We posted an article one month ago that invited readers to do a little thought exercise. Here's what we said: "On the 5th of November we're going to post an article or two about video games, gadgets, technology, and general geekness ... the things about video gaming and technology that ought not be forgotten."

So here's our list of some video gaming and technology moments worth remembering. Hope this gets you thinking (and feeling nostalgic too!). And we look forward to your comments (and arguments). What do you remember and wish that the world will never forget?

Today is October 5. That means that November 5, Guy Fawkes Night, is one month away.

While we don't celebrate this day in the US (it's not even a public holiday in the United Kingdom - it's only a yearly celebration), many of us know of this day thanks to the DC Comics / Vertigo graphic novel (comic book) series V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd and its movie adaptation (with inimitable performances by Natalie Portman as Evey and Hugo Weaving as V).

Still, any "holiday" that gives people an excuse to light fireworks and go door-to-door begging for spare change sounds like something worth celebrating. So we at QJ.NET invite you to get into the spirit of things to remember, remember the 5th of November.

On the 5th of November we're going to post an article or two about video games, gadgets, technology, and general geekness - what moves us and affects us and touches us, and all the things about video gaming and technology that ought not be forgotten. Pretty much like the QuickJump QuickList articles in our Opinions & Analysis section at the front page and the other articles in the Opinions & Analysis sections of our many video game, science, and gadget blogs.

We invite you to plan ahead and consider what you want to remember on that day - because our articles obviously can't be the final word - that's what comments and the QJ.NET Forums are for. (Besides, now that we've turned off anonymous comments - and now that comments are smarter, funnier, and more meaningful - you have a good venue to share your reactions.)

We look forward to your thoughts. See you on the 5th of November.

As a follow-up to the gameplay video we posted earlier this week, here's a video from GameSpot that focuses on some of the gameplay features of Bandai's Beautiful Katamari for the Xbox 360. Lots of fun features in this one (we really like the hot/cold game where you have to pick up the hot objects and avoid the cold objects).

The video is only about a minute and a half long, but it confirms a lot of things that fans have been speculating about: new soundtrack, new unlockable cousins, and mulitplayer options.

As the video says, the game should hit the shelves later this year: some time in October or November of 2007.

Watch the video. It has magenta pandas in it. It will change your life. Or not. But the pandas sure are cute.

Orson Scott Card, author of Ender's Game (the Hugo Award winner and Nebula Award winner), is a recovering game addict - or at least that's one interpretation you can give his interview over at Gaming Today. Ender's Game is being turned into a movie by Warner Brothers, and at the same time Orson Scott Card is open to the possibility of his book becoming a video game.

For those not familiar with Ender's Game, just understand that it's one of the best sci-fi books ever written (in our honest opinions). A fast-paced story about violence, evil, war, and leadership. It's required reading, or so Wikipedia claims, at the Marine Corps University at Quantico.

And if it's good enough for the US Marines, it should be good enough for you gamers out there, right? Anyway, back to the interview. Orson Scott Card talked about being addicted to gaming:

The weird thing was that even when I wasn't playing, I felt a tremendous anxiety. I had responsibilities - there were cities waiting for me to tell them what to build! Now, I'm not insane. My conscious mind knew that it was just a game, and when I wasn't running the program, nothing was happening at all. But I invested so much tension in the playing of the game that it didn't go away when I left the computer. The call of duty was still there.

The interview also tackled what goes into writing a story for video games. Card said:

Games CAN'T have the kind of storylines that movies and books have, or they wouldn't be playable. ... What makes a game work is the opposite of what makes a story work. In a story, you are seeking to find out what really happened - why people do what they do, what the results of their choices are. ... In a game, the opposite illusion must be created. Even though most games absolutely force you to follow preset paths, the gamewrights try to give you the illusion that you are making free choices (even though you are actually, in almost all games, still being channeled through certain puzzles with fixed solutions).

As for Ender's Game, it won't just be one game in Card's vision:

• The Battle Room. This pivotal set in the book can be several game modules in real life.
• Space war games. The three wars (back in Mazer's time all the way to Ender's time).
• Story-based games. Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow.
• MMORPG. This one is based on the Battle School in Ender's Game.
• The Fantasy Game. The "mind game" from the novel.
• The Hive Queen. It's like Civilization (a game franchise that Card was addicted to).
• Post-war war. Card describes this as being like Risk.

