Despite hitting some snags in the form of Sega, SCEA, Capcom, and Microsoft backouts, it appears E for All is gaining steam after getting big boosts from dozens of other movers in the gaming industry who have confirmed participation. To prove that E for All is going smoothly as planned, IDG World Expo is now announcing that Future US, Inc. will be publishing the official show magazine for the said event.

This is big news especially for those who are familiar in the ins and outs of attending conventions like this. Why? Event magazines not only provide attendees with a good source of show floor guide, exhibitor and product information, special features and interviews, it's also a great souvenir - it goes right beside event press IDs and pictures with booth babes. Anyway, IDG World Expo CEO Mary Dolaher expressed the same enthusiasm after saying:

We're thrilled to team up with Future to create "E for All Magazine," the event’s official show publication. Given Future’s experience producing publications such as Official Xbox Magazine, PSM: Independent PlayStation Magazine, PC Gamer, Maximum PC and Next Gen, we’re greatly anticipating the creation of a top-notch magazine and commemorative keepsake for this inaugural event.

The magazine will be a 64-page collector's edition in support of the inaugural E for All. Contents will include feature stories, game reviews, product highlights, a full expo schedule, floor plan and exclusive features, interviews with acclaimed game developers, and a user-generated car art from Forza 2. E for All magazine will also carry a commemorative cover to give spice to the said event which will take place October 18-21 at the Los Angeles Convention Center - told you it's a keeper.

(From the Editor: Another week, another issue of the QuickJump QuickPeek for all of us! The gaming community was pelted with hard hitting updates the past seven days, fortunately for you guys our hardworking writers from various teams managed to squeeze in some time for this awesome issue. This ish is extra beefy since it marks the first month since our weekly compilation of heaps of gaming info was initialized. To celebrate that, we're once again showcasing a comment from one of our more in/famous regulars. Last week it was Mister Common Sense, I wonder who it'll be this week? Read the whole article to find out!)

Whoa! It's really hard to keep track of time especially when you've been deeply absorbed by the gravity of your current undertaking. Hmm, "gravity". That sounds a pretty good word to describe the week's recent events. Gravity's synonymous to "implications", and the things we're about to report will surely eat up our time figuring out what the backlash will be. Surprised? Try imagining what will happen to Microsoft after the resignation of Peter Moore. Or imagine the possibilities opening for the PlayStation Portable with a super team of hackers reportedly working on another custom firmware. You could also try to figure out what kind of new PS3 controller, announced by Kaz Hirai, Sony and Immersion could come up with. Brain juices oozing with possibilities? Read on to find more:

The full issue awaits after the jump!

(Welcome to the first issue of QJ.NET's weekly feature, QuickJump QuickPeek! This weekly-updated spot will run the top news of the past week, think of it as your own directory of sorts to the week's news breakers in our second home we like to call video gaming industry. This page could contain something as trivial as Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft bigwigs gathering together for an afternoon teaparty or as groundbreaking as that teaparty turning into a free for all, take-out-as-many-gaming-execs-as-you-can brawl. With that, we take you to this week's mover and shakers...)

We weren't treated to news of filthy rich gaming execs going at each others' throats this week, but we did have an equally gory debacle with the Manhunt 2 and Red Ring of Death bad rap. There's also the groundbreaking release of PSP homebrew hero Fanjita's Illuminati exploit (via Lumines UMD) that later on brought us the highly anticipated 3.50 downgrader. Throw in the talks about Nintendo's WiiWare and the PS3 firmware update and we have a really interesting week. Now for the QuickJump quick peek to the week's top stories...

The QuickJump QuickPeek awaits after the jump!

We know you had a blast (from the past) when we ran a feature about turning classic 80s cartoons into next-gen videogames, so we thought "why not do a 180 and focus on what lies ahead this time?" So this time we'll try to go crazy (in the process, be as absurd as possible) and try to peek into the kind of videogames our grand, grand, grandchildren would play in the far future.

We know that videogaming evolves depending on the kind of technology the current generation has. Whether it's a top of the line cell, motion-sensing technology, or an oober rich gameplay, current crop of consoles and games will try to equip themselves with the most technologically advanced weapons (yeah, kinda like "real" wars).

Since our list is supposed to be played during the future, don't be surprised with its absurdity. Even Edison and Einstein were laughed at by their peers during their time. We can't play videogames without platforms, so we've pulled out some out of this world (or time) ideas and created our own versions of future consoles. We'll stick with the big three this time - Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony. Here they are:

Xbox Revolution: Nope, they did not rip off Wii's former name. It's 50+ years into the future and I doubt if anybody would still remember that Nintendo used it as a WIP name for one of their consoles. Why "Revolution"? Well Microsoft followed 360 with 720, then 1440, and then...let's just say they got tired with spinning figures they christened their console of the future with a name that "revolutionizes" rotation (and an excuse to get rid of all those numbers). Main feature: Nerve sensitive controllers enabling the owner to make commands with the power of thought. Bonus perk: Comes with complementary infobot/condom dispenser (part of Bill Gates mission to stop AIDS).

