ngmoco founder Neil Young 

On June 18th, Level Up broke the news that EA Blueprint boss Neil Young was leaving Electronic Arts to launch his own company. Last Friday, we caught up with Young by phone to procure some additional details about his venture, named ngmoco. The "affable Brit," as we described young in our previous post, was happy to spill some of the beans, while keeping others secret for later. Here's what we learned, presented in our handy Just the FAQs format.

What the heck is ngmoco?

It stands for Next-Generation Mobile Company.

I repeat: what the heck is ngmoco?

Young plans to focus on developing and publishing games for iPhone class mobile devices.

That's it?

No, there's more. "I want ngmoco to feel like 1st party for the iPhone," says Young.

To read the rest of our Just the FAQs exchange with Neil Young, click on the link below. 

1. EGO...trip: "Bonus Round" loves our insights; NeoGAF adores our hair
   
2. JUN...ot what he's saying? Pulitzer prize-winner Diaz weighs in on GTA IV
3. DDR...in Canada: a much stranger proposition than you might think
4. HMM...Reflections on why scores matter so much to gamers
5. NOT...Bobby's problem: plaintive posts on Guitar Hero peripherals
6. RND...Dude, it's time to man up, drill down and stay teh classy. Oh, wait...

Grand Theft Auto IV, developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games

In Round 2 of our Vs. Mode exchange with MTV News reporter Stephen Totilo (also featured on Totilo's blog Multiplayer), he continued to insist that the soul of the Grand Theft Auto series is its sprawling possibility space, and that Grand Theft Auto IV's insistence on a richer main character and more consistent themes was taking the franchise too far from its roots. We countered by accusing Totilo of overlooking Rockstar North's "fitful achievement" of blending emotion and gameplay. In today's Final Round, both sides bring their loyal readers--those who previously posted comments on Level Up and Multiplayer--into the Vs. Mode dojo to spar with the experts. A sampling:

Jack Lothian, via Multiplayer: I'd love GTA games to genuinely introduce moral quandaries, just as I'd love to them to actively pursue a more open approach where mass slaughter isn't the usual answer to any problem. GTAIV isn't that game though--"Kill Mr A or Kill Mr B" ends up being more of a game choice than a moral one (which death will benefit my playing experience). A third option (kill neither, face the personal consequences) would have at least given some deeper scope.

Stephen Totilo responds: Jack just blew my mind. I've long complained of the binary choices games that are designed with morality systems provide players. That's why I'm happy that Spore will give players at least three ways to cultivate their in-game species, instead of just "good" or "bad," "Light Side" or "Dark Side," "kill the Little Sister" or "don't kill the Little Sister." What would I have done if I could have chosen to ignore Playboy X and Dwayne and killed neither? Some would say that offering three choices rather than two is no real improvement. But recalling that specific scenario, I'd have found it even more extraordinary and morally complex if I could have chosen that third path Jack described. Agree?

hage, via Level Up: I also found the story to be a fraudulent bill of goods, between the laughable artifice in some of the NPCs (Michelle after 10 seconds in the car: "I'd really like to get to know you better, Niko...") and every time the writers build up a little good will in terms of your emotional investment in Niko they squander it on something completely out of character in the name of a violent filler mission.

N'Gai Croal responds: I'm wondering whether the fault lies not with inconsistencies in the work of Rockstar's writing team, but with the credulity of all of us. Liberty City is filled with self-deluded characters like Playboy X, Manny and Brucie, who present themselves one way only to be exposed by their behavior. Why do we take Niko at face value? Is it just because he's our avatar? Remember, we never hear Niko's inner thoughts, we just listen to his dialogue and see his actions as we carry them out...Maybe possible that the lady  the gentleman doth protest too much. Maybe Niko is deceiving himself as much as do the rest of the lowlifes he runs with. Maybe as much as he believes he's fatigued with death and killing, he's actually drawn to it? Maybe we have all misunderstood Niko Bellic. What do you think, Stephen?

To view the Final Round of Vs. Mode in its entirety, click on the link below. And once you've finished reading it, we encourage you to share your reactions and observations in the comments section. After all, our new and improved Final Round is nothing without your participation, Dear Reader. Enjoy.

