We are just a day away the Zombie Walk in Seattle's Fremont district on Friday July 3rd. I am brushing up on my zombie makeup tips and pursuing WikiHow : How to Look Like a Zombie. I can't wait. Oh yeah. Real Zombies take the bus. Since this event is sponsored by Xbox 360 I want every single Microsoftie in the greater Seattle area there dressed in their Zombie best. WE ARE TALKING ABOUT A ZOMBIE WORLD RECORD HERE!

Here is a shot of me from a Halloween of past.

Here is one of the organizers of the event with all the latest 411.

Hey this is Eric the Zombie Bum one of the organizers to the zombie walk. We are really excited for this mass gathering, we hope to spread the zombie love to the town of fremont that has been so good to us for the past walks.
check out our blog: http://cleozombie.livejournal.com/
Here is some updated information


WHEN IT STARTS: 
Doors OPEN 6 PM at Cinema lot at Fremont studios ( N 35 and Phinney Ave N. 98103)
Registration for Guinness Record begins and continues for as long as it takes. 
Registration requests your consideration a $5 donation to help support substantial the costs of production, equip. rentals, police services and Guinness fees.
TIPS: Dress warm, it cools down at dark. Hydrate. Be safe walking. Bring a can of food for the food bank; fight hunger.

HOW TO WALK: SAFETY AND FUN
RULE
1. Parking Strategy— Recommend walking IN from Fremont's outlying areas where parking is easy and free... like zombies coming out of the woodwork, all Walking to the Cinema.

2. Register drop chairs chairs, claim your movie space, and return to saturate Fremont with zombie masses.

3. WALKS 
Freestyle in small custers to Hangout (Zombie density grows and grows.. in bars, on sidewalks, at lenin, at plazas, everywhere,


Group Walk at 7PM ish
Movie goers return by 9:30 ( we have room for about 2500 max)


WHATS GOING ON:
Post-Apocalyptic Photo Booth by Night Zero 
Makeover tables for the undressed undead ( free/donation)
Mark Rainier author /Times writer hosts
SG Brown author Breather has signing and co-hosts
Kirby Krackle band plays Zombie Apocalypse 
Zombie Walks continue in all directions...until show time
Guinness Registration ongoing

THRILLER DANCE
8:30 Learn Thriller dance dance steps, or continue the WALK


9:00 PM DANCE BEGINS
Sue Carr (Art of Screaming) coaches Zombie ROAR
The Thriller dance 
SG Brown Breather author speaks; co-hosts with Q& A about zombie culture
Kirby Krackle band-more.


10:00 MOVIE simulcast on 2 screens.
ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction - 10 min. featurette on the local zombie 
Shaun of the Dead


12:00 the END.

We have a lot of things going on, this is more of a zombie block party and it will be most epic. I hope to see zombies in every bar, every restaurant of Fremont. Some plan on being there for the thriller dance and some plan on staying for the movie. We do hope that everyone can attend everything but honestly the spirit of zombie walk is to have fun with your zombie brothers and sisters!

Come one come all! Spread the word and repost this information.

Did I ever screw up. When I was filling out my responses to Trixie360s question for the Xbox Gamer Spotlight I wrongfully attributed he early 80s hard rock ballad "Eye of the Tiger" to the band Foreigner when in fact that that song was made by the band Survivor. I deeply apologize for the error and to both fans of Survivor and Foreigner.

so to remedy this I took the suggestion from Canadian TwittererStabotage and recorded a Rock Band video of me singing "Eye of the Tiger", More Than a Feeling", and since the today July 1 is Canada Day I ended the set with "Tom Sawyer" by the Canadian band Rush. I don't think that "Tom Sawyer" is the Canadian national anthem yet but it really should be.

This also gave me an opportunity to make a new video using the latest software for my ElGato Hybrid video capture device. More specifically I ran into a breakthrough in recording the correct aspect ratio for Xbox 360, Wii and PS3 widescreen over a regular S-Video cable. This is going to help me capture much more accurate screenshots that look much better and deliver larger video clips than before. I still am limited by a the old-school web templates on the SeattlePI.com but at least it keeps me from wasting everyone's bandwidth with giant superlong videos of me singing Rock Band poorly.

I am in the Gamer Spotlight on Xbox.com and on the 360 dash. Woot!

Thanks to KP and Trixie360.

With the release of Monster Hunter Freedom Unite for the Sony PSP Capcom is doing their best to try and make the Monster Hunter series finally catch on in North America. The Monster Hunter series is insanely unfathomably popular in Japan with each iteration of the game selling millions of copies to an extremely wide base of rabid fans. The Monster Hunter series are action adventure role-playing games that started on the PlayStation 2 but migrated to three games on the PlayStation portable and they're working on the third game for the Nintendo Wii. The first PSP game is a port of the PS2 game and while this is the third game it is an expansion on the second PSP game. Monster Hunter Freedom Unite is sort Monster Hunter 2.5 Portable that I affectionately like to abbreviate as Monster Hunter FU.

The games are set in a medieval fantasy mash-up of Dungeons & Dragons and Japanese history. The game follows a hunter that is assigned to protect and serve a village deep into a cold mountain range. The landscape is covered with an exotic bestiary of fantasy wild animals. The creatures are elaborate mixture of insects, predators, large mammals, dragons and dinosaurs. The hunters are assigned quests from the village elder. These short quests are usually done in under an hour and involves trekking deep into the wilderness to gather herbs or taking out a particular nasty creatures which is making life hard for the remote village that particular day. Our hero is armed with a with a large variety of medieval-ish armor, giant bones swords, giant nasty looking lances, gunswords, hammers and other deadly implements. Before each quest you need to pick the best layout of armor and weapons that are going to come in handy when stalking your prey. The time scale and combat on these quests are done in real-time and you have to find and kill your prey without running out of time or becoming lunch for the many nasty monsters with big gnashing teeth.

One of the unique features of this version of Monster Hunter is the ability to hire Felyne fighters to assist you on your quests. These fighters are from a race of intelligent bipedal cat people. They really help you out and they are just sooo darn cute. When you kill an animal you have the option to skin it and take the valuable parts. You can then trade this bounty back in town and use it to have more advanced weapons and armor crafted with them. While it would have been very interesting to see a mature rated Monster Hunter this is done almost completely blood-free. I felt bad taking down some of the giant land mammals when they squirmed and gave their final death-rattle. But once the taste of blood gets in your mouth its fun to lose yourself in these virtual hunting trips of glory. PETA would HATE this game.

