Final Fantasy Energy Drink - Are You Game?

Last year, Suntory came out with a limited edition set of Final Fantasy XII energy drinks as well as collectible bottles of Final Fantasy anniversary “potions.” When they first when on the shelves, it said that the sold out like mad, leaving convenience stores and supermarkets with empty racks in a week. They soon hit Ebay with prices set at $25 and above to be purchased by thirsty RPG geeks world wide.

Now, Suntory is back in collaboration with Square Enix with three new lines of tenth anniversary Final Fantasy VII potions and figures, and with a *bit* higher price tag than last time. The cans will be going for a mere $1.60, but the very cool potion bottle (limited to 77,777 pieces) will be traded for $32, which is nearly enough to get the game itself. In addition, there’s an entirely different set of eight cans combined with figures for $9 each which are limited to a million sets. Those are some hefty price tags for a “potion” that contains caffeine, B-Vitamins, and royal jelly, but that’ll never stop a thirsty gamer with plans to game all night long.

The Name of the Game Is Work

Source: Business Week

Corporations are increasingly using online games to recruit and train new employees, and just to better keep people in touch.

Companies around the world, including McKinsey & Co., Royal Philips Electronics (PHG), and Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development (JNJ) are bringing games with 3D computer graphics into the workplace to appeal to the generation raised on Nintendo (NTDOF.PK), World of Warcraft, and Second Life. They are using games to recruit new talent, improve communication between managers and their far-flung staff, and train employees and new hires at all levels.

My Virtual Career

Since 2000, McKinsey's German headquarters has run a computer game called CEO of the Future, based loosely on the popular NBC reality show The Apprentice. The goal is to cast a wider net for new talent. In 2007, nearly 5,000 managers and students from all over the world between the ages of 22 and 32 tried their hand at challenges such as starting a European insurance company in Korea or developing an R&D strategy for a new pain reliever made of a genetically modified fruit.

Next year, McKinsey has decided to make the game downloadable from a Web site so you can play offline and then upload the results. This way, those who don't have regular Internet access won't be penalized. In next year's version of the game, competitors will tackle renewable energy businesses, says Marco Ferber, a Stuttgart-based engagement manager at McKinsey. McKinsey has hired several past winners of CEO of the Future. In 2007, the winners (there was a tie) also received about $20,000 each.


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Do Video Game Opponents Just Suck?

Just in case you haven’t heard, anti video game protesters say, “video games will rot your brain!” Is that what they said about automobiles, Jazz and Rock n roll? Video games are just anther brain rotter to add to the list, regardless of the benefits it offers.

The force behind the rot is due to the discovery of a sex scene in some games which is only accessible if you hack the game… which of course is much more important than say the total count of how many zombies a player shoots up. Zombies have feelings and are people too…dead but they’re still people nevertheless.

The ‘give it a rest’ opponent believe video games can help prepare kids for the world they will end up working and living in. Video game fan Robert Florio who just happens to be paralyzed from the neck down is currently earning his bachelors degree in Videogame Art and Design with ambitions in creating My goal is to videogames for people with physical limitations.


Walter Reed Army Medical Center uses video games as a means of therapy for recovering soldiers. Chuck Ziegenfuss, a major in the Army and wounded in Iraq in 2005 said playing video games "gives them back a sense that they're normal," he said.

Today’s games force players to learn complex rule systems, follow shifting game environments in real time and prioritize between multiple objectives. Rules, decisions, thinking fast on your feet and being a team player are precisely the sorts of skills that employees need in the workplace.

What about the claims that violent video games lead to violent behavior? According to a variety of surveys today’s kids are less violent not more. Video Game Voters Network provides detailed information on the controversy of violence ad video games. Much of their information is provided and based on University studies, professional researcher documentation and healthcare reports. All of which prove that each and every one of us is responsible for our own actions.


Groups like Mothers Against Videogame Addiction and Violence say they are educating parents of “the world's fastest growing addiction and the most reckless endangerment of children today.”

Last time I checked (and I surf the web on a daily basis) I found that the fastest growing addiction for kids have always included:

• Fast Food / obesity
• Tobacco
• Drugs
• Alcohol
• Body image related addictions

I can not recall one article or news source listing video games as an "addition" let alone the “world's fastest growing addiction.”

MAVAV Articles include:
EverQuest: A Threat to Society?
Truth - EverQuest: Explore a realm of Adventure, Fantasy and Magic.

Oh yea….. Hordes of teenagers are threatening the existence of dragons world wide due to EverQuest. Stop the innocent killing of dragons!

Video Game Networks or Online Training Camps?

FOR EVIL! {baahaahaahaa}
Jeti Force: “you can stay up as late as you like and eat all the chocolate ice cream you want.”

E3: Evil Entertainment Expo
Truth - E3: The Electronic Entertainment Expo(E3) is the world's largest annual video game and entertainment industry conference where developers and journalists gather to witness the very latest games and technologies. This is where the iPhone was premiered...

