The consoles and their control interfaces have been getting more innovative through the years.  The Wiimote and Nunchuck are such cases.  Now, the technology is moving another step beyond.  Gamers will be able to control their games with their thoughts sooner than you may think!

At this year’s Game Developers Conference, Emotive unveiled a new peripheral that allows players to control their games with their minds.  The headpiece picks up signals from your brain and learns how to interpret that data into commands.  You can move, fire or interact with objects just by thinking about it.  According to the developers, it can also sense the player’s emotional state.

Now you may think this is decades away, if that’s the case, you are wrong.  Emotive plans to have the new device on shelves by December of this year.  It’s actually going to be affordable too!  At $299 each, the device isn’t that expensive for what it can reportedly do. 

Although this is definitely something to be excited about, Emotive hasn’t proven yet that the peripheral can actually work as advertised.  It can very well be another over-hyped clumsy controller when it comes out.  Either way, I’m hoping for the best.  The thought of controlling your games through your mind is enough to make me want it badly.  I want it to work.

After the surprising (and somewhat illogical) move to cast Kristin Kreuk as Chun-Li in the upcoming Street Fighter movie, Variety sheds more light on who made it in the cast.  Here they are:

Chris Klein as Nash

Yes it’s that guy from American Pie and yes he sort of looks like Nash.  Well… with enough photoshopping maybe he will.

Michael Clark Duncan as Balrog

Seriously, the only thing common with Michael Clark Duncan and Balrog is their skin color.   Oh well…

Rick Yune as Gen

Please tell me you are kidding me…

Other people from the cast include Moon Bloodgood, Edmund Chen, Taboo from the Black-Eyed Peas, and Cheng Pei Pei. 

I now have some serious doubts about this film.  

After watching the new Metal Gear trailers, the thing that struck me about all the new games is how realistic the expressions of the characters seem to be.  I mean, not long ago, video game faces simply comprised of images wrapped around a 3D head.  Now everything seems so natural and so real.  Ever wonder how they do it?  Here’s their latest technique:

Amazing isn’t it?  Imagine how it will be when the technology behind it is even more refined.  Tomorrow’s games will surely be stunning.

After claims from The Korea Times that Tabula Rasa was a financial disaster, NCsoft quickly made a statement refuting the report.  David Swofford, NCsoft’s communications director penned the author of the article as “notorious for writing sloppy and sensational articles about NCsoft” and called the story as “inflammatory.”

According to him:

The TR development did not cost $100 million. I don’t know where that came from. The price tag for the product was much less…a fraction of that cost. Tabula Rasa was not restarted more than twice. It had one overhaul and that came after 2-3 years of development.

The article made it sound like the TR launch led to some sort of falling out with Robert Garriott. That is so far from the truth. In fact Robert has been promoted to work more with CEO TJ Kim on business development. Yes Robert is out of the day-to-day operations, but he’s still in the office and now travels much more for the company than he did before.

Yes there’s a possibility that there could be downsizing with the TR team. Some of that is due to the cyclical nature of game development (product is out and the team downsizes). Some is due to the fact that the product could have done a little better. But there is a lot going on with the TR team. They are working on more updates. We are planning a Japan launch later in the year. And the company is planning on investing millions into the product, so it’s not going away and in fact we have plans to grow it.

Even then, Tabula Rasa seems to be an under-performer.  Instead of the hit we all expected it to be, it just turned into another MMO.  At least we know NCsoft isn’t really going down like what The Korea Times said.  As long as they don’t go down we can happily wait for Guild Wars 2!

Sanrio fans would be pleased to know that the Hello Kitty MMO is making some good headway in the development front.  The game is now in its closed beta stage and users from all around the world can apply for a position to try the game ahead of everyone else. 

Hello Kitty Online is linked to SanrioTown and blends cool MMO features such as customizable avatars, guilds, mini-games, and collection of items with SanrioTown’s community networking systems.  You can enjoy the Flower Kingdom as well as virtual adaptations of real world mega-cities such as London, Paris and Tokyo.

Currently there are already around 30,000 beta testers but the game’s developer, Sanrio Digital is keeping the game’s doors open for more testers.  If you want to sign up for the beta tests, visit the Hello Kitty Online site. 

Actually, buy both if you can. 

Hello everyone! I missed you guys.  It’s me, and I’m back. 

During my absence, let me prove to you that never have I sidetracked into the diverse, fun and complicated world of gaming.  In fact, it even gave me good training in broadening my perspective on how games and consoles should be treated as most of my free time was spent holding a DS to my right and a PSP to my left.  If the batteries go out, I spend my time whacking evil with my Wiimote and Nunchuck, rock out with Tom Morelo in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, and sometimes lay on the couch reviewing whom to assassinate next (chill, I’m just playing Assassin’s Creed) XD.

But let’s narrow down the topic to PSP and DS.  I want to lay out the facts and help the still undecided which to buy. 

For starters, let me say this: I challenge the general assumption that the DS is ONLY for casual gamers and the PSP is ONLY for the hardcore ones.  And to make it clear, I’m not saying that hardcore gamers don’t enjoy playing casual games cause I’m a living proof of it.

I remember when I was 4, I played Contra for countless hours after doing my homework.  As I grew older, I started playing out different genres and among my favorites were RPG and Action games.  As I assess myself now, I think it’s quite safe to say that almost every game that came out in different consoles were familiar and played by me, making me fall under the hardcore gamer category.  Yup, I am one of those people who spend countless hours in the arcade and as if I haven’t had enough, spend a lot of time playing video games upon arriving home. 

