Digital rights management (DRM) is a thorny issue for publishers, who don't want to unnecessarily hassle paying customers but also don't want to allow piracy of the games they make. It's also something of a hot-button issue for a lot of gamers, as Electronic Arts found out last week.

After an employee at the publisher's BioWare studio explained the DRM scheme for the PC edition of sci-fi role-playing game Mass Effect on the developer's official forums, fans started to make their displeasure known. As originally explained, Mass Effect players would need to authenticate the disc and its CD Key on install, and the game's SecuROM DRM software would then need to re-authenticate the game every 10 days in order to check and make sure the CD Key hasn't been banned for becoming public or being used for registering illegal copies.

The thread in which that was revealed went on for 13 pages and more than 180 responses (many of them nonplussed) before being closed, but the issue continued to simmer on message boards and blogs. Last Friday, BioWare did an about-face on the DRM issue, posting the following explanation for removing the 10-day mandatory authentication checks in another thread (which hit 75 pages before being locked):

BioWare has always listened very closely to its fans and we made this decision to ensure we are delivering the best possible experience to them. To all the fans including our many friends in the armed services and internationally who expressed concerns that they would not be able re-authenticate as often as required, EA and BioWare want you to know that your feedback is important to us.

A similar plan for mandatory authentication every 10 days on another anticipated EA PC game, Spore, was also scuttled, according to a statement from the game's producer. Both Mass Effect and Spore will now authenticate whenever users go online to download new content.

This isn't the first time a publisher has altered its DRM plans after gamers raised a stink. Two years ago, Ubisoft dropped Starforce copyright protection entirely while it investigated complaints about the software.

In a previous life, Stephen Totilo helped create Hogan Knows Best.

Seriously.

It may seem odd to think about it now, but before he became MTV News' first full-time video game reporter, Totilo was one of the people behind the idea for the pro-wrestler-based reality show. After his departure from the project nearly three years ago, the VH1 series was a modest hit, running from 2005 to 2007.

Despite the allure of pro-wrestler-based reality TV, Totilo wasn't destined to let his Columbia journalism degree go to waste. He parlayed brief positions at Newsweek and Brill's Content into freelance game reporting gigs for GameSpy, IGN, and The New York Times. Now, Totilo heads up a team that covers games on the MTV's cable networks, MTVNews.com, and MTV's Multiplayer blog. PressSpotting talked with Totilo about his experience writing about games and what it means to be a game journalist today. Here's some excerpts from our lengthy conversation:

On video game coverage in the mainstream press
"I really hope that other outlets see what MTV News has done and take inspiration from that and also recognize that [video games] are something that should be taken seriously. I think we're seeing other mainstream outlets moving beyond just the scare stories, and it's certainly about time that happened...

"But it's just so hard for people to parachute in to talk about video games. You really have to be playing them regularly, you have to know what really matters. What I'd like to see is other news divisions out there that cover games to step up and have somebody covering games full time, not just somebody they bring in from the outside... If you're looking at any outlet that covers entertainment news already, I think they need to get with the times and accept and understand that video games are a huge part of people's entertainment diet."

On the proper role for a game journalist
"A lot of people do look at games journalism and say 'Oh what's the point, it's just for frustrated, failed creators who can't create a movie or book or a game so they're just writing about or blogging about it.' Gaming journalism could be just that, but if it is just gonna be that, then why bother?

"If Luke Smith was right and gaming journalists, by and large, are just middlemen that can be replaced by company bloggers, then yeah, any game journalist that can be replaced should just quit right now, because there is no point. But I think there is a point if you take the reporting you're doing seriously and say, 'Hey, we as outsiders to this whole gaming industry have the ability and the license to probe and ask questions to figure out what's really going on and to get to the bottom of things and change the conversation from the marketing-driven factors of gaming.'"

On the rise of "serious" reporting on games
"What I'm hopeful for is that more gamers demonstrate that they're into reporting. I get a little dismayed when I see a great story...that then doesn't get the pickup that I think it deserves. Because it's entertainment journalism, what's come first in gaming journalism has been the entertainment aspect of it, more than the journalism aspect of it. Things like Top 10 lists...are extremely entertaining--you can't help but gawk at it to see what's going on, those things really draw people in. So if you write a thing that's 1,000 words with no numbers next to any of the paragraphs, that's instead a full-reported piece, it's a harder sell. You hope to be able to build up your readership by doing things that people are going to find compelling and interesting."

On the games press' obsession with the console wars
"A lot of people tend to focus on the horse race between the consoles. People love following that. The way that a lot of the gaming media is consumed is sort of how sports media is consumed. People kind of have their favorite teams and love to kind of argue about their favorite teams. A lot of people only have one console, so they want to know if their consoles fortunes are up or down today, compared to the others. It's easy to kind of fall into that sports cheering or tribal mode of following video games. ... If you follow sports, you know ultimately it doesn't really matter in your life who wins and who loses, so you accept a certain level of frivolity with it. You can't help but get caught up in the which team is better and who's winning and taking some pride in that.

