Op-Ed

The burning questions are: 1) Did Gamespot's deal with Eidos include an expectation of editorial coverage, or of a certain kind of editorial coverage, and 2) Was Gerstmann fired specifically for his negative review. If the answer to either of these questions is "yes," we're all screwed. We kind of already are screwed merely because even if the deal didn't go down this way, it's so plausible that it did.

"Ownership" is not a dirty word, and we shouldn't be restricted from using our products in reasonable manners. The fact technology changes and opens up new opportunities for consumers should not, by default, mean every company threatened by that new technology has the right to confine and restrict their customers. It's the corporations' job to adapt to a changing marketplace.

I've worked my fair share of Black Fridays, which has since inspired me to always add "that I don't have to work retail tomorrow" to my list of things for which I'm thankful, right after the part about a healthy family and that I don't have any terminal illnesses.

Now a shortage of Wiis isn't news - they've been hard to find since they came out - nor, unfortunately, is a parent-induced holiday shopping panic. Breeders have been suffering anxiety attacks over the latest hot, new toy since Sears & Roebuck started selling Tinkertoys 100 years ago. Why should this year be any different?

Do you love games? Do you enjoy writing? Want to be first to know all the juicy details about games and upcoming releases? If so, come join the fast-growing Themis Media team - Team Humidor.

With Halloween upon us, Team Humidor has been emptying our closets in search of movies, music and games to jump start the spirit of spookiness. Because toilet papering Cliffy B's house, soaping the windows of the police station and digging up graves are hard work, and a double shot of witch's brew will only take you so far on its own.

So to help us (and you) get in the mood, we've compiled the following list of spooktacular Halloween treats. Enjoy!

Regardless of the motivations and intentions that might have led to the deal, the endgame played out with Riccitiello returning as CEO of Electronic Arts in February of this year, relinquishing his roles as Managing Director of Elevation Partners and CEO of VG Holdings. In his wake, Greg Richardson, himself a former Electronic Arts general manager, was named to the new CEO position at VG Holdings. The $860 million dollar deal would be the biggest in Electronic Arts' history.

Once you get your mind around that one, tricky bend, that hard-to-grasp concept that, no matter where they exist in the world, the two portals act as a single doorway, the universe melts beneath your feet. And then, several levels later, the game really pulls out the rug.

I walked into the freak show tent fully expecting to get robbed. The pictures on the marquee looked compelling, and the suggestions of the man over the PA sounded incredible. He told me I'd be surprised, amazed and even frightened. My imagination ran away with me, and by the time the line wound around to the entrance, I was all too willing to hand over my money to be let inside, to see the chupacabra, the two-headed cow, the live sheep with four horns and the Mongolian Death Worm.

In researching this article I found a disturbing trend that seems to bear itself out across most of the media: Game developers are so uncomfortable with the current situation that they aren't even able to discuss how concerns over violence in video games affects their design philosophies.

To most people, we're all still boys in bedrooms, Peter Pans with joystick thumb who're putting one over on society at large and laughing all the way to the credit union.

Microsoft wanted installation to just work, more uniform interfaces, better community building features, online integration between PCs and consoles, and a unified retail attack to give the platform the cohesive appearance it's sorely lacked. But what we've ended up with is just prettier packaging and a pretty good magazine.

But here I go again. In digesting the experience of playing Halo 3 I keep finding myself stuck in a schizophrenic feedback loop, alternating between thinking it's the greatest game ever made and wishing it were more great.

Every year, the gaming media descends on widely covered conventions like GDC, E3 and the Tokyo Game Show, where great floods of humanity swell and surge while the biggest names in the industry try to convince us that have the skeleton key to gaming bliss. But these are not the only conventions eager public relations masterminds and confident executives attend, and the unseen and largely uncovered conventions have more power to direct the casual consumer than E3 ever has.

The King of Kong's director, Seth Gordon, takes pains to highlight Donkey Kong's early-'80s domination of the arcade scene, as well as the game's notorious difficulty. He doesn't, however, chronicle the near-total decline of the North American arcade since then, or note that Donkey Kong's status in the modern gaming world is that of a low-resolution relic, appreciated mostly for nostalgia and historical value. And Gordon doesn't really have to, because the film's events speak for themselves.