The in-room multiplayer hunting quests really set them the Monster Hunter series apart and is no doubt one of the big reasons why it is such a smash hit in Japan. From the Guildhall in the village you can meet up with your fellow friends who also have Monster Hunter running on their PSPs and then team up to take on even bigger prey and more dangerous quests than you could possibly pull off alone. In Japan it's not uncommon to sit down in cybercafes or train stations and go on Monster Hunter quest with your friends or complete strangers. I think that this is one of the biggest cultural barriers at the Monster Hunters series faces here in North America. We either do a lot of videogame playing by ourselves or online over the Internet but we rarely get together with complete strangers in a public setting and play games against one another. It's a real shame. I wish they sold games like this in a two pack so you could buy it for yourself and share it with a friend. At $30 it delivers a lot of game for the price.

I have a hard time stressing what a technical and artistic achievement this game is on the PlayStation portable platform. This doesn't feel like a portable game but rather an epic quest with lush expansive environments, fluidly animated highly interactive creatures and advanced combat system which combines the best of tactical and action filled fighting. One of the coolest features is that you can install a large cache of data on the memory stick to greatly reduce the loading time between environments. I can't wait to see how this game is going to look on the PSP go with the game residing on a much faster flash memory compared to a UMD optical disc. At the start of the game you can also import a hunter created on the previous games so this is in fact an expansion pack and an upgrade to the previous games but also can stands on its own. I really feel bad about writing this review without getting an opportunity to do multiplayer hunts with of the other players such a major part of the game.

Monster Hunter Freedom Unite (a game that I affectionately like to abbreviate as Monster Hunter FU) is rated T for Teen but doesn't contain any real violence against other humans, but there is copious slaughtering of fantasy creatures. It really is one of the better action role-playing games that have laid my hands on in a very long time and once I've tasted the sweet meat of Monster Hunter I really have zero desire to ever play a Pokemon game ever again. It combines the action RPG elements a Legend of Zelda game with a squad-based multiplayer combat made so popular in the World of Warcraft, the epic quest and collection collecting of Dragon Quest but none of these super boring grinding.

Monster Hunter Freedom Unite is without a doubt one of the crowning accomplishments of the PlayStation portable as a game platform. There's no doubt in my mind that this is a killer application for the PSP. It is not just one of the best portable games that I've played this year but one of the best games that played this year on any game system. Its sort of like Pokemon except it's filled with actual fun action with death and dismemberment.

Score 93: The stab it with their steely knives, but they just cant kill the beast

If you played the public beta of 1v100 last weekend and caught the live shows it was made painfully clear that they are getting ready to roll out the final version with real prizes and a new version of the software. Expect a whole new batch of new players and media attention for 1v100.

Since it is still in beta and the show is an evolving production they are still open to improvement. So here are some suggestions I have as to how to improve the game.

1. Sports questions in 1v100 are like a turd in a swimming pool. None of the people that I’ve played the game with has ever liked getting them and there are a lot of groans when they keep coming up. The target audience for Xbox Live and 1v100 are by their very definition nerds and not likely to care about mundane sports trivia. I don’t consider sports trivia real information worth knowing since it does not affect almost anyone’s lives and are not culturally significant for longer than a week. I consider myself an educated guy that reads the news everyday but sports questions mess up my winning streak since it is not real news but an entertainment media that has never appealed to me. I think that amount of sports questions in the question hopper should be reduced by 90% and the excess sports questions should be saved for special all sports trivia episodes of 1v100.

2. Add an option to invite a friend into a timed game. It would be cool if I could invite people on my friends list into a specific live game I am looking forward to tomorrow. Update: It ends up you can already do this. Doh!

3. More nerd questions. We are all nerds here and there does not seem to be a significant number of tech or nerd related questions. Where are the HTML questions? Where are the Star Trek and Gundam questions?

4. More food questions. Everyone eats but I have never seen any food or beverage related questions.

5. Needs more girl friendly questions. Currently the questions are either all gender neutral or total sports. The women and girls in my life freaking love 1v100.

6. Needs way more videogame questions. Despite owning an Xbox 360 is a requirement of playing the game I have not seen any questions about the several decades of videogames history. Where are the questions about Halo 3 achievements or Blinx the Timesweeper?

I think 1v100 is an incredibly innovative game/showgram and has real potential to appeal to a bunch of new players. It just needs more nerd questions and way less sports questions.

I have the a trilogy of Sony PS3 Bluetooth devices to review.

The first unit is the Sony Wireless Keypad for PlayStation 3. I tried really hard to like this thing but I kept running into major issues with it. It's a keyboard that attaches to the top of the DualShock 3 or Sixaxis controller. It uses a spring-loaded claw to snap into place on top of the controller above the L1 and R1 triggers and does not add too much weight to the controller. Curiously enough it's an entirely separate device and doesn't use the controller to communicate with the PS3. It uses It's own Bluetooth wireless connection to communicate with the PS3. It has its own USB slot charge and it's own on off switch. The Select, Start and Home buttons are covered up and are extended manually. It has a message and friends list shortcut buttons. There is a mode where you can have it simulate a mouse by moving your fingers over the keypad, it is interesting but not really that useful.

That's all the good things I can say about this device. The bad things are pretty hard to get over. First of all the buttons our extremely tiny and not really defined. The buttons really don't have a decent click to them in its impossible to type without having to stare at it. The buttons are the least half the size of the Xbox 360 chatpad. The text of the buttons are hard to read because they are done with a thin font and both the keys and the keyboard are black to aesthetically match the controller. The keyboard does not light up and it can be pretty hard to visibly see each key unless you are in perfect lighting conditions, since most gamers don't use the PlayStation 3 in brightly lit rooms this is going to be a problem.

I really don't know what they were thinking by locating the keypad of above the controller. I found my fingers rubbing it in the top of it and as I was trying to play action games. I kept wishing that it was designed to fit on the bottom of a controller or completely separate. If you forget to turn it off you will fine the battery drained.

This keyboard retails for a whopping $50. I never would've purchase this but Sony sent me this unit to review. Several decent USB keyboard sells for well under $20 and you can plug it right into the PlayStation 3 to chat away, you can even get wireless keyboards that use USB or about $30. The other damning blow to this piece of hardware it is the fact that the Microsoft Xbox chatpad has solved all of the problems facing this device yet still manages to be ergonomically pleasing to the touch. If you really want to enter a lot of text on your PlayStation 3 for PlayStation Home or web browsing you really are better off getting a cheap USB keyboard and saving your money for an actual game. It's faster than using the on-screen virtual keyboard but not by much.

Score: 37 QWERT Y did they make this keyboard so hard to use?