PlayStation 3: Yeah, Sony will stick to the name PS3 because it is the future. In the far future they've stopped relaunching completely new consoles and have just resorted to periodical hardware and system updates. Main Feature: Interactive Body Teleporter: Technology immersing the player to actual in-game participation (gamer gets warped inside the game). Bonus perk: 20% off the next hardware or system update, which should be in a month.

Nintendo YeePee: It turns out the "Wii" is Nintendo's sublime way of sending the "our console is fun" message (hence the name's "weee!" sound). And their most recent console's name, descendant of Nintendo "Yey" and "Hura", follows the same trend. Main feature: Strap-on technology, the console works like a mobile suit, giving the gamer the ultimate motion sensing experience. Bonus perk: Party hats and balloons, and a couple of pots and pans.

Getting trippy already? Get a load of titles for the future by clicking on the "full article" link below.

 

If you were a kid during the 80s, chances are you've tried yelling ala Optimus Prime "Autobots, transform and roll out!" [insert morphing sound here]. The original cartoon series has such a huge following that modern-day producers have now ventured into making a movie and a game based from the series' mecha lore.

Straight from Seibertron, we now have news of more game details for Transformers: The Game. Them lucky folks from the said site managed to catch a glimpse of the game via Hasbro preview at ToyFair and they've noted some very interesting details. Please do remember that this list was made by Seibertron (told you we got it straight from them) and thus should not be taken as official.

• There will be an Autobot Game and a Decepticon Game for Nintendo DS, supporting 4 way multi-play.
• The PSP will a version of the game (maybe different from all), but with 4 way Multi-Play.
• Wii will get special Wiimote functions, such as throwing things, steering, etc.
• You can play as 9 Autobots and Decepticons. Unplayable characters are going to be boss characters or other important characters.
• There will be unlockable characters and possibly movie characters that don't appear in the movie (like Wreckage).
• There will be G1 references in the game.
• It has a full interactive environment where you can pick things up and throw it at the enemy...including a Burger King sign.
• Burger King and Pepsi references were in the game, so we know they are sponsors.
• As the robot you can punch, shoot, jump, transform at will and drive/fly around when you are in vehicle mode.
• Autotargeting will be available.
• For game play, it reminded me of Grand Theft Auto, where you can run around the city (perspective was similar to GTA). The steering of the vehicle looked well done, where you could oversteer around turns, etc. If you caused too much ruckus the police would come and the pedestrians would go around screaming, especially if you were in Robot Mode (so being in disguise is important). Pedestrian interaction was not completed yet, but we were hoping you could pick up people and thrown them.
  
• Storyline is different based upon if you are an Autobot or a Decepticon, humans are part of the story, but not part of the gameplay. Because of the dual roles the Decepticons can win in this one.

This Activision-published title for the PS3, 360, Wii, PS2, PSP, and NDS is set to land/dock/park on retail stores sometime during the third quarter of this year. We just can't wait to see Optimus, Bumblebee, Wheeljack, Starscream, Megatron, the Insecticons, the Dinobots...ok, geek mode off.

One rarely sees two shooting stars blazing a trail of light at the same time, but if one does chance upon such occurrence, legend has it that extraordinary things are to come. One also seldom sees the word "final" in succession, but DS 'brewer Infantile Paralysiser hesitated not in doing so.

Could it be a sign that his already efficient app is about to make some really good things happen? Or could it be just, err, online translations making life harder for us?

I'll cut the prophetic tone here. Merely two days after his finalfinalbeta0 update to Moonshell, we're now treated to another finalfinal release, making the application reach the finalfinal1 stage (finally, whew!). This one comes with a very thin info in terms of changelogs. The only visible new feature is the "Text/Binary viewer added dual screen mode," with Infantile stressing that DS owners must "set it from the SelectDisplay item of the [TextPlugin] section."

MoonShell is a multimedia player for the DS; it has support for a variety of files such as DPG (video file), MP3/ NSF (audio files). Plus, you can also view picture files in JPG,BMP, and PNG format. Don't forget to check out the README included in the download, everything you need to know is right in there.

And oh, the download link's right below...finally.

Download: [MoonShell 1.6 finalfinalbeta1]

You'd think that having more than six billion people populating our mother planet guarantees a constant flow of fresh ideas. But no, we still have to put up with the likes of The Terminator, Digimons, and a "family guy" trying to be cool.

Fact of the matter is, every industry has a huge mainstream-stamped cargo strapped across its back. You have Hollywood that never runs out of the Asian-plus-wacky-western-guy combo, comic books that have WonderMan (replace the first four words with "sup" and you got the picture), and the music industry (if you could call it that) being lorded over by "artists" like Paris Hilton and Justin Timberlake. Yep, the world's one fudged up place, and if you think we're safe from its clutch just because we're locked up in our room all day mashing buttons, you're dead wrong.

