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Gamasutra has up an analysis by Matt Matthews looking at the distribution of ESRB ratings across several generations of consoles. He makes particular note of Nintendo's efforts with the GameCube and Wii: "On the GameCube over 51% of the games were rated E and 6.1% were rated E10+. This makes the GameCube appear to be more friendly for younger gamers ... From the beginning Nintendo has wanted to attract non-traditional gamers with its Wii hardware and software. Perhaps as a result of the manufacturer's strategy, many Wii games have been designed to appeal to -- and therefore are rated for -- a general audience. Over 82% of the Wii catalog is either rated E or E10+. Only 3.2% are rated M, less than half the rate on Nintendo's previous console, GameCube. Still, that 3.2% is significantly higher than the rates on either the Nintendo DS or the Game Boy Advance." Matthews makes a few offhand comments about the analysis on the Curmudgeon Gamer site, as well.

With the 60GB version now 'sold out', the 80GB version of the PlayStation 3 is quickly going to be the only option for consumers in stores. Besides the hard-drive size, though, the two systems have another fundamental difference: the 80GB unit handles backwards compatibility with software and not hardware. What games work on the two console versions is now a bit trickier. To aid in your comprehension, Joystiq notes, Sony has released a handy online game checker to let you know how your library will fare. Over at Curmudgeon Gamer, they have an examination of a game library looking at both a PS1 collection of titles and a group of games from the PS2 era. Assuming this random sampling to be in any way indicative, it looks like there isn't much difference between software and hardware compatibility for PS1 games ... but PS2 games might not have an easy time of it.

With the 60GB version now 'sold out', the 80GB version of the PlayStation 3 is quickly going to be the only option for consumers in stores. Besides the hard-drive size, though, the two systems have another fundamental difference: the 80GB unit handles backwards compatibility with software and not hardware. What games work on the two console versions is now a bit trickier. To aid in your comprehension, Joystiq notes, Sony has released a handy online game checker to let you know how your library will fare. Over at Curmudgeon Gamer, they have an examination of a game library looking at both a PS1 collection of titles and a group of games from the PS2 era. Assuming this random sampling to be in any way indicative, it looks like there isn't much difference between software and hardware compatibility for PS1 games ... but PS2 games might not have an easy time of it.

Gamasutra has several coverage elements about last month's NPD figures, which unsurprisingly show Nintendo's continued dominance of console sales numbers. A combined 569,000 units sold for Pokemon Diamond and Pearl probably helped some. "According to official sources and a number of independent reports, total industry sales were up 49 percent to $815 million for the month, with hardware sales up 79 percent to $221 million, and the Nintendo DS selling an impressive 423,000 units for the month. The rest of the hardware sales revealed that the Wii sold an impressive 338,000 units for the month, with the Xbox 360's sales down somewhat at around 155,000 units and the PlayStation 3 sold just 82,000 during May in the U.S. On the handheld side of things, the PSP trailed the DS but still sold around 221,000 units, and the Game Boy Advance sold just 80,000 units for the month. Rounding off the major players, the PlayStation 2 sold 188,000 units during May." Those DS sales are nothing to sneeze at, as an analyst group estimates that by 2011 there will be some 112 Million DS units sold ... with an 89% install base in Japan. The site has a further breakdown of last month's numbers, analyzing the dip in overall console sales and the potentials of each platform. The Curmudgeon Gamer is the mind behind that analysis, and he had two further points to make about the numbers on his site.

Ground Glass writes "After all of the self-awarding that goes on in the games industry this year, it's nice to be reminded that there were actually some pretty big industry disasters in 2006. Who can forget that timeless Gizmondo car crash story, for example? Or the onset of microtransactions for cheat codes? One of the Curmudgeon Gamers, Matt Matthews, lays out the worst the industry had to offer this year, from game hype to journalistic screwups, and everything in between." From the article: "3. Bill of Rights -- Void Where Prohibited by Law. We should also sit back and enjoy a steaming hot cup of schadenfreude at the expense of those tireless defenders of morality and the souls of our children: the state governments of Michigan, Minnesota, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and of course Illinois. Each has passed a law restricting the sales of videogames, and each has been stopped by the courts. Apparently there are things called 'constitutions; which grant 'rights' like 'free speech' which 'activist judges' are using to strike down the very laws which will protect our children from rock and r...videogames." He also offers up some of the cut content that didn't make it into the final article.

