In May, I claimed that Merrill Lynch Is Stupid

They said the Wii would cost $200. I said it would cost $250, maybe more.

Today, Nintendo announced the Wii price: $249.

So, I'm gloating a bit. But I also want to make a point:

We need better, or maybe, more responsible business analysis and reporting.

Less guessing guys, eh?

OK--The site got spammed pretty bad.

This will most likely take a while to clean out. Unfortunately, I did have some new content to post. Ah, the irony.

Anyway, comments are off for the time being. I may go ahead and post. We'll see. Some days I hate the Internet.

-- David

This week I'm out in San Jose at the Game Developers Conference. I'll have a wrap-up with photos at the end of the show. But for now, you can follow along with a series of Podcasts I'm doing from the show.

Last night Brian of Kotaku and I hosted a little videogame night at the Denver Press Club.

In addition to quaffing a drink called the Tomb Raider, which every seems convinced Angelina Jolie drank on the set of the movie, and a tasty shot of whiskey I dubbed "The Critic," we made broad boasts about our gaming and writing skills.

This ended in me challenging Brian to a winner-take-all round of Guitar Hero. With little to bet (we are gaming journalists after all), I wagered all the buzzcut readers against all the Kotaku readers.

The sad details of my ham-handed attempt rock are detailed on Kotaku.

Still, I'm man enough to settle up on my debts. So, I must now ask all two of the buzzcut readers to pledge their loyalty to Kotaku. Or as Brian gloated, "All Your Readers Belong To Us."

The NPD Group just released it's 2005 industry report. The good news, North American sales are up 6% to $10.5 b. More peculiar is this list:

1. MADDEN NFL 06 PS2
2. POKEMON EMERALD GBA
3. GRAN TURISMO 4 PS2
4. MADDEN NFL 06 XBX
5. NCAA FOOTBALL 06 PS2
6. STAR WARS: BATTLEFRONT II PS2
7. MVP BASEBALL 2005 PS2
8. STAR WARS EPISODE III: REVENGE OF THE SITH PS2
9. NBA LIVE 06 PS2
10. LEGO STAR WARS PS2

Anyone care to guess what's odd about the list or even what it is?

If you have gone the whole year and missed reading The Escapist, then make it your New Year's Resolution to start.

I wrap up my year of writing about games by gibbering at the notion of an annual summary in my latest Escapist piece, The Year of the Turtle.

On a personal note, buzzcut has been a fantastic and interesting place this last year. My New Year's wish is to hear more from like-minded videogame-heads who continue to ponder the imponderables of electronic entertainment.

Happy New Year!

I’ve never been a big advocate of serious games for the simple reason I think once games become serious they turn into mere systems in the same way that porn becomes a medical illustration once it ceases stimulating you. So, it might seem a little odd that this semester I am teaching an undergraduate course in the University of Colorado’s College of Architecture and Planning based around videogames. “Planning in the Gaming World, “ is a class designed to encourage an appreciation for the art and science of urban and regional planning though videogames. Yes, whether I like it or not, I am now officially a part of the serious games movement.

We are only half way through the semester, but I think that the basic idea is working. Students confront serious issues of planning the human environment through the virtual worlds of SimCity and Second Life. A typical assignment has them read a bit of planning literature, try to do something in the game world (like describe an interesting place in Second Life or lay out a functioning city in SimCity) then come to class and try to put it all together.

My approach is admittedly Socratic and the students seems to vacillate between finding the whole effort intriguing and compelling or completely pedantic and impractical. To which I say, bully for the modern American undergrad that only wants a vo-tech degree from the university. My course should leave them filled with doubt and confusion for years.

I hope to generate some sort of report or academic essay out of the experience. Because whatever else I might have to say about the idea of serious games, this class is going as well as anything I’ve ever taught along the lines of confronting students with big, hard, meaningful questions and getting them to grapple, or at least gripe, about the process. As one student said, “I’m not sure what we are learning, but it sure feels like something big.”

Best of all, I’m happy to report that the thing that seems to be working the best is the videogames. And that’s because whatever academic wrapper I happen to package around the games, the students grasp the fundamental truth—these games are fun, even if their teacher is not!

(Check out the current version of the syllabus in the File Downloads section for more information).

Every once in a while, cool game-related things happen in Denver:

• Jason Della Rocca on Denver and the events we ran over the weekend.
• The Colorado Game Developer chapter of the IGDA on Jason's visit.
• The sunday and feature edtiors panel I led with Jason, Dan "Shoe" Hsu and Dale Parry of the Detroit Free Press.
• And finally, how much effort a gamer will put into developing his career! (or, "getting lost on route to the IGDA meeting two hours from home").

Summer vacation is not a thing, it is a state of mind.

As I slowly come back to the intellectual life of videogame studies from my self-imposed mental vacation of beer drinking and late night carousing, I realize that I've been remiss in posting about really cool things like The Escapist.

This new online mag is a nobel experiment in journalism that aspires to raise the bar of game writing in the vein of Harpers or the New Yorker. At the very least, they aim to bring us something a little different.

Anyway, this might all seem a little self-serving, so I'll just admit it: This week my article about fantasy and real life as a mirror of the most excellent game Second Life ran in the article, "Architecture and Vice."

Check out the mag. It's online and it's free.

For your viewing pleasure, a gallery of snaps from this year's E3.

View E3 Pictures