United Gamer Online (UGO)

– 1 hr 27 mins ago

NEW YORK – Electronic Arts is bringing its popular "Madden" football game to Facebook. "Madden NFL Superstars" launches as a free application Tuesday.

The game lets players create fantasy teams featuring more than 1,500 current NFL players from this year's team rosters. The fantasy teams compete with one another on Facebook. Or, they can play against fantasy versions of the season's actual NFL teams.

Electronic Arts Inc. plans to make money from the game by letting players pay nominal amounts of money for better players and other game content. Those microtransactions are expected to add up, though the majority of players are expected to play the game without paying a dime.

"NFL Superstars," which comes a week before the football season kicks off, follows EA's "FIFA Superstars" soccer game for Facebook. That game has about 4 million players.

EA Sports President Peter Moore said the idea is to bring "Madden" to a broader audience beyond the fans of the console version, which sells about 5 million to 6 million units each year and can be complicated to play.

"NFL Superstars" was created by EA Sports and Playfish, the social game company EA bought last year for $275 million.

by Ben Silverman
Love playing your Xbox 360 games online? Join the crew...and please have your credit card handy, because Microsoft would like to have a word with it.

Specifically, the word "more."
On Monday, the company announced plans to raise the price of the Xbox Live Gold membership, making it the online network's first fee hike in its eight-year history. Beginning November 1, gamers in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the U.K. will have to fork over at least $10 extra per year to enjoy the premium service, which is required for playing games with (or against) pals online.

In the U.S., the annual subscription plan -- once $49.99, soon to be $59.99 -- will remain far and way the most economical. The monthly plan will see a $2 bump ($9.99/month, or $120/year), while the three-month plan will jump $5 ($24.99/month, or $100/year).

Why the sudden hike? To Xbox Live spokesman Major Nelson, someone has to pay for all the stuff they keep adding to the network, right?

"Since launching Xbox LIVE in 2002 we have continually added more content and entertainment experiences for our members, while keeping the price the same," he said. "We’re confident that when the new pricing takes effect, an Xbox LIVE Gold membership will continue to offer the best value in the industry."

Well, that's one way to look at it. Another way to look at it is that Microsoft remains the only one of the big three console makers to charge a fee for online play. While Sony's recently-released "Playstation Plus" upgrade gives gamers access to premium content, playing games online is still entirely free for all users. And though the Wii has lagged behind in the online gaming field, the relatively few games that support online play don't cost players extra.

But with blockbuster multiplayer games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 selling like hotcakes on the 360, Microsoft hasn't had a hard time convincing users to pay up. According to Bloomberg, a good 25 million Xbox 360 owners went Gold in the last fiscal year, netting the company about $600 million in fees alone and accounting for roughly half of Microsoft's estimated $1.2 billion in revenue via the online service. With the Xbox 360 topping charts in July and surefire seller Halo: Reach arriving September 14th, the company might need to buy a bigger wallet.

It's not all doom and gloom for 360 gamers, however. In a half-hearted attempt to make amends for the rate increase, Microsoft is letting current U.S. Xbox Live Gold members lock in one more year of membership for $39.99, a $20 premium over the coming price. Not bad, but an even thriftier move is to snap up a few discounted pre-paid cards at online retailers like Amazon. Redeem one now, then save one for next year to renew at the discounted price again. Sneaky...and sure to vanish quickly, so hop to it.

by Joe Dodson
August 27 3:48 P.M.

Ever wonder who writes fakes user reviews on the Internet? So does the United States Federal Trade Commission, and they've found their first answer: Reverb Communications.
A high-profile public relations firm in the video game industry, Reverb Communications represents major clients like Harmonix and MTV Games, as well as their products, such as Rock Band. They also represent smaller studios that sell games through the iTunes Store, and that, according to The New York Times, is where they ran afoul of the FTC.

In a recently filed complaint, the FTC pointed out that Reverb's fee for representing clients' games "often includes a percentage of the sales of its clients’ gaming applications." In other words, Reverb has a financial interest in the sales of games it represents. With that established, the FTC claimed:

"From approximately November 2008 through May 2009, Reverb employees, including individual Respondent Tracie Snitker, and company managers, posted public reviews about Reverb’s clients’ gaming applications in the iTunes store. These reviews were posted using account names that would give the readers of these reviews the impression they had been submitted by disinterested consumers."

According to the FTC, Reverb employees posed as regular users and posted fake user reviews about their clients' games on the iTunes store. This is backed up, in the complaint, by a small sample of reviews the FTC claims were written by Reverb, including:

“Amazing new game”

“ONE of the BEST”

>“[Developer of gaming application being reviewed] hits another home run with [gaming application being reviewed]”>

“Really Cool Game”

“GREAT, family-friendly board game app”

“One of the best apps just got better”

“[Developer of gaming application being reviewed] does it again!”

The FTC withheld the names of the games that Reverb was reviewing, as well as the identities of the clients for whom they were posting reviews. They also stopped short of court, allowing Reverb to settle.

According to the New York Times, the PR firm "agreed to remove all of the iTunes reviews that appeared to have been written by ordinary people but were actually written by employees of the company." Reverb does not have to pay a fine, though the firm does have to make its interests clear in any future product endorsements.

Stacey Ferguson, a lawyer in the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, said of the settlement "We hope that this case will show advertisers that they have to be transparent in their practices and help guide other ad agencies."

Reverb, on the other hand, posed the settlement in a different light, stating "Rather than continuing to spend time and money arguing, and laying off employees to fight what we believed was a frivolous matter, we settled this case and ended the discussion."

The FTC’s actions against Reverb are the result of new guidelines published in October of 2009, which are the first of their kind since 1980. Greeted with skepticism and dismay by many bloggers, it was feared that the new rules would enable the FTC to seek sanctions against any writer who reviewed products they received for free, a common practice in many industries.

By JAKE COYLE, AP Entertainment Writer Jake Coyle, Ap Entertainment Writer – Mon Aug 30, 2:02 am ET

Few places in broadcasting are more likely to exhibit an awkward relationship with social media than award shows. They have all tried various gimmicks, and those trotted out Sunday night by the Emmys fell flat.

There was reason to have hoped for better this time.

Hosting was Jimmy Fallon, an avid Twitter user with nearly 2.8 million followers and whose "Late Night" show has successfully embraced social media.

Award shows, too, have become thoroughly aware of the importance of social media. Ratings for award shows in the past year — the Oscars, the Grammys, the Golden Globes — have been up, and some have attributed the boost in viewership to the Internet. Many viewers follow the chatter online while watching the broadcast.

But while the initial reviews for the 62nd annual Emmy Awards have been mostly positive, the low point, some say, was the clunky insertion of Twitter to the NBC broadcast. Fallon gathered submissions from Twitter for introductions to Emmy presenters like Stephen Colbert and Jon Hamm.

One example, as read by Fallon: "Tina Fey: I'd hit that."

On Twitter — where one might have expected celebration — the reaction was largely negative.

"I feel like these tweets are selected with the intention of making Fallon look much funnier in comparison," wrote Lauren Angeline.