Next Generation is hosting an article attempting to prognosticate the spread of review scores for the PS3 and Wii. Author Matt Matthews does this by examining historical precedents for previous system launches. From the article: "Next month Sony's PlayStation 3 will launch with only two games which will get an average review score of 90% or better. On the other hand, Nintendo's Wii will have three games which will average scores of 90% or better. And it is almost certain that each of those consoles will launch with two absolute stinkers, games which consistently score below 60%... How can we know this? Because history tells us that this is what happens with console launch titles." For even more analysis of the data, Matthews has additional charts on curmudgeon gamer.

To put things in perspective, the Curmudgeon Gamer has created graphs showing inflation-adjusted console costs. The PS3 is far from the most expensive console in history (that would be the Neo Geo, at almost $1000 adjusted price), but that hasn't stopped analysts, publishers, developers, and gamers from grumbling about it the week after E3. ABI Research has publicly stated that Sony may have 'hamstrung' itself with the console's high price. Publishers and developers are worried because (despite Sony's protests to the contrary), developers just don't have the kits to make the games. From the GameDaily article: "'A lot of developers have not gotten the kits,' said Sega of America president Simon Jeffrey while attending E3 last week. 'There certainly will not be a lot of titles available.' The result is that publishers that do want to take part in the PS3 launch will have to release games that don't fully take advantage of the power of the Cell processor, added Jeffrey."

jvm writes "StarROMs, seller of legal arcade ROM downloads for use with MAME, is closing their virtual doors. Started in October 2003, the initial StarROMs catalog offered over 60 Atari arcade games including hits like Gauntlet and Asteroids but was later trimmed due to licensing issues. In a March 2004 interview, co-founder Frank Leibly gave more details on their business plan, including how they expected to compete with the widespread illegal distribution of arcade ROMs. Has the world embraced rental models like GameTap over the download model of StarROMs?"

jvm writes "StarROMs, seller of legal arcade ROM downloads for use with MAME, is closing their virtual doors. Started in October 2003, the initial StarROMs catalog offered over 60 Atari arcade games including hits like Gauntlet and Asteroids but was later trimmed due to licensing issues. In a March 2004 interview, co-founder Frank Leibly gave more details on their business plan, including how they expected to compete with the widespread illegal distribution of arcade ROMs. Has the world embraced rental models like GameTap over the download model of StarROMs?"

jvm writes "StarROMs, seller of legal arcade ROM downloads for use with MAME, is closing their virtual doors. Started in October 2003, the initial StarROMs catalog offered over 60 Atari arcade games including hits like Gauntlet and Asteroids but was later trimmed due to licensing issues. In a March 2004 interview, co-founder Frank Leibly gave more details on their business plan, including how they expected to compete with the widespread illegal distribution of arcade ROMs. Has the world embraced rental models like GameTap over the download model of StarROMs?"

MilenCent writes "Long long ago, Orson Scott Card wrote a game opinion column for Compute! Magazine. In the November 1983 issue, he had some interesting things to say about the essential ingredients of a great game, all arguably still important today. He picked out one company that, at the time, consistently excelled in most of these areas--try to guess which one! Additional commentary over at Curmudgeon Gamer."