"There's so much of that in the nature of being a gamer that turns you into a sports fan, that it makes it sort of tempting to cover games as if they are sports and to not look at it much more deeply than that. It's something you have to resist. You have to have the bravery as a news institution to not be freaked out if some of the hard news or feature news that you're doing is not immediately setting the world afire. I've learned first hand that if you keep doing that kind of thing you definitely build up a reputation for yourself and for your outlet, and that there are people who are looking for that kind of stuff.

On game reporters leaving for development
"I'm dismayed by the number of gaming reporters who go into game development. There are challenges there in terms of pay--game journalism doesn't pay all that well, so there are certain temptations to find a better-paying job--and journalism is not that easy, because every day you find a blank computer screen or an empty notebook. ...

"As a journalist, you're always a little bit on the outside. You always know, deep down in your gut that I don't need to be here, that this thing will all be fine without me. So how do I make myself useful? What do I do so that I can look in the mirror and say, 'OK, I'm not just lucky to be able to play at this stuff all day?' What can I do that could be enriching to people and maybe keep some things in check or bring some things up that people didn't already know?

"When I see people leave game journalism and go into game development, it might be like those people feeling that being an outsider isn't for them, that they might be happier being an insider. If that's truly what's best for that person, that's fine, I'd just love to see a sign that more game journalists are happy and capable and comfortable being outsiders, and that they could afford to do that both financially and motivationally."

For more about PressSpotting, check out the introductory column.

Kyle Orland is a freelance journalist specializing in video games and based out of Laurel, Maryland. He's written for a variety of outlets, as detailed on his personal site. He's also the coauthor of The Videogame Style Guide and Reference Manual.

Questions? Comments? Story ideas? Bitter invective? Send it to Kyle.

This week, Sony Europe threw a special event for the games press to tout its PlayStation-branded wares. As part of a presentation containing announcements both heartening (PSP's video download service) and less so (Killzone 2 being delayed to 2009), Insomniac Games took the stage to demonstrate Resistance 2. But while the developer had promised on multiple occasions prior to the event that the ambitious sci-fi shooter's multiplayer mode would support a whopping 60 players, GameSpot UK correspondents noticed the demo appeared to support just 45.

Today, Insomniac clarified the situation, saying Resistance 2 can already support 60 simultaneous players in online battles, and will indeed do so when it ships later this year. "Since this past February, we've been conducting 60-player online gameplay tests internally and with other Sony studios," Insomniac Community Director told GameSpot. "We supported 60 players throughout the Sony Europe PlayStation Day event yesterday, filling games to capacity with QA representatives from both Sony and Insomniac. We will continue to support 60-player gameplay, focusing on our 'massive battles, greater intimacy' mantra."

For further impressions from Insomniac's Resistance 2 demonstration, check out GameSpot UK's impressions from Sony Europe's Gamers Day in London.

Civilization-leveling nuclear disasters and thundering, ominous music go hand in hand irrespective of the medium in which they are presented. Today, Bethesda Softworks announced that prolific composer Inon Zur will be delivering those tunes for its postapocalyptic role-playing game Fallout 3.

Zur has won a bevy of awards scoring games, film, and TV in recent years, including the Game Audio Network Guild Award for Best Original Instrumental at the Game Developers Conference in 2004. Most recently, his work can be heard in Crytek's acclaimed first-person shooter Crysis, and Zur has also contributed to a number of other projects, including Relic's Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War and Company of Heroes franchises, Ubisoft's Prince of Persia Rival Swords, and Sony's Twisted Metal: Head On.

"We've wanted to work with Inon for a long time," commented Fallout 3 executive producer Todd Howard of Zur's work for the game. "He brings so much to the table, in terms of his talent, background, and the music that's influenced him. He's created a score that has epic sweep; from the lonely ambience of the wasteland to dramatic fights for survival."

Fallout 3 is expected to arrive on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC this fall. For more on the game, check out GameSpot's previous coverage.

The NCAA postseason is stretched out among 36 bowls taking place over several weeks each year. EA Sports has likewise stretched out its cover athlete announcements, saying in early March that Arkansas tailback Darren McFadden to the Xbox 360 edition in early March, with Michigan State's Sparty announced for the Wii two weeks later. In late April, the publisher said Boston College QB Matt Ryan would appear on the PlayStation 3 version of the game.

Today, the publisher took the wraps off the last of the covers for its multiplatform smorgasbord of NCAA Football. On the PlayStation 2 game will appear University of California, Berkeley wide receiver/kick return specialist DeSean Jackson. Following a sensational 2006 season where he won the inaugural Randy Moss Award, Jackson entered the NFL after his third season at Cal, having logged 2,423 receiving yards and 22 total touchdowns.

EA Sports also said today that West Virginia fullback Owen Schmitt would headline the PlayStation Portable edition of NCAA Football 09. In his time with the Mountaineers, Schmitt logged 21 starts and 1,003 carrying yards, with an average of 6.3 yards per carry.

All cover athletes (with the exception of Sparty) graduated or left their schools after the end of the 2007 season. NCAA Football 09 will be available July 15. For a look at what EA Tiburon will be doing different this year, check out GameSpot's recent preview of the game.