As a hardcore gamer, I find it hard to ignore the fact that many believe that the DS wouldn’t appeal much to the hardcore gamers out there.

The DS, I must say, really appealed to me.  Games like Phoenix Wright, Nintendogs and Harvest Moon were reasons enough to buy a DS.  Though graphics wise it isn’t as advanced as the PSP, the games I mentioned have game play that is enough to make you sit on the couch an entire day or make you miss your stop when you’re on the train.  During my gaming experience, I see no reason why the stylus-driven handheld should only focus on the casual market.  

PSP on the other hand (yeah, literaly on the other hand), rivaled the DS with it’s ginormous capacity to hold features like being able to play quality movies and being able to use Skype in an IT area.  What’s more, is that you can play games in a bigger screen without sacrificing the quality of the video like what happened in Resident Evil 1 when it was ported to the DS.  But how about the games? Did they release a generous amount to be enjoyed by gamers? Dang right they did.

Final Fantasy: Crisis Core and Dracula X for me were reasons enough to buy a PSP.  Me and my Katamari and Patapon were nice alternatives if you want a break from the heavier games.  The inital games that were released for the PSP may be for the hardcore market, but slowly, it seems that PSP is slipping in games for the casual market as well with Lumines Plus, Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law, and the two alternative games I mentioned above. 

So, should it be the DS or the PSP?

Get the DS if you want something fresh.  Fresh meaning game play you’ve never seen before.  Poke the screen, speak through the mic, make it your personal organizer, a health checklist by playing Brain Age, etc.  From what I can see, it has the same concept with the Wii, breaking the traditional wall of game play experience.

Buy the PSP if you’re happy with having a gadget that can do a lot of things other than gaming and if you’re already satisfied with the traditional way of how games are made. 

What I’m really trying to say

Don’t base the games to be played solely in deciding which handheld is for you if you’re confused with what to get between the two.  Instead, a better way of discerning which is which is to study how the console works and decide which fits your lifestyle, because both has an outstanding library of games you’d really want to play.  Unless of course your mind is already set on that particular game as a "reason enough to buy the DS or the PSP," considering the handheld’s prowess might be a better idea to help you out.

An ex-employee of Blizzard recently divorced her husband because of World of Warcraft addiction.  According to Jocelyn, her husband’s crippling addiction to Blizzard’s hit-game became more than she could handle:

He would get home from work at 6:00, start playing at 6:30, and he’d play until three a.m. Weekends were worse — it was from morning straight through until the middle of the night. It took away all of our time that we spent together. I ceased to exist in his life.

What’s sad is that they where friends since age 13 and have been married for six years now.  It only took a mere nine months of game addiction to cause the marriage to collapse.  To make things worse, she was the one who gave Peter the game as a Christmas present:

I bought the game for him for Christmas 2004, when it first came out. By May we had our first serious discussion about where our marriage was going, and by September I had moved out.

Jocelyn did try to save the marriage.  She tried to schedule “together” time with her husband but was unsuccessful.  One instance was when she tried to allot 30 minutes to watch a favorite TV show together but Peter stood her up because he was in the middle of a raid.  When she got upset, he did not understand why.  Soon he began to neglect his household duties such as paying for bills or doing his share of the household chores.

Jocelyn is understandably devastated with what happened:

I’m real, and you’re giving me up for a fantasy land. You’re destroying your life, your six-year marriage, and you’re giving it up for something that isn’t even real. [Blizzard] build it in such a way that you have to keep putting more and more time into it to maintain your status. I remember thinking when I was married that it was downright exploitative to people who couldn’t control themselves in that way. It’s set up like a drug.

This is really a sad story, but was Jocelyn justified at blaming the game solely?  Until we know more details we can’t say for sure.  However, Peter’s addiction is definitely a psychological one and he should seek help before he ruins his entire life over a video game. 

Blizzard has announced that starting this April, they will be holding a global tournament-style competition for their massively successful MMORPG, World of Warcraft.  The tournament will utilize the game’s arena system in special realms.  Participants of the competition can instantly craft a level-70 (highest possible level) with “epic equipment” to fight others online.

The first qualifying rounds will be held in April for Europe, South Korea, North America, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau.   If you want to enter, you will need to pay £12 if you are from Europe, 20,000 won in South Korea, $20 in North America, and NT$450 if you are from the other three regions.  The qualifiers will run for six weeks with players playing in three-vs-three team matches.  The top four teams will advance to the regional finals.  Up for grabs on the regionals are $27,000 in cash prizes.  The victors of the global championship will get a whopping $75,000.

“eSports is one of the most exciting facets of online gaming today,” said Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime.  “We’re pleased to expand World of Warcraft’s tournament options for players who want to focus mainly on the competitive aspect of the game.”

This sounds like an exciting tournament and I’m sure a lot of players will try to fight their way towards that large cash prize.  Events like this will only make WoW even more popular.  Well done Blizzard!

Not meant to bash or anything, but I really found this short clip funny.  Now we know who’s responsible for the dreaded Xbox 360 red rings of death!

In years of gaming, I have defeated countless bad guys, bosses and super villains and I never paid any real attention to them.  Now what if they were real beings, with feelings and desires?  What if they were just like your average Joe?  Would they ever grow tired of being the villain?  

Mauvais Rôle, or Bad Role is a short animated film about a video game bad guy who has grown tired of his role as the game’s antagonist.  His search for a new role leads him to a funny and entertaining adventure.  Enjoy kids!