In an effort to plan for the future world of digital distribution, video game retail chain, GameStop, purchased a majority interest in U.K. based Jolt. The company distributes gaming news as well as developing and publishing free-to-play license-based titles and browser based MMOs such as Playboy Manager, the Legends of Zork, Trukz, and Utopia Kingdoms.

GameStop’s Tony Bartel, Executive VP of Merchandising and Marketing, commented on the acquisition:

“Jolt will allow us to test digital distribution … We like the business model of being able to take IP from publishers, and then help them sell it when they port it to the browser space.”

GameStop GM, Chris Petrovic, added the following in a statement published by Game Informer on November 4th (and later pulled offline):

“Acquiring Jolt is significant building block in our digital business strategy … This is further evidence of our commitment to building a world-class digital business platform.”

“Going forward, our vision for Jolt is that it will continue its focus on working with our game publisher partners to create online games for game titles and brands that aren’t currently being exploited by the publishers themselves and then leveraging our global retail footprint to offer those games to GameStop’s customers,”

The terms of the deal allow Jolt, which employs 25 people, to remain in their Ireland headquarters, with a financial commitment from GameStop to fund two to three years of development at the tune of 22.4 and 29.8 million dollars.

Scribblenauts, the fantastic-looking DS game that went big after an appearance at this year’s E3, is coming to the UK on September 25, following a North American release of September 15. I’ve embedded the above video to give you a look into what the game is all about- you can write almost anything and have it appear on screen. It’s rapidly becoming one of the most hyped DS games this year, and is even causing bouts of “I need a DS just to play this game” syndrome.

Yesterday, the UK government’s department of Culture, Media and Sport decided to ditch the BBFC for game ratings and instead adopt the game-focused alternative, PEGI. In light of this, PEGI have introduced a new set of coloured symbols, similar to the colourings of the BBFC designs. Obviously this will help people to see the rating more quickly and assess the contents of the game. Personally I think this was the best decision; a company that is Europe-wide, proven to do a good job, and focused purely on videogames, I think, will do a better than the BBFC.

The London MCM Expo is growing in size every year, and so its previously poor gaming section is finally becoming at least worth a look. It has a decent line-up this year, including Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires, Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, Tekken 6, and a lot more: Ubisoft, Capcom, Koei, Rising Star, Ankama, Eidos, and Atari are all supporting the show. I’ll be attending the show, so even if you can’t make it, my impressions will help you to imagine as if you were.

The expo is trying to get a gaming cosplay world record- that’s people in fancy dress as characters from games (they have to be proper games characters, not ones that went from movie to game, etc). If you can make it, see if you can dress up and add to the record. More info is on the expo’s site. That’s May 23-24, London’s ExCel centre.

In related news, a proper gaming event is going to happen soon afterwards. GameOn! is essentially a huge Lan party and gaming event on 20-21 June, £8 a ticket. There are loads of exhibitors going, and it seems like it should be a decent event for gamers. See you there!

British TV presenter and celebrity-man Jonathan Ross has revealed in his Twitter that he “Got asked to do voice in Fable 3 tonight.” Needless to say, in a later update he mentions that he has to “apologize to Peter Molyneux”. Whoops. In any case, it looks like we’ll be seeing a Fable 3 in the future, with or without Ross’ voice.

I feel a bit sorry for Molyneux, since his so-far secret baby has been revealed to the world (well, mostly just to people who read gaming blogs). Oh, and another post of his suggests that “Charlie Brooker said he would do a voice for it to[o]!”- another British TV man, but this one is a funny, funny man.

ThreeSpeech reports that Sony are releasing a Killzone 2 PS3 bundle in the UK, priced at £299.99. That’s about $418 at the time of writing. The bundle includes the game and an 80GB PS3 console, as well as the fancy box. The release date is TBC currently, but expect it to be very near to the Killzone 2 release date. If you are in England, don’t yet have a PS3, have £300 to spare, and want Killzone 2, this is the perfect bundle for you! Hey, maybe they’ll widen the target audience by releasing it in the US, too.

Well, shit. Gamesindustry.biz today reports that one of the gaming world’s finest development studios is shutting its doors. Rumour has it that when UK developer Free Radical’s employees showed up at the doors today, they were told to meet at a local hotel for a final meeting- the lack of response to calls seems to back this up, too. Oddly enough, a few weeks earlier the studio’s director Steve Ellis had said “we certainly won’t be laying off any staff today. Or, for that matter, any time in 2008.”

