A Joystiq post has some commentary on the popularity of Alternate Reality Games. Specifically, they reference some statistics gathered to give quantifiable metrics to game popularity. From the post: "Based on official numbers, the volume of forum posting and the number of hits on Google, these figures are pretty impressive. Two of the better-known ARGs -- The Beast and I Love Bees -- attracted upwards of two million players, according to their designers." For folks who play: What is your sense of their popularity? How many people do you know who play?

Groo Wanderer writes "At the launch of the XBox 360, there were reports of forced and unwanted bundling by several companies, most notably Best Buy. There were things said back and forth, and the usual corporate banter. They have followed through, this time, and a good number of people lost their jobs." From the article: "We are told a manager that started the procedure is no longer employed at Best Buy. At least one senior district manager is no longer employed, and some of the nailings are rumored to have gone even higher. The big yellow inquisition did not stop there, and several other managers and assorted white collar workers were given an escorted walk to the parking lot."

A GameDaily piece looks at nine N64 titles the staff over there feels really should make it onto the Revolution download service. They're quirky little titles, including a family-favorite launch title: Blast Corps. From the article: "In the game, you take control of a "destruction team" made up of this one guy and several vehicles that range from a bulldozer to a full-blown Transformer-esque robot, and you attempt to clear the path of a runaway missile truck running, oh, five miles an hour. If anything comes into contact with this missile it blows up, so you must clear the path to a certain point in the level. This means destroying ANYTHING, including cities, in order to assure its safety." What N64 titles would you want to see on the service?

Square Enix's CG movie based on Final Fantasy VII, Advent Children, has a U.S. release date. This comes after a long delay and the promise that the title would be out 'sometime in 2006. From the 1up.com article: "1UP is glad to inform you that the DVD and UMD will ship in the U.S. on April 25, 2006. So in case you haven't already downloaded the movie from the Internet (bad, pirates, bad!) and are looking forward to seeing this hour-and-a-half slice of CG Final Fantasy fan-service for yourself, you've roughly two months to go."

GamePolitics wonders aloud about our use of the term game to describe electronic entertainment. In the author's view, referring to videogames as 'games' is inhibiting their adoption by mainstream society (who relates gaming to children's activities). From the article: "Things have changed, of course. Video game content now runs the gamut from kid-friendly titles like Curious George and LEGO Star Wars to adult-themed offerings such as GTA San Andreas and Black to the highly socialized online communities of World of Warcraft and Second Life or the largely adult-populated casual game scene of Pogo. Over the years, gamers and game designers have recognized the artistic and expressive potential of videogames, along with their power to enlighten and entertain players from four to ninety-four. But there are also millions who missed that particular cultural bus."

Technology Sweden writes "According to the site Xbox-Scene, a program is available to transfer saved-games and more from the memory card or hard drive. This opens up a whole new world for the 360. Soon we might be able to run our own home brewed games and show our favourite Xvid movies."

Stony Stevenson writes "PC World reports that digital downloads and online distribution is making the regulation of banned computer games impossible. Running with Scissors has employed a new sales channel that allows its controversial Postal games to be downloaded direct to consumers' PCs. This has created a grey area between content regulators and classification enforcers that allows end users to receive banned content unchecked. From the article: 'The Australian Communications and Media Authority hotline manager of content assessment, Mike Barnard conceded that preventing distribution was not conclusive and the only foolproof method of stopping people downloading banned content was if they chose not to.'"

Ant wrote to mention a Globe and Mail article stating that videogames keep the mind young and help in quick focusing on different tasks. "A body of research suggests that playing video games provides benefits similar to bilingualism in exercising the mind. Just as people fluent in two languages learn to suppress one language while speaking the other, so too are gamers adept at shutting out distractions to swiftly switch attention between different tasks. A new study of 100 university undergraduates in Toronto has found that video gamers consistently outperform their non-playing peers in a series of tricky mental tests. If they also happened to be bilingual, they were unbeatable."

Via a Joystiq post, a story on the site Kikizo which claims to have hands-on experience with the PS3. From the article: "Firstly however, the box. The stylish PlayStation 3 casing design that SCEI boss Ken Kutaragi revealed last year is, and always has been, empty - and no signs of a final, tangible casing solution appear to be in sight. 'I think to fit everything that Sony wants in there AND leave space for a 2.5 inch hard drive,' explains one senior developer working on a final kit, who will be our guide for much of this report, 'the machine would have to grow. The models they're showing off are way too small for what they want.'" Please view this with the appropriate amount of skepticism.

szadig writes "The New Gamer has published an article which tackles the topic of averaging gameplay. The accompanying video features 15 different players simultaneously shooting their way through the first stage in the NES game Gradius. From the article: 'The average time taken to kill the end level boss was 20.055 seconds, with the fastest player finishing him off in a mere 10.01 seconds. Six people finished the boss off at nearly identical moments. It would seem that the boss, bored with the player, actually self-destructs after 27 seconds. Beyond the almost perfectly synchronized explosions, further proof of this self-destruction can be found in the videos: no 10,000 point bonus (given to players when the boss is defeated) was awarded to these six players and, in a few of the runs, the boss detonated when there wasn't a single bullet near it.' Can we apply other statistical methods to gameplay?"

hisham writes "On the heels of the bad news on SGI's financial health, another former giant of the tech world announces concerns of bankruptcy: 'Bad times got worse at Atari as the company posted a loss and a 35% decline in sales in the important holiday quarter.' The CFO has resigned, and the company released a statement saying 'the uncertainties caused by these conditions raise substantial doubt about [Atari's] ability to continue as a going concern.' An icon of videogame history; if things turn sour, it will be sad to see Atari go (again)."

