I just wanted to wish all the mothers and gamer moms out there a happy day today.  TriXie, Dangerdoll, kiki kat, Mocha Jive and all my gaming moms out there.  Game the day away ladies!

“Game The Day Away” Suggestions

Rock Band - grab the kids and have some fun with drums, microphone and a guitar
Scene It? Lights, Camera, Action- trivia fun with cool big button pads for everyone
Xbox Live Arcade - a lot of family co-op fun in the Arcade

And if you’re tired of the same old Deathmatch modes, it also includes two exclusive multiplayer modes, King of Time and Meltdown Madness, that they claim will reveal the future of multiplayer fragging.  We shall see about that claim.  The best and most ubertastic thing about this is that it’s all free!  Yes, that’s F-R-E-E kind of free as in you don’t have to use any Microsoft Points on them. 

That’s 5 new maps and 2 new modes at your disposal.  What’s that reason again for constantly being charged for everyone else’s map packs?

It should be one hell of a night tonight with a little thuggin’ with Unscripted Nights followed by some good old fashioned COG Town action to wrap things up.  Be ready to thug it up and then download the world premiere gameplay trailer for Gears of War 2 tonight!

“Remember me?  I had quite a few heads turning nearly 3 years ago about my concept and design.  And yes, I too was suppose to hit the Xbox Live Arcade but then I was ambushed by the TBA & TBD Clan.  I am their captive.  I am Streamline Studios’ HoopWorld.”

“Remember me?  I’ve been talked about and shown at various expos for the better part of my existence and I too was supposed to hit the Xbox Live Arcade but I ended up on the back of a milk carton too thanks to the shady TBA & TBD Clan.  They have seized me.  I am The Behemoth’s Castle Crashers.”

I’d expect now is the time to start looking on milk cartons across the world to find out exactly what the TBA & TBD Clan have done to these titles and a few others that have yet to make their way to Xbox Live Arcade.  The TBA & TBD Clan of course hail from the infamous “To Be Announced” and “To Be Determined” family. 

I remember when I first saw War World back at E3 2007.  It was beautiful, unique and the best part is that it wasn’t another classic.  It had me at announce actually but I have to admit that I’m not Jerry Macguire and my excitement has definitely taken a huge hit.  If it comes, it comes.  If it dies, it dies.  That’s where I am with my anticipation for War World.

The same can be said for HoopWorld.  I don’t even know if anyone remembers the first glimpse of this game way back before the Xbox Live Arcade even became the giant that it is today.  It was nearly 3 years ago so I can understand if you’ve forgotten.  Is it still the “most ambitious Xbox Live Arcade title” or is it another fizzle?  There isn’t even a page on Xbox.com on HoopWorld anymore.  To hoop or not to hoop?

And then there’s the “always in the media but not on my console” title, Castle Crashers.  I played a bit of this game at PAX last year and it seemed like it was working so I can’t put my finger on what the delay could be.  Does anyone even remember the controversy about the supposed racist characters in Castle Crashers anymore?

So I wonder if we’ll ever see these titles or any others that have been victims of the TBA & TBD Clan.  When will the time come for them to be “reannounced”.  Damn you TBA & TBD Clan!

A few days ago I received some information that Blockbuster was getting into the hardware, games and accessories business.  It’s a new focus of theirs to tackle this crazy industry we all like to participate in.  I decided to visit my local Blockbuster with a few titles I had with the intention of trading them in.  I had previously attempted to trade these titles in at my local Gamestop but after being offered $16 for seven (7) games, I laughed and walked right out.  The games were older titles but none of them more than a year old.

So there I was in Blockbuster after learning about their trade-in program.  Yes, I know I’m late to the game as some of you knew this already.  (shame on you for not telling me)  After signing up for the program, the total for these same $16 games was an amazing $129 at Blockbuster!  I quickly made good use of the credit by purchasing a copy of Grand Theft Auto IV.  And to top it all off, Blockbuster was giving out a limited edition Grand Theft Auto IV picture and frame of Niko with every purchase!

Today, on an innocent trip to Blockbuster, any need to ever visit Gamestop again was destroyed.  Thank you Blockbuster!  I encourage you guys and girls who do get the trade-in bug every once in a while to visit your local Blockbuster instead of Gamestop or EB Games.  They’re committed to beating the trade-in prices and I’m a witness to that being true.  You have to use your credit at Blockbuster.  There is no cash credit but with a trade-in policy that makes sense, it’s well worth it.  You have to have a Blockbuster account and you have to sign up for the trade-in program in order to trade your games.