Note: This review was based on a review unit provided by the manufacturer

Guitar Hero : Smash Hits is a compilation of the best of music from the previous Guitar Hero games remaster with all the original tracks by the original artists and put into the latest game engine with guitars, bass, drums and vocal tracks. For those of you keeping score at home this is the second of the six Guitar Hero games that Activision is planning on releasing in 2009. Starting off with a Guitar Hero: Metallica, Guitar Hero: Smash Hits (called Guitar Hero: Greatest Hits in Australia and Europe for some odd reason), DJ Hero, Guitar Hero: Van Halen, Band Hero (for kids) and Guitar Hero 5. Milked cows go MOOOOO! That also doesn't take into account that almost all of the previous Guitar Hero games are still on the store shelves.

Much like Guitar Hero: Metallica this game was not bundled with a bunch of plastic instruments and you're free to use which ever ones you have lying around the place. All of the Guitar Hero equipment and all of the Rock Band equipment work on the Xbox 360 and even Microsoft Lips microphones worked quite well with this game. The graphics animation looked pretty nice but I thought it needed some more clothes. The female rockers in the game looked especially good, however the big oversized instruments made them look a little Elvish.

This first Guitar Hero game made by Beenox studios up in Quebec. While this game doesn't stray far from the previous Guitar Hero formulas I found it to be a consistent performer and I had a lot of fun playing it. The real star of this game is the 48 songs by the original recording artists from Guitar Hero 1-3 and Guitar Hero: Rocks the 80s. There are no songs from Guitar Hero: World Tour included but I actually think that's an asset considering that it had the worst selection of music. Guitar Hero World Tour's track list reminded me of grabbing someone else's iPod or Zune and setting it to shuffle. The music selection in this game is much more focused and polished and that made it much more enjoyable. Even if you played the songs before in other Guitar Hero games since this has the drums. bass, vocals and can be played online it really makes it much better than the original experience, I think that this is the best Guitar Hero game since Guitar Hero II (excluding Guitar Hero: Metallica because it's pure metal and it wouldn't be fair to compare it to the other games). Don't even get me started about Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, I just can't stand that band. I'm cautiously optimistic about Guitar Hero: Van Halen and I hope it has lots of mid-80s hair metal bands. I am a closet Beatles fan and already fantasizing about what tracks I want to play at PAX.

I know that earlier this month I called for the international boycott of all Guitar Hero games due to the boneheaded machinations of Activision's legal department, but if you wanted to get this game I guess it would be okay if you made sure and called Activision HQ and asked them to stop their lawsuit against the publication of Doublefine's Brutal Legend.

Now here is why I'm glad that they actually made this a new game SKU instead of DLC for Guitar Hero: World Tour, all the people that you are matched up with have all the songs on the disc so you can pick absolutely every single song. currently you just can't do that with DLC content because they don't include your purchase history in online matchmaking. I wish that the Guitar Hero games had online career mode like Rock Band to does. One thing that this game has over Rock Band is really good pyrotechnics. None of the DLC from previous Guitar Hero games will work on this one.

There is almost no innovation in this game and it follows the established formula of the other games. But it actually worked because it delivered great music, good graphics, good animation, and online gameplay all in one place. If you are a late comer to music games this is a pretty good recap of the Guitar Hero series and it feels like a pretty good expansion pack or alternative campaign to Guitar Hero: World Tour. The music is the most important thing in any music game, by sticking with the best songs from the previous games they put together a track list that is pretty hard to pass up, plus you can finally play Dragonforce online.

Score: 77 Through the Fire and the Flames

Note: This review was based on a copy provided by the publisher

Garou: Mark of the Wolves is a game that I've secretly always wished would eventually come to Xbox Live Arcade. This game represents the end of an era of 2-D fighting games since it was last Fatal Fury game and was the last game made before SNK's bankruptcy in the late 1990s. Mark of the Wolves was originally developed for the aging Neo-Geo arcade system and the only release it ever got on a home console was on the Sega Dreamcast, and it was one of the very last Sega Dreamcast games to ever be released in the US. Up to today Mark of the Wolves has been quite a gem of a fighting game that has been out of the public consciousness with the exception of some hard-core fighting game Otaku. I have this game on the Dreamcast and am stoked that other people are finally getting to play it.

Over the years I've really noticed a lot of similarities between this game and Street Fighter III. Mark of the Wolves is in the Fatal Fury series but only stars one of the main fighters, an older version of Terry Bogart. In the decade since the other Fatal Fury games he has adopted Rock Howard, the son of the bad guy of the first game. Rock Howard is one of my favorite fighters and I was glad to see him move on to other games after this one. This game features a lot of completely original characters that have never been seen in any other fighting games and large amounts of good hand-drawn animation to bring them to life. Since this game was originally designed for the Neo-Geo arcade hardware the graphics come across as extremely low-resolution, very fluid and nicely drawn but still low-resolution.

The characters for pretty easy to pick up and learn. The game has all of the highly technical fighting game conventions that were gradually developed over the years. The four button based combat worked pretty well on a standard Xbox controller. Should you happen to have a fight pad or arcade stick it can really kick up your overall enjoyment of the game a couple major notches. This game features online fighting via the Xbox Live network, in-room multiplayer against another person, a survival mode, a training mode and the original arcade mode.

The Xbox Live Arcade is turning into one of my favorite platforms for delivering previously obscure games for hard-core gamers. There are no doubt plenty of hard-core fighting game fans that are stoked to get their hands on this game again. This game is absolute steal at 800 Microsoft points or $10. This hame is rated T for Teen but the hand-drawn animated martial arts shouldn't be too much for most kids. I really hope they bring as the SVC Chaos to Xbox Live Arcade next. Mark of the Wolves is one of the best 2-D fighting games ever made and if you're a fan of 2-D fighting games and you don't get this game someone should beat you with your overpriced arcade joystick. This is a real gamer's game.

Score: 84 Become a Number One Man!

The lucky ducks at Engadget just posted a short hands-on video of the new PSP go.

This is going to be one of those boring articles about writing and blogging. This is an "inside baseball" post and if you're not interested in that kind of thing feel free to skip it. Tomorrow I'll publish two game reviews to make up for this.

That being said I would now like to move on to more wonky things.

I think that now would be a good time for me to lay out the videogame review ethics guidelines that I will be following are on all the sites that I write for. It is good form to lay out the editorial and journalistic principals that I am running my sites under.

I already have written an article about the processes I follow in writing a review. I'm also inspired by the University of Washington School of Journalism paper by Nathan Ganas written about me.

This also seems to be good timing because I just read a fascinating tome in the bathtub, FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 16 C.F.R. Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising . The Federal Trade Commission is updating it's guidelines for advertisers to reflect the changes in digital media and they are working on some new guidelines regarding bloggers and other publications.

