admit it ...

Nintendo has launched Wii Music, letting up to four players mimic the real-life motions of playing instruments with the Wii Remote and Nunchuck controllers.

Players will be able to mimic the motions of more than 60 real-life instruments using the motion-sensitive Wii Remote and Nunchuck controllers to learn to play along with more than 50 songs -- and the game encourages players to improvise, making their own music, mixes and arrangements.

Unlike games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band, which are very competitive, the goal of Wii Music apparently is simply to be creative and have fun experimenting with instruments, styles and musical elements.

Songs available in Wii Music include familiar melodies like "Ode to Joy" and pop tunes like "Every Breath You Take" -- along with tunes Nintendo fans know and love. 

Time for more singalongs with Mario! 

More at Digital Trends.

The latest firmware update to Sony's PSP console has ignited more game development, giving PSP users the ability to download more types of content and offering application writers more options.

The net net: It gives publishers and developers much more scope in relation to the types of games they can release.

What's to come: a wider range of releases in 2009 and more opportunities in terms of the types of games that can be released on PSP, even in terms of more female-oriented games, puzzlers and less hardcore games.

Ah, the beauty of digital distribution ...

More at GameDaily BIZ.

Let the buyers beware!

You might notice a few extra gamers hanging around your local Best Buy -- Dell has announced it will sell the Alienware Aurora exclusively through 200 Besy Buy locations as well as the store's website.

People are defining themselves by the products they choose and the groups they associate with -- Alienware Aurora lovers are saying "I am a serious gamer and user who demands the best in personal computing."

Designed for the serious gaming crowd, the Aurora has an AMD Phenom X4 9550 quad-core CPU, dual ATI Radeon HD 4850 GPUs, a 500GB3 7,200RPM hard drive and 4GB of DDR2 memory.

Other features include a multiformat DVD±RW/CD-RW drive, Alien Ice 3.0 cooling and Windows Vista Home Premium.

Price: $1,699.99 (without monitor, mouse and keyboard).

More at Electronic House.

No, you are not seeing things ...

Last week there were unconfirmed sightings of an "Obama for President" billboard in the Xbox 360 racing game Burnout Paradise.

Today the truth can be told. It is, in fact, an official advertisement placed by the senator's campaign team.

"I can confirm that the Obama campaign has paid for in-game advertising in Burnout," revealed Holly Rockwood, director of corporate communications at Electronic Arts (EA), the game's publisher.

EA regularly allows ad placements in its online games.

"Like most television, radio and print outlets, we accept advertising from credible political candidates," she added. "Like political spots on the television networks, these ads do not reflect the political policies of EA or the opinions of its development teams." 

Now can we expect to see a McCain ad in some video game, too? Anybody want to get which game that might be?

Get more at GigaOM.

An increasing number of industry players will help push 3D virtual worlds into a sustainable industry, reaching 33 million registered users by 2013, according to Virtual Worlds: the Internet of Avatars.

This new report from Parks Associates details the evolution of the virtual world value chain, which has added a variety of different companies and providers in its relatively short period of existence.

3D virtual world platform companies, world operators and full-service agencies form the core of the virtual world ecosystem, providing services to consumers, media companies, advertisers and enterprises.

However, content and application developers and service providers are becoming increasingly important.

Parks Associates will distribute a free whitepaper titled "Virtual Worlds and Social Media" at the Virtual Worlds London conference, October 20-21.

So, will Second Life have a second life?

Sony has ruled out cutting the price of the PlayStation 3 console before Christmas, insisting that the PS3 is better value than rivals half its price.

(Maybe time to rethink that in today's -- or at least last week's -- economy?)

With up to 50% of video game sales made in the run-up to Christmas, Sony is gambling that despite the weak economy, consumers will not just buy the cheapest machine.

If they do, Sony could lose further ground to Nintendo's Wii and to Microsoft's entry-level Xbox 360, which sells for $199 in the U.S. after a price cut in September - half the $399 cost of the cheapest PS3.

Sony argues that the basic Xbox has no hard disk drive, while the PS3 plays High-Definition Blu-ray movies as standard. 

Sony launched its third PlayStation model in the line in November 2006. The PS3 competes most directly with the Xbox 360. Both are high-powered consoles that have sold well to gaming enthusiasts, but neither has matched the casual appeal and rapid success of the much cheaper Wii. 

More at the Financial Times.

TechCrunch, much like the Digital Freedom Campaign, believes we need a Digital Bill of Rights to serve as "a consistent policy governing everything from Internet Protocol regulations to intellectual property on the Web."

The Digital Freedom Campaign focuses on the first three issues laid out in the TechCrunch piece -- "The Right to Use and Reuse Content," "The Right to Control Digital Property On Your Own Device" and "The Right to the Free Flow of Information."

The presidential election gives us a chance to turn the page and move forward, with support and guidance from policymakers, into a bright digital future.

Now let's see if anyone in Washington is listening.

Read more about it at TechCrunch.

And then cast your vote!