VGTribune Videogame News

Keeping their ears to the ground, Kotaku has heard rumblings, that if correct, the E3 of yesteryear might just be coming back. Yes that's right, the ESA may bring E3 to it's former ginormous size and make it open to the public once again.

The latest word we've heard is that the idea has been officially brought forward and is in discussion by the board of the Entertainment Software Association. That means the possibility of an open E3 is one step closer to reality, if the rumor is true.

Will the ESA make the move? It looks to us as though this would be the only move that could save E3 as a show. If you ask us here at VGTribune if we think  E3 should go back to it's former grandeur we wouldn't reply with a simple "yes," instead we'd reply with a resounding "Heck yes!"

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After seeing large employee terminations and the ultimate shutdown of the studio, Flagship Studios hit the big continue button in the sky to be reborn as Runic Games. Although we do like the name Runic Games Better than Flagship and we're glad they're up and running again, all we have to say is: "Wen can we haz moar Mythos beta?"

Seattle, Washington - August 8th, 2008 - The former Flagship Studios Seattle team is proud to announce their reformation as Runic Games (www.runicgames.com). As the team responsible for the highly-anticipated Mythos at Flagship Studios, Runic Games intends to continue to use their expertise in the Action-RPG MMO genre to create the best games in this market.

[Via Joystiq]

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 Although Flagship Studios assures us that previous reports of it's closure were speculation and that it is still operating, it has recently announced that it's upcoming MMO, Mythos, will be going on hiatus.

"We regretfully announce that on Friday, July 18, 2008 at 11:59 CST the world of Uld known as Mythos will be going on hiatus. On behalf of all of the Devs and Community team we want to thank you to everyone for their support and assistance with Mythos Alpha and Beta testing and we hope to see you soon."

Remember all those reports about Flagship losing all it's IP's? Well, apparently that is no longer the case. "Flagship Studios owns the rights to all its technology and IP, including Hellgate: London and Mythos." Although the "the core management and founding team members are still at Flagship," we here at VGTribune wonder is, and when Flagship Studios will ever get back to be as big, or bigger, than it's former self.

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 Word came from Gamasutra earlier today that Flagship Studios has undergone "significant staff cuts." Flagship has confirmed that "significant staff cuts" have occurred, but they gave no specifics on how, or if, it has affected the development of their upcoming free-to-play MMO, Mythos. VGTribune has contacted Flagship for a response. More news as it comes in.

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This is the start of a weekly opinion piece set composed by me, Kater.

Today's topic is how easy it is to buy Teen/Mature reated games while being under the age of 18.

I am currently 16 years old and recently I bought The Orange Box for the PC.  The game is rated Teen to Mature due to the fact that Half-Life 2, HL2: Episode 1, HL2: Episode 2, and Team Fortress 2 are all M, while Portal is T.  Now, the problem is you can have probably anyone, of any age, go up and buy a Mature rated game.  Not only do I believe this is increasing the level of anger in younger children, but it is also raising many complaints by parents.  Namely parents who want stores to decide what their kid buys, taking the responsibility away from them.

 The real issue is the parents. If they are so concerned they should be the ones who monitor what their kids are playing. Why should it be the stores responsibility to take care of their kids?  Don't get me wrong, it's not right for the stores to be selling these games to underages kids, but it is just as much the fault of the parents for not paying attention.

 In conclusion, I believe three steps can be taken:

1. Destroy all video games (Just kidding.)

2. Have the parents pay more attention (fat chance)

3. Enforce the ages for the ESRB (Electronic Software Ratings Board).  They are there for a reason.  

 Thank you for reading and if you have any suggestions for next weeks article or future articles please e-mail me at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

According to Sony's 2008 fiscal report, "the large-scale investment required during the development and introductory period of a new gaming platform may not be fully recovered." 

Which in other words means that Sony spent so much money on creating the PS3 and manufacturing it that revenues made from the sale of PS3s may never fully cover those costs.

Do you think that Sony could ever recoup those losses and or make PlayStation 3 as profitable as they had hoped? But more importantly, what does this mean for the industry? Is this the end of the strategy to release super powered (highly expensive) next-gen consoles so they have years of staying power?

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