GamesIndustry.biz has the news that EA has signed an exclusive deal with the Arena Football League to produce games for that organization. From the article: "The move will see the creation of a new AFL title in the EA Sports line-up, joining other football franchises Madden, NFL Street and NCAA, with the first title due to hit the market before the 2006 AFL season starts in a year's time."

Nrik noted a wired story about too much gaming and how sometimes a few too many hours of gaming can cause your mind to blur some lines. For me it was Tony Hawk- I played so much that I started sizing up curbs for grinding while driving home from work. Katamari Damacy has been a problem too. I'm fairly certain my car is large enough to pick up the railings on the overpass near my house. I'm even more certain that these thoughts are bad.

The EQ site has the details on the just announced new expansion for the original Everquest world, Dragons of Norrath. Aside from the usual new content areas and monsters, the expansion promises to provide some interesting new features for Norrathians of all stripes. From the article: "Featuring new lands with enhanced graphics, bold new storylines, and updated creatures including goblins, drakes and the ominous Frost Giant, EverQuest: Dragons of Norrath is the next great expansion pack for the fantasy saga that is EverQuest. Make ready with new features such as the ability to regenerate your mana/health before a battle, use your potion belt to access your inventory quickly, and quickly swap from Sword and Shield to Great Sword using the bandolier."

Mightydos writes " An interesting article was posted on Blizzard.com today... They say World of Warcraft® has sold through more than 600,000* units to customers in North America, Australia, and New Zealand. The fastest-growing massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) has also shattered all previous concurrency records in North America, achieving over 200,000 simultaneous players during the holiday period. "

GamesIndustry.biz is reporting that a version of the popular Grand Theft Auto series (as well as a version of the Midnight Club 3 game) will be released around the date of the US/EU PSP launch. From the article: "Sony's extremely impressive technology has allowed Rockstar Leeds to do more on a handheld machine than we could have ever imagined ... We are very excited for gamers to experience these two genre-defining franchises in a fashion that could have never before been possible on a portable system."

An anonymous reader writes "In the shadows of launch titles like Super Mario 64 DS, Feel the Magic XY/XX and Wario Ware Touched! is Daigasso! Band Brothers (the working title is Jam with the Band in America). This little gem is a music game similar to a Bemani title. It features over 50 songs with a blend of J-Pop, TV themes and Nintendo melodies. What is hidden inside the title is a full out MIDI composer. You can use the stylus and the touch screen to write your own songs." An aspect I found interesting with this title is that it can use the microphone to sample sounds, which can then be mixed with the composer.

Gaming Horizons is reporting that Sony is working on an application to be used to recieve television broadcasts on laptops and, more interestingly, the PSP console via an internet connection. From the article: "The software will allow you to complete a task called "place-shifting," which is the ability to access content stored from remote locations through high-speed web links."

Voodoo Extreme is reporting that after a delay due to storms, the World of Warcraft EU Beta has begun. From the article: "The first phase of the Final Beta Test will also allow the testing of the World of Warcraft localized server infrastructure under heavy loads. As soon as system stability allows, the second phase of the testing process will begin and more players will be added into the Final Beta Test. We will make every effort to accommodate all requests for beta accounts but there is always the possibility that we will be unable to meet demand, and we therefore strongly encourage motivated players to register an account as quickly as possible once the second phase of the Final Beta Test begins."

An anonymous reader writes "The Corporation recently posted a four-part series asking a few well known MMOG developers their opinions of the past year in the genre. Participants include Richard Garriott, creator of the Ultima series and Tabula Rasa, Walter Yarbrough, Content Producer for Dark Ages of Camelot, Damion Schubert, former Lead Designer for Meridian59, the cancelled UO2, and presently the Lead Designer for Shadowbane, and Raph Koster, former Lead Designer for Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies, and present Creative Director for Sony Online Entertainment."

Shockeye writes "According to Mutable Realms' website, the Wish project has been cancelled after 'careful consideration of all the facts and analyzing all the data which we have gathered from the Wish Beta 2.0 test.' The beta test for the Wish project will close at 6pm EST. According to the message it also seems Mutable Realms will be closing as well. You can view the short message here, and over at f13.net we are discussing the latest casualty to the MMOG scene."

blacklily8 writes "What is the future of free software development for games? Is it possible? Will the games ever equal or surpass their proprietary competitors? Why should we care? After thoroughly researching the free and open source software model, and interviewing both indie and free software game developers, author Matt Barton decided that the future is indeed very bright. Stallman is quoted here saying that game engines should be free, but approves of the notion that graphics, music, and stories could all be separate and treated differently (i.e., "Non-Free.")"