1. EGO...trip: Emmy pays a visit to the EGO...trip family. Congratulations! 
2. EGO...trip: We've got to stop meeting like this, Bonus Round--people will talk
3. HMM...Well-intentioned free advice or volunteering for duty? We link, you decide.
   
4. OHH...snap! Our Huffington Post-of-games rival eviscerates VGChartz
5. DAM...n it feels good to be a gangster gamer
6. RND...Old School vs. New School--who will emerge as the True School?

 Grand Theft Auto IV, developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games

In Round 1 of our Vs. Mode exchange with MTV News reporter Stephen Totilo (also featured on Totilo's blog Multiplayer), he expressed concern over the direction in which Grand Theft IV has taken the franchise, which narrower and more restrained than its wilder, freer predecessors. We accused him of damning developers for running in place (The Legend of Zelda series) and damning them for walking a new path (GTA IV). In today's Round 2, Totilo reveals his favorite GTA title and explains why he believes that Rockstar North should have preserved player "liberation" as the spine of its gameplay, while we advocate forcefully for "emotion" as the broader focus which explains why the developer has taken a left turn. Some excerpts:

Stephen Totilo: Everyone I've spoken to who has played GTA IV can tell me a moment when their manipulation of Niko through gameplay made Niko seem like a different character than the one portrayed in the cut-scenes. Friends cite moments when the cut-scene Niko--cautious about causing wanton violence--didn't seem like the guy they had gunning down everyone in sight at the behest of either the player or, more oddly, in order to fulfill a mission scripted by the developers. What do you make of that? I see the game developers writing Niko one way in cutscenes and requiring him to conform to a very different script in some missions. You see Rockstar maturing. I see Rockstar creating a game that sometimes works against itself. San Andreas didn't have these problems, I think, because it resounded with the tones of cartoon criminality and non-seriousness that the gameplay of a GTA almost demands of its story-writers. Jetpack-riding and rhyme-book-stealing were zany examples of the sprawl of possibility. Anything could happen and anyone could be around in the game to be part of it.

N'Gai Croal: On the radar, I could see that the drug dealer and two other people were inside. Now, whether it was the tension that had built up over the lengthy, deliberate pursuit of my target or a strange aversion to failing and restarting a mission, I can't be sure. But I nevertheless stood outside the door for what seemed like an eternity, Micro-SMG in hand, steeling myself for the firefight to come. Then I burst into the room and kept squeezing both triggers until I absolutely, positively killed every motherf---er in the room. It was over in what seemed like the blink of an eye, and immediately afterwards, as I came down from the adrenaline rush, all I could remember was the echoing gunfire and motion blurred visuals that accompanied my frantic switching from target to target to make sure that I got them before they got me. The pacing of that mission; its rising and falling tension; the juxtaposition of the tempo and duration of its constituent parts; its blend of driving, walking and shooting--all of that was memorable for putting me in a stunned, shaken, disquieted and finally relieved state of mind.

Please be sure to note that spoilers can and do abound. To read Round 2 of our exchange in full, click on the link below. 

Level Up has just learned that Electronic Arts veteran Neil Young has left the company for an unspecified "new project," on which EA Games label president Frank Gibeau wishes him the best of luck. During his 11 year tenure at EA, the affable Brit captained such projects as the ahead-of-its-time alternate reality game Majestic and the well-received licensed game The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Following that, Young was put in charge of Maxis during the production of Sims 2 before being promoted to vice president and general manager of EA Los Angeles, where he supervised Medal of Honor Airborne and Boom Blox. Before his departure from EA, Young was heading up EA Blueprint, which was exploring the creation of adventurous new intellectual properties with smaller teams and budgets. We're working the phones to find out where Young will land next; as soon as we find out more, we'll update you.

In the wake of Young's departure, EALA bigwig and Westwood Studios founder Louis Castle will take over EA Blueprint.

To read the the full text of the email from Frank Gibeau to the team at EA Games announcing Young's departure, click on the link below.