Rocket science is widely accepted to be not easy, and Capcom seems to have hit upon that fact with Rocketmen: Axis of Evil. Though A.C.R.O.N.Y.M.'s downloadable title was initially slated to arrive during the latter part of 2007, it didn't in fact blast off on Xbox Live or the PlayStation Network until March.

Fuel tanks thus in working order, Capcom is wasting no time on the first expansion for Rocketmen. The publisher said today that Rocketmen: It Came From Uranus will be available for download over XBL on May 14, with the PSN version clocking in a day later. Gamers can pick up the expansion for $4.95 (400 Microsoft points), and the original Rocketmen is required for playing the add-on.

According to Capcom, It Came From Uranus adds three new levels, where players must first escape a mine on Saturn, then blast their way through Saturn's rings, and finally negotiate with the Saturnian leader to join a space alliance. The add-on also offers a trio of new primary weapons and a pair of secondary weapons.

For an idea of what to expect from Rocketmen's first expansion, check out GameSpot's review of the original game.

On April 28, the front page story on The New York Times' Arts section wasn't about a new Broadway play or a hot new CD or even a blockbuster summer movie. It was a balanced, 1,100-word review of Grand Theft Auto IV that described the game as a "violent, intelligent, profane, endearing, obnoxious, sly, richly textured, and thoroughly compelling work of cultural satire disguised as fun."

The Times wasn't alone. Kotaku's Brian Crecente briefly returned to the Rocky Mountain News to write a major 2,000-word feature on his five days locked in a room with the game. Marc Saltzman compared it to "an interactive episode of The Sopranos" from the pages of USA Today. MSNBC noted in a subhead that it's "a blast to play a criminal in a safe, consequence-free environment."

As much as Grand Theft Auto IV is being hailed as a revolution in gaming, its release also seems to herald a revolution in mainstream coverage of gaming itself.

Sure, the game is already attracting its fair share of criticism from the usual corners of the media. The New York Daily News let the mother of a slain police officer rail against the game from their pages. Immigrant groups and drunk-driving opponents are getting some media traction with their concerns about the game. Feminist writers (spurred on by IGN's out-of-context sex and violence trailer) are somewhat justifiably up in arms about the game's rampant misogyny. Legendarily vehement GTA critic Jack Thompson is doing his attention-grabbing best to decry the game's adult content. And, of course, many mainstream outlets are trying to cover the controversy itself without taking sides.

But for all the moral scolds getting column inches, many mainstream outlets seem to be offering a genuine counterpoint this time around. The Harvard researchers behind the book Grand Theft Childhood have been making the media rounds for weeks telling parents not to overreact to the game. The Guardian ran a piece by MUD creator Richard Bartle trumpeting gamers' triumph over censorship. An op-ed in the Los Angeles Times said the game shows that the "interactive video industry has turned an aesthetic corner and is now an art form..." Publisher Rockstar Games even did its part, breaking its usual media silence to allow president Sam Houser and producer Leslie Benzies to promote and defend the game in public.

Overall, the mainstream media seems to be at least considering the idea that this game is no more of a threat than comic books or rock and roll were back in their most controversial days. Outside the controversy, mainstream outlets also addressed the GTAIV release as the cultural and business phenomenon that it is. Pieces on CBS News, ABC News, MSNBC, and CNN noted the game's midnight launch lines and record sales projections alongside content concerns.

Of course, both Microsoft and Sony are trying to attach the game's business success to the success of their particular system. Eurogamer notes that Microsoft has been "targeting critics likely to be asked to appear on mainstream radio and TV broadcasts" with messages about the Xbox 360's impending, exclusive downloadable content. Sony, for its part, got some nice coverage in a Reuters story saying that the game will help the PS3 catch up in the console-sales race. From the entertainment news side, there's growing chatter that the game's success will hurt this weekend's opening of the Iron Man movie.

On the specialist press side, it's hard to imagine a more glowing reception. The game has jumped to the top of the GameRankings all-time average score list thanks to 17 perfect rankings so far, including the fifth-ever 10/10 from this very site. (Editor's Note: A technical glitch caused some confusion about GameSpot's GTAIV rating. For more information, check out Editor-in-Chief Ricardo Torres' blog post.) Even the "bad" reviews have generally not dared to score the game below a 9.5. The hyperbole about the game probably reached its zenith in Game Informer's review, which didn't mention a single thing negative about the game.

Though it hasn't lifted Take-Two stock, the critical reception is good news for Rockstar, considering that it will likely increase consumer demand for the game even further. On the other hand, the flood of perfect scores seems to caused a minor backlash from fans and forum-goers who believe that the game isn't perfect. (Never mind that few gaming publication believe a perfect score actually means a game is perfect--many readers obviously have that perception.) There are also reports of technical issues with both the PlayStation 3 and, to a lesser extent, the Xbox 360 versions of the game.

