I’m sure most of you are aware of Blizzard’s Real ID fiasco that has been taking place over the past week or so, but if not, let me give it to you in a nutshell. As a part of Real ID, users posting to Starcraft II and World of Warcraft forums would be required to use their real names. No longer would the security of posting anonymously under dragonXslayer45487878941594 be an option.

Blizzard pretty much stated their forums are becoming a trolling, flame war-ing haven and “Removing the veil of anonymity”   is a way of curbing all of that inevitable nonsense.

Speaking of inevitable, people were NOT fans of the idea and immediately began flooding the forums with disapproval for Real ID, worried about their personal safety and exposure to the internet creepers out there.

As part of their protest, people were also sending complaints via email to the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB).  

Well, Blizzard listened, and ultimately retracted the Real ID policy.

And the ESRB, being the golden child that it is, proceeded to alert those that had emailed them that the Real ID biz was no more. Unfortunately, the ‘reply all’ button was pressed, and ultimately over a thousand email addresses were exposed.

Gotta love irony.

“Video games can never be art”. To any respective gamer, that statement is enough to make you clench your fists, grit your teeth and become overwhelmed with the urge to whack your head against a wall. Repeatedly.

Back in April film critic Robert Ebert published an article titled just that. Missed out on it? Need a refresher? Here are a few quotes from that article to, you know, get your blood boiling again.

“Nevertheless, I remain convinced that in principle, video games cannot be art. Perhaps it is foolish of me to say “never,” because never, as Rick Wakeman informs us, is a long, long time. Let me just say that no video gamer now living will survive long enough to experience the medium as an art form.”

“The three games [Waco Resurrection, Braid, Flower] she chooses as examples do not raise my hopes for a video game that will deserve my attention long enough to play it. They are, I regret to say, pathetic.”

“In defending their gaming against parents, spouses, children, partners, co-workers or other critics, do they want to be able to look up from the screen and explain, “I’m studying a great form of art?” Then let them say it, if it makes them happy.”

Well, isn’t that nice.

With over 4,500 comments later, today Ebert has ‘recanted’ his theory that video games can never be art…kind of.

“What I was saying is that video games could not in principle be Art. That was a foolish position to take, particularly as it seemed to apply to the entire unseen future of games. This was pointed out to me maybe hundreds of times. How could I disagree? It is quite possible a game could someday be great Art.”

“This [definition of Art] might exclude video games on a technicality (are they works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power?)”

“Who was I to say video games didn’t have the potential of becoming Art? Someday? There was no agreement among the thousands of posters about even one current game that was an unassailable masterpiece. Shadow of the Colossus came closest. I suppose that’s the one I should begin with.”

ARGHHH. Just stop. Head asplosion in 3…2…

You can the entire shebang, titled “Okay, kids, play on my lawn.” here.

Thoughts? Is Ebert your B.F.FOREVAAZ again?

How much is too much for Xbox’s highly anticipated motion tracking system, Project Natal?

According to Edge, Project Natal will be available in October for a whopping price of $149.

Dude.. I could buy a Best Buy refurbished Xbox 360 for that much! Add another $50 and I could buy a brand new console with 2 games!

With Sony’s PS3 Move promising to be less than $100, what’s your deal, Microsoft? Why so steep?

[Edge]

Idea factory is creating a game for Japanese Xbox 360 owners where you’ll create and design your very own virtual wife. In the game, My Wife: A Bride Just For You, you’ll be able to customize your wife by choosing her looks, voice & personality and then start playing as virtual newlyweds. Weeird.

I don’t know how I feel about this idea seeing as how in Fable, I always cheated or got sick of my wives. I’d take them to the Hobbe Caves & let the Hobbes have at her so my purity level wouldn’t go down! Amiright or amiright or AMIRIGHT?!?! I just see this game getting boring, very fast, OR, I see extremely weird people playing it and ending up with unrealistic standards of women or some ridiculous ass relationship guidelines. Either way, I think those games are best left to the imagination and not on Xbox.

[Joystiq]

*Puke!* WTF is that?! Is that an over-sized Brussels sprout with a bandanna wrapped around it?.. Or is that reeeally what the new look for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is set to be in their 2012 live action movie?

