Video game makers name "Gears of War" best game
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Epic Games and Microsoft Game  Studios'  alien shooting video game "Gears of War" on  Wednesday took home three honors at the Game Developers Choice  Awards, winning best game as well as awards for technology and  visual arts.
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Tycho:  I purchased twenty fluid ounces of Halo 3 "Limited Edition Mountain Dew Game Fuel" in the hopes that it would taste so horrible that we'd get a strip out of it. Â Before I read the ingredients in preparation for this post, I often found myself desirous of this strange liquid - a liquid the precise color of tubercular sputum.  I would trip over to Seven Eleven to obtain it, tipping a small portion onto the concrete for the Spartans we lost at Reach.  Once I discovered that the soda contained a compound called "Brominated Vegetable Oil," my ardor was diminished for some reason.  The flavor of the beverage is not unpleasant, especially if you like bromide.  The almost oppressive campaign that surrounds the product is, perhaps, more bitter.   It's one slice (or, perhaps, sip) of a ten hojillion dollar marketing campaign designed to project one of gaming's biggest brands to people who already know about it.  There is no way to escape the Goddamn thing.  Over ninety percent of the surveyed crustaceans were "aware of the launch" and held a "strong desire to purchase," even though their massive claws and aquatic habitat make using the product impossible.  Lemurs are less bullish, but then lemurs are a notoriously tough demo.    It took a third night of playing the Call of Duty 4 Beta for everything to sink in, but it's pretty much official: they know what the fuck they're doing.  A shooter can't merely be great to come out this holiday, and even amazing might be insufficient.  To go against the previously described fucking unstoppable media phalanx - to say nothing of Halo 3 itself, whose multiplayer offering is so broad on every axis that it must be called round - you need to drop something that be off the cheazy.       There are shooters that play with progression to varying degrees.  Battlefield 2142 does, but the infantry experience is one part of a whole.  Rainbow Six: Vegas does, but its reward scheme is largely cosmetic in nature, and takes place outside of the game proper - between rounds, in austere menus.  CoD4's leveling has the sharp inhalation of a WoW ding.  It takes place right there at the moment you earn the XP from a kill, with an onscreen celebration of the fact.  The reward structure earns you new playmodes, new weapons,  new slottable abilities, the right to build custom classes, the right to wear a clan tag.  You don't need to wait long to earn them, the schedule is not cruel, but you need to put in your dues.  It's not an onerous process:  in order to level up, you must simply play Call of Duty 4.  Trust me when I say this is something you will want to do.    I feel as though my knowledge of the game should be richer, so let me crack a few more levels and get back to you.  Hopefully a beta code will have dripped out to you by then, and you will know what I mean with visceral certainty.    Oh, and also: Â if you want to tumble down some fissure in the earth and wake up in the Japanese Madness Caverns, take a look at this video for Puzzle de Harvest Moon.  I watched it hours ago, and I am still haunted.
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Saving the galaxy from annihilation has  to be emotional, according to a Canadian video game developer  who wants players of action role playing title "Mass Effect" to  weigh their choices carefully as they fight for the future.
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I spent large chunks of last year playing the same AAA video games everyone else played: "BioShock," "Rock Band," "Super Mario Galaxy" and so on. But if I actually kept track of my gaming hours, I wouldn't be surprised to find that I spent just as much time enjoying the simpler delights of Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade.
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Video gamers, finally  emerging from the pixilated haze brought on by last year's  bumper crop of best-selling titles, are now turning their  attention to upcoming releases.
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At the World Cyber Games 2004, the competition is about more than just who wins at Counter-Strike or WarCraft III. Gamers are competing to bring glory to their home countries. Daniel Terdiman reports from San Francisco.
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The much-anticipated game goes on sale Tuesday. Can it help lead the Xbox 360 to victory?
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Gabe: Wired has a pretty big article about Penny Arcade in it's latest issue. We've done a lot of interviews but Wired actually sent a writer named Chris Baker out to spend a few days in our office. Sort of like a geek version of Jane Goodall, He hung out with us all day and took notes while we played games and made the comic. Chris interviewed everyone here and even found time to question our wives and friends. Living with us the way he did I think he managed to get some pretty candid stuff out of Tycho and I. Things we might never have divulged during a standard interview. By the end of the week I think we all considered Chris a friend and a valuable addition to any Halo 3 team. The resulting article is a pretty complete look at our little company here as well as the most honest interview I think anyone's ever managed to get out of us. If you're interested you can read it online right here.   -Gabe out
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Blizzard Entertainment says that World of Warcraft is, by far, the most popular MMORPG ever made.
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Telling video game developers at the Game Developer Conference to resist producing hit sequels and games of horror and revenge, Nintendo's top designer wants to bring joy to the widest audience. By the Associated Press. Plus: Keynote disappoints in GameLife.
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Electronic Arts is back in the game it never left.
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"w00t," an expression of joy coined by  online gamers, was crowned word of the year on Tuesday by the  publisher of a leading U.S. dictionary.
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World of Warcraft has become the first truly global video-game hit since Pac-Man in the early 80Âs.
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Gears of War picks up the "Ultimate Game" prize at this years Golden Joystick Awards in London
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Shooters, RPGs and simple pleasures -- it was a very good year for videogames. Wired's gaming scribes salute 2007's finest titles.
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Game industry giants from the 80s through today score awards at ceremony in Vegas.
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Saving the galaxy from  annihilation has to be emotional, according to a Canadian video  game developer who wants players of action role playing title  "Mass Effect" to weigh their choices carefully as they fight  for the future.