Like them or hate them, the Spike TV VGA’s are the closest thing the gaming industry has to the Oscars. Granted, there are much more prestigious awards a game can win, most of which are within the industry itself. Yet, as far as recognition and public exposure for the gaming industry, the VGA’s are as close as we have to the red carpet; and you can’t blame them. This year alone there were 13 new titles revealed, many of which were highly expected sequels or new IP’s from well revered studios. The industry giants are there, the games are there, and while the way the awards are presented may come off as a year end party at your local frat house, the nominees are carefully picked, with the winners proving this is no popularity contest.

The nominations are distributed in the categories one would expect. Best downloadable game was snagged by Supergiant Games’ “Bastion,” which also picked up best original score and best song in a game. Best fighting game went to Neatherealm Studios’ “Mortal Kombat,” beating out “Marvel vs. Capcom 3.”

In the sports games categories: driving was awarded to “Forza 4,” team sports to “NBA 2k12,” and individual sports to “Fight Night Champion.”

The genre awards yielded some more expected winners. Shooter went to “Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3” while RPG was taken by “The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim” and “Batman: Arkham City” walked away with best adventure game.

Console awards were given to the expected best of each system. “Super Mario 3D Land” hopped off with best handheld game while best PC game went to “Portal 2.” Best Xbox 360 game was given to “Batman: Arkham City,” best PS3 game to “Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception,” and best Wii game to “Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.”

In probably the biggest upset of the night the best multiplayer award was triumphantly handed to “Portal 2” beating out juggernauts like “Battlefield 3” and “Modern Warfare 3.” This, if anything, shows how carefully chosen the winners are.

In classic Spike TV fashion there were some offshoot awards. “Mass Effect 3” won most anticipated game and the Joker from “Arkham City” won best character. Awards were also handed out to the talent behind the games, with Ellen McLain winning best performance by a human female and Stephen Merchant winning best performance by a human male for their work on “Portal 2” as GLaDOS and Wheatly, respectively. A couple of industry “Hall of Fame” awards were given out as well with Blizzard Entertainment earning the “Gamer God” award and Shigeru Miyamoto being honored into the Video Game Hall of Fame.

Finally, the big award of game of the year was earned by “The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.”

As mentioned earlier, several big games were announced in the show, with Naughty Dog’s “The Last of Us” and Epic Games’ “Fortnite” standing out. Bioware announced they’re new project with “Command and Conquer: Generals 2,” the first real-time strategy game for the esteemed developer. One of the biggest surprises of the show was the long awaited gameplay reveal of “Metal Gear Solid Rising: Revengance,” a game that had not been seen since E3 2009. Kojima Productions has teamed up with Platinum Games (of “Bayonetta” and “Vanquish” fame) to bring about this side story to the Metal Gear Solid lore.

Overall, the VGA’s are getting better. Spike TV seems to understand that gamers tune in to the show to watch the major announcements and see their games earning honors. It almost seems fair to allow for rampant celebrity pushing when we see the developers stumble over their acceptance speeches, live TV is not for everyone. However, having a speech being cut short by a man in military garb tea-bagging the speaker or shoving some rather important awards into a montage during a commercial break is stuff that needs to go. We are a long way from the gala night seen at the Oscars, frankly, we may never get there. But once the gamers who watch the show are treated with as much respect as the games being awarded, then we will have a night to remember.

Want to know a secret? I’ve never seen a single moment of a Harry Potter movie, nor have I read a page of any of the books. Nothing against the franchise, I just never did. In fact, the only real concrete memory I have of the series is the god awful first Deathly Hallows game.  Is this really what people wait in line for?

The good news is that pretty much everything has been refined from The Deathly Hallows: Part 1, the bad news? It’s still pretty bad. Though there’s been obvious effort to tweak and tune the mechanics from the last game, they still don’t work and can be incredibly frustrating. With painfully bad voiceovers and a dull, short campaign, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II is not a good gaming send off for a franchise that defined a generation.

Much like its predecessor Deathly Hallows: part II plays like Gears of War in a Harry Potter mask. If that sounds weird…well that’s because it is. You’ll take cover and use your wand as your main weapon.  Different spells have different effects and can be used to take on different tasks – when they arise. That last part is key as the majority of the game is an incredibly repetitive affair.  Walk in to an area, cast a few spells, defeat bad guys and repeat until the game is over.  From time to time you’ll get new spells that will make the game feel a bit different (especially towards the end of the game), but for the bulk of the game, it all feels the same.

The most disappointing part of the game happens when you figure out just how paint by numbers the game is. Take the cover system for example; in a game like Gears of War, there’s multiple options for cover in an effort to be strategic, but in Deathly Hallows, it’s obvious that the developers put the cover points in where you’re supposed to take cover.  It gets to the point where you’ll see cover and instinctively know that death eaters are going to pop up right in front of it. This type of handholding becomes a bit more accepting when you take into account the game’s target audience; but it’s no excuse for the lazy level design.

One of the game's many different spells

For what it’s worth though, the game is full of great ideas – they’re just not implemented well. When you learn new spells, it’s a great deal of fun to experiment with them, but that feeling goes away when you realize that they all pretty much have the same effect. There’s a cool spell towards the end of the game that allows you to teleport between cover points, but it comes so late in the game that you never get the chance to truly explore what it can do. Perhaps Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II is most disappointing because it could have been much, much better.

