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This Week in Video Game History witnesses the birthdays of three very different people, the untimely death of a CD-ROM heroine, a totally botched console, and the beginning of two dominant genres. By the end of this week's anniversaries, we'll have you saying, in the immortal words of Kaz Hirai: "Remember that one? Alright!"

May 2

1995 -- 3DO reveals the M2 console on this appropriate date, but it would never see release. The M2's history is long and convoluted. Panasonic would eventually cancel it after acquiring it from 3DO, but its legacy lives on -- in ATMs and coffee machines. Hey, it's a recession, so we're all underemployed.

May 3

2004 -- Red Dead Revolver rides into town. Its sequel, Red Dead Redemption, will be released soon, so this may be a good excuse to go back and play this cowboy-inspired title.

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Editor's Note: I agree with Daniel. I'm a long-time World of Warcraft player, and I've never understood the constant struggle to have better gear than the next guy. Let's bring the focus back to enjoying the new content and not on the epic struggle of organizing 25 other people in an effort to maintain digital superiority. - Jay

Like with every change Blizzard makes to World of Warcraft, its latest announcement that raids in the upcoming expansion, Cataclysm, will drop the same loot, regardless of raid size, has brought out plenty of the typical reflexive "slap in the face!" responses. While this change is significant, the game will roll on, as it always does. The sky isn't falling.

Raids in the current WOW expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, currently come in two versions: 10-man and 25-man. The larger raids drop loot with better stats, but running one size of raid doesn't prevent you from running the other. In Cataclysm, 10- and 25-man raids will drop the same loot and will be on the same raid lockout timer. In a concession to the increased logistic issues in getting 25 people to work together, the 25-man version will drop more loot per raider. Guilds are no longer hamstrung (pardon the WOW pun) by the struggle to get 25 people together.

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I just came back from a bonfire where I burned a hole through my favorite Rocky shirt. Obviously, I'm pretty bummed about it. I'm going to counter my despair with a hope-filled Community Spotlight.

Why There Is Hope for Halo: Reach
By S. Robert Delk
Robert was disappointed with Halo 3, but he hasn't given up on the franchise. ODST has restored his faith and given him hope for Halo: Reach.

Will Scribblenauts 2 Be Everything We Hoped the First Would Be?
By Alex R. Cronk-Young
Everyone seemed to agree that the first Scribblenauts was a cool idea bogged down with some serious design issues. Hopefully the sequel will be everything we wanted the first one would be.

Games as Ebert: Was Roger Trolling?
By Kevin John Frank
Did Roger Ebert say games weren't art just for the page views? How awesome would it be if Ebert was the Internet's ultimate troll? Kevin and his split personalities discuss this and other issues brought on by Ebert-gate.

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It's tough to find a video game concept that hasn't been thoroughly explored at some point. It seems like every concept in the real-time strategy genre, much like in fighting games, has been done to death since the original Command and Conquer and Warcraft hit the market ages ago. Even likely blockbusters such as Starcraft 2, while being very good looking, feel exactly the same as games we played well over a decade ago.

What idea could possibly make a new title stand out from the 15,000 RTS games that have come before it? Try time travel. Achron makes the concept more than just an element of the overall story, it's an actual gameplay mechanic.

It's a spectacular and original direction for this type of game to explore -- go back in time to create units and buildings that will help decide the outcome in the present. Hazardous Software has gone and made a tired genre a little more exciting -- not an easy feat these days. An early version is available for purchase now, and when you buy it you gain access to all future updates including the final release of the game. Check out gameplay videos on their site. Now, if only they could help me go back in time to stop me from going through with my first two marriages....

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Editor's note: I enjoy it when someone uses video games to illustrate a political point. Juan looks at what video-game characters would face deportation under Arizona's new illegal-immigration legislation in this piece of political satire. Note: The opinions in this piece reflect the feelings of the writer, not Bitmob.com. -Jason

With the controversy surrounding Arizona state Senate Bill 1070, the recently passed legislation cracking down on illegal immigration, and its legal ramifications on the state and federal level, I ask simple question: Which video-game characters face deportation if they were to visit the Arizona without the proper documentation?

I feel the law violates the United States Constitution; as we all learn in Canadian and American grade school, only the federal government may issue currency, field a standing army, and protect its borders.

A stormtrooper checks identification papers at WonderCon. (Image by Juan Letona.)

At first the list seems like a simple endeavor. Characters such as Luke Skywalker, Master Chief, or Gordon Freeman don't count as they live in galaxies far, far away. The games we need to examine have modern settings and/or realistic interpretation of the world you and I live in -- this means games like Grand Theft Auto, Street Fighter, Super Mario Bros., and the like. Their characters would face deportation until they presented their papers.

