Dale Weir's blog

The Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) is back; Playboy's Damon Brown wrote a book about virtual sex has evolved since the crude days of the Apple II and Atari 2600; the music genre surpasses sports as the second most played genre; patent for real-time censoring of audio streams; Microsoft finally gets its patent for real-time censoring of audio streams; and finally, fans have put together an elaborate handbook for anyone who can't wait for Nintendo to get around to localizing Mother 3.

This isn't the first time Sony tried its hand at giving PlayStation owners the ability to create content for its console—anyone remember the Yaruze? Well, unlike that obscure piece of expensive tech, LittleBigPlanet is a trojan horse—a software development toolkit in the guise of a videogame that will automatically create content that Sony can just take and resell to whomever it feels like. So far gamers are more than happy with this arrangement, but as familiarity with the software and ambition of the content creators grow, so will their desire to reap some benefits from their labor.

"...we could all be working for Sony, crafting and sharing levels that Sony owns outright. Perhaps some of those levels will end up being packaged as downloadable content, much the same way that fruit of some of LittleBigPlanet's best beta players is being packaged with the official release.

But how does the equation change as user-generated content becomes less a matter of remixing existing intellectual property by 'modding' a game and starts to look more like the creation of original work? What happens when the systems game developers build for us are less games than platforms for the creation of new games?

Scanning the local and cable news channels, I haven't seen hide nor hair of this study. You would think FOX News would give it cursory coverage given that IGN is owned by NewsCorp, but that is probably asking too much.

"The study reported that 55% of gamers polled are married, 48% have kids, and those who have started gaming in the past two years are on average 32 years old. 'Based on the research, it's obvious that the gaming market has outgrown many commonly held stereotypes about the relative homogeneity of video gamers,' said Adam Wright, Director of Research for Ipsos MediaCT. 'Today's gamers represent a wide variety of demographic groups: men and women, kids, parents and grandparents, younger and older consumers. All this underscores the fact that gaming has become a mainstream medium in this country that appeals to people from all walks of life.'"

Sony delays LittleBigPlanet so as to not offend Muslims; Braid gets a negative review (not new, but still interesting); Obama uses Electronic Arts games to advertise to our kids; Uwe Boll gets a positive write-up; a London mayor decides he actually does love (money from) games; a study shows parents happy with games; new ESRB ratings (just for fun); Will Wright's take on DRM; and one lucky kids gets a cool Mega Man costume for Halloween.

First up is news that Sony will be delaying LittleBigPlanet worldwide. It is unfortunate, but to play it safe and avoid an unpredictable backlash from the Muslim world, Sony will delay its most important title of 2008. It's all because of two expressions that can be found in the Qur'an are present in some background music.

"During the review process prior to the release of LittleBigPlanet, it has been brought to our attention that one of the background music tracks licensed from a record label for use in the game contains two expressions that can be found in the Qur’an. We have taken immediate action to rectify this and we sincerely apologize for any offense that this may have caused."

If you build it they will come... and they will build something you would never have imagined. Kudos to Sony and Media Molecule for creating one of the biggest sensations in recent memory. And double kudos for avoiding an Internet meltdown and allowing levels created in the LittleBigPlanet Beta to be ported over to the final retail version. These are just a few of the no doubt hundreds of creations floating around the web. Once it ships next week, LittleBigPlanet could be that PlayStation 3 killer app that Sony has been looking for.

The first step was of course the recent price drop of the Xbox 360 Arcade. Still, this next move is so counter to what the typical Xbox 360 owner wants that you wonder if Microsoft is willing to endure any kind of backlash just so it can grab some dollars from the Wii crowd. The transitioning period that Microsoft talks about is bound to be even longer than necessary since there wasn't a media onslaught similar to what Nintendo did for the Wii. As it is, Microsoft is expecting core gamers to just deal with it when this new "Xbox Live Experience" (and a recent price drop) tempts casual gamers to come play with the hardcore crowd.

"Dubbed the new "Xbox Live Experience," this re-launched service...really does seem to have something for everyone: an easy-to-use graphical interface complete with deeply customizable avatars that casual players will enjoy, and all kinds of new functionality that will actually reward the dedication of the hard-core Xbox player. Microsoft readily admits that there may be a bit of a transition period for those core players--a time during which a lot of griping might be heard--but the company fully expects a gradual realization on the part of those players that the new service takes the existing Xbox Live and adds all kinds of new community and interactive functions to it."

Either he's one hell of a competitor or he's a brat who needs a timeout.

It takes national tragedies for the government of Finland to A) notice a game where you kill a bunch of kindergarten students and B) take action against it. That means that for a long while no one knew of this game or found it offensive enough to take action. I don't know what is worst.

Update: The Internet did get it right about the camera, but were a bit off about everything else. It may not all be as earthshattering as some were hoping, but according to GameDaily.com, there are some worthwhile additions.

Nintendo of Japan debuts the Nintendo DSi:

The Wii is getting some new software including a PunchOut! sequel:

The only thing that could dull the blow of disappointing announcements at Nintendo's October 2nd press conference is speculation on the Wii's successor. WhatTheyPlay.com's John Davison has sifted through the usual generalizations and points out that Nintendo will be embracing HD visuals and digital distribution. For any other company this wouldn't really be news, but remember it was only in the last few years that Nintendo even bothered to recognize the existence of the Internet.