Of course, the high scores could have something to do with the slightly unorthodox way in which the game was reviewed. As the BBC notes, "Most reviewers were not sent advance copies of the game, and instead had to attend Rockstar offices or sit in booked hotel rooms to play the game." Who can say how this Rockstar-sponsored environment affected the thoughts of reviewers?

More than that, though, this system also affects how the game is reviewed by those not lucky enough to get early access. The Associated Press reviewer admitted to only having eight hours with the game before writing it up, and Time magazine's reviewer said he played only to 6.24 percent completion before jotting down his thoughts.

(During the course of writing his review, GameSpot's reviewer played GTAIV for nearly 60 hours, attaining over 70 percent completion rank. In addition to finishing the main storyline and many major side quests, he also tested the multiplayer modes at length.--ed.)

Then there are the issues surrounding IGN's blowout, seven-page "exclusive first review" of the game, which attracted the attention of Variety's Ben Fritz. He astutely asks, "How can we trust a video game review when the outlet running it has been given a major commercial favor--one that's worth money--from the publisher of the game?"

But more than non-IGN media outlets, the biggest losers in the blanket coverage of GTAIV are other games which took on Rockstar's behemoth. Even a recently released blockbuster like Mario Kart Wii is having trouble getting coverage through the deafening noise surrounding the game. The outlook is even worse for relatively unknown games like The World Ends With You. One can't help but wonder how much more attention that game would be getting were it released during any other part of the year.

On the other hand, what can you do? Judging by the media coverage, it's a Grand Theft Auto world, and the rest of us are just playing in it.

For more about PressSpotting, check out the introductory column.

Kyle Orland is a freelance journalist specializing in video games and based out of Laurel, MD. He's written for a variety of outlets, as detailed on his personal site. Questions? Comments? Story ideas? Bitter invective? Send it to Kyle.

Spiking revenues in the game industry aren't limited to console makers and software developers. The accessories business has been booming from increased market penetration of current-generation hardware, as well. For the month of March, accessory sales jumped 58 percent over the same period last year to $220 million, according to the NPD Group.

It's no wonder, then, that new ancillary products continue to flood the market. Today, peripheral manufacturer Actiga Corporation announced it had signed a North American licensing deal with Microsoft to produce wireless controllers for the Xbox 360. The first product of this union will be a full-sized skateboard that will be compatible with the "popular skateboarding games" that will launch during the second half of 2008. Skateboarding games thus far available for Microsoft's console include Tony Hawk's Proving Ground, American Wasteland, and Project 8 from Activision as well EA's newest entrant, Skate.

Details on how the controller will interact with the game have not yet been made available, but Actiga has previously ventured into the replica boarding input device with the QMotions Xboard (pictured), which controls the speed and direction of the player's in-game persona by leaning in a particular direction. On its site, Actiga lists that peripheral as being compatible with such games as Tony Hawk's Underground and Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer.

Also of note is the fact Actiga's announcement comes just over two weeks before Nintendo releases its Wii Fit Balance Board and after rumors that Microsoft was working on a Wii Remote-like controller surfaced.

Last week, popular television satirist Stephen Colbert lamented the fact that he was not topping Your Time 100, the online complement to Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People list. This week, he will surely be grousing again, given that the final list shows him bested by his archnemesis, K-Pop singer Rain, who in turn was beaten by an iconic figure from the game industry.

"Time asked who you thought should be on the list of the 100 most influential people of the year," the magazine said on its official results page. "Over 200 candidates were given a rating of 1 to 100. And your #1 choice? Shigeru Miyamoto!" (Emphasis in the original.) It is the second year in which the Donkey Kong creator and Wii and DS design guru has made the online list, and last year he was also honored on its print equivalent.

The final Your Time 100 tally had Miyamoto with 1,974,651 million votes, compared with Rain's 1,555,867 votes and Colbert's 904,523. The only other game-industry figures on the list were outgoing Microsoft chairman Bill Gates (26th with 19,452 votes and a 50 rating) and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer (102nd with 11,571 votes). [UPDATE] However, the print edition of the Time 100 features Harmonix co-founders Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy, with a tribute written by Steven Van Zandt, lead guitarist of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band.

Activision is no stranger to speculative game name registrations, taking time out early last year to trademark Drum Villain and Guitar Villain, and it seems like its new stablemate Blizzard is treading a similar path.

A statement on Diablo3.com yesterday indicated that the site was changing its URL to DiabloFans.com at Blizzard's behest, and that it was in the process of transferring the old domain to the Diablo publisher.

Knowing that such an acquisition would send the Internet rumourmongers into overdrive, Blizzard made it clear to mockery, the administrator of the fansite in question, that "this shouldn't be considered an announcement" of Diablo 3.

Blizzard's denial hasn't done much to slow the rumour mill, however, especially given the fact that this year's Blizzard invitational is only two months away. Last year's equivalent event was the scene of the surprise announcement of Starcraft 2, and the Paris event would be an appropriate stage for Diablo 3 to be introduced to the world.