Here is my personal Videogame Review Ethics Guidelines.

Preface
The relationship between videogame publishers and enthusiast media need to be properly maintained and both sides need to play by the rules and respect each other in order to deliver the best possible coverage to the news consumer.

Videogames cost much more than a music album, food product or a movie and video game enthusiasts tend to put extremely high credibility in videogame reviews. This is a bigger issue in writing about videogames a because it's not like any gamer can pick up a copy of Newsweek at any newsstand and find out if an obscure or Nintendo DS game (Baiden Baiden! You are the Light!) is right for them. The Intartubes on the other hand is really good at disseminating large amounts of very specific narrowly targeted information at an audience that wants to know more.

Currently the most controversial topic is the practice of sending out early review copies of videogames. Sending out review copies are a sometimes necessary when trying to coordinate massive amounts of coverage of a game. Review copies are the exact same games that are sold in the stores but traditionally they are sent out several days before these games go on sale. If there was an option to buying a game early I would. Review copies of games let reviewers write well informed reviews. People want to read early reviews of game as soon as or around when they go on sale. A detailed review of the game that is published on or before the game goes on sale is much more likely to be read then again review written a month or so after it's been on the market. Usually the content of the games doesn't change over time but people have an innate interest in current news and opinion rather than older reviews. One of the problems publishers have usually there is a very small print run of review copies and they have to decide what publications get those early copies. It's a little mind boggling that it's the year 2009 and were talking about physical copy of the game on a disk being mailed in a FedEx box when the product is a digital program. If I ran the industry I would have all reviewers receive digital downloads of the game. That way there would be enough to go around in the ethical issues of favoring one publication over another could be addressed. A typical scenario is the reviewer will receive a copy of the game on Thursday or Friday and the game is going to go on sale in the next week and the press embargo is up on Monday morning. All the reviewers that got copies of that game have that weekend to play through that game and write a review. If they're handled right review copies can make for more informed reviews that benefit everyone, especially smaller publications that don't have coveted debug kits that can play extremely early builds of video games.

The other ethical issue about review copies of videogames is that it comes dangerously close to sounding like payola since the reviewer is receiving a physical copy of a game that normally they would have to spend money to get. That review copy is access to an in-demand story.

I run my websites out of my own personal pocket. I don't have an expense account, and I can't go out and by every single game and play through them all and write tons of reviews. Most of the games that I review our games that I've rented or purchased for my own personal collection. However there have been several times where I've gotten review copies and this is most obvious when my reviews were published before the official street date of the game went on sale. I personally don't think that getting review copies has affected the scores and they gave these games in the overall content of the articles, but it do acknowledge that it's a fine line. Looking back over the years that I've been reviewing video games I think that earlier review copies makeup under 5% of my reviews. A lot of these situations were games I would've purchased anyway since I am but still a nerd at heart.

The guidelines for my sites are as strict or stricter than other publications dealing with the industry. I would like to take a moment and thank Kotaku.com and Joystiq.com for setting the standard in the industry.

Guidelines

I want to be fair and honest with my readers and game publishers. If I am presented with a situation that has the appearance of potentially compromising my ethical duties to my readers I have to err on the side of caution and step away.

I will take review copies, write a fair and honest review of them and then eventually donate them to Goodwill or another local charity. Reader giveaways feel like you are paying readers and there are legal issues regarding contests. You can't re-gift downloaded games from PSN, XBLA and iTunes.

I will clearly disclose if I get a review copy and I will review it with the same fine tooth comb that I would use had I bough it with my own money. Example:
Note: This review was based on a copy provided by the publisher

I will never accept a gift valued greater than $20, favors or any money. No one has ever offered any money and I've only been offered minor swag that you could probably get free at a trade show.

I will never publish a press release without it being stated that they it press release text. That also means no mixing press releases into your own writings without clearly making a distinction.

I will not hold it against a publisher if they don't send me a review copy. I understand they are in quite short supply and I am not all that.

I will not personally review a game published by a direct advertiser I will recuse myself and ask a peer or a reader to write the review. However if a game company buys automated ads and they show up on my site I have no control over them.

I will not publish screenshots or videos if I don't believe that they accurately represent the game.

I also clearly realize that not every video game is meant for every player. Just because a game doesn't directly appealed to my sensibilities as a grizzled video game player of many decades doesn't mean that I get to slam it and be unfairly cruel and negatively impact the commercial viability of the game in the marketplace. One thing that gamers and reviewers need to remember is that no videogame developer ever sets out to make a bad game but somewhere along the way things can go horribly wrong. If I do happen to write less than favorable reviews I should back up my claims with well cited examples. But if the game actually sucks really bad you just got a call a spade a spade.

In the past I have been pretty good at meeting almost all of these rules and I will be meeting all of them from now on.

Post Script
Check out of the example 7 of the new FTC guidelines on page 84 and 85, they actually cite a video game reviewer writing a blog.

Example 7: A college student who has earned a reputation as a video game expert maintains a personal weblog or "blog" where he posts entries about his gaming experiences. Readers of his blog frequently seek his opinions about video game hardware and software. As it has done in the past, the manufacturer of a newly released video game system sends the student a free copy of the system and asks him to write about it on his blog. He tests the new gaming system and writes a favorable review. The readers of his blog are unlikely to expect that he has received the video game system free of charge in exchange for his review of the product, and given the value of the video game system, this fact would likely materially affect the credibility they attach to his endorsement. Accordingly, the blogger should clearly and conspicuously disclose that he received the gaming system free of charge.

This summer the fourth Terminator movie hit the big screens so Warner Bros. had the Swedish game development studio Grin make an over-the-shoulder action game to tie in with the movie. This game takes place several years after the atomic apocalypse of Judgment Day but is a full two years before the events of the Terminators Salvation movie. The plot follows John Connor and his rise through the leadership of the human resistance. The plot and level design follows a pre-determined path that you can't stray very far from. I would bet money that the planning documents for this game were shooting for "Gears of War with the Terminator".

Terminator Salvation uses cover based combat as a major element done very well. There even is a little character animation AI to help you slide from one cover spot to the other. The strange thing is that John Connor can not run really fast or jump to save his life. There are parts of the game where you're blocked by some destroyed cars and you have to run around them because he can't just pop over the hood "Dukes of Hazzard" style. There is two player local co-op gameplay but no online co-op or any online multiplayer options. Occasionally there are driving sequences where you're riding in the back of a truck shooting down Terminators with a big gun.

At this part of the story Skynet is not that advanced and fancy yet and the Terminators that they send that you are pretty unimpressive. It's a basic commando game fighting an army of not very impressive killer robots from the future (except it is the future and they sort of suck). One thing that really got to me about the gameplay is that if the Terminators got close enough to you they will instantly kill you. There is zero hand-to-hand combat since they will just shank you dead.

