A few years back, I received an urgent call from my wife. She had been in the midst of a feverish shopping excursion when she rounded a corner of the local mall and walked smack into a mammoth line, easily 100 people deep, winding its way from the entrance of the GameStop halfway towards the food court. She wanted to know what new console had been released that day and (bless her heart) should she get in line as my proxy. My brain went into overdrive. The 360 had already been released and we were still a few months shy of the Wii and PS3 debuts. What game could kick-start such a frenzy? Then it hit me. Exhibition football was back on the tube and the retail stores were stocked with back-to-school items. There’s only one game that manages to stir the masses year-after-year with each subsequent installment.

“It’s Madden, baby!!!”

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Funny thing about travel plans: some days everything goes just the way you want it to go, while other days the travel gods laugh and toss everything from bad weather to wrong directions from Google Maps in your way. Unfortunately for me, the latter was true on the day when I returned to New York City for Ubisoft’s annual holiday release party, but in between the travel disasters I was treated to a close-up look at what the publisher has in store for gamers this fall and beyond.

Easily, the star of this year’s show was Avatar, the companion game to director James Cameron’s upcoming sci-fi epic in which humans travel to a distant planet and explore it by controlling simulacra of themselves in a battle for survival against the world’s strange and dangerous natives. (Unfortunately for Cameron, Bruce Willis is beating him to the market with the man-controlling-avatar gimmick by several months with his film “Surrogates,” due in theatres Sept. 25, 2009). In Avatar the game, you choose either the human or alien campaign in a main story arc enhanced by numerous side quests set in 15 unique environments. Graphics assets from the film are included in the game (some were actually created by the film’s effects house especially for the game), but the story has no tie-ins to the plot of the movie. The biggest news about Avatar is that it will be playable in “stereoscopic” 3D on the PC, Xbox 360 and the PS3 (the Wii, PSP and DS versions will be 2D only, since 1080p screen resolutions and HDMI connections are required to produce the 3D effects). I saw the game demonstrated in 3D on the Xbox 360, and the use of the 3D process is amazing to watch. Although the graphics were not quite as sharp or detailed as some other recent AAA games, the 3D process gives the third-person shooter a visual depth that needs to be seen to be believed. But actually seeing it is going to depend upon whether or not you have the hardware; the game was demoed on a Korean flat-panel TV specially designed for 3D. I was unable to find out whether or not the PC version will also require an HDMI connection or a special monitor (perhaps with a 120-htz refresh rate, which are currently very expensive), but the demo also used Real-D digital theatre 3D glasses, so if you go to a digital 3D showing of “G-Force” or “Up,” keep those polarized glasses instead of throwing them away. Avatar the game is set for a late November/early December 2009 release on all platforms.

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Written by: Carl Shan

In case you missed part 1.

One objection to the concept of video games as an art form is that they contain commercial and selfish motivations, tainting their artistic purity. Developers create games to be mass marketed to the public in hopes of generating income (according to market research firm Pricewaterhouse Coopers, the games industry is growing at an annual rate of 9.1%). Yet this objection does not hold, since other recognized art forms share the attribute of profitability. In particular, early 20th-century cinema was criticized for this exact reason. Henry Jenkins, co-director of MIT’s Comparative Media Studies program, points out the parallelism. “America [was] skeptical of [the] cinema in particular for many of the same reasons that contemporary critics dismiss games – they were suspicious of cinema’s commercial motivations and technological origins, concerned about Hollywood’s appeals to violence and eroticism, and insistent that cinema had not yet produced works of lasting value.” Yet decades later, it’s obvious that these were not obstacles in the way of the ability of a medium to cogently convey the emotions true art is able to elicit. Furthermore, the absence of a monetary impetus is not to be found in the realms of other arts. Many painters and artists look to their work as a source of income. Musicians such as Beethoven and Mozart composed for aristocratic patrons. The lack of the pursuit of monetary gain is not a characteristic that defines art. In fact, the opposite is true: artistic quality can determine art’s financial success. The very reason paintings can be worth millions of dollars, operas such as Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro” become universally acclaimed, and games such as Shadow of the Colossus become instant hits is because they are all masterpieces of art.

