We all know that America’s financial situation is getting worse, especially with the gas prices rising, the housing market suffering, and the war in Iraq which has cost the United States an estimated $3 trillion. There is one thing in the American economy that is keeping afloat and growing, which is gaming, and the nations largest retailer of games and consoles is GameStop. "As we analyze our sales deployment, we can't find evidence of the economy affecting our business," GameStop company officials said recently. "In fact, like we did after 9/11, we're seeing [comparable] store growth as consumers travel less and stay at home more, as well as trade in more games on new game purchases. Read More...

Epic Games has now launched their new "Make Something Unreal" PC game mod contest. Sponsored this time by Intel, the contest will give aspiring game creators a way to win cash and prizes for making mods based on Epic's Unreal Tournament 3. Over $1 million in cash and prizes will be given to the winners and just like the first "Make Something Unreal" contest (for mods made with UT 2003/2004) the new version will have a grand prize of a full Unreal Engine 3 license for the overall best mod. Last time the winner was Tripwire Interactive for their Red Orchestra mod; they later formed a full dev team and released the game as a stand alone commercial title. Judging will begin in June 2008 in the first phase of the contest; the final winners will be determined in fall 2009 after all four phases are complete. Read More...

72% Of U.S. Plays Games, Only 2-3% Own Multiple Consoles If you missed the heading, almost 3/4ths of the country plays games, to some extent at least. Not bad numbers when you look at them. That means there has got to be something to this whole thing right? I'd say so. Gamers are not a minority; we are a majority. And we have the NPD to prove this fact for us all. Oh, and just so ya know as well, this is up from last years survey that had only 64% of the US gaming. Read More...

So I normally don't write two articles in an hour, but I just checked my email, and this was featured in my Thinkgeek.com Newsletter... SUPER Pii Pii brothers is a crazy, imported Japanese game for the Wii that requires you to... well... wee!! Complete loads of mini games by attaching your Wii-mote into the support harness provided and AIM AWAY!! Score extra points by tinkling on cats and other fun creates who pop out of the urinals and lose points for getting too much on the floor. Verse your friends in the fun multi-player mode and if the humiliation wasn't enough, just the mere ability to say you own Super Pii Pii Brothers is worth the $34. Read More...

Newspaper offers cash for anti-games story on MCV reports a new high-water mark for British journalism, as StarNow.co.uk relates an offer from "a national newspaper" to pay someone who is willing to blame their crimes on video games, with the offer of money sure to make this quite the legit bit of journalism: A national newspaper wants your story and will pay hundreds of pounds to the right person. Write a few lines about how computer games turned you to crime and if it's something we like, we'll call you straight back. Read More...

We all know female gamers exist, especially with the recent rise of female voices in the gaming community, but many people I know claim they have never played a game with a female. I say poppycock; they just do not know how to spot a female in game. Here are a couple of ways to possibly sight a female playing.1. The most obvious – Their VoiceOf course the high pitched voice on the other side of your headset that will not shut up is annoying you, so you might immediately think its an immature pre-pubecent boy, but do not be so hasty to make such a conclusion. Read More...

One of the most anticipated games of the year, Grand Theft Auto IV, is finally making its grand debut this April and Rockstar Games is making sure that this Grand Theft Auto experience is like no other! In addition to the game, Rockstar is also launching a website to make Grand Theft Auto more competitive, community based, and statistical. In Rockstar’s press release today: “The Rockstar Social Club is more than just a standard gaming site. It features all of the statistical leaderboards that gamers have come to expect, and combines them with performance-based competitions and awards. Read More...

GameStop's Grand Theft Auto IV Contest Could you use 10K? I know I could. I could also take a trip to NY again. You can get in on possibly getting this just by going to the GameStop site, link below, and either entering in via their web site or by texting your answer to the question they have on the site. Either will get you into the running. You can also pre-order the game if you haven't already. Read More...

    Mario. You say the name and almost anyone will instantly associate it with what is arguably the most recognizable character to ever hit the videogame world. The theme song is iconic, his features are undeniable, and slap the name on any product almost guarantees instant success. But how much do we know about the man besides his love for a variety of colourful mushrooms and blondes in dresses (hey, sounds like a great Friday night, yaaaamean?? *wink wink*)? Read More...

    This work by Marques Cannon is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License   I wanted to point out that I KILL PXLS has released his latest work and if you like music and video games you can't go wrong with this. It is fresh and hip and if I tell you to like it you will enjoy it. Margues put some awesome effort into this and I asked him to make a song for PWNED.com. Read More...

So just to update you Minnesota attempted to get a law passed and it failed.  So they thought "hey" lets appeal and well that failed to. The Minnesota law would have imposed up to a $25 fine on minors younger than 17 caught buying or renting video games rated "M" for mature or "AO" for adults-only, under the video game industry's rating system. You would think other states and cities would pay attention to this but "this week, a committee in Massachusetts is planning to consider a bill, endorsed by Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, that would--you guessed it--restrict violent video game sales to minors" source:  News. Read More...

This month Game Crazy will be offerring "Game Stars" for a minimum donation of $1. All the proceeds will go to the Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation. Game Crazy will also match all customer donations with hopes of raising enough funds to provide 12 new Fun Centers to hospitals. Each Fun Center costs about $4,250 per setup and has a LCD flat panel tv, dvd player and Nintendo Wii. Of course games and movies are included also. According to CEO of Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation, Paula Van Ness, Fun Centers give children and their families a sense of normalcy during what is an emotionally and physically difficult time. Read More...

George Miller, Cory Barlog Working On Mad Max Game Maybe it is just me, but I think this is awesome. Mad Max the game. I mean come on. If you haven't seen the film, I recommend picking it up for at least a rent. NetFlix == Friend. For those who do know what I am talking about, here's the skinny. Writer/Director/Producer George Miller has gotten balls deep in Video Games. And he thought, "Hey there is some stuff I could do with digital media that I couldn't with film. Read More...

Unreal Engine 4 Targeting Consoles As I am sure a lot of you are, you have seen or played with the Unreal 3 Engine. I know I got overly excited when I first saw it back in my college days, not too long ago but still. Needless to say, but I'm still going to say it, it was beautiful and I couldn't look more forward to it. Now this drops out there in cyber land and I am actually curious to see it. That and it will go mainly toward Consoles instead of for PC games, at first. Read More...

A recent survey done by the ESA (Entertainment Software Association) boasts that a staggering 38% of all gamers are female! Spending an average 7 hours a week playing games. According to Nbc4.com, 30% of all online gamers are women, with the catagory of "women 40 and over" making up the largest percentage of online gamers across all online games.< In a separate survey, Sony Online Entertainment found that 60% of all females in the gaming industry found the male dominance in the field off-putting in their career making decisions. Sadly, only 12% of the gaming industry workforce is female. Read More...