TV producer Tom Costello wrote: "Was the thought process behind the whole `Fallon reads tweets' idea that he would only read the dumbest ones submitted?"

Critics agreed. Chicago Tribune media columnist Phil Rosenthal wondered if Fallon's tweet reading was "NBC's contribution to an otherwise excellent show." New York Times critic Mike Hale went even further, pondering whether it was "proving something about the ultimate incompatibility of television and the Internet."

The Emmys other promoted attempt at interactivity was a backstage broadcast that aired at Emmys.com, NBC.com and Ustream.com. Cameras were positioned in places like the green room (where presenters wait before going on stage), the control room and the producer's table.

The results largely consisted of watching people watch the TV broadcast. You could see little more than Matthew Perry sitting and watching a monitor, or Tina Fey getting her hair done.

Previous award shows — especially MTV's Video Music Awards and Movie Awards — have experimented with something like this, but they're unlikely to provide much entertainment until an award show devotes itself to full transparency — and that's not likely to ever happen. Right now, any online bells and whistles are designed to merely funnel viewers to the broadcast.

The Emmys also employed a backstage "Thank You Cam" that doubles as online enticement and a bit of guilt relief for producers who quickly usher winners off the stage. The Academy Awards have done this, too, but the effect is slight.

Winners are mostly too dazed to even fathom the meaning of a "Thank You Cam," let alone gather their thoughts for a second acceptance speech. After accepting the award for best supporting actress in a comedy ("Glee"), Jane Lynch told the camera: "I just won the Emmy for ... what did I win it for?"

The "Breaking Bad" winning actors, Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul, took to the "Thank You Cam" together and treated it with little respect.

Cranston: "Do you have anything to be thankful of?"

Paul: "Your love, really."

Cranston, with mock sheepishness: "Not now."

As usual, the most effective Emmy interactivity came not from these official channels but the less-controlled instant commentary across social media, which continues to add another layer to the viewing experience.

Fallon and John Hodgman (who served as the broadcast announcer) tweeted before and during the show, frequently revealing candid and comical insight: a video documenting pre-show jitters, a photo of a Ricky Gervais' stand-in, and, of course, wise observations like this tweet from Hodgman: "That Tom Hanks is a nice gentleman."

by Terrence O'Brien on August 23, 2010 at 01:50 PM
We've dug our heels in as decidedly pro when it comes to the debate over whether or not video games are art. And, although we're not desperate for additional support, our argument has gotten a serious boost from Wabash College in Indiana. Wabash's incoming freshmen are now assigned the classic first-person puzzler 'Portal' as required "reading." Professor Michael Abbot pushed to have the game added to the curriculum for "Enduring Questions," a required seminar for all new students that acclimates them to critical readings and discussions in a college environment.

The game is being used specifically as a companion piece to Erving Goffman's 'Presentation of Self in Everyday Life.' After reading the landmark sociology tome, students will play through 'Portal' as an interactive illustration of the struggle over perception at the heart of 'Presentation.' Using a video game to augment the interpretation of a traditional text seems like an ideal way to ease both students and educators into the act of "reading" video games. In a blog post, Abbot says he considered including a game as a stand-alone assignment (as apparently 'Bioshock' was on the short list of candidates, too), but, in the end, decided to go with 'Portal' and 'Presentation' because they make "a good first impression." This is just one more feather in the cap of the video game, which, in just 40 short years, has gone from a type of mindless timewaster to a legitimate art medium, worthy of being taught in institutions of higher education. Check out our list of other games we think are perfect for college "readings" after the break.

More Games that Belong in the Classroom
FalloutFallout 3
'Fallout 3's' open ended game play and meticulously designed retro-futuristic, post-apocalyptic world are just begging for serious examination of its questions about morals, discrimination and loyalty and offer plenty of opportunities for self exploration.
Hateris, First Person Tetris, Tuper Tario Tros.
Games like 'Hatetris,' 'First Person Tetris' and 'Tuper Tario Tros.' turn seemingly sacrosanct elements of our digital pop culture consciousness from enjoyable time wasters to exercises in futility. Is it art? Or is it just cruel?
Bloom, Electroplankton, Moondust
Generative music games like 'Bloom' and 'Electroplankton' deserve a home in both art and composition classrooms. Their pre-cursor, 'Moondust,' has even been displayed in art galleries.

Grand Theft Auto
The 'Grand Theft Auto' series draws so much attention for its moral ambiguity that it's easy to miss that it's more immersive and cinematic than most major motion pictures.


Ico
'Ico' helped kick off the video games as art debate back in 2001. The simple game play mechanics kept focus on the beautiful setting and compelling story.

ImmorTall
'ImmorTall' takes the passive, minimal game play and limited use of narrative in 'Ico' to it's logical extreme. You act only defensively to save a family trapped in some unidentified war-torn region.

Machinarium
The story in 'Machinarium' is told exclusively through pictographs. There are no written words and no spoken dialog. Yet thanks to its stunning art work and carefully constructed sequence the game is constantly compelling.

Bioshock
'Bioshock' raises serious questions about morality, community and individual freedom versus responsibility. And it does all this against the backdrop of a carefully crafted, Ayn Rand inspired underwater city.

Braid
'Braid' is, on it's surface, a simple puzzler and platformer in which you must save a princess from a monster. However, vague clues leave the true interpretation of the plot up for serious debate.

P0nd
We credited 'P0nd' with officially ending the are video games art debate sometime back and stand by it. We don't want to ruin anything about this stunning work, just go play it for yourself.


The Graveyard
'The Graveyard' is odd, short and honestly, barely a game. But there is no denying its originality.

by Josh Lowensohn

Last century's cash crops included tobacco, cotton, and sugar cane. Now we have magic cauliflower and super berries, too--and even though they can't be sold at market, some people still toil from dawn to dusk cultivating them.

People spend not just real time but also real money growing these crops in virtual farming games that combine the allure of both games and social networking in what is usually a cute and deceptively simple package. They can be addictive: many users come back at least once a day to micromanage their farms and deal with other users' requests.

On average, the users of these types of games are spending anywhere from a few minutes a game to the greater part of an hour. Indeed, one individual who CNET spoke with said that it's all she does between waking up and going to bed--and that's every every day of the week.

The companies behind these titles are raking in millions of dollars from people who toil on land that doesn't even exist, and that number continues to grow. A research report from eMarketer in June said social games generated more than $725 million last year in the U.S. alone and projected three times that revenue in 2011.

One of the most popular social-gaming titles is FarmVille, a game designed by San Francisco-based Zynga that users can play in Facebook and on iPhones. More than 63 million active users each month spend an average of 15 minutes a day in the game, Zynga told CNET News. Typical activities for these users involve planting and harvesting crops, reorganizing, and helping to tend friends' neighboring farms.

The game can be played for free, but players can get an edge by paying. Farm cash and farm coins can be purchased for anywhere from $1 to $50 in real money via credit card, PayPal, and Facebook's Credits currency platform. With the virtual money, people can accelerate play or purchase goods that otherwise would take longer to acquire. It's only for the most involved, though.

"The large majority of our players never pay anything to play our games," Zynga told CNET, and that those who do account for only a "small percentage."

