In The News (6/24-6/30)

1UP's GTA IV Trailer Analysis
    So I've probably watched it at least 20 to 25 times... Seriously. I love this Grand Theft Auto IV trailer that Rockstar released last week. The energy and flow of it is perfect, and shows a lot of new little play mechanics. I just keep finding new details every time I watch it. Here it is in case you haven't seen it:
    Now, to get the analysis of the trailer, just click here. It's really interesting. They point out stuff like the added draw distance, some interesting graffiti, the way Nico is always checking the mirror when driving, etc.
    Honestly, there's not much industry analysis that can be done here; I just thought it was a badass trailer and felt stupid for not having made a news post the day it came out. If you want an analysis of the movie, again, click here, but if you want one of my typical analysis where I connect it to the industry as a whole... Eh. Just pretend like I just talked about the sales of the game being crazy or how the PS3 and 360 versions will differ or something like that.
    By the way, the song in the trailer is "Arm in Arm (Shy Child Remix)" by The Boggs.

WiiWare: Original Downloadable Wii Games
    So, you know how Microsoft and Sony have been giving you new, original games that you can download? Well, the Wii's finally going to start doing that... next year. That's right folks; it's not in that particular story, but it is in this one- WiiWare won't be happening until early 2008.
    What I want to know is why this is taking so long. I've heard die-hard Wii loyalists say that I shouldn't complain because of the Virtual Console, but let's face it... Those are all old games. You can't use those as an excuse for why there haven't been new ones- why not just release only old games from now on, huh? Who needs new games?
    But that's just taking a positive story and finding the one negative thing about it. I'm really looking forward to this, even though when I first read the start date, I was pretty upset. The possibilities of what independent developers can do on Wii compared to the PS3 or 360 should be really impressive, even if they won't look that great.
    Besides, maybe now some of these mini-game collections can just be downloadable and we won't have to pay full retail price for them.

ESRB Cracking Down on Violent Game Trailers?
    It's official: The ESRB is fully in survival mode now. First Manhunt 2, and now this? Hm. Trailers that have been up for months of such violent games as Gears of War, Dark Sector, and The Darkness have been given notice that they need to be taken down. As 1UP points out, the Gears videos had been up since January. Meaning half a year had passed. Wow.
    So why is this happening now? Again, the ESRB is in survival mode, and they're prepared to do anything to make it look like they can police the videogame industry. That includes censoring trailers which may have offensive content.
    But should they be? I really don't think that they need to be censored to that extent. For instance, in a trailer for Manhunt 2, I don't think they need to show you cutting off a man's genitals and force-feeding them to him before decapitating him to let you know what this game is all about. But they certainly shouldn't just show fluffy bunnies hopping around. You have to know what kind of a game you're getting. If they show something that doesn't look too bad for Manhunt 2, someone might get the wrong impression and buy it for their son.
    It's one thing to censor a game's content. It's a whole other thing to censor the footage from that game.

WEEKLY SAMPLER: Republicans & Democrats Stand Together / Games Shouldn't Be Singled Out / Gaming Addiction Not A Disorder / WiiSaber In The Works?