I am free of the Gamestop raping and I hope you all will soon be too.  Go to Blockbuster to trade in your games.  I can’t suggest buying all of your games there, but I will suggest you trade your games there.  You can use the credit on games, rentals or movies.

For the game that’s all about the race, the GRID™ playable demo delivers intense competition right from the start as players compete in single-player GRID World events, 12-player online races, and then prove their worth in the white-knuckle Time Trial competition, which is home to the eBay Motors Challenge.  It’s worth a shot don’t you think?  It isn’t everyday that you get a free demo and could quite possibly walk away with a $90,000 car just for playing it.

With the eBay Motors-branded Ford Mustang GT-R worth $90,000 as the ultimate prize, the eBay Motors Challenge has players competing for the fastest final lap time. To participate, players submit their best time online at http://community.grid-game.com/win-ebay-mustang. Once authenticated, the lap time is then ranked against every other registered time on the online leaderboards. The challenge will end on May 25 at midnight. The top five players will be flown to San Francisco to attend a U.S. launch event for GRID on June 4 and compete in one final racing challenge for the Mustang GT-R.

This is a US exclusive competition.

I suppose in the world of making video games it’s really difficult to design and produce a unique engine for your game so what most developers do is modify an existing engine.  There’s a lot of sloppy seconds, thirds and fourths going on in the industry it seems.  I say this because you’ll often find that a game uses variations of multiple engines at times so it’s not unlikely to see a game listed twice in the below list of game engines.

Ready to find out which engine your favorite game uses?

Unreal Engine

This is perhaps the most popular engine being used in today’s games.  Developed by Epic Games it should come as no surprise that the Unreal franchise including Unreal Championship and Unreal Tournament are naturally using it as well as their latest franchise, Gears of War.  In fact, Gears of War 2 will be using the new Unreal Engine 3 and after seeing the tech demo of what it can do, we’re all in for a treat.

Others that have used it in some form include Army of Two, Turok, BioShock, Mass Effect, many of Ubisoft’s Tom Clancy games, DICE’s Mirror’s Edge, Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway, Frontlines: Fuels of War and many, many more.  Even the highly publicized Unreal Engine 3 dispute by Silicon Knights hasn’t stopped them from completely ditching it from Too Human.  There are too many games to list that have used the Unreal Engine as the basis for their game.  It’s “unreal” actually. 

Frosbite Engine

DICE developed the Frostbite Engine specifically for use on the upcoming Battlefield: Bad Company.  I must say that it looks and performs in a most impressive fashion.  I loved what I saw of it at the Bad Company Community Day event with DICE.  You can destroy just about everything with the Frostbite technology which is one of its main features.  I don’t think DICE will be licensing this engine out to outside developers so plan on it being exclusive to the Battlefield series and EA for a while.

The best thing about it though is that it has a kick ass logo.  I mean seriously.  The logo for Frostbite is pretty freakin’ cool.

Doom 3 Engine (id Tech)

This little puppy is obviously id Software’s little monster used in its DOOM and Quake franchises.  I don’t know of any recent games beyond id Software’s own titles that are using this engine.  Prey was the most current game that has used the Doom 3 Engine.  I’m sure the recently announced DOOM 4 will be using it or some upgraded version of it.

Euphoria

The hype surrounding NaturalMotion’s Euphoria only recently came to light.  There’s a good reason for it especially considering the fact that the $500 million dollar monster, Grand Theft Auto IV, uses it.  Rockstar Games has said that future titles will also use Euphoria.  It builds on the usual ragdoll physics that gamers are used to seeing.  It’s quite a step above them actually according to the latest Euphoria video.

LucasArts plans to use Euphoria in their next Indiana Jones game and they’re also using it in this year’s Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.  It should be exciting to see it at work in The Force Unleashed!  If you don’t remember, it’s also being used in NaturalMotion’s own little football title, Backbreaker.  I suspect that we’ll see quite a few more of our favorite games using Euphoria in the coming years.

Lithtech Jupiter EX

This is what I like to call the scariest engine alive because of its creator, Monolith Productions.  You might recall the name after playing titles like F.E.A.R. and Condemned.  It’s been used on practically all of the F.E.A.R. games (including Project Origin) as well as both Condemned: Criminal Origins and Condemned 2: Bloodshot.  Some engines just like to scare the crap out of you and I guess this is the one.

RenderWare

This is another very popular rendering engine used by developers.  The boys and girls of Criterion are behind it so there’s no surprise that the Burnout series uses this engine.  Burnout Paradise turned out quite well so I suppose it’s a pretty decent tool to develop with.  One of my favorite Xbox 360 titles, Crackdown, was developed with it also.

