Via GamePolitics, a Washington Post article that for once paints gaming as an activity that can bring people together. Apparently you can even learn thing from games. From the article: "I'm sure that not all games are good for you, just as not all movies or newspaper articles improve your intellect or morals. Williams, the professor at the University of Illinois, has studied the impact of computer games on social patterns, and he finds results both good and troubling. But games that teach 11-year-olds about inflation or history can't be all evil, and they may be an improvement on Clue or Monopoly for all I know. Besides, kids clearly enjoy them. That surely ought to count for something."

The Guardian Gamesblog had the chance to pick John Carmack's brain about mobile gaming's first official doom title: The Doom RPG. From the article: "Q: On your blog you talked about getting into Java programming as a means of resetting some assumptions and habits after working on Quake III. So did Doom RPG help? How? A: It wasn't so much the Java aspects as the mobile platform that is the diversion. It has been worthwhile, but I didn't get to go all that far down the detour before my primary responsibilities asserted themselves. I did three major blocks of coding on the project and regular design review meetings, which was all I could spare the time for. The crew at Fountainhead did a great job of following up on the direction and turning my rough project into a polished product."

The Escapist's last issue for the year touches on the currency of Trust in Massively Multiplayer Games. With virtual-world currency gaining ever more value in the real world, in-game scams and lies can be deadly serious. When you give away that Trust, business can boom. From the article: "Their business plan is an ingenious one: Rather than engage in the wars that rage through alliance space, ISS has chosen to take a neutral stance, building a huge player-operated structure known as an 'outpost' that provides repair, refitting and marketing services to all comers. In a star system known simply as KDF-GY, ISS has established a little Switzerland in space, where pilots of rival corps and alliances can dock to do business, sell loot and kit out their battlecruisers for the next engagement. And according to Martin Wiinholt and Shayne Smart, the 30-something players behind Count TaSessine and Serenity Steele, respectively, business is good."

An anonymous reader writes "Those hackers from team PI have released the Xbox 360 experience kiosk demo disc as an ISO. They say this demo contains no media protection and therefore it will run on the Xbox 360 when burned to a DVD-R disc. The disc contains playable demo's on the disk such as Call of Duty 2, which could also be hackable, as PI speculates."

heartless_ writes "GamerGod.com has an interesting look into how MTV has shifted to provide essential gaming television in a way that G4TV never was and never will be able to. From the article: 'As G4TV now begins to fall off the gaming-centered line up and into a dull Spike TV rip-off, it is apparent that gamers would rather play games than watch TV shows about gaming. This doesn't mean all the shows on G4TV were horrible, but none of them can be considered any sort of success." I would disagree. X-Play, and Icons are both shows worth watching, but on a channel that at one point was 'for gamers', only two decent shows is pretty pathetic.

Holidays are always interesting times of the year in MMOGs, as development teams gear up for live events that change the face of the typical worlds we play in. Everquest 2's Holiday is in full swing, with the Frostfell event. Aggro me has a review for the curious. Planetside is featuring Holiday headgear, and Ultima Online offers up goodie packs with trees and presents. Azeroth's Feast of the Winter Veil has snowballs, lost reindeer, and once again has players selling cookies for outrageous prices on the Auction House. Ahh...the holiday spirit. City of Heroes/City of Villains is going all out this year (possibly to make up for the lack of a Halloween event this year). Heroes and Villains both have their own version of the event, with a mysterious Gamester entering the arena for some general holiday mischief. Finally, Final Fantasy XI not only has the Traditional Starlight Celebration, thanks to the Moogles, but just had a massive patch that's (as always) causing some stir in the player community. Happy New Year to all, be you Carebears, Gankers, or Forum Trolls! Update: 12/27 20:31 GMT by Z : Some users pointed out that I neglected to mention Red Moon Rising, Eve's new expansion, and the Guild Wars Holiday event. I promise, folks, it has nothing to do with malice. Some game events just catch my eye more readily than others, so thanks for keeping things Holiday cheery!

TekkenLaw writes "Directions on Microsoft, a site which claims to be 'the only independent organization in the world devoted exclusively to tracking Microsoft', has published a list of 10 challenges for 2006 for Microsoft as a company. Top strategic issues in all areas of operation from OS to gaming are covered." From the article: "Windows Vista could offer large organizations improvements in software development, security, reliability, systems management, and user interface. However, public demonstrations have been full of cool graphics effects and consumer features that probably turn off more IT staff than they attract, and sales of Windows upgrade rights to corporations have been disappointing. In 2006, Microsoft has to settle on a feature set for Vista that appeals to enterprises, explain clearly what that feature set is, and reveal what PC hardware and other infrastructure corporations require to reap the benefits." Actually presented in a fairly respectful way, it's interesting to see the overall picture we've reported on for the past year condensed down into one page.

dada21 writes "SFGate is reporting that a federal judge recently blocked a new California law that would have banned the sale of violent video games to minors. From the article: 'Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had signed the bill by Assemblyman Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, to ban the sale or rental of especially violent video games to children under 18 years old unless there is parental approval. The law was to take effect Jan. 1.'"

