Rock Band 2 gets national media exposure yesterday on NBC’s Today Show when hosts Matt Lauer, Meredith Vieira, Al Roker, and Natalie Morales play Bon Jovi’s “Living On A Prayer” in front of a crowd in front of their Time Square studio in New York City.

Over on The Colbert Report Nas plays Rock Band while backstage scoring 95% accuracy with a 255 note streak. Not too bad.

Adam addresses the issue of racist and homophobic comments that are seemingly running rampant on Xbox Live. The Sess is asking anyone who feels this behavior to be appropriate to write in and let him know why he or she thinks so.

New York Times | April 29, 2008

By MATT RICHTEL

SAN FRANCISCO — The troubled economy and rising prices for food and gas won’t keep fast-twitch video gamers from splurging on their latest must-have diversion, Grand Theft Auto IV.

During the next two weeks, some five million couch jockeys are expected to plunk down $60 to buy Grand Theft Auto IV, a violent and episodic game that hits stores Tuesday.

The release is expected to be one of the biggest video game debuts ever, extending a franchise that has already sold 70 million copies since its arrival in 1997.

But customers’ intense desire for video games extends beyond Grand Theft Auto. Despite pressure on consumers’ entertainment budgets, they keep spending more money on games. Over all, the industry is having a banner year. Software sales were up 63 percent in March compared with March 2007, according to NPD Group, which tracks sales. Equipment sales were up 46 percent over the same period.

“People say that if consumers are down to their last $50, the last three things they’ll buy are milk, eggs and video games”  Colin Sebastian, a video game industry analyst, Lazard Capital Markets

Avid fans of the Grand Theft Auto games acknowledge that buying the new Grand Theft Auto — and spending hours descending into a free-for-all of crime and punishment set in an animated facsimile of New York City — can require some financial sacrifice. But for many, the purchase of the game is justified by its entertainment value. Finishing the game can take more than 40 hours, turning a $60 investment (tax not included) into entertainment that costs less than 70 cents an hour (food and bathroom breaks not included).

Ryan Holt, 21, a student at the University of Northern Colorado, plans to spend $90 to get the collector’s edition, which comes with a duffel bag, art book and soundtrack. It pinches his budget, but he said there are things he would sacrifice before a great video game.

“I’d probably give up my cellphone. Probably not food. That’s really tough. I like food.” Ryan Holt, 21, student

Demonstrating the industry’s strong growth, Nintendo announced late last week that it would increase its monthly production of Wii video game consoles to 2.4 million, from 1.8 million. In January, the video game retailer GameStop beat its own projections for quarterly sales growth, even as many other retailers struggle, Mr. Sebastian said.

“It’s hard to see that there is any effect of economic distress affecting industry sales. In fact, the industry is thriving despite woes elsewhere in the economy” Anita Frazier, video game industry analyst, NPD Group

To some extent, the growth is no surprise. The industry is in the middle of a predicted upturn related to the recent introduction of three new video game consoles: the Wii, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3. New consoles mean new games and motivated consumers.

Video game industry executives and analysts — and, more important, consumers — say the devotion to the hobby is driven by a peculiarity of games: they can be addictive.

“When gamers are in it, it’s like a druglike state. It feels so good” Jennifer Aaker, professor, University of California at Berkeley

She said players face constant challenges and receive instant feedback, a superstimulating artificial environment.

Not only is the play experience emotional, but the purchase is emotional, too, Professor Aaker said. Players want to be the first to buy the game and master it, sweeping aside the matter of affordability.

“The last thing that comes to mind is: ‘Can I afford it?’ That question isn’t even on the radar, the question is: How fast can I buy it?” Jennifer Aaker, professor, University of California at Berkeley

In tough times — and in good times — playing games offers a chance for escape, devotees say. That goes double for the Grand Theft Auto series, according to J. R. Jobe, 27, of Lawton, Okla.

“You can go along with the stories, which are pretty good, or you can just play around and blow stuff up, if you don’t feel like blowing stuff up, you can jump in a cop car and run over criminals.” J. R. Jobe, 27, of Lawton, Okla

Mr. Jobe, who works as a floor manager in a local tribal casino, said playing is a kind of relief from day-to-day drudgery. That’s why he has been saving a bit from each paycheck for Grand Theft Auto IV. It is a mild sacrifice, given the cost of gas and the need to pay the rent and buy school lunches for the children, but he said he needs some entertainment, too.

