Ganked from GamePolitics: The Lt. Governor of the Great State of Washington (I live there, I don’t suppose you would have guessed ;), has called for a summit this week to study the economic impact of games. According to the press release, Lt. Gov. Brad Owen will take a look at the economic impact of the cyber and video game industry within Washington at a 9 a.m. meeting Nov. 19 at Bellevue City Hall Council chambers.

During the meeting, the committee will hear from reps at Bungie, the University of Washington, and the DigiPen Institute of Technology (check out their podcast…yeah, that’s my voice). Apparently, Owen’s interest in the whole gaming thing was piqued when he was asked last year to give a welcoming speech at the World Cyber Games which was held in Seattle then.

The meeting will air both on Bellevue TV 21 and TVW in the days following the event.

UPDATE: Just saw through Inside Mac Games that the game is scheduled for release on 11/28, and will be available in the US for $39.95.

Feral Interactive just announced that they are delivering LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures for the Mac. The PC version was just released in June. According to the site, you’ll have to have a 1.8 GHz processor running at least 10.4.10, and it’s only for Intel Macs (sorry PPC Macs). Input is mouse, but they recommend a gamepad.

If you haven’t ever played a LEGO game, or taken a look at the PC version of this yet, check out the trailers. There’s nothing like watching a LEGO dancer struttin’ her stuff. Bwahaha!

Well, I be a mite bit busy today. So, let’s say hello to a new site, the Mac Games Arcade. This is a digital download application for OS X allowing users to download, purchase and manage their Mac games all through one Mac interface. Kind of reminds me of Aspyr’s Game Agent, only you’re not just downloading the games of one publisher.

Other features include:

1. Easy browsing through hundreds of Mac games in either icon or list view.
2. Quickly download demos and full games with a single click.
3. Purchase Mac games fast and securely. Just add games to your cart, then checkout and start playing.
4. Digital maintenance of your games. Mac Games Arcade keeps a complete history of all your purchases. You can re-download and reinstall your purchased games any time you want, forever.

Mac Games Arcade is currently in beta testing and will be released in December. You can join the beta, though. by visiting the website and submitting an application. When released, Mac Games Arcade will require Mac OS X 10.4 or better.

Freeverse has released their unique casino game, Burning Monkey Casino, for the iPhone and iPod Touch. You can play stylish versions of Video Poker, Blackjack, or Slots with an their updated interface that takes advantage of the swipe and tilt that you can only find on the iPhone and iPod Touch. Alas, there are no monkey’s to burn. You can pick it up at the App Store for a mere $0.99.

Also, The Wrath of the Lich King has been unleashed upon the WoW masses. According to this Gamespot article, the sales were so strong that the GameStop credit card network was reportedly overloaded, and they had to go to manual swipe machines.

Ambrosia Software has released Aquaria for the Mac. This game has been in development for, like, ages. Well, since May of 2007. That’s when Ambrosia first announced the game for the Mac. This game was the 2007 IGF Seumas McNally Award winner and was released for the PC in December of that year. But Ambrosia had adopted the philosophy that “it’s not done until it’s done.” I just wish “done” was much earlier!

The last time I looked at the game, which was at Macworld of this year I believe (I don’t remember them having it at NME 2008), it looked awesome. Let me know what you think. I’m downloading my copy now.

Hey, folks…just got a heads up about a great opportunity from Hydrogen Whiskey Studios. They are looking to hire an experienced Project Manager for their studio down in Santa Monica, California. Hydrogen Whiskey Studios works with a lot of game companies developing art and animation for them, so this is a great opportunity for anyone wanting to get connected into that scene.

For more info, jump over to their blog site and look over the position post.

I’ve been so busy the past few weeks (we here in the States had this election thingie going on, you know) that I unfortunately did not have an opportunity to post about two more episodes I managed to squeeze out with Corey.

Episode 67 I hosted with Corey, and covers the PopCap Games launch event of Bejeweled Twist, a review about the Macally Pebble, Pebble Wireless, Turtle, and Accuglide mice, Corey’s review of Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rainslick Precipice of Darkness, Episode 1, and part 2 of my review of Spore by EA.

In Episode 68 I put together a real quick piece alone a tour I did through the GameHouse Studios and finished off my review of Spore by EA. Because it was such a short episode, an off-week episode to boot, and Corey was also so busy, I just did this one alone.

Look forward to our next episode on November 20th. I’m going to be reviewing Call of Duty 4 for the Mac! And Corey’s promising me an interview with the new Chief Editor of Macgamer.com (see, now he *has* to do it ;).

Lot’s of people have been getting away with turning opening game and hardware boxes into content. And whereas I’m all for being creative and all, opening square pieces of cardboard just doesn’t do it for me. However, to get into the spirit of things, I thought I would drop my own unboxing ritual into the fray…and it all starts with PopCap Games and their soon to be announced new game! Read the rest of this entry »

Yes, indeedy, I have finally posted Episode 66. Cory and I cover the Apple laptop event and what it means to gamers, what happened at Blizzcon, and part 1 of a review of Spore, published by EA.

We’ll be putting out another episode in about a week from this coming Thursday, and I’ll be doing a second part of the review of Spore, along with other goodies…like, for example, we’ll hear more about what’s been happening at PopCap Games. :D

(Thanks to Macworld.com’s Live Update and Jason Snell for this info)

Everyone’s been waiting to find out what Steve Jobs would announce this morning regarding laptops. Speculation ranged from a Mac tablet to a sub800 notebook, to even wilder thoughts. Reading the responses to the announcement, many people might have felt a bit disappointed by it. But for gamers, the announcement was great.

Read the rest of this entry »