There are a host of other titles that used RenderWare from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas to Manhunt 2 to Blitz: The League.  I can’t name them all because there are literally dozens of titles that have used this engine.  I just wanted to give you a few that you might recognize.

Havok

You would literally have a collection of all your most recently played games if I were to list all of the games that have used Havok in some form.  Halo 3, Half-Life 2, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, BioShock, Heavenly Sword, Guitar Hero III, Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, Saint’s Row, TimeShift and on and on and on.  In fact, just take a look at the listed titles that have used Havok.

In-House Engines

There are a few games being developed with in-house engines that I figured I’d group in here.  Alan Wake for instance is supposedly being developed with its own engine that some call “The Alan Wake Engine”.  Yes, that’s pretty cheesy but it’s true.  Radical Entertainment’s Prototype is using their own Titanium Engine.  Eden Studios decided to develop their own engine called Twilight 2 for Alone in the Dark and it looks like that will prove a wise choice.  Dark Sector uses Digital Extremes’ Evolution Engine.  The Outfit uses Relic Entertainment’s own Essence Engine.  I could go on but I’m fresh out of brain cells.

I’m sure these engines were born from existing engines but they have cool names so I thought I’d separate them. 

Well that’s it boys and girls.  I might run a second part to this at some point but for now, I hope you’ve enjoyed looking into some of the more popular game engines out there.  Peace, love and hair grease!

I anticipate that most of the EA Chicago team will be included on this effort so we should be free to expect more of the same awesome sauce that Fight Night Round 3 had.  Fight Night Round 4 is scheduled for a 2009 release.

“The EA SPORTS Fight Night franchise has always been synonymous with quality and innovation that raised the bar for the sports videogame genre”, said Kevin Wilkinson, Executive Producer, EA SPORTS. “EA SPORTS Fight Night Round 3 was a platform defining game as the industry transitioned to next generation consoles. EA SPORTS Fight Night Round 4 will change how boxing games are played and measured in the future.”

Pressure your opponent with the brawling inside style of young Mike Tyson, bobbing and weaving to set up powerful hooks and uppercuts. Capitalize on Muhammad Ali’s reach, hand speed and fleetness of foot to bewilder your opponent with lightning fast jabs and straights from the outside.  For the first time in history, EA SPORTS Fight Night Round 4 gives you the opportunity to pit these legendary heavyweights against one another and name a true champ.

No fight will be the same with an all-new physics-based animation system that recreates the full spectrum of true-to-life punch impacts, giving boxers a devastating arsenal of punches, blocks and ring movement. The new physics system allows for missed punches, glancing punches, knockout blows and for the first time ever, rough and tumble inside fighting. Fatigue, adrenaline, footwork and timing all come into play as you hammer away at your opponents.

Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. said today that Grand Theft Auto IV has surpassed all-time entertainment records for day one and week one sales by dollar value. Released on Tuesday, April 29th, Grand Theft Auto IV, the critically acclaimed video game, has sold through to consumers approximately 6 million units globally with an estimated retail value of more than $500 million in the first week. Grand Theft Auto IV sold approximately 3.6 million units on its opening day with a retail value of approximately $310 million globally.

“We knew Grand Theft Auto IV would break new ground in terms of the player’s experience, with its compelling story line, extraordinary gameplay and action that ranges over a broad urban canvas. Now, it has broken sales and rating records as well. Grand Theft Auto IV’s first week performance represents the largest launch in the history of interactive entertainment, and we believe these retail sales levels surpass any movie or music launch to date. We congratulate the entire Rockstar team on creating a must-have experience that takes the legendary Grand Theft Auto franchise to a new level,” said Strauss Zelnick, Chairman of Take-Two.

“Rockstar’s goal is to make each new title in the Grand Theft Auto franchise even better than those that preceded it, and Grand Theft Auto IV is a smashing success on that score. Grand Theft Auto IV makes full use of the power of next generation technology, and offers players an experience unique in the interactive entertainment medium. This game sets a new standard in the industry, with critics hailing it as both an artistic and technological masterpiece,” said Ben Feder, Take-Two’s Chief Executive Officer.

Okay, okay.  I was wrong and wrong by a mile.  A man can have his faults can’t he?  I suppose though that this was to be expected considering the fact that Grand Theft Auto IV is a multi-console game but even still, those are some banana numbers.  Join us on an Unscripted Nights Gangsta Paradise event Friday to party with the $500 million dollar machien.

When: Friday, May 9
Where: Xbox Live
Time: 8PM PST / 10PM CST / 11PM EST
Game: Grand Theft Auto IV

How do I join?