 Grand Theft Auto IV, developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games

In our last, egregiously truncated Vs. Mode exchange on the PlayStation Portable game Patapon, the Level Up staff, our regular opponent Stephen Totilo and our commenters got into a spirited debate about the nature of the grind in videogames (click here to see for yourself, as it's well worth reading). This week, as we revealed yesterday, we're tackling Rockstar North and Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto IV, in a back and forth discussion that will also featured be featured on Totilo's blog Multiplayer. Totilo kicks off the debate by singling out his favorite moment in the game--a long drive with a woman who ought to go, go, go to rehab--before examining whether Rockstar North may have taken a wrong turn with this newer, more stately GTA. For our part, we defend the developer's refusal to be all things to all people with GTA IV and suggest that Rockstar North's planned downloadable content might be the best vehicle for delivering the wilder ride that a number of GTA fans are still looking for. Some excerpts:

Stephen Totilo: In playing GTA IV I was reminded that GTA is at its most fun when it's tweaking, when it has the shakes, when it can't abandon the violence, the transgressions, the subversions of its own rules. The other style of GTA --the one that bottlenecks its story, that keeps Niko moving forward and lands him with a bunch of mobsters, that picks your vehicle for you sometimes, that tries to keep characters consistent and deliver a moral over the course of 30 hours, this classy, more respectable, more constrained, more cleaned up, rehabilitated GTA--doesn't feel like the GTA I've known. Or at least the one I like telling friends about. That GTA has always been there, but it's been subdued. With GTA IV, though, it may be on the rise. Is this the new GTA and one that we want?

N'Gai Croal: I'm a little surprised at your response to the game. After all, you're Mr. Innovation Bias. Shouldn't you be wildly applauding the shock of Rockstar North's new vibe rather than expressing your conservative longing for past Grand Theft gameplay, masked as a call for the subversive over the sublime? Eiji Aonuma does the same ol', same ol' with Phantom Hourglass; you say you're getting bored. Rockstar North attempts something novel; you say you miss the way things used to be. The only thing left for you to do is urge them to remake the previous GTAs using the latest tech, amirite? Besides, weren't you the one who advanced the theory that multiplayer was where we would find the bulk of the sandbox-y pleasures of GTA IV? You want Rockstar North to roll it for you, when perhaps what they've done is given you the Philly and the Purple Haze so that you can roll it yourself.

To read Round 1 of our exchange in its entirety, click on the link below.

Note: This email exchange with MTV News reporter Stephen Totilo originally ran on N'Gai Croal's Level Up and MTV's Multiplayer blog, in two separate installments, from March 24th-April 2nd 2008. We now present it here in its entirety, under a single permalink, for easier printing, emailing and archival purposes.

1. SAM..pling or theft? Mashup or copyright infringement? We link, you decide.
2. THE...Empire Strikes Back: Space Invaders Get Even for WiiWare
   
3. HEF...Xbox's BIG VIP doesn't just talk smack; he also lays down the mack
4. HMM...EA to Take-Two, yet again: "And you, and you, you're gonna love me" 
5. RND...The best all-nude musical since "Hair" is surprisingly safe for work

 Grand Theft Auto IV, developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games

Whoever said that you can't improve perfection never met the staffs of Level Up and Multiplayer. For the newest installment of Vs. Mode, in which we spar over Grand Theft Auto IV, we're doing something different. Because as much as we enjoy the clack-clack of our own deep thoughts being typed out for your edification, we like mixing it up in the comments with you, our Dear Readers, even more. So to help make Vs. Mode less dueling monologues and more of an open dialogue, here's how we're tweaking the formula.

Rather than just throw you into the deep end of mine and Stephen's opening exchange, we're kicking off this series with today's brief introductory post to both preview our debate of Grand Theft Auto IV and solicit some comments and questions from you. Then, on the final day of our debate, Stephen and I will not only engage each other, but we'll also tackle any statements or questions that you've posted on our respective blogs. Today's topic is "Who Moved My Sandbox?" in which we discuss whether GTA IV has gotten too far away from the series' sandbox roots. Some excerpts of what you'll see in full on Tuesday:

Stephen Totilo: This new GTA was made to be more sophisticated, more grown up, I think. It introduces moral choice. It skips rainbow afros and giant sex-toy weapons for a story that, initially, is a barely violent exploration of the eyes-just-shut start of the American dream. It's a more mature GTA. Yet there's a guy at work here at MTV who is inconsolable over the exclusion of planes and tanks in GTA IV. He wants to wreak mayhem. He sees a GTA as the sandbox it was once hyped to be. He wants unhinged GTA.