"Welcome, welcome, to the biggest show in town. For today only the Carnival of Gamers appears on your front lawn, and we've got quite a show for you. So, hurry up and step right inside, check out the booths and maybe win your lady a stuffed bear!" Today, Slashdot Games is hosting 'The Carnival of Gamers', a roving blog event that collects together some blog entries on gaming written during the previous month. The entries are all self-submitted, and cover everything from the legalities of online currency to the state of videogame reviews. This is a great opportunity to check out some sites you may not have had the chance to read before, and expand your thinking on gaming in society today. Think of it as a large quickies entry, grab your coin purse, and step inside. One of the most common themes among the entries for this month's Carnival was the now 'standard' way we as gamers look at things in the game industry. Both gamers and non-gamers alike have specific views on how games are played, what games are, and the coverage of gaming. Perhaps because of the new year's turning, bloggers wanted to reflect on the way things are normally done.

Mu Productions, for example, has a piece on the future of Machinima, a unique way to 'use' games outside of the norm.

Non-traditional use of games is the center of Press the Buttons' reflection on the 'games can control pain' study that was recently covered here on Slashdot. Using gaming to keep your focus and push away distractions ... I think we've all done that from time to time.

The Game Chair laments the mainstream understanding of games on an airline flight. Does he play his PSP near a young person with 'killer games' in the media?

Tea Leaves challenges the 'hardcore' mentality with a reflection on casual gaming. In his view 'big-box dinosaurs' are an endangered species. Younger, faster, cheaply made casual games will have their day.

Speaking of dinosaurs, Design Synthesis is saddened by the lack of respect we give older games, relegating them to the bargain bin. Where are the gaming museums?

Non-traditional gaming doesn't alway have to be fun. Outside Looking In discusses the JFK: Revolution title and what it could mean, if it weren't a puerile exercise in headline-grabbing. Why not a JFK simulation, but one that could inject some fun into learning history?

On the topic of learning: Late Night PC talks about preparing for a trip to the Game Developer's conference (something I'm going to have to do pretty soon as well).

Psychochild wonders aloud what exactly is a game? As some other entries have already noted, they can be use for more than just 'fun', so what constitutes a game?

Cathode Tan considers games as narrative and games as art in a piece cogitating the often discussed dismissal of games by Roger Ebert.

On the topic of fun: Buttonmashing owns up to an on-the job-Nintendo fix. Nostalgia and pure fun combine in Nintendo's titles: how is that a bad thing?

Finally, on the topic of standards, we come to the topic of game journalism. We've been discussing that a lot lately on Slashdot Games, and three commentators bring up the topic this month in the Carnival. Videogame Media Watch author Kyle Orland digs deep into the 1up DO4 controversy. The Curmudgeon Gamer talks about the *1* problem with gaming journalism, and Continuous Play dispairs in a piece on the state of videogame reviews.

Turning now to virtual worlds, MMOFun talks the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to MMORPG communities. Those selfsame communities can turn on the hand that feeds them, a topic Man Bytes Blog covers in How I learned to Stop Leveling and Love the Nerf Bat.

For a humorous look at community gaming, Kill Ten Rats compares real-life work practices to Raiding. Raiding for the win, apparently.

When Julian Dibbell began talking about online currency being possibly taxable, I know many people desperately cried "Shh! They might hear you!" Play No Evil risks government audit by considering the legitimization of the virtual economy.

On a final general note, Virgin Worlds has a great post looking at some of the best MMOG podcasts around. Well worth listening to if you have a spare ear at work, especially to the sublimely amusing Taverncast.

Commentators couldn't resist talking about their favorite (or least-favorite) massive games, and our last selections this month are all about specific games. Heartless, for example, rips the blood-pumper from Dungeons and Dragons Online. The game, still in Beta, disappointed him by falling short of the pen-and-paper roots he was hoping for.

Darniaq talks about the recent Star Wars Galaxies NGE upgrade. He gives the new content and systems a thorough going-over, and finds both good and bad in the changes to the Galaxy far, far away.

I'll own up to it: I do some extra-curricular blogging myself. I couldn't resist making some doomcasting remarks about the original Everquest. The changes Sony Online seems to be working into all of its games leave but one option for the near future; In my opinion, a graceful shutdown of EQ Live has to be in the cards.

