According the Official PlayStation Blog (here) the recall was due to:

"one of the background music tracks licensed from a record label for use in the game contains two expressions that can be found in the Qur'an."

Sigh.

Oh, the new release date for 'LBP' is October 27th. By that time, I won't care any more.

Also announced at the event, was the Wii's new ability to save downloaded games on SD cards. This will help make up for the Wii's insufficient storage space. This feature probably won't be available until next year.

The U.S. will get something cool THIS year... our own Club Nintendo. It's the cool rewards program that Japan has had for years and allows for loyal gamers to get cool exclusive items. Past Club Nintendo goodies have included rare-colors of the DS and groovy Nintendo themed toys. I can't wait for this.

Here's the full transcript of my e-mail interview with Bonnie Ross, general manager of the Halo business at Microsoft, about why Ensemble Studios is being closed once work is done on Halo Wars:

Q: What precipitated the decision to close Ensemble? Based on Bruce Shelley's blog, it sounds like this decision was as much a surprise to the employees at Ensemble as it was to the gaming community.

A: Microsoft Game Studios is always evaluating its business model to determine what is best for both gamers and the company. Many factors were considered to make this difficult decision, and we feel this move will help us better align with our goals for the near future.

Q: Why make the decision to close Ensemble before Halo Wars was released? Wouldn't it have made more sense to see what kind of sales numbers the game produced?

A: We are confident that "Halo Wars" will do brilliantly in sales figures, especially with all the great feedback it has received in behind-closed-doors demos. Our decision to announce this before the game's release is rooted in an evaluation of the larger strategy and direction of MGS and Ensemble, and did not rest solely on "Halo Wars." Additionally, we had originally planned to move Ensemble to a new location in Plano, Texas and Ensemble employees were starting to consider buying new homes. We wanted to prevent people from uprooting unnecessarily. This was a difficult business decision and it impacts our employees and their family's lives. "Halo Wars" is a great game created by the Ensemble team. We want the team to be proud of what they created, but also feel that they have the time to make decisions for their future whether it's with Microsoft Game Studios, the new studio some of the Ensemble employees are forming or elsewhere.

UPDATE: Ian Shepherd (the mastering engineer who basically kick-started this entire debate) sent me an e-mail in which he argued that the "high quality" version of that YouTube video makes the difference between the CD and Guitar Hero versions even more obvious. I think he's right, but judge for yourself. I can't get the high quality version to embed, but just click here and it should play right away.

Still, I wasn't as big of an a*hole as that Jeff Vader character:

All I got was an insurance bill.

Send hate mail!

My own kid has become quite a devotee of the Pixar-based games, with Cars and Wall-E currently in heavy rotation.

So here's my column that ran this past Saturday on what it was like for me growing up as a gamer, and some of the things I worry about and enjoy with regards to my son becoming a gamer.

Michael Pachter, Wedbush Morgan Securities' gaming uber-analyst, just sent out a note on the ongoing mating dance between Electronic Arts and Take-Two.

In his opinion, EA will either buy Take-Two through a friendly, mutually-agreed upon deal, or Take-Two will spurn EA once again and EA will go into hostile-takeover mode:

In our view, there are only two potential outcomes: Either Take-Two negotiates a friendly deal at a price close to $25.74, or EA returns to hostile mode. In the former scenario, which we think is most likely, the parties should reach an accommodation within one or two days following FTC approval at a $1 - 2 premium to EA's current $25.74 offer. If Take-Two management overestimates its leverage and holds out for a price in the $30s, we expect EA to go hostile again, likely at a price closer to $20. We don't consider this likely, as we think that Take-Two management understands its lack of leverage, particularly given the dearth of other bidders. If Take-Two management remains realistic and negotiates a price below $27.50, we expect a deal to get done.

The wait is almost over! Electronic Arts Inc. and Maxis today announced that Spore the most anticipated video game of the year from the creator of The Sims, has gone gold and will be available for the Mac and PC at retailers September 5 in Europe and September 7 in North America and Asia Pacific. Spore Creatures for Nintendo DS and Spore Origins for mobile phones will also be available globally September 7.

Full release from EA after the break.

As I noted in a previous posting, Electronic Arts was not exactly thrilled with my last column on complaints about glitches and flaws in NCAA and Madden.

So I wrote a follow-up column, explaining that I found some of the responses from EA to be valid, but others less so.

I also wrote about the Midnight Gaming Championship -- a free video game tournament -- currently going on at various McDonald's restaurants around Dallas during August.

Here's the official MGC Web site.