I sincerely hope that this rumour is false. Free Radical was formed from the Rare employees who developed GoldenEye for the N64, one of the best games of all time, and went on to develop the Timesplitters series- a consistently outstanding set of games. Free Radical were said to be developing Star Wars Battlefront 3 (another great series), too. Perhaps their only bad game was Haze; is this why they are supposedly shutting down? Graeme Norgate, David Doak- what will become of these industry greats? I don’t think I’ve ever felt this sort of despair over a company closing down.

[UPDATES]More stuff happened. See it after the jump.

[UPDATE] Gamezine have received word from an unnamed source that “the studio is not closing down. Yet, at least. What they are doing is major restructuring.” There’s hope yet!

[ANOTHER UPDATE] Now Kotaku are reporting on another unnamed source, this time saying that the company has shut down. We’ll make sure to report the final verdict when it is officially confirmed.

[MORE UPADTES]EDGE-Online’s source has told them this:

Co-founder Ellis was “visibly upset” when he talked to the staff, the source said. “[He] told staff how very sorry he was and they’d been doing all they could, working flat-out to either find a publisher or a buyer over the past six months, but no offers were made. There have been several visits to the States, but to no avail.”

About 20 staff members were offered positions with Ellis’ new venture, Pumpkin Beach, while the rest of the employees were told in a separate room that they would be laid off.

Staff had reportedly been paid to the end of December, but are not expected to receive any further compensation “as there was nothing left to give.”

Reps from U.K. game makers Codemasters and Monumental Games were at the hotel after the meeting asking for CVs and applications from former Free Radical staffers.

Let’s just hope Pumpkin Beach continue Free Radical’s legacy.

When I saw the headline “Grand Theft Auto Sex Beast is Caged,” I knew I had to report it. I mean, not only is it more sensationalist anti-video game bullshit, but there was a sex beast on the loose! Thank God he was caged!

Ryan Chinnery of Kent, England, was arrested in September for sexually assaulting four women. Yesterday, he was convicted for two of the attacks and sentenced to at least four years in youth custody.

So here’s the deal: this kid went out cruising for ladies of the night and, in a two month span, attacked four women in a sexual manner (that weren’t hookers at all). In the worst case, he grabbed a 42-year-old woman by the throat and they toppled down an embankment into a river, and she broke her arm in the process.

The kid was finally caught when police matched DNA found on one of the women to him. At first he claimed to be at home playing on his computer when the attacks happened, but he eventually broke down in tears and admitted.

The kid claimed to have played a lot of Grand Theft Auto, but nowhere in the article does he allude to mimicking the game or the game influencing his actions in any way. Still, the prosecutor was quoted as saying that GTA “may go some way to explaining his attitude towards women.”

Admittedly, you can do some pretty nasty things in the Grand Theft Auto games, including beating and killing hookers. This is obviously the connection that the prosecution is trying to draw, but I have another theory.

While it is true that you can abuse hookers in Grand Theft Auto, it’s a very small portion of the game. Now, the article doesn’t say which Grand Theft Auto Chinnery was a fan of, so I can’t say whether or not the feature was entirely optional. I can’t remember what – if any – mandatory missions included interactions with prostitutes. Still, from a gamer’s standpoint, hookers are far from the main draw of the Grand Theft Auto games. So why would Chinnery choose to emulate this aspect of the game?

Grand Theft Auto didn’t invent the concept of paying women for sex. In fact, prostitution has been called “the world’s oldest profession.” Nor did the video game series invent the concept of molestation. Molestation is a very real problem that happens on a daily basis.

What if Chinnery was a sexual predator before he even fired up a Grand Theft Auto game for the first time? If we’re to believe that his actions were indeed caused by GTA, wouldn’t he be shooting people and running over pedestrians with his car, two acts which are much more prevalent in the game than beating hookers? Or perhaps he was drawn to that aspect due to a pre-existing problem?

The Grand Theft Auto games are rated Mature for a reason. Immature, impressionable idiots like Ryan Chinnery shouldn’t have access to the games, especially if they aren’t mentally stable to begin with. I’m not claiming that Grand Theft Auto played no part in Chinnery’s decision – I’m saying that if it did, that part was simply pushing him over the edge, the same way a violent movie or maybe a porn flick would have. Yet you don’t see the film industry or the adult industry causing the same ruckus that the videogame industry has. In the end, this kid’s actions are a result of his sick and twisted mind and I am truly glad that he got what was coming to him.

