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That headline caught your eye, didn't it? April Fool's! Oh, wait...

News Blips:

Activision has entered into a 10-year exclusive partnership with Halo developer Bungie. In addition to laying out the publishing terms of a "big action game" on multiple platforms, the deal stipulates that Bungie will continue to fully own their intellectual property. “We chose to partner with Activision on our next IP because of their global reach, multi-platform experience and marketing expertise,” said Harold Ryan, president of Bungie. “From working together over the past nine months on this agreement, it is clear that Activision supports our commitment to giving our fans the best possible gaming experiences.” I wonder where he's been during the past few weeks?

Sony is being sued by a California PS3 owner over its decision to drop secondary operating system support. A firmware update released on April 1 removed the ability to install other operating systems -- such as Linux -- onto the console. The suit contends that "Sony's decision to force users to disable the Other OS function was based on its own interest and was made at the expense of its customers," blaming Sony's continual battle with piracy and hacking as the impetus of the change. Anthony Ventura, the lawsuit's plaintiff, is asking for over $5 million in compensation. Wait -- A. Ventura? Alrighty then! [Kotaku]

Speaking with GamePro, God of War 3 director Stig Asmussen shared the different ideas previous directors had for the story's finale. Series creator David Jaffe envisioned Kratos' total destruction of Greek mythology (with Norse mythology "right around the corner"), whereas God of War 2 director Cory Barlog wanted Kratos to assume a Death-like role, complete with two whirling sickles as blades. And this is why David Jaffe is awesome: Apart from his typically vocal rants, his ideas are completely over the top.

Young kids and early teenagers are increasingly picking up handheld game systems, according to a report by the NPD Group. Sixty-five percent of households that contain a child aged from four to 14 years old own a video game console, of which 44 percent are portable -- an eight percent increase from a previous study in 2005. Only HDTVs and cell phones surpass consoles for intended purchases, with a large chunk (37 percent) of a recent hardware sales figure caused by purchases for kids. Wallet-draining TVs? Cell phones with iron-clad contracts? What happened to buying a simple toy firetruck? [IndustryGamers]

Got any hot news tips? Send 'em over to tips@bitmob.com.

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We've taken the video game preview back.

The Bitmob community waited in the bushes and ambushed the video game press. On pain of death, we took our prize, and like Robin Hood and his merry men, we're giving it all back.

We asked you to write about your most-anticipated games of 2010, and the results are in! (More after the break.)

Red Dead Redemption -- Scheduled Release: May 18
"He's wanted: dead or alive. I say dead. Nothin' worse than hauling a bounty back, slung over the back of my horse, kicking and hollering the entire way. I prefer them quiet and dead and soon to make me temporarily rich. The way it should be. Let this be quick. I long for the cold steel of that rifle. The burning of whiskey in my gut. The brief companionship of a scarlet lady." -- Michael Bradley (read the full article)

"I am a product of watching TV in the 80s. When nothing was on television, I watched syndicated western left-overs from previous decades. The reason Red Dead Redemption is my most anticipated game of the year is that it fulfills my childhood fantasies with an adult story line." -- Nick Berger (read the full article)

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When embarking on your latest spacefaring escapade, be sure to pack a helpful amount of bear-strength pepper spray for those pesky mutants!

Video Blips:

• In Dead Space 2, no one can hear you scream. Then again, I don't think any sound will get past that oversized grille of a helmet. [GameVideos]

Continue after the break for a look at the destructive add-on pack for Just Cause 2, an Air Force pilot doing the time warp again in Singularity, and a short walkthrough of Top Gun for the iPad.

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Editor's note: Brendan sees a lot of untapped potential in Sony's PSP Go. I'm not sure it's quite the panacea he thinks it is, but he definitely convinced me that Sony is grossly mishandling the product. -James

The PlayStation brand has atrophied. A last-place console, a last-place handheld, and many questionable decisions define PlayStation this generation. It’s time to fix that.

Sony has a weapon so secret that they don’t even realize what it is, and it could turn the tide in their favor if they just started using it. I'm talking about the PSP. The device is as unremarkable as its library of games, but the PSP could be Sony’s game changer. All they have to do is use it and put an end to this innovation stagnation.

1) Kill the 3000 and roll with the Go

While the PSP Go isn’t a next-generation PSP, it is the successor to the PSP 3000. Sony should treat it as such and discontinue the PSP 3000. 

The problem with the PSP Go isn’t that it’s smaller or lacks a UMD drive; the problem is that it’s $80 dollars more than its tech-identical brother. When a hardware manufacturer releases a slim-branded model of anything, the pricing goes down, not up.  That’s basic, video-game economics. Trying to inflate the price because it's a new gadget only works when you are actually selling a new gadget. Sony isn’t.

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I'm a pretty big Mega Man nut, so believe me when I tell you that it's hard to find decent Blue Bomber plushie. The solution? Make your own! That's what ShinyGirafarig did, and she made a tutorial on the process for others [via Capcom Unity]:

Scissors required. Heh. I made a funny. ShinyGirafarig also made plushies of some of the Mega Man 9 and 10 Robot Masters. You can see those after the jump.

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Editor's Note: I've always been a fan of complex games. I love getting lost in minutiae and wondering, hours later, where the day went. However, Suriel piqued my curiosity in Greed Corp. Now I'm eager to give this simpler game a try and see if it can capture my interest like it did for him. -Jay

I don't work at gaming website or magazine, so I'm able pick and choose what games I want to review. This approach has many benefits; I don't have to force myself to play through awful games if I don't want to, and I review games that I think I'll actually be able to write something interesting about, rather than re-hashing graphical assessments and "fun factors".

