The Week in Review

All the news you might have missed because a donkey walked past and you got distracted. I don’t blame you, donkeys are enthralling creatures.

How Developers Turn A Buck Into $130

First up on our round up of the weeks’ top stories is the in-depth look at videogame special editions. Cod Mewtwo might be coming with a useful item, but it’s astounding how many useless plastic objects get packaged with games and then sold for twice the normal price. In the list are plastic helmets that don’t fit, clocks that don’t work – not properly at least – and chainsaw bayonets that won’t cut.

That last one was especially disappointing; Thanksgiving was ruined. (link)

StarCraft 2 to Be Fashionably Late

Christmas? Pah! Nobody who’s anybody is coming out at Christmas, darling! StarCraft 2 joined the list of top-tier games pushed back until 2010, known by some indigenous tribes as “The Year of the Expensive Spring.” Joining such luminaries as BioShock 2 and Mass Effect 2, Starcraft 2 will be released in the ‘first half of 2010’ and will coincide with the release of the updated Battle.net service.

ZERG RUSH!!! (link)

PopCap Keeps on Spoofing

How long is it before a joke gets old? Not within a week apparently, as PopCap unveiled more parodies of the boob-tastic ads for free MMO Evony. The spoof Plants Vs Zombies ads are apparently the result of an impromptu, beer-fueled ‘design meeting’. Joining the lovely Darleen is a little lady I like to call Susie-Beth, whose pneumatic charms are sure to excite, and she’s only interested in one thing, if you know what I mean* (wink)

*I mean brains, you pervert. (link)

Internet Addiction Becomes Lethal

It sounds like a bad joke: “Q: How do you cure internet addicition? A: Baseball bat.” But the parents of 16-year old Deng Senshan had nothing to laugh about when they learned that their son had been beaten to death by three teachers at the internet addiction camp they had sent him to.

Internet addiction is seen as a major problem in China, and there are hundreds of these camps all over the country, and up until very recently, electro-shock therapy was seen as a suitable treatment. (link)

Sony Lovez Girlz!

It’d be funny if it weren’t so tragic; Sony makes some of the finest electronics in the world, and yet its marketing department can’t seem to stop putting its collective foot in it. The latest groaner is the ads for the OMG lilac PSP to appeal to “girlz” that wind up being somewhere between insulting and cringe-inducing. It’s not as horrifying as “Squirrel, Please,” but it’s still pretty bad.

(link)

Tim Langdell + IGDA = Drama!

Whether you think Tim Langdell is a trademark troll, or just protecting what’s his, everyone can agree that these last few days have been rather difficult. It started with a e-mail sent to the IDGA membership calling for his removal from the board of directors. That e-mail was later disavowed by the IDGA, but the damage had already been done. Now it seems that the IDGA will hold an emergency meeting over the issue, once a specially-appointed task force works out all the legal ins and outs. We’ll keep you posted on what happens. (the triple link!)