Recently in Video Games & Gaming Category

It's beginning to look a lot like HD around here, with Microsoft's announcment today at the Tokyo Game Show 2006 that is has a library of 110 HD Xbox 360 games that will be available this holiday season in Japan, including the highly anticipated Blue Dragon.

(Look for a lot of those to be headed our way, too.)

Also, Microsoft is going "old school" with a tribute to “Pac-Man” with the announcement of the first “Pac-Man” World Championship will be held in early 2007 using Xbox 360 and Xbox Live Arcade.

The Xbox 360 games showcased included:

• Blue Dragon (Microsoft Game Studios)
• Lost Planet: Extreme Condition (Capcom)
• Dead or Alive: Xtreme 2 (Tecmo Inc.)
• Trusty Bell (NAMCO BANDAI Games)

If this isn't enough, read the complete press release on the Microsoft web site.

If watching reality TV and playing "reality" video games like all of the permutations of The Sims wasn't enough, MTV plans to launch its new show, Virtual Laguna Beach, on Wednesday.

Not just any old MTV-type show, according to reports (like those in today's New York Times), Virtual Laguna Beach lets you not just watch TV, but live TV.

(Not sure if I really want to ...)

The introduction of Virtual Laguna Beach is apparently the first of three virtual worlds  that MTV plans over the next year as part of an effort to gain back mindshare from such popular Web sites as MySpace and YouTube.

To join in the fun, visit www.vlb.mtv.com and download a piece of software to get started. The first step is designing your avatar — which can look like you or anybody (or thing) you want to be.

(Think many Runescape players will go over to the light side ...?)

According to a report in Advertising Age, Nintendo is teaming with McDonald's to reach new, non-core gamer audiences -- the Happy Meal crowd, tween girls and older folks (this last demographic via hosted "Grandparents Days!)

These efforts, along with a planned new multimedia campaign, are designed to extend the reach of its Nintendo DS beyond the core gamer market.

Will gaining one (or more) audiences, lose the core? 

Gamers do know cool when they see it. "I'm lovin' it" -- I just don't know ...

This may be hard to believe for some, but online virtual worlds can actually help kids with school and school work.

At least that's what online virtual world Whyville.net is claiming -- with 1.6 million or so children aged 8 to 12 spend time there to learn about math, science and other subjects in a "multiuser virtual environment." (Anybody remembe the three Rs?)

According to a recent CNN report, some educators believe virtual worlds can have a big impact on education, but proponents are having a difficult time overcoming negative perceptions of computer games.

What negative perception?

What is old becomes new again -- is this inspired by Stonehenge or other ancient rock formations built by our ancestors?

(Or is there a simpler reason grasshopper?)

Rukshuk, "The Game of Rock Balancing" -- offers a "refreshing departure from the high-tech world of video games dominating the current landscape" and a global ecological theme.

Every Rukshuk rock formation, which players attempt to build by balancing specially crafted game rocks, is named for a natural rock phenomenon somewhere on the planet.

Here's creator Malcom Bisiker's take on it:
“Mother Nature has been building rock formations for a long time. People around the world have also built rock formations for cultural reasons and as landmarks for thousands of years. Rukshuk delivers this age-old idea in the form of an exciting, point-scoring game."

Players race against the clock to build different Rukshuk rock formations by balancing their blindly chosen game rocks. (Scrabble anyone?)

If a formation topples, it must be rebuilt quickly. Points are scored for each rock standing at the end of the allotted time, with bonus points added for the successful use of specific rocks and the completion of the formation. The player with the highest score wins.

Bisiker's inspiration? Rukshuk was conceived in 1998 in a cafe (are you sure this doesn't mean "pub"?) in London, England, where he watched as a group of friends nearby attempted to stack sugar cubes. He wondered what was so addictive about the balancing act, tried it himself and was instantly hooked.

  (See how you can turn your idle time into inspiration?)

www.rukshuk.com

It's pretty interesting how uncool AOL is trying to get cool -- first by dropping a chunk of its pay-per-use model and now buying GameDaily, arguably one of the leading online gaming publications.