It's Christmas Eve, and you need something to read while you're avoiding your relatives. We understand. Howabout several looks at the year in Gaming? The big sites have actual awards, with Gamespot and IGN both offering up decisions that are sure to spark dinner table discussion. Next Generation doesn't hand out awards, but it does have an exhaustive set of lists covering all aspects of the year. We've previously discussed their Top 30 Games of the Year, but today they have over half a dozen articles dedicated to the year in gaming. The Guardian Gamesblog has staff pics for best of the year. World of Warcraft certainly is on a lot of 2005 lists for a game released in 2004. Finally, 1up.com staffer Jared Rea probably has the most interesting take on the year. His traditional list headlines Guitar Hero, but he also has a special list, with ermm...special awards. That might make you angry. From that list: "The Sin and Punishment Award - Named after the hideous and boring N64 shooter from Treasure, the Sin and Punishment award is reserved for the the title which claimed the hearts of 'hardcore' fanboys around the world, despite the game in fact, being garbage or quite frankly, nothing special. Previous winners of this award include Ikaruga and Katamari Damacy." That award goes to Shadow of the Colossus. Which, sorry Jared, did actually rock.

Vistaer writes "After over five years in development, Team Lazarus has finally released their full remake of the classic 80's RPG "Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny". This remake is built as a total conversion for Dungeon Siege, and not only does it retain the original story, characters, and setting of Ultima V, but also adds many new systems and improvements to the Dungeon Siege engine including branching dialogues, day/night cycles, portraits for every character in the game and much much more. Weighing in at just over 500MB, this game could prove to be a delight to many CRPG fans."

Joystiq reports that, from the makers of Darwinia and Uplink comes DEFCON, what appears to be a global nuclear war strategy title. Looks positively Wargames-tastic. From the EvilAvatar post they reference: "The new game, titled DEFCON, is a multiplayer strategy which pitches two players against one another in a game of Global Thermonuclear War. In DEFCON a player must manage their launch silos in an attempt to defend their major cities against nuclear attack while simultaneously launching their own attacks against the other player."

Next Generation continues its end-of-year celebration with a treatise on the 30 finest games of the year. From the article: "Some may remember 2005 as a year of financial shortfalls, rising game production costs, depleted Xbox 360 stock, political soap-boxing, or over-exertion in Korean Internet cafes. Forget all that stuff for now. 2005 wasn't a year to be remembered for one great gaming breakthrough or innovation, but it did produce some remarkable products. It was a year marked with some of the best games of the fading generation. "

Gamespot reports that Blizzard has banned 18,000 accounts from their popular World of Warcraft MMOG. From official site: " A majority of these accounts were found to be using third-party programs to farm gold and items. Such actions can severely impact the economy of a realm and the overall game enjoyment for all players. We will continue to actively monitor all World of Warcraft realms in order to protect the service and its players from the negative effects of cheating. Please note that selling World of Warcraft content, such as gold, items, and characters, can result in the permanent removal of the involved accounts from World of Warcraft. "

Gamespot has a piece up discussing the relative dangers of innovation for large developers. Should an EA be more willing to innovate than, say, The Behemoth? From the article: "We want to make sure that all of the franchise businesses have the right level of innovation inside them and I think that we have been guilty of not doing that historically in certain areas of the business ... So a focus for us right now is, how do we get new, innovative features that take the existing franchises and move them forward in interesting ways? And then I think what you'll see is a couple of--you know a couple might be the wrong term--but some very focused bets at doing really innovative and different things.'" The second part in a two-part series, with part one still available.

MSNBC has a look back at the year, with 12 Days of Gaming, some of the finest moments of the year. From the article: "Six figure winnings - Pro gamer Jonathan Wendel, aka Fatal1ty, racked up over $231,000 fragging the heck out of fellow gamers in the 10-stop, nine country 2005 Cyberathlete Professional League World Tour. The gaming world hyped the tour as proof that pro gaming is on its way to being recognized as a pro sport. I'll believe it when I stop seeing so many pudgy male groupies. "

GamePolitics is reporting on more reactions to the injunction of the CA games bill. From the article: "This is just the first step in what is certain to be a lengthy legal proceeding. Once the state is able to present evidence in the case, the courts will have the opportunity to understand why the governor and Legislature believe the state has a compelling interest in protecting children from potential harm from exposure to extremely violent video games." The injunction just happened yesterday, so there are still a lot of fresh emotions here. More details on the stoppage at the BBC.

Eurogamer reports that Microsoft is finally beginning to get some more 360 consoles into the retail channel. From the article: "Xbox does not announce details of shipments, but I can tell you that we're on track to meet our 90 day forecast of 2.75 to 3.0 million units ..." Despite that level of success, Microsoft is still disappointed with production levels and sales.

Gamasutra reports that a Judge has stopped the implementation of the CA Violent Game Bill in its tracks. The Judge in the case cites numerous rulings finding that games and violence are not categorically linked. From the article: "As a direct result of the suit filed by the ESA and VSDA in October regarding the AB1179 law, Judge Whyte wrote that 'games are protected by the First Amendment and that plaintiffs are likely to prevail in their argument that the Act violates the First Amendment.' This is the third initially successful ESA court challenge in recent weeks, following similar events in Illinois earlier in December and another preliminary blocking in Michigan in early November."

Gamasutra's weekly question to the industry taps the pulse of designers and developers on the importance of HD in gaming. From the article: " Absolutely. After seeing a game like Oblivion in HD, I think most gamers will never look back. That's going to affect the amount of time and money that gets put into top-shelf games. It's certainly going to increase the market for texture designers. -Morgan LaVigne, Classroom, Inc "

omega9 writes "You're not reading it wrong. From an artice posted as Joystiq, "Jack Thompson has purchased shares in Take-Two interactive - otherwise known as the publisher behind the Grand Theft Auto series of games. So has JT suddenly become a financial supporter of the company he's long campaigned against? Not a chance. JT has purchased stock in the company in order that he might attend Take-Two's shareholder meetings and face up to the company's CEO, Paul Eibeler.""