Games For Windows recently invited gaming professionals to share their thoughts about the state of the industry for a piece titled Love + Hate (Apr 07). With only one exception, everyone that responded had only good things to say. That was not the case however at the GDC this week. The opening day panel, Burning Mad: Game Publishers Rant, gave a glimpse into opinions we really want to here. You know, the ones that make people cry. Highlights are over at 1UP, Wii fanboys be warned.

If you are reading this and you haven’t been by the Best Buy yet…it’s too late. BB decided to clear the shelves of some older titles by dropping their prices. We aren’t talking $5 off either. The retail giant let scores of titles go for $2 – $10. Most of the games had stopped being shipped to stores long ago, but some were bound to still be on shelves this morning, and can now be found at your local used game dealer for quadruple the price. Don’t let me hold you back though, run by your BB and check for survivors.

Ahh remember the good old days of hanging at the video arcade. Even better remember when the games only took a quarter to play? While here in the States my arcade fix comes only when I get to movie theater too early, over in Japan its still big business. So much so in fact that they even have an expo every year to showcase the new offerings. Perhaps if US arcades had featured more games like Muchi Muchi Pork! they wouldn’t have seen such a decline in popularity…but I doubt it.

I don’t know who rates the video games we play but I think they do a fine job. I mean I know it’s the ESRB but who are the “actual” raters? Well it could be you. The ESRB is looking to add to its rating team, but you aren’t going to see them advertise the position here at FileFront. Where you will see it is over at GamerDad.com. The website is a resource for parents that rates games beyond what is done by the ESRB. As game ratings strive to protect kidos, I guess I’m not too upset that GamerDad wants to “stack the [ESRB] deck” with parents.

Folks are getting a nice laugh at Sony (happening more often isn’t it?) following their graphics snafu over at Connect. The PSP download site was plugging a new Gran Turismo HD trailer with a suave little super-car pic. Problem being that the graphic they chose was from Project Gotham Racing 3. The image has since been replaced but screens can be found just about everywhere.

mtvU and the Kaiser Family Foundation have teamed up to bring a new competition to gamers. “Change the Course of HIV Challenge” looks to gamers, artists, and students to propose a viral, web-based video game concept to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS in the United States. Kaiser and MTV are allotting $75,000 for the development and marketing of the title. The partnership is hoping to mirror the success of the student developed web game “Darfur is Dying”.

In a definitive show of force, Free-to-play FPS Americas Army has announced they have topped 8 million registers users. Having debuted in 2002, the game has averaged more than 150,000 new accounts each month. The announcement was surely made to let encroaching adversaries know that while you may have numbers, so do we. And while an Aimed-Shot may hurt, a Javelin will ruin your day. Cold War anyone? Download Americas Army

Being the overachievers that they are, the folks at Blizz let loose a ton of news today. First off, the news that their expansion to World of Warcraft sold 2.4 million copies in the first 24 hours. This makes TBC the fasting selling PC title in US and European history. Apparently the WC3 team was also on the ball and released the v1.21a patch earlier today. Add that to their shady snippets about Starcraft, and thoughts on a new MMO and you’ve got some busy beavers.

The Office of Film and Literature, Australia’s governing body when it comes to video game ratings, has refused classification to Midway’s Blitz: The League, in essence banning the title. At issue is the game’s many references to drug use. The League gives teams the opportunity to use various illegal substances to enhance performance, at the cost of player injury, even going so far as to offer “fake urine” as an in-game item. While I’m not too fond of the concept of doping in a sports title, I’m really not fond of game censorship.

When Microsoft scooped up in-game add agency Massive it was a sure bet you would see other giants entering the fray soon enough. Now it seems Google is eyeing Adscape Media. In game advertising is proving to be a real moneymaker and it’s only natural that the big boys want to get involved. While many gamers don’t agree with the tactic, and some publishers are downright evil in its application, it’s a fact of life that we are going to have to put up with. Now if I could get an in-game Google Map to the sniper rifle it would be all good, I’m tired of getting pwned.