I've said before '5.5 Million people can't be wrong', and our last submissions this month are all about World of Warcraft. Top of Cool concurs with Blizzard's decision about gay guild recruitment in a commentary piece called 'Why Blizzard is Right'. Tobolds talks more traditional games with a Warcraft twist by reviewing the World of Warcraft board game. AFK Gamer has a great, humorous, piece about what he would do if given GM Power in Azeroth.

As you leave the Carnival, for the time being, one last post to consider: Scott Jennings takes a long hard look at the gap between casual players and hardcore raiders in Blizzard's hit MMOG. In his view the only way to fix the gap will require some major surgery. Read the post to find out what sort of stitching it will require.

Many thanks for reading, and I hope you find some of this month's contributors worth adding to your regular browsing habits. If you liked today's post, make sure and make the Carnival of Gamers a part of your monthly reading. Next month the Carnival will be setting up shop at the VirginWorlds blog, on March the 2nd. Until then, the midway is closed.

jvm writes "Are negative reader reviews of the Sony PlayStation Portable (like this one) being yanked from GameFAQs? Some have certainly been removed, and Kyle Orland of the Video Game Ombudsman investigates: one of the reviews which was taken down, an interview with the author of the review, and a subsequent anonymous email purportedly by the person who took the review down. The review's author then responds that the justifications are questionable. Accompanying this is a discussion of the handling of reader-submitted reviews." Update: 04/16 04:53 GMT by Z : Many thanks to CJayC for setting the record straight in the comments below.

jvm writes "Markos of Daily Kos wrote today of what he describes as the legacy of blogging: open source. Not software, but the philosophy. From the article: "When I'm asked about blogging's legacy, I talk about open source. Open source politics, open source activism, open source journalism -- the aggregation of thousands on behalf of a common cause." Relatedly, egoff writes "You might have seen some coverage of Jeff Gannon, a conservative reporter who lobbed softball questions during White House press briefings. It was discovered that he was using an alias to get past White House security. The language of open source development is used throughout their description of the reporting process. At Poynter Online, journalists discussing this story have compared the random blog readers who did the bulk of this research to "what Woodstein did back in the day.""

jvalenzu writes "Matt Matthews is at it again! The venerable owner of curmudgeongamer.com has posted his latest missive, All Emulation is Illegal." From the article: "Now, if this is how we interpret the law, then practically every use of a videogame system emulator is illegal. Even a user who dumps the contents of a videogame cartridge for an Atari 2600 game he owns to a ROM file cannot use that ROM file with an emulator unless the original's loss requires resorting to the archival copy. If true, then even my attempt to stay legal by buying games and only then using an emulator to play them is way out of bounds."

jvm writes "It's about time for the "Best Games of 2004" articles to flood the web, and in preparation Curmudgeon Gamer has assembled Gaming Gaffes of 2004 (alternate link), a followup to our 2003 edition. This year we point to the the EA_spouse blog, the Driv3r review scandal, Sony's hardware missteps, and seven other less than impressive moments from the past year."

jvm writes "It's about time for the "Best Games of 2004" articles to flood the web, and in preparation Curmudgeon Gamer has assembled Gaming Gaffes of 2004 (alternate link), a followup to our 2003 edition. This year we point to the the EA_spouse blog, the Driv3r review scandal, Sony's hardware missteps, and seven other less than impressive moments from the past year."

jvm writes "Attempting to raise the level of the discussion, Dan 'theoddone33' Olson has put together a list of ten critical observations that every potential Linux gamer should consider before buying Transgaming's WINE-based product Cedega (formerly WineX). Dan invites credible rebuttals to the points he's raised. The debate over the value of Cedega/WINE as a solution for the nascent Linux gaming community continues..."

