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Electronic Arts is definitely looking at the bigger picture when it comes to games these days, more of an art-form perhaps? On top of their work with Steven Spielberg (Boom Blox for the Wii), they recently have come to an agreement with Zack Snyder in which he will help create three video games for the company.

Although Snyder doesn’t have the name power of Spielberg, he was the director behind the vivid and amazingly artistic 300, as well as The Dawn of the Dead, and is currently working on The Watchmen movie.

Financial details were not announced but EA will own the intellectual properties stemming from the alliance.

In a release, Snyder said: “I think video games are cool because they offer an opportunity to tell a story in an entirely unique way. Being a long time fan of the games EA creates, I look forward to collaborating with them.”

There is indeed a game for everyone out there. Today’s example is “The Political Machine,” for all you politicos out there.

“The Political Machine” is a PC strategy game that allows its players to run for president. You can choose from existing candidates or create your own. Hrm, want to play out this year’s election with no surprises and no disappointments? Here’s your chance! If history is more your thing, you can pit famous presidents of the past against one another: JFK vs. Bill Clinton? You got it!

Once you have your candidate chosen, you choose your map/scenario and start to tackle the issues and battle against your opponent with the election day looming over your head.

While “TPM” is just a game meant for some educational fun, its creators note that it is also “one of the most advanced political simulations that exists.  For example, in 2004, the The Political Machine 2004 edition accurately predicted the election in June. Stardock’s Brad Wardell was asked live on CNBC in June 2004 how the game predicted the outcome. The game correctly predicted that Ohio — not Florida — would be the state to watch and whoever won that state would win the election.  It also correctly predicted the winner of 48 of the 50 states.”

For a free demo of the game, or to download it in its entirety, click here: http://www.politicalmachine.com/.

Blizz is doing their best to combat losing any subscribers to Warhammer Online lately with all the concessions and tidbits they’re releasing lately.

Long gone are the days that realm transfers are limited to PvP -> PvP, PvE -> PvE and PvP -> PvE. In order to appeal to those stuck on PvE realms that may be swayed by the heavy focus on PvP in Warhammer, Blizz has announced the ability for people to transfer from PvE realms to PvP realms. As a full-fledged PvE realmer, I’m kind of disappointed by this decision (but I can fully understand why they’re doing it). Unfortunately we will be losing several of our friends to the glitz and glitter of the PvE world.

The upcoming patch will introduce the Inscription profession in advance of the game. Once the patch strikes, players will be able to level up Inscription to 375 and once the Expansion is out, continue further.

And, speaking of the expansion, there’s a date! November 13th… get ready to take days off and expect midnight release parties at most major game stores. Preorder your copy today!

Happy gaming!

Aardman Studios, which brought us the wonderful Wallace and Gromit, has lent one of its other stars, Shaun the Sheep, to the video game world.

Shaun, a Disney Channel staple, is now starring on the Nintendo DS system as well.

The basic premise behind the game is that Shaun must find the rest of the flock before the farmer comes home. Featuring locations from the stop-motion animated series as well as original content, the game also has three play modes and several mini and “micro” games.

D3Publisher worked with Aardman Studios to ensure the game’s style, sound effects and music are true to the show.

Now, call me old school, but I have always loved Wallace and Gromit and Aardman’s wonderfully simple and endearing stop motion animations. Seeing Shaun translated to a game is sure to be a treat!

My husband and I always joke that we will be introducing our children to gaming early on. By the age of two or three we’ll have taught them to do the daily quests in Warcraft so they can be our little “gold farmers.” Fortunately it’s just our little joke and it will be much longer than that before we allow them to get sucked into any game of that magnitude.

The question is raised though, in a gamer family, when do you introduce your children to gaming? It is obviously happening earlier and earlier thanks to the advent of youth game platforms like Leapfrog and the sort. And yes, it can be a fun way to get children to learn things thanks to the educational nature of many of the games, but I fully believe that relying upon those methods can be damaging.

Attention spans are becoming shorter and shorter, thanks to the plethora of options and the total media sensory overload of this generation. Gone are the days of children spending day upon day playing outdoors, reading books and playing good old pretend.

It needs to be a fine line. Yes, the games can be useful, but they shouldn’t be the sole method by which children grow up.

I look back at the many hours I spent in the car as a little one, reading a book or staring out the window daydreaming. Nowadays, built-in DVD players keep children occupied. It saddens me that parents have to rely upon a television screen to get through a two-hour trip.

And yes, this is coming from someone who could find no better way than to spend an entire weekend playing a game, interspersed only with eating and sleeping.

