Via Joystiq, a review on the site X-Entertainment of the very first issue of Nintendo Power. Amusing if only for the sake of nostalgia. From the article: "There's the table of contents. The big games at the time were The Legend of Zelda and the just-released Super Mario Bros. 2. To their credit, Nintendo covered a lot of the older games kids were still into playing, mixing the stuff people wanted to see with the stuff they wanted you to see. It wasn't just one big commercial in print. While they weren't really going to come down on any of the games for their own system, all of the articles were approached honestly enough. They usually steered away from romanticizing crap - if the game sucked, they didn't say it sucked, but they didn't spend a whole lot of time talking about it."

Gamasutra reports that World of Warcraft has hit another milestone in subscribers, with One Million European players and 5.5 Million players worldwide. From the article: "The figure of 1 million customers is more than four times the previously estimated size of the entire European MMORPG market. According to data from Media Control and GFK panels, plus internal studies and account data from Blizzard itself, the company is also claiming that World of WarCraft was the best selling full price PC game in Europe last year." All those players will have a new world event to look forward to at the end of the month, as RPG Vault gives a preview on the Lunar Festival due to be released on January 27th.

The Game Chair has a piece looking at the lackluster experience offered by one of the few remaining American arcade chains, Dave and Buster's. From the article: "Dave & Buster's is perennially in my bad books because they don't have Dance Dance Revolution. Each time, I enter with the hope that they might have seen the error of their ways, and each time I am crushed. Honestly. What kind of arcade does not have DDR? Although Dave & Buster's merely possesses pretensions, rather than aspirations to be an arcade, the lack of dance games except for one lonely Pump it Up: Exceed 2 machine is nigh unforgivable. I know DDR isn't so popular in Japan anymore, but unless I am totally mistaken Dave & Buster's is not Japan."

SnoopJeDi writes "ArenaNet has announced a Global Free-For-All PvP Weekend for this weekend. The event is designed to give the public a taste of the new chapter in the series: Guild Wars: Factions. Current players can access the new content from their accounts, and people who don't own the game can use one of the keys to create and activate a new account exclusively for the demo. The announced new features include two new classes(the Assassin and Ritualist), the new PvP Battle Isles, and a whole new continent named Cantha."

Despite the success of subsidiary Blizzard's World of Warcraft, Vivendi Universal has delisted itself from U.S. stockmarkets in an effort to cut costs. 1up reports: "Just because they're moving off the American stock market, however, doesn't mean Vivendi Universal won't seek, rely on or utilize US investors. 'Vivendi Universal intends to maintain and develop its business operations in the US, but wishes to reduce financial costs,' says the company's statement."

Gamasutra has a piece exploring how to make a great game out of a franchise, with information from a CES panel on the subject. From the article: "'The durability of a franchise is great,' countered Microsoft's GM of franchise development for Xbox Kevin Browne. 'Look how many crappy series it took to finally kill Star Trek.'"

ConfusedFX writes "GameDAILY has published a news article featuring Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo's Executive Vice President of Sales. He had several things to say about Nintendo's 2006 strategy, one of which, 'We will sell more units than Xbox 360 did here in the United States in our launch window.' He commented about Xbox 360 owners spending nearly $800 at launch; he wants the Nintendo Revolution to be 'affordable' to the average gamer. Additionally, GameDAILY has posted an interview with Andy Parsons, senior VP of Pioneer Electronics, written by The Digital Bits. Some analysts expect the PS3 to launch with around 1 million units -- Andy says he's heard differently from Sony. 'If Sony ships the kind of numbers we expect them to this year, that will provide a very rapid growth of players out there hungry for titles. We've been hearing between 4 and 7 million units could ship.'"

Asriel86 writes "Pulling from the AFP newswire, Yahoo, CNN, and others have been reporting about how a gamer broadcast his own suicide on a gaming forum via a webcam, and that members of the forum continued to ridicule the gamer while he killed himself. Gaming Horizon has just learned that this is completely untrue. The newswire reporter failed to check the facts, and in turn painted this simple gaming forum into cruel monsters. The forum (hosted at metalgearsolid.org) has been taken offline at the request of Government agencies following these news reports."

1up has a piece talking with Peter Moore about the past and future of the Xbox 360. Launch challenges, futures plans, and potential roadblocks are all discussed. From the article: "EGM: You really didn't need a Halo to launch the Xbox 360, did you? PM: No, I don't think we did. It was never really in the plans. Clearly, when you're shipping Halo 2 the year before the launch of a new platform, to expect [developer] Bungie to then immediately move on to a brand-new architecture and bring out a third iteration of a franchise worthy of being one of the greatest franchises in videogame history, it's unreasonable. So, we didn't believe we needed it."

My alma mater MMORPGDot has a review of the 'adults-only, subscription-based, independently-developed Sci-Fi Fantasy MMORPG set in London a hundred years from now'. It's a social MMOG, and one with more social options than you'll find in most commercial games. From the article: "Sex is not a mere role-playing concession in Sociolotron; it is a fully-baked and detailed gameplay mechanic. Players can engage in both consensual and forced sexual relations with other players and some NPCs- and believe it or not, sex serves a number of important purposes in the game. (Aside from the whole heir thing, the fluids that are exchanged and spilled during sexual encounters are critical components of some potions, and the game provides a variety of methods for collecting these substances.) Sex is really a sort of minigame in Socio, and before you utter the words 'Hot Coffee,' understand that this is no mere rhythm exercise. It's actually so complex a process that I'll only touch on a few details here."