The list begins now...on page 2.

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Bungie and Halo splitting is like some kind of weird video-game-industry divorce. Too bad they couldn't try to stay together for the kids.

News Blips:

Bungie plans to have Halo: Reach be the last game they make in the series. Speaking with Industry Gamers, Brian Jarrard of Bungie elaborated on what their recent 10-year partnership with Activision means for the Halo series. He stressed that they want the entire studio working on whatever their current project is and that they'd "be really hard pressed to find a world where Bungie has multiple teams making multiple disparate projects." Essentially, they'll be strictly developing their next next big thing for Activision, which, Jarrard told Edge-Online, they won't be debuting at this June's E3 game-industry trade show. If anyone requires counseling, we'll have the Bitmob therapists on hand. 

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As I mentioned in yesterday's Mailbag, one question we received nearly brought the entire staff to blows. That question? The top 10 games of all time, of course.

And if that question wasn't hard enough to answer on its own, just wait until you see the rules imposed on us...

Remember: Send your own questions, comments, and diabolical metagames to letters@bitmob.com (subject: "Mailbag") to be included in a future edition of the Mailbag!

At PAX East, Stephen Totilo of Kotaku and N'Gai Croal held a panel on a "game" called "Canon Fodder," which sought to determine once and for all the top 10 games of all time. They asked some well known industry folks to contribute, and I'd love to hear your take on the final list:

1. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
2. Super Mario 64
3. Metal Gear Solid
4. Chrono Trigger
5. Portal
6. Half-Life
7. World of Warcraft
8. StarCraft
9. Super Metroid
10. Tetris

With this list, you can do one of two actions: (1) Swap the spots of any two games on the list or (2) remove one game from the list and substitute in your own.

-Byung J. Park

Brett: Since we're all gamers here, we couldn't resist the challenge of a game about games. I passed Byung's list and instructions to the staff, and the resulting email thread spanned 34 messages. Here is that thread:

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If you want to break into the business, it's going to take some work. The Tutorial is a series of articles about games-writing intended to better prepare you for what's ahead -- or help you figure out if it's even for you.

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Look at all the stuff flying around at the beginning of this Alan Wake trailer and imagine the Twister game that never was.

Video Blips:

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Editor's note: Suriel takes issue with how Rockstar implemented Grand Theft Auto's new direction. He's very happy with the serious tone, but he wishes the notoriously brash developer would have committed more fully to its decision. Me? I quit after the second time I shot pool with Roman. -James

Let me start by saying that I understand that the point of Grand Theft Auto is satire. It skewers the American way of life as well as common misconceptions that people carry about each other. Its parodic talk-radio shows demonstrate the unnatural ability with which hosts monger fear, and the fake-product advertisements between segments are exceptionally keen jabs at America's unique brand of commercialism. Even though the series has moved in a new direction with Grand Theft Auto 4 and its expansions, it continues to possess a certain slyness. Rockstar still has a brazen smirk on its face, and the most important part of its satire is hyperbole.

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Valve recently released the 119th update for Team Fortress 2. They decided that this was an occasion worth celebrating. As a big fan of the game, who am I to argue?

The actual update isn't earth-shattering, but they did commemorate it with a cool page detailing every update the game has ever received. It's a fun timeline that shows you just how far the game has come since its 2007 release. Also, except for some of the promotions -- like the Sam and Max hats -- these updates were free. Can you imagine if Bungie or Infinity Ward released even a map pack without charging for it?

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Editor's note: Can you trust email from the future? I'm willing to bet that universal dislike for Nickleback has a high probability of occurrence. Maybe Activision should have released Guitar Hero: Pickle instead. Are you listening, Kotick? This is your chance to save your job! -Rob

Somehow -- don't ask me -- I received the following article in my email inbox. The date was some 10 years hence (a  year when jokes about how well people see run rampant across the interwebs) and covers a company making all the wrong calls from a public-relations standpoint. Enjoy....

Where are they now?
April 10th, 2020
Associated Press Writers

Onlookers spotted Bobby Kotick, ex-CEO and president of video game publisher Activision, last week at his car-wash job in Seattle, Washington. Although it seems amazing, this man once controlled the biggest franchise in the business, a position now held by mega-corporation 2K Square Enix EA Micro-Ubi-Soft, Inc.

How did such a high-ranking official destroy a company once known for such innovative titles as Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Guitar Hero, and Call of Duty, and then fall so far and so fast himself?

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