Simple. Send me a message via Xbox.com or Xbox Live with “GTA4″ and I’ll get you in the game. Or heck, if you see me on just join my session!  There will be plenty of U360 community members able to invite you to the game.

Each television show will be priced at 160 Microsoft Points per episode (approximately $1.99) at launch. With more than 3.5 million tracks, two-thirds of which are available in pure MP3 format, 800 television shows, 4,800 music videos and 3,500 audio and video podcasts, the Zune online store is a great place for consumers to find the entertainment content they want.

“Partnering with Zune will allow us to develop innovative content offerings for their customers, including flexible pricing and packaging options beginning this fall,” said JB Perrette, president of NBC Universal Digital Distribution. “NBC Universal is excited to offer our hit television shows to Zune customers.”

I’m going to get a Zune Original at some point so it’s good to see the Zune Marketplace expanding especially when it includes one of my favorite TV shows, Heroes.  It’ll be great watching Peter lay the smack down on Sylar while I’m riding the train home or flying out to an event.  Anyone have a spare Zune Original?

There are some things in the game that even I had to ask if it was too much.  Controversy is what this game has been about and apparently that’s not going to change.  GTA IV is rated Mature.  Let’s look into the game and break down its rating shall we?

Mature titles are meant for those who are 17 years of age or older.  Titles in this category may contain intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content and/or strong language.  Intense violence includes graphic and realistic-looking depictions of physical conflict.  It may involve extreme and/or realistic blood, gore, weapons and depictions of human injury and death.  Blood and gore includes depictions of blood or the mutilation of body parts.  Sexual content includes non-explicit depictions of sexual behavior, possibly including partial nudity.  Strong language includes explicit and/or frequent use of profanity.

I took this information from the ESRB and simply put it into one paragraph for easy reading.  For a title like Grand Theft Auto IV, you could throw in quite a few more content descriptors like Drug Reference, Mature Humor, Sexual Themes etc.  Should we expect a 13 or 14 year old to process things of a violent or sexual nature as well as a 17 year old?  Yes, I know that today’s society even some 8 year olds know about this stuff but work with me here.  Anyone younger than 17 years old shouldn’t be playing this game because a Mature rated title is clearly not intended for them.

Adult Only titles are meant for those who are 18 years of age or older.  Titles in this category may include prolonged scenes of intense violence and/or graphic sexual content and nudity.  Intense violence includes graphic and realistic-looking depictions of physical conflict.  It may involve extreme and/or realistic blood, gore, weapons and depictions of human injury and death.  Sexual content includes non-explicit depictions of sexual behavior, possibly including partial nudity.  Nudity includes graphic or prolonged depictions of nudity.

Some people in the media have suggested an AO rating for GTA IV and once you digest the rating system, you’ll probably find little reason to suggest their argument makes no sense.  It does make a small bit of sense on some scale judging by the descriptors above.  What exactly is the difference from 17 years old (Mature) to 18 years old (Adult Only)?  I’d say a few million dollars.  Most retail chains have a policy that doesn’t include the sale of titles with an AO rating from the ESRB.  One has to wonder how many checkmarks short on the rating checklist was GTA during the grading from the ESRB panel.

The keyword in both of these descriptions is “prolonged”.  Once you get more familiar with the rating system, you’ll see that Grand Theft Auto IV’s saving grace was that it went away from any lengthy use or depiction of sexual content, nudity or violence.  Yes, the ability to do so is there but that’s only at the player’s discretion.  You have to choose to do some of these things in the game and although the tools are there, it’s not depicted in the game for a prolonged period unless there’s a trigger.  And yes, you are the trigger.

In other words, you’re not being fed a consistent image via cutscene and you’re not able to walk the streets to see prostitutes constantly giving BJ’s in the alley.  And the fact that you don’t constantly see it with no trigger is what likely saves most Mature rated titles from being Adult Only.  What I’m hoping for is that parents get themselves familiar with the ESRB ratings of these games.  Know how to operate the parental controls on the Xbox 360.  There is information available and ways to help make the right gaming decision for you and your home.  All it takes is a little effort and willingness to know. 

Grand Theft Auto IV is a violent game that has a lot of “in your face” depictions that I wonder myself if they’re really needed.  Did Rockstar go too far?  Did they push the limits of what is acceptable in a video game?  Would it be GTA without it?  I don’t make the big bucks to answer that so all I can do is restrict the effect that it has in my home.  I control the effect of Grand Theft Auto IV and I hope the information here will help others out there control it too.