[UPDATE]: A Blizzard representative confirmed the news for GameSpot, saying, "We did acquire the rights to www.diablo3.com. Please note that we regularly secure ownership of domain names to safeguard our intellectual properties, as was the case with this. Regarding any plans for a new Diablo game, as much as we'd like to eventually revisit that universe, we don't have any plans to announce at this time."

Xbox 360 exclusives seem to be making a habit out of eventually being released on Microsoft's other platform, Windows, several months after the fact. In February, BioWare signaled that this trend would continue for its epic-scale role-playing game Mass Effect, with PC gamers offered a variety of tweaks, balances, and revisions to remunerate for the lagging ship date.

Today, BioWare revealed yet one more incentive for PC gamers to pick up the latest edition of Mass Effect. Those who preorder through participating brick-and-mortar retailers or online will receive $10 off of the game's regularly schedule $49.99 price tag. Those who purchase the game through BioWare parent company Electronic Arts' online storefront will instead receive Dead Space swag, including a poster and the first edition of the comic-book series that surrounds EA's survival horror shooter.

BioWare has said that it will be addressing a number of griped-about issues for the PC edition of Mass Effect. Namely, the inventory and item-decryption game mechanics have been revisited, and the game's heads-up display has been fully revamped. PC gamers will also receive for free the "Bring Down the Sky" downloadable content released on the Xbox 360 in March after they register with BioWare's community site.

Developed in conjunction with Demiurge Studios, BioWare's Mass Effect will be available for the PC on May 27.

As evidenced by Sir Anthony Hopkins' appearance in Ubisoft's movie-to-game tie-in for Beowulf last year, a growing trend in the film adaptation business is for top-tier Hollywood talent to cross over into the gaming spectrum. However, when High Moon Studios and Sierra Entertainment's Robert Ludlum's Bourne Conspiracy is released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on June 3, it will be both be a year behind the last Bourne film and noticeably lacking the movie's iconic star, Matt Damon, as Jason Bourne.

The first oddity can be answered by the fact that the game has as much to do with Robert Ludlum's novels than the recent Tony Gilroy-penned movie scripts--though, as noted in GameSpot's previous coverage, Gilroy contributed to the game's story. MTV's Multiplayer blog reports that the second is due to Matt Damon backing out of the role.

Speaking to MTV, High Moon Studios business director Meelad Sadat said that Damon backed out of negotiations to lend his voice and likeness to the game while the project was still in an early stage. The reason? According to Sadat, Damon was affronted by the game's violent, interactive nature.

While Damon himself gave no official explanation, it could be noted that Nancy Carlsson-Paige, Damon's mother and professor of education at Lesley University, has been publicly critical of violent games in the past, saying to The Boston Globe that she and her son share views that violence in films should not be promoted through "violent toys, products, and video games."

Sadat said the studio wasn't too broken up over not having Damon associated with the project, as it gave the team more freedom to build their own Jason Bourne not beholden to action star's version of the character, according to MTV.

[UPDATE] Today, MTV Multiplayer issued a clarification on its original story. According to the Sadat, Damon never explicitly said he was backing out of the role due to the game's violent nature; rather, that was merely an impression perceived by Sadat.

MTV Multiplayer also noted interview Damon gave with The Boston Globe last month, wherein the actor said, "I lobbied hard [with the video producers] to not make a first-person shooter game but to make it more like Myst, which was a great interesting puzzle you tried to solve - you know, to play with his amnesia or his memory. They weren't interested. They made the video anyway, without my likeness."

After speaking with High Moon, MTV said that the supplied information in brackets employed by The Globe was inaccurate.

Konami and Kojima Productions' Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is easily one of Sony's most prized upcoming titles. Though fan anticipation can already be considered at a fever pitch, the console maker said when it announced the game's June 12 launch date in February that the online portion would benefit from an online beta test, beginning in the latter part of April.

That April launch date turned out to be earlier this week, but the beta didn't stay up long, thanks in large part to the massive interest surrounding the game. However, after a week of tinkering, Sony said today on its official blog that the Metal Gear Online development team has patched the beta client and servers are now back up for play. To compensate for the delay, Sony has said the beta period will now extend to May 11.

"Initial problems were caused by the extraordinary numbers of customers trying to log in to the site in order to create a Konami ID in order to take part in the beta test," Konami's MGO team said in a statement. "In response, we have increased server capacity, as well as created a separate Konami ID registration site specifically for customers wanting to take part in the Metal Gear Online Premiere Beta test."

To help alleviate server strain, Konami also said that it has instituted a play queue and that players may be forced to wait for an open slot in the servers during peak play times.

Play Magazine has always been a rather unique voice in the game journalism landscape, covering games with an unmatched passion and a focus on hardcore niche games. Since its launch in 2001, that unique voice has largely been driven by editor-in-chief Dave Halverson. Since Halverson's promotion to publisher/editorial director at Fusion Publishing earlier this year, the day-to-day responsibilities surrounding Play have fallen to former senior editor Brady Fiechter (pictured), its new EIC.