N'Gai Croal: I want Rockstar to take the possibility space that is Liberty City and keep building on it. They can experiment with tone: one expansion pack could be primarily comic; another tragic; another brutal; another frothy. They can set one in the 1970s; another in 2020. I said that Rockstar is showing its maturity by realizing that it doesn't have to be all things to all gamers, but let me revise that statement: it doesn't have to be all things to all gamers at all times.

1. RUM...or and speculation: Activision and Microsoft's plans--exposed?
2. CRY...stal ball: predictions and prognostications on this medium's future
   
3. HOW...will the EU look at users' "moral rights" in  a game like LittleBigPlanet?
4. HMM...Nintendo Europe apologizes for calling its critics "geeks and otaku"
5. RND...How we read online, helpfully and meticulously dissected

 180 Degrees columnist Bill Harris and his son Eli playing Super Mario Galaxy on the Wii 

Last month, in his debut guest column for Level Up, Dubious Quality blogger Bill Harris combined an interview with Armageddon Empires creator Viv Davis with an analysis of sales its patterns to help understand how indie developers must market their games differently from their deep-pocketed rivals. In today's essay, The Austin, Texas-based analyst (who does not cover videogames in a professional capacity) looks back on six years of fatherhood and gaming with his son, Eli. Level Up would like to wish all of the fathers among our readership a happy Father's Day, and we hope you enjoy this column.

"Hey, Dad, do you want to play a little Super Mario Galaxy before you go to work?" Eli's already turned on the Wii, because he already knows my answer.

I woke up tired this morning, just as I have every day since my son was born.

In 2001.

For Eli 6.10, "sleeping in" means 7 a.m., and when he wakes up, he's all go. My mom says he reminds her of me. It's hard to remember a time when I had trampolines in my shoes, but I like the thought. And him.

Here's the thing about being a father: it's impossible to understand how much you'll care.

I don't know much about my own father, who was never around, and the few times I was with him always seemed to turn into gut-wrenching disappointments. So when Eli was born, I keenly wanted him to have a good father, even though I had no idea how to be one.

Almost seven years later, I'm still trying to figure that out. What I do know, though, is that forty years is a long, long time. We grew up in different worlds, and while I live in his world, he's never lived in mine.

To read the rest of Harris' column, click on the link below. 

1. EGO...trip: Friends and colleagues of Level Up praise one of our columnists
   
2. CYN...ical old fart who's grumpy and tired on MGS 4 and evolving audiences
3. DAD...With Father's Day just around the corner, spot the missed opportunity
4. RND...Daddy's home, or David Simon is coming back to HBO. Can't wait.

When we brought attorney Justin Blankenship aboard the good ship Level Up as our legal correspondent, we fully intended to have him write about subjects other than Electronic Arts' attempted takeover of Take-Two. And indeed, he has other columns in the works. But when news broke of a new dust up between Take-Two and the Federal Trade Commission, we knew we had to ask Blankenship to explain it all for you, Dear Reader. As we've said before, Blankenship previously worked in the FTC's Mergers 2 division in Washington, D.C. from 2001-2004, which gives him tremendous insight into the FTC's methodology. In today's column, he explains why EA agreed to hold off on its acquisition of Take-Two for at least 45 days, as well as the FTC's affidavit alleging that Take-Two is stonewalling its second request for information. The law is ordinarily a dry beast, but we assure you that if you take the time to read through to the end, you'll find some juicy morsels of analysis waiting for you. Enjoy.

Two pieces of news surfaced during the past week regarding the Federal Trade Commission's review of Electronic Arts' ongoing efforts to acquire Take Two. Here's a brief update on what exactly is going on, and where the investigation appears to be headed.

On June 4, EA announced that it would be extending its $25.74 per share offer for Take-Two stock an additional two weeks. EA also announced that it had agreed with the FTC to hold off on its acquisition until the FTC had concluded its investigation, or the expiration of 45 days, whichever occurs first. It's worth noting that although EA may have made a deal with the FTC that could potentially allow the deal to move forward in 45 days, EA would be moving forward at its own peril if the FTC hasn't concluded its investigation.

If the FTC decided that a deal was worth stopping, it would typically seek a preliminary injunction in federal court to prevent the parties from consummating the deal. If the FTC was successful and the parties still wanted to move forward, they would then have the opportunity to make their case during an administrative trial. However, in the rare event that merging parties consummate a deal while the FTC review process is still pending, the FTC can still use the administrative trial to "unwind" the deal. It's a much steeper hill for the FTC to climb, and the difficulty of unwinding assets makes it a less than ideal remedy for consumers, but it has been done (see here).