One of those players in the small percentage we'll call Katie S. She told CNET her daily FarmVille routine consists of waking up around 10 a.m. and proceeding to play the game until well past midnight, though her sessions can often go longer.

"I've been known to stay up all night until at least 5 or 6 a.m. if a new feature is out, and I'm excited about it," she said.

Since beginning to play the game last August, she's reached an unusually high level 111 in the game--40 levels beyond where the game offers incentives in the form of newly unlocked features. And she's spent about $2,000 on in-game currency expenses--roughly $100 a month.

"I justify this as being my only source of entertainment, and I'm forgoing movies and dinners out, so it's OK," she told us.

Before playing FarmVille, Katie said, she spent 18 months playing Zynga's Mafia Wars game before quitting cold turkey. "I realized I hated it. It wasn't cute. It wasn't even fun--just addicted clicking," she said. Katie also said that she plays a handful of other online games including PopCap's Bejeweled Blitz, which can also be played on Facebook and as of April had an average play time of 43 minutes a day by its users.

Not the only farm in town
FarmVille's dominance of the social-farming games world hasn't gone unchallenged. We Rule, an iPhone and iPad-only game developed by San Francisco-based Ngmoco long after Zynga's FarmVille took hold, now has more than 3 million registered users. They've spent 2.2 billion minutes harvesting crops, erecting buildings, and sending jobs to fellow players. The current average time spent playing the game is 45 minutes per user, per day--well over FarmVille's 15 minutes.

More staggering than these numbers is the size and economic force these virtual worlds now command. "If you assume the world of We Rule has a sense of real-world scale to it, people have laid enough roads to wrap around the Earth three times," Ngmoco's vice president of marketing Clive Downie said in an interview.
We Rule users have invested several million real-world dollars in virtual currency called Mojo, Downie said, and the combined wealth and spending of We Rule users continues to grow. Estimating the worth of one piece of Mojo at around 20 cents, "the active Mojo in the system right now is worth well over $6.8 million," he said.

Downie was eager to point out that the company gives Mojo away for free as players ascend to higher levels and attain various promotions, just as Zynga does with its FarmVille players. Mojo is also sold in-game; its price per unit can vary based on how much of it a player is purchasing at a time. This lands anywhere from 99 cents for just five units, all the way up to $49.99 for a "vintage" bottle that contains 800 Mojo. In We Rule's sister game called "We Farm," which was build using the same engine and employs similar game techniques, its Mojo equivalent "Gro" can be purchased in bulk at up to $99.99 as an in-app purchase.

So what's the most someone has spent on Mojo?

Try more than $12,000. "We're very grateful to those people, obviously. We don't sit and laugh about that and say, 'Ha ha, aren't we lucky?' That's serious business. We're providing a serious piece of entertainment for people, and that's why we're passionate each and every single day," Downie said.

Spending that much money on any game raises a question of longevity--how long will these titles exist, especially when they rely so heavily on a server farm that might share its CPU cycles and capacity with future titles. Downie offers reassurances: "We are dedicated to this game as not just a forerunner in the freemium space, but also as a foundational franchise for Ngmoco,"he said. "I hope we're never done."

Hobby versus addiction
While the amount of money spent within these "freemium" games can be surprising, what scares some about them is the time people are putting into it and the real-life activities they can end up replacing.

"The best example of this is on WowDetox.com," author and addiction and recovery consultant Ryan G. Van Cleave told CNET. "The first entry on there is someone who missed his son's fifth birthday because he was on a guild raid. He spent all day playing WoW [World of Warcraft] and admits that he was more excited to play it than he was for his kid's birthday."

WowDetox is a place for recovering World of Warcraft addicts to share their stories with the same kind of openness and support you'd find at a drug counseling group. To date, there are now more than 45,000 such stories left by users. And while WoW differs from these social-farming games, in Van Cleave's opinion, they're not all that different. "In my mind, these games pose a bigger problem, because of that sense of community and belonging that they bring. Those are the games that are the most addictive," he said.

Van Cleave, who recently wrote "Unplugged: My journey into the dark world of video game addiction," says that part of the allure of any game--but especially social games--is that people live unexciting lives.

"The technology is so impressive too,. We're darn near virtual reality, which you can see with 3D movies in the theaters, and today's games are keeping up with that," he said. "The experience with games is similar--we have this dopamine flowing through our bodies, and we're seeking future instances of that rush. But you never get it like you do those first couple of times."

If that sounds like something you'd hear from a drug addict, it's because some of the symptoms and habits people develop with game addictions are shared. "The early warning signs of game addiction are behavioral," Van Cleave said. "If a person is kept from gaming, they become irritable. And just like an old lady who gets behind the wheel of a car and drives like an animal, you get these good kids or adults who play video games and exhibit destructive behavior."
Van Cleave explained that one of the biggest warning signs is when someone lies about how much they game. "With so many levels of deception and lying, you're in way deep," he said. That's harder with social gaming, where user activity is largely public; games like FarmVille show players' actions inside the Facebook news stream. Users can play the title with some level of secrecy, though they have the potential to reap much larger rewards by sharing those experiences with other users.

"I suppose you can play without your friends' help, but it would be seriously slower play, and without much of the cool features that you just absolutely need help from others to complete," Katie had said over our e-mail exchange. "Some people are just so concerned about keeping their Facebook [profile] private, and with just friends, but just get so frustrated because they can't level up or get anything done, and end up adding tons of strangers."

Katie said one of the main reasons she keeps coming back is for the friends she's made. Before FarmVille they'd all been strangers, but now they rely on her for help maintaining their own farms. "They can be entertaining at times, too," she said. Another factor is how much she's already invested--both in time and money--and that she simply likes to "be the best" at games.

Katie explained that her family has been supportive of her playtime. For instance, her husband brings dinner to her while she's still on the computer when he gets home from work. She's also got extra time on her hands while searching for a teaching job, which she fills not just with FarmVille play, but administrating a handful of fan and how-to sites, including an entire Farmville page on the how-to site Wonderhowto.com and one for Zynga's sister game FrontierVille. She also began her own FrontierVille site that she plans to help roll into a published eBook.

These exploits arguably fall into line with something Van Cleave had said about how people can be heavy gamers and still find balance. "I know plenty of people with other activities and interests, their health, family, friends, and work, and who game 10 to 25 hours a week. And on top of that, they're good parents, they have a good job. That sounds pretty healthy to me," he said.

But that doesn't mean it works for everyone. "It's really going to be the person and the dangers. The hard thing going forward is to get society to the point where people get the courage to come out and say they have a problem and not get laughed at," said Van Cleave.

Katie says she might one day give up her FarmVille kick, but not just yet.

"I've had a few friends say 'bye' to the game so they could get back to 'real life.' I'm wondering when I'll get there," she said. "But with the blogs now, too, I'm in it for quite a while longer."

Josh Lowensohn writes about Web start-ups, video games, multimedia tools, and the occasional robot. He joined CNET in 2006, and posts to the Web Crawler and Webware blogs. E-mail Josh, or follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/Josh.