Fiechter is already shaking things up, announcing in the May issue that readers "may not be seeing [review] scores any longer" starting next month. PressSpotting talked to Fiechter about that state of gaming and game journalism, the future of Play, and, of course, his controversial review score decision. Some excerpts from our discussion:

On the responsibilities of being editor-in-chief:

It's kind of funny because I always wanted to have more of a voice, try to shake things up a bit, but when you finally have the podium, you start to really seriously question what that voice should be, what it needs to be. There's so much that can be down with video game coverage that isn't, which is now the big question we're tackling.

On the decision to get rid of review scores in the magazine:

I absolutely despise the way games have been turned into this arbitrary, aggregate scale that everyone seems to **** about yet still hold so tightly to. But ultimately, if you get rid of numbers or grades or whatever, is the reader alienated and pissed off? My favorite music magazine, Paste, just got rid of their scoring system, and at first, I kind of had to chuckle as I reacted negatively. Change is difficult...

I get a lot of e-mails from people who actually ask for us to get rid of scores. They all point to their frustrations with forums making such a stink about scores and wanting us to just talk about the games, what we feel passionate about. Games really are a terrifically unique medium, and I think putting a grade on them doesn't work and is only going to continue to be more and more broken. I'm more interested in perspective than this analytical review nonsense. I think ultimately people like blogs because they are bringing more perspective into the mix...

All this talk about games being art: If you really want to believe that, I think you have to get past this whole rage-driven debate that goes on about game reviews...I still like having some sort of stamp that distills the reviewer's opinion beyond the raw text: Thumbs up, thumbs down, that's a hell of a lot different than a scale that slides from 1 to 10. Is Halo 3 better than Call of Duty 4? Which one gets the 10/10, the 9/10? Well, both, to me, get a thumbs up, that's easy. But when I start putting a more loosely structured grade or number on them, people flip out.

On the continued relevance of print game journalism (or lack thereof):

I think if print puts something out there, puts an article out there that really says something--I don't want to say "different," but something that people find fascinating to read, I think that ability to drive the discussion is absolutely still there. And if it's consistent, I think that reporting eventually gets onto the Web and sparks a continued debate. There are some great writers with some important things to say on the Internet, but I sometimes wonder if that voice is lost in a way it wouldn't be in print. There aren't that many game pubs out there when you think about it. The audience may be dwindling, but the audience that is there is powerful and deserves to have more said to them.

On Play's niche focus on the "hardcore" games and gamers

I'm content reaching a smaller audience of people who actually do care. But it's tough. Our attention spans are shifting...We want airy, bite-sized chunks of information presented in very exact, specific ways. That doesn't mean that information is meaningful or even accurate. Look at what's happening with news reporting...I think in the end there are absolutely enough people out there who want to read something beyond blurbs. Authenticity and perspective are key. I use those words a lot. And passion--real passion--seems to be bleeding away in all entertainment.

And [passion] can come back to bite us in the a**! Emotion can get the best of you... But man, I still love games. I love them. This is why I do what I do. But I will also say I'm frustrated as a gamer when I see the industry so confused and driven by so much bulls***. Sure, the same thing can be said about movies, but there are a lot more smaller movies out there to turn to that really matter. But you know, I see the games industry in the best place it's been. Indie games are about to blow up. PSN and Live Arcade are starting to prove my personal savior. Everyday Shooter for example. Something about that game, about that singular vision. Pac-Man: Championship Edition. A tiny masterpiece there.

On deciding what games to cover in Play:

The focus will be on...the games we personally believe in, even if they end up being s*** in the end. Let me give you an example...Gamecock is doing a game called Mushroom Men, and I saw a bit of it a few weeks ago. I have no idea if it will be anything, but I liked what I saw, simply because I really find my imagination drawn to games where you are this little creature in a humongous world, where everything is larger than life. Toy Story-type stuff. So I want to cover it in preview form. It may turn out to be nothing, but why not give it a shot?

We all disagree a lot internally. I can tell you I get blank stares when I try to extol the virtues of, say, Call of Juarez. That is a game with a lot of issues, but also one of my favorite games of last year. So I want to cover it, I believe in what I see in it, and hope maybe someone else will latch onto it. I'm not anti-big-name games. I hope I'm not coming off that way, I just want to put my focus behind games I personally, and everyone here, believes in for a number of reasons.

For more about PressSpotting, check out the introductory column.

Kyle Orland is a freelance journalist specializing in video games and based out of Laurel, MD. He's written for a variety of outlets, as detailed on his personal site. He is your sunshine, your only sunshine.

Questions? Comments? Story ideas? Bitter invective? Send it to Kyle.

Last year, Bizarre Creations significantly tinkered with the formula for its fourth installment in the Microsoft-exclusive racer Project Gotham Racing. Dynamic weather effects aside, Bizarre added a hefty helping of zip to the high-octane street racer, adding in a variety of motorcycles both mundane and ultrasleek.

Taking a similar tack, Criterion Games said today on its official Web site that as part of its August software update for Burnout Paradise, motorcycles will be added to the game. As with other vehicles, bikes will receive their own game modes and challenges as well as "some new locations tailored to fit their unique performance and handing characteristics."

