Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Gary Gygax is dead.

Rikathos reports that Gary Gygax has died. It is a sad day for gamers everywhere. Here is an excerpt from Wikipedia about him:

Ernest Gary Gygax (July 27, 1938March 4, 2008) was an American writer and game designer, best known for co-creating the pioneering role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) with Dave Arneson, and co-founding the company Tactical Studies Rules with Don Kaye in 1974. Gygax is generally acknowledged as the father of the role-playing game.[2]

On March 4th, the Associated Press confirmed reports of Gygax's passing that originally were made by Troll Lord Games, a small role playing game company Gygax had been working with.[3][4] He had been in poor health, suffering multiple strokes and a near-heart attack.

Gygax was the son of Swiss immigrant Martin Gygax and an American mother. His gaming experiences began at the age of five and six with playing pinochle and chess as well as the usual pretend games of any child that could be likened to live action role-playing together with Jim Rasch as referee/game master, John Rasch and Don Kaye as fellow participants. At about the same time Gygax began educating himself in science fiction novels with Ray Bradbury's The Veldt in Bluebook and Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Conqueror.

Monday, March 3, 2008

Fifty Five dollars??

Foster City (CA) - Sony today announced a firm release date and MSRP for the "Dualshock 3" controller, the first PS3 controller to include the rumble feature.

The rumble force feedback was one of the defining traits of the Playstation brand dating back to the PS One. However, Sony faced an infamous lawsuit with Immersion over patent rights to the technology.

Sony said today the Dual Shock 3 wireless controller will be available in April for a suggested retail price of just under $55.

Also today, Sony said it will be launching a new PS3 bundle with Metal Gear Solid 4 packed in and a new PSP pack with the upcoming God of War: Chains of Olympus in-box. Both are set for Q2 2008 releases, with the PS3 bundle slated for around $500 and the PSP at around $200.


Come on Sony, don't you think that is a bit much for a controller featuring something it should have had in the first place? Are you trying to recoup some of the losses from the lawsuit with Immersion?