What if I would find myself inside the Blizzard armory... should I choose a hammer? No, maybe an axe! Or... should I go straight to my office and think about the next-gen MMORPG that's going to crush the competition? Obviously, when talking about "the Blizzard armory," I think about the conference room where all important things happen... if such a room exists, of course! Anyway, today we have two giants involved in the story - Blizzard, our most beloved game maker, and Mythic, another of our "beloved game makers" gang...

As you probably read a few days ago, Blizzard had some World of Warcraft problems, but got through pretty well, and it is worth being remembered that some WoW players moved to Mythic's Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, then got back. After all, that's what all that story was about. Now, Mark Jacobs, Mythic's CEO, says "It's a marathon, not a sprint," so we should get ready for a long and interesting battle between the two big ones.

Regarding this issue, Jacobs said <-250x250 Square - right->"One thing about MMOs is that people play multiple games. That's one of the reasons I was very surprised by Paul's comments. He knows that people may play WoW and they'll play WAR and maybe even a third game at the same time."

Well, Blizzard's Paul Sams only said people have moved from WoW to Warhammer Online, and then got back to WoW, he didn't actually say people are leaving Mythic's MMO. Anyway, to say people are playing more than WoW and WAR at the same time, I think it's a bit exaggerated - I guess some of these players also have a real life, you know...

To close this story, I must get back to my idea - the guys at Blizzard need to check the Blizzard armory, that's a fact - Mark Jacobs says that "This is the beginning of a rather lengthy battle with the guys at Blizzard. We’re in this space to be successful and, when you have a competitor that is as successful and important to the games industry as WoW has been, you don't go into this space unless you're willing to spend money and spend time and really compete against them," so they would better get ready in time!

Although I think best religion is no religion, I have nothing against worshippers, as long as they don't cross my path and try to change my own belief. After all, I think there's plenty of room for everyone on this planet, at least from the religious point of view. Unfortunately, there are plenty who disagree with that, but from that... to causing problems to a innocent computer game, simply because it has quotes from a "Holy Book" of a certain religion, there's a long road.

Back in the days when Sony was saying that LittleBigPlanet will help sell more PS3 consoles, I had no clue that the game would be delayed in Europe because..."While playing your latest game, LittleBigPlanet, in the first level of the third world in the game (titled 'Swinging Safari'), I have noticed something strange in the lyrics of the music track of the level. When I listened carefully, I was surprised to hear some very familiar Arabic words from the Quran."<-180x150 Small Rectangle - right->

That's what an Islamic gamer noticed, and then posted on the official Sony community boards his opinion, saying that "We Muslims consider the mixing of music and words from our Holy Quran deeply offending. We hope you would remove that track from the game immediately via an online patch, and make sure that all future shipments of the game disk do not contain it."

It all ended with the threat being locked, after a promise to look into this matter from the community team leader, and the following statement: "During the review process prior to the release of LittleBigPlanet, it has been brought to our attention that 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. We have taken immediate action to rectify this and we sincerely apologise for any offence that this may have caused."

Oh, my...just for the record, here's what you can hear in the soundtrack of the game, if you have an older version -

1- In the 18th second: "كل نفس ذائقة الموت" ("kollo nafsin tha'iqatol mawt", literally: 'Every soul shall have the taste of death').
2- Almost immediately after, in the 27th second: "كل من عليها فان" ("kollo man alaiha fan", literally: 'All that is on earth will perish').

This is it, for now, so now we see the Qur'an delaying a game. In fact, it's not the Qur'an, but those wo allowed those words to enter the soundtrack, although they probably had no idea about what could this lead to. Well, I heard some excerpts from the Bible in Civilization 4, and nobody was offended by those - as far as I know...

You know why I am usually avoiding to write about game shows and conventions? If you haven't been there, then writing about them is like telling someone about the taste of a cookie after reading the recipe. Fortunately, talking about the Tokyo Game Show Awards isn't really a gruesome task, so I'll get to it as soon as possible. "Why as soon as possible," you may ask. Well, first we have to hear a little bit of history, don't you agree?

Back in 1996, the first Tokyo Game Show opened its gates, and until 2002, the show was held twice a year - a spring edition, and one in autumn. Now, it is held once a year - in autumn, as the last edition took place between the 9th and 12th of this month. In the first two days, only press had access, while the last two days allowed general public to come and join the fun, and this year's edition broke the attendance record, with almost 200,000 visitors.<-125x125 Button - right->

Now, let's get to the awards, starting with the all new Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Prize, aimed at extraordinary achievements - CESA says this is awarded to "an individual or to an organization that from the results of a work created and announced in recent years has been evaluated as having made a contribution to the development of the Japanese home-use video game console and software industry." The first recipient of this award was Shigeru Miyamoto, the men behind titles like Nintendogs, Pikmin and Legend of Zelda.

The Grand Award in the Games of the Year went to Wii Fit and Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G, while the Global Award: Foreign Product was snagged by Guitar Hero III from Activison, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare "got home" with a Special Award.

At last, a bunch of Awards for Excellence were given, and the recipients of these include Super Mario Galaxy and Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Wii, Devil May Cry 4, Dragon Quest IV: The Chapters of the Chosen and Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time, Mario Party DS and Ryu Ga Gotoku Kenzan for the Nintendo DS.

These being said, I conclude the Tokyo Game Show Awards article hoping that, next time, I'll be able to provide you with information right from Tokyo and - who knows - maybe I'll be able to buy some console that the rest of the world will only see in about a year, as it happens with the new Nintendo DSi...