jvm writes "Attempting to raise the level of the discussion, Dan 'theoddone33' Olson has put together a list of ten critical observations that every potential Linux gamer should consider before buying Transgaming's WINE-based product Cedega (formerly WineX). Dan invites credible rebuttals to the points he's raised. The debate over the value of Cedega/WINE as a solution for the nascent Linux gaming community continues..."

jvm writes "Since my current PC is beefy enough to play Doom 3, I began planning for id Software's next game, the one that will come out _after_ Doom 3, so I've worked out the release date and minimum system requirements. It looks like a 3GHz processor and 1.5Gb of RAM just won't cut it in 2007, although the hard disk requirement doesn't hurt too much. Where's this information coming from? From id Software's past game requirements, a couple of exponential and linear models, and some pretty graphs. Start saving for that upgrade now! (Slashdot recently covered the Doom 3 system requirements.)"

jvm writes "Since my current PC is beefy enough to play Doom 3, I began planning for id Software's next game, the one that will come out _after_ Doom 3, so I've worked out the release date and minimum system requirements. It looks like a 3GHz processor and 1.5Gb of RAM just won't cut it in 2007, although the hard disk requirement doesn't hurt too much. Where's this information coming from? From id Software's past game requirements, a couple of exponential and linear models, and some pretty graphs. Start saving for that upgrade now! (Slashdot recently covered the Doom 3 system requirements.)"

jvm writes "Over at Curmudgeon Gamer, there's a new article, 'A Preliminary Game Price Study', that tries to address the question 'How does the price of a $50 game drop after its release?'. Data, graphs and discussion are provided for almost fifty games across the three big consoles (PS2, Xbox, GameCube) over a span of nearly six months. Among other observations, two price drop periods are noted since the beginning of 2004, and for this data set it appears that Xbox games were discounted more on average than GameCube and PS2 games."

jvm writes "Over at Curmudgeon Gamer, there's a new article, 'A Preliminary Game Price Study', that tries to address the question 'How does the price of a $50 game drop after its release?'. Data, graphs and discussion are provided for almost fifty games across the three big consoles (PS2, Xbox, GameCube) over a span of nearly six months. Among other observations, two price drop periods are noted since the beginning of 2004, and for this data set it appears that Xbox games were discounted more on average than GameCube and PS2 games."

jvm writes "Curmudgeon Gamer has posted an interview with Bill Dugan of Treyarch, producer of the new Spider-Man 2 console game, due to launch alongside the movie of the same name this summer. But, that's really just his latest project in an 18 year career in the video game business. During that time he has designed maps (for classic PC RPG Wasteland), programmed (Out of this World), designed a manual (Dragon Wars), voice acted (Stonekeep), and been the producer for several games (No One Lives Forever 2, Descent 3). In this interview he discusses the precise role of a game producer, the history of Wasteland, and perhaps most interestingly, why the game industry is making better games today than it was twenty years ago, despite the complaints of the nostalgic to the contrary."

jvm writes "Curmudgeon Gamer has posted an interview with Bill Dugan of Treyarch, producer of the new Spider-Man 2 console game, due to launch alongside the movie of the same name this summer. But, that's really just his latest project in an 18 year career in the video game business. During that time he has designed maps (for classic PC RPG Wasteland), programmed (Out of this World), designed a manual (Dragon Wars), voice acted (Stonekeep), and been the producer for several games (No One Lives Forever 2, Descent 3). In this interview he discusses the precise role of a game producer, the history of Wasteland, and perhaps most interestingly, why the game industry is making better games today than it was twenty years ago, despite the complaints of the nostalgic to the contrary."

jvm writes "On Curmudgeon Gamer a new analysis article by Kyle Orland examines the recent announcement by the NPD Group that sales of "online-enabled console games" reached $1 billion dollars last year. A rudimentary analysis of the numbers behind the numbers shows that at least a third of those online-enabled games probably aren't being (and probably can't be) played online."

