– There’s got to be at least one or two of you out there who are gonna pick up that new Xbox game called “Fable“, right? Well if you’re interested in preordering the game, allow me to let you in on a little secret: If you preorder the upcoming RPG at GameStop, Circuit City, EB Games, or various other online game retailers, you’ll be able to get a “Making of” DVD all about the game, featuring interviews with creators Peter Molyneux, Simon Carter, and Ian Lovett, and playable demos of Sudeki, RalliSport Challenge 2, and Top Spin. It may not be as cool as the “Babes of Norrath” calendar that came with Champions of Norrath: Realms of Everquest preorders, but it’s something, right?
– Put all thoughts of a lackluster Angel of Darkness out of your mind — Tomb Raider is coming back in 2005, and it will be “all new”, “revamped”, and possibly even “good”. This information comes straight from Top Cow Productions, makers of the Tomb Raider comic books, who plan to launch the second volume of their Lara Croft graphic novel around the same time that Tomb Raider VII is released. No specific platforms have yet been mentioned, but I’d say it’s a safe bet that you’ll be raiding new tombs on a Sony system some time next year.
– You may not expect it, but many people in the armed forces like to spend their off-hours playing video games. Just ask my buddy Dave, one of the best marines there is, and he’ll tell you that after a day of blowing real things up, he’ll blow up some fake ones in Battlefield 1942. NCsoft must be aware of this, because they’re giving 2,000 copies of their City of Heroes PC game to US Navy and Marine personnel returning from the Middle East. They call it their “Heroes for Heroes” giveaway plan, and I think it’s great that this video game publisher is showing their support for our troops in such an awesome way.
– NCsoft isn’t the only gaming company that’s been feeling generous this past month. Hip Games, the publisher behind Dog’s Life, is donating a portion of the sales generated by this new PS2 title to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. As if the game didn’t sound interesting enough to warrant a purchase, now you know that if you buy the game, you’ll also be helping out the animal kingdom as a whole.
– I know you’ve all been waiting for it. I know it’s kept you up at night. I know you’ve spent hours on AOL Instant Messenger speculating about it. I know you haven’t been posting about it on the GC forums, but I know you should have been. I know it’s been eating away at your soul, and thankfully, this won’t have to last too much longer. Nintendo, corporate giant behind Super Mario, Donkey Kong, The Legend of Zelda, and Balloon Fight, has finally released the official name for its upcoming two-screened portable system. Are you ready for this? You better get ready for this. I’m not so sure you’re ready for this. Maybe you should go use the toilet FIRST, and then, maybe then, you will be ready for this. Okay. Are you done in the potty? Then here we go. The official name of Nintendo’s DS portable system is… I really hope you’re ready for this, because it’s seriously coming now.. no, really, I mean it, I’m mere seconds away from typing it… the official name of the system… is… Nintendo DS.
– In other news, video games make kids fat. No really, that’s what this Swiss study is saying. They claim to have found a “strong association” between children playing video games, and children gaining weight. The study is a correlation study, meaning that all it indicates is that kids who tend to be fat also tend to play video games, which, as anyone who has taken an entry level Psychology course could tell you, means squat. It doesn’t say that playing video games causes kids to be fat, or being fat causes kids to play video games; all it says is that kids who play video games also tend to be kids who are fat. Big whoop.
– In other news, video games make kids violent. It seems like I write something similar to that every month, or at least on months where I actually have some news to write about. Yes, we have yet another case of parents blaming video games for kids doing something violent, instead of blaming some factor that could actually conceivably be a cause. Like, for instance, the kid himself. In this case, parents are blaming (of all games!) Rockstar’s Manhunt for the death of a 14 year old boy, who was stabbed and beaten by a 17 year old who happened to play Manhunt. I bet he happened to breathe, too, but for some reason, the parents aren’t suing oxygen. Maybe they should get on that soon.
