helfire57 wrote to mention a NYT story covering the purchase of cell-phone game developer Jamdat by EA. From the article: "The purchase, the largest ever by Electronic Arts, signifies an aggressive move into the relatively new mobile-game business. Some analysts say the category will boom as handsets become more sophisticated and allow for more elaborate graphics and intricate games, and as consumers become more comfortable with the mobile device as an entertainment platform." We just recently reported on the small developer's advantage in this area of the industry, so no surprise here at EA's move.

rAiNsT0rm writes "The BBC has a great story covering the looming Xbox 360 launch in Japan tomorrow." Next Generation is reporting that, while there are no firm numbers yet, the 360 likely sold about 320,000 units in its first week on the retail shelf. From the BBC article: "Pre-orders on the internet look solid, but I don't think the retail stores will sell out of Xbox 360s in the first day ... Serious game fans will likely rush to buy them, but I think most people are going to wait and see."

surefooted1 writes "Xbox-scene.com has a brief story on the first Xbox 360 game dump here. A full dump of the game 'Condemed' has been released. From the article: 'The PI group released Xbox 360 game ISOs today. Note that downloading such releases is illegal and you can't do anything with them yet (they will not boot on your Xbox 360). You can find the NFO of one of their releases here. They also released an open-source tool to extract these releases (basicly it's an 'x360-ISO extractor') so you can check out the files in the image. It will NOT work on original discs as a PC DVD-ROM can't read those.'"

Gamers with Jobs has an interesting look at what it's like to indoctrinate the next generation of gamer. From the article: "Now, as I stumble through my fourth decade on this spinning marble in space, it is my great privilege to pass this obsession on to my own son. It is something of a shock to me that my years of gaming can be measured reasonably in terms of percentage of a century. I shudder to think how many productive hours and how much money I have sacrificed to my passion. Instead of dwelling on that point, I pretend that the question doesn't even exist, in much the same way that I occasionally like to pretend the mortgage doesn't exist when a desired game finds its way onto store shelves. And now, already, my own son has begun his own epic sacrifice to the pastime, so that someday he too can struggle in the decision between food and maintaining his subscription to World of Warcraft."

Gamasutra has a piece looking at Incorporating Marketing into Game Development, how business demands can shape games. From the article: "As a game designer, it's easy to forget about improving the experience for the target market in favor of making a 'better' game for yourself. Small developers like Reflexive usually don't have this luxury, and in countless ways, the increased focus on the consumer streamlines the game design process. This focus can scale to larger teams as well: we argue that every element of commercial game design should be prefaced with the phrase 'With Respect to the Target Market.'"

GameDailyBiz reports that as the Holiday season moves on Castlevania is driving DS sales to new heights. From the article: "I think what makes the games so amazing is their simplicity. The little enhancements go a long way (for example the on-screen map which is something that fans of the series have been longing for). The development team does an amazing job at taking traditional gaming elements and discovering ways to evolve them with each different version. With the DS, we were able to deliver a familiar style of gameplay with incredible graphics, sound, and for the first time interactivity thanks to the touch screen ... We can't just make the same game over and over again." Dawn of Sorrow is a dang good game.

Next Generation reports on another study that finds a link between videogames and violent tendencies. From the article: "The men were also invited to play simple games against opponents in other rooms. Winners were allowed to send an unpleasant, loud blast to their defeated opponents. Game players were more likely to make their foes suffer than non-game players. It may be worth noting that very similar studies have produced the opposite conclusion. In one such study, violent-game players and non-gamers each issued noise blasts at people. In that study, the gamers administered the lowest intensity noise blasts."

Matt writes "In a recent interview Steve Ballmer has been quoted as saying that the shortages everyone is experiencing are simply down to lack of chips because of low yields - they even considered delaying the launch because of it. In the end they decided to push on and just try and get as many consoles out there as possible." From the article: "Repeating the company's official line on the shortage crisis, which is now threatening to entirely undo Microsoft's attempts to win the next generation war, Ballmer said, 'We are making more. All stores are getting new units each week. Can we make as many as people want? The answer is no, but not because we don't want to.'"

An anonymous reader writes "Sometimes we know more than we think we know. An about.com article asks if we might already know what happens in The Twilight Princess. If we do, it's not going to be a happy ending. Based primarily on the introduction to The Wind Waker, and the fact that we now know Twilight Princess takes place between Wind Waker and Ocarina of Time, it makes some pretty interesting claims about Link's future. Is Link about to die?" Miyamoto may have been hinting about this earlier this year.

Despite suggestions that the Revolution will not be as powerful as the other next-gen systems, 1up is reporting the system will be easy to port games to. From the article: "It's easy to see Nintendo's logic, though. Even though Revolution won't have the same memory bandwidth as Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, the familiarity with current generation development and tools that Revolution takes advantage of means most companies shouldn't have much trouble working Revolution into the mix."

The International Herald Tribune, of all places, has an in-depth look at gold farming in China. From the article: "The people working in this clandestine locale are called 'gold farmers,' for every day, in 12-hour shifts, they are killing monsters and harvesting 'gold coins' and other virtual goods they can then sell to other online gamers. From Seoul to San Francisco, gamers who lack the hours or patience to work their way up to the higher levels of gamedom are hiring young Chinese to play the early rounds for them."