jvm writes "On Curmudgeon Gamer a new analysis article by Kyle Orland examines the recent announcement by the NPD Group that sales of "online-enabled console games" reached $1 billion dollars last year. A rudimentary analysis of the numbers behind the numbers shows that at least a third of those online-enabled games probably aren't being (and probably can't be) played online."

jvm writes "Remember StarROMs, the company selling legal Atari ROM downloads for a few bucks a piece? They're still around and Curmudgeon Gamer posted an interview with StarROMs co-founder Frank Leibly. Have they been successful so far? How can they possibly expect to compete with free downloads? Are they giving money to MAME as promised? And why has their listing of games dropped from about 60 games to just over 50? It's all here. (Slashdot covered their initial launch late last year, and Slashdot Games recently also recounted a different discussion with Leibly.)"

jvm writes "Remember StarROMs, the company selling legal Atari ROM downloads for a few bucks a piece? They're still around and Curmudgeon Gamer posted an interview with StarROMs co-founder Frank Leibly. Have they been successful so far? How can they possibly expect to compete with free downloads? Are they giving money to MAME as promised? And why has their listing of games dropped from about 60 games to just over 50? It's all here. (Slashdot covered their initial launch late last year, and Slashdot Games recently also recounted a different discussion with Leibly.)"

Thanks to Curmudgeon Gamer for its article discussing technical problems with PS2 title Champions of Norrath: Realms of Everquest, and why official reviews of the game didn't seem to mention those problems. According to the writer, who had been "experiencing frustrating lock-ups and hangs which have caused the loss some of my progress through the game", it turns out that "two of the reviewers did see the game hang and didn't mention it in their reviews." However, he argues: "That's a judgment call, really, and since each saw the problem precisely once I can understand leaving it out of the review", and ends by suggesting that "the real burden rests not on the shoulders of the reviewers but on the creators of the game and, potentially, the console itself."

jvm writes "A new article at Curmudgeon Gamer speculates on the prospects for backward compatibility in the upcoming generation of video game consoles. Sony's PlayStation 3 will reportedly play both PSOne and PlayStation 2 games, but how it will achieve this is unknown. Building from the facts we know and the rumored specifications, can we look forward to replaying Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker on the GameCube 2 and Halo on the Xbox 2?"

jvm writes "A new article at Curmudgeon Gamer speculates on the prospects for backward compatibility in the upcoming generation of video game consoles. Sony's PlayStation 3 will reportedly play both PSOne and PlayStation 2 games, but how it will achieve this is unknown. Building from the facts we know and the rumored specifications, can we look forward to replaying Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker on the GameCube 2 and Halo on the Xbox 2?"

jvm writes "This in-depth interview with Aspyr's Glenda Adams over at Curmudgeon Gamer discusses in detail the issues of porting games to the Mac. Starting with Civilization on the Mac LC up through today's Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4, Glenda takes on PC vs. Mac system requirements, how games are selected for porting, patching Mac games, and some thoughts on the future." A notable quote from the interview: "The PC often lets you [code/architect] things in a sloppy manner with little penalty, but then when it gets on the Mac it drags the game down."

jvm writes "This in-depth interview with Aspyr's Glenda Adams over at Curmudgeon Gamer discusses in detail the issues of porting games to the Mac. Starting with Civilization on the Mac LC up through today's Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4, Glenda takes on PC vs. Mac system requirements, how games are selected for porting, patching Mac games, and some thoughts on the future." A notable quote from the interview: "The PC often lets you [code/architect] things in a sloppy manner with little penalty, but then when it gets on the Mac it drags the game down."

jvm writes "In 2001 TransGaming launched their product WineX with the goal of bringing Windows games to Linux with 100% compatibility and speed by building on the WINE project. In a lengthy, critical post, Curmudgeon Gamer uses those three years of perspective to assess the company, its product, and its role in the Linux gaming world. How is compatibility progressing? What about the source release after 20000 subscribers? And what's up with porting games to MacOS X instead of Linux?"