The graphics and animation were spot on. It looked like the post-apocalyptic cityscapes from the movies and the music sounded just like a Terminator movie should. I did notice some voice sync problems that got on my nerves a bit.

I did find where there was product placement for 7-11 and there even was a PlayStation 3 trophy that had the 7-Eleven slogan called "Oh Thank Heavens".

I don't think that this was an overtly bad game it was just down right mediocre. It really feels like the developers phoned this one in. This game retails for a full $60 on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. I think it could have been more successful had it been a download only title or sold at a much cheaper price point. There are a lot more games on the market that can do a better job delivering action for the same amount of money like Bionic Commando by the same Swedish developer. It might sound like I'm being harsh but I can name at least two dozen action videogames based on other summer blockbuster movies that are far worse than this game. Since the Terminator series was a TV show I'm sure that there are some diehard Terminator fans out there and they would really like this game. There's a long history of video games based on action movies, some have been very good and some have been not so good. The vast majority of them can be darn right mediocre. If I could sum this game up into one word it would be "meh".

Score: 63 Come with me if you want to live!

Sam & Max : Save the World is a collection of games that I have really been looking forward to finally getting on Xbox Live Arcade. I first fell in love with Sam & Max's unique blend of humor back in the early 1990s when I first laid my eyes on the graphic novel by Steve Purcell. Later on when it was made into a point-and-click graphical adventure game by LucasArts I was all over it but I had to play it at my friend's because I didn't have a CD-ROM. Yes back in those days I had a 12 MHz computer, a Mac LC with four megs of RAM and it just wasn't going to cut the mustard. This new Sam & Max game is actually an episodic series of graphical adventures made by Telltale games. It in each episode Sam and Max freelance police are given a comical threat to public decency and the American way of life and have to deal with it in as esoterically as possible. This Xbox Live Arcade release bundled all six episodes of the first season of Sam and Max and gave them the high definition graphic treatment, tweaked controls to see better fit a game pad and some amusing Xbox 360 achievements.

This game and sports a comical yet creative graphical art style of the original comics but has witty jokes rammed into almost every texture. Despite the cartoon inspired 3D graphics Sam and Max has vocabulary filled semi-subversive and slightly surreal dialogue and writing. It is rated Teen and there's not a lot of content that would be objectionable to children but I don't think that kids would really understand the subversive dark humor. I personally loved the neo-1950s stylings that made for a somewhat twisted look at this fictional Americana.
This game is a re-imagining of point-and-click graphical adventure games of old and you control our heroes with an on-screen cursor and your wit. Like all good point-and-click graphical adventures you scour the screen looking for useful objects and are presented with complex plot points and dialogue trees that you must use bits of information and knickknacks that a you have picked up to solve the social problems to advance the plot. One problem that gamers might run into is that even though you have a basic idea of what you want to do you have to hunt and peck and find the exact structure of choices to make the plot move ahead.

The best feature of this game is the over-the-top creative writing that is genuinely funny, surreal and sublime. There are not a lot of games out there that come close to Sam & Max.
Sam and Max has always been a bit under the mainstream consciousness of our videogame world and I think it is going to be interesting to see how a wider audience is going to take this game. I think this game is awesome by is the general video game playing public is cool enough to accept and love this game as much as jaded quasi-videogame journalists such as myself do? It retails for 1600 Microsoft points or about $20. I think that's a pretty good value when you look at all six graphical adventures episodes bundled here and I hope that the casual Xbox gamer will give this rather bizarre graphical RPG game a decent chance.

Score: 77 More fun than a game of Whiz-ball, little buddy!

Like any red-blooded American male that grew up in the 1980's I absolutely loved the Ghostbusters movie and even thought the sequel is okay. Now despite being an awesome movie and a pretty awesome cartoon show the Ghostbusters franchise has brought about some of the most horrible videogames ever made so the task of designing a new Ghostbusters game for modern game systems is almost an accursed journey darker than any of the ghosts out there to be busted.

Terminal Reality developed the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of the Ghostbusters game and they had Red Fly Studio make a Nintendo Wii version. Red Fly impress me with their previous game Mushroom Men and I think that their experience at making physics-based games on the Nintendo Wii really helped Ghostbusters. Rather than going for a strictly realistic looking game they tried integrating a cartoon characterization of the Ghostbusters. I think it a less than realistic approach really worked artistically and that the elongated characterizations were spot on, matched with the voice acting of all original cast members it looked and felt like Ghostbusters. The really exciting thing about this game is a collaboration of the original movies stars and writers. They took the approach that this game should be the third Ghostbusters movie which never got made and I got goosebumps seeing these characters again. One interesting to point out is that they didn't use the designs of the cartoon series but rather simpler version of the actors. Do we version follows the story of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 version but it has unique levels. The Wii version of Ghostbusters has all the destruction and chaos of the other platforms and one of the better looking Wii games.

You play the role of a new Ghostbuster that's just been hired on to help out right when Sumerian cult followers try to tear down the wall between the spirit world and New York. This new Ghostbuster's job is also to help test in new equipment and weapons that the more experienced Ghostbusters don't want to touch until the designs are out of beta test. You following around the other Ghostbusters and help him catch ghosts by the forces of evil.

The game is a third-person over-the-shoulder shooter that is controlled by walking around with the nunchuk stick an aiming the proton packs with the Wiimote. I got a bit frustrated at times getting the camera to turn around fast enough. Some battles with ghosts and spirits coming at you from multiple angles took a lot longer because of the camera but I was able to move through the game without too much difficulty. I especially liked shaking the Wiimote to get the slime off. The proton packs are the can-do-anything tool in this game. They can blast ghosts, hold ghosts and smashed them against walls, destroy any object that gets in your way, pick up objects and move it around in order to solve puzzles. It's almost like a proton packs are The Force. When you can't figure out where to go next you can take out the PKE meter and get back on the trail and find ghosts hiding by possessing objects. Collectible hidden pages from the spirit guide that are hidden in objects so you're encouraged to disintegrate the environments looking for them. The game can be played split-screen co-op with another player.

This is a great game for kids and is rated E 10+. It is not the longest game in the world but it is a lot of fun. Considering that the Nintendo we has just about sold as many systems as the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 combined this version of the game might outsell it's bigger polygonal budget counterparts. I really have to reiterate how great the writing, acting, story and sound are and it really helped sell this game to me as Ghostbusters instead of being an attempt to cash in on nostalgia. Even if you'd don't know or don't like the Ghostbusters there still is a pretty good game here. I really hope they continue to make Ghostbusters games, it was great pretending to go with the Ghostbusters and zap some ghosts.
Score: 80 Busting Makes Me Feel Good!

