Lego Star Wars 2 for the XBOX 360 will allow users to download characters from the previous game for a fee.

Like or not pay for play is here and its just going to keep on coming.

More good news for potential PS3 owners. Check out this incredibly technical explanation as to why the PS3 may have slower loading times then the XBOX 360.

The Fall is almost upon us which means the deluge of videogames that are released between September to December is about to begin.

I am actually curious how sales will do this quarter. On one hand the market has been stirred by all of the next generation hype. On the other hand developers must seem some drop of intrest durring the summer burst of mediocrity.

How many people just stop coming into their local store when they see almost nothing intresting released for almost the entire summer months?

Videogame pundits are calling the Lepzig show for Microsoft. Most, are caling Sony the clear looser. Which just means for more bad press for the electronics giant. To add insult to injury both of the owners of Penny Arcade have announced that they will not be purchasing a Playstation 3 at launch.

So if any good comes of any of this it really will answer two questions, how important are trade shows and how important is internet coverage.

As near as I can tell Sony has not made strong showing at any of the shows in has attended. It is also getting slammed by internet columnists. So it would reasonable to judge its success as a meter for how important both of these elements actually are in the games industry.

"Piñatas became truly famous at the birthday parties of small Mexican children when they were hit by pointy sticks and spilled candy and sweets onto the ground. But what if piñatas were real?"

Above is a quote from Microsoft spokesperson Chris Kimmel. I think this quote alone illustrates the source of Microsoft’s inability to penetrate any market other then teengage boys.* Let us take this point by point.

• Kimmel would like for us to assume Piñatas were real. Apparently, all of those Mexican birthday parties are work of fiction, and possibly Mexico itself.

• “they were hit by pointy sticks and spilled candy and sweets onto the ground. But what if pinatas were real?" this quote is from the what sounds like the worst (or possibly the best) horror movie pitch ever. I am imagining the Piñatas are real (and by real I assume he means alive) and they are pissed. Like, “humans beings have been beating us to death and feasting on our delicious inside for decades” pissed. I do not want to play a game where my character is hunted by revenged hungry monsters made out of multi-colored confetti. I am sorry I just do not.

• I had another point, but seriously human beings tortured to death everyone that Piñata loved, and they did it for sport. It is going to want blood, human blood.

To summarize: Microsoft makes children’s games that are the stuff of the most horrifying nightmares known to man.

DICE has announced plans for a new Battlefield game which will focuse heavily on single-player but still capture the open-ended madness of the multi-player versions of the game.

I have to say I am skeptical, the multi-player elements are part of the madness of the Battlefied games and I have a feeling any attempt to capture it in single player will end up feeling forced and wooden.

Wednesday’s Penny-Arcade has a brief discussion of how episodic content could go in the direction of the very-bad. The possibility of terming various elements of game play into a micro payment system is a chilling one.

Spending real world money to purchase virtual things has been a-time-honored-and-to- be-perfectly-honest-completely-unfathomable-by-me trait of online role-playing games for a long time. Currently, it resides as a sort of black market. However, online game companies must be aware that they are missing out on a massive potential revenue source.

Going to a system where you spend real world money for virtual products seems like a no-brainer. Except of course, is the fact that it is a perfect chance to alienate the large portion of your customer base who already feel videogames are to expensive.

As of right now Microsoft is leading Sony in the public relations battle by simply not saying or doing anything to stupid, something along these lines might be the cheese that leads them into the trap.

Gamasutra has article about the Georgia state government’s plan to educate its citizens on how to use the ESRB rating system. One hand this is great idea from the government’s idea. It is nice to see governments trying to solve a problem by fighting ignorance rather than promoting it. Honestly, the best thing that can happen for the videogame industry is for consumers to understand that some videogames are meant for children and some are clearly not.

It does sort of beg the question though: if the ESRB is doing its job then why does the government have to educate people on how to use their rating system?

Microsoft is releasing a developement kit for users to create non-comercial X-box games. It will provide tools for both Windows and the Xbox 360. Check out the FAQ here.

Apparently as part of the license for playing EA products online reader have to sign away the right to have their credit card information kept private as well as their internet activity.