Gamespot is reporting that Capcom is aiming for a launch on the PS3 and 360 at the same time, for the next chapter in the Resident Evil series. From the article: "In an interview published in Xbox360ism (a special edition of Dorimaga), Capcom Research & Development division chief Keiji Inafune said he expects Resident Evil 5 to be released simultaneously on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 if possible. 'We want to grow the Resident Evil series into a multi-platform franchise, so we hope to release it simultaneously [on the two next-generation consoles],' Inafune told Xbox360ism. 'But since we don't know the launch period for the PS3 yet, so it's hard to say [if we can].'"

Eurogamer reports that at 200,000 users, Nintendo considers the WFC a success. From the article: "Nintendo has announced that more than 200,000 unique visitors have made use of its new Wi-Fi Connection service since last month's launch, logging nearly 3 million connections around the globe. Wi-Fi Connection allows Nintendo DS owners to play titles such as Mario Kart DS and Tony Hawk DS online, via either Wi-Fi hotspot, wireless router or a special USB dongle."

Gamasutra reports that the Child's Play charity drive has already hit $200,000 this year, with the big-ticket auction still to come on the 13th. Donations will be accepted through December 20th. From the article: "The donation so far includes 90 GameCubes, 95 PlayStation 2s, 79 Nintendo DSes, 153 Game Boy Advances of various types, 30 Xboxes, 26 LeapPads, 30 MP3 players, and 49 DVDs, on top of countless software, videos, and other toys. 'Thank you for all the toys!' said Meghan D. Kelly, Director of the Child Life Program at The Children's Hospital in New York. 'Child's Play Charity is like a dream come true!'"

1up is running an article written by the ever amusing SeanBaby, wherein he write about some of the worst games from the worst year in gaming. The year was 1984, and the U.S. videogaming industry was close to non-existence. What was released, then, left a lot to be desired. From the article: "Snacks N' Jackson - In this game, you play the part of a clown's head attached to a 4-foot tentacle neck. Your nose detaches itself from your face, and it's the rest of your clown face's job to keep it from bouncing through the window behind you. Also, you have to tentacle your head around to eat levitating breakfast foods. The strange name Snacks N' Jackson was a last-minute replacement of the original title, What Hitler Sees When He Closes His Eyes."

drScott2 writes "During the launch of the Xbox 360, some Best Buy stores created bundles of Xbox 360s and accessories, and would not sell the Xbox by itself. Thus, if you wanted to buy an Xbox 360 you had to buy the accessories too. The president of Best Buy has officially offered an apology. From the Brian Dunn's letter: 'I'm writing to apologize. While all of us at Best Buy were thrilled to be part of the recent launch of Microsoft's Xbox 360 video game system - one of the most anticipated events in the history of electronic gaming - the launch did not go as we had hoped.'"

Via GameSetWatch, an interview with Adam Foster. The creator of the Minerva Half-Life 2 mod talks about the reasons he's putting time and energy into a fan-made labour of love. From the article: "Single-player mapping ...does have quite a tradition, and sadly it often seems to be looked down upon by many gamers. It's somehow regarded as 'easy,' with multiplayer maps being the only true form of expression. I suppose the countless fullbright cubes packed with zombies must put off a lot of people, as do the endless bare BSPs which need to be run from the game console..."

hebertrich writes to tell us that IBM DeveloperWorks has an interesting article about how to modify a PlayStation LCD for use as a touch screen panel for your Linux box. From the article: "Historically, the lack of friendly interfaces has been an obstacle to making Linux® a commercially viable product for end users, but with available GUIs, that's yesterday's news. What's the next step in creating an easy-to-use Linux-based product for consumers? Imagine adding a user-oriented LCD touchscreen. A touchscreen facade can make back-end Linux applications very usable in such devices as custom digital media centers (either in the home or in automobiles), DVRs and PVRs, and even control interfaces for household robots."

TheStreet.com is reporting that the 360 has captured the hype machine for this Christmas season. The PSP, meanwhile, is still struggling for mindshare compared to Nintendo's offerings. From the article: "Sony launched the PSP in the U.S. to great acclaim earlier this year and sold more than half a million units in the first two days. The device marked the first effort by Sony, the leader in the console game industry for the last 10 years with its PlayStation and PlayStation 2 systems, to enter the portable game market, which has been dominated by Nintendo ... Right now, the PSP's threat to Nintendo -- much less to Apple -- remains hypothetical. Sales of the PSP are disappointing thus far, particularly this holiday season. Through the end of October, Sony had sold just 1.6 million of the devices after the first days' sales flurry."

Via 1up.com, an interview with Halo movie Producer Peter Jackson about his upcoming King Kong feature and the film adaptation of the Bungie game. As of yet, he has not selected a Director. From the article: "Question: You're still producing Halo? Jackson: Yeah. Question: What attracted you to Halo? Jackson: I'm a fan of the game. Question: But video game movies suck. Jackson: They do. Question: So what will be different? Jackson: Hopefully it won't suck. "