Well, Mr. Card, there are quite a few fans here at QJ.NET who would be first in line to get a game that follows the Hegemon.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (CoD4) is the fourth installment in the Call of Duty series. It'll be released for PS3, Xbox 360, and Windows / PC. This "Modern Warfare" version is the first Call of Duty game that isn't set in World War II. Instead, it's set in a fictional modern-day conflict in the Middle East and Eastern Europe.

   

The Call of Duty games stood out as WWII games - that was the franchise's niche, and the franchise did very well. The first Call of Duty game (made by Infinity Ward) won the 2003 Game of the Year award from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Call of Duty 2 (also by Infinity Ward) received near-perfect and perfect ratings from the major gaming news sites.

Heck, even Call of Duty 3 (this time developed by Treyarch) came out as a good game that was worth playing - and that was despite the bugs and glitches (that is, bugs and glitches would've made most gamers throw out the game, but we still played and finished Call of Duty 3 despite it all because it was that good).

So let's look at Call of Duty 4. Will branching out to modern warfare reduce the CoD franchise into nothing more than a clone of other modern warfare games? We think not. Far from being a clone of other modern warfare games, Infinity Ward's Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is already setting out to carve its own niche in the image of the earlier CoD games.

   

Read the rest of this article by clicking on the Full Article link below. (Sorry, this article was just too long to fit on the front page.)

BioWare didn't let us down when they released Neverwinter Nights and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, so we expect great things from Mass Effect, the game that Bioware is developing exclusively for Microsoft's Xbox 360.

Mass Effect is the first of a planned trilogy, the first chapter in an adventure that will span across the stars. Space opera fans, action-adventure fans, and RPG fans will probably gravitate towards this game. After all, it's already won several awards. Like what? Well, like this thing called the Game Critics' Award for Best Role Playing Game at E3 2006.

Anyway, a couple days back the IGN staff released an article about some of the features of the Krogan. Now that we're deep in the weekend and the news is drying up, we have time to go back and revisit that feature article.

The Krogan... When I read about them, I can't help but think "tank, tank, tank," because the Krogan is basically the massive, hulking, well-nigh-indestructible bruiser of the Mass Effect universe. We're talking multiple-redundant organ systems (so if one system fails the animal's body will still survive), a violent and war-filled past, and instincts and strengths honed by having to survive in a harsh world.

Their homeworld has always lacked hospitable places to live. So countless generations ago they used their modern weapons to wage war against each other. And they reduced their planet into a steaming chunk of radioactive rubble. But still they survived. And grew stronger.

   

It'll be interesting, really interesting, to finally get our hands on this game and see how the Krogan's history are woven into the tapestry of Mass Effect's greater story arc. And those who are interested in Mass Effect as a work of imaginative science fiction can pick up Mass Effect: Revelation, the first Mass Effect novel. It's been on bookshelves for over a month.

Mass Effect is being developed by BioWare and will be published by Microsoft Game Studios.

Tomorrow is the US retail release of Forza Motorsport 2 for the Xbox 360, so Microsoft Game Studios is justified in trying to build up hype with what looks like a fun weekend.

June 1 through June 3 is going to be "Forza Motorsport 2 Race Weekend."

What can you expect this weekend? A "Play and Win" contest and other contests, some gameplay sessions with developers, and a leaderboard tournament. Prizes include Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheels (which makes sense since Forza Motorsport 2 was developed and tested with the Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel in mind).

And time for our unsolicited opinion. Do we think Forza Motorsport 2 is worth the hype? Well, let's just remember this: Forza Motorsport (May 2005) for the Xbox was an outright success: it got rave reviews from most sites, sold more than 1 million copies worldwide, and was used as a console-seller (it was used in console bundling promotions).

Heck, with nearly a quarter of a million polygons per car and seamless gameplay, how do you think Forza 2 is going to do?

For those still wondering if Forza Motorsport 2 is worth the hype, Microsoft Game Studios released this list of the game's features (this is a shortened list; we removed all the press release words like "uncompromising" and "masterpiece"):

• Collect, upgrade and tune hundreds of cars. More than 300 cars from over 50 of the world's leading manufacturers such as Ferrari, Porsche, Nissan, Volkswagen, General Motors and Lamborghini.
• Go to the garage and install alternative engines, suspension kits, bolt-on superchargers, brakes, rims and racing slicks.
• Dial in advanced suspension settings, tire pressure and gear ratios.
• Advanced physics simulation. Cars incur dramatic damage and wear, which affects vehicle performance. Advanced tire and suspension models respond to heat and pressure changes as well as weight transfer and aerodynamic load.

