Via GameSetWatch, a story on the site The New Gamer looking into the poor storytelling choices made by Gun. From the article: "I'm sure you get the general picture. From varmit-hunting with Ned to being ambushed by Indians the absolute moment you exit the town boundaries, Gun is a halting, stop/start experience. There's no build-up, no tension, no excitement, just scenes where you're shooting and scenes where you're on the cusp of being shot at. Sure, you can take your own downtime by running aimlessly around the sparsely populated town or saddle on up to a Wanted poster for an unfulfilling side mission but that's devoid of drama and unsatisfying. Instead of the majesty of the epic Western, we get the cheap shoot 'em up."

Gamespot reports on the release of yet another Uwe Boll film, one that was not pre-screened to film critics. You just know that means quality. From the article: "While Boll's work is often decried by gamers and critics alike, there are preliminary signs of improvement on the part of the oft-maligned director. According to the Internet Movie Database's Bottom 100 ranking system, BloodRayne is only the 42nd worst movie ever made as of press time. Boll's previous game-to-film efforts, Alone in the Dark and House of the Dead, rank as the 38th and 22nd worst movies ever, respectively."

1up.com has a feature about three games with potential that never made it onto store shelves. From the article: "We look back at three games that died so young they never even made it out: They were cancelled before they could land on store shelves. Did gamers lose out on a great experience, or was it a lucky break for their unsuspecting wallets?" I played Thrill Kill for about five minutes at the 1998 GenCon, because I was working a booth two booths down. It was umm... bad. Games that don't make it to market, probably shouldn't.

heartless_ writes "Gamergod.com has an interview with Steve Jackson, the man behind the table-top company of the same name. SJ Games publishes, among other things, GURPS, Munchkin, Frag, Chez Geek, and Pyramid Magazine. The interview goes into Steve's opinions on the MMOG market, as well as possible involvement in the MMORPG market with his company." From the article: "GG: Does the idea of a 3D MMORPG strike you as a project you want to be a part of, and if so, in what capacity do you see yourself? SJ: (a) Heck, yes. (b)Top-end design and community work / play-test, until I learn the tools to get involved with level design. GG: Given that your claim to fame has been open ended systems, what genre of MMORPG would you most likely use to break into the industry? SJ: To nobody's surprise, I'd like it to be as open-ended as the theme allows. I think that will help get, and REALLY help keep, players."

Via GameSetWatch, an article by one of the editors of GamePro positing that the U.S. arcade is now a dead thing. By positing, I really mean ranting. From the article: "Americans play videogames for one reason and for one reason only, to kick ass. It doesn't matter if you're crushing skulls in the fighting arena or on the football field. Being a virtual DJ, riding a horse (not into battle), and playing other violence-free games is not enough to draw people into arcades. Gaming isn't about having family-friendly fun it's about indulging in man's carnal desires. And then Konami drove the nail through the heart of coin operated gaming... The abomination of videogaming known as DDR served as an outlet for wannabe Travoltas to flail around wildly and quickly made the house of tank simulators and street fighting a haven for lamos. "

Julian Dibbell has a piece on the LegalAffairs site exploring the possibility that MMOG transactions could be taxed. From the article: "June 2003. I set myself the following challenge, posting it on my web log for the world to see: 'On April 15, 2004, I will truthfully report to the IRS that my primary source of income is the sale of imaginary goods--and that I earn more from it, on a monthly basis, than I have ever earned as a professional writer.' In the course of this project, I made a total of $11,000 selling on eBay the items I won playing a game called Ultima Online, $3,900 of which was in the final, most profitable month. I reported my profit to the IRS, and I paid the requisite taxes. But after I did so, a troublesome set of questions continued to nag at me--for which even IRS publication 525, entitled 'Taxable and Nontaxable Income,' couldn't provide answers."

Joe Markert writes "Gamehelper.com's Mike 'Vansau' Thompson takes a look at integrity and graft in the world of gaming journalism in his recent article, appropriately titled: Integrity: The Craft of the Graft From the article, '...it's easy to play the card of honesty, objectivity, and moral nobility when you have the financial backing of a major publisher like Ziff Davis or IDG. Without that support, though, the thought of advertisers threatening to take their business elsewhere creates valid concern.'" A follow up to Dan Hsu's editorial about pay-for-play in game reviews.

Gamasutra has a feature looking at the casual game Bonnie's Bookstore, and its journey from concept to completion. From the article: "To my surprise, even with the unconventional art-style, the StoryBook concept was getting great responses from people I showed it to. However, the method by which the storybook concept was produced, hand-painted watercolor, would not scale up enough to allow me to make my targeted 40 backgrounds in a targeted 2-3 month window (we ended up with 50 backgrounds, plus other art, in a 4.5 month window). So I commissioned another artist who had contacted me, Von Caberte, to try his hand at the storybook style, using a somewhat different technique."

Gamasutra reports that the virtual world Second Life is boasting 100,000 users. They've had a large influx of users since they opened the games for free to non-property owners. From the article: "Statistics released by the creators say that the game's inhabitants hail from 95 countries in all 7 continents (apparently including Antarctica). Users spend an average of 4 hours per day playing the game, which has no specific completable goal, but places importance on in-game item and building creation by Second Life citizens."

Gamespot is reporting that the U.S. Final Fantasy XI Xbox 360 Beta has begun. You're going to have to get ahold of a Beta disc from the Official Xbox magazine's February issue, and then sign up at the PlayOnline site. From the article: "When the game goes live in May, Xbox 360 players will be able to rub elbows and swap healing potions with their PlayStation 2 and PC counterparts. But for the duration of the beta test, Xbox 360 users will be kept on their own servers. They will be able to interact with beta testers from Europe and Japan, however. While Square Enix has issued a list of known issues with the beta game, support for USB keyboards and mice has been included."

