News Topic - The Game

Hayes: Only impossibility for Tebow is obscurity
Only Tim Tebow, Florida's Heisman Trophy-winning, life-altering quarterback, can overshadow one of the game's best coaches in his home state.
SportingNews.com  –  Jul 24, 2008 01:07 AM [GMT]  ¦  comment?
found in Sports: Football

Braves' slugger Jones leaves game vs. Marlins
Braves slugger Chipper Jones hurt his left thigh running out a ground ball in the fourth inning against Florida and left the game Wednesday night.The third baseman grabbed the back of his thigh after crossing first base. A trainer came out to check on him and, after about a minute, Jones limped slowly to the dugout.He was 0-for-2 with an RBI and a walk, dropping his major league-leading average to .369.
Fox Sports  –  Jul 24, 2008 12:57 AM [GMT]  ¦  comment?
found in Sports: Baseball

Chipper leaves game vs. Marlins with thigh injury
Braves slugger Chipper Jones hurt his left thigh running out a ground ball in the fourth inning against Florida and left the game Wednesday night.
ESPN  –  Jul 24, 2008 12:46 AM [GMT]  ¦  comment?
found in Sports: Baseball

Alabama, Clemson to receive nearly $2 million for opening game
Alabama and Clemson are each expected to receive a payout of just under $2 million for their season opening game, according to contracts obtained today by The Birmingham News. Alabama and Clemson are each expected to receive a payout of just under $2 million for their season opening game, according to contracts obtained today by The Birmingham News. When the teams play on Aug. 30 in Atlanta's Georgia Dome and on ABC Sports, they will split $3,832,060, the anticipated profits for the game. That equals roughly $1.9 million per team. According to the contracts -- obtained through a public records request -- beer will also be available at the concessions stands. Sales will be cut off at halftime. For more on the story, see Thursday's Birmingham News.
al.com - Everything Alabama  –  Jul 24, 2008 12:46 AM [GMT]  ¦  comment?
found in Local: Alabama: Birmingham

Rumor: Kingdom Hearts coming out this year in Japan
Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days' teaser website has turned into an actual website now, with menus to click on and everything else you'd come to expect from a Square Enix website. It's still lacking in compelling content, however, aside from a downloadable wallpaper and a beautiful background song. (You can also see the Japanese character profiles for Roxas and Axel, as well as browse through a few screens in the "Story" section.) The other interesting 358/2 Days news is that in the manual for the DS remake of Dragon Quest V (which released last week in Japan), an ad for the game boasts "Coming 2008." We'll probably find out for sure at Square Enix's DKS3713 event whether this is true or just an advertiser's wishful thinking, although it's important to keep in mind that us non-Japanese gamers will have to wait for localization, anyway.
N4G.com  –  Jul 24, 2008 12:22 AM [GMT]  ¦  comment?
found in Technology: Video Games

Mets host 'Buses for Baseball' youths
The "Buses for Baseball" initiative is administered by the Players Trust and sponsored by Majestic Athletic, and the program plans on providing the same baseball memories to more than 1,500 underprivileged youths this season. On Wednesday, 40 boys and girls watched the Mets take batting practice before the game against the Phillies.
MLB.com  –  Jul 23, 2008 11:55 PM [GMT]  ¦  comment?
found in Sports: Baseball

Nintendo doesn't know about Fatal Frame IV
GoNintendo writes: "During my interview with Denise Kaigler, I did manage to slip in a few 'traditional' questions. One of my inquiries related to Fatal Frame IV for the Wii. I wanted to know why we didn't hear about it at the conference, and why it wasn't on the show floor, or in Nintendo's meeting room. I was a bit surprised to find out that no one during my meeting had even heard of the game. They weren't familiar with the title at all."
N4G.com  –  Jul 23, 2008 11:35 PM [GMT]  ¦  comment?
found in Technology: Video Games

L.A.Noire in "final production phase"?
The Team Bondi site has been dead since 2006 when the trailers for L.A.Noire were first aired, until 2 months ago when this was posted: "We're looking to expand our Animation Team to cope with the final production phase of L.A. Noire. " Clearly the game, although claimed vapourware by Take Two at their E3 press conference last week is well on it's way to being finished. Hit the link to read the full post.
N4G.com  –  Jul 23, 2008 11:34 PM [GMT]  ¦  comment?
found in Technology: Video Games

