5 Memorable Gaming Moments Of The Decade

Fortunately for the readers here at GamingAngels.com, I won’t mention any half-asian athletes that rhyme with “Lyger.” I won’t be talking about celebrity offspring living better than most of us ever will. I won’t be talking about the mass confusion that swarmed my brain when Obama was handed the Nobel Peace Prize after deploying 30,000 troops. Kinda makes you feel depressed, doesn’t it? For now, let’s talk pure games. 2000-2009 really evolved the gaming world; The industry became rich women gamers and developers, the quintessential “superhero” game proved it didn’t have to be forgettable, Sony learned they couldn’t rule the coop by their past alone, and concepts like ProjectNatal and OnLive turned the gears of our imagination. 2010 is here, ladies and gentleman. A new decade is upon us, but before we journey to the end of the road, there is a quintessential article to be written about the good, the

Read more →

FTC says Video Game Industry leads in Empowering Parents

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has released a new report praising the Computer and Video Game Industry for empowering parents in purchasing items for their children. The FTC says that the industries “outpaces” other entertainment industries in restricting target-marketing of mature-rated products to children. The FTC also applauded the efforts of the Entertainment Software Ratings Board who just released an iPhone App where parents can check ratings. “The Commission commends the ESRB for its new online ratings summaries, which provide a more detailed explanation of the content that factored into a game’s rating. This tool should enhance parental understanding of the ratings and the ratings process.” “The computer and video game industry leads all others in ensuring its products are marketed appropriately and is the gold standard for others to follow,” said Michael D. Gallagher, president and CEO of the ESA, the U.S. association representing computer and video game software

Read more →

North Carolina voters support Video Game Regulation

The Video Game industry in North Carolina should definitely be concerned. The people of North Carolina seem to be coming at you with pitchforks in hand. A recent statewide poll shows that voters want to tax and regulate the video gaming industry. But why would this even come up? Because voters would rather tax the state’s video game industry than see their own state sales or income taxes get raised. 77% of likely voters support taking the video game industry which will add nearly $500 million in new revenue to the state without raising taxes. “Video gaming is here in North Carolina, and if you want accountability and transparency, then you need to regulate it and tax it,” said William Thevaos, president of the Entertainment Group of North Carolina. “These numbers reflect the public’s strong sentiment supporting the regulation and taxation of the video gaming industry in the state,” said

Read more →

SIEGE 2009

Nestled in metro Atlanta, this year’s Southern Interactive Entertainment & Game Expo (lovingly known as SIEGE) was my first of many experiences to come with Georgia’s booming gaming industry. This year, the overall theme of the weekend was connections – meeting like-minded individuals, having discussions after the panels have ended, making new friends and opening up to the rest of the community. SIEGE is very much an industry event. It is put on every year by the Georgia Game Developers Association, a non-profit organization dedicated to the growth and development of the electronic and video gaming businesses and professionals in the state. Local studios such as Hi-Rez, CCP/White Wolf, Silly Monkey and Tripwire attended this year, as did representatives from the several local colleges and universities which offer game design or related industry courses. Over a 48 hour period, beginning Friday afternoon and ending Sunday afternoon, several panels and round-tables

Read more →

“Rapelay” – The Aftermath

“Rapelay,” a Japanese Hentai title by Illusion Soft, casually bypassed the Amazon Marketplace early 2009 and with little effort, “Rape Lay” became the core of industry controversy and a leading example of questionable content in video-games.  Admittedly, from a Journalist’s perspective, it’s always been uncommon for me to shy away from what is widely-regarded as politically incorrect or inhumane considering this subject is befitting for a curiously concerned mind however, It’s careless presentation to ordinary consumers understandably spawned ridicule and heavy debate over its casual approach toward violent, disturbing, and immoral sexual acts. Still, others deemed the sudden up-roar over “Rape Lay” as undeserving and essentially pointless, where concerned parents and censorship nuts unrightfully chose to burden themselves with bias and singularity. While I choose to explore this topic and all my topics with a liberated mind, I remain confused on the alarming amount of consumers, gamers or otherwise, who