By SIGAL RATNER-ARIAS, AP Entertainment Writer Fri Aug 27, 2:49 AM PDT

Don't underestimate her just because she's a little girl. "Dora The Explorer" is a multibillion-dollar franchise that may be creating a more enlightened generation, more open to different people and cultures not their own.

Ten years have passed since the Latina Dora became the first bilingual heroine of children's TV and conquered the hearts of kids around the world. Nickelodeon has celebrated the anniversary with a one-hour special that features the voices of Rosie Perez, John Leguizamo and Hector Elizondo, and a documentary with comments from Dora herself, the series' creators, experts from the industry, real-life kids and celebrities such as Salma Hayek and Shakira.

"I think that the fact that kids are identifying with a kid with darker color skin that speaks another language (shows they are more open)," said Chris Gifford, one of the show's creators and executive producers. "Kids want their parents to read them the books and watch Dora with them. ... That's what it's about."

"Dora The Explorer" is seen today in 151 markets and is translated to 30 languages. In English-speaking countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Ireland, Dora teaches Spanish; in other markets — including the Hispanic U.S. markets — the adventurous little girl teaches English.

According to Nickelodeon, "Dora" has generated over $11 billion in worldwide sales since 2002, having sold 65 million units of Fisher Price Dora the Explorer toys, 50 million books and over 20 million DVDs worldwide. In France, publishing house Albin Michel has sold more than 12 million educational Dora books since its launch — or one Dora book for every child in France, the network points out.

Yet, the original idea for the show had nothing to do with a bilingual girl.

"She didn't start as a Latina or a heroine — she was a forest animal," said co-creator and executive producer Valerie Walsh Valdes. "Nickelodeon actually asked us to consider making her a Latina because a recent study said that there were no positive bilingual characters on children's television."

So producers turned to such experts as historian Carlos E. Cortes, author of "The Children Are Watching" and "The Making — and Remaking — of a Multiculturalist."

"He was absolutely instrumental in helping us find the best way to put Dora forward in terms of culture," said Gifford. Cortes advised that Dora should always be inclusive, so producers decided not to give her a particular country of origin.

"I am delighted with the way 'Dora' has come out, particularly the impact it seems to be having in young people," said Cortes, professor emeritus of history at the University of California, Riverside. "The Latino kids take pride having Dora as a lead character and non-Latino kids can embrace someone different."

"I think that Dora has a very specific special relationship with kids at home, not necessarily for being bilingual but as a powerful character who invites kids on adventures," says Brown Johnson, president, Animation, Nickelodeon and MTVN Kids and Family Group. "Here, Spanish words open doors."

In "Dora The Explorer," the Latin flavor is present not only in the language and Dora's features but also in characters such as Isa the Iguana and Tico the Squirrel, scenes, themes and family values. The little star invites her young, preschool viewers to come with her on an adventure, where she usually faces a problem that she cannot resolve by herself.

Dora asks her audience to answer questions in an interactive show that includes silences that are long enough for viewers to suggest an answer.

"The kids are feeling good about putting together the puzzle bridge (that will solve the problem). ... Dora needs THEIR help!" says Walsh Valdes.

Each episode relies on the advice of educators and cultural experts, and can take more than a year to produce, in part because not one gets into the air without first being screened in front of the most honest and feared jury: at least 75 children. "Just the heartbreak to see those kids disappointed! We really take it personally. ... These 3 year olds," Gifford said. They really listen to the children, said Walsh Valdes.

Dora's voice has been portrayed the last three years by Caitlin Sanchez. The 14-year-old succeeded the original voice of Dora, Kathleen Herles, when she left to go to college.

"It's really an honor to play an icon," said Sanchez, who enjoys making the voice of the Latina idol in front of her little fans, who immediately recognize it: "It's Dora!" "She's got Dora inside her mouth!"

"Dora is like the most helping person in the world," the young actress said. "I have learned a lot from her, too. ... She's a great role model."

Stars such as Angelina Jolie and Salma Hayek have spoken about the relationship of Dora with their families.

"There's a 'Dora The Explorer' (episode) where Dora's mom has twins — a boy and a girl," Jolie told People magazine in 2008, noting how her older children got ready for the arrival of her own twins. "They watched that a lot."

"I love Dora! She's been such a part of my relationship with my child," said Hayek at the show's 10th anniversary press conference in March. "I love that it's bilingual and that she's a heroine who has Latin roots."

Meanwhile, a Dora balloon made its debut in Macy's 2005 Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York, the first time for a Latino character.

"It's flattering, but it also speaks about how Dora has transcended from just being a preschool show. There's something really amazing in her ability to cross over," said Walsh Valdes.

"Dora" has aired against the backdrop of the immigration debate. When the new Arizona law was announced, a photo of Dora behind bars as a suspected illegal immigrant made the rounds on the Internet.

Such is the influence of Dora, Cortes said, that future fans could affect the political future of America. A 5-year-old viewer in 2000 is now 15.

"It will be another three years until they go to college and be able to vote, and I think we may see a difference. You can't be certain, but our hope is that young people of all backgrounds will be more open," he said. "If Dora can do that, her impact is unimaginable."

___

Online:

http://www.nickjr.com/dora-the-explorer/

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press

by Mike Smith
Just how did Monopoly get to be such a classic?
Played by the standard rules, it’s a terrible game; a shallow, tedious, confrontational waste of far too much time. But somehow it’s the most played board game in the world, according to Hasbro.

So chances are your family games closet has one (or more) of the various editions of this classic. Most likely, it’s pushed to the back, where it’s been hanging out ever since that unfortunate incident between Aunt Grace and Grandpa over the hotel on Park Place. They’re still not speaking. But the less said about that, the better. If you’ve got the hankering to pull it out again, here’s a few ideas for how to get the monotony out of your Monopoly.
Set a time limit

If you do nothing else, do this: decide when your game’s going to stop, and stick to it. You can set a hard time limit (although you might have to deal with players deliberately running down the clock) or set a ceiling on the number of turns the game will run. Once you hit the end, call the game, total up assets, and declare the victor.
Free Parking

What happens when you land on “Free Parking?” According to the rulebook, absolutely nothing. Many players introduce a rule whereby if you land on the “Free Parking” square you collect a fixed sum of cash, the accumulated Chance and Community Chest winnings of the other players, or some other windfall. Don’t do this. Putting more cash in circulation is exactly what you don’t want to do in Monopoly, especially when it’s dished out according to the whim of the dice. You’ll just end up prolonging the game, and making the game even more luck-based than it already is.
Closed-bid auctions

Some players find Monopoly’s auction process tiresome, time-consuming, or intimidating. If that’s the case with you, just switch to a closed-bid system. Have every player write down their top bid on a piece of paper and hand them to the banker -- the top bidder wins, and pays the amount the second highest bidder wrote down.
Raise the prices

Often, Monopoly players find there’s just too much money flying around. If you’re playing with a big bankroll, there’s even less strategy to the game; purchasing decisions become trivial, and considering they’re the only decisions you’ll be making for most of the game, that’s a big loss. Try increasing the face prices of all properties by 50 or even 100%, and keep all other monetary values (including mortgage prices) where they are. If your cash doesn’t go as far, you’ll have to think much harder about where to spend it.
Auction off the first turn