The voice work in the game is done by impersonators, rather than the actual actors, and a few of them, like Harry, are rather impressive, but others are laughably bad. Characters like Voldermort come off as mere cartoon caricatures of their on screen personas. Visually, the game is a mixed bag. The screen is presented sans hub, which offers a nice and clean presentation, but the environments are so diluted and animations are so stiff that it doesn’t really matter. The first game had an embarrassing number of glitches that made the title’s faults stick out that much more, though most of those glitches are now gone, the graphical issues somehow still stick out.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II will only take most gamers about 3-5 hours to complete, which is incredibly short when you take into account the game’s $50 price tag.  There’s no extra modes, no multiplayer and thus no real reason to go back through a second time. With this being the last game of the series, why not offer collectibles or hidden nods to past stories for the fans? Sadly, Deathly Hallows: Part II is as bare bones as a game can get.

The Blast Factor: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II is miles ahead of the first game, but sadly, that’s not saying much. It’s a bare bones, flawed and unimaginative title that sadly never delivers on its novel ideas. So long Mr. Potter, sorry you never got a decent gaming experience.

EA announced that it is collaborating with several lifestyle brands to create exclusive in-game car designs and artwork for Need for Speed Nitro for the Wii. Upper Playground, I am 8-bit and tokidoki have teamed up with EA to produce custom skins for a wide variety of vehicles and over 140 stylistic

Brushes that players can paint with to personalize their ride. This makes Need for Speed Nitro a racing game with style, personality and a clearly defined edge (especially when compared to other lackluster racing games).

The tokidoki brand is one of the most popular lines of apparel and accessories among other merchandise. It is an internationally celebrated brand used to represent the world’s “sometimes” views on identity and destiny.

Upper Playground is a creative lifestyle brand that brings the graffiti culture to the people. Their contemporary art style has made it one of the hottest brands among tastemakers and trendsetters.

I am 8-bit is an artistic collective that allows over 100 artists to reinterpret their favorite old-school video game characters over several different artistic mediums. They showcase their annual exhibition in LA every year since 2005.

The partnership creates a variety of ways to customize their vehicles, introducing fresh and urban styles which have never been seen in racing games. Need for Speed Nitro is developed specifically for Wii and Nintendo DS. The game will be shipped on November 17, 2009.

Those who have been waiting, rejoice! Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 is now available through the Playstation Network. However, there is also a limited retail release of the game at Gamestop for $14.99.

People who buy the limited retail copy will recieve a code to digitally download the game from the Playstation Network and also a redemption code for a month’s subscription of digital comics from Marvel.com.

There are only 15,000 retail copies available though, so if you want one you’re going to have to be quick to get a copy. Curious about our thoughts on the game? Check out our review for the Xbox 360 version.

The point and click adventure genre has never been a tickler of my immediate fancy. I love all the elements of a great point and click (storytelling, adventure, humorous situations), but have never found a game, or development studio that cooked a delectable enough recipe for me to wholeheartedly experience the joys of such a feat.

Enter Telltale games, a company founded in 2004 and arguably most famous for their work on the Sam and Max series, who, in a unique fashion release their games through monthly episodic installments, instead of, as is normative, all at once.

Telltale are also the blokes behind Wallace and Gromit’s Grand Adventures, a four part whirlwind of a story that we absolutely. Loved. To. Death.

It was through Telltale that my love for the genre ballooned back up to where all I can do is sing the praises of the genre, as told by the studio. No, I am not a secret agent, stealthily blogging for Blast, on Telltale’s payroll, I simply feel when a studio is on their game, the laudatory remarks should be ubiquitous.

Tales of a Monkey Island: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal, the first part of 5 in the epic Monkey Island series launched this month, and I enthusiastically and excitedly took part in the swashbuckling mayhem. Did Telltale yet again strike a resounding chord with the oceanic puzzler, or should you patch up both eyes and skip over this gallivanting endeavor? Time to find out!

There are three major game-play elements that Telltale excelled at in Screaming Narwhal and they are storytelling, visuals, and sound. Sound familiar? They should, as every major game, with some exception, is centered on that trifecta, but, in a simplistic point and click style adventure game their importance is heightened to say the least and Telltale was more than up to this task of delivering on all counts.

Without giving too much away, Screaming Narwhal is all about main character Guybrush and his humorous attempts at solving the mystery of the swirling winds that rule Flotsam Island, a location the pirate is washed up upon after an encounter with a voodoo pirate named LeChuck.

Dialogue in Screaming Narwhal is downright scary awesome. Conversational options, a la Mass Effect, allow for multiple emotional responses, and voice acting is absolutely superb. Main character Guybrush Threepwood is a hilarious fellow, who will constantly amaze you with his wit, charm, and total tomfoolery. Dialogue, arguably the penultimate facet of Screaming Narwhal is what makes this game great. If you can’t stand listening to line after line of conversation, don’t play this game.

Visuals, there’s a word gamers have grown to love, and Telltale has crafted a beau-ty with Screaming Narwhal. As you probably guessed, the drama goes down on the wooden rafters of ships, but also in a beautifully rendered town, jungle, and a French scientist’s laboratory! Characters models are highly stylized, with kind of a Team Fortress 2 look to them, and couple that with some the gorgeously cute town setting and lush green jungle, and you’ve got more than enough to enjoy for your entire stay on Flotsam Island.

Maybe my keen ear and love of music skews my attention towards the melody facet of games, but I firmly believe that the musical composition for Screaming Narwhal adds that extra oomph to the experience that, when coupled with the aforesaid wondrous storytelling, is a dynamic and emotionally attractive aspect to the entire experience. From the game’s opening sequence of escalated drama on the high seas to the many humorous encounters Guybrush enters into, the music never detracts, always adds, and enriches the sense of immersion Telltale was so yearning to achieve.