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Written by: Carl Shan

In an age dominated by technology, it’s only natural to find its lasting mark on a plethora of aspects of our lives. From finding a greater role in music to becoming a central component in our daily interactions with other individuals, technology has brought about revolutionary, sweeping changes. This paper explores the aesthetic contributions of technology: more specifically, video games. The question of whether games can be considered a legitimate art form is one that, if answered, can decide whether they only serve as playful entertainment (not to be taken seriously) or can be considered an established art form.

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Written by: Michael Moody

Fallout 3 is a huge success, and with the release of the Operation Anchorage downloadable content pack, Bethesda Softworks is providing even more opportunities for players to dabble into its dark and sadistic world. Bethesda public relations VP, Pete Hines, was nice enough to take a break from his busy schedule to answer a few questions related to DLC and Fallout 3.

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Written by: Michael Smith

How many of you Wii owners have been waiting patiently for some adult-oriented games for your console of choice? Do you crave action that doesn’t involve armless tennis players, juvenile puzzles or a certain Italian plumber? Do you look at the offerings for the Xbox 360, the PS3 or the PC and say, “Where’s my blood-soaked mayhem?” Sega has heard your cries and is riding to your rescue. Recently I joined Chris and Billy from the Avault podcast in Manhattan for an advance look at the venerable Japanese gaming company’s offerings for the coming year. There were some impressive shooters and fighters for the Xbox and the PS3, and real-time strategy games that will whet the virtual appetites of console and PC gamers alike, but the real focus of the event was that games featuring adult themes, violence and language can be just as effective on Nintendo’s smash-hit console as they have been for years on its competitors’ machines.

Here are some highlights from the show. We managed to get some hands-on time with many of the games, and as you can see, there’s something here for almost everyone. Check out Chris and Billy’s impressions of the show in Episode 17 of the Avault podcast.

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Written by: Bob Mandel

Despite an unprecedented explosion of blockbuster retail releases this past holiday season, the casual computer games market – largely operating through Internet downloads rather than boxed products in stores – continues to flourish. These titles generally sell for a lower price, with lower system requirements and a lower minimum time commitment to learn how to play, and they arguably provide more bang for the buck than their retail counterparts. Reflecting the imagination of small independent developers, these modest products may also evidence more creativity and whimsy than many of the “me-too” releases from major corporate publishers. Even with game consoles joining the fray by offering downloadable “live” games of this type, the personal computer – due to its openness and readily available programming tools — remains the primary development platform for this kind of release. So for the ninth year in a row, while other game sites focus heavily on conventional retail offerings, I unearth for your playing pleasure the very best hidden computer treasures that casual gaming has to offer. To select the dozen 2008 award winners, I spent many hours scouring hundreds of titles developed in countries all over the world, and playing through the full registered versions to get a solid sense of their overall value. Each year the competition becomes stiffer. One of the pleasures of doing so is that I get to meet some of the nicest and most imaginative people on the planet. Because of increasingly unacceptable intrusive and annoying copy-protection schemes, and the reality that many gamers own multiple computers (not all of which have ready online access) which they frequently upgrade, I tested only offerings where it is possible to register and play the single-player mode on a non-Internet-connected computer.

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Written by: Bob Mandel

Given the growing scope and diversity of computer gaming needs, it has become increasingly important for PC gamers to possess utilities that make their play experience a lot fuller and more enjoyable. Gamers often have no basis for judging which of these general purpose utilities are really worth the money, for they do not have the time, money or inclination to purchase, install, test and uninstall the major contenders to see which really help out a lot. So I have taken it upon myself to undertake this Herculean task.

Some of the products I discuss are little-known by most gamers, yet they deserve to be in the spotlight. I exclude from consideration certain widely-discussed categories of software, including security software (dealing with virus, adware and popup protection), game creation software (such as game editing programs), online-focused software (such as the tracking of online game players) and software requiring special hardware beyond standard gaming input devices (such as voice activation software requiring a microphone or software tracking body movements requiring a webcam). Although none of the four winners is exclusively designed for gaming purposes, each addresses a set of irritations that consistently pose a thorn in gamers’ sides.

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Written by: Michael Smith

Gaming in Manhattan! Most of the major gaming events in North America take place on the Left Coast, including the recently concluded E3 Expo in Los Angeles and the Penny Arcade PAX event in Seattle. So, when Ubisoft invited Adrenaline Vault to their holiday release party in New York City, we jumped at the chance to bring you all of the details about the publisher’s games due out this holiday season. The best of them include an innovative third-person combat game, a sequel offering a more realistic direction than its sci-fi-based predecessor, another sequel featuring a refreshing change of attitude towards the gamer, and a simple yet very addictive restaurant-management sim.