1 vs 100 is both a good quiz game and a grand experiment for Xbox Live. Microsoft has been working on an entirely new concept for online videogames called Primetime Live.1 vs 100 is currently in open beta in the US and Canada but it is pretty close to launch. I've been playing it for a while now and I am actually scheduling my Friday night to be home and in front of the Xbox at 7:00 PM to join in (yes I am a total nerd).

Primetime Live tries to make an online videogames more like TV by having constantly updated content in this case trivia questions and scheduled events such as live shows with real talking contestants and a real host.

It is a quiz show with multiple choice questions of increasing difficulty. The main player that is "The One" is selected to sit down and chatter with the host Chris Cashman (how deliciously ironic that a dude named Cashman works on a game show). They have a real chance to win prizes. Then there is "The Mob" of 100 players and they play along with "The One" and their responses will be factored in certain options. The goal for "the One" is to outlast "the Mob" and the goal of "the Mob" is to beat "the One". If you are not in "the Mob" you can play along in the crowd and earn career points that are used to determine if you are going to make it into "the Mob" at the next round. If you do well in "The Mob" you can eventually be selected to be "The One". You are rewarded by playing the game often and doing well at the trivia. Career point totals are reset and wiped regularly to allow new player to have a shot to move up the ranks. And no, there is not enough time to check the internet to look up a question and there is point rewards for speed. You can't pause it but there are commercial breaks where you can get up and get a soda or hit the bathroom. Unfortunately prizes are can't be won in the public beta.

It is free to play for Xbox Live Gold members in the US and Canada and the show sponsors pay for the prizes. If you make it to the mob you have a chance to win downloaded prizes like Xbox Live Arcade games and MS Points to spend on Xbox Live Marketplace.

The questions are surprisingly easy at first but they pick up and get tougher. Since this is scheduled programming that is set up that week there are generous questions based on recent events in the news and pop culture. This game uses Xbox 360 Avatars as characters and is now my favorite Avatar game (sorry Ninjabee games).

You have to be on time and signed in at the start of the game in order to join in the live show. I wanted to show Hannie and her daughter the game but I missed it because I was helping her empty the garbage. We had to play the Extended Play mode with just the robotic hostess. The Extended Play mode can be accessed any time and you are matched up other people that you can chat and converse with via the headsets. You have to be on-time if you want to catch the full two-hour show and they have a reminder option to have the Xbox send you a reminder nag message.

1v100 is the closest thing to the interactive TV that we were promised in the early 1990s. In their fight with Nintendo and Sony (and TV) the folks at Microsoft are looking at using the Xbox Live network in new innovative ways to keep gamers playing Xbox and to reach out to new gamers. There are millions of TV viewers that like game shows and if they knew that they could BE on a game show on the Xbox it might make them want to get one and log-on instead of tuning-in and dropping out. The drive to advance your virtual quiz show career is going to really appeal to some gamers and keep them playing the game. This game gives current Xbox gamers a reason to justify paying the annual Xbox Live gold subscription fees.

This is a big experiment and if it pays off than we might see other shows use the technology and conventions developed for 1 vs 100. I think the concept of Primetime Live has lots of potential and I can't wait to see what other interactive live hybrid games we could see on Xbox Live. It is a live videogame quiz show MMORPG, think about that for a moment.

Score : 82 Come On Down and Win fabulous Prizes

Here is a video of Trixie360 taking a tour of the 1v100 Studio at Microsoft

Here is a video of me playing the Extended Play.

Videogame Industry personality Xbox Live Community Manager Trixie360 AKA Christa Charter is currently in labor with her third child at a Seattle area hospital delivery room.

She sent a Twitter Update about it .

Water broke on way to hospital
about 1 hour ago from txt trixie360

This is the first birth notice I know of over Twitter.

She is set to have her third child, a daughter and the soon to be proud papa is an active duty United States Marine.

I humbly wish her and her family best of luck and I'll update this post with details as soon as they are made public.

Update: Allison Independence Charter born at 10:27 am. 6lbs 5oz. 19 1/2 inches. Mom and baby doing well.

This sounds so awesome. I am going to be there dressed as a zombie! I don't have anything to add so here is the full Press Release:

The Fremont Outdoor Cinema and XBOX 360 Announces
GUINNESS WORLD RECORD ATTEMPT - ZOMBIE WALK- Seattle
RED, WHITE & DEAD ZOMBIE PARTY
Co-Hosted by Mark Rahner & Robert Horton
Experts in Zombie Culture &Authors of Zombie Comic "Rotten"

MOVIE FAN ALERT (SEATTLE): BREAKING NEWS!!! Reports of serious fun and screaming crowds dressed as Zombies appear to be infected by the "Fan Fare" epidemic is said to be widespread and viral taken over the streets of a small arts community in Seattle, known as Fremont.

Details are trickling in from our sources. We have been told that there have been reports of mass crowds attending the screening of Shaun of the Dead, to what appears to be a the world's largest gathering of Zombies, people are encouraged to dress up to avoid being eaten by the Living Dead.

If you're still alive, we repeat, if you're still alive…we need your help to spread the word to everyone you know to ensure we break the record and bring it back to Seattle. Our reputation as a city is depending on your participation. We MUST prevail for the good of all Zombie fans out there.

This is pertinent to every living man, woman and child and for the reputation of Seattle.

Everyone must meet at the extraction zone located at 3501 Phinney Ave North, home to the Fremont Outdoor Movies on Friday, July 3rd and that everyone should report in costume dressed as ZOMBIES for this historical event to ensure that you are not detected by the Living Dead. Its your only means of survival and we are counting on you to make this possible. We need 5,000 people to break the record and we need them on Friday, July 3rd.

We are told that the infected "otherwise referred" as Zombies are hungry and want to watch the movie SHAUN OF THE DEAD. Scientist are telling us it's the only way to kill the zombies. If you can not dress up, fear not, we will have a Survival Camp to dress you up to help you fit in with them.

WHO: The Fremont Outdoor Movies + Wing-It Productions

WHAT: Movie Screening: Shaun of the Dead" with Guinness Book World Record Attempt

WE WANT YOU! As Zombies attack Fremont in true patriotic style for our 1st annual "Red, White and Dead" Zombie Weekend Kick off on Friday, July 3rd, for a real world record attempt with Guinness book for the biggest Zombie Flash mob on the Planet world for the movie night "Shaun of the Dead. Bring a can of food and make a difference.