I don’t think I would hesitate starting our children off young, as long as it is educational and is not the sole source of their entertainment/education. But, I will try my hardest to combine it with a healthy dose of old fashioned fun.

It’s hard when the biggest titles expected out all have numbers after their names: Rock Band 2, Gears of War 2, GTA 4, Resistance 2.

While they were all stand out titles, its sad that the concept of new games has fallen by the wayside of just rehashing and redoing the old. But, that’s what we’re looking at as far as releases this year.

At the same time, there are several non “numbered” sequels: Destroy All Humans, Viva Pinata and in a sense Warhammer Online. Destroy All Humans was a fresh and inventive idea the first time around, will that continue through its second incarnation. And Warhammer, which started out as a pen and paper RPG is now stepping into the MMORPG world. MMOPRG players have definitely be abuzz about WO, but, will it be able to hold their attention?

Looking at the initial excitement that comes with any title, the month or two of pretty highly focused game time, and the following trickle as people leave to go back to their preferred game of choice… it will be interesting to see if it, as I’m sure Mythic Entertainment is hoping, can be “the New WoW.”

So, it’s not surprising that the original titles stand out like shining beacons of originality in a world of reruns. And, that is something that Spore did (of course, Spore’s buzz has been growing for nearly 3 years now). Now that it’s finally out, will it live up to its hype.

Time and units sold will tell, but as of now, I’m not feeling completely confident it will. Considering one of my good friends, who has faithfully been playing around with the Spore Creature Creator for a few weeks now, texted me yesterday, “Spore is a piece of crap on Vista.” Yeah, it doesn’t bode well.

Kotaku has reported that the Tecmo board of directors has rejected a proposed takeover by Square Enix.

The addition of Temco, whose games include Ninja Gaiden and the Dead or Alive series, would have been a big addition for Square Enix (Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest and Kingdom Hearts).

A statement issued by Tecmo noted that the company “collected opinions from management and game creators as well as a wide range of employees” and decided against the offer. However, word is out that the company is in talks with Japanese company Koei (Dynasty Warriors) over a possible merger.

A statement released by Tecmo is as follows: “As the game industry environment changes with high-powered hardware, portable game machines and rapid growth as well as online mobile games, the accelerating consumer needs are varied and sophisticated. The industry has intensified. Multi-platform and the importance of overseas markets is pushing the industry towards global competition.

“…Under these circumstances, these two companies have excellent financial positions, strengths and the ability to take advantage of each other in order to improve profitability and solidified the foundation of a worldwide leader.”

Back in 2005 I would have laughed if you told me people could forge long and lasting relationships via a game. Never, ever would I have believed you! Yet, here I am again, seeing my guild home of the past year crumbling and feeling the lost it entails.

When my husband and I first joined Warcraft, we were welcomed into the top guild on our server, thanks to a real life friend. These people took us under our wing, taught us more about the game than we would have learned on our own and trusted us enough to make us regular raiders (apparently we learned enough from them to not suck). Unfortunately when the first expansion was looming the guild fell apart.

Both my husband and I felt such a huge loss as people were splintering off to different guilds. They were all our friends, who should we try and go with? The guild that is currently splintering was created by some of those, our old time friends. Again, with the splintering, they are not just going to different guilds, many of them are transferring off the server to start fresh.

Some of these people we met in real life, spending a weekend partying it up with. Meeting them in person felt natural, like old friends seeing each other after years’ absence. The only funny twist being we had to introduce ourselves with our “in-game” name and following it up with our real names.

It’s sad to see this “in-game” family fall apart… yet with it springs new opportunities. We too are starting over, with a guild that exceeds our time on the server, and one filled with people, many of whom have been together for nearly 10 years (since the first EQ). This new guild has “splinters” in different games and has given new meaning to family-style guild.

While sad to see what was now break up, we are looking forward to our future.

In what could be considered one of the most anticipated and talked about games in gaming history, Electronic Arts is releasing Spore this week… more than three years after it was brought into public consciousness.

This release date was one year after initially expected, but the company wanted to make sure all the social networking features were in place and it was polished and perfected.

The game, which will hit European shelves on Friday and American shelves on Sunday is expected to help raise EA’s falling revenues with its release.

For those unfamiliar with the title, Spore takes the sim concept to a whole new level of detail. Instead of just micromanaging a company, neighborhood or a zoo you are micromanaging evolution. Starting out with the simplest of organisms and goes on to form planets and galaxies. Tying into the social aspect of the game, the characters are not your alone but become part of the environment experienced by other players.

If this game lives upto its hype, even fractionally, it is going to be an amazing experience!

Happy gaming!