The Sun: Arrested, Convicted

Some of you may be familiar with the Family Guy episode pictured above. Oh, that Peter Griffin! What a wacky fellow! Well, it turns out that he’s not quite the wackiest. That title would go to Mr. George Garatt from Glastonbury, England. Hit the jump to find out why.

Captain Fantastic Faster Than Superman Spiderman Batman Wolverine The Hulk and The Flash Combined.

That is what Garratt, a 19-year-old music student, had his name legally changed to through the Legal Deed Poll Service. How did he come up with the name? Turns out he didn’t copy Family Guy, but his friends may have.

He said: “I decided on a superheroes theme and whenever my friends offered up suggestions to me, I added them.”

A spokesman from the website said that crazy name change requests barely faze them, due to the sheer number they get, but there was something special about this one.

I know there certainly is something special about this Captain Fantastic kid, and I don’t necessarily mean the good kind of special.

BBC News

Hoverit Ltd, a UK-based design company, recently announced their new levitating lounge chair. Yeah, I know it’s a tongue twister, but say it slowly. Levitating. Lounge chair. Sexy.

However dear reader, before you question the validity of the (roughly) $9,620 price tag, consider this:

The chair floats.

How many times have you, the hardcore gamer that you are, gotten a back pain from sitting in a grounded (as in, you know… on the ground) chair? Couch to floor is so last week.

So how does this beast of a chair do what it does? Straight from the mouth of Hoverit themselves:

“Defying gravity with the use of repelling magnetic forces in both the bed and base, this contemporary lounger is comfortable, practical and stylish.”

Well, I wouldn’t really call it “practical,” but whatever.

One question though: What if someone like me was using a laptop while sitting in the chair?

Hard drive failure due to chair failure, that’s for sure. Can’t trust those crazy magnets.

Source: Reuters

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In a story that I’m sure is incredibly embarrassing for the police forces of England, a semi carrying approximately $1 million in PlayStation 3 videogames (including GTA and Brothers in Arms) was stolen by a merry band of thieves.  The truck and its cargo were then recovered by police, who failed to capture the men responsible, which led to the same merry band of thieves stealing the same truck full of games from the custody of the police themselves!

The story began in Northampton, UK, when a truck carrying 16,000 PS3 games was reported stolen.  The bobbies were fast on the scene and tracked down the car the thieves used to transport the stolen goods.  The games and the truck originally carrying them were then taken to a police depot where they could be examined for clues leading to the identities of the thieves.  The police apparently didn’t keep a close enough eye on that truck…

The looters returned for their ill-gotten merchandise within hours and re-stole both the truck and the pallets of PS3 games right out of the police depot.  The truck itself was found yesterday, but the modern pirates seemed to have made off with a plentiful booty.  A police spokesman had the following to say:

“We are pursuing a number of lines of enquiry, including eBay transactions where a number of the games have been potentially identified as being advertised for sale. Arrests have already been made in respect of this.”

Yes, I’m sure the people clever enough to steal directly from the police are stupid enough to get caught selling stuff on eBay.  Nice try, though.  If these thieves were going to use eBay to unload their goods, why not just send empty boxes to people and not have to steal the games in the first place?  What would be great is if the thieves did sell the games on eBay and then went to the winning bidders’ houses and re-stole the games back a third time.

Source: Unigamesity

Are you an inmate in a United Kingdom prison who is contemplating suicide? Why not fire up the ol’ Xbox instead? Perhaps that will you make you realize the value in your life. At least that’s what the UK Prison Service hopes.

It was recently revealed the British government had spent £10,000 ($19,908.40 USD) on PlayStations and Xboxes for juvenile detention facilities. Those games aren’t for everybody however. You can only play games if you’re on your best behavior or if you’re on the verge of killing yourself, apparently.

A recently released document regarding the use of video games in prisons stated:

“Only inmates on the highest level of Incentives and Earned Privileges (IEP) and those at risk of suicide will be allowed to play computer games.”

Video games as a reward? Absolutely. Games as a suicide-prevention tool? It’s a little odd, but hey, whatever paints games in a good light.

