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As if there wasn't enough "Heroes" stuff out there (graphic novels, the spinoff Heroes: Origins and the mobile game), I read today that Ubisoft (the French equivalent of EA Games) will be releasing a "Heroes" video game, based on the TV show of the same name.

Don't get me wrong -- I love "Heroes." I love video games. But when I read that it's going to be yet another third-person superhero action game, I don't get all tingly inside. There's been so many flooding the market, and of such low quality, that I won't get excited about this until I see it for myself.

One video game that is on my to-rent list is "The Simpsons Game", coming out this fall from EA. It sounds like it's going to be one big send-up of video game cliches, and EA in particular, along with plenty of inside jokes for Simpsons fans. (Matt Groening appears one of the bosses in the game, although not the final boss. Also, there will be a Duffenstein castle, an homage to the early 1990s first-person shooter, along with three "Medal of Homer" mini-games.)

ETA: In answer to a reply below: I've been following Spore closely, since I love The Sims and SimCity, and it's the same guy, Will Wright, who's doing Spore (along with one of the lead designers of Civ IV, another of my favorites). Have you seen the video from E3?

As of July 10, the game is a full alpha build and is undergoing play testing. The release date is definitely after March 2008, and could be even later.

Eidos is releasing a Doctor Who video game for the PC, PS2, DS, and mobile phones in time for its annual Christmas episode this year.

Unfortunately, unlike the sprawling RPG along the lines of KOTOR that I was imagining, it sounds like it's going to be like the other boring card battle video games I've seen. We don't need another Magic knockoff in video game form! Give me a game where I get to be the Doctor or his companion, fighting Daleks and Cybermen alongside my trusty and useful robot dog, K9. Let me wander through different planets and times, meeting up with the Face of Boe and Shakespeare and all the other wonderful characters from the Doctor Who universe -- the show has been around since 1963. Surely there's enough material for a huge non-linear game in there?

I realize that many consider me an oddity in the world of gaming -- I'm a woman who actually enjoys playing video games, who spends money and time on my hobby, and who could probably kick your butt at many of the games I play.

According to the Entertainment Software Association, 43 percent of video-game players are female, and it's a growing population. Granted, part of that number includes people like my mom, who play casual games online such as Bejeweled and Mahjong. But a large number of that percentage are people like me -- women who enjoy playing all those video games that are marketed so strongly toward men. Knights of the Old Republic, the Grand Theft Auto series, Gauntlet, Baldur's Gate, the Dead or Alive series -- these top the list of the games I play over and over again.

Even if I don't fit your preconceived notion of what a gamer looks like, I deserve to be treated with respect -- something that is severely lacking for female gamers in many areas of the gaming world.

I forgot to mention that I did a feature on cool (and most available and affordable) tech gifts for the holidays.

Here's the list, with links.

"Hadoken!"

After seeing this new gameplay video, I can't wait for Street Fighter IV to be released.

My first love is Street Fighter II, and I have yet to find a fighter game that I enjoyed as much. (Dead or Alive III came close, but still didn't top it for me.) And apparently the new installment is going back to some of what made Street Fighter II good. (I hope they don't change Ryu's "More mucus!" I know he doesn't actually say that, but that's always what it sounded like to me. And I'd hate to actually be able to understand it in this one!)

They're talking about using the cast of characters from Street Fighter II Turbo. The original cast is Ryu, Ken, Blanka, Zangief, Dhalsim, Guile, E. Honda and Chun-Li.We'll probably also get the Fei Long, T. Hawk, Cammy, and Dee Jay additions from the later versions of SF II. That means two chicks in the whole bunch, so I'm hoping some of the newer characters they are talking about will be female.

It also sounds like there are going to be some new moves, in addition to the old ones, so I'll have to work on adding to my Chun-Li repetoire ("Spinning Star Kick!" Or whatever it is that she really says.).

Is anyone else as excited about this as I am?

Also: I can't find anything else about the new Street Fighter movie I had heard rumors about last year. Supposedly, it was going to be based on Chun-Li, and I've even heard Jessica Alba's name thrown around, but I can't find anything new about it. Anyone know anything?

Wired has a great piece about counter terrorists looking to the online game World of Warcraft for ideas on how to stop real-world terrorism.

From the piece:

"Warcraft has a history of in-game terrorist activity. Early on, players found a curse in a high-level dungeon that would turn them into living bombs. They would then teleport to major cities and detonate themselves, killing nearby players. These suicide bombers gradually began to target areas where large number of players gathered, usually at auction houses or banks. Eventually, attacks occurred with enough frequency that some players simply avoided dangerous cities."