Read more →

Yahtzee Croshaw brings Mogworld to Dark Horse

Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw is making another move and it’s outside of the video game industry. His debut Novel, Mogworld will be published by Dark Horse Books. Mogworld is a comedic (do you expect anything else?) fantasy novel covering the story of Jim that after dying is brought back to life by a renegade necromancer. Jim wants to die properly but he’s a minor character in a MMORPG. “I love Zero Punctuation, and I had asked Yahtzee to pitch us a book about video games,” explains Mogworld editor Rachel Edidin. “The last thing I expected was a novel draft! And the next thing I knew, I was taking the manuscript home with me—less to finish it than because I had to see what happened next.” Says Croshaw, “I’ve been trying to write novels ever since I first read Hitchhiker’s Guide at the age of eight, so this is a pretty big

Read more →

Ubisoft announces more details for R.U.S.E.

Ubisoft announced details today about it’s upcoming strategy game, R.U.S.E.. At E3, Ubisoft showed R.U.S.E. in closed doors on a Microsoft Surface table. Now Ubisoft announces that they will be using the multitouch capabilities of Windows 7 to bring it to gamers’ homes. “Making images interactive is at the core of the video game industry, and over the last few years we have been striving to make this interactivity as intuitive and direct as possible. Today, thanks to Windows 7 and its full multitouch support, the barrier between the player and the image has been removed: they become one”, said John Parkes, EMEA marketing director. “As a strategy game relying on a clean and intuitive interface built around the zoom, R.U.S.E. was the perfect candidate for Ubisoft to demonstrate how multitouch improves and streamlines the way games are played”. Ubisoft is working closely with Microsoft to make sure the experience

Read more →

Getting Girls in the Game

Formally launched at SIEGE 2009, Getting Girls in the Game is an initiative started by project directors Abigail Joslin and Andrew Greenberg to provide a mentorship program for females who are trying to break into the gaming industry. As statistics show, less than 10 percent of the gaming industry is comprised of females, and that is including administrative, human resources and marketing departments. Encouraging females to pursue technology careers is wonderful, but what happens when there is no one to help those young professional break into a male dominated field? Getting Girls in the Game is not only a mentorship program, but also the foundation to start a community for women in all positions. From professionals working in the industry, to students and young women stepping foot into a new career. Even though it is a two year mentoring and portfolio development program, the goal is that all participants in

Read more →

Beckett features Top Women of MMOs

The November/December 2009 issue of Beckett Massive Online Gamer features the top women in online gaming with their article, “Top 10 Most Influential Women of MMOs”. The article does not feature scantily clad women characters in MMOs, this article is the real deal featuring the women that work in the online game industry. “We polled industry veterans and the IDGA’s [International Game Developers Association] Women in Games SIG, as well as MOG readers,” writes the article’s author, Carolyn Koh. “The response was gratifying and included 20-year veterans, as well as newcomers showing more and more of their creative ideas and their potential every day.” The women highlighted are: Yvonne Bridges, Tracy Steamster (Zenimax/Behesda Softworks), Kristen Demeza, Melissa Meyer (Blizzard Entertainment), Torrie Dorrell, Laralyn McWilliams, Rosie Rappaport (Sony Online Entertainment), Irina Pereira (38 Studios), Em Stock (Paragon Studios), and Courtney Brown Simmons (Disney Interactive). The magazine can be found in most

Read more →

Visceral looking for help for Dead Space sequel

According to a job posting on Linked In, Visceral Games is looking for some help to work on a sequel to Dead Space. This M-rated action/shooter sequel will set new standards for an action-packed story-driven console experience. The game is in the later stages of pre-production, ready for production in the next few months, with many of the navigational and combat mechanics in place. We have complete autonomy and creative control over our own decisions. The Games Label at EA is 100% committed to this IP, and has already worked on IP extensions such as comic, animated features, and action figures. The position is in the Redwood City, CA location and was posted on September 4. So if you are interested, you may want to respond right away. [source via Superannuation]

Read more →