“I was all alone; nobody understood me. I was at the edge, man. Ready to end it all. That’s when Ratchet and Clank came into my life. Ratchet is the last of his kind, all the Lombaxes were wiped out. And I thought to myself that if Ratchet can endure, than so can I.” – Anonymous Fictional Inmate

Source: Opposable Thumbs

It was released in Japan last November; now the fourth version of PS2 is coming to Europe and India. That’s according to SCE India country manager Atindriya Bose, who claims it will launch simultaneously in the two regions at some point before this year’s Diwali festival on 28 October.

This may be why Sony has appeared hitherto incapable of putting PS2 titles – hell even PSOne titles – on PSN, let alone provide backward compatibility. In an interview with India’s Economic Times, Bose described this fourth iteration as being sleeker and slimmer than ever, even though the previously external AC adapter is now going to be built into the main unit. But you have to wonder what the point is.

PS2 is already a cheap, reliable console with a large selection of good and readily available titles – perfect for anyone looking for something entry-level, on a budget, or wanting to indulge in a few of gaming’s past treasures. The gains from remodeling the PS2 for no new functionality at this stage will be few, especially if price remains the same as the third model as planned – something already confirmed in India.

Source: Economic Times

Both mainstream and games press have reported today that UK women are breaking more than a sweat when it comes to Wii Fit. Trouble is, they’re all talking a load of cobblers.

Their reports are based on a recent study from women-only insurer Sheila’s Wheels, which apparently reveals that these female Wii Fittie Wannabes are hulking out on the balance board and have caused some £20 million of damage to their homes since launch, breaking vases, falling over cats and other such japery.

Thing is, not one of these sites, not even the one enjoying inflated traffic from N4G, has linked back to the original study – apparently the journalistic tradition of checking your sources has gone out of fashion.

So I dug up the original press release from the Sheila’s Wheels website. And when I said dug, I mean opened a press release from their media room. Wii Fit, £20.1 million of damage? You are having a laugh. Here’s the skinny:

” When it comes to exercising in the home, vases are the most commonly damaged item with just under 2.5 million women (8 per cent) admitting to smashing one. ‘The box’ is also in danger when it comes to indoor activities with 615,422 (2 per cent) women having damaged their TV set – many getting a little carried away on computer consoles, such as the Nintendo Wii, which requires handheld controls.”

This harks back to the Christmastime tradition of hurling your newly unwrapped Wii Remote into your TV/wall/friend’s face. Still has nothing to do with Wii Fit though. But wait, there’s more:

“The recent launch of the Wii Fit console saw a surge in the popularity of exercising at home, with a huge 86 per cent of the respondents already owning a Wii – or planning to buy one.”

So that’s it. Wii Fit equals exercise. Exercise equals damage. Therefore Wii Fit must equal damage. It makes no sense. These leaps and bounds in logic are the same which cause people to link gun crime and Grand Theft Auto.

The £20m damage figure doesn’t even appear in the main body of the press release. It is tacked on as an editor’s note, very much removed from that sole reference to Wii Fit.

“Headline – £20,155,080: Based on average cost of damage (£6.55) and UK female population estimates from CIA Government Data, 2008.”

But whatever I say, I’m pretty sure this isn’t going to do anything about the likely torrent of calls Ninty will get from the National Accident Helpline.

Source: Sheila’s Wheels media room

Following Microsoft’s recent price cut of all the Xbox 360 hardware packages in Europe, sales in the UK have risen by 40%. In an attempt to push back against popular incoming Sony software like Metal Gear Solid 4 and the Gran Turismo 5 Prologue PS3 bundle, the price cut looks to have had the intended effect so far.

Given such an immediate rise, it’s likely the sales increase will continue as word gets out and more people are able to take advantage of the new price.

The price cut saw the Xbox 360 Arcade package drop to 159 GBP, the Premium to 199 GBP and the Elite to 259 GBP. With Easter weekend looming, retailers are expecting the 360 to continue selling well.

Software sales didn’t see a similar increase, but Chart-Track’s director Dorian Bloch, speaking to Gamesindustry.biz, indicated that was likely due to some big releases the previous week that drove sales up for that period.