Ant writes "4 Color Rebellion has a transcript of a segment included with its recent Podcast. The piece concerns the launch of the Xbox 360 in Japan, a launch that's amounting to one of the weakest in Japanese gaming history. The authors look into the reasons behind the failure, and try to dissuade gamers from some poorly thought-out rationalizations for the console's lack of success." From the article: "McDonalds knew that some of its tastes would not appeal to the Japanese so they changed their menus. Along with the standard Big Macs and fries they also have Teriyaki burgers, fried shrimp burgers, and other things for the Japanese pallet. They didn't force the American tastes on the Japanese and thus, they thrived. Now look at the Japanese Xbox 360 launch lineup. First person Shooters, sports and car games. Games that sell really well in America but other than the car games are not to the Japanese taste. Had they launched with RPGs, simulation games, party games, gambling games and fighters, they might have done a whole lot better. McDonalds changed their company for the Japanese taste. Microsoft tried to change the Japanese taste for their company."

The Guardian has an editorial bemoaning the fact that, while the next-gen consoles all seem to have a lot of promise, so far the much-anticipated titles of 2006 are sequels. Most of those are slated for current-gen systems, too. From the article: "However, those hoping for a new game type to take us into the high-definition era may be disappointed. The most anticipated titles of this year are franchise old-timers - Final Fantasy XII on PS2; Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess on GameCube; Metal Gear Solid 4 and Vision Gran Turismo on PS3; and Tomb Raider Legend on practically everything. Publishers are still relying on games that have been around for more than a decade. Yawn."

Gamespot reports that, while CES has had loads of interesting news to give up about many technological trends, the next next-gen console was suprisingly quiet at the event. For the most part the Sony Keynote talked high definition this and 'new media' that. From the article: "However, it was only when Stringer whipped out a PSP that gamers' ears perked up. Stringer used the handheld to show off LocationFree, Sony's Internet-enabled video system, which streams video to multiple TVs, PCs, or PSPs wirelessly or over the Web. To demonstrate, Stringer showed a live East Coast TV broadcast being played onto the PSP via a nearby Wi-Fi hotspot."

The monthly roving blog-feature The Carnival of Gamers has pulled into station at the 'Kill Ten Rats' blog. This month offers up features about such diverse topics as MMOG holiday events, the first year of the DS, and the ambiguous morality of Shadow of the Colossus. From the latter article: "I absolutely loved Shadow, but to want more colossi? I actually made it all the way to the last colossus. The killing has to stop somewhere, people. If the price of love is my soul, I would gladly pay it. But was it love I was fighting for, or my own selfish desires I was commiting murder for? It took far too long, but I came to realize it was the latter. And that's not something I was willing to do any longer. Once I laid eyes on the final colossus, I just sat the controller down. And I turned the game off. I still haven't beaten that colossus and I don't plan to." Slashdot Games is playing host to the carnival next month. Look for the call for submissions in a week or two.

Making game logos is an art form, and Hamagami/Carroll is behind many of the most recognizable ones on the shelf today. Gamasutra takes a look at what it takes to craft iconic imagery, talking to company co-founder Justin Carroll. From the article: "Typically, we're brought in fairly early in the process, as soon as they start building marketing plans, somewhere about halfway through, we're brought in and we start working on the packaging. Depending on the company we're working with, we're also working on the in-store display, we're working on sell sheets, materials for E3, and different parts of the brand identity."

Gamasutra reports on Philips' newest gaming gadget, the Entertaible. A touch-sensitive surface allows for unique gaming ideas to be implemented. From the article: "Currently a working concept, Entertaible comprises a 30-inch horizontal LCD, sophisticated touch screen-based multi-object position detection, and all supporting control electronics, and, according to the firm, '...allows the players to engage in a new class of electronic game which combines the features of computer gaming, such as dynamic playing fields and gaming levels, with the social interaction and tangible playing pieces, such as pawns and dies, of traditional board games.'"

JorgeDeLaCancha writes "Microsoft has recently confirmed plans to bring an external HD-DVD drive to the Xbox 360. This has been previously speculated numerous times, with Bill Gates himself stating 'future versions of Xbox 360 will incorporate an additional capacity of an HD-DVD player.' Do consumers even want another format war?"

GamePolitics has the unfortunate task of reporting that an accused child molester evidently found his victim via Xbox Live. From the piece: "Watts made contact with the boy on Xbox Live in October or November. Their contacts ultimately included e-mails and pornographic videos sent by Watts. The boy eventually gave the suspect his contact information, leading to a meeting in a Santa Rosa park where the alleged molestation took place. After learning of the complaint, investigators searched Watts' home, seizing his Xbox and a laptop PC, along with a variety of cameras. Watts is currently free on bail."

Gamespot has the news that independent developer of the MMOG 'Twilight War' Smiling Gator has unfortunately closed up shop. Funding was the primary reason for their closure. From the article: "Twilight War, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game using the Source engine (first featured in Half-Life 2), would have been Smiling Gator's first game. The company had billed Twilight War as 'an MMORPG with an integrated first-person-shooter-style combat system where thousands of online players come together in an expansive and immersive three-dimensional world.'" The Twilight War HQ site has information on the game for those interesting in what might have been.

Denver_80203 writes "Just when you thought Lego Mindstorms was grinding its last gear, comes the announcement of Lego Mindstorms NXT Robotics Toolset, with sleek servo motors, an ultrasonic sensor which allows robots to 'see' by responding to movement, a sound sensor which enables robots to react to sound commands (including sound pattern and tone recognition) improved touch and light sensors, and a and a programmable brick with at least 7 or 8 RJ11 type jacks. Robot fun! Out in August 2006, and in true Lego style will cost $249." Wired has a preview of the cover story about the new kit on their site.