Some of you might have followed the short ascent and the slow downfall of Hellgate: London. A heavily criticized game design, major bugs at release and a poor payment model turned a once promising game to a good candidate for the “This is how you shouldn’t do it!” handbook.

After Flagship Studios laid off the majority of their employees the final death blow seems to have been dealt with the announcement of the final closure of the Hellgate: London servers in the end of January 2009.

After some IP (Intellectual Property) skirmish between the remnants of Flagship and HanbitSoft, the Asian publisher, the latter claimed the IP rights and the publishing rights for Asia while the publishing rights for the EU and U.S. remain at the former co-publisher Namco/Bandai.

Now close to the planned shutdown of the servers, HanbitSoft has announced their plans to re-launch Hellgate: London as free to play without giving specific information as to whether this also includes the non-Asian territories. Further, Hanbit has announced that they will continue the development of Hellgate: London with the focus on strengthening its community features. It is doubtful that the EU and U.S. will benefit from this as there yet has to be made an announcement regarding a possible cooperation between Hanbit and Namco/Bandai.

Though it is good to see the game remain available for its fans, this whole story leaves an acrid taste. With all this mess happening in the past months, starting with a highly premature release and followed by the skirmish between Flagship and Hanbit, leaving the fans in the dark about the future of their beloved game, I can hardly imagine that Hellgate: London will be afloat again, at least not in the EU or U.S.

So the die is cast! The 43rd Superbowl will be fought between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Arizona Cardinals.

While the Steelers can top their winning streak with a sixth Superbowl win, the Cardinals haven’t been in the finals for 61 years. So the Cardinals won’t make it easy for the Steelers and we can expect an exciting match on February, 1st 2009.

Be ready for THE sports event in 2009 and check out the official NFL Superbowl website.

Did you ever wonder why you and other people are breathing? The following video clip gives you the answer.

According to an article from Ars Technica, the Chinese government is planning to have Chinese MMO gamers registered by their real names as some kind of anti-addiction measure.

“The addictive nature of online gaming has been proven, at least anecdotally, time and time again. While not everyone who jumps into the digital realms of World of Warcraft or the various other massively-multiplayer online role-playing games is liable to get endlessly sucked in, those with addictive personalities certainly run the risk. In fact, in the East, the problem has gotten so severe that the government of China will soon require MMO players to register their real names when creating online accounts as an anti-addiction measure.”

Just another very deep incision in peoples right to privacy for those who just want to have some virtual fun in their leisure time. The true motives behind this are definetely a topic to discuss and cannot simply be explained as an “anti-addiction measure”.

A positive side effect is that this will probably prevent the gold farming industry, whose majority is operating from China according to several researches, from ruining more and more online game economies and exploit young people to farm virtual gold for next to nothing in return.

Read the whole story here!

Hundreds of financial experts and analysts have yet failed to find the reasons for the global financial crisis. Guys, it’s so easy! You just need to carefully watch the news!

The past year was full of activity in the games industry. The impending recession, the fusion between Blizzard and Activision, EA’s try to take over Take 2, Midways’s financial problems and Nintendo showing everyone who’s the top seller on the console market.

While browsing some gaming community forums I’ve found the following very amusing read about how MMOG players have seen the events in the games industry from the past year.

Player EA logged in.
Player Midway logged in.
Player Activision logged in.
Player Take_2 logged in.
Player THQ logged in.
Player Microsoft logged in.
Player Sony logged in.