Those outside of North America tend to pay a premium for hardware compared to the US, so this drop was certainly overdue. Microsoft dropped the price recently in Canada by $50 as well, also overdue thanks to rise of the Canadian dollar. However, it’s been well over two years out from launch and the price is only $50 less than the initial price in the US and Canada. Isn’t it time Microsoft gave North American gamers a break too?

Due to the initial high cost of the PS3, a price drop seemed to be the ace that Microsoft was holding up their sleeve. With their hardware struggling more in Europe and the impending release of regionally popular titles on Sony’s platform, Microsoft took the plunge.

It seems they feel strong enough in North America for now: the Premium is $50 under the cheapest PS3 and the platform boasts exclusive extra content with the release of Grand Theft Auto IV just over the horizon. It seems high time Live was finally made free–for everyone.

Rumors persist of a new 360 model, perhaps including a larger drive. Microsoft may also plan to maintain the price, but include a bit more space at the same time. That is a noticeable trend this generation, and frankly a frustrating one.

To many consumers even a $350 console is quite a lot, and companies should see that they could bring more of those people into the mix with a lower price point, as opposed to more storage space. As with all things, time will tell.

Today Ray Maguire officially revealed that the PS3 has passed the 1 million mark in the UK.

Before Christmas Maguire was very confident that the 40GB PS3 would boost its sales dramaticly through the holiday season, even without PS2 backwards compatability. His fortune telling appears to have come good:

Achieving one million PS3 sales faster than both PSOne and PlayStation 2 is even more gratifying considering PS3 is a premium product introduced at a premium price.

Our momentum will continue with the introduction of in-game communication in the summer, firmware update 2.4 and the strongest line-up of games through our third party partners and our own studios.

I’d personally like to thank our trade and business partners for helping us on the start of the PS3 journey.

There are two things that catch my attention in his comments. One is that the PS3 is selling better than Sony’s other two smash hit consoles in a similar period. Though much of this can be attributed to the growth of the games market, it’s still surprising that the highly priced console has sold so well. Note: the PS2 had two price drops in its first year in the UK – a tactic that Sony had to employ once again.

Secondly, the mention of firmware 2.4 hitting this summer is news to us, especially with the inclusion of (improved) “in-game communication.” This must mean that firmwares 2.2 and 2.3 are on their way pretty soon.

Source: MCV UK

Image: Telegraph.co.uk

What do you get when you combine a fashionably bald British television presenter with an ancient flying killer? Well, you get Jason Bradbury from Channel 5’s The Gadget Show in Assassin’s Creed of course.

Per chance you’ve never heard of The Gadget Show, which I know you haven’t since most of you guys are not from my part of the world, I shall explain to you its premise. Take a gorgeous young woman with the task of controlling a videogame obsessed hobbit and a tech savvy wizard. Place them on the very last of the terrestrial channels. And vamoose! You have The Gadget Show.

Alright, I’m messing about a lot today, but it’s the only way to keep me from watching television talent contests. Damn Simon Cowell! What have you done to us!?

Moving on. If you haven’t forgotten, Assassin’s Creed is the source of this story. An entertainment disc which Jason Bradbury says the kids are hailing to be the next big game. I’m not sure if they are, but if I had kids I’m sure they would be doing so.

Nonetheless, the critics haven’t been hailing it as the second coming. I personally blame this simply on Jade Raymond. I’m joking really, Jade is a talented lady, but the game promised so much – the next big thing as Jason says. Yet, since it does so many things right, its failures are all the more prominent. But we’re not here to rag on Assassin’s Creed, we’re here to say that Jason is in the game!

On last weeks episode of The Gadget Show, Jason went to visit Ubisoft Montreal and had his beautiful visage scanned into the game. The above photograph is what he looked like before he went in the game, and it’s all sorts of amazing that they turned his stretched blob like features into an actual face:

The clever thing about Creed’s character engine is that Jason isn’t going to be just one pre-decided character. Oh no no, it’s much cleverer than that. His face is put into some sort of random selection process, where his face is combined with a number of bodies (not at the same time), such as a Monk, a fat guy, someone with hair, or even as one of those women carrying jugs of water. Though let’s hope the latter option doesn’t occur. That might put you off the game before you’ve even got started.

Jason is struggling to find himself in the game, but he’s certainly in the mix – and only in the city of Acre, as opposed to Jerusalem or Damascus. So keep a look out for his mug and forward a screenshot of him to his blog so he can bask in his fame. Oh and come back for our review of the game.