jvm writes "A recent commentary on Curmudgeon Gamer speculates on the future of the videogame market. Among the predictions: no more rentals from video stores, no used games market, no lending games to friends, less upgradeable computers, pay-as-you-play software subscriptions, and other consumer-unfriendly changes. In all, less gaming value for your hard-earned dollar."

jvm writes "A recent commentary on Curmudgeon Gamer speculates on the future of the videogame market. Among the predictions: no more rentals from video stores, no used games market, no lending games to friends, less upgradeable computers, pay-as-you-play software subscriptions, and other consumer-unfriendly changes. In all, less gaming value for your hard-earned dollar."

jvm writes "The Video Game Ombudsman and Curmudgeon Gamer currently have posts with opposing views on the recent and oft-criticized NY Post article about the violence in the Grand Theft Auto series of games. The Ombudsman discourages gamers from getting upset over the 'false and irresponsible' writing in the NY Post, equating it with a 'National Enquirer story saying that video games cause AIDS'. In response, this Curmudgeon says that's plain wrong, that gamers should 'stop dodging the issue' of game violence and 'start talking realistically about degrees of harm, freedoms, and responsibility'. So what's a gamer to do? Ignore the obviously clueless mainstream press or start the soul searching? Oh, and Penny Arcade has its own angle on the perils of dealing with the mainstream press, in response to how the noble Child's Play was represented."

jvm writes "The Video Game Ombudsman and Curmudgeon Gamer currently have posts with opposing views on the recent and oft-criticized NY Post article about the violence in the Grand Theft Auto series of games. The Ombudsman discourages gamers from getting upset over the 'false and irresponsible' writing in the NY Post, equating it with a 'National Enquirer story saying that video games cause AIDS'. In response, this Curmudgeon says that's plain wrong, that gamers should 'stop dodging the issue' of game violence and 'start talking realistically about degrees of harm, freedoms, and responsibility'. So what's a gamer to do? Ignore the obviously clueless mainstream press or start the soul searching? Oh, and Penny Arcade has its own angle on the perils of dealing with the mainstream press, in response to how the noble Child's Play was represented."

jvm writes "It seems that every gaming website has a Best of 2003 feature going now, and we felt that was just too cheery for our tastes. To counter that positive energy, we've assembled Gaming Gaffes of 2003 over at Curmudgeon Gamer, a list of the most embarrassing, disheartening, and bone-headed developments in the game industry over the past year. We've tried to give everyone a little frank criticism, from Sony's PlayStation 2 Online service through the lack of a Loki successor for Linux gaming, as well as specific products like EA's The Sims Online. Did we miss any?"

jvm writes "It seems that every gaming website has a Best of 2003 feature going now, and we felt that was just too cheery for our tastes. To counter that positive energy, we've assembled Gaming Gaffes of 2003 over at Curmudgeon Gamer, a list of the most embarrassing, disheartening, and bone-headed developments in the game industry over the past year. We've tried to give everyone a little frank criticism, from Sony's PlayStation 2 Online service through the lack of a Loki successor for Linux gaming, as well as specific products like EA's The Sims Online. Did we miss any?"

jvm writes "We've all read comments that some videogame sites are allegedly biased for or against some games, consoles, or companies. So, Curmudgeon Gamer has investigated whether bias can be seen in the review scores over several games on each console. The review sites in question are GameSpot, GameSpy, and IGN, each of whom are compared to the game review averages on GameRankings. Additionally, a selection of review scores for crossplatform games are examined. While solid conclusions are difficult to draw and improvements can admittedly be made, perhaps people will find these results interesting to examine and discuss."

jvm writes "As per a previous story, you can now buy some Atari ROMs legally from StarROMs. I've selected 14 games, easily paid for them, downloaded the ROM images, and then played the games. For completeness, I even confirmed with Atari that StarROMs is legit. Now, I've posted on why it's time to pay up or admit you're a pirate."