The point here is that I wouldn't place too much stock in the 45-day agreement.

To read the rest of Blankenship's analysis, click on the link below. 

1. EGO...trip: Mainstream media coverage of games not all bad
2. HMM..."Intimate approach to tactics" sounds naughty, but it's clever
3. GTA...IV--could this tattoo appear in the coming expansion packs?
4. RND...Lil' Wayne has hip-hop on lock. Rhapsody breaks down his latest 

1. EGO...trip: Our "write what you see" doctrine is spreading
2. DVD...shelf space is giving way to games at many retailers
3. THE...burning bed, or, new sources of money for developers
4. ORI...gins of life: The Sporepedia is ready for your perusal
5. RIP...Requiem for Soul Calibur, as Namco chases the Benjamins
6. RND...Tina Fey has a posse: Newsweek discovers Nerd Girls
7. RND...Mum and Dad: the problem with blogging one's sex life

1. EGO...trip: In which we continue our talkathon with the voice of Solid Snake...
2. EGO...trip: ...and our Big Idea about MGS 4 is debated in Kotaku's comments
3. ESA...says move along, nothing to see here regarding recent member exodus
4. HMM...are traditional and mobile game publishers sleeping on the iPhone?
5. RND...Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda catches the muxtape bug; listen here

Grand Theft Auto IV and Wii Fit have scored headlines for shifting public opinions about videogames by deftly tackling the respective subjects that inspired them: crime and fitness. Now comes Metal Gear Solid 4 ($60; konami.com), whose major themes derive from a most unlikely place: President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s 1961 farewell address warning against the dangers of the military-industrial complex.

Well before last October’s hearings into possible abuses by real-world contractors like Blackwater, game designers became fascinated with the character of the hired gun, including such pro-mercenary titles as Raven Software’s Soldier of Fortune (2000) and Pandemic’s Mercenaries (2005). The appeal is perhaps obvious, but psychologically telling: placing you in the role of a merc gives you access to all the cool ordnance you’d find in the glut of Army games out there, but without having to deal with the annoying hierarchical command structure that comes with the armed forces.

MGS 4 isn’t the only game looking skeptically at the post-9/11 corporatization of military functions—clips and quotes from Eisenhower’s 1961 speech were prominently featured in the trailers for both Army of Two ($60; ea.com) and Cipher Complex (not yet released; ciphercomplex.com)—but it’s by far the most thoughtful, even if its premise is not particularly original. Yes, a villain from the previous games turns up in the Middle East with yet another plan for global domination and, yes, only your lone hero—the prematurely aging Solid Snake—can stop him. But creator Hideo Kojima clearly has more on his mind than a repeat of the hide-seek-and-shoot mechanics that have made him the master of the genre he calls “tactical stealth action,” which emphasizes patience and strategy over the simple pleasures of run-and-gun.

At 4:30 PM eastern, after the close of the markets, Take-Two Interactive announced its earnings for its second quarter, which ended April 31. The company declared revenues of $539.8 million for a profit of $98.2 million, contrasted with $205.4 million in revenues and a $51.2 million loss during the same quarter a year earlier.

The reason for the turnaround can primarily be attributed to Take-Two-owned Rockstar Games and its incredibly well-reviewed Grand Theft Auto IV, which shipped worldwide on April 29 and sold 6 million copies during its first week, with 11 million sold at the end of May. "While the tremendous consumer, critical and media acclaim for the game speaks for itself, I'd like to take this opportunity  to congratulate the entire Rockstar team on this stunning achievement," said Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick. This sentiment was pointedly repeated by the company's CEO Ben Feder and chief financial officer Lainie Goldstein when it came their time to speak, not simply because it was deserved, but also, in the wake of Electronic Arts' persistent bid to acquire to Take-Two, it's a clear signal to Rockstar that it is Take-Two's crown jewel.

To get some more clarity on the company's performance, we turned to Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter, who agreed to answer our questions via email. Here's what he had to say:

What's your, um, take on Take-Two's Q2 results?

The Take-Two results are pretty consistent with a huge sell-in of GTA. As you said, 78 percent of publishing revenues were GTA (around $380 million). This translates to around 7 million units at wholesale (hard to know how many collector's editions, so I'm using $55 as an average wholesale price). That leaves around $100 million for the rest of their publishing business.