Gamasutra reports that Ralph Baer, the man whose work inspired the game Pong, will be honored in a White House ceremony on February 14th. He is to receive the 2004 National Medal of Technology. From the article: "The award, which is America's highest honor for science and technology, goes to those who 'have helped commercialize new technologies, create jobs, improve American productivity, and stimulate the Nation's economic growth and development', and was established by Congress in 1980."

Chris Morris at CNN's Game Over column wonders out loud about the legions of older gamers, and their snubbing by most of the gaming industry. From the article: "The Entertainment Software Association reports that 19 percent of the people playing video games are 50 or older. That's a huge jump from 1999, when players of that age group made up just 9 percent of the gaming world. Game publishers, though, seemingly couldn't care less - mainly leaving senior gamers to Web-based games, such as PopCap Games' 'Bookworm'. And while it certainly makes loads of sense for publishers to focus primarily on the core market, especially in transitional times like they're experiencing now, that focus is at risk of becoming myopic."

Valve has announced that, instead of entitling their first downloadable mini-expansion to Half-Life 2 'Aftermath', the pack is now simply Episode 1. From the Gamespot article: "When asked whether the name change is indicative of a change in direction for the Half-Life 2 franchise, Valve marketing director Doug Lombardi replied, 'episodic.' When asked the follow-up question of whether the new name meant that beginning of a regular flow of content, Lombardi replied, 'yes.'"

schlick writes "The Associated Press is carrying a story about a NYC employee fired after Mayor Michael Bloomberg noticed a game of solitare on the employee's desktop at work." From the article: "Greenwood, who earned $27,000 a year and had worked in the office for six years, said in a telephone interview that he limited his play time to his one-hour lunch or during quick breaks when he needed a moment of distraction. 'It wasn't like I spent hours and hours a day playing, because I had plenty to do,' Greenwood said. 'If I had been working at something exhaustively for two hours, I might get a cup of coffee and play for a minute but then go right back to my work.'"

Next Generation continues to report on the DICE event, where another session with MS VP Peter Moore talked about the future of PC and Xbox gaming. He reiterated an earlier statement the company had made saying they were culpable in the decline of PC gaming. In response to that, Moore says the company is planning a PC gaming renaissance through the Vista Operating System. He also talked about the success of the Xbox Live system. From that article: "He said there have been 4 million pieces of content downloaded from Xbox Live since launch. He talked about Xbox Live Arcade and the success of the try-before-you-buy model. He used the example of Geometry Wars (pictured), for which 36 percent of consumers who downloaded the demo bought the game. The average Xbox Live Arcade conversion is 20 percent, with the lowest conversion rate for a game being 10 percent."

Xbox Live Arcade is, so far, the easiest thing to point to as a complete success for the Xbox 360. The number of excellent games (some of them quite original) released for the service since the system's launch is very impressive. Gamecloud has an interview with Patrick Buckland, founder of Stainless Games. Stainless created Crystal Quest, the most recent addition to the Xbox Live Arcade. From the article: "Gamecloud - How did using the Xbox 360 Live Arcade to distribute the game come about? Patrick Buckland - It's a marriage made in heaven. We are going to do a downloadable PC version as well, but you get into the whole piracy issue again. Xbox 360 Live Arcade is just SO perfect for classic games - and for new games as well, as you'll see in the future from Stainless."

Eurogamer has the word that Sony is planning to bundle UMD versions of movies with DVDs in order to increase the public's exposure to the PSP-specific format. From the article: "From March 28th, PlayStation Portable owners will be able to purchase DVD-UMD bundles for movies The Grudge, Resident Evil, Underworld, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and The Terminator. April 25th will see the arrival of Ghostbusters, Mad Max, The Fifth Element and Snatch, and more bundles will follow in May."

Businessweek has a piece looking at the PlayStation 3, worrying that Sony is confusing the consumer with all of the technology it's trying to work into the console. From the article: "Some question whether Sony is trying to cram too much into the new box. The PS3 is expected to cost $350 to $400. While it has the potential to be a megahit, Sony's message might get muddled in the process of going after too broad a market, says Deutsche Securities analyst Takashi Oya. 'It would be difficult to sell PS3 initially as anything other than a game machine,' Oya says. Sony declined to comment on such concerns."

Gamespot reports on a Churchill Club panel discussion attended by a number of industry heavyweights. They discussed, heavily, the future of gaming online and what it means for the industry as a whole. From the article: "[MS VP Peter] Moore said that the retail landscape is set to undergo a particularly drastic change of face. Even though he made a point that the current retail model was hugely important to Microsoft's plans for the near future, he sees its days as numbered. 'Let's be fair. Whether it's five, 10, 15, 20 years from now, the concept of driving to the store to buy a plastic disc with data on it and driving back and popping it in the drive will be ridiculous,' Moore said. 'We'll tell our grandchildren that and they'll laugh at us.'"