Okay… that was a bad example maybe E3 is a little bit evil but so are a lot of industries… we don’t Mothers Against Videogames protesting cell phone use in their cars while driving. Lets see their driving records! I bet they’re not so spotless.

I have to wonder how many of those who attack these video games have spent much time trying to play them? Do they realize how hard they can be? Maybe they do realize how hard the games are and they just really suck at it…

Hot Markets Hot Careers

Cockroaches, Madonna, crime, Spam and gaming.

The five things that will never go away.

From the year 2006 through the years to 2012, Parks Associates a market research firms states that in game spending will go from $370 million in 2006 to more than $2 billion in 2012. In addition, IBM and Seriosity teamed up for a joint research project that revealed
online role playing games are shaping the next generation of corporate leaders. The studies show that there are significant parallels between online gaming and the work force. Today's gamers are learning collaboration; self-organization, risk taking, positive influence, and networking as well as how to earn incentives linked to performance and be flexible in the way they communicate.

In game advertising expects an annual growth rate of 33% higher than that of TV, radio, print, and the Internet.

"If executed correctly, game advertising can provide a win-win solution for advertisers, developers and publishers, console manufacturers, game portals, and gamers." Said Yuanzhe (Michael) Cai, director of broadband and gaming, Parks Associates.

Advertisers are taking notice of the ever-growing industry with cheaper advertising and direct consumer attention. In game advertising helps pay for game creation and can also help make a game more real. Beyond sponsoring a game, some marketers are actually creating their own games as promotional content (called “advergames”) such as Burger King did with Blitz Games.

Jim Spohrer, director of services research for IBM Research center: "Smart organizations are recognizing valued employees who play online games and apply their skills and experience as virtual leaders to their 'real world' jobs."

Gaming is not only increasing in popularity, but also gaining new fans in the older generation. Seniors have slowly been experimenting with gaming as a way to connect with grandkids. Than again, some are simply playing because they didn’t realize how much fun they were. Advertising to seniors has always been a niche market and it’s one that hasn’t been touched for in-game advertising. After all, the gamers who fell in love with the games and demanded bigger, better, more in-depth games are aging.

British Bans Manhunt 2 - The First Video Game In 10 Years

You can not buy Manhunt 2 in Britain. The decision by the British Board of Film Classification, or BBFC, means the game, from publisher Take-Two Interactive Software, creators of the controversial "Grand Theft Auto" series, cannot be legally supplied anywhere in Britain.

BBFC director David Cooke said "'Manhunt 2' is distinguishable from recent high-end video games by its unremitting bleakness and callousness of tone in an overall game context which constantly encourages visceral killing with exceptionally little alleviation or distancing."

He continued by saying

"There is sustained and cumulative casual sadism in the way in which these killings are committed, and encouraged, in the game."

The ban in Britain prompted one U.S. family group to lobby for an ‘Adults Only’ rating to ensure major American retailers cannot sell the game to minors. According to Gamepolitics.com, Manhunt 2 has been given an ‘Adults Only’ rating in the States, rather than the usual M (mature) rating which is non-prohibitive and acts merely as a guide for parents. This means that most major retailers will not sell the game.

Take Two/Rockstar still has online retailers and independent stores to channel the game through, but big superstore chains like Walmart account for 25% of game sold in the US.

Other global territories are likely to take a similar stance as the UK and US has -- so it seems the Take Two/Rockstar strategy for stalking success and creating Hellfire controversy may have backfired.

What’s The Big Deal?

In the game Manhunt 2, players become an insane asylum escapee sneaking up on “enemies” and killing them in gruesome ways.

If there was ever a game that deserved an “Adults Only” rating from the Entertainment Software Rating Board, Manhunt 2 is definitely it. What other game can you graphically decapitate someone and then use the head as a bowling ball? In Manhunt (original) players were able to suffocate somebody with a plastic bag and kill using razor wire. Sequels are follow-ups introducing bigger and better than the original – if razor wire and effective plastic bag instruments of death was used in the original and received only an M for Mature rating than what the hell do you have to do to get an “AO” (Adults Only) rating?

Manhunt 2 is a disturbing game. I’d like to think I’m not squeamish – at least when it comes to videogame violence. After all, it’s not real; it’s all make-believe, right? But Take Two/Rockstar video games have become nothing more than animated ‘choose-your-own-adventure’ snuff films

My opinion may not be what you were expecting from a self-described proud to be called Game Geek Gurl. There is no story without conflict and in interactive games, that conflict is predominantly played out in violence. God of War and Destroy All Humans have violence in mass quantities, no question about that. But the Manhunt series encourages players to be as vicious as possible in killing their “victims”. One game review of the original Manhunt encouraged this aspect by stating

“it’s certainly fun watching your enemies die and that is one of the main features of this game.”

Manhunt 2 Ban Questions:

• What will be the result of censorship for future games?
• How will the ban effect past, current and future video game classifications?
• Does the ban purpose any serious threats to the long-term future of the gaming industry?

Censorship in any form is risky and further promotes the downwards spiral of a nannied nation. But is the merciless violence of Manhunt’s content video game entertainment or sensationalism of violence?