Reporting on the fast-paced, exciting world of video games is an obsession that keeps me up at night – late at night.But, try as I might, it’s impossible to cover it all!
In an effort to share all the cool stuff I come across each week, I’m rolling out this column you can count on seeing each Sunday. A roundup of some of tidbits, oddities and curiosities, if you will, Video Bytes will be dedicated to stories that are cool, but alas, didn’t make the Igniq.com front page on their own for one reason or another.
Arcade Action Coming To A Bar Near You
Sega Amusements USA and Sega Entertainment USA are cooking up plans to launch the ALL.Net platform in the U.S. later this year. The platform will let gamers in bars, arcades and entertainment centers like GameWorks play against each other with some serious online, tournament action. Games like Extreme Hunting 2 – Tournament Edition will be among the first to be rolled out. The concept has had more than a dry run in Japan, with action in place since 2004.
Shatner To Host Canadian Video Game Awards
William Shatner has signed on to host the Canadian Awards for the Electronic and Animated Arts Sept. 14. The awards will honor nominees in 37 categories and are meant to be the Oscars for the Canadian games industry. Winner will receive the coveted Elan.
VIA Wants Girls To Get Into The Game
In an effort to level the playfield between the sexes, VIA is launching its “Get the Girls into the Game” contest.
The contest will allow one lucky winner and her friend – who must also be a girl – to head to Sweden for some serious gaming training. The contest is open until Sept. 10 at the Home of Chrome site.
Female gamers are out there; this will just give them some uber training for beating the guys. Check it out here.
Video Games Promote Social Butterflies
This is yet another video game study, but this time the results show gaming isn’t all that bad. Seems the folks at the University of Illinois-Champaign and the University of Wisconsin-Madison have discovered that some MMORPGs "promote sociability and new worldviews."
I could have told them that for a lot less than the study probably cost!
Wii Get Zelda In October
Rumors about the impending release date for the Wii and the much-anticipated Zelda: Twilight Princess are a flyin’! There’s some indication the title will make its debut in October. Check it out, here.
LoTR Online Looking For Guilds
With the doors for beta testing poised to swing open, the folks at Turbine are looking for a few good guilds – OK, probably lots of them – to test drive Lord of the Rings Online.
Not too long ago I signed up for the site’s forums and put a beta application in. While Turbine’s not coming out and saying it’s only favoring guilds, it does seem to have a preference for them in who it accepts.
I received this in my e-mail today: “Don't forget to encourage other members of your online gaming guild to register – if someone in your guild gets into the Beta Program, it automatically increases your own chance of getting in.”
Check out the site and sign up for beta here.
Related:
LoTR Online In Alpha; Beta Open For More
Wii Oct. 2 Release Date Hidden In Code?
Female Gamers Are Nothing New
MMORPG Titles Are More Than ‘Games’
Sega Fans Buck For Next Next-Gen Console
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