Gamespot reports that the company behind the Gizmondo handheld console, Tiger, is looking at some tough financial numbers. Mostly, it seems, brought on by poor sales of the console. From the article: "Gizmondo Europe subsidiary has experienced severe financial pressures from various vendors as its cash flow has been unable to service the requirements. This has in part been aggravated by a lack of investor funding. The company has been actively negotiating for further funds from debt and equity sources to assist the cash flow needs of Gizmondo Europe but there can be no assurances that this will be achieved."

jmke writes "Futuremark has released their latest graphics card evaluation software. The 2006 version features all the latest technologies and will stress even the most expensive video cards. From the announcement: 'Continuing forward in the development of advanced game performance benchmarks, Futuremark announced today the release and immediate availability of 3DMark06. A more comprehensive and unrestricted benchmark than previous versions, 3DMark06 includes an array of 3D graphics, CPU and 3D feature tests for overall performance measurement of current and future PC gaming systems.' Futuremark is offering a free download of the software with limited capability while offering an advanced edition for a price. PC Perspectives also has a nice overview of some of the features available."

Gamasutra reports on the not-terribly-surprising news that PC game sales were down in 2005. From the article: "Also doing excellently was EA's The Sims 2 and its two associated expansions, and The Sims franchise collectively took up four of the top ten spots. The rest of the top ten is made up of a mixture of the mass-market accessible games, such as Roller Coaster Tycoon 3, with the more 'hardcore' shooter and MMO titles such as Guild Wars and Battlefield 2."

1up reports that the amazingly versatile Character creator that City of Heroes players have enjoyed since launch is now available for free to download. You can't really do anything with the characters you create, of course, but it's still pretty cool. It's officially being released for the Korean launch of the game. From the article: "Not only does it include all of the game's hundreds of costume options, but auras and capes are available for screwing around with from the start, which is spiff if you want to see how they're going to look on your guy before going to all the trouble of getting him to level 30."

AFK Gamer reports live from in front of the Ahn'Qiraj gate on the Medivh server in World of Warcraft. Folks on that server became the first in the game to complete the grueling quest to supply the Alliance and Horde with supplies. The supplies (food, bandages, and ore) are slated to be used in the upcoming war with the insect-monsters of the Silithus Zone. Now that the quest is complete, it will be almost five days as the supplies make their way to the front lines. At that point, the Gate of Ahn'Qiraj will open and two new dungeons will become available to the community. Players from all servers have been flocking to Medivh to witness the event, which has prompted a response from Blizzard. From Foton's report: "We had a difficult decision when players started gravitating towards Medivh. In the end, we had to make a choice between: 1) Letting everyone show up in Ahn'Qiraj until the realm crashed, thus allowing no one to experience the event whatsoever; or 2) Remove the low level players from the area, thus allowing the players who worked for the event -- the true residents and community of the realm -- to enjoy it." As a result of yesterday's events, they've disallowed new characters on the Medivh server.

Gamespot reports that the Nintendo Revolution will be in stores by Thanksgiving. From the article: "In an interview featured in today's edition of Japanese newspaper Sankei Shinbun, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata stated, 'We can't disclose the Revolution's release period yet, but we have no plans to miss out on the year-end sales battle. As for North America, we need to release it by Thanksgiving, or otherwise we won't receive support from the retail industry. So the Revolution will be released prior to that period.'" Update: 01/18 19:15 GMT by Z : There's also word that there will be an exclusive Resident Evil title for the console, utilizing the unique control system.

Gamasutra reports on a list of first-party titles that will see launch with the PlayStation 3. From the article: "The specifically listed games are Polyphony Digital's latest Gran Turismo iteration, Genji 2, presumably a sequel to Yoshiki Okamoto's samurai action title for the PlayStation 2, Everybody's Golf 5, the latest in Camelot's popular cartoon golf series, and titles named Monster Carnival, Angel Rings and The Eye Of Judgment. No other information is currently available on the games."

eToyChest is reporting on a response that Running With Scissors (the makers of the ultraviolent game Postal) has released in response to Jack Thompson's latest rantings. From the article: "There are no missions based on slaughtering innocent bystanders. You play in a detailed environment and are given simple tasks such as buying milk and cashing a paycheck. As in the real world, the player may find weapons in that environment if they seek them. And, just as in the real world, the choice of what to do with those weapons is yours. Misuse results in severe consequences, in Postal you're always held accountable. In our opinion that makes Postal 2 the most politically correct game ever made."

MMORPG.com has announced the winners of its 2005 Readers Choice Awards. Interesting to mention, because the MMORPG.com users have a unique outlook on the genre. Eve Online leads the 'Favorite Game' category, and Saga of Ryzom nets the 'Best Story' prize. From the site: "Ryzom is set in a science-fiction universe and in addition to its story, it also boasts crisp graphics and a loyal and supportive community. The game also boasts PvP and is on the verge of a revolutionary expansion called 'The Ryzom Ring'. In this expansion, players will be able to take story-telling to the next level as they introduce player-created content tools. The original category included Horizons instead of Asheron's Call and managed to produced a dead split between the top four games (22% each). Oddly enough, this didn't carry over into the finals, where The Saga of Ryzom emerged on top with 31% of the votes. City of Heroes / Villains grabbed 19% for second place. They were followed by Anarchy Online at 18%, Asheron's Call at 15% and Star Wars Galaxies at 14%."

Now that there are no new shows planned for the immediate future, you're going to need something besides Wrath of Khan and SpikeTV reruns to satisfy your Trek fix. Luckily, Gamespot reports that there is a Star Trek real-time strategy game in the works. From the article: "Late this past Friday, Lang returned to the STGU board to confirm a new Star Trek game was indeed the works--although he avoided details. He dodged the subject of the game's title but appeared to confirm the release date mentioned in the forums. 'Like I said before, traditional ST single player/multi player games have returned--and before STO ships,' Lang said, referring to Star Trek Online's tentative early 2007 launch window."