I had estimated that they would sell in $318 million of GTA and sell-in another $110 million of other, so they missed my "other" estimate by a small amount and sold-in more GTA than I expected.

To read the rest of our Q&A with Pachter, click on the link below.

When Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment senior vice president Jason Hall stepped down from his post in February of 2007, Level Up was there for an exclusive first interview. The press release announcing his exit declared that Hall would enter into "a first-look videogame and feature film development deal through his wholly owned production company, HDFilms Inc," and last May, we got a glimpse at one of his first projects in an embryonic stage. The project in question was a proposed 15-30-minute "Jackass"-meets-"Game Head" television show in which Hall would alternate between interviewing/playing games with celebrities and videogame luminaries--and stunts like pepper spraying his assistant. We weren't quite sure what to make of it at the time, and not long thereafter, we put it out of our mind entirely--until February at the DICE Summit in Las Vegas, where Hall jointly interviewed the Level Up staff and Geoff Keighley.

Last month, Hall invited us back to his offices on the Warner Bros lot--located in the same bungalow as those of "300" and "Watchmen" director Zack Snyder--to show us three episodes of the completed product. Titled "The Jace Hall Show," it's now a five-minute Webisodic series available for download through Crackle and Xbox Live Marketplace, and we've got the exclusive trailer for the show above. Below, in today's installment of Just the FAQs, we grill Hall about exactly what you can expect from his "Curb Your Enthusiasm"-meets-"Jimmy Kimmel" take on videogame culture.

What is "The Jace Hall Show"?

It's a five minute weekly video show that covers lifestyle, entertainment, celebrity and culture as it surrounds videogames.

Free or fee?

Free on Sony's Crackle service. You can also get it in HD on Xbox Live Marketplace for 80 points?

Are you really going to make me do the math?

That's $1 U.S.

Cool. Who's hosting it?

Uh, Jace Hall.

Duh. I knew that. Did his mother really name him "Jace"?

To read the rest of this installment of Just the FAQs in its entirety, click on the link below. 

CORRECTION: The ECA link in item #1 originally--and unintentionally--linked to a page that was not safe for work. Level Up deeply regrets the error.

1. OHH...snap! One consonant isn't all that divides the ECA and the ESA
2. TED...just admit it: a single state is not enough to contain your genius
3. YUM...My Dinner With Erik...and Dylan...and Jonathan
4. RND...Hot 100 Or Not 100: a look at how Hot lists vary based on voters

1. OHH...snap! Outspoken Team Ninja head severs ties with Tecmo, bloodily...
2. HMM...but does the Man With The Kangol have Itagaki on speed dial? Probably.
3. JAM...Activision recruits Metallica; Rock Band to take Japan with help of Q
4. RND...Video is to the radio star as Facebook is to the alumni magazine 

 The 1928 film "Un Chien Andalou," directed by Luis Bunuel and co-written with Salvador Dali. Image courtesy Film Reference. 

For the May installment of our Edge column, "Playing In the Dark," we tackled the sometimes thorny issue of game previews. What got us thinking about this was a flashback to our much-discussed post of last year, titled "Now Who's Being Naive, Kay? Or, Reflections on the Fundamental Contempt In Which the Enthusiast Press Is Held By Publishers--And Its Own Employers." Here's what we said about it in our Edge column:

In the wake of the GameSpot/Jeff Gerstmann scandal of last year, I examined the various elements that had led the enthusiast press to this point in a blog post. I wrote that one of the contributing factors was ‘the fundamentally broken nature of the preview-feature- review process, in which historically previews and features have almost invariably been positive--or optimistic, if we're being more charitable--before the truth, good or bad, was finally revealed in the text and scoring of the review'.

And while I stand by that point, it's not the entire truth--it's not as simple as saying that videogame previews have been too optimistic and should now become pessimistic instead. There's more to it.

What's the "more" that we're referring to? It is:

1. PRE...tty fly for a white guy, or a getting to be a bit tiresome?
2. MAN...date: incorporate the real world when thinking about games
3. 101...Metal Gear for Dummies: a primer, and a retrospective
4. WEL...come to the social, courtesy of EA Mobile
5. RND...As nature intended: a not-quite safe for work Sigur Ros video