Storytelling, sound, and visuals are all integral elements to the experience of the gamer, but what about how the game actually plays? In a word: excellent.

The pace at which events unfold in Screaming Narwhal is so well constructed that you’ll never feel rushed, dragged, overburdened with tasks. The game is, at its root, a puzzle-solving experience. Sure, your ultimate goal is to learn the mystery behinds the whirling winds, but along the way you must first tackle a number of varied tasks to meet that end. These tasks never, ever feel trivial. Every move you make is important in the ultimate struggle, and you’ll know this, as the game’s inventory system (kind of like your backpack) shows you what items you’ve collected and a simple conversation with a local NPC will remind you of the task at hand.

The control scheme in Screaming Narwhal is executed wonderfully, as it is so simple, yet to useful. A simple click of the mouse can elicit conversation, place a lit bomb in pink underwear (you’ll do that), or shoot a canon, just to name a few. Hovering your mouse over the right side of the screen or hitting the tab button will open up your inventory to make use of the many wares you’ll collect along the way. Basically, the simple system Telltale has borrowed from Wallace and Gromit, works very, very well, and trust me, you’ll appreciate its simplicity.

Finally, Screaming Narwhal is just part one of five in the Monkey Island series, and, as you’d expect, the game ends on a seriously exciting cliff hanger that raises so, so many questions to be answered in the sequel, due out next month. Ahh, what a business model indeed!

Blast Factor:

Tales of Monkey Island: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal is a truly excellent point and click adventure game buffed by superb voice acting, gorgeous visuals, alluring and encompassing storytelling, and warm, welcoming, and appropriate sound resting in the background. The only caveat I can throw your way is that the game features a ton of dialogue, and if you’re impatient and choose to skip the conversational scenes to simply finish the game, you’ll end up spending more time on Flotsam Island, as the dialogue is so, so important, and full of clues, not to mention it’s the best voice acting I’ve heard since Mass Effect. Bottom line, if you’re into point and click games, Monkey Island, or just great games in general, you won’t want to miss this one!

Tales of Monkey Island: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal is available today exclusively on PC. $34.95 gets you all 5 episodes releasing on a monthly schedule from now until November.

Velvet Assassin is the new stealth game from SouthPeak Games, based loosely on the life of Violette Szabo, a French secret agent in World War 2. The strongest elements of the game involve stalking around in the shadows, stabbing Nazis in the back or face and switching the attractive protagonist in and out of various form-fitting outfits “" generally a pretty winning combination “" but offers little else to make the quality of the content match the strength of the concept. The writing is hammy, the story is not particularly compelling or well told, and the gameplay is drawn out and repetitive, all of which conspire to undermine the game’s purpose of getting the player to empathize with the historical figure at the center of the gameplay.

To be fair, historical gaming is a pretty unexplored genre. I know Call of Duty and Assassin’s Creed attach names and dates to their gameplay that are accurate at least according to Wikipedia, but at the end of the day, the history isn’t what’s at stake. You don’t play Assassin’s Creed to learn about the nuances of geopolitics in the Holy Land during the Crusades, you play it to knife suckers in the back. Given this, the fact that SouthPeak is using Szabo’s life as a selling point for the game (it’s on the back of the box and everything) is a bold marketing move that will, ideally, open up a dialogue about the merits of interactive media in more highbrow contexts in the future. If Velvet Assassin had been executed perfectly, which, sad to say, it wasn’t, it could have been a high-minded, almost literary game, and I would like to commend SouthPeak and Replay Studios for taking a step in that direction.

Velvet Assassin has problems, but it does have some solid elements. The meat of the gameplay involves sneaking undetected between areas of light and shadow, and the cinematography is striking and organic. Twilight, moonlight and harsh floodlights cast plenty of natural looking shadows for you to stalk around in and hunt patrolling Nazis. The game does a good job of emphasizing the stealth gameplay over any shooter elements, making the form of gameplay fit well to the spirit of the story. You have a silenced Colt pistol for most of the game but it’s very little match for the German guns, and if you get spotted, you really have to work to get yourself back into seclusion unharmed, so you can’t just charge into a room guns-blazing with any realistic hope for success. Stealth take-downs are infinitely more satisfying anyway.

The gameplay takes place within the fevered dreams of a bed-ridden Violette, recalling her missions while laid-up in a French hospital. This allows for an in-game power called “Morphine Mode” in which Violette doses herself with morphine, the Nazis freeze in time, and you can reposition yourself “" or kill a guard “" as you see fit. This isn’t a necessary component of the game, and really just an out for when you get spotted so you don’t necessarily get gunned down the first time. Also when in morphine mode, Violette’s costume changes to a scant night gown, which is as good a reason for a not-completely-believable video game gimmick as I’ve ever heard, and while it’s a fairly interesting facet of gameplay, it feels tacked on and is a little strange.

The controls are pretty simple, which makes for a very quick learning curve, but also makes most of the movement and standard assassination maneuvers pretty repetitive. You can drop into a crouch, which secludes Violette in the shadows and quiets her footsteps, allowing her to get right up behind the unsuspecting Nazi guards and take them out silently; provided none of his buddies are watching. There is some variation, like shooting explosive barrels or activating a patrolling guard’s grenade so that he will walk the active grenade over to another group of soldiers, but for the most part there’s a typical sneak-and-stab drill that it doesn’t take long to get good at, and then bored with. Don’t get me wrong, it can be incredibly entertaining and satisfying to deftly pull off a silent Nazi assassination “" my encounters with the first few groups of guards in the training level left my heart racing “" but the Nazi AI, while deadly enough once you’ve been spotted, is unrealistically stupid.