WHEN: FRIDAY, JULY 3RD - Zombie Walk - Guinness Registration starts @ 5pm - 7pm @ 3501 Phinney Ave North to assemble, Walk starts at 8pm Movie starts at 9:45pm

WHERE: 3501 PHINNEY AVE NORTH - SEATTLE, WA 98103

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION/EVENTS:

MOVIE SCREENING: Cult smash hit, SHAUN OF THE DEAD starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost + SPECIAL ZOMBIE ENCORE SCREENING TBA

CAN FOOD DRIVE ALERT: Bring a can of food. All food donation go to SOLID GROUND: Helping to End Hunger in Seattle.

PRE-SHOW ACTIVITIES:

GUINNESS RECORD PARTICIPANT REGISTRATION: 5PM and onward
To help us document the world record, we must have everyone step in front of the camera to be counted for later use. Our hope is to also use this to make a video montage of all of Zombie Fans

ZOMBIE WORKSHOP: Starts at 6-8pm
"How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Apocalypse" Survival Kit presented by Night Zero Troupe www.nightzero.com - NIGHT ZERO's hosts a UNIQUE apocalyptic photo booth and the essential guide to survival in the new Apocalypse in Seattle. Become an expert and gather your team of mercenaries to hunt zombies.

ZOMBIE FASHION SHOW "FASHIONABLY Undead" Starts at 7:30pn
Watch as Zombie take shuffle down the catwalk, strutting their stuff and slowly falling apart. Sign up on site for the chance of lifetime. Judged by Eric Pope and Cleo from Seattle Zombie Walk Association

THRILLER DANCE Starts at 8:30pm
Join us for the fun and show your skills off with thousands of others, as we try to break another world record this evening. Don't know how to dance to Thriller? No sweat, we will help refresh your skills prior to the show, or simply look up on You Tube for tutorials.

ZOMBIE WALK: Starts at 9pm
Help us make history this night, dress up and help us patrol the streets in true zombie march form and stun the streets of Fremont

SPECIAL GUESTS:
Meet cult author, S. G. Browne, of Zombie Novel "BREATHERS" in attendance with book signing at Fremont Place Books starting at 4pm and then at the event . For more information: Check out www.sgbrowne.com and www.undeadanonymous.com

ZMD: ZOMBIES OF MASS DESTRUCTION:
Meet local filmmakers and fresh off SIFF success for a "Behind the Scenes" look at their new zombie movie
For more info on their film, check out: www.zmdthemovie.com

OFFICIAL WEBSITE: www.fremontoutdoormovies.com
BLOG: www.parkingspace.blogspot.com
TWITTER: www.twitter.com/outdoormovies

Red Faction: Guerilla completely took me by surprise! It was completely off my radar but I love this game. It was developed by Violition Inc and published by THQ on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.

I first rented it and didn't get around to starting it after two days but I was hooked. I regret that I didn't start playing it earlier. As soon as I returned it I bought my own copy and look forward to finally pushing those Earth bastards off my beloved proud planet of Mars.

I was expecting this game to be a typical slightly above average sci-fi themed shooter but Oh Boy was I pleasantly surprised by this game. It is a sequel to two PlayStation 2 Red Faction games but I never played them. It is an open-world third-person GTA like action game on Mars with lots of sabotage and explosions. Considering they they made Saints Row and Saints Row 2 I see where they are got it from.

The story is set a couple hundred years after humanity is started colonizing Mars and turned the atmosphere breathable. It ends up that the intergalactic Earth-based corporations and the powerful worldwide fascist Earth government has turned the proud planet Mars into an oppressed "Third World Red Planet" hellhole. You play Alec Mason a miner and demolitions expert who travels to Mars to meet up with his brother. It ends up that his brother is part of the underground anti-colonial freedom fighter force known as "Red Faction". Alec was quickly and violently swept up into the cause of kicking those jackbooted Earth troops of the free planet Mars and to win solidarity and freedom for your people. I definitely have to clap my hands for Violation. They didn't pussyfoot around with political allegory and slightly obscure real-world references. I noticed a lot of jargon of the Bush administration era worked into the Earth propaganda radio station.

It's sort of like Che on Mars with Grand Theft Auto in the canals of Mars instead of the streets and lots and lots of wonderful destructive explosions. They are sort of the space Wobblies. It really feels like the Wild West, imagine if Mars turned out to be a really crappy place with a worn down industrial edge to it. You're trying to lead a revolution of Martian hillbillies.

There was really good art direction in this game and it was definitely Syd Mead influenced. They could have just farmed out stereotypical science fiction imagery but nothing feels cliched and stock. There is some really cool vehicle designs especially the heavy mining equipment.

The landscape is covered with outposts supporting the Earth occupiers and it's your job as an explosive expert and freedom fighter to blow them up in creative ways. I could say that this game has destructible environments but that doesn't even start to describe how giant structures fly apart like matchsticks. You have to throw charges at the right spots to bring the big buildings down piece by piece. I learned an important lesson that you need to get out the buildings and stay clear of the falling debris when the weight bearing beams in a building go down. Ouch.

They made an original engine for this game and the off some mass-based physics delivers some real sweet destruction that I haven't seen in a game before. There's also some really nice particle effects and glows.

It's not just explosions but you can get in a giant truck and run through things and they will break as the mass of your bulk runs over them. Almost everything is destructible by being broke apart brick by brick explosion by explosion hit by hit.

When assigned to take out buildings and fortifications later on in the game you can't just walk up and face the entire army. My favorite method is stealing a fortified transport then driving at high speed and plowing it into the side of the building and continue to drive as much as possible through the interior walls. Then I'll get out and places internal explosives charges and make the plays go boom from the inside before the reinforcements show up. Works every time.

Replacing money and experience in this game are pieces of scrap metal which you can then take back your base and exchange for upgrades and new weapons. It sort of makes sense, they are miners and you're blowing up a whole bunch of stuff and that explains why they don't just give you the weapons you need considering you are single handily running their revolution and trying to free the planet

The game has really good mapping and pathfinding. I can't think of a time where AI troops got lost and couldn't figure out which way to go. There is a good variety of missions and a pretty nice difficulty curve. I liked the vehicle controls in this game, they are a lot better than Halo especially when you have an AI guerrilla riding shotgun. Combat is really fun and it easily switches from a Grand Theft Auto viewpoint to a close over-the-shoulder Gear of Ear style camera.

Red Faction: Guerilla has really incredible AI scripting, the enemies are not dumb. In a mission to destroy enemy checkpoint I drove into the checkpoint in a liberated enemy vehicle and when I got out to shoot the bad guys I was surprised to see that one of the bad guys decided to take cover by jumping into the vehicle and then got into the gun turret to shoot at me. I love how the soldiers start to freak out when you throw explosive charge at them and it attaches to their armor. They drop their gun and a runaway wailing about until you hit the detonate button sending them to the afterlife.

