It seems that E3 couldnt handle the power load this year. Must be all those teraflops the new PS3 is crunching. Eh, at least it would be interesting finding your way around in the dark. Maybe youll get lucky and "accidentally" bump into a Booth Babe….. Rrrrrrrrrr……

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – It is hard to hold a video game trade show during a power failure, as attendees of the Electronic Entertainment Expo learned the hard way Wednesday, just as the show was getting underway.

Full Scoop at CNN Money.

Download and Fly over 72 different Airplanes!

FREE Events and Prizes for all Prospective Aviators Begins May 20th 2005!

CARY, N.C.-May 11, 2005, – iEntertainment Network, (BB:IENT.pk), the award-winning developer of the World Famous WarBirds TotalSims series, announced that IENT will host a FREE WarBirds 2005 Weekend on May 20th through May 22nd 2005, where all new players can download the Worlds Greatest World War II Flight Simulator, WarBirds 2005, for FREE! Players can also play all TotalSims games online for 3 FREE Days! (Completely FREE, No Credit Card Required!)

On May 20th through May 22nd 2005, there will be massive free online gaming events (no credit card required) for three days in the iEntertainment Online Arenas. Continuous free play will begin at noon, Friday, May 20th. Special events include, T-Shirt Night on Friday where players can win tee shirts for killing various special players. On that Saturday at 3 PM EST, a Dawn of Aces (World War I Combat Flying) event will be held, Armored Assault (Tank Combat) Fight Night will also be held at 9 PM EST on Saturday. On Sunday, May 22nd, three exciting events will be held: the European Micro Campaign at 3 PM EST, the Ferrets Air Race Event will be held at 7 PM, and the Massive Historical Bomber and Fighter Event, the S3, will be held with hundreds of online players at 8:30 PM EST.

Continue reading Free Flight Simulation Game at www.TotalSims.com! →

Put on your thinking caps for this one as it requires a bit of brain power. It seems as though IQ tests scores have been steadily rising during the last several decades in every industrialized country on earth. Are people getting smarter? Is our education system improved? Do kids study more? No! One researcher believes that life, and video games in particular, better prepares us for IQ tests now:

“Over the last 50 years, weve had to cope with an explosion of media, technologies, and interfaces, from the TV clicker to the World Wide Web. And every new form of visual media – interactive visual media in particular – poses an implicit challenge to our brains: We have to work through the logic of the new interface, follow clues, sense relationships. Perhaps unsurprisingly, these are the very skills that the Ravens tests measure – you survey a field of visual icons and look for unusual patterns.”

“The best example of brain-boosting media may be videogames. Mastering visual puzzles is the whole point of the exercise – whether its the spatial geometry of Tetris, the engineering riddles of Myst, or the urban mapping of Grand Theft Auto.”

You can read the entire (and very interesting) article in Issue 13.05 of Wired

Link found via BoingBoing as usual 🙂

I bought the first Battlefront. I played it one night, put it away and never touched it again. Its funny, but I had more fun playing the Battlefield 42 mod Galactic Conquest than I did playing this professional game.

I am a fair person. Ill reserve judgement until I get to play the game. The bar has been set pretty low based on your first game. I hope you can do better the second time.

What the full PR scoop? Click Read More….. Continue reading Lucasarts Announces Star Wars Battlefront II →

Recently released info on the upcoming Quake IV.

QUAKE 4 Updated Info

The Strogg are quickly regrouping. However, with the Stroggs planetary defenses still destroyed, Earths forces can deliver a full and final assault. This time, youre not alone. You are Matthew Kane, an elite member of Rhino Squad, and part of Earths next invasion wave. An army of soldiers are fighting with you and an arsenal of weapons and vehicles are at your disposal in this heroic and epic battle between worlds.

For Your Viewing Please, Check Out This 5.5MB image from the upcoming release of Quake IV. Blow it up and check out those viens and nipples. Woohoo! Dont get too excited Duck……. 😉

The Battlegroup 42 mod team has posted a significant update on their activities for both their BF42 and BFV mods. This includes tweaks to specific tanks, anti-tank rifles and rockets, better heavy machinegun kits, and changes to both older and newer maps for the upcoming BG42 1.1.1 patch.

They also show off some of their mapping work for the BG42:V mod which will focus on the pacific theatre to start, will include the Battlefield Vietnam style kit choices, and includes at least one map with tunnels (cool!).

Also included is information on forum location changes and personnel changes.

Read the entire release and look at the screenshots here

I must say I am excited for some new work from these guys. Will let everyone know if I find a release date or the like for these mods.

While opening All Seeing Eye tonight, I was informed it was purchased by Yahoo!. I browsed to the ASE website http://www.udpsoft.com/eye2/ to find out more. There is only one thread where a “Yahoo Rep” claims Yahoo! plans to change very little. Lets keep our eye on this one and Yahoo! doesnt decide ASE would be good Ad-ware.

Filefront has posted a “F! True Game Story” relating to the development of Guildwars and the people and ideas behind that MMORPG. Basically they are intending to build a MMORGP that isnt just fun for people who play it for every waking hour of the day. Very interesting read even for those of us who arent playing World of Warcrack, uh… I mean Warcraft. 🙂

F! True Game Story – Guild Wars

It is being reported that Pantera Guitarist Dimebag Darrell and another member of his band Damageplan were killed while playing on stage tonight at about 10pm in Columbus, Ohio. A third person identified as the shooter who ran up on stage and opened fire was also killed.

Here is a little more information.

Update to the story posted last night from the associated press:

The guitarists brother, Vinnie Paul Abbott, the drummer for Damageplan, was rushed to safety offstage and tearfully tried to learn his brothers fate from officers who couldnt even tell him which hospital he was taken to.

Read a lot more information here.

Be sure and read our more informative news story here

An article over at Sudhian some pretty detailed information on the differences between Doom 3 and Half-Life 2.

In an effort to not start another “ is better then ” war, I am going to just give you the link to the article 🙂

http://www.sudhian.com/showdocs.cfm?aid=626

ATI is about to announce it, but someone already has info on it…

Information on the ATI X850 is about to be given out to the public and The Inquirer has some great information already.

“BEFORE ATI briefs the press tomorrow under non disclosure agreement, and in Munich, wed like to share all we know about the R480, Radeon X850 series of cards.”

Check out their article: http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=19813

Pricing Info: http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=19816

Note: As stated in their article, the new cards are PCIe only. About to time start upgrading that motherboard people!

Slashdot held an interview with Jack Emmert [Lead Designer for City of Heros] allowing Slashdot users to ask questions.

The result is a very good Q&A session on where CoH is looking to go.

Check it out here: http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/18/1728204

Wired News has a good article giving general information on the SP gameplay and a pretty good smack on the MP gameplay.

“The single-player campaign for Halo 2 is like an air horn on its last gasp: It starts out bold and brassy but ends in a sad little squeak. The online component of Halo 2 is like an exclusive restaurant: It takes a while to get in, and you dont have as much say in the menu as you might like, but the results are good enough that you dont care.”

Read the full article here: http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,65732,00.html