We pray that it’s just a prototype! That is definitely not the turtle we all know and love! If they can’t smile, then where’s the cowabunga in that?

[Source: FusedFilm]

From the popular video game Street Fighter, the infamous character known as Guile was sentenced today after the court was shown a video of his aggressive vandalism.

Guile was sentanced to 6 months in jail and two years of anger management classes. Lolz.

via [Geekologie]

If you’ve ever wanted to feel even more like a lonely, awkward loser while watching a movie by yourself, here’s your chance!

Put on a pair of Sony’s TDG-BR100 and TDG-BR50 active shutter glasses! These are Sony’s 3-D capable eye wear that will cost you about $133 each. Yes, thats right.. each. Wow.

Would you pay that much to watch 3-D in your home? (This is not including the price for the 3-D capable DVD player or TV you might have to purchase) I know I’d just break them or lose them like I do with all my sunglasses! I say ‘NO GO!’

Source: [Gizmodo]

Jeez, I’ve heard rumors that Activision was headed by a big bunch of jerks but this is absolutely absurd. Infinity Ward’s head bosses Vince Zampella and Jason West were expecting a large royalty check with a “thank you” for making one of the greatest most successful games of all-time. Instead, Activision fired them before the date of their payment.

“Instead of thanking, lauding, or just plain paying Jason and Vince for giving Activision the most successful entertainment product ever offered to the public,” attorney Robert Schwartz said, “last month Activision hired lawyers to conduct a pretextual ‘investigation’ into unstated and unsubstantiated charges of ‘insubordination’ and ‘breach of fiduciary duty,’ which then became the grounds for their termination on Monday, March 1st.”

Dude, I don’t care what happened. Modern Warfare 2 was so utterly freakin’ SWEET and successful, that I think Activision should have just swallowed their pride & kissed some Infinite butts. Does this mean the Call of Duty enterprise will now plummet?

Wow. Is that Travis McCoy from the Gym Class Heros with a turtle backpack on? NO?
It’s a teenage mutant ninja turtle backpack sold at Hot Topic that is sure to make you look like an idiot. This backpack irritates me beyond belief for some reason. Any 14 year old hipster wearing this backpack with that dinky little eye band, I’ll go Shredder on your face for disgracing one of my favorite childhood cartoons. You’re not cute, you never watched the show and THE TURTLES ARE NOT A TREND!

Wow Sony. This is a big whoops!
Remain in the dark no longer! Your questions are answered.

A glitch in the Playstation 3 systems caused a serious uproar yesterday when users found that they could not connect to the Playstation Network or for some, even play their PS3 at all. The glitch also raped certain users of their player data and game achievements which devastated players with all their hard earned trophies. Sony has not released any information on the number of data loss casualties, as they are kicking themselves in the butt right now for having their market just finally pick up.

Sony has confirmed that the error was caused by a Y2K-like glitch in which the older models viewed 2010 as a leap year. Owners of the newer Slim models appear to be unaffected by this catastrophe while older system consumers remain scared and torn from the incident.

Thanks to Joystiq, be not confused any longer! Your questions are answered:

Q. Is it safe to turn on my PS3 now?
A. Right now, it appears the answer is “yes.” The PlayStation Network is online and fully functional for owners of the PS3 Phat system, and games appear to be running problem-free. Sony has yet to issue an official “you can use your PS3″ statement, however.

Q. Do I have to download a firmware update?
A. Nope. The problem should just fix itself automatically, whether you’re online or not.

Q. My Trophy data for [insert game here] is gone! (I know, I know — that’s not a question, but still!)
A. If you lost any Trophy data over the past 24 hours, there may be a way to salvage it. Launch the game for which you’re trying to restore Trophies and it should automatically recreate a Trophy data set on your PS3’s memory, which you can then sync with the PSN server (just by opening up your Trophy list in the XMB). Our Heavy Rain Trophies had vanished, but this trick brought them back from the ether.

Q. The time and date on my PS3 are wrong. How do I fix this?
A.Under Settings in the XMB, then under the Time/Date settings, you should be able to set your console to automatically sync the time and date via the internet.

*A moment of silence for all the PS3 users that were robbed of their hard earned gaming careers, I hope you are able to restore your achievements & may the force be with you..*

Source: [Playstation.Blog] [Joystiq]