Electronic Arts pushes ad-backed video games. This is important stuff, the business model for boxed PC games is broken because of piracy. So now EA are giving Battlefield Heroes away free online. There will be no retail version. Revenue will come from advertising and micro payments for in game enhancements. Already EA are making over a million dollars a month in South Korea by using this business model with FIFA. All this will not surprise people who read this article on Habbo Hotel. It is another nail in the coffin of high street game retail.

Another misinformed journalist has a go at computer games. This time Janice Turner of The Times who says that they are “Satan’s Sudoku, crack cocaine of the brain”. Which shows how little she knows. The Times was once a highly respected newspaper with judgements you could trust. Obviously not any more. What she doesn’t realise is that kids that play these games score higher on a whole range of tests, problem solving, hand eye co-ordination, social skills etc. By depriving her own children access to games she is putting them at a huge disadvantage to their peers.

World gears up for 100 Mbps broadband. Another nail in the coffin of distributing entertainment IP using plastic, cardboard and high street retail. Also, ultimately, a big step in the transition to server based games.

All sorts of sales records broken by video games industry during 2007 and over the festive season. Hardly surprising as interactive entertainment starts to show what it is really capable of. But this industry is still at it’s beginnings. It is still not mass popular culture, but it is getting there very quickly.

I am just recuperating from a surgical operation I had on Tuesday. So it is especially nice to see that surgeons can improve their performance using the Wii. This is the sort of positive thing that Janice Turner should be writing about.

 HD-DVD is losing the porn war. One reason that Betamax lost to VHS was that Sony were too prudish to allow porn on their format. Not this time round. However even if they do win over HD DVD it will be a hollow victory as distribution media become obsolete, replaced by online distribution.

GTAIV April 25th ? We all know it is going to be massive, but just how massive? Could this become looked back on as the historic date when the HD consoles cracked the market? It has the potential to be the biggest third party system selling game ever. Certainly Sony PS3s and Microsoft 360s may be as difficult to buy in May as Nintendo Wiis were in December.

Yet another AAA Wii game. But gamers games are not system sellers on Wii. For me the sales of Super Mario Galaxy were disappointing considering that it is universally considered to be one of the greatest video games ever. Wii Fit will possibly end up grossing a lot more.