First ever Gaming Day at your local library

Libraries all around the country will be hosting the first-ever National Gaming Day on November 15, 2008. Hundreds of libraries are working with the American Library Association (ALA) to celebrate the popularity and educational value of video and board games in this event.


National Gaming Day will include:

• An attempt to establish a record for the most number of people playing the board game "Pictureka!" on the same day at the library.
• A national video game tournament via the web. Gamers of all ages will be able to compare their ranking on a local, regional and national level.
  
• Libraries will offer a variety of role playing games, including Dungeons and Dragons and Magic the Gathering.

The creation of this day is being used to evaluate the potential video games have on improving word problem and literacy skills, in the hopes that in the near future video games can be implemented as learning utensils in schools.

New Obama video game... Well kind of

It's being called Obamania and it is every where. From T-shirts to TV and now even a ROM game that an independent programmer made.

The game designer basically took the Mario World game, and used that to model Super Obama World. The levels are slightly different instead of gold coins there are golden American flags and a Mario character with an Obama head runs through the levels.

"The Super Obama World video game comes as another sign that the technology [world] embraced Obama just as his presidential campaign embraced technology," as explained on eFlux Media's website.

Super Obama World is fun, addicting and sure to at least make you smile.
Click on the Super Obama World link to try it for yourself.

A controversial new video game: BoneTown

BoneTown is a controversial new game that will include adult themes and humor mixed with action. The game is being developed by D-Dub Software, which is an independent video game studio.

BoneTown is all about "sticking it to the man" and allows the gamer to roam the wide maps freely. There really doesn't seem to be a very important story line, the game really focuses on how many times a character can use profane language, make sexual references and use fart attacks. All in all the game doesn't appear to have much of anything going for it unless you want a quick laugh or enjoy being grossed out.

Here is the trailer for BoneTown

Gears of War 2, not your typical war game

Gears of War 2 was released for only the Xbox 360 on November 7, 2008. The game is one of Xbox's holiday titles that they were banking on making a profit and that it did.

With over 2 million copies already sold around the world in the first weekend of its release, it's already surpassed the first Gears of War.

Gears of War 2 is a shooter game and is the sequel to Gears of War, one of the most popular titles for the Xbox 360. The original Gears sold more than 5 million copies worldwide, but it looks like Gears 2, could double that.

"The original Gears of War became an action genre classic thanks to its incredible graphics, cinematic presentation, and solid cover system. The sequel repeats this formula, and though it introduces new weapons, enemies, and environments, it remains an incredible yet familiar experience," as explained on GameSpot's website.

Gears of War 2 offers:

• A 10 hour campaign mode
• An upgraded multiplayer function that now has four new modes, that can support up to 10 players instead of eight
  
• 10 new maps for the multiplayer mode
• A story that picks up right where the first game left off
• A more intense difficulty that promises to add a welcome longevity to the game
  

Visit GameSpot's website for more details about Gears 2

Here is the trailer for Gears 2 (intense)

World of Warcraft expansion has fans lining up for a copy

Fans of the World of Warcraft series lined up outside their local video game stores in hopes of purchasing the new expansion pack, Wrath of the Lich King on release day.

World of Warcraft (known as WoW) is one of the most popular massively multiplayer online role playing game (known as a MMORPG).

"With more than 11 million monthly subscribers,World of Warcraft is currently the world's largest MMORPG in those terms, and holds the Guinness World Record for the most popular MMORPG. In April 2008, World of Warcraft was estimated to hold 62% of the massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) market," as explained on Wikipedia's website.

Wrath of the Lich King is only the second expansion pack for the popular series and even before playing the game the fans are ready and willing to wait hours outside in the cold to make sure they get a copy on release day.

Categories and nominees annouced for 6th annual Video Game Awards

The annual Video Game Awards premiers on December 14 on Spike TV and will include:

• The honoring of legendary game designer Will Wright with the Gamer God Award
• Exclusive premiere footage from the industry's most highly anticipated releases
• An exclusive performance by hip-hop star 50 Cent
• The bringing together of megastars from the worlds of video games, Hollywood, music, sports and more to honor the achievements within the video game industry over the past year.

There are 26 categories ranging from: Game of the year, Best PC game, Best music game and so on.

"Leading the way with nine nominations, including a nod for Game of the Year, is Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto IV, while LittleBigPlanet, Fallout 3 and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots all notched seven nominations," as explained on the Market Watch website.
(click the link to read the full article)

Count down clock
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For more information on VGA2008 visit Spike TV's website.