RosethornKB writes "KillerBetties.com has an editorial about the continuing attempts by the legal system to pass laws regulating the sale of video games. From the article: "The latest is one coming out of Illinois. Governor Blagojevich is proposing legislation and his explanation says, among other things: "Parenting is hard work, and the state has a compelling interest in helping parents raise their children to be upstanding men and women." How does passing laws to restrict the sale of violent games and put tight restrictions on the industry's labeling systems help parents raise their children?""

Rumours circulated at CES, according to GamesIndustry.biz, that the successful Bungie franchise Halo will be released on the Gizmondo handheld. From the article: "Industry rumours circulating since before Christmas and enjoying a resurgence at CES suggest that Bungie's massively successful Halo may be on its way to Tiger Telematics' Gizmondo console, joining a number of other Microsoft Game Studios titles already announced for the system."

After the news earlier this week that Mario would be shooting hoops in NBA Street, I decided that Nintendo had reached the end of its tie-in rope with Mario. I was wrong. The newest Dance Dance Revolution title for the Gamecube will be called Dance Dance Revolution with Mario. From the article: "As the title suggests, Dance Dance Revolution with Mario is a new installment in Konami's DDR dancing game series, featuring characters from the Mushroom Kingdom. Details on the game haven't been disclosed yet, but from the released images, DDR with Mario seems to play similarly to DDR, with familiar backdrops featured in the 3D installments of the Super Mario series." Ow.

Pax00 writes "R. Talsorian released Cyberpunk 2013 and 2020 in the 90's, and it quickly became one of the most popular sf roleplaying settings of all time. There has been talk of a new version for years. The new version is almost out and there is a pdf preview from R. Talsorian, along with an interview with Mike Pondsmith on the forthcoming book." From the interview: "Shelf date is February (I hope). What you can expect: Cyberpunk with the gain turned up. Night City is now the largest City in the world. The Net has collapsed, but there are new net things even cooler. Rival groups (including the megacorps) are vying for world control. There are new cybertechnologies that reflect the changes in the genre. New weapons, new tech, new characters, new goals. Netrunners, rockers and solos will still be around, but in multiple forms depending on the altcult."

The Japanese launch of Gran Turismo 4 has been a roaring success, with Gamespot reporting that the game sold one million copies in two days. From the article: "The game's shipment beats the Gran Turismo series' record of 1 million copies in three days, set by Gran Turismo 3 from April 28 to 30, 2001. Overall, the franchise has sold 36 million cumulative copies worldwide since the title was released in 1997." They also have a piece discussing their impressions while testing the japanese version of the game.

Moe Napoli writes "Machinima producer/author Paul Marino recently posted on his blog that he will be attending Sundance later this month (Jan. 26th to be exact) to moderate a panel discussion about the rising artform of machinima (using 3D games like Half-Life 2 for filmmaking purposes). Amongst the panelists will be Red Vs. Blue/The Strangerhood creators Burnie Burns and the Rooster Teeth team (also featured in the Jan. 2005 issue of Wired), who will also present a live demonstration of how they produce their hilarious RvB machinima series. Pretty cool to see Sundance embrace this new form of independent filmmaking and even cooler to see how far it has come since some gamers started making Quake Movies."

An anonymous reader writes "CNN/Money has posted a new Game Over column quoting an industry analyst who suggests the next generation Xbox could cost as much as $400. This is on top of software price increases of as much as $10 per game, which (according to the article) have already been confirmed. Also discussed are backwards compatibility and the lingering question of whether the Next Xbox will have a hard drive."

Johnathon Walls writes "eGenesis, makers of the non-combat, world-building massively multiplayer online (MMO) game "A Tale in the Desert" versions 1 and 2, has signed a deal with Orson Scott Card (author of Ender's game and The Seventh Son) to develop the pre-Civil War American world of "Alvin the Maker" into a new MMO. This is also going to be a non-combat-centered, community-building world. Questions remain as to the amount of interest these non-combat games generate, and concerns about the rapidly dropping population of Tale 2 (a steady decline from 2089 subscribers on Sep 26 to 1582 subscribers on Jan 6) really bring this issue to the forefront."

Gamespot is reporting that Sony Online is going to be adding content to Everquest II in the form of adventure packs, essentially mini-expansions. From the article: "The first part of the adventure pack will come as a free download. All of the game's subscribers will be able to sink their swords into a new zone, fight new enemies, and so on. There will also be some new quests in this area for all players. [...] If players want to continue down this story path, they will have to pay what's been described as a "small fee" to download the rest of the adventure pack's content and continue on." Basically they're going to be following the City of Heroes model, but making players pay for part of it.