Tom Clancy’s Endwar
Platforms: Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PC
Release date: 11/4 (Xbox, PS3), Spring 2009 (PC)

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Written by: David Laprad

For a while now, the PC game has been lying in intensive care, its slowing heartbeat upsetting diehard PC gamers the world over. If we could, we’d send flowers, but those of us who resisted buying a WiiFit don’t have anything left after spending our loose cash on Xbox Live Arcade, so all we’ve got to offer is our sympathy. We’re sure the PC will understand, though, as it draws its last breath and then flatlines. “We’ll always have DOOM (or whatever game drew us to the PC in the first place),” we’ll say as we wipe a tear from our cheeks.

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Written by: Jason Pitruzzello

This is the final installment in a three-part series.

It doesn’t. In fact, citing Thompson as an example can’t possibly do this for several reasons. First, in order for it to be clinical, a medical professional (mental health or some other kind of medical doctor) would have to use this in a controlled case study. No such thing has happened. Second, if you remember all the claims Walsh made about the school shooters, one of them was that they all spent countless hours practicing with the games before enacting them in real life. But that’s not what Thompson did. It’s quite the opposite. He shows “suicide bomber” behavior precisely because he’s bad at the game and never had enough time to play to get good at it. So which is it? Does playing violent video games a lot result in violent behavior or just playing them a little and being really bad at them? It can’t be both, otherwise there would be 8 million school shooters in the United States alone because, according to Gamespot, 8.1 million copies of Halo 3 alone have been purchased, not counting Doom, Doom II, Doom III, Quake, Quake II, etc.

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Written by: Jason Pitruzzello

This is the second installment in a three-part series. The final installment will be published on Friday of this week.

Next, we should take up the case of Robert Steinhauser. In April of 2002, he gunned down teachers and students at his former school, from which he had been expelled. Like Auvine, this did not happen in the U.S.; Erfurt is an old town in Germany with roots as far back as 742 C.E. As such, its relevance to the psychological conditioning of Americans is perhaps suspect. Like the case of Auvine, the best sources of information aren’t in English, and thus unavailable to those, like myself, who don’t understand German. In terms of intellectual rigor, I can’t claim to have all of the facts; if Walsh and LaRouche’s other writers were themselves were also intellectually rigorous in their study of non-American cases such as these, they would also admit the same thing. Instead, the following quotations are used as evidence:

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Written by: Jason Pitruzzello

This is the first installment in a three-part series. The final installments will be published on Wednesday and Friday of this week.

A few months ago, I had the privilege of being given pamphlets about candidates for political office. Despite the fact that I toss all such material in the trash, as I keep up with the candidates for various offices myself and do not need their propaganda about themselves or others to stay informed, I do like the fact that such activities go on because it is healthy political expression. On my campus, there’s a small but dedicated group of students who support Lyndon LaRouche for president, and every few weeks, I’ll get one of their packets handed to me. Most of the time, I toss them away like any other.

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Written by: Bob Mandel

Recently, I decided to upgrade to a large widescreen LCD monitor for computer gaming, and since that time have spent months educating myself about the surprising complexities surrounding a truly informed choice. Gamers have special needs when it comes to such monitors, including a display that’s large, easy to read, allows for quick identification of foes or pickups in dark areas, can handle lots of animation without hiccups or ghosting and supports multiple resolutions to facilitate playing many different types of games.

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Written by: Bob Mandel

Now that we’ve begun a new gaming year, I’m writing for the first time about the top hardware goodies of the past year for PC gamers. If you have any extra cash or gift cards from the holidays, this article might give you some ideas for possible purchases. This is an opportunity for me to talk the best new hardware of direct interest to the gaming community. In thinking carefully about what would be of greatest use to our readers, I decided that commenting on standalone products — not components such as graphics cards, motherboards and hard drives — would appeal to the largest audience. Although I do not subject selections to rigorous technical tests or offer comparative benchmarks, I choose products that appear to contain the most useful features and to be the easiest to use. All the selections reflect personal preferences, which I try to make explicit.

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