After the six day splash image and the forums and fan-dedicated websites ablaze with gossip, Blizzard delivered the news many of us have been waiting years to hear, Diablo 3 is the next game announced on Blizzard’s impressive roster. But this press announcement, unlike the Starcraft 2 announcement, was met with a feast of cinematic and gameplay trailers, classes, concept art, and lore.

The cinematic teaser trailer is a treat, while it only spans a little over two minutes, I’m sure gamers have watched it dozens of times already (I know I have). The teaser visits many familiar and new locales and introduces the narrator (potentially the woman called Leah the Barbarian says is looking after Deckard Cain in the game play video), and after introducing the Lord of Terror (reminiscent of the Balrog from LotR) and she utters a perfect finish after gasping to catch her breath, “I don’t think it’s safe here.”

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Out of the ten million WoW players, less than five percent are interested or even aware of end-game content. Most players know that level 70 is the highest level that you can achieve; however, many of them don’t know that level 70 is where the most interesting part of WoW begins.

Instead of gaining more experience to level, players work extremely hard to acquire better gear and items. This requires hours of dedication inside dungeons and on raids (a.k.a., much larger dungeons). Raids must be run well by leaders; otherwise, they fail.

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After six long weeks, a new gaming juggernaut has knocked GTA IV from its lofty perch at the top of the UK sales charts. What game finally had enough juice to take out the fastest-selling game in recorded history? Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures, of course! Who would have expected anything different? As the old saying goes, show me a bunch of plastic toys with no logical link to computer gaming reenacting 20-year-old movies and I’ll show you the best selling game in the United Kingdom!

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In a market that’s oversaturated with incredibly talented artists and writers, up-and-comers and semi-professionals alike face the outrageously difficult task of gaining recognition in their chosen field. One dilemma out of many is that many young artists are forced to compete against traditional animators that didn’t get out of the mass layoffs and salary cuts plaguing Disney in the year 2001, the eventual closure of the animation giant’s 2D studios creating a flood of overqualified professionals entering into jobs that would normally be more accommodating towards talented students and other entry level applicants.

While this is hardly a bad thing– one would have a hard time arguing against widely-distributed mediums getting a boost in artistic quality– it leaves a lot of people scratching their heads, wondering how the hell they could possibly make it in the professional world, especially when it comes to video games. You know how they say the right answer is often the simplest? Well, here’s a simple answer to the headscratching:learn how to become a professional.

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It’s a battle between two juggernauts: Electronic Arts and the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC). This time the fight is over video game ratings in the UK. So far it’s been a back and forth between the two sides. EA claims the new system is unworkable and confusing, while the BBFC has fired back saying EA’s statements are misleading.

The new system is driven by a six-month long government commissioned study, “Safer Children in a Digital World,” by popular TV child psychologist Dr. Tanya Byron. Her proposal calls for integrating the standing mandatory BBFC ratings for games rated 18+ with the voluntary Pan European Games Information (PEGI) ratings. The suggested ratings process will use a combination of the cinema-rating style with PEGI’s system (3+, 7+, 12+, etc.) to create a more consistent level of evaluation throughout the UK. At the same time, it calls for dropping the rating age for mandatory evaluation, from games rated 18+ down to 12+. Below is an interview with Dr. Byron about her study.

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Disparaging comments, baseless speculation by pundits, and being blamed for everything wrong with today’s society — gamers are used to being railed at by politicians and public figures. It seems the establishment has always hated gaming. Which is what makes the support from this group so surprising: libraries.

That’s right, the supposed antithesis to video games, libraries across America are using these games’ popularity to attract young people. According to the Chicago Tribune, the American Library Association (ALA) is urging 9,000 libraries in the United States to add video and computer games as a library activity. As stated in a presentation on library-held tournaments by Young Adult Librarians (YALSA), this is not a bait and switch to “trick” young people into going to the library. Instead, it’s to help young adults feel more comfortable within the library, which will in turn make them more likely to take advantage of other services–like checking out a book or periodical.

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Earlier this month, Steve Jobs and the rest of team Apple announced the release of the iPhone 2.0 software beta. This update enables Apple to fully leverage the SDK that it released earlier this year, which enables third-party developers to more easily create applications for the iPhone, by creating the “App Store.”

The App Store “lets users browse, search, purchase and wirelessly download third party applications directly onto their iPhone or iPod touch.” Importantly, Apple gives 70% of software sales revenues to developers and even lets development parties give their applications away for free.

So, why should this matter to Nintendo? Well, game publishers are already hailing the fact that this development may make the iPhone the handheld gaming platform of choice.

According to John Riccitiello, the CEO of Electronic Arts, “The animation technology in the iPhone OS enables us to build awesome games… I think iPhone consumers are going to be blown away by the games we create for this platform.”

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At the All Things Digital Conference, Microsoft showed off the fruits of its renewed concentration on this space when it previewed an exciting new touch screen technology. This technology will be incorporated into PCs through Windows 7, which will utilize a multi-touch interface that allows users to stretch, move, or rotate objects with their fingers. Windows 7 is scheduled to be released in late-2009.

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