Sadists wondering why Paradise City is devoid of human inhabitants will be pleased to know that bikes will be mounted by riders. However, Criterion has not revealed how riders would be affected by the outcome of the brutal carnage and twisted metal of wrecks that are a hallmark for the series.

Riders won't be thrust into the fire immediately, however, as Criterion also said that the August update will add night driving to the game. "We wanted to clear the traffic out a little to give you the chance to learn how to ride in safety, and we've always wanted to cruise the streets of Paradise City with incredible night-time visuals," reads the announcement.

Burnout Paradise received its first software update for the Xbox 360 edition of the game on April 18, and the PlayStation 3 update will arrive April 24. A second update to both systems is expected to arrive at the end of June.

Gamers have been waiting a long time for the next-gen reboot of Alone in the Dark. It was first announced in 2005, and its most recent delay saw the Xbox 360, Wii, Playstation 2, and PC versions shifted to June this year, with the PlayStation 3 version to follow in September.

The wait won't be in vain, though, as those especially keen on the survival horror franchise now have some extra goodies to look forward to...as long as they're in Europe. Atari today announced a European-only limited edition for the game's Xbox 360, PC, and Wii release that will feature a figurine of Edward Carnby, the game's protagonist; an official soundtrack CD featuring The Mystery of Bulgarian Voices, the Grammy-winning choir who provide musical backing to game's creepier moments; an art book; and a making-of DVD.

The soundtrack CD will be available separately to those wanting to give their living rooms the air of shadowy horror without the expense of the limited edition--or shipping from Europe for those not on the continent.

No news about the PS3 or PS2 versions was available at time of writing, nor was information about any equivalent package stateside.

New York City politicians were decidedly unhappy when they first found out Grand Theft Auto IV's Liberty City setting was a thinly veiled take on the Big Apple, but with a week to go before the game's release, the biggest gripe about the game is rising out of Chicago. The local Fox affiliate is reporting that the Chicago Transit Authority plans to pull an advertising campaign for the latest criminal action game from Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive.

The Fox report--available as a video clip on the station's Web site--begins by noting this past weekend was "an especially violent" one for Chicago, which left dozens of people shot and six dead.

"And what did we spot on CTA buses and platforms," anchor Andy Roesgen asked. "Advertisements for the unapologetically violent video game Grand Theft Auto."

Roesgen then recaps a 2004 stir over CTA ads for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas on the PlayStation 2. In that incident, Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich (whose game restriction legislation was declared unconstitutional, much to the expense of the state's taxpayers) criticized the CTA for accepting the $90,000 ad campaign, but the ads were set to come down anyway by the time the issue drew attention.

The Fox report cited a CTA representative as saying that transit authority president Ron Huberman had decided to pull the advertising campaign. Neither Take-Two Interactive nor the CTA had returned GameSpot's requests for comment as of press time.

News was in no short supply during the 2006 Electronic Entertainment Expo, but one of the biggest tidbits to come out of the trade show was news that Blizzard Entertainment and Legendary Pictures would be teaming up for a silver-screen adaptation of the massively popular massively multiplayer online game World of Warcraft.

At the time, Blizzard Entertainment was adamant about its level of control over the project, with chief operating officer Paul Sams saying it took the developer five years to find the right partner. Directorial partners have faced a similar level of scrutiny, with Sams saying, "While I can't give out names right now, there's some meaningful people that have expressed interest."

One of those people, meaningful or not, was apparently infamous game-to-film adaptation specialist Uwe Boll, reports MTV. "I got in contact with Paul Sams of Blizzard, and he said, 'We will not sell the movie rights, not to you...especially not to you,'" related Boll. "Because it's such a big online game success, maybe a bad movie would destroy that ongoing income, what the company has with it."

As of last year's BlizzCon, Legendary Pictures had estimated a $100 million budget for the film, with an estimated theatrical debut in 2009--when the upcoming Prince of Persia film is also slated to unspool. Blizzard nor the production company has firmed up details on who will be directing or starring in the live-action project, which has not yet entered preproduction.

While this column usually tries to look at the broader issues and personalities in the game journalism world, there are plenty of smaller issues swirling around that don't necessarily warrant a full column of their own. The PressSpotting Round-up will take a quick look at some of these issues on a periodic basis.

Sessler Fights the Fanboys
Any game reviewer should know that panning a Final Fantasy game will lead to nasty personal attacks from legions of fanboys, some of whom have access to sharp cutlery. Most reviewers just take the heat, ignoring the criticism in much the way they might ignore the brilliance of Final Fantasy IX. X-Play's Adam Sessler went a different route, though, fighting back against the fanboys with a scathing and accurate edition of Sessler's Soapbox that should have reviewers everywhere screaming "Hell yeah!"

Sessler particularly takes issue with the oft-repeated idea that reviews "completely out of step with the rest of reviewers" are somehow less valid than the vast mass of homogenous scores. People seem to forget that game reviewing is an almost wholly subjective task. While there are some agreed upon objective criteria for evaluating games (e.g. glitches are bad, responsive controls are good) the vast majority of reviewing comes down to personal taste. How well you explain and defend your specific tastes is what determines the value of a review, not how much the final opinion agrees with the popular one.