Player EA says: yo Take_Two. Wanna group?
Player Take_2 says: fuk u i dont group with losers
Player EA says: ?
Player Take_2 says: newb
Player EA says: Come on I’ll give you 2 billion gold
Player Take_2 says: no
Player Take_2 says: I got epic gear I don’t need newbz like u
Player Take_2 roars.
Player EA says: dude just because you won the loot rool on that tier 4 GTA bow last time doesn’t make you hawt shit
Player Take_2 says: loser
Player EA says: fuk u 2 then
Player EA says: Here comes the boss mob
Monster Recession awakens.
Player EA hits with sword “Mirror’s Edge”.
Player EA critical miss.
Player EA casts spell “Need For Speed”.
Player EA spell fizzles.
Monster Recession hits Player EA for 50,000,000 damage points.
Player EA says: ow
Player EA casts aura “Dead Space”.
Monster Recession dispels aura “Dead Space” from Player EA.
Player EA says: WTF? Omg this sucks thiss game is soo imba
Monster Recession hits Player EA.
Monster Recession hits Player Midway.
Monster Recession hits Player Activision.
Player EA gets hit for 200,000,000 damage points.
Player Midway gets critical hit for 250,000,000 damage points.
Player Midway’s health is low!
Player Activision dodges.
Player Blizzard logs in.
Player Activision says: Yo Bliz. Wanna group?
Player Blizzard says: Sure, why not. Better you than the other wankers. I was just chilling anyway.
Player Activision now grouped with player Blizzard.
Player EA says: Shit this mob is harder than I thought.
Player EA enters Defensive Stance at a cost of 10% of mana pool.
Player Midway shouts: GUYS I COULD REALLY USE A HEAL RIGHT NOW
Player Take_Two: haha losers watch this
Player Take_Two hits Monster Recession for 500,000,000 damage points.
Monster Recessions heals Monster Recession for 500,000,000 damage points.
Monster Recession is enraged!
Monster Recession hits player EA for 50,000,000 damage points.
Monster Recession hits player Take_2 for 50,000,000 damage points.
Monster Recession hits player Midway for 50,000,000 damage points.
Monster Recession hits player Activision for 50,000,000 damage points.
Monster Recession hits player Blizzard for 50,000,000 damage points.
Monster Recession hits player THQ for 50,000,000 damage points.
Monster Recession hits player Sony for 50,000,000 damage points.
Monster Recession hits player Microsoft for 50,000,000 damage points.
Player Midway is unconscious.
Player Blizzard enters WoW stance.
Player Blizzard stance regenerates 100,000,000 damage points per second.
Player Take_2 says: FUUK
Player Take_2 says: I’ve used up all my ammo
Player EA says: Ya whatcha gonna do now MORON
Player Take_2 says: fuk u
Player Midway shouts: DO SOMTHING
Player Blizzard casts spell “Starcraft 2″. Casting time 79 minutes.
Player Blizzard says: Sorry guys this could take a while
Player 9tendo logged in.
Player 9tendo says: WAZZUP BIATCHES!
Player 9tendo says: Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
Player EA rolls eyes.
Player Midway rolls eyes.
Player Take_2 rolls eyes.
Player Activision rolls eyes.
Player Blizzard rolls eyes.
Player 9tendo says: Need help?
Player Microsoft says: you only have a 1-4 dmg dagger
Player 9tendo roars.
Player Midway says: dude you only have thrash gear
Player Sony says: ya kid leave it to the big boyz
Player Microsoft says: Shouldn’t you be in bed right now kid?
Player 9tendo hits Monster Recession for 16,000,000,000 critical damage points
Player Microsoft says: ???????
Player Sony says: WTF
Player 9tendo says: rofl where would u guyz be without me
Player 9tendo says: Wiiiiiiii
Player 9tendo says: Wiiiiiiii
Player 9tendo says: Wiiiiiiii
Player 9tendo says: Wiiiiiiii
Player 9tendo says: Wiiiiiiii
Player 9tendo says: Wiiiiiiii
Player 9tendo says: Wiiiiiiii
Player 9tendo says: Wiiiiiiii
Player Microsoft says: stop spamming man
Player Sony whipers to player Microsoft: man I hate this kid
Player EA says: Told you guys this game was imba
Player Midway says: And YOU’re the one to tell us this????
Player EA says: whatever dude

Folks, this is a very sad day. A great actor has finally gone to the happy hunting ground.

Ricardo Montalban, the famous actor who played great characters like Khan Noonien Singh in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan or Vincent Ludwig in The Naked Gun, has died last Wednesday at the age of 88.

This time we won’t hear another “He’s back, he’s mad!”

May he rest in peace!

Did you ever wonder where the condoms are coming from? Here you go!

While all of us KotoR fans are eagerly waiting for the release of Star Wars: The Old Republic, we can spend the waiting time with an adaption of the all-famous ICANHASCHEEZBURGERS called ICANHASFORCE.

So it’s time for all of you leisure time jedi knights and x-wing pilots to become creative and support this fantastic site!

Check it out on http://www.icanhasforce.com/!