Mom's Minute

Gears of War -- Tim Sweeny, developer, is a Hall of Fame Inductee 

The annual video game elite annual Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain (D.I.C.E.) Summit for 2012 is being held at the Red Rock Resort and Casino in Las Vegas February 8-10, 2012.  D.I.C.E. is described as the video game industry's most prestigious and exclulsive event.

The three-day conference will include 20 speaking and panel sessions on the video game industry.

Some of the brightest minds and talent at the event includes Sefton Hill of RockSteady Studios, Tim Sweeny, Epic Games Hall of Fame Inductee, David Jaffe of Eat Sleep Play, Richard Hilleman of Electronic Arts, Frank Pearce of Blizzard Entertainment, Todd Howard of Bethestha Game Studios and many more.

Along with the conferences, other events to occur are the annual D.I.C.E. Poker, Golf and Go-Karting tournaments.

The 2012 D.I.C.E. Summit will also host the 15th annual Interactive Achievement Awards.

Gamespot is airing a live webcast of the Interactive Achievement Awards on Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 10:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (7:30 p.m. Pacific Time)  via Gamespot.com, Twitch.TV/Gamespot, and Youtube.com/Gamespot with gaming enthusiast host, Jay Mohr. 

EA Sports conducted its annual prediction of the team that will win the Super Bowl based on an official Madden video game simulation on January 30, 2012.

The Madden simulation has been correct for six of the last eight Super Bowls.  Interesting enough, one of EA Sports' simulations misprediction was the last Super Bowl playoffs with the Giants and the Patriots in 2007. Additionally, last year's Super Bowl results from the simulation did not come to fruition.

According to the Madden simulation, EA Sports is predicting the game to be a close one with the Giants winning by 3 over the Patriots with a score of 27 to 24.

The  EA Sports Super Bowl video game simulation is based on real-life statistical data including adjustments for injuries.

The Super Bowl game airs on Sunday, February 5, 2012 between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots.

Madagascar 3:  Europe's Most Wanted Video Game, Available June 2012

D3Publisher (D3P) has announced its worldwide agreement with DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. to develop and publish video games for three of DreamWorks' upcoming movies -- Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, Rise of the Guardians and The Croods.

D3P is a leading publisher of video games for all platforms and has operations in the U.S. and Japan.

Rise of the Guardians video game will be available during the Christmas holiday season, 2012

According to Bill Anker, vice-president of business development and licensing for D3P, the video games based on DreamWorks Animation films fit the company's commitment to make fun, enjoyable games for the whole family playable across many platforms and handhelds.

The Croods video game is scheduled for release in the Spring, 2013.

Chris Hewish, head of global interactive for DreamWorks states that D3P's wealth of experience as well as its track record, makes the company an ideal interactive partner for DreamWorks' next three films.

Angry Birds team and the rock band KISS in negotiations

There has been previous talks about a possible collaboration between KISS and the PC game Angry Birds.  It has now been revealed that there are indeed negotiations between KISS and the Angry Birds' team.

Angry Birds is a strategy PC game first introduced in 2009 and has sold over 12 million copies from Apple's App store.

Gene Simmons of the band states that he is confident the talks with the Angry Birds team will turn into a deal.

The rock band KISS

Gene Simmons wants to take video games to new areas.  In fact, KISS may also be working on other video game deals as well.

He gave accolades to the video game industry stating that the industry has impacted music in more ways than it understands.

In Gene Simmons' words:  "The more you control the music and the visuals, the more it becomes important.  It becomes a part of you." 

The Simpsons Arcade Video Game

After more than a twenty-year wait, The Simpsons Arcade Video Game has made its way to your home console.

There had been previous Simpsons video games released that were not up to par with the original  arcade version. Among other companies, Electronic Arts offered similar games wth the Simpsons including the Simpsons Game for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, as well as The Simpsons Road rage on previous systems. 

The Simpsons 

Being mum about The Simpsons Arcade Game since the game was classified in November 2011 with a rating for mild violence, publisher Konami has announced that on February 7, 2012, The Simpsons Arcade Game will be available for a free download for PlayStation Plus members, playable on the PlayStation 3.

The Simpsons Arcade Game is developed by Backbone Entertainment, a team familiar with old school video game emulation. The premise of the game is to battle enemies to save Maggie.

As part of the show's 500th episode celebration, Xbox Arcade Live members got the game on February 3, 2012 for 800 Microsoft points playable on the Xbox 360.