The real problem here is that a vocal minority of readers takes attacks on their favorite games personally when they should be taken more academically. As Sessler puts it, "It's almost as if the reviews are some way in which you feel more secure about yourself and the opinion you've developed, and that's a little sad."

The Media Myth
Anyone who thinks games are a fully integrated part of the mainstream pop culture landscape should read Brenda Brathwaite's excellent Escapist article on "They Myth of the Media Myth" Brathwaite uses her personal experience at a dinner party of non-gamers as a jumping off point to show how the large bulk of the "mainstream" population is still relatively unknowledgeable about the state of our favorite hobby.

It's important to remember that most of what we game journalists write is directed at a relatively niche, hardcore group of devoted, well-informed gamers. As gaming inevitably grows outside this narrow audience, we're going to have to get used to writing more accessible prose that is well-informed but also interesting to readers that haven't gotten 100 percent completion on every Grand Theft Auto game.

Bourne to be Junket
To the annals of ridiculous game-marketing stunts, add Sierra's recent promotion for The Bourne Supremacy, which involved mysterious unmarked cell phones, luxury car trips to an abandoned warehouse and personalized media kits that contained creep-tastic spy photos of the journalists in question. The whole affair was enough to get Variety's Ben Fritz to ask "Why are videogame journalists being treated like overgrown 10 year-olds?"

The answer, of course, is that it works. Joystiq (which I also write for) and Kotaku both wrote up posts that contained a lot of details about the mysterious junket but few details about the game. The result, judging by the comments on both posts, is a lot of buzz for the game and a lot of people jealous of the cool job game journalists have. I'll concede the second point, but the whole affair begs the question: Has covering the apocrypha surrounding games become more important than covering the games themselves?

Gaming the Webbys
It's like that old Sesame Street game, "One of these things is not like the other". Don't get me wrong, I was happy with most of this year's games-related Webby Awards nominees: Gamasutra, Gamezebo, The Escapist and Game|Life are all solid outlets that deserve recognition. (Note: The author maybe biased: He's written for the first three sites--ed.)

I am baffled, though, as to why a game-specific community site like RockBand.com is nominated alongside regular game journalism outlets. I suppose the site is technically "games-related," but only in the same way that a press release is "news-related." Hey, Webbys, would it be so hard to have a category specifically devoted to game journalism's relatively large corner of the internet?

Behind the Reviews
I'm a big proponent of transparency as a way to engender trust between cynical readers (who think all games journalists have a closet full of moneyhats) and members of the games press (who generally shroud their review process in a maddening cloud of secrecy). So it's nice to see GameSpot rolling out a new blog that reveals some of the nitty-gritty details of the reviewing process.

Of course I may be a little biased, considering the site that runs this column. I may also be a little abnormal in finding this insider baseball stuff interesting, since I write about it for a significant portion of my living. Still, anyone who wants a window into the glamorous world of game reviewing--and its pitfalls and frustrations--should check it out.

Quick Hits
Save the Robot's Chris Dahlen has an interesting discussion of whether or not game reviewers should cheat to get through particularly tough parts of games they're reviewing. Personally, I do use GameFAQs to get through the frustrating bits of games I'm reviewing, but I make sure to note that those portions were incredibly frustrating in the text of the review.

Insert Credit's Tim Rogers seems utterly shocked that game magazines are selling advertisements that go on top of the actual covers. It is a travesty, but it's not exactly new – I've been lamenting the practice since I first noticed it in late 2004. Always nice to see it getting more attention, though.

Finally, this incredibly passive-agressive note from a Majesco employee in response to former GameSpotter Alex Navarro's review of Cooking Mama 2 is priceless.

Quote of the Moment
"I read some breaking news on Destructoid today that an industry insider leaked critical information from an anonymous source about a distribution facility reporting that MGS4 is listed on their Xbox 360 shipping logs for late 2009, so..." -From Shamoozal's latest GFGames Flash animation

For more about PressSpotting, check out the introductory column.

Kyle Orland is a freelance journalist specializing in video games and based out of Laurel, MD. He's written for a variety of outlets, as detailed on his personal site. He can't dance, he can't talk, only thing about him is the way he walks.

Questions? Comments? Story ideas? Bitter invective? Send it to Kyle.

God of War protagonist Kratos kills more deities before 9 a.m. than most people do all day. That lack of reverence--combined with a sex-themed minigame and wanton violence--may be what United Arab Emirates authorities had in mind when they originally banned the game for containing material offensive to the religion, values, and traditions of the country.

That ban wasn't quite effective enough, given that UAE-based Gulf News is reporting on a new crackdown against the distribution of the game stemming from complaints of residents in the country's Sharjah municipality. One resident was quoted in the story as saying that pirated copies of God of War weren't difficult to come by despite the ban.

An official with the municipality told the news agency that the government recently confiscated copies of the game in inspections, and will continue to seize all games offensive to religion, values, and social norms.