In Monopoly, the player who goes first knows he or she isn’t going to wind up paying rent. Conversely, the player who goes last is likely to find many of the starting row properties already owned -- and is likely to wind up with a bill to pay. Here’s a way to level the playing field: have all the players bid for the first-place opportunity with some of their starting cash.
Ditch useless utilities

No smart Monopoly player buys the utilities. Make them worthwhile by turning them into a fifth and sixth railroad. Keep the cost the same as the other railroads, and increase the rent values proportionally for players holding five or six.
Barter

Many Monopoly games adopt this rule as the game wears on, as adding a human dimension to the game deepens its strategy enormously. Under this rule, all deals between players are fair game. Want to lend money and charge interest? Go ahead. Trade properties for a Get Out Of Jail Free card? Sure. Give another player free rent on all your properties, or arrange a profit-sharing deal? Go nuts. Just be prepared for an engrossing session of skulduggery and backstabbing.
Make your own cards

Ever thought your Monopoly game would be livened up by a housewrecking elephant? What about a property boom that doubles prices for the next round? Make your own sets of Chance or Community Chest cards, and you can make your wildest dreams come true. As long as they involve Monopoly boards, that is.

It's no longer satisfying simply holding a video game high-score. If you really want to make a mark as a gamer, you'll have to go after a world record. We'd be surprised, however, if any of these massive video game records were surpassed any time soon. After all, the bigger they are, they harder they are to break.



Longest time spent playing a massively-multiplayer online game
700 days playing Runescape

Between November 2004 and October 2009, Sarah Lhadi spent over 9 hours a day exploring massively-multiplayer game Runescape. That's nearly two full years worth of continuous, nonstop play.


Largest playable environment in a video game

Fuel -- 5560 square miles
Massive games like Fallout 3 and Grand Theft Auto IV might score headlines, but when it comes to sheer size, even these giants can't compare to 2009 racer Fuel. Its impossibly enormous amount of playable terrain makes it larger than many countries, including Jamaica and Lebanon.


Largest working Tetris game

15 stories - Delft University of Technology - 1995
It might not be the best-known version of the addictive puzzler, but there's never been a bigger one. Created by Dutch students, the massive game took place on 15 floors of the university's Electrical Engineering department.


Largest collection of Pokemon memorabilia

12,113
Lisa Courtney likes Pokemon more than you do. Way, way more. Built over the course of 13 years, the 21 year-old's monstrous collection of Poke-goodies is as cuddly as it is colorful. Since setting the record, it's broken the 13,000 mark.


Longest prison sentence for gaming

4 months - Faiz Chopdat
The next time you're asked to turn off a gizmo on a plane, do yourself a favor and just do it. Otherwise, you might up like Faiz Chopdat, who in September of 2002 was jailed for four months for incessantly playing Tetris on his cell phone during a flight to the U.K. Multiple warnings by the flight staff went unheeded, landing the gamer behind bars...and in the record books.


Largest in-game soundtrack

GTA IV
Assuming this doesn't include the likes of Guitar Hero and Rock Band, it's easy to see how GTA IV snagged this record. Players can listen to over 218 licensed tracks while causing mischief on the streets of Liberty City.

By Shawn Struck, Associated Content
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Buzz up!

Consumers spent over $25 billion on video games last year, according to Today's Gamers Survey by Newzoo and TNS -- and video games as an industry have been around for over a quarter of a century. With so much history and so much money being spent, there were bound to be a few video game products that were clunkers. Here are nine of the worst offenders.
Nintendo Cereal System
Released by Ralston in 1989, the Nintendo Cereal System was a limited-edition cereal designed to cash in on the popularity of the Nintendo Entertainment System. The box of cereal was divided into two halves. One half had Super Mario Bros.-inspired fruit-flavored Mario pieces, along with mushrooms, Koopa Troopas, Bowsers, and Goombas. The other half promoted The Legend of Zelda and had berry-flavored cereal shapes of Link, along with other items from the video game like shields, boomerangs, hearts and keys.

The cereal itself was bland and unexciting, tasting like an even sweeter Trix knockoff, but that wasn't really the main selling point. The back of the box featured Nintendo trading cards, Nintendo stickers and a contest entry to win a Super Mario Bros. cereal bowl, or a Nintendo Power Pad.

Though the cereal was only produced for one year, the flavor of nostalgia is still strong with the gaming enthusiasts of today. Vintage boxes of the Nintendo Cereal System often reach a hundred dollars or more on Ebay.

Sony Pocketstation
Released in 1999 in Japan, the Pocketstation was a memory card for the Sony Playstation console that featured an LCD screen, flash memory and a built-in real-time clock, and could play simple games. It first came to the of US gamers when it was announced that Final Fantasy VIII's US release would retain the Pocketstation mini-game present in the Japanese version.

Eager gamers who paid exorbitant prices to import one were rewarded with the ability to play a Chocobo-themed mini game... and that was about it. After you had paid more than a Game Boy or a Playstation memory card to get a much tinier screen with games that weren't all that fun, and a memory capacity no better than the cheapest memory card, you can understand why most importers were disappointed.

U-Force
Released in 1989 by once-popular publisher Broderbund, the U-Force was a controller for the Nintendo Entertainment system that unfolded like a laptop computer, and used infrared beams and flat panel sensors to translate a player’s motions into button presses. It sounded unbelievably futuristic when it was announced, and television commercials showed clips of gamers unleashing devastating right-left-right punch combinations in Mike Tyson's Punch Out by throwing actual punches.

In practice, the infrared beams were very weak. The motions required a lot of effort to even register, and in many cases, the U-Force made a video game even more difficult to control. It proved to be a critical flop, even years later when IGN named it one of the 10 Worst Controllers of All Time.

Wii Hip Street Cheer Pom Poms
Kobian USA released this Nintendo Wii accessory last year, hoping to ride the popularity of cheerleading games on the Wii. For the low, low price of 20 dollars, the Wii Hip Street Cheer Pom Poms can be strapped onto the end of your Wii Remote and Nunchuck controllers, and... do...

...well, that's it. You've now paid 20 dollars for cheaply made pom-poms that dangle off of your Wii controllers and do nothing. And if you bought this set hoping to make the most popular cheerleader series, We Cheer, more fun? Well, you are going to have to buy a second set. The Wii Hip Street Cheer Pom Poms set has one attachment for a Wii Remote and one attachment for the Nunchuck controller, but the We Cheer series uses two Wii Remotes simultaneously.
Gamer Grub

It turns out that the 1980s don't have a complete lock on ridiculous video game related food items. Gamer Grub was introduced as a "performance snack formulated especially for gamers" because it was engineered to be grease-free and crumb free so that you wouldn't clog up your keyboards or gunk up your controllers. The Gamer Grub package was designed to be torn open and tilted directly at your open mouth so that you could keep playing with your free hand.