After sitting and watching a guy walk the same 20-foot stretch of hallway indefinitely without seeing the leather-clad British lady in the shadows at his feet, your enemies resemble less the ruthless soldiers of Call of Duty and more the moving platforms of Portal, where all that mattered was the right timing in a specific sequence to get from point A to point B. The game is pretty linear, so after you’ve got the movements of the next series of guards memorized you can just blow through them in less than half the time it took you on the first try, and if you’re on your second or third run through of a series of guards, the suspense of the game disappears completely and you’re just going through the motions for the hell of it.

While a compelling narrative might have seriously bolstered the repetitive gameplay, the game’s presentation of the story was very disappointing. There were definitely good elements to the story “" the character of Violette, Nazi antagonists, heartfelt letters home from Nazi soldiers you just assassinated “" but the presentation is so awkward and at odds with the rest of the structure of the game that it really detracts from the game more than it adds to it. All of the information about the story is conveyed via Violette’s not-particularly-well-voice-acted narration and occasional feverish hallucinations, but there isn’t really anything like cinematics, or character development, or any real connection between the player and the characters “" a real shame considering this is supposed to be based on real events and people. The story is certainly present if you care to piece it all together, but really, when you’re crouched in the dark waiting to stab your next Nazi, your motives or mission objectives won’t have any more or less meaning if you watched the story scenes or just skipped over them.

In the end, Velvet Assassin puts forth some solid, though occasionally mediocre, gameplay, that will appeal to stealth fans looking for some straight-up sneaking around. The story behind the game and the association with Violette Szabo, though selling points in the game’s advertising, are not its strength, so if that’s what you were looking for, try something else. At full price, with the low replay value, I wouldn’t recommend Velvet Assassin for purchase, but it wouldn’t be bad in your Gamefly queue.

Velvet Assassin is available for Xbox 360 and Windows and retails for $59.99

The premise for Onechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad is incredibly simple: sexy, bikini-clad girls slaughter a huge number of zombies. The game, from D3 publishers, is exclusively for the Xbox 360, and was released in conjunction with Bikini Zombie Slayers on the Wii. The gameplay, while diverting at times, is exactly what your low expectations would predict, if not worse.

Through a series of text expositions accompanied by Japanese voice-overs, and very few cut-scenes, you piece together the pretty straightforward story: the protagonists-a mostly naked woman, Aya, and her little sister, Saki-possess a special kind of blood, Baneful Blood, that an organization, called The Organization, wants because it gives people superpowers. The best way to go about getting this blood, apparently, is to fill the city with zombies.

Of course, you don’t really care why there is zombie slaying, you just want to get to it, and while the game may be seriously lacking in many areas, zombie killing is not one of them. There is something immensely satisfying in simply pressing a few buttons and watching a legion of undead literally torn to shreds in front of you. Even more so when it’s done by a bikini-clad supermodel assassin. There are times in this game when the hallways in front of you are literally crammed full of shotgun-toting undead, a few of which may be on fire, and you just tear through them with grace, ease, and a little unrealistic bouncing.

Aya and Saki both wield samurai swords, which easily slice through the endless waves of zombie assailants, though a “clean sword” function does mean that you have to pay some attention to what you’re doing. An unclean sword deals less damage, and can get even get stuck in a zombie torso, so every dozen kills or so, you essentially have to reload your sword. There are combo modifiers, which allow you to release wide-range “ecstasy attacks” after a certain number of kills in a row, or send you into rampage mode, which increases damage, but depletes life. A third playable character is Anna, the blond, also-scantily-clad police officer, who uses hand guns, shotguns, Uzis and grenades for a little welcome variation.

Typically in the single player campaign, two of the three characters are available to the player per level, and tag out in the middle of a fight. This allows for some minimal strategizing: Anna is better at ranged attacks, for example, but you’ll want a sword for close-quarters combat.

And yes, because I know you’re wondering, you can dress them up. Or down. There are “dress up” and “view” modes on the main menu, so you can play around with and ogle your characters’ costumes. However, new costume options are only available after specific achievements are unlocked, so costume alteration is really geared towards the more serious bikini-genre gamers out there.

An added little bonus is the charming 8-bit quality mini-game that pops up during the load screens, in which you play a tiny bikini samurai and can slaughter adorable little zombies that make sounds like chickens when they die.

Beyond that, though, the game kind of falls apart.

The zombies are many, and their designs and weapons more varied than I was honestly expecting (some zombies have hand saws, some have miniguns), but there’s never anything to them that really forces you to alter your strategy, not that you could if you wanted to. Sure, there are a few variations on the standard sword slash, like you can slash standing up, or slash while jumping, or…the others will come to me, but the game is lacking a few notable functions like, for example, a way to defend yourself.

There is no actual way to block any incoming attack other than not being in its way to begin with. The only way to stave off potential damage is to kill everything in sight before it has a chance to move. A good offense is the only defense. It’s less of a problem with the slow, dumb zombies, but in the boss battles, of which there are many, you can get frequently trapped in a seemingly endless enemy combo with no way to escape taking damage.

The co-op mode does take the intense edge off of the boss battles, and allows for communal sharing in the glee that is zombie massacre, but is not without its problems. The game is clearly meant to be a single player experience, and having a second player on hand doesn’t compliment the gameplay so much as just cut the fun in half. The screen splits vertically, rather than the now traditional horizontal, which allows for a full view of the lovely protagonists, but severely limits the range of vision for people actually trying to find zombies to kill.

