Well, finally. SCEA will further expand the availability of its PlayStation Network cards, which will soon be available at Walmart, Best Buy, and select Sam's Club outlets by October. It will also be available at Barnes & Noble College Bookstores starting November.

Yeah, it sucks when you see something you like on the PlayStation Network but you don't have a credit card to top up your online wallet. Don't worry too much, though. GameStop may not be getting its share of PSN cards until next year, but PS3 owners will be able to get the cards from three more retail outlets starting next month. More in the full article.

 Michael Pachter is at it again, analyzing and giving his thoughts on matters concerning the game industry. This time, he laments how much money could have been made if a timely game tie-in to the blockbuster The Dark Knight was released. He says Warner Bros. and EA may have missed out on US$ 100 million. More after the jump.

 Team Ninja's leading man, the guy with a few smiles and a thousand words, behind the Tecmo-published Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive series deserves his own QuickJump Quicklist, so here's something dedicated to Tomonobu Itagaki and all his greatness. We've collected some lines from Itagaki that are either very amusing, or so badass fanboys would rather follow him around and wipe his sunglasses clean for a living.

Find all that at the full article!

EA greatness coming your way! Electronic Arts has released its line-up of games down at E3 in Barker Hangar and Le Merigot Hotel.

Here's a shortlist of the games it's showcasing in E3: Madden NFL 08, NBA LIVE 08, NASCAR 08 and Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 08, Burnout Paradise, SimCity Societies, The Orange Box, Mercenaries 2: World in Flames, Crysis and Hellgate: London, The Simpsons on three platforms, Army of Two, Boogie, MySims, The Sims 2 Castaway, Medal of Honor Airborne, Need for Speed ProStreet, EA Playground, Skate, and Rock Band.

Says EA Games Label President: "In the next six months, EA will launch the most exciting line up of games in our 25 year history. We’re publishing brand new games ... delivering innovations in blockbuster franchises..." Some of these games will be available for demos for those who are lucky enough to attend E3.

For a quick lowdown of EA's wicked line-up, click on the full article.

And the woes of Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive regarding Manhunt 2 (Wii and PSP) continue. It has been reported that the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) has already given the controversial video game an "Adults Only" rating.

This impacts the title in more ways than one. You see, it is the general rule of rental outlets not to carry movies and video games with a rating of Adult or NC-17, much less those which has been included in the AO list.

Gaming site Joystiq tried to contact GameFly for comments regarding the matter, and one of the chain's representatives explained that they will uphold the mentioned general policy. Furthermore, the gaming site also spoke with Blockbuster and found out that the rental chain will take a similar action.

Manhunt 2 is scheduled to be released on July 11 but the whole gaming industry is on its toes - curious and concerned about the developer's and the publisher's next actions.

Buy: [Manhunt 2 (PSP)]
Buy: [Manhunt 2 (Wii)]

Disney Interactive Studios has announced that Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End will be setting sail on May 22. This multiplatform title is inspired by both the upcoming film "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" and, to a certain extent, last year's "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest."

"With the action, excitement, unforgettable characters and expansive locations from the blockbuster films, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End will be the definitive 'Pirates' video game experience for fans," said Craig Relyea, vice president of marketing, Disney Interactive Studios. "Our games go beyond the films to introduce legendary pirates, new locations and unique endings that will satisfy the pirate in each of us."

Of course, there will be action and lots of it. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End will also feature gameplay that takes advantage of the distinctive features of today's next gen videogame platforms. Case in point: the Nintendo Wii console will feature full Wiimote support for swinging and thrusting motions that are similar to fighting with a sword.

A brief report over at GamesIndustry.biz says that according to the Wall Street Journal, games retailer and rental specialist Blockbuster is in advanced talks to buy online movie rental site Movielink.

The online company is owned by a joint venture of MGM Studios, Sony Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios and Warner Bros. It could be picked up for under US $50 million in cash and stock.

Movielink, along with Amazon and CinemaNow, was reported to be in talks with Sony late last year regarding movie downloads for PSP users. The service was due to launch early this year, and will surely be affected if Blockbuster acquires Movielink.

While legislation to incur stricter penalties for mature games isn't exactly taking off, it looks like the retailers aren't going to be taking any chances. According to insider info taken from the GameStop retail chain, any employee caught selling M-rated (that's 17+) games to minors will be fired.

This info comes in light of GameStop's conference call last week, wherein managers were informed of the stricter policy. The new rule further details that not only will the offending employee get the boot, but his direct superiors (the managers) will suffer a similar penalty - probably in an attempt to reinforce command responsibility. It will be remembered that GameStop is a member of the ESRB Retail Council, alongside Circuit City, Best Buy, and Blockbuster Video.

Given the sort of flak we've been hearing on gaming (not just here, mind you), we'll consider this as a form of good news from the retailer's side - glad to know they're doing what they can to ease the flames. Unfortunately, we do see one loophole to this rule - what about the parents buying these games for their minors? Then again, that's just us. What's your say on this, guys?

This next article is about prestige games. While we were quite sure already what point we would like to drive at, we wanted to be sure. So we went to our mini library, picked up a Webster's and looked up the meaning of the word.

Prestige: reputation or influence arising from success, achievement, rank, or other favorable attributes; distinction or reputation attaching to a person or thing and thus possessing a cachet for others or for the public.

Before we proceed, pardon us first this bit of explanation: In the movie industry, prestige films are those that are not expected to do blockbuster numbers but brings pride to those who are part of it. They are funded by various studios and actors are asked to accept lower rates. Book publishers likewise, also support books that are award-worthy but not necessarily top sellers. Both of these art forms gained prestige, so to speak, because of their favorable attributes (read: content).

Now, here comes the serious question: Why are there no prestige titles? The problem, unfortunately, lies in the big companies' metric of success. For them, a game is successful whenever it brings high revenues.

Reviews are important only before and during a game's first weeks in the market. In the event that sales wouldn't pick up, they abandon the title. Abandon, in the sense that they try to distance themselves from it. You don't believe us? Look at these:

• Capcom dissolves Clover Studios because of disappointing sales for their last project. The latter's last project happened to be Okami, a title that received high reviews and commendations across the industry.
• Last year, Microsoft dropped Psychonauts because of being unpopular. The game was then picked up by a much smaller company, Majesco.
• UbiSoft released Beyond Good and Evil. It was supposed to be a series. But because of disappointing sales, the planned series was dropped all together.

These are just the recent things that readily comes to mind. Given the time, we are sure we'll be able to find a lot of other similar cases out there. A good number of excellent titles but because of economic reasons, are lying at the bottom of the heap, dusty and forgotten.

The solution, as easy and as naive as it sounds, lies in inner values. Until the day publishers and developers take pride in content rather than revenues, things wouldn't change. And until the day the triumvirate (giants Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft ) takes the industry into this direction, it would remain an unpaved and crooked road for prestige titles.