As if the one-handed junk food that fed into gamer stereotypes (as well as gamer waistlines) wasn't bad enough, the names of the flavors were laughable. With flavors like Action Pizza, Racing Wasabi, Strategy Chocolate, and Sports PB&J, Gamer Grub marketing made the promoters of GoGurt look like geniuses in comparison.

Wii Party Station

The Wii Party Station demonstrates why video games and food just don't seem to work well together. It featured a hand fan unit to cool off sweaty palms, a tiny storage tray, and four separate LED screens -- presumably for keeping score. But what drove this accessory from the boring into the ridiculous were its additional features: four plastic cup holders with freezable liners, and a shallow bowl in the center to store chips and dip.

While storing greasy chips in a chintzy plastic bowl atop a unit that has a hand fan out of a bowling alley might seem to be the key reasons this product idea was sent back to the drawing board after a much-hyped release, its makers reportedly blamed rising prices of oil (and consequently plastic) instead. So the world has been spared this plastic monstrosity...for now.

Sega Dreamcast Fishing Rod
Released in 1998 alongside the inexplicably popular Sega Bass Fishing video game, this official Sega accessory attempted to make the typical fishing video game more realistic by releasing a controller shaped like a fishing rod and reel. Unfortunately, since Dreamcast games didn't officially support any sort of controller vibration or motion controls, all this gave you was a more frustrating experience.
Power Glove

Released in 1989, the Power Glove was an accessory for the Nintendo Entertainment System that attempted to bring a virtual reality-type control to the game console experience. It was a black-and-white glove that fitted over the hand, and contained a joypad and keypad across the forearm. It received prominent product placement in the Nintendo-produced drama-comedy The Wizard, about the adventures of a group of tweens entering a video game contest. The movie's antagonist, Lucas, showed off the Power Glove in what would become an Internet meme two decades later when he uttered the line, "I love the Power Glove. It's so bad."

Only two games were ever released for use specifically with the Power Glove. One, Super Power Ball was packed in with the Power Glove for free. The other game, Bad Street Brawler, was a critical and financial flop. Additionally, both Power Glove designed games could also be played with regular joysticks, making the Power Glove a superfluous purchase at best.

CTA Wings for the Nintendo Wii
The CTA Wings are designed to be used for one specific mini-game for Wii Fit Plus game called Bird's-Eye Bull's-Eye. According to The Escapist, the Wings are promised to let you "truly experience what its like to be a bird". How does it accomplish this? It's simple: you take these "wings" that look like over-sized pot holders, slip your hands and arms through the loops, strap on the Wings, and then flap your arms up and down like a bird while holding a Wii Remote.

That's right, the CTA Wings do nothing except make you look even more ridiculous, and all for the sake of a single minigame on a popular title for the Wii.

Today's U.S. military recruits enjoy an arsenal of simulators and video games that sharpen their fighting skills and may even protect them from the mental stresses of combat. But experts caution that virtual reality could also help mask the reality of war.

That has not stopped the military from embracing video games to recruit and train a young generation of gamers who typically play commercial games such as "Modern Warfare 2," which passed $1 billion in sales in January.

"The Army has really taken a hold of gaming technology," said Marsha Berry, executive producer for the game "America's Army 3."

"America's Army" represents the official U.S. Army game that competes with commercial offerings such as "Modern Warfare 2" by also featuring online multiplayer shootouts. The free-to-play game has become a more effective recruiting tool for the Army than all other Army advertisements combined, according to MIT researchers.

Such blurring between entertainment and war may have unwanted consequences, according to Peter Singer, a Brookings Institute defense expert. He argues in a Foreign Policy journal article that the "militainment" phenomenon can lead to greater distortions in how people view war.

In real life, "any military person will tell you that there's a blend of incredible intensity and stress combined with long years of boredom," Singer pointed out. "But is a game going to capture that?"

But such reality-based video games could help prepare recruits for the mental horrors of war, help train them for the real thing and even help prevent cases of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in soldiers. [Related: World of Warcraft Video Game Succeeds in School]

The virtual Army wants you

Very few games have the ambition to convey both the physical carnage and mental anguish of warfare, such as was shown in the recent Oscar-winning film "The Hurt Locker" or HBO's Emmy-nominated World War II series "The Pacific." Instead, they have more narrow goals, such as attracting today's recruits through familiar entertainment.

One Army recruitment station in the Philadelphia area featured war-themed video games and helicopter simulators aimed at attracting urban youth. It closed down last month, but the Army hinted that it might adopt a similar approach for future recruitment stations.

"America's Army" continues a strong run with more than 11 million registered users having played over 260 million total hours and counting since 2002, including enlisted soldiers who play under their real-life unit designations.

"The whole concept behind the game was that it was not going to be about scoring based on kills," Berry told LiveScience. "We wanted it to represent Army values and career options."

Gamers can undergo virtual Army training around barracks and shooting ranges, as well as fight in teams against opposing players in online multiplayer combat. Players who faithfully complete tasks, such as medic training, even get perks in multiplayer games, such as being able to revive wounded comrades during online battles.

The game does have some quirks that reveal how tricky it is to reproduce combat realities on an imaginary platform. In online games, players always view themselves as U.S. Army soldiers and see the opposing team of players as a fictional enemy. By contrast, an upcoming commercial game "Medal of Honor" allows players to fight one another as either U.S. Army or as the Taliban insurgents of Afghanistan.

Killing in "America's Army" also represents a fairly clean affair compared with the bloodier kills of "Modern Warfare 2." That allowed the game to earn a "T for teen" rating, as part of its recruitment tool value.

"We wanted kids to be able to start playing at 13," Berry explained. "If they haven't thought about the Army by the time they get to 17, it's probably not something they'll do."

Boot camp 2.0

The recruitment of young gamers has forced some changes in military training. Earlier this year, the Army announced that it would reshape basic training to accommodate a new generation of tech-savvy recruits who may have more gaming skills than physical fitness.

On the upside, specialized games and simulators have become cheap and effective virtual training grounds that supplement the usual physical drills.

The Army trains its soldiers on game-like simulations such as "Virtual Battlespace 2" or even noncommercial versions of "America's Army." Training versions of "America's Army" can integrate real military weapons or hardware with the game software, so soldiers can physically hold the launch tube of a Javelin antitank missile and practice firing it in a virtual setting.

By the time soldiers get to the live fire exercises with weapons, many are already fairly proficient from having trained on the simulators, Berry said.

The most futuristic example of game-like training comes from Raytheon, a giant in the defense industry, and Motion Reality, the company responsible for the 3-D technology behind the Hollywood blockbuster "Avatar."

The two companies developed a free-roaming simulator called VIRTSIM, which allows participants wearing full gear and virtual reality goggles to physically fight their way through a virtual setting. The participants can toss physical objects such as mock grenades that explode in the virtual setting, and even experience a low-level Taser-style shock when a virtual enemy manages to shoot them.

Preparing the mind for war

Such virtual training may go beyond training military recruits to operate weapons, spot roadside bombs, or clear rooms of enemies. It could also protect them from the mental horrors of war, according to Albert "Skip" Rizzo, a University of Southern California psychologist.