Furthermore, there are levels where co-op just isn’t an option. Occasionally, in the story, the protagonists are separated from each other, and you can only play through the ensuing levels as one or the other character. In single player mode, this is motivation to diversify the usage of your characters to keep their levels up, but in co-op it is an abrupt end to the fun for whoever is player two. The story is nowhere near good enough to warrant the sacrifice in gameplay.

A further quick list of grievances includes:

The eccentric targeting system, which is really only necessary when using Anna, targets less what the camera is centered on and more whatever the hell it feels like.

Rampage mode, which depletes your life and can only be turned off by, and I’m not kidding, statues of the Virgin Mary, of which there are only three in the entire game. The only other way to avoid dying once in rampage mode is to finish whatever level you are currently playing.

The level maps almost seem intentionally confusing, with many paths leading to dead ends or other whole map sections irrelevant to progressing through the level, with no indication of what direction you should be going. You signed up to kill zombies, not to get lost in a sewer. To make matters worse, several levels are played on the same map.

The motorcycle level, on the opposite end of the spectrum, is possibly the least involved video game level ever conceived. Aya hops on a motorcycle and drives in a straight line for a couple hundred feet, slashing at a some zombies wolves while in transit. ‚ The only thing necessary to pass the level is to hold the “go” button and mash the “sword” button. You don’t even need to use the joystick. Pong is a more stimulating game, for heaven’s sake.

To be fair, nobody expected a lot from any game called Bikini Samurai Squad, and nitpicking isn’t going to help anything. While this veritable cavalcade of glitches makes for frustrating gameplay at times, it ultimately doesn’t impede the amount of zombies, blood, or bikinis. However, the $39.99 asking price is still too much for the shoddy gaming experience. Onechanbara isn’t something you want hanging out in your gamer library, corrupting the innocence of your more impressionable games, but it might be fun for a night of drunken gaming if you have Gamefly or see it in a bargain bin somewhere.

Gamer Doc, a California-based start-up billing itself as an alternative video game retailer, is expanding to the East Coast and plans to have new stores in Boston by the end of this year, the company’s president said recently in an interview with Blast.

“My whole belief is that the community of gamers all over the world, including Boston, is insulted by commercials, bored with TV content and is looking for a source of entertainment with more depth,” said Gamer Doc president Jim Belanger, 54. “Video games are providing that.”

“They want true freedom to play what they want when they want,” Belanger said. “They’re kind of rejecting the old ways of marketing.”

Gamer Doc has generated news buzz in local and national markets.‚  They sell games, but instead of just putting product on shelves, there are video games being played all around with game systems being repaired in the back and gaming-related events and contests going on in the middle.

This interactive “gaming community” experience promises to be unique.

“We’re like a Gamestop, a Blockbuster, an arcade and a repairs center all rolled into one,” said Jason Renfro, 37, who opened the first Gamer Doc in Los Angeles.

Gamer Doc hopes to launch three stores in the Boston area this year

Locations provide services based on the needs of the customer. By talking with staff, gamers and new players can increase their knowledge of specific games and systems. Customers can actually play games and participate in events in the store like tournaments, gaming leagues, new game demonstrations and release date events.

In the original Gamer Doc location, the model seems to have worked too well — “In December there was so much business in the store that we had to cancel all the events,” said Renfro.

When events do happen,‚  Gamer Doc locations will often recruit regular customers to help out the staff. Knowledgeable gamers can be a great asset to the community in a Gamer Doc location, Belanger said.

“They are key to our success,” he said. “We have a process of recognizing, and involving, the knowledgeable gamers to get them into the system.”

Belanger said GamerDoc planned to open three franchise stores in and around Boston

A franchise store is paid for by a group of investors. An agreement between Gamer Doc and the investors defines the market area. The challenge for the company is to find qualified franchisees, this will affect the timetable for store openings in Boston, Belanger said. The company sees benefits to franchising.

“The benefit to the owner is to be part of a growing and exciting brand,” the founding president said. “For the customers, we find generally, franchisees are more committed to the customer experience.”

Belanger and David Huether started the company in 2007. Many of the staff members on the current roster have been with the company from the beginning. There were many retailers selling video games at the time, but the pair had a different idea. Instead of simply selling the video games, they wanted to begin recognizing the role of “hardcore gamers” in the store.

“On the Xbox 360 there were these malfunctions called ‘the red ring of death’ that made the system inoperable,” Belanger said. “Hardore gamers were amazed when we gave them loner machines, so they could get back to playing their games,” Belanger said.

The focus on hardcore gamers will be reflected in the layout of the store. Locations will even have a specific line where gamers can quickly pick up their games and go if they want.

“Our idea is to make it so that people can get their games, and get to playing them right away,” Belanger said.

Belanger has been gaming since 1977. His first game was a “cocktail” version of the Pac-Man arcade game that sat two people for simultaneous play. His first console was an Atari 400. He currently owns an Xbox 360 Elite, a PlayStation 2 and a Wii.

He ended any ambition of PC gaming after repeated destruction in World of Warcraft, at the hands of his co-workers.

“Overall, I see the gamers of today are as the golfers of my generation, you have to play every stroke every time, or you’ll never know if you’re really good.”

By Guy Ben-Artzi, Founder of Mytopia

I was 11 years old when my father came home with our first modem, a 2400 baud U.S. Robotics. I still remember that shrieking sound it made when connecting to a remote service. A few days later, I discovered The Sierra Network (TSN), later known as the Imagination Network (INN).

