An interesting editorial has surfaced over at the Ludologist, where Jesper Juul argues that hardcore gamers are applying some of the same arguments against social games that the mainstream press has applied to the videogame industry.

Gamer prejudices against social games are verbatim copies of general prejudices against video games. Within video game culture, we have spent decades trying to make video games respectable, but now we are simply taking the prejudices against us, and regurgitating them at a new form of video game, looking down on social games the way that culture at large has been looking down on video games. We have made social games into the video games of video games.

He goes on to point out that it is OK to dislike social games: Read More

Although the mostly NSFW Flash game site Newgrounds is absolutely awesome, sometimes they have a way of topping themselves. Case in point: a new game based loosely on the cult film The Room.

The game was created by Newgrounds founder Tom Fulp (who also did amazing work on Castle Crashers and Alien Hominid) and artist Jeff Bandelin. It lets players to experience a point and click adventure game set in Tommy Wiseau’s 2003 film in a 8-bit world. Check it out, and if you haven't ever been to newgrounds.com, you owe it to yourself to check out some of the great games over there.

Thanks, Game | Life

Sony Online Entertainment has released TerRover on PlayStation Network today. So what the heck is this game all about and why would you care? Well SOE describes it as a cute 2-D physics based all-terrain vehicle game developed by independent developer Creat Studios.

TerRover features 40 stages of puzzles and arcade action, five worlds to explore, three local multiplayer modes for up to four players, YouTube support for uploading in-game footage (if that's your thang) and 16 Trophies.

TerRover is available now on the PlayStation Network for $14.99.

Dutch developer Ronimo Games has some great news for those of us that never got a chance to try its cool WiiWare RTS game, Swords & Soldiers: it's coming to other platforms! Yay! Ronimo announced this week that it will bring the game to the PlayStation Network and to Steam.

Just like the PSN game, the Steam version will feature 30 campaign levels, three faction (Vikings, Aztecs, Chinese), online multiplayer, leaderboard challenges, customizable skirmish modes, extended soundtrack, and more.

The Steam version will also offer Steam achievements and a PC-based control scheme (mouse and keyboard).

Swords & Soldiers will also have Steam achievements and a cursor-based control scheme (naturally) on PCs, whereas the PSN version have Trophies and a dual analog control scheme. Both versions of the game will be released this fall.

Source: Game, Set, Watch

Capcom says that its prequel to Dead Rising 2, the download-only game Dead Rising 2: Case Zero, has already sold 300,00 units. That's a pretty amazing number considering that it was only available online and not in retail stores.

Word of mouth and high anticipation for Dead Rising 2 had an awful lot to do with that number. After all, I don't think I have seen one negative review of the game yet.

We offer our congratulations to Capcom. Now get us DR2, please.

Source: Capcom Unity Blog

Activision announced today that Hollywood heavyweights Ed Harris and Gary Oldman will be doing voice work for Treyarch's next Call of Duty game, Black Ops. Oldman will be reprising his role as Viktor Reznov, a shady Russian character from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, while Harris plays CIA agent Jason Hudson. Both roles seem fitting.

The game will also feature the talents of David S. Goyer, who wrote the script for Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.

Call of Duty: Black Ops will be released November 9.

While we don't have actual sales numbers, the top-selling PlayStation Network game for the month of August was Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. This comes as no shock to anyone that has played the game for more than two minutes. Other winners in August were Earthworm Jim HD, Vempire, 2Xtreme and Mushroom Men. Mushroom Men was popular because it was offered for free to PlayStation Plus members. Full list below:

1. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
2. Mushroom Wars
3. Earthworm Jim HD
4. Vempire
5. 2Xtreme (PSone)
6. Fat Princess
7. Final Fantasy IX (PSone)
8. CTR: Crash Team Racing (PSone)
9. Top Gun
10. DeathSpank

I don't like to play the 'girl' card when it comes to writing posts about girls in gaming. My opinion is that it shouldn't matter what sex you are, if you kick ass in a game, you kick ass - pure and simple. I got to thinking about situations where I've probably acted out of character and arguably, acted immaturely but did it because it was fun to do. I am definitely not proud of some of my antics but hey, they are what they are. Sometimes you get carried away in a game, especially when you're beating your opponent. Maybe it says something about my psychological state when I play video games - my agressive, competitive side kicks in. Maybe that's something that girl's aren't commonly known for. Truth be told, I like being assertive and aggressive when I play. I don't see why I should behave any differently to anyone else simply because I'm female. Read More

During a gaming session at Pax10, Destructoid journalist's and onlookers were unexpectedly entertained by a couple of Killzone's Helghast with their dancing shoes on! When Michael Jackson's "Thriller" blasted through the speakers, it was a sight to be seen (and recorded). Although the steps look a little off, it's still a pretty awesomely random encounter.

Via Destructoid

A Deviantartist's impression of how Link would react after an awesome discovery. Time for the poor old ocarina to take a back-seat to the Rock Band guitar!

Via superpascoal

A Staten Island man Wilfredo Matos, 30, was arrested on Aug. 22 for allegedly being part of a multi-state video game theft ring.

219 video games valued at $9,000 were stolen from Toys "R" Us stores along the East Coast. The thieves were literally caught 'red handed' when Matos was spotted by an off-duty police officer stuffing games down his pants at a Toys "R" Us store in Annapolis.
Read More

My fellow writers here at GC have expressed concern over my apparent pre-occupation with World of Warcraft. While I have spent a fair bit of time re-familiarising myself with the world of Azeroth over the last few months, I'd like to say that WoW isn't on my brain 24/7 :) which brings me to my choice of blog post for today. It's a comparison piece and granted, SWTOR is a wee way from beta release while WoW has been around for a good many years, I'd still like to describe why I think WoW will be taking a back seat to SWTOR when it eventually releases. Read More

Another brilliant reminder of how art and video games blend perfectly together. This 3D pavement image of Ryu was Deviant Art artist Cptmunta's entry into the Street Fighter tribute contest. It took two days to create and was drawn outside a local game shop. It didn't win unfortunately, but it's still pretty awesome regardless.

Via Cptmunta

Ever wondered what an Atari 2600 looks like inside? Well, the team over at ifixit were curious enough to go ahead and tear one apart, you know, just for kicks. In a step-by-step description of the process, the guys discovered that for its size, the Atari 2600 didn't really have a whole lot going on inside of it. They also discovered: Read More

So the news of the layoffs regarding LucasArts has me a little concerned. With rumors of even more layoffs planned, what will this mean for the future development of LucasArts franchises or future titles? As I'm a fan of LucasArts games and will be seriously focused on SWTOR when it releases, I'm wondering how this will impact the future development of these titles. At the end of the day, the person buying the games and playing them is going to be impacted. Read More