With funding from the U.S. military, Rizzo's team in the virtual reality lab at USC's Institute for Creative Technologies wants to prepare military recruits for mental trauma before they are ever deployed overseas. It is developing virtual re-creations based on the stories told by returning veterans.

"What we want to create is something that pulls at the hearts of people," Rizzo said. "Maybe there's a child lying there with the arms blown off, screaming and crying. Maybe your action kills an innocent civilian, or you see a guy next to you get shot in the eye with blood spurting out of his face."

At the most upsetting moment, the simulation would freeze and allow a virtual character to come out and walk the player through the situation. That character might look like a gunnery sergeant, a Buddhist monk, even a former schoolteacher - whatever helps the recruit think calmly after experiencing the virtual trauma.

"The rationale is you want to teach people this stuff when they're in a state of arousal so that they're more likely to access that learning when they're in a similar state" in real life, Rizzo said.

Such stress-resilience training, or emotional coping, has existed in U.S. military training for a couple of years. But there's a limit to how much time new recruits can spend in workshops or in the re-creation of an Iraqi village at the Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in Southern California. A virtual simulation or game could allow more recruits to train themselves in stress resilience during the many months leading up to actual combat.

Less is more for veterans

Ideally, the preparation would help prevent future cases of PTSD among veterans. As many as 20 percent of returning military personnel may suffer from the disorder or from major depression, according to a 2008 study by the RAND Corp.

For veterans with PTSD, even poor graphics in virtual reality simulators can trigger powerful memories. Psychologists have found that a crude visual representation allows the mind of the patient to fill in the details based on personal experience (similar to the notion popularized in the Hollywood blockbuster "Inception").

"If you leave it a little bit open, then you have more space for the patient's own imagination and their own insertion of experiences in the world," Rizzo said.

When Vietnam War veterans took part in virtual reality therapy for PTSD during the late 1990s, the simulation graphics "sucked," according to Rizzo.

Even so, "when the patients got out of the [virtual] copter, a couple of them were describing Vietcong shooting from the jungle and water buffaloes in the rice paddies. None of that was in the simulation - they had blended in their own experiences."

Rizzo hopes that the new stress-resilience training can trump the need for PTSD therapy and allow future military veterans to return to civilian life with fewer nightmares. He wants to convey a sense of reality closer to certain war films, such as "Platoon" or "Saving Private Ryan," rather than the films he watched as a kid, in which combat appeared as a sanitized black-and-white struggle.

"We're training people to cope with the jobs they've been asked to perform and come back intact," Rizzo said. "Nobody goes to war and comes back the same, but when they return, are they capable of holding a job and loving their wife and kids? That's what our aim is, to make the return home as smooth as possible."

Blurring the lines

Before that can happen, Rizzo and his colleagues must figure out how to strike a balance in the realism of their simulations. Too polished a presentation may lull recruits into thinking of the simulation as just another commercial game such as "Modern Warfare 2," where death only has the consequence of making players wait to reappear in the next match.

"We don't want it to look like a game [recruits] have already played and become habituated to," Rizzo said.

Brookings Institute defense expert, Singer wondered if militainment could also lead to a growing sense of detachment among military recruits during actual combat. He spoke with military officers who observed as much about some of the latest recruits.

"This might be the essence of this new era of militainment: a greater fidelity to detail, but perhaps a greater distortion in the end," Singer wrote in his Foreign Policy article.

That distortion could become magnified among the majority of gamers playing "America's Army" or "Modern Warfare 2," who only experience warfare as what appears on their computer and television screens. Few will end up deploying overseas to experience the reality of war in places such as Afghanistan for themselves, according to Singer.

"This is especially the case as you have now almost two generations (X and Millennials) for whom the draft is just some paper card you get when you are 18 and never ever hear about again," Singer said in an e-mail. "It completely changes the way they think about war."

The militainment trend also takes place during a time when those killed in the wear rarely show up in U.S. news, and only arrive home as flag-draped coffins. As a result, most gamers may only ever see the casualties of modern wars as pixels on a screen - there one moment, gone the next.

* The 10 Most Outrageous Military Experiments
* Video Gamers Can Control Dreams, Study Suggests
* 10 Technologies That Will Transform Your Life

* Original Story: For the U.S. Military, Video Games Get Serious

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by Mike Smith
Pop quiz: what does a plummeting Death Star stormtrooper in the original Star Wars, a defeated Nazi in Raiders of the Lost Ark, a dive-bombed hunter in Howard the Duck, and a fallen cowboy in 2010 hit video game Red Dead Redemption have in common?

Movie buffs will know the answer, but the rest of us may have to listen more closely: they all utter the same scream as they perish.
The famous sound-effect is called the Wilhelm scream -- named after one of the first characters to use it on screen -- and it’s become a favorite in-joke of sound directors and film fans.

Originally created for 1951 western “Distant Drums,” the distinctive scream was uttered by a soldier after being bitten by a crocodile. Its next appearance -- hollered by a character named “Private Wilhelm” in 1953 cowboys-and-Indians flick “The Charge at Feather River” -- gave it its name. From there, it found its way into a stock sound effects library used by Warner Bros. and was soon featured in many more movies during the 50s.

But it wasn’t until the late 1970s that the Wilhelm would rise to prominence, thanks largely to the efforts of Ben Burtt, the celebrated sound designer behind many of Star Wars’ iconic audio effects. Burtt liked the sound so much, he used it in many movies during the late 70s and 80s, including the original Star Wars and Indiana Jones films. Other soundmen followed suit, and you’ll be able to spot it in a seriously diverse set of movies, like Toy Story, Gremlins II, Reservoir Dogs, and even The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.

In Red Dead Redemption, it turns up all over the place -- usually as you shoot an opponent off his horse. Here’s an example that takes place during the mission “We Shall Be Together in Paradise,” as the game’s lead, John Marston, is fighting his way along the San Luis river, picking off attackers that line the south bank.

by Mike Smith
Giving your product away for free may not seem the most promising of business plans, but it’s an option that’s proving increasingly attractive to publishers of massively multiplayer online games. The latest online world to ditch fees, once-proud Everquest II, bears one of the most famous names in the genre, but it’s far from the only game to go free in the last year.

It’s easy to see why. Monthly fees (typically around $12-15) add up: a World of Warcraft fan who’s been playing the game since its 2004 launch will likely have sunk around a thousand dollars into their habit. While that’s probably good value in sheer bucks-per-hour terms, some players are seeking lower-cost alternatives as their wallets feel the squeeze, and the market is answering.
Everquest II joins a slate of recent MMOs to cast off its subscription fees. Lord of the Rings Online, a resounding hit with critics, plans to go free later in the year. Dungeons & Dragons: Online, after a disappointing debut, switched to a free model last September. And a growing number of recent and upcoming MMOs -- like Sony’s kid-friendly Free Realms -- are free from day one.