“My wife wants me to go shopping or go to P.T.A. meetings, and sometimes I don’t want to do that, I explain to her: When I get off work, it’s my way to calm down. It’s like my cigarette.” J. R. Jobe, 27, of Lawton, Okla

[source]

No doubt some of you read about the recent controversy regarding Newsweek columnist N’Gai Croal’s statements regarding the trailer for Resident Evil 5.

Well, in this week’s Sessler’s Soapbox, Adam’s got something to say on the issue.

Jesse McPherson was out of town when a thief broke into his home, stole his laptop, Xbox 360 & flat panel he had mounted on his wall. The following video is the Fox News story documenting the events that occurred after the victim attempted to get help from police and decided to do a bit of investigative work on his own and share his findings with the world via his website. Behold the power of the internet.

For more about this story you should visit his website, McFearsome.

Dragon Boy Suede suggests you to “comb your hair / take a shower / put down that copy of Nintendo Power”. Now this probably is NSFW but this rap throws a ton of retro gaming references over a decent beat with a catchy chorus and pretty decent production values, I found this song to be quite entertaining and worth a listen to.

A college student playing Call of Duty 4 on Xbox Live faces up to a year in jail and/or $5,000 in fines after being reported to authorities by another player who heard the threats Allieu Shaw was sharing during the game online.

CUMBERLAND — Two misdemeanor counts of disrupting a school operation have been filed against a Frostburg State University student who allegedly made an Internet threat of “shooting up the school,” according to district court documents.

The charges were filed in a criminal summons issued by a district court commissioner following consultation between the C3I Unit and Allegany County State’s Attorney Michael Twigg.

Although the charges against 19-year-old Allieu Shaw of Gaithersburg are on file, there was no record this morning that Shaw had been served the summons. A trial date is set after the defendant is served a summons.

Shaw faces a maximum penalty of one year jail time and/or a fine of up to $5,000.

He was taken in handcuffs from FSU’s Annapolis Hall, Room 148, at about 2 p.m. Tuesday after the C3I Unit learned of his location.

The university has placed Shaw on interim suspension pending an administrative hearing to be conducted by FSU.

According to court records, Shaw was playing the game “Call for Duty 4” in the XBOX Live gaming system with players around the country when he allegedly stated the threat of “shooting up the school.” The statement reportedly contained a description from Shaw concerning “how he was going to do it.”

Shaw was playing the role of first-person shooter on a live audio feed when he made the alleged threat.

Another player, Kaipo Damurand of Oregon, contacted the Frostburg Police Department to report Shaw’s alleged threat.

C3I began an investigation at 6:19 a.m. Tuesday after learning of the matter from the Frostburg Police Department.

The incident prompted an immediate response from FSU, local law enforcement and the Allegany County Board of Education, which ordered its schools in Frostburg to be in “lock-in” status when they opened at about 8 a.m. In addition, the Eckhart Alternative School was placed on lock-in status and St. Michael School in Frostburg was made aware of the threat of violence at FSU.

State troopers from Allegany, Garrett, Washington and Frederick counties responded to the campus along with Allegany County Sheriff’s Office, Frostburg Police Department and FSU Police, which has an officer assigned to the C3I Unit.

FSU spokeswoman Liz Medcalf said there were 40 police officers patrolling the campus at one point Tuesday.

Students, staff and faculty were notified of the threat by the FSU emergency alert text messaging system as well as by internal e-mail. The communication urged all to immediately report any observations of suspicious activity.

As the university community and the rest of the city pondered the frightening possibility of violence shattering the typical calm of the Mountain City, police working with Microsoft and XBox Live tracked the Internet provider address to Shaw and his room at Annapolis Hall.

After Shaw was taken into custody, he reportedly told investigators that “he was joking and had no intention of following through with the threats,” according to the court documents.

At 2:10 p.m. Tuesday, police executed a search warrant at Shaw’s room. Apparently no weapons or evidence relating to the threat were found.

A search of the Maryland Judiciary Case Search Web site did not show any other criminal cases pending or any charges previously filed against Shaw.

[source]