Take-Two Interactive, still hot in talks with Electronic Arts (supposedly) over their merger, has sent in its financial statement for the previous fiscal quarter. The report reveals their line-up of games for the next (fiscal) year. Details in the full article.

As we enter October, Halo 3's groundbreaking launch finally passed, and it's time for other big titles to shine. Will you be able to stay on your couch playing Slayer matches when The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass is on shelves? Fine, so you can play that during breaks. How about Project Gotham Racing 4 or Enemy Territorry: Quake Wars? Can you resist high-speed racing or topnotch FPS action that don't involve Spartans?

If those games don't ring a bell, this week's got other goodies to float your boat. The famous bandicoot is back in Crash of the Titans for a spin on various platforms, while EA Sports' NBA Live '08 go at it against 2K Sports' NBA 2K8 as both vye for hard court domination. Our favorite superhero Spider-man is also making an appearance on all platforms in Spider-man: Friend or Foe. PC gamers, on the other hand, are getting much love from budget titles to full blown role-playing games.

Project Gotham Racing 4. Two years have passed after the previous installment in the PGR series, and Project Gotham Racing 4 is finally coming with major improvements that Bizarre Creations worked hard for. Apart from a revamped career mode, revised Kudos system, new tracks and iconic vehicles, this entry introduces the dynamic weather system.

• Microsoft Xbox 360 - October 2, 2007
• US$ 59.99
• ESRB E (Everyone)
• Bizarre Creations and Microsoft

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. Link's next adventure following the events of Wind Waker, what producer Eiji Aonuma considers as the original Legend of Zelda's remake, is coming to the DS utilizing touch screen controls like we've never seen before. If you haven't been keeping tabs on this title, you're missing out.

• Nintendo DS - October 2, 2007
• US$ 34.99
• ESRB E (Everyone)
• Nintendo

Find the rest after the jump!

A lot of players were really hurt when they announced that the E3 was going to be closed to the public. For those who are still harboring a grudge, feel free to skip over this article. For those who are interested though, IGN was recently able to get a hold of a listing of games that will be featured in the said event.

A lot of the companies still haven't announced the games that they will be showcasing in this year's E3. However, quite a few of the big name developers have already announced their offerings. Of course this is still a preliminary list and more will be added as the days go by.

Anyway, here we have the list of companies who will be attending but haven't announced any games yet then the confirmed games that will be showcased in the E3. Now excuse this blogger as he goes to a corner and cry out my frustration at not being able to go this event.

Companies who haven't announced games yet:

• 1C Company
• 2K Games
• Activision
• Atlus Software
• Bethesda Softworks
• Codemasters
• Crave Entertainment
• Eidos Interactive
• Foundation 9 Entertainment
• GSC GameWorld
• id Software
• Konami Digital Entertainment
• Majesco Entertainment
• Microsoft
• Namco Bandai Games
• Natsume
• NCSoft
• Nintendo
• Rebellion
• SEGA
• Sierra Entertainment
• Square Enix
• THQ
• Ubisoft
• Warner Bros. Interactive

Wnat to see the full games list? Check out the full article.

 

The online game Second Life shares a lot of things with the real world such as terrorist attacks, protesters, and flash floods. Given that, one more thing they recently added is the NBA Headquarters. David Stern, the commissioner of the NBA, gave his take on their HQ in Second Life stating "Bringing the NBA to the virtual world provides us with a new and innovative platform to reach our fans and the millions of residents in Second Life." He added that the "The NBA Headquarters creates an interactive worldwide community where fans can come together, engage with our game, and most importantly, share in their passion for the NBA."

The Electric Sheep Company, a leading creator of 3D virtual world content and solutions, developed the site and filled it with features that will make basketball fans very happy. Second Life residents will gain access to the T-Mobile Arena, broadband video of classic NBA games and highlights, and even a chance to get their picture taken with the NBA's championship trophy in the Toyota Larry O'Brien Trophy Room.

Sibley Verbeck, CEO of The Electric Sheep Company, spoke on their creation and the NBA saying that "NBA is a sports innovator, being the first professional sports league to unveil a comprehensive headquarters in a virtual world." He also noted that "NBA is engaging its fan community at a whole new level, and bringing fans together from around the world."