(All the news that's fit to print about video games, gaming, etc. ... and that can really be quite a lot of news!)

Check out the news on the GameDaily site to see how they reported their own news!

Anyone care the guess the name of hte world's largest online games website?  The one with 27 million users? The one that was just honored with the People’s Voice Award for Games for the second successive year?

Well, it's you said Miniclip.com, then you are correct!

Syndicated across more websites than any other, Miniclip.com games are extremely popular because they are fun, free, easy to use and include the full range from casual games to hard-core massive multiplayer games.

(Does the game pictured sound familiar?)

And hey, there's even a John Kerry Workout game (how wacked is that?!)

www.miniclip.com

Gamers, gamers, gamers, do I have deal for you ...

Layered Technologies is offering its LayeredX gaming server for one month (for free) to the winner of the LayeredX Wallpaper Contest.

LayeredX (www.layeredX.com) is a dedicated gaming server division that offers premium HP server hardware and a superior low latency network. The network inevitably links with skill to finesse more frags in virtual war, which means more fun as well as a technically robust environment for gamers!

How to get the LayeredX, you ask?

Just design a desktop wallpaper that awes the world -- get creative, impress your fellow artists -- and becomes one of the first of LayeredX's publicly released desktop wallpapers. It will be pasted across the virtual battlefields of the world!

Find the contest rules at www.layeredx.com/downloads.shtml

Try this on for size gamers!

The Satoricode Code Project is among other things an attempt to provide a constructive virtual world outlet for Internet users to settle differences that may lead to violence in the real world. Players enter a three-dimensional virtual world and control a soldier in a video game war. They can battle one on one with another player or they can recruit others to join their army. Which ever player or team has the highest score at the end of the battle wins.

(Something for the UN to consider?)

Another important part of the project will channel the energies of users to see what topics are important to them. What topics are they willing to fight for?

Visitors can post ideas that they are passionate about and create an army of fellow Internet users who go into a virtual war in order to score points for their idea. Which ever army scores the most points wins.

Here's a look inside the mind of the creator:

“This project is about creating a new form of communication for our emotional energies and connecting those energies with people from all over the world in one interplanetary exercise in anger management, conflict resolution and understanding which things are important enough for us to fight for.

"Let me explain what I mean. We all have a conscious and a subconscious mind. Our conscious mind is connected to our ability to speak so when something in this part of our mind upsets us we are able to talk about it and use reason to solve our problems. The subconscious mind on the other hand behaves a bit differently. This part of our mind is not connected with our ability to speak, but instead it is connected to our emotions.

"Because our emotions filter the way that we perceive our world, unresolved issues can negatively impact the way we respond to our environment, making us do things we are likely to regret. We need outlets for these energies so that we can mitigate the negative effect they have on our lives, and so that we can bring them to the surface of our minds where our conscious mind can interrupt them and find long-term solutions to our problem. The goal of this web site is to help to facilitate this process."

Try it and let me know if you feel better ...

www.satoricode.com

Take it easy, it's only availabe in Japan!

Nintendo has started selling its Nintendo DS Browser in Japan via several dedicated Japanese online sales sites.

Opera Software's full-featured browser enables Japanese gamers to surf all their favorite Web sites on the Nintendo DS or DS Lite.

The browser is sold as a separate DS card, just like Nintendo DS games, and will come with an extra memory expansion cartridge so that users can access full Internet content by utilizing Wi-Fi environments at home, Nintendo’s dedicated Wi-Fi Stations and free accessing spots.

The Nintendo DS Browser is available in Japan at a retail price of 3,800 yen (tax included) and can be purchased online at Nintendo-authorized sales sites. (That's a little less than $33.)

The Nintendo DS browser represents Opera Software's first product deployment with Nintendo. Nintendo has also selected Opera to be the browser for its new game console, Wii, expected on the market during the fourth quarter of 2006.

www.opera.com

www.nintendo.com