There was no Web, no email, no instant messaging, yet there was this one place where literally thousands of people were playing games together in real-time. The graphics were amazing, and the ability to create an avatar, chat with people and play games with others from around the country was, at the time, unheard of. After running up more than $200 in charges within the first few weeks, the modem was quickly confiscated, but the impression it left was permanent.

It’s been more than 15 years since then, and obviously, a lot has changed. The Web is now an inseparable part of our lives and is becoming more personalized than ever. But in the process, it has also created large islands (like Facebook, MySpace, etc.), where people, applications and content are isolated from each other. However, this fragmentation will not last much longer. In fact, I believe it will be gaming companies who build bridges between these islands, as they have the most to gain by enabling people to interact in real time across different networks. And this is why Mytopia was started — to help the world play together.

At launch, Mytopia is the first company to enable real-time interaction between four of the major social networks: Facebook, MySpace, hi5 and Bebo. These communities represent a diverse audience of users from around the world, and for the first time, everyone on these networks can communicate and play together in real-time. Additionally, through Mytopia.com, we are enabling players who don’t use social networks (still the majority of Internet users) to seamlessly interact with social networkers. This means I can play Sudoku online with my mom, from the comfort of my Facebook account, even though she doesn’t have or want a profile there. Just jump into Mytopia’s Town Hall to check out who’s online and where they’re playing from, and you’ll find a “Web 2.0″ melting pot.

Few people remember TSN today, but it was without a doubt, a watershed moment in digital entertainment. Every modern gaming community, from Pogo to World of Warcraft, owes them a debt of gratitude. Although Mytopia will soon have many different appearances, most created by its own members, we hope this first look will pay homage to the community that made us fall in love with online gaming.

Guy Ben-Artzi grew up playing games in the heart of Silicon Valley. A fan of the classics, he draws inspiration from Sierra Online and Nintendo titles like Mike Tyson Punch Out and Legend of Zelda. This led to the founding of Mytopia in 2007 to build the world’s first casual gaming social network.

Vivendi and Activision announced today that they have signed an agreement to combine Vivendi Games — which includes Blizzard Entertainment — with Activision, creating the world’s largest video game publisher.

According to a statement Sunday, The new company, called Activision Blizzard, is expected to have approximately $3.8 billion in revenues this year and the largest operating margins (read: the richest) video game publisher in the world.

“This is … a pivotal event in the continuing transformation of the interactive entertainment industry,” said Robert Kotick, Activision’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “By combining leaders in mass-market entertainment and subscription-based online games, Activision Blizzard will be the only publisher with leading market positions across all categories of the rapidly growing interactive entertainment software industry and reach the broadest possible audiences.”

Vivendi/Blizzard bring World of Warcraft, the largest and most proliferated online game while Activision already boasts mega-hit console and PC games including the best-selling Guitar Hero franchise.

“By joining forces with Vivendi Games, we will become the immediate leader in the highly profitable online games business,” said Kotick.

Financials

Under the terms of the agreement, Vivendi Games will be merged with a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision. In the merger, shares of Vivendi Games will be converted into 295.3 million new shares of Activision common stock. Based on the transaction price of $27.50 per share of Activision common stock, this implies a value of approximately $8.1 billion for Vivendi Games. Concurrently with the merger, Vivendi will purchase 62.9 million newly issued shares of Activision common stock at a price of $27.50 per share — a premium of 31% to Activision’s average closing price over the past 20 trading days — for a total of $1.7 billion in cash. As a result of these transactions, Vivendi will own an approximate 52% ownership stake in Activision Blizzard on a fully diluted basis. When the transaction finalizes, Activision will be renamed Activision Blizzard and will continue to operate as a public company traded on NASDAQ under the ticker ATVI.

A host of managerial moves will be made also.

Robert Kotick will be President and Chief Executive Officer of Activision Blizzard. Bruce Hack, current Chief Executive Officer of Vivendi Games, becomes Vice-Chairman and Chief Corporate Officer of Activision Blizzard, in charge of finance, human resources and legal matters. Mike Griffith will serve as President and Chief Executive Officer of Activision Publishing, which after deal finalizes, will also include the Sierra Entertainment, Sierra Online and Vivendi Games Mobile divisions.

Mike Morhaime will continue to serve as President and Chief Executive Officer of Blizzard Entertainment. Thomas Tippl, currently Chief Financial Officer of Activision, will be appointed Chief Financial Officer of Activision Blizzard and Jean-Fran§ois Grollemund, currently Chief Financial Officer of Vivendi Games, will be appointed Chief Accounting Officer of Activision Blizzard.

Vivendi’s board of directors has approved the deal, which is now subject to the approval of Activision’s shareholders and regulatory officials.

This is one of the largest corporate transactions in the history of the video game industry. Both companies are promising a painless transition.

“There will be no changes to our games, our websites, our personnel or our day-to-day operations as a result of the deal,” said Blizzard, in a statement on their website. “However, this combining of resources will benefit all of the companies involved and will further strengthen Blizzard’s ability to continue delivering high-quality content for our players around the world for many years to come.” Blizzard is offering fans a FAQ to explain the merger.

Editor’s note: See also, “Game Over” from yesterday.

Atari announced today that the company will re-focus its operations on publishing and distribution, completely ending its game production business.

“Atari has determined to focus its resources on the publishing and distribution segments of the rapidly growing video game business,” the company said in a statement today. “The Company’s operations will involve title acquisition, sales and marketing, and physical distribution of products from IESA, its 51% shareholder, and other selected partners.”

Translation: Atari is not going to make games anymore. They are going to bird-dog and market games for its French parent company, Infogrames in North America.