More features to back up the hype after the jump! Click on the Full Article link below.

 

Need for Speed: Pro Street (what others are calling "Need for Speed XI" or "Need for Speed 2007") is the newest game in the Need for Speed franchise. The recent teaser trailer flashed a date ("31 - 05 - 07") so we're all expecting the official details and release information will be released on May 31, 2007.

The game is being developed by Electronic Arts Black Box, and it's also going to be published by EA. Here's some of the things we hope will be confirmed by EA on May 31, 2007:

1. The juicy details on whatever whole new game engine technology they've been working on.
   
2. Drag racing will be included in the game.
3. The game title. Soft Club (the Russian publisher) said that the game will be called "Need for Speed: Pro Street" - but then they removed that bit of info.
4. The release date. Soft Club said November 2007, but they also removed that bit of info.
5. A bigger, better, and stronger AutoSculpt feature (the car customization feature).
   

Everybody "knows" that the game will be for Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3 (yet another thing that should be confirmed once and for all on May 31, 2007).

By the way, there was a bit of news a few weeks ago. Other than that, very very very little is known for certain about this game. Other than the fact that it looks awesome, like these scans from JeuxFrance for "des versions Xbox 360 et PlayStation 3":

   

An analyst says that we should expect March video game sales to be "flattish." Yes, we know: March was last month.

Before you consult the "Time Traveller's Handbook of 1001 Tense Formations" as recommended by the late, great Douglas Adams in "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe," you should know that the analyst isn't expecting the past - he's simply expecting the sales results from March, which will presumably be released at some point in the space-time continuum in our future.

According to GameDaily Biz, Colin Sebastian, an analyst from Lazard Capital Markets (a New York investment bank), did a "back of the envelope" analysis about March sales. And here's what he predicted were (will be?) the sales for March...

In general, Sebastian expects that March sales of next-gen products will be balanced by a drop in the sale of older-gen products. He also expects that Nintendo Wii and DS shortages will also contribute to sales figures being "flattish." Sebastian further expects that March will be dominated by God of War 2 (Sony), Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 (Ubisoft), Guitar Hero 2 (Activision), and Def Jam Icon (Electronic Arts), among others.

Sebastian expects that March will be (was? will have been? would be becoming?) a good month for Activision because of Guitar Hero 2 and Call of Duty 3. Furthermore, he expects that March sees (will see? might have been seeing?) a 20% drop in sell-through for Electronic Arts, but EA will have (has had?) two or three of the top Wii titles for the month.

We'll have to wait and see. Who knows what our past futures have in store?

Paul William Scott Anderson is a film director, famous for science fiction movies and for movie adaptations of video games. His body of work includes "Mortal Kombat," "Event Horizon," "Resident Evil" (he also wrote, but didn't direct, the sequels - "Resident Evil: Apocalypse" and "Resident Evil: Extinction"), and "Alien vs. Predator." Anderson was also one of the producers on "DOA: Dead or Alive."

Paul W.S. Anderson was expected to write and direct the upcoming "Castlevania" movie. But not anymore. At least that's what "a very reliable source" told Dread Central, the horror movie and videos news site:

The film, based on the long-running video game franchise from Konami, has been in development hell since it was first announced, but Anderson's always been on as director and writer. Apparently either he didn't like where the project was going or didn’t feel like waiting anymore, because now he's off all together.

Most of Anderson's movies have been love-it-or-hate-it pieces of work. "Soldier" got heavy criticism, and even his financially profitable movies like "Resident Evil" and "Alien vs. Predator" got pooh-poohed by fans of their respective franchises.

Some of us here at QJ.NET believe that not all the criticism against Anderson is fair (some of us think the criticisms against his movies are a bit exaggerated), but we can't help but wonder if there's truth in what Dread Central had to say:

You know a project is in trouble when Paul W.S. Anderson, a man who's spent almost his entire career turning potentially cool movies into steaming piles of pooh, leaves a film.

To the fans of Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow or Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (both for the DS), the classic Castlevania with Simon Belmont (on Wii Virtual Console), or Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (Xbox Live Arcade), or the countless other versions of Castlevania (over two dozen games in the series!)... you fans may agree with us when we say this: yes, sometimes movie adaptations suck, but we're fans, and we'll be lining up for premiere tickets. See you there!