There is even 2-16 player online multiplayer modes including some fun ones with jet packs to give you special powers. There is a really good classical musical score, good dialogue, decent acting, an explosion in gunfire filled sound effects.

Red Faction: Guerilla builds on the conventions of other games but it takes them to new level and really succeeds in an execution of blends. This Red Faction: Guerilla is fresh, exciting and it's going to be the hit of the summer.

Score: 95 GET YOUR AZZ TO MAAARRZ!

Codemasters has made well-respected racing games over the past few years. Unfortunately Fuel for Xbox 360 and PS3 was only published by Codemasters and developed by Bordeaux based Asobo studios. Asobo Studios has developed several movie licensed videogames such as the Mummy, Garfield 2, Ratatouille and WALL-E. However and there is not a lot of racing game experience in their previous lineup of games. I think that the ideas behind Fuel were solid but the game felt through on execution and polish.

Fuel is an open-terrain racing game set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. The plot involves a dystopian future where global warming has created extreme weather and massive fuel shortages. A group of extreme sports adrenaline junkies set up a series of races out in the middle of nowhere with fuel as money. However at the start of every single race you are carried by a flatbed helicopter and dropped into position even if you're at a racing line with other racers. I can't imagine the carbon impact of using a helicopter to get everywhere but the racer you play in fuel is to extreme to just walk up to the start of a race. There was a little post-apocalyptic imagery from "The Road Warrior" but I don't think they hit any environmental or political statement they were trying to make out of the park. The aesthetics and art direction of the game seemed to confuse testosterone with adrenaline.

The real star of the game is the open world environments. In between the races there is a 5000 mi. world that supposedly takes around three hours to drive from one side to the other. The grass and trees look great but the brush just go right past you. Visually the game has a pretty interesting film grain effect and motion blur. The graphic shaders, particle dust and debris to try to make it look like an extreme sports movie shot on film. They even went as far to have some lens borders on the edge of the screen. There are a dynamic day and night changes that happen every 12 minutes and they tried to have dynamic weather changes like frequent storms and rain pop up a randomly. The water effects looked pretty spiffy but when I drove into a canal I saw a whole bunch of polygon tearing.

Despite the massive effort that went into building the world of Fuel, it doesn't feel like there was enough effort put into the physics of interacting with it. The physics engine came across bland and mediocre. Every other racing game of this console generation has been able to pull off more realistic interactive physics. Racing mechanics have been done so much better by Codemasters in their other racing games. Most of the races didn't seem very fast. For an extreme racing game I was surprised that they didn't have any kind of damage mechanic or a system for throwing the racer from the vehicle. The game also has some magical small trees that are strong enough to make a dune buggy going full speed bounce back without breaking. I was expecting so much more from the physics and was chronically underwhelmed.

The music went between forgettable to just plain bad. This game really could've benefited from a real soundtrack, even if it was obnoxious jock rock.

There is a pretty extensive 2-16 player online multiplayer racing mode and 2-4 player co-operative racing modes but there is no split-screen racing on the same Xbox.

This game is going to have a serious problem finding an audience with racing game fans that aren't going to be forgiving about the lackluster physics. I don't know if this game was a rushed or if it had development problems. It didn't come close to executing the original plans. I could tell that they had some ambitious ideas but it just didn't come together in the end.

Score: 50 Running On Fumes

Last month Nathan Ganas, a University of Washington Journalism Student interviewed me about this blog for his paper on journalism ethics.

I thought he did a great job with his paper and his interview really made me reconsider and reinforce the commitments I have to this blog. I hope he gets a good grade for his paper.

His paper is published with permission below:

Nathan Ganas
Digital Joystick Ethics

Blogs are an entity that has warped the field of journalism into a completely new idea by taking the power out of the "professionals'" hands and giving it to the people. Many have come to blame the downfall of traditional media on this new form of reporting. As they take more and more of the spotlight away from customary news outlets a question has been raised: How trustworthy are blogs as a news source?

In response, many contemporaries have critiqued blogs using ethical standards that were applied to old journalism. But should the rules of an old system be applied to a new one? To answer this I followed a blog based on video game news called Digital Joystick which is published by Jake Metcalf. The blog was originally "personally published" as 8bitjoystick.com and has since been syndicated by the Seattle P-I. He runs it by himself in his free time while holding down a full time job. I was able to contact Jake and talk to him over the phone about some of the ethical "issues" in his work. For this paper I shall present an ethical issue, critique it according to traditional standards, provide Jake's response, and finally try to answer whether such a critique is warranted for this specific medium.

Before I start this however, I believe it is important to give a working definition of a blog. According to dictionary.com a web blog is little more than "a website that displays in chronological order the postings by one or more individuals and usually has links to comments on specific postings." Take notice that nowhere in the definition does it specify that blogs are used as a means to convey news. Personal opinion, news, or even daily logs are all considered blogs under this definition. I shall base much of my critique of applying old ethical ideas to blogs on this loose meaning.

Conflicts of interest are one of the most well known and researched areas of ethical scrutiny. Within Digital Joystick this problem pops up in the form of game review copies. These are copies of video games that are given to Jake and other journalists for free so they may publish reviews. Most video games that are released these days range from $20-$60 retail, with some exceptions such as mobile phone games and other downloadable content. This at the very least creates an illusion of a conflict of interests. Perhaps a more favorable review is given because of the free gift.

In May 8th posting where Jake reviewed a game he divulged that Sony had sent him a copy of the game for free ahead of the release date. The game itself was downloadable and retailed for $20. Ultimately he gave the game a score of 95 out of 100. He did however within the blog admit that this problem existed stating, "Sony sent me a DL code last week so I've been Pataponing for a while now and this review has been tough to write because I have spent so much time actually playing the game rather than writing the review. I am a bad blogger." (8bitjoystick.com)

When I personally questioned him on the matter he explained why he did this by making a comparison to video game reviews to movie reviews. He used to get paid for some of his video game reviews by the Seattle Stranger usually making $100 per review. Reviewing a movie he would have to pay ten dollars for a ticket, spend roughly two hours watching the movie, and a few more hours writing a review. For a video game he would have to spend sixty dollars, spend an average of forty hours playing the game, and then hours on top of that writing the review. He explained that receiving review copies acted as a way to offset the cost of the review.

Another perk to review copies is early access to the games themselves. This gives writers time to write a review that can be published in order to coincide with the game's release. Jake said that he'd "would love to PAY for review copies if I could get them early enough before launch."

In spite of t