Atari has licensed its Test Drive racing franchise, originally held by Accolade, to Infogrames. Infogrames bought Accolade in 1999, and Atari inherited the platform.

This is a major development in the gaming community as questions have been raised within Atari about its future ability to develop video games. Those questions now appear to be answered.

Atari will also reduce its workforce and transition certain employees to Infogrames.

“Atari continues to take important steps to stream-line operations and establish a winning business plan,” said Curtis G. Solsvig III, Atari’s Chief Restructuring Officer. “We expect that the actions we are undertaking today will position us for the future as a preferred business and distribution partner.”

The move ends one of the oldest eras in electronic entertainment history.

One can only hope technology historians will characterize the name Atari by its 1980s contributions to modern video gaming.

Through little fault of its own, the Atari name has floundered under its European parent, Infogrames, in the 21st century. But maybe, just maybe, Atari can regroup going forward.

Gamespot reported recently on Atari’s bleak financial reports and the doubt expressed by the company towards the future. Its financial reporting shows earnings down to $10 million with losses as high as $12 million.

In response, one reader posted this, which has substantial bearing on this situation:

This isn`t the “real” Atari to begin with. The original Atari was a publisher by accident, not design. Its main business was hardware and the software to put on it; in fact it went to court to prevent anyone else from having access to their machines in any capacity, (they lost) which led to the way things are today. The real Atari died with the 7800/ST/Lynx back in the 80s. I`ve said it before, but it is a shame companies can`t die young of an overdose or in a plane crash like rock stars do so we can remember Atari young, with a head full of hair and a Space Invaders cart plugged in blooping away happily … instead of with Enter the Matrix hanging out of it`s arm, fighting with it`s ex over custody of the Dragon Balls, (sic) slowly blowing away our happy memories in a belch of Driver ports. Even an intervention may be too late to save the Atari we all knew and loved. – “Jaeme“

Atari is today what GT Interactive Software was in the 90s. Seriously — Infogrames bought GT, ceased the brand and changed the name of the American branch of Infogrames to “Atari.” But it goes much more beyond that.

Atari is trying to hold on to its stalwart names like DragonBall Z and Dungeons & Dragons, and that’s a good thing. I firmly believe that Atari needs to get back to basics. It’s going to have to restructure its entire operation to get back in the black.

Take the lesson from 8 years ago. When GT Interactive was facing an unsure road ahead, they poured all of their resources into a new, untested Playstation game franchise called “Driver: You are the Wheelman.”

It was a terrible game. All ports and sequels (Which Atari inherited from GT) have been terrible. It was their big “savior” and months later GT didn’t exist anymore.

Get back to basics. Atari’s savior isn’t going to be something new — they (and GT before it) don’t have the resources to produce an effective, amazing and captivating brand new gaming franchise. It’s sad, but that’s the fact. Atari has sold off studios and properties. They are basically a marketing firm at this point.

Atari has for years tried to recapture its arcade successes by releasing its classics in compilation form … over and over and over for the last 10 years. I think the games are the right approach, but I think some development needs to be done.

Here’s what I think they should do:

Make a new Misisile Command
Make a modern Missile Command. Don’t screw with the gameplay too much — point and click is what brought the quarters in — but give it some modern graphics and sound. Maybe make it a hybrid of the old style with some new style of play and a riveting storyline. Anti-missile defense is still a hot topic, but its the basic, addictive gameplay that Atari can build on to make a new standalone product.

No compilations of old games. You did that … a lot

No more Driver.
Test Drive is a decent driving platform. Build off that. Let Driver die.

Make a 2D scrolling shoot-em-up game for Xbox Live Arcade, etc.
Chopper Command and River Raid come to mind. I know those were Activision titles, but they were Atari 2600. (I know Atari had Defender, but Defender wasn’t as good) Another title (which I’ll be offering the shareware of for download next month) is Raptor: Call of the Shadows, from Apogee/3D Realms. Simple concept: shoot everything. Give it some story, some sick sounds and a ton of weapon upgrades. Make it $19.99 and available via multi-platform download.

Re-release Video Chess and Video Checkers on Xbox Live Arcade, etc.

Artillery Duel
In 1983, Xonox put together a game where two players, each with an artillery canon, duel until one blows up the other. We should remember a QBasic game where two gorillas threw bananas at each other until one hits the other.

So let’s try this: Give players their choice of canons, missiles, tank guns, grenades, frigging Ninja throwing stars, just about anything creative you can think of with updated graphics and sound and let two (OR MORE?) people take turns shooting at each other until there’s only one left standing.

I’m just not sure if I’d leave the numerical aiming in or develop some new way of shooting, like a grid or guessing or visual aiming, etc.

Hey, Infogrames, make a Fahrenheit sequel for Wii
Too bad you changed the name in the US, but Indigo Prophecy, as we know it by, was a good game, and I think Wii controls would work better than the “Simon” play by color controls.

Make a Time Crisis-style game for Wii with the Zapper
An arcade shooter. A different Atari did this with an Area 51 port for the PC. It wasn’t great, so try again. Don’t call it Area 51 either. — Anyway Midway owns that name now.

And finally…

Release Pong for Xbox Live Arcade, etc. Don’t change it at all. Charge 25 cents for the download.

This review originally appeared on Reviewcenter.com and Sharewarejunkies.com in 1998 during the Golden Age of shareware gaming. The game (and manufacturer’s website) remain the same today as they were back then. This one stands out as a testament to the way the Internet once was.

By John Guilfoil

Don’t be scared off by the name. Virus the Game is a challenging and very addicting arcade puzzler. This is one of the few games where you get to be the bad guy. In Virus the Game, you ARE the virus.

