A tale of two Microsofts

And so it was to a rather emasculated Los Angeles Convention Center for the first press conference and briefing of E3 2008.
The E3s of old were colourful, brash affairs but there were no signs of the traditional giant posters on the convention windows and walls. The walls were bare and the hall had the air of an accountancy convention, rather than a games conference.
We'd been dragged from our beds for an early morning exclusive press briefing with Microsoft, ahead of the actual Xbox conference. We were promised a "major announcement".
On the way to the venue the journalists speculated about the announcement:
"A price cut!" "A new Halo game""Bungie's new project"
So what was it? Well, it was Lips, a karaoke game that bears more than a passing resemblance to Singstar on the PlayStation 3.
A ripple of disinterest passed through the assembled media who half-heartedly asked some questions, most of which were batted away with a "we can't talk about that right now" response.
Microsoft brought on Welsh singer Duffy as the acceptable face of video games to plug the new title. Right on cue she admitted she didn't play video games because they were too violent.
One of the journalists asked her about downloadable content for Lips. Unsurprisingly, she wasn't exactly that well versed with the digital distribution plans for Xbox Live titles.
And so on we trouped to the press briefing proper. And it was the usual slick Microsoft briefing.
We were expecting a radical new direction for the console. But the first half was dominated by the classic blockbuster franchises, Gears of War 2, Fable 2 and Fallout 3.
Just as we thought that Microsoft's attempt to become a more family-friendly console was an illusion, up stepped John Schappert and Shane Kim to reveal all.
A re-designed Xbox Live, coupled with plenty of social and casual games were paraded in front of us. But it felt like Microsoft had merely cherry picked some of the more successful aspects of the PlayStation and Wii, and created versions for the 360.
There was lots of news about new developments for Xbox Live content but most of them applied only to the North American market.
Bungie were due on stage to reveal a taster of their upcoming project their first title post Halo. But there was no sign of them.
I had been due to speak with them immediately after the briefing but that too was pulled with little explanation.
And so what impression am I left with? Well, Microsoft are clearly a company being pulled in two directions: it needs to satisfy the blood-thirsty needs of its core demographic, but can only triumph over Sony if it can attract more European gamers to the platform, and they tend to prefer more casual titles.
Microsoft can do both but the firm just looks uncomfortable trying to do casual and social: a demo session during the briefing of three Xbox senior playing a movie game was just painful to watch.

Video game ban for prisoners

A new Prison Service directive states only convicts who have earned the highest level of privileges will be allowed access to games consoles such as PlayStations.
The document bans prisons from spending taxpayers' money on buying hardware or computer games for inmates with immediate effect.
Last year the Government admitted spending more than £10,000 on 80 PlayStations and 15 Xboxes for young offender institutions.
The directive states that all prisoners will be banned from playing 18-rated computer games from the end of September this year.
Only inmates on the highest level of Incentives and Earned Privileges (IEP) and those at risk of suicide will be allowed to play computer games.

How to Download PSP Games 101 by Adam Hefner

With so many features Video, Photos, Mp3's and even Internet browsing it has so much to offer. One of the coolest features is Downloading games. Instead of having to go clear to store trying to find and pick and choose a game. You can just go directly online and go straight to the PSP game downloading site, built right into the system itself. To top this off, you can even try some of the demo's, Each demo will give you a game you can download and play right away. Very cool if your really not sure what your looking for right off. There are several games to choose from. Everything from action, kids games, role playing, and even some of the old style games some of us have grown up to love. It's one thing to have a Playstation which is cool in itself. But to be able to take it with you anywhere and play, is one of the best things they could ever offer. The downloads are fast. A full download of a game just takes a few minutes. You can't even go to the store this fast to buy one. As long as you have a wireless connection, Wi-Fi to hook up to. You can download from anywhere. Well almost. There is no difference whether you get the game or just download it. The quality on this system is still awesome! The graphics still look exactly the same. The sound quality through the headphones is like being in a theater. Downloading a game also allows you to save the game onto you computer. Some may say you would need the game itself to take around with you. This is not the fact. If you want to save some room on your PSP. All you have to do is save it to your computer. When you want to take the game system out. Just put it back on there and its ready to play. No more games falling out or getting scratched. How do you download? Check a gaming site that allows you to download right into the PSP itself. Create a username and password and your there. Very simple to use, Very easy to download. In my own opinion you can't get any better than this.