It’s also a trail that’s been amply blazed in the past: take Guild Wars, the first “major” online world to be released without subscription fees, and a massive success with critics and players. But even here, its publisher NCSoft had a plan to keep money rolling in: a series of regular expansion packs, priced around $30, added much new content to the game. Fans bought over six million copies of Guild Wars and its various expansions, and a sequel is expected sometime before the end of next year. Even rudimentary-looking, indie-developed Runescape hauled in enough cash to propel its creators onto the London Times Rich List.
But just how free are free MMOs? In Everquest 2’s case -- as with most MMOs that adopt a free model -- there’s a not inconsiderable list of ifs and buts. Free players won’t get access to newer game areas, for example, and they’ll only have access to a subset of the game’s races and classes. There’s a complex set of limitations that will likely leave committed players with no real option but to keep on paying.

Others do better, like D&D: Online, which charges small, optional “microtransactions” to let players buy premium items or unlock quests early. Players can never pay a dime and still get access to the same content: it’ll just take them longer. But even D&D Online still offers a subscription plan, and paying customers can expect priority logins, better customer service, and a host of other bundled fringe benefits. It’s still the same story: if you want the best out of the game, you’re going to end up paying for it.

Which, of course, isn’t much of a shock. The expensive server farms that are the throbbing heart of online worlds don’t run on sunshine and rainbows, and customer support reps don’t work for free. (Just ask Electronic Arts, which was sued in 2000 over its use of unpaid support staff in its pioneering MMO Ultima Online.)

Go in with appropriate expectations, though, and you’ll likely find good deals. Use free versions of MMOs to get your feet wet in the game’s world (and get to know its players) before you decide to lay down money on a subscription plan. Or use pre-paid cards (available at everywhere from game stores to gas stations) to manage your microtransaction spending. And if you’re really looking for World of Warcraft levels of polish and finesse, expect to wind up paying World of Warcraft-level prices.

By JESSICA MINTZ, AP Technology Writer Jessica Mintz, Ap Technology Writer – Tue Aug 17, 12:08 am ET

SEATTLE – Microsoft Corp. is bringing its video-game expertise to the forthcoming Windows Phone 7 line, an attempt to capitalize on the success of the Xbox 360 as the software maker tries to compete with Apple Inc.'s iPhone.

Microsoft says a dedicated group inside of Microsoft Game Studios will develop video games for Windows phones, help outside game publishers and scout out small, independent game makers. Video game companies will be able to use the same tools to make a game for a Windows phone or for the Xbox 360 console.

The company is also announcing a preliminary lineup of games that will be available when the phones go on sale during the holidays. The list includes popular Xbox 360 console games such as "Halo Waypoint," "Crackdown 2: Project Sunburst" and "Guitar Hero 5," as well as newcomers including "ilomilo," a puzzle game in which players try to unite cute little cartoon critters separated by increasingly tricky paths and mazes.

Microsoft is linking the Windows phone games hub to its Xbox Live service, which about 25 million Xbox and PC gamers already use to check out new games, keep track of scores and send messages to fellow players. On Windows phones, Xbox live members will be able to do those things, plus interact with their animated game-world avatar — a cartoon character customized to look like them.

The software maker plans to make its games-related announcements Tuesday at a video game conference in Germany.

While Microsoft has been working on its next-generation smart phone system, the iPhone and devices running Google Inc.'s Android system have exploded in popularity. Apple, in particular, has advertised its iPhone and iPod Touch — essentially an iPhone without the phone — as ideal mobile gaming devices.

Microsoft's Xbox chops may help sway some phone buyers who are already into video games. The company is also hoping that Xbox Live on Windows Phone 7 devices might get a boost from the upcoming launch of Kinect, a motion-sensing game controller for the Xbox 360. Like the Nintendo Wii, Kinect is expected to lure people who haven't traditionally been interested in video games.

Leonardo Donates $1 Million to Clinton Bush Haiti Fund - Leonardo DiCaprio's MySpace Blog |

LOS ANGELES – Zynga, the maker of popular social networking game "FarmVille," has hired former MySpace CEO Owen Van Natta as its executive vice president of business operations.

Van Natta, also a former chief revenue officer for Facebook, starts Monday. He'll also have a seat on the board of directors of the fast-growing startup. The board now has five members.

Van Natta left MySpace in February after 10 months on the job after conflicting with parent News Corp.'s chief digital officer Jonathan Miller.

He joins a privately held company that is seeing explosive growth.

According to tracking firm Developer Analytics, Zynga has 367 million users a month on 48 of its applications.

Zynga is also responsible for the top three applications on Facebook, "FarmVille," "FrontierVille," and "Zynga Poker."

By LOU KESTEN, Associated Press Writer Lou Kesten, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 28 mins ago

WASHINGTON – John Madden misses the broadcast booth.

"I haven't gotten used to it yet," he says. It's been a little over a year since he retired from a 30-year career as a color commentator on NFL games.

"Last year, there was an emptiness," Madden acknowledges. "When you love doing something so much, you miss it when it's over."

Still, Madden's namesake video game lives on. And with "Madden NFL" entering into its third decade, publisher EA Sports is trying to bring more casual football fans back to the gridiron. The 2010-11 edition introduces GameFlow, in which you can let the artificial intelligence choose your plays instead of scrambling through a massive playbook before every down.

"We always want to make the game easy to start and impossible to master," says Madden. And series veterans will still be able to choose and edit plays all they want. "If you stop at simple, the next thing is boredom," Madden says.

The legendary broadcaster and coach has been touring training camps this summer with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. "It's brought back some good memories," he says. However, like most fans he's worried about the persistent buzz concerning a possible work stoppage before the 2011-12 season.

"The game is so good, you hate to see it fouled up," Madden says. "Doggone it, they're the custodians of the game — the owners and the players — and they can't let the fans down."

by Ben Silverman
August 9 4:33 P.M.


Based on his portrayal in the breakout documentary "The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters," classic game expert Billy Mitchell isn’t exactly the world's most likable guy. But at the International Video Game Hall of Fame's inaugural event, he proved that when it comes to video game chops, he's still tops.

Mitchell reclaimed the official Donkey Kong world record by amassing 1,062,800 points in the legendary barrel-hopping platformer, putting him ahead of former record holder Hank Chien by a mere 1,100.

But he didn’t stop there. Shortly after setting the new Kong mark, Mitchell went after the ape's lesser known son, racking up 1,270,900 in Donkey Kong, Jr. to claim that record, too. It took Mitchell 2 hours and 42 minutes to set the Donkey Kong mark and 3 hours and 58 minutes to top Donkey Kong, Jr.

Why go after both records? You could say Mitchell was just caught up in the moment.

"I remember a lot of celebration; hugs, kisses and a lot of hooting and hollering," he said in a release. "Once that died down, I stood there looking at Donkey Kong Jr. and thought 'there's one more thing I have to take care of'."

In "King of Kong," Mitchell was portrayed as the bad guy of the competitive classic gaming world, snubbing up-and-coming rival Steve Wiebe, a math teacher from Washington. Wiebe traveled to numerous locations to play Mitchell at Donkey Kong, including Mitchell's home town, but Mitchell repeatedly refused to participate in an organized match.

Undaunted, Wiebe beats Mitchell's existing Donkey Kong record in the movie's closing scenes, a record that would stand until Mitchell retook the crown in 2007. Chien stepped into the pair's to-and-fro battle by taking the crown in February, and his record stood until Mitchell's recent triumph.