True gamers would have now known what I'm trying to imply. That the gaming industry, like all the money-driven organizations in the planet, is one huge merry go 'round - only instead of horsies, we have copycats, and boy are they running lose. Saints Row's Homies can show us nothing the Leone Mafia Family hasn't. How about HOT PXL's (PSP) board-toting Djon? He reeks of WarioWare if you ask me.

You think this is something new? Remember Golden Axe Warrior for the Sega Master System? Anyone who has taken over the character of Link would immediately notice how shamelessly similar it is to earlier Legend Of Zelda installments. Here's another one - Rainbow Arts' Great Giana Sisters. The younger 'uns might never have heard of it before, but simply put, it's got all the Super Mario Bros. elements in it - powerups, bricks shattered by heads, diamond (at least not coin) collection, and all enemies looking weirdly like the plumbers' bitc**s - only instead of brothers Mario and Luigi, you have sisters Giana and Maria.

Click on the "full article" link below to read more about videogaming rip-offs!

 

Kevin's here to treat us again for another sweeping version of his nifty app. WFCStatus has just been boosted to v 1.3.9, along with it are more features for our Nintendo Wi-Fi connection (yep, that's what WFC stands for Dexter) status viewer. With this standard tool set up in your PC, you could access all the data from Nintendo's website (with a cool presentation), without the hassle of loading tons of animations and images in your browser.

We know we've all been spoiled rotten by the said application's features. And like all good things, it gets suffocating when the releases don't have as much impact as the one before it, making the previously worshipped piece of 'brew normal, kinda like Sonic losing his boom. So to sustain the momentum of his baby, Kevin added something that could make us go "Wow!" all over again. WFCStatus 1.3.9 now adds three more games to its list (Harvest Moon and Yu-Gi-Oh! GX: Spirit Caller), bring its roster up to a total of 45 supported games. Here's the rest of the jaw-dropping features:

• Added 3 games (incl. Harvest Moon and Yu-Gi-Oh! GX: Spirit Caller)
• Added more gameinfo on stats tab
• Added graph options (bars, AA, smooth, fill)
• Added option to enter nickname (for showing up in Now Online)
• Added better notification of loading errors (now online, top 10)
• Updated a few games (box art and info)
• Removed use of registry: FC's and settings are saved to file now
• Changed custom graph tab and some contextmenu's
  

Download: [WFCStatus 1.3.9]

Yeah, by now, every person that has seriously embraced video gaming as part of his/her life is aware of the sudden changes that'll prompt him/her to bid farewell to the E3 as he/she knew it. The Halls of QJ has been ringing with dead silence every single time the matter is brought up (it's happening right now). But we all have to move on as E3, arguably gamers' own version of World Cup and Winter Olympics, undergoes some major tweaks that'll indirectly affect all of us.

Entertainment Software Association president Doug Lowenstein, in an interview with Wall Street Journal, has revealed what exactly those "major tweaks" will be - a new name, a new venue and a new date. According to him, the event will be dubbed as the E3 Media Festival starting next year, cementing thoughts that the affair will now only be joined by members of the press from various media.

From last E3's groundbreaking attendance of 60,000 visitors, next year's event will have a toned-down population of around 5000 people. In fact, Lowenstein has cited that the huge number of participants is primarily the reason why all the changes are being made, saying that "some companies were frustrated because E3 was such a huge, sweeping event it became increasingly difficult to get their messages out."

Instead of the traditional May affair, the next E3 (if we could still call it that) will be held on July to give publishers more time to develop their projects and to strategically bring it nearer to Christmas where most games are usually released. The event will also say goodbye to the Los Angeles Convention Center as the ESA divulged plans to use two hotels, holding press events and meetings in suites and conference rooms - there goes our booths and the booth babes along with it.

As much as we want to present this news as an objective one, it's really hard not to choke out some disappointments while tackling the matter. The gamer in us conquers the inner writer/reporter as it cry for the game demos open for civilians, promos for the attendees, E3 booth babes, lost opportunities for smaller developers, and the shed "people image" of the event we used to know as E3...

If there's something we here at QJ love (other than playing videogames), it's one good night of partying (we need to breathe fresh air from time to time). Now Nintendo has something up their sleeve that'll bring the best of both worlds into one great event - make that 35 great events.

To further fan the already burning craving for their very promising console, Nintendo have announced the schedule for their Nintendo Fusion Tour. The Live Nation-produced, cross-country tour will be fronted by the Hawthorne Heights band, along with performances from Relient K, Emery, Plain White T's and The Sleeping. The best part? The said tour will be combo'd with a presentation of the best new and upcoming Nintendo games, and a teaser peek at the much-anticipated Wii machine.

This might not be exactly meet the 'high' we get from Woodstock, but hey, it's not every day you get to watch artists perform live with a revolutionary console flanking it. Now mark your calendars to have a taste of every gamer slash party animal's heaven.

The full schedule awaits after the jump!