Features:

• T-Mobile Arena 
• NBA Store
• NBA Jam Session
• Toyota Larry O’Brien Trophy Room
• Cisco Wireless Press Center
• Path of the 50 Greatest NBA Players
• David Stern Avatar
• NBA Orientation Island

All in all, it looks like a solid effort from Stern and The Electric Sheep Company. Now, even Second Life avatars can enjoy the NBA in their world. We are still waiting for the NBA to start having a Second Life league, complete with the Laker Girls though.

We're still trying to figure out if this is real or not, but either way, it's funny as heck.

What we've got here is some video footage of NBA superstar Yao Ming being interviewed by reporters. Rather than talk about his love for all things basketball, the subtitles would seem to indicate his love for a different game: World of Warcraft. He laments over how he got ganked by a Tauren Warrior, who "killed his bird" before finally finishing him off.

It's a sad story, perhaps. At the same time, it might be the same story we've all seen before. Some thoughtful advice though: It doesn't matter who you are offline, if you don't want to get ganked in Azeroth, stay off of PvP servers.

Well, there's the Super Bowl for football fans, the NBA All-Star Weekend for basketball junkies, and the World Series for baseball fanatics. These are major television events, getting airtime, oodles of advertisements, and raking in network ratings. Now here's something for gamers. CBS aired Video Game Super Stars, presented by Intel, featuring five of the best pro gamers around.

The special focuses on the likes of Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel (a.k.a. "the Michael Jordan of gaming"), Rafik "LoSt-CaUzE" Bryant, David "Moto" Geffon who defied his family and denounced the profession of law to be a pro gamer, the minister's daughter Shannon "Mary Jane" Ridge, and Matt "Ballistics" Powers who is a seasoned Sergeant at maximum security prison.

You can watch the World Series of Video Games Finals, also presented by Intel  on College Sports Television starting January 21.

Bunnyfoot, a behavioral research consultancy has conducted an independent study that reveals a lack of engagement between videogame players and in-game advertising in sports titles. The consultancy announces that their Sponsor Fixation Index (SFI) metric, reveals that there's a dramatic fall in consumer engagement ratings in some of the leading sporting games.

Bunnyfoot claims that the key to their approach is their ability to passively observe and capture gamers' visual and emotional response during gameplay. 120 players participated in their study, all aged 18 and above. Each person was selected with specific regard with their gaming preferences and experience. Players are then assigned to a particular title spread across eight sports. The consultancy then used its measurement tool to monitor player behavior and correlated player engagement and receptiveness with game events and game play dynamics.

The results? SFI scores were comparatively low, especially when in contrast with the saturation of product/brand placement. There were some high scores, but the recall and recognition figures were low. Basically the results demonstrate that there is a poor level of engagement with the advertising in the game and that advertising in games apparently have a weakness capturing consumer attention.

The advertisers' take on all this? Alison Walton, Head of Visual Engagement had this to say:

These results reflect the industry’s concern relating to brand value and return on investment. Understanding consumer interaction at a deeper level of analysis allows us to measure the value of advertising investment.

Perhaps the players are just to occupied with actually playing the game to take time to be amusing by the clever advertising. Yet another example of amazing things you run into when you troll press releases.

There would probably be an eternal dissent between consumers and producers when it comes to in-game advertising or IGA. Advertisers see it as the best way to target the male 18-34 demographic, while publishers could expect an extra US$ 1 to US$ 2 of profit per title. On the other hand, not a few gamers see this as greedy and invasive.

This is the main reason why behavioral research firm Bunnyfoot is spending money and effort to determine the real effects and investment costs of IGA. According to them, the key here is their ability "to passively observe and record gamers at play by capturing eye tracking and physiological data, such as heart rate and galvanic skin response." Bunnyfoot furthermore announce the launched Sponsor Fixation Index (SFI), a device that compares and contrasts excitement and receptiveness with isolated game events or gameplay dynamics.

Prior to their study, Bunnyfoot maintains that current IGA models "piss off" players because it fails to factor in emotional engagement and moments of peak excitement. Included in their study are titles Project Gotham Racing 3, NBA Live (X360, PS3, PSP) and Gran Turismo 3.