jvm writes "As per a previous story, you can now buy some Atari ROMs legally from StarROMs. I've selected 14 games, easily paid for them, downloaded the ROM images, and then played the games. For completeness, I even confirmed with Atari that StarROMs is legit. Now, I've posted on why it's time to pay up or admit you're a pirate."

jvm writes "Jeff Vavasour has been working on commercial emulation of arcade games at Digital Eclipse since the mid-1990s and Curmudgeon Gamer just posted an extensive three-part interview with him. The first part is for gearheads, delving into the origins of commercial emulation and the issues emulation vs. simulation. The second part is about the business of emulation, and describes a crisis of confidence in the late 1990s not unlike what the recording industry now faces. (Note, the emulation industry overcame their fear of downloadable ROMs!) The third part asks some personal questions, looks to the future of emulation, and reveals that some long-awaited arcade games may actually receive professional, commercial emulation attention. (Anyone remember I, Robot?)"

jvm writes "Jeff Vavasour has been working on commercial emulation of arcade games at Digital Eclipse since the mid-1990s and Curmudgeon Gamer just posted an extensive three-part interview with him. The first part is for gearheads, delving into the origins of commercial emulation and the issues emulation vs. simulation. The second part is about the business of emulation, and describes a crisis of confidence in the late 1990s not unlike what the recording industry now faces. (Note, the emulation industry overcame their fear of downloadable ROMs!) The third part asks some personal questions, looks to the future of emulation, and reveals that some long-awaited arcade games may actually receive professional, commercial emulation attention. (Anyone remember I, Robot?)"

jvm writes "Jeff Vavasour has been working on commercial emulation of arcade games at Digital Eclipse since the mid-1990s and Curmudgeon Gamer just posted an extensive three-part interview with him. The first part is for gearheads, delving into the origins of commercial emulation and the issues emulation vs. simulation. The second part is about the business of emulation, and describes a crisis of confidence in the late 1990s not unlike what the recording industry now faces. (Note, the emulation industry overcame their fear of downloadable ROMs!) The third part asks some personal questions, looks to the future of emulation, and reveals that some long-awaited arcade games may actually receive professional, commercial emulation attention. (Anyone remember I, Robot?)"

jvm writes "Jeff Vavasour has been working on commercial emulation of arcade games at Digital Eclipse since the mid-1990s and Curmudgeon Gamer just posted an extensive three-part interview with him. The first part is for gearheads, delving into the origins of commercial emulation and the issues emulation vs. simulation. The second part is about the business of emulation, and describes a crisis of confidence in the late 1990s not unlike what the recording industry now faces. (Note, the emulation industry overcame their fear of downloadable ROMs!) The third part asks some personal questions, looks to the future of emulation, and reveals that some long-awaited arcade games may actually receive professional, commercial emulation attention. (Anyone remember I, Robot?)"

jvm writes "Jeff Vavasour has been working on commercial emulation of arcade games at Digital Eclipse since the mid-1990s and Curmudgeon Gamer just posted an extensive three-part interview with him. The first part is for gearheads, delving into the origins of commercial emulation and the issues emulation vs. simulation. The second part is about the business of emulation, and describes a crisis of confidence in the late 1990s not unlike what the recording industry now faces. (Note, the emulation industry overcame their fear of downloadable ROMs!) The third part asks some personal questions, looks to the future of emulation, and reveals that some long-awaited arcade games may actually receive professional, commercial emulation attention. (Anyone remember I, Robot?)"

jvm writes "If you're a gamer with a pulse, you've probably heard about the impending release of Valve's Half-Life 2. As a gamer and a Linux user, I always get a little stirred up about the whole Half-Life situation, where we have a dedicated server but no client. So here's my reflection on the sad situation, past and present. How will the rest of the Linux gaming community react to the release of Half-Life 2? Boot into Windows? Wait for WINE or WineX support? Get the Xbox version? With so many Half-Life servers running on Linux, will the same be true for Half-Life 2?"