We’ll always have up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right…

I am starting to think that I am in the wrong line of work. Lately it appears that a lot of talented writers have crossed over into the business/development side. On September 18, IGN will say goodbye to one of its own: Jeremy Dunham, who officially announced today that he will be moving onto new career opportunities and say goodbye to an epic chapter in his life.

Over the years, I’ve watched Jeremy soar to new heights, which originally started off from the humble beginnings of PlayStation Interactive/64i to GameFan Online, and eventually landing at IGN. Since that time, he’s become one of the most respected, influential writers in the industry due to his unconditional passion and dedication. After seven, exciting years – Jeremy will now take his talents into a new domain that is certain to create another dynamic era for gaming, though he’s tight-lipped on his involvement for the time being. (It’s probably got something to do with Konami — he LOVES that company.)

Well, we wish you the best man and we’ll be watching.

Popular gaming league selected to officially endorse clothing lineup.

Empire Arcadia, a gaming league composed of exceptional diehard players, recently joined forces with clothing line Jinx to represent its latest clothing lifestyle. Viewers who tuned in to G4TV were treated to a 30-second clip showcasing the spirit of what Empire Arcadia, featuring its founder, “Triforce” and Justin Wong, who currently holds the title as all-time fighting game champion in North America!

The commercial contains a variety of clips derived from recent documentaries on Empire Arcadia including brief glimpses of the league in action, training at its home headquarters while of course, featuring the players sporting Jinx’s apparel consisting of contemporary tee-shirts, hoodies, and other unique selections. The clip ends with the founder’s firm mantra: “We get into it… how do YOU get into it?”

Speaking as a longtime, avid gamer, I am thrilled to see companies extending sponsorships to gaming leagues like Empire Arcadia.  The organization is literally growing by leaps and bounds as it continues to  focus on building teamwork, core values and supporting/hosting community events that impact the lives of gamers of all ages.

Check out the commercial in its entirety below…

Sadly, it’s still not the news fans wanted to hear…

It was as if there was a great disturbance in the Force where a thousand souls cried out and were suddenly silenced… for about 5 seconds. Yesterday, SEGA revealed a shocking announcement that Virtua Fighter 5: Revolution would not be released on consoles globally; or more specifically hitting Europe or North America. Within the hour, SEGA’s Facebook page was slammed with multiple responses from fans expressing their disappointment. A spokeperson managing the SEGA channel on Facebook eventually delivered the following response:

A great amount of community support has flooded in for Virtua Fighter 5: Revolution to be released on consoles globally with online play. We’ve noticed that at least 150 of you have expressed your desire for this in just the last seven days, and many more have posted since the beginning of the month. This is an unprecedented level of support and posting, and we’re pleased to see so much interest in this title.

Our response to this was to ask as high up as possible what the plans are for the title. We spoke to various teams, including the Japanese office, and unfortunately we can feedback that there are no plans at the moment. We can understand that this isn’t the answer that the loyal fans of VF5:R want to hear, but it is not to say that your efforts haven’t been noted.

We’d like to say that all of your comments are extremely important to us. It’s a privilege to work for a company with such a loyal fan base, and we do our utmost to ensure community comments are always fed to the right channels throughout the company. It’s our job to see that this continues.

Thanks for all of your messages,

SEGA Community

Not exactly the brightest point in history for diehard VF fans right now and I can only imagine how upset many of them feel right now.

Now with prices (and slightly updated)!

Amazon released prices and pictures of the SFIV peripherals on their site for pre-orders! Some changes were made since we’ve last seen them, but they all seem to be good ones (except the price). The FightPads has ditched the Neo Geo-esque “click sticks” in favor of a more traditional d-pad. While I think the click stick would have been a lot more interesting, more people are likely to be happier with this change; especially with the d-pad being made to be close to the awesome Sega Saturn controller. The FightPads will retail for $40 with (currently) 5 different character editions (Ryu, Ken, Akuma, Chun-Li, Blanka). Expect the other characters to be represented later down the line, too. (more…)

Xbox shakedown, Eidos shenanigans, and more.

Monday: Do you enjoy Fallout 3, but sometimes find yourself a bit overwhelmed by the sheer largeness of it all?  Frustrated by the absolute uselessness of the in-game map system?  Planet Fallout is here to help.  Using Google Maps technology, these kind souls have put together a tool that should serve you quite well as you see the Good Fight through to the end.  A very similar setup was seen earlier this year with Grand Theft Auto IV, so if you’ve used that, you know what to expect. (more…)