GTA V Trailer. Updated graphics, but it looks like the same type of gameplay as the previous versions.

A 10% discount just for going through my website instead of RPGNow.com!

Of course, if you prefer you can go to RPGNow.com to buy either of these products if you prefer.

As I add more products, I will add them to my own website as well as the Kindle store.

Fast paced Superhero Gaming! Polyverse Supers allows a GM to create campaigns with colorful npcs, heroes and villains. Included are rules for creation of bases and vehicles as well as random character creation.

Super Hero Roleplaying!
Make the superhero YOU want!
70 customizable powers!
Adders and Subtractors make powers unique!
Over 100 Problems to make characters stand out!
Create bases and vehicles!
Random character creation rules!

Seal for BA Studio

I have been busy working hard on my Super Hero roleplaying system – Polyverse Supers. This is a stand-alone game system that does not require the Core Rules to play.

I also have a new seal for my company, BA Studios, thanks to the work of Matt Sheffield, who also did the artwork for the cover of Polyverse Supers.

Hopefully soon I will have this product ready to go and it will be available on RPGNow.com along with my Polyverse Roleplaying System Core Rules. It will also be available on my own website under the Products tab.

I have cut back substantially on gaming news to concentrate on finishing Polyverse Supers and other products that I want to create. I will still comment on things I find interesting though, and I’m sure I’ll be posting a lot more when some games like Arkham City, The Old Republic, Skyrim and Mass Effect 3 are released.

Call of Duty on Xbox 360

Exploits have been around since computer games were first introduced in the 1970′s and they are certainly nothing new. Gamers have been using exploits to get a competitive edge in games ever since. To be somewhat pedantic, exploits are not the same as hacking. Hacking is gaining access to a computer file or network illegally or without authorization. An exploit is using a flaw that already exists in the game to gain an edge.

For example, in Call of Duty, players have figured out a method to get their avatars inside of each other, thus making themselves invulnerable to damage. This is an exploit because anyone can do it if they know how – it is a flaw in the code that the programmers of the game did not address or think of. Because of the exploit, players can stay alive essentially forever and rack up very high scores.

Many gamers, especially young gamers, see nothing wrong with this behavior. Their reasoning is simple, if it exists in the game, then it is fair to use – it is a part of the game. Game developers are always trying to close these loopholes because it introduces unfair competition to the integrity of the game.

Those players that have not used any cheats or exploits may become disillusioned and upset if they find out their opponents have gained an unfair advantage over them and will quit. This is analogous to sports stars using drugs such as steroids to gain an unfair advantage over other athletes. It cheapens the game. But for young players, and even some older players that should know better, it is an alluring drug and they will continue to use the exploits they have discovered until it is patched and fixed by the game developers.

Quite literally, exploits and cheats can cost a company real money, and they always must be looking for such flaws in their games and fixing them. This is especially true in MMO’s which have millions of players that demand a level playing field where all players are assumed to be on equal footing. If players find that the integrity of the game is damaged, they will quit, and that is indeed bad for business.

The game is currently subscription only so it seems this is a push to increase revenue for the property. Of course, it could be a precursor to taking the game Free to Play, much like many other MMO’s have done recently. Exactly how the marketplace will work is not determined as of yet, but it will likely be done with in-game tokens just as Microsoft does with Xbox 360 microtransaction purchases.

D.C. Universe Online was released in January of 2011 and garnered mediocre reviews. I found that the visuals were striking but content was lacking overall for the game.

This is a pretty good sale for those that have been waiting for some of these games. Check out the Summer Sale Prize Booth and the Summer Sale FAQ.

Game Packs

JUNE 30th DAILY DEALS

The company has chosen Morgan Stanley to be the lead underwriter of an offering that will raise more than $1 billion, said Nitsan Hargil, an analyst at GreenCrest, which focuses on closely held firms. He didn’t name the investor, saying only that it was an early backer of Zynga.

Zynga, known for “FarmVille” and “Texas HoldEm Poker,” is joining the biggest wave of Internet IPOs since the dot-com heyday in 2000. LinkedIn Corp., Pandora Media Inc. and Yandex NV all went public in the past two months, and other Internet companies such as Groupon Inc. aim to benefit from the rebound with their own IPOs.

The Supreme Court Held that “The Act does not comport with the First Amendment.  Pp. 2–18.(a) Video games qualify for First Amendment protection.  Like protected books, plays, and movies, they communicate ideas through familiar literary devices and features distinctive to the medium.  And “the basic principles of freedom of speech . . . do not vary” with a new and different communication medium.”

The most basic principle—that government lacks the power to restrict expression because of its message, ideas, subject  matter, or content,  Ashcroft v.  American Civil Liberties Union, 535 U. S. 564, 573—is subject to a few limited exceptions for historically unprotected speech, such as obscenity, incitement, and fighting words.   But a legislature cannot  create new categories ofunprotected speech simply by weighing the value of a particular category against its social  costs and  then punishing it if fails the test.  See United States v. Stevens, 559 U. S. Unlike the New York law upheld in Ginsberg v. New York, 390 U. S. 629, California’s Act does not adjust the boundaries of an existing category of unprotected speech to ensure that a definition designed for adults is not uncritically applied to children.  Instead, the State wishes to create a wholly new category of content-based regulation that is permissible only for speech directed at children. That is unprecedented and mistaken. This country has no tradition of specially restricting children’s access  to depictions  of violence.  And California’s claim  that “interactive” video games present special problems, in that the playerparticipates in the violent action  on screen and determines its outcome, is unpersuasive.

The ruling was 7-2 with Justice Antonin Scalia writing in the majority opinion “Even where the protection of children is the object, the constitutional limits on governmental action apply.” States have continuously tried to ban video games ever since the medium emerged in the late 1970′s. The Supreme Court has rejected these laws as unconstitutional and continuously struck them down as such.

It is not that surprising that EA is shutting it down, they have shut down other MMO’s before – such as Earth  and Beyond in 2004, Warhammer Online, APB, Sims Online, and others. EA does not consider MMO’s to be successful unless they are making a certain amount of money. When Sims Online was shutdown, it still had thirty thousand players.