Gaming has been on the rise in Korea for a few years now, but it looks like their market is even stronger than initially expected. Pearl Research forecasts the online games market in South Korea will even exceed $1.7 billion by 2009. They believe this is driven by new releases and a “fervent” gaming culture.
We were so jealous when we found out that record-breaking Gold-medal U.S. swimmer, Michael Phelps, got an early copy of Call of Duty: World at War a few months early, that any gamer watching likely spit out most of whatever they were eating at an unsuspecting television in front of them.
MTV got to the bottom of the story recently to let us know that, in fact, Mr. Phelps received nothing but an EMPTY box. The game, apparently, hasn’t even gone gold yet! Now, the swimmer only has his share of gold medals AND records to gloat about in our faces. No wonder he seemed unfazed at the end of the following video, he knew he was being lied to all along!
All hating aside, though, Activision did promise to send him a copy of the game, free of charge, when it’s actually released.
Via MTV Multiplayer Blog (found through Kotaku)
If you are a fan of the site, then you probably read our original ‘7 Greatest Video Game Urban Legends’ post, which quickly became our most popular article ever. We thought it was about time to bring back the post with updates and new information.
We all have heard of them, swore to have done them or know someone whose cousin has. That’s right, I’m talking about Video Game Urban Legends (VGUL). No, we’re not going to talk about the munchkin in the back of “Wizard of Oz” who supposedly hangs himself from the tree. We’re not talking about how there is a ghost in the window in “3 Men and a Baby” who died in that house. Not Bigfoot or Loch Ness. We’re talking Video Games…. We’re talking Urban Legends in Video Games.
We searched high and low to bring to you, our latest redux installment of these Urban Legends, and hope you enjoy what we have come up with.
The following are some of the chart-topping movies of the summer. Most are good, one is bad (we’re looking at you, “Hancock!”), but we’re glad its been a good year for summer movie watching and hope Hollywood entertains just as well next year.
#1 The Dark Knight - $471.1 Million
Heath Ledger’s swan song performance and serving to elevate Christian Bale’s popularity — apparently, the movie industry had yet to see his acting in “Empire of the Sun” and “Henry V” — “The Dark Knight” has been blowing up the box office this summer. Viewers have taken so much to the film that many are speculating it will break 1997’s “Titanic” $600 Million U.S. lifetime earnings (the highest grossing film of all time).
#2 Iron Man - $317.1 Million
Re-energizing Robert Downey Jr.’s career might be “Iron Man”’s biggest accomplishment, but it hasn’t done too shabby considering its earnings this summer. It’s easily one of the better comic book adaptations out there and if you haven’t watched it yet, shame on you.
#3 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - $315.1 Million
Proving that 80s franchises are still all the rage (and that Hollywood is still fresh out of ideas) has put “Indiana Jones” at #3, just narrowly missing to top “Iron Man” by a couple of million dollars. Actually…once written, that’s a LOT of money.
#4 Hancock - $225 Million
Wow. Sure, Will Smith’s latest might have provided a few chuckles and light entertainment for some but it easily beats all the other movies on this list to the “summer fluff and crap” title. Poor “WALL-E.” “Hancock” didn’t deserve to make more money than you.
#5 WALL-E - $214.1 Million
It’s a little surprising that “WALL-E” didn’t top a couple of the movies on this list (it should have taken down “Hancock,” at least!), but it was still hugely successful. The film showed a great maturation for Pixar as they took on touchy subjects while maintaining that high level of movie magic the studio is known for. One of the few movies this summer that entertained both kids and adults, alike.
This week we take you back to 1984, where Hulk Hogan defeated Iron Sheik to become WWF Champ, Michael Jackson is burned during filming for a Pepsi commercial and McDonald’s made its 50 billionth hamburger. Oh yeah, it also was the year the Summer Olympics took place in good ole Los Angeles, California. What a better way to commemorate this years Summer Olympics than to show you how it was done.
Summer Games is a sports video game developed by Epyx and released by U.S. Gold based on sports featured in the Summer Olympic Games. Released in 1984 for the Commodore 64, it was also eventually ported to the Apple II, Atari 2600, Atari 7800, Atari XL/XE and Sega Master System platforms. Amiga, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC and Atari ST versions were also created for inclusion in compilations. In 2004 it would be “re-released” on the C64 Direct-to-TV.
The game was presented as a virtual multi-sport carnival called the “Epyx Games” (there was no official IOC floppy disk. licensing in place) with up to 8 players each choosing a country to represent, and then taking turns competing in various events to try for a medal. On most versions, world records could be saved to the floppy disks.