"Real Deal!" offers audience shot at pros
Well, not quite, but if the Venetian has anything to say about it, these poker stars and a few others might just be part of the next big thing in the Las Vegas show scene. "The Real Deal!" is the first-ever interactive poker-themed stage show to appear in Vegas. Organizers are calling the show, which is set to debut this fall, a "new paradigm in entertainment." Whatever that means, it sounds like the show should be pretty cool. Using wireless handheld technology and audience participation, "The Real Deal!" is part theatre, part stand-up comedy and part game show. It will provide the audience the opportunity to play with and against some of the best poker players in the game for cash and prizes. "The Venetian sets the standard for entertainment in Las Vegas and we are excited to add 'The Real Deal!' to our existing line-up of world-class shows," says Jason Gastwirth, vice president of entertainment for Las Vegas Sands Corp, the company which owns the Venetian. "When looking for a new concept to add to our entertainment line-up, we searched for an entirely new experience that would promote audience participation while incorporating well-known personalities that shine beyond the bright lights of the Strip - we found that in 'The Real Deal!'" The concept allows audience members to earn points to vie for prizes ranging from show merchandise to home electronics to a $1 million grand prize. These prizes are awarded to audience members based on their game performance using the handheld devices. There are also random winning moments for everybody throughout the show. For example, audience members will be able to wager on simple instances that occur during play on stage. This includes such things as the suit of cards dealt on the flop. The entire cast of poker pros signed on to do the show includes Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth Jr., Antonio Esfandiari, Gavin Smith, Eli Elezra, Jennifer Harman, Phil Laak, Scotty Nguyen, and Todd Brunson. Between them they have eight World Poker Tour Championships (WPT) and 35 World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets, and have raked in over $48 million in poker tournament prize money. "Never before has poker been so integrated with entertainment," said Merv Adelson, the creator of the show, cofounder of Lorimar Telepictures and former vice chairman of Time Warner Inc. "The popularity of poker is unquestioned, as is the viability of live game show experiences in Las Vegas. 'The Real Deal!' will keep guests laughing and give them the unique chance to get into the heads of the world's best pros as they share tips and strategy throughout the fast-paced game. We know it will quickly become a hot ticket." An elimination process will result in the chip-leading pro, the final surviving amateur and the point leader from the play-along audience ending up on stage for a three-handed finale. "Poker fans have been able to view and enjoy professional poker action for years on television," said Doyle Brunson. "This is different. Everyone in the audience can be in the game and compete with the pros and other guests. It is a one-of-a-kind-poker experience." The production runs six days a week at The Venetian Showroom, with shows at 4 p.m. and prime-time performances on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. A limited number of VIP packages are available for each performance that include the opportunity to meet the pros after the show.Visit PokerListings.com
PokerListings.com  –  Jul 23, 2008 11:06 PM [GMT]  ¦  comment?
found in Sports: Poker