The object of the game is to move around the screen, exposing parts of a hard drive sector looking for data to “eat.” Beware, the anti virus is on the hunt, and if you get into a fight with him, he’ll tear you apart!

The new version of Virus, 1.5 features faster keyboard response as well as sharper graphics than previous versions. The game runs very well on just about any system.

I definitely recommend downloading the shareware, and you might even want to consider purchasing the full version. The full version features 30 levels, 3 secret levels, lasers that track on to you, a top ten scores list and the newest version of Virus whenever it comes out.

The shareware version of Virus lets you to get a taste of the game — you get to create virtual hard drive rampage in the first two levels.

Download the shareware free from Blast!

Publisher: DynoTech Software
Developer: DynoTech Software
Platform: PC
Genre: Strategy/Puzzle
Players: 1

Technical Requirements:
386 or faster CPU, 4MB RAM, Windows 3x, Windows 9x, or OS/2 Warp, 256 Color VGA, Mouse or Joystick, Sound Card (optional, but recommended).

Playability: 4 out of 5 stars
Learning Curve: 4 out of 5 stars
Sound: 4 out of 5 stars
Graphics: 4 out of 5 stars
Overall: 4 out of 5 stars

This review appeared on Reviewcenter.com in 2000 during the heyday of PC flight simulation games, including a glut of combat games from Janes/Electronic Arts.

Hangsim is a highly realistic flight simulation that was created to simulate flight in hang gliders, paragliders, and ultralights. This game is like flight simulators from around the world, but the difference is that it uses a different category of aircraft. They are tricky to fly because of their low stall speeds and their unwillingness to move fast — no afterburners here.

When you start the game you are presented with a list of options that lets you choose what you want to fly, where you want to fly it, and what kind of flying you will be doing. The game gives you realistic terrain and weather conditions including mountain wind, clouds and fog.

There are four flight options to choose from. Free flight allows you to take any aircraft up and give it a test run. Then there is challenge mode, where you learn how to fly your aircraft in different situations. A competition mode lets you race opponents around aerial race courses in the mountains, on beaches, etc. The last flight option is the Just for Fun option. This option lets you fly against many other competitors and shoot them down with air-to-air rockets. That is pretty fun!

When you play the game, you will notice how good the graphics are. I believe that the good graphics are there to make up for the poor game play. After about 15 minutes, I wanted more things to do, and there wasn’t anything else. Yes, the game is fun and is very realistic, but it does not hit the spot for flight simulation games for me. Maybe I’m just used to combat flight sims with campaigns and missions, but I found Hangsim boring after a while.

Like I said before, the graphics of the game are superior to any other flight simulation game that I have ever seen. When taking hard turns, there is no delay/buffer in the screen that shows that the graphics processor is behind. It feels that you are actually there! When I play games, there is nothing more impressive than good graphics.

I was very impressed with this game, despite the lack of different scenarios. This game would be a more interesting one if they created an expansion pack that had more scenarios and aircraft in it.

Hangsim has many benefits. It uses the latest technology in 3D graphic acceleration through Direct X 5, it uses the 3D graphics accelerators 110% to create the best graphics possible, and the aircraft have easy to use instruments.

Download the demo free from Blast!

Publisher: Wilco
Developer: Wilco
Platform: PC CD-ROM
Genre: Flight simulation
Players: 1
Launch Date: 1999

Technical Requirements:
Pentium 166, Windows 95, 98, Me, XP, Sound card, 100Mb free hard disk space.

Playability: 3 out of 5 stars
Learning Curve: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Sound: 4 out of 5 stars
Graphics: 4 out of 5 stars
Overall: 4 out of 5 stars

Popular Internet comic Penny Arcade announced today that the fifth Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) will be held August 29-31, 2008.

The 2007 expo brought in 37,000 gamers at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle, and outpaced any other event of its kind.

PAX is a three-day “celebration of games and gamer culture,” the company said.

The festival includes an exhibition floor filled with playable builds of upcoming tabletop, console, and computer games; a conference program of game-industry speakers on gaming topics; music concerts; freeplay areas; industry parties; game tournaments and more. Since its inception in 2004 the show has doubled in size each year, with 4,500 attendees in 2004, 9,500 in 2005, 19,300 in 2006, and 37,000 in 2007.

Last year’s keynote speaker, Wil Wheaton attacked video game stereotypes and questioned opinions that gaming was related to antisocial behavior. PAX is consistently filled with the notion that gaming is a social interaction. Last year, groups competed face-to-face, and played new games like Rock Band and SingStar

“PAX has always been about community,” said Robert Khoo of Penny Arcade, “and I think that was really reflected in the overall vibe of the show. PAX celebrates what it means to be a gamer, and walking onto the show floor gives you this sense of kinship … it just feels right.”

Exhibitor packets are available now, and attendee registration starts in January, according to Michael Meyers PR.

Originally announced as November 23, the well-anticipated Rock Band will hit stores November 20, before Thanksgiving and Black Friday, Harmonix announced.

Rock Band picks up where the amazingly popular Guitar Hero games leave off and is expected to sell amazingly well despite the $200 price tag on the special edition. (The game itself is $59.99 but the special edition comes with a guitar, drum set and microphone)

Thre game will allow players to mix lead guitar, bass guitar, drums and vocals in music from legendary and contemporary artists. It’s designed for multiplayer but single players can use a career mode or compete online against other players. There is also a plethora of downloadable content planned, as well as a social networking site at Rockband.com, launching the same day as the game.