Many people believe that the U.S. pretty much has the gold medal in men’s basketball wrapped up, but I feel it’s still too early to evaluate how strong the team is. So far, they have yet to play from behind or deal with their big men being benched for fouls. The true test of a team is the ability to overcome obstacles. So far, they haven’t faced any legitimate tests. Their 119-82 dismantling of Spain was impressive, but also makes me wonder if we have seen the team peak. Peaking too early or gaining too much confidence could be their undoing. Spain’s undoing basically came down to ball control. When you turn over the ball as many times as Spain did, you simply cannot win a game against anyone. Spain had what I would call an “off day” and I expect them to come back strong in their next match.
At this point, I’d say it’s premature to consider the American team to be sure champions. We have to keep in mind that they are not even close to the skill of the original 1992 “Dream Team” and the rest of the world continues to get better each year.
The Championship Gaming Series (CGS), the only sanctioned worldwide professional gaming league, opened free registration for the inaugural CGS Pro-Am Division, greatly expanding the opportunity for aspiring professional gamers to take on the CGS pros. I can’t even count how many people I know who claim they are just as good as the pros, but they always have some excuse. Now it’s time for the bitchassness to end because the CGS is giving all of us a chance to show what we’re made of.
Full Press Release with registration follows:
LOS ANGELES – August 12, 2008 –
Championship Gaming SeriesTM (CGS), the only worldwide professional gaming league, opened free registration for the inaugural CGS Pro-Am Division, greatly expanding the opportunity for aspiring professional gamers to take on the CGS pros and see if they have what it takes to compete alongside the best of CGS, perhaps winning some cold hard cash in the process.
First announced earlier this summer, amateur and professional gamers from North America will have the chance to showcase their talent against CGS’ most elite gaming stars for a share of a prize purse totaling US$40,000 during the Pro-Am division’s inaugural season.
The CGS Pro-Am division features one official PC league title – Valve’s Counter-Strike®: Source® (CS:S), along with two other popular Valve games, Counter-Strike®: 1.6 and Team Fortress 2 (TF2). CS:S, CS 1.6 and TF2 represent three of the most popular and successful eSports PC titles of all time and now gamers throughout North America can step up to prove they have what it takes to challenge the CGS pros.
Xbox 360 gamers will also have a chance to compete against CGS stars on Xbox LIVE via the league’s official Xbox titles, Tecmo’s Dead or Alive® 4 and Forza Motorsport® 2 from Microsoft Game Studios, as well as on other popular Xbox 360 games that will be featured in upcoming Xbox LIVE matches. Competitions will take place every other Friday featuring CGS pros, kicking off this Friday, August 15, when Xbox LIVE gamers from around the globe can take on Dallas Venom players Michelle “Phoenix” Pleet and Manny “Master” Rodriguez in DOA4. For more info, visit http://www.xbox.com/en-US/community/calendar/playthepros/2008/0815-dallasvenom.htm
PC gamers interested in testing their skills against the pros should register at http://pro-am.thecgs.com/ now through September 3, 2008. The first season of the Pro-Am Division kicks off September 10.
America sure put all their eggs in Michael Phelpss’ success with his pursuit in chasing Mark Spitzs’ 8 Gold Medals. After Monday’s dramatic 4×100 Men’s relay win over France, Michael Phelps broke the Olympic World Record in the 200 meter freestyle when he hit the wall in 1:42.96 to shatter his own world record by 0.90 seconds on Tuesday.
It looks like NBC’s $900 million payout for the U.S. broadcast rights of the 2008 Olympics was a good move. According to a new report, NBC’s Olympics coverage is drawing huge audiences. Beijing 2008 could set some record TV ratings for NBC!
South Korea’s Park Tae-Hwan took silver and American Peter Vanderkaay the bronze.
The 23-year-old’s first Olympic freestyle title, after success in butterfly and medley, also made him the first male swimmer to win five individual titles.
Via Reuters.com
If you a big Gears of War fan, this is one announcement you will certainly want to check out. Amazon.com will be the exclusive retailer for the Lancer replica and “Headshot” Locust Drone action figure in North America. The prices are a little high for some wallets, but they are probably worth every penny.
Full Press Release:
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I have compiled some famous quotes from Hitler, tell me they could not be coming from Bush 43’s mouth. My response comments are in bold.
All great movements are popular movements. They are the volcanic eruptions of human passions and emotions, stirred into activity by the ruthless Goddess of Distress or by the torch of the spoken word cast into the midst of the people.
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