ARG is an alternative way to play with real-world problems
It's the near future and the planet is in crisis. Unheeded warnings of an impending oil shortage have become reality. This was the premise of World Without Oil, an alternate reality game (ARG), which asked players to react to a plausible vision of the future and find ways in which to solve it. The aim, says the game's California-based creator Ken Eklund, was to help people get ready, "if not for this crisis, then for something similar. We wanted to launch a cooperative discourse on the web, focused on a serious social issue," he says. ARGs have frequently been used to promote TV programmes, games, films and other products, or else have had their costs absorbed by the sale of supporting merchandise. When World Without Oil launched in April 2007, it broke new ground by using the genre to simulate a real-world problem rather than spreading marketing buzz. Funded by America's Corporation for Public Broadcasting and presented by Independent Television Service (ITVS), it highlighted the genre's potential for use as an educational or change-making tool. "It was like purposefully putting yourself in panic mode," says World Without Oil player Chantalle Draycott, 22, an executive assistant from Toronto, Canada. "It's one thing to play a game and pretend that it's real, but quite another to actually see it staring you in the face." Playing to your strengths An ARG is an interactive narrative in which players work together to solve puzzles and co-ordinate activities in the real world and online, using websites, GPS tracking devices, telephone lines, newspaper adverts and more. All of which sounds like it must require even more effort and resolve than a bank holiday gym session, but ARGs employ media - text messages, blogs, social networking sites, video-sharing - that many people already use on a daily basis. "We find the people who play these games range from teenagers right up to people in their 50s," says Hazel Grian of Bristol-based Licorice Film, producer and director of new ARG The Sky Remains, in which players join a fictional detective agency and hunt for hidden messages scattered across the globe. "It's something you can do while you're doing other things, using skills you've already got." Eklund believes this accessibility is what gives ARGs their appeal. "It can be very easy to get started - you just follow a story online," he says. "It's possible for complete newcomers to begin contributing immediately, which is rare and wonderful in games. It will be unfortunate if ARG development follows the path that electronic games have, and makes games only for gamers." Alternate reality gaming kicked off in 2001 with The Beast, a marketing tool for the Steven Spielberg film Artificial Intelligence. And with high-profile commercial endeavours such as I Love Bees, a promotion for Halo 2 that ran in 2004, and TV tie-in The Lost Experience in 2006, ARGs have frequently been associated with big brand payoffs. "All broadcasters are looking into this now," says Grian. "With Torchwood, Lost, 24; they're all doing it. Alternate reality gaming started as a way for broadcasters to engage their audiences." But this is about to change, says Andrea Phillips, an ARG writer and producer who was part of the team at London-based developer Mind Candy, which produced the game Perplex City - an interactive treasure hunt funded by the sale of puzzle cards. "A lot of people in entertainment are seeing the value of using alternate reality gaming to tell stories as their own creative form, not just as a buzzy viral way to get more eyeballs." Phillips says the key appeal of these games lies in the art of crafting a collaborative narrative. "Collaboration in storytelling is an old tradition, even older than print. All our stories are ultimately descended from this sort of back-and-forth oral tradition," she says. "So you could say we're working to reclaim something we lost hundreds of years ago when we first started recording narratives with pen and paper, and later with film." World Without Oil helped to spark interest in the potential for these storytelling devices to be seen as more than marketing vehicles. "In the not-for-profit sector, ARGs can be a great platform for raising awareness in a realistic way," says Siobhan Thomas, a research fellow at the University of East London and ARG design lecturer at London Southbank University. Teach us a story "The fact that the genre is growing up is exciting. The opportunities are limitless. You can easily see how they might be used in a training setting in business, or in a medical environment to teach doctors how to cope with large-scale crises. What will be really exciting is when biometric information can be more easily integrated into gameplay. For instance, a real-world game that delivers challenges based on heart rate or other physical criteria." But, Thomas warns, it's essential that the issues relating to real-world gameplay are given due consideration. "Often in the urgency to create great gameplay, it's easy to overlook privacy issues like protecting personal data. Using your railcard as a game piece is all well and good, as long as you have a good idea what's going to happen to the data recorded. This issue is becoming increasingly serious as more and more sites are sharing data." And these games are not without their commercial problems, says Tanya Krzywinska, convenor of Brunel University's MA in Digital Games Theory and Design. "I expect that the format will be increasingly of interest to performance artists, as well as having a lot of potential for educational purposes," she says. But Massively Multiplayer Online games and digital games are likely to hold on to the lion's share of the market. "They are the larger market and will remain so, because you can play these for any amount of time. An ARG is more of an event - it has to be carefully staged." Eklund, though, is optimistic. "Since World Without Oil, there has been a flood of interest in ARGs as education or activism tools. There's tremendous room to explore new gameplay. More storytellers are going to enter this space."Related StoriesLocation technology finally finds its feetLetters and blogsAleks Krotoski, gamesblog: Capturing game data is the futureCold callers target O2 users with false Bluetooth security warningTouch takes hold, but it's no mouse-killer
The Guardian  –  Jul 23, 2008 11:04 PM [GMT]  ¦  comment?
found in Technology