Recently, however, I've tried to reach out of my comfort zone and try games that normally wouldn't appeal to me. Both Greed Corp and Napoleon: Total War fit this criteria quite nicely. My experience in the strategy genre consists mostly of StarCraft and the Advance Wars series. Because I love both of these games, I thought exploration of the deeper recesses of the genre would produce satisfying results. Greed Corp appealed to me because it was lighthearted take on turn-based strategy, much like Advance Wars; Napoleon offered an encompassing realism that would test me.

Though I decided to not review these games, I still played them (and I am still playing them now) simply because they stimulated the same part of my brain -- the part that loves working around rules. What's even more interesting, however, is that these two games produce this effect in me in completely different ways.

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Roger Ebert, just what have you wrought? Several Bitmobbers had something to say on the subject of games as art (and Ebert's rejection of them as such). I've collected all of their articles here.

Ready to give them thumbs up or thumbs down? Then start reading!

The Importance of Video Games to the Human Condition
By Antonio Byrd
If games are indeed art, Antonio asks the next logical question: What should games do as art? His argument stems from cultural examples and the evolution of artistic debate.

Why Games Being Art Doesn't Matter or Shouldn't
By Matt McMillan
I am in the camp of gamers who don't care if the medium is considered artistic or not. Matt makes the case that this question doesn't matter as long as we enjoy playing games. I wouldn't go that far, but this certainly a refreshing take on the debate.

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Editor's note: Read on for an illuminating discussion vis-a-vis the gender politics of Mario and -- oh, wait, that's not what this post is about. -Demian

Disclaimer: This is all for fun, don't take it more serious than it should be. And yes, I consider it a failure of my writing that I have to post this disclaimer.

By now you've heard about film critic Rober Ebert's ranting about why games can "never be art" (never!), and you've probably either read or ignored about two dozen "open letter" responses that each out-reason Ebert in just about every way. The debate almost immediately spilled over onto Twitter, where the film-critic-turned-video-game-disliker spends a majority of his time. I've been paying stupid-close attention to the fracas, and I've noticed three distinct personalities that pop up over and over again in response to Ebert.

I'm not going to try to deconstruct Ebert's silly arguments here. His lame points are painful to read, especially when contrasted with the well-thought-out arguments you can find on websites like Bitmob. No, with this article I'm going to shine a light on three personality types that Ebert and Ebert-related arguing brought to the fore. Please find enclosed the Roger Ebert Personality Test.

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Twitter: Your number-one source for confusing statements from video game designers in 140 characters or less.

News Blips:

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Last week we asked two questions via our Twitter account and Facebook page. They were very different questions, and we received a wide variety of answers! Follow us off-site to chime in on issues of the day, and you may be featured in our weekly Tweetbook Q&A.

We also had a little contest running. If you answered last week's second question on Bitmob, Twitter, or Facebook, you were entered into a drawing for the PSN title Kick-Ass: The Game. Winners can be found at the end of this post.

And here's what we asked you last week:

Will Monster Hunter Tri finally be the game that gets the very popular Japanese franchise to break through in North America? Why or why not?

Via Facebook:

Shawn Wedick, short and to the point: "Probably not. It's kind of boring."

Alex Cronk-Young on previous failed attempts: "It certainly has a better chance than the PSP versions had, but I'll assume it's going to fail like all the rest. The first PSP release was my first attempt at playing a Monster Hunter game, and honestly I had no clue what the hell I was doing. They'd have to make some drastic changes to the gameplay for Tri to catch on on the Wii."

Michael Rousseau on the key ingredient: "With the way the online on the Wii works, no. I think it would have a better chance as a DS title or as an XBLA game."

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Don't worry, this Halo: Reach "Birth of a Spartan" video is nothing like those detailed miracle-of-childbirth videos you might have watched in school.

 Video Blips:

• It turns out that if you want to be a Spartan, you'll need to have a hole drilled into your head and get a family-sized steroid injection. Oh, and it helps if you live in the Halo universe as well.

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Editor's note: As a former vegetarian who is dating a vegan, I am sympathetic to PETA's cause. But when you name your blog the PETA Files, it's really difficult to take you seriously -- I'll toss that joke to the reader. Either way, Alex's pro-animal article is a great, candid look at the silliness of criticizing virtual pet abuse. -James

As it does many vegetarians, PETA frequently embarrasses me. The animal rights advocacy group recently complained about Zynga adding pit bulls to Mafia Wars. In a letter to Zynga CEO Mark Pincus, they said:

"Bully breeds" like your beloved late American bulldog, Zinga, are also the breeds of choice for dogfighters and thugs who want a "macho" animal to intimidate others, guard their property, or make them money by winning fights. Every day, PETA staffers meet dogs who have been trapped for years at the end of heavy tractor-trailer chains with nothing but bare patches of dirt and plastic barrels for shelter. These dogs are usually full of heartworms, emaciated, and scarred all over. They are often physically abused and starved, sometimes to death, for losing in illegal dogfights or for being "bad guards" or "not mean enough." The people who acquire them do so because they have been taught that having one of these dogs is "cool" and "tough," but they have no idea about the care and feelings of the animal they have enslaved.

While I'm prepared to believe all of that and agree that dog fighting needs to stop, PETA's pursuit of Zynga bemuses me. Mafia Wars is a game in which you play a mobster -- not a model citizen. Players know from the outset that the game involves some dirty deeds -- concrete shoes, seedy contracts, and now, attack dogs. No reasonable person will come away from Mafia Wars thinking that dog fights -- or any other mob-related activities -- are morally acceptable.

I would say that not including pit bulls would be a disservice to the breed and the victims of dog attacks, but Mafia Wars isn't exactly the serious venue of discussion this issue requires. Perhaps games that portray real events in a realistic manner are.

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