Wii 2, Project Cafe, Stream… regardless of the name, Nintendo’s new video game system will soon make an appearance this June at the E3 2011 tradeshow. But does it have what it takes to win the next-generation console war against the PlayStation 4, Xbox 720 or whatever systems Sony and Microsoft choose to next introduce? As part of Gear Up, our running technology video series for Rolling Stone magazine, we take a closer look at whether or not the Wii 2 has what it takes to succeed, and what it’ll need to do to send the competition packing.

Ever wonder how video game TV shows get made? Guess no more: It typically starts with an original concept, script and test episode known as a “pilot.” But on occasion, the brave captains at our in-house video production arm, Game Industry TV, aren’t afraid to roll like their brethren at Southwest Airlines. Which is to say that they’re not afraid to fly blissfully unawares, and by the seat of their pants, just to see how exhilarating and/or horrific an unplanned ride can be – or what sudden holes may appear.

Such was the case when we threw caution (and hyper-caffeination) to the wind, and quickly shot and scrapped together this short teaser for new talk show Vs. Mode: Two Can Play, which pits two of the industry’s top luminaries together in heated debate. While not the final video setup and presentation we’ll ultimately be debuting in the near future, we couldn’t resist providing a sneak peek at the future series, if only for sheer curiosity value. Make of Episode 0: Video Game History: The Past, Present and Future of Play what you will. Starring Ultima creator Richard Garriott and Naughty Dog co-founder Jason Rubin, who argue just how far gaming has come, and has yet to go, it offers a fascinating perspective on just how much the art and business of game design has changed over the last four decades.

From the days of 5 ¼ inch floppy disks and Apple II computers to today’s wonderful world of social games, iPhone apps, free to play online outings and digital distribution, be sure to tune in and enjoy. If for no other reason, it provides a great sense of how two of the field’s brightest minds look back at their storied time in the business – and why, despite owning a freaking castle, Lord British still feels like he got royally screwed.

In the latest episode of Game Theory with Scott Steinberg, entitled “Video Game Developers vs. Publishers: Who Wins?” we take a closer look at the state of the modern games industry. Exploring the shifting balance of power following in the wake of new business models, gaming devices and online technologies, the new documentary film also examines whether there’s a place for independent developers in today’s increasingly cutthroat business world.

In the movie, we take a detailed look at the current reality of game development and publishing, including how increasingly competitive market conditions are utterly transforming the gaming industry. Scrutinizing the challenges of next-generation game creation going forward, difficulties of competing with industry titans and what it takes to survive in today’s increasingly harsh retail climate, gaming’s biggest names debate the changing nature of the business – and shifting scale of risk vs. reward.

Featuring commentary by industry leaders such as Lionhead Studios founder Peter Molyneux, Gaikai CEO David Perry and LittleBigPlanet co-creator Alex Evans, the piece also includes commentary by storied names such as Oddworld inventor Lorne Lanning and Sensible Software/Tower Studios co-founder Jon Hare. We trust you’ll enjoy viewing it as much as we did filming the video.

Interactive fiction and adventure gaming fans should be sure to check out the latest episode of Game Theory with Scott Steinberg. Our new documentary film “Interactive Fiction: The Art of Video Game Storytelling” (seen here) reveals what’s next for virtual narrative. The movie, featuring today’s top writers and game designers, provides an in-depth look at the past, present and future of video game storytelling.

In the film, the field’s biggest names chart virtual narrative and scriptwriting’s evolution from the days of point-and-click adventures to today’s sprawling online, downloadable and massively multiplayer online (MMO) games. Beginning with the early days of text adventures from Infocom and progressing from Sierra and LucasArts’ golden age heyday to the rise of CD-ROM, next-gen consoles and cutting-edge blockbusters like Heavy Rain, yesterday and today’s greatest designers share their thoughts on film.

The video, which features exclusive and never before seen footage, includes commentary by industry legends including Ultima creator Richard “Lord British” Garriott, Gabriel Knight scribe Jane Jensen, Revolution Software founder Charles Cecil and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy designer Steve Meretzky. Also featuring interviews with key talent behind hit franchises like BioShock, Assassin’s Creed and Uncharted, it offers an uparalleled look at the state of virtual storytelling.

Someone at Square-Enix heard the Internet’s cries, and the company resolved to make Final Fantasy XIII appeal to East and West alike. A noble endeavor. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out for Square. Reviews for Final Fantasy XIII from professional magazines and websites were generally good, but fan consensus was mixed. True, not everybody is going to be happy with a game, especially a game in a franchise as distinguished as Final Fantasy. But most of the complaints fell on Final Fantasy XIII’s linear structure and menu-based battle system, traits rarely found in Western-developed RPGs.

Motomu Toriyama and Akihiko Maeda, two developers who worked on Final Fantasy XIII, admitted to Game Developer magazine that Square-Enix was concerned about whether Western audiences would enjoy the game. Focus groups were hastily thrown together, but nothing was ultimately done with the subsequent feedback even though Square wondered if JRPGs still have a place in the Western world.

Square-Enix had the right idea by trying to make a game that would find a home amongst English-speakers and the Japanese alike. However, it didn’t push the idea far enough by considering, “Hey, maybe the problem is us. Maybe Final Fantasy XIII isn’t everything that it can be.”

The west’s growing influence in game development isn’t the problem. Scorn towards the JRPG franchise isn’t the problem (the genre had a much smaller audience in the ’80s and ’90s, and it survived). Cultural differences aren’t the problem. The problem is that people don’t play RPGs to be kept on a set path, and they don’t play any kind of game to endure a 20-hour tutorial.

Contrary to Internet Lore, JRPGs are not universally reviled. Demon’s Souls, developed by Namco-Bandai, earned scores in the high 80s and 90s. Nintendo pushed Dragon Quest IX for the Nintendo DS, and players responded favorably. In fact, the latter revels in its JRPG tropes with its menu-based battle system, heavy emphasis on dungeon exploration, and goofy monster designs by famous manga-ka Akira Toriyama. The difference between Dragon Quest IX and Final Fantasy XIII is that Dragon Quest doesn’t present itself as the Messiah of JRPGs with over-produced graphics and a confused attempt at an epic story. It merely hands the player a sword and says, “This is all you really need. You’re here to play, right? Go have fun.”

If developers over-analyze Western players versus Japanese players, they’ll only come up with a tangled mess of half-truths. It’s effort best spent on developing the game at hand–and, if necessary, self-flagellation. A game with the Final Fantasy logo stamped on it isn’t magically granted the mechanics that make for a pleasurable adventure.

The biggest names in the gaming industry explore where digital distribution, cloud computing and streaming multimedia have the potential to take video games, movies, music, TV and more. Plus, a look at how streaming multimedia and downloadable content (DLC) promise to change home entertainment forever. Features commentary from a litany of video game business experts and insiders including Atari founder Nolan Bushnell, Electronic Arts/Digital Chocolate founder Trip Hawkins, Gaikai CEO David Perry, Disney Interactive Studios head Graham Hopper and THQ CEO Brian Farrell, plus leading reporters from The Los Angeles Times, MSNBC, VentureBeat and others.

Despite the video game industry’s crushing sales losses last year, it’s a fundamental truth that analysts, experts and insiders alike are quickly having to wake up and accept: Nothing has changed in 2010. Color us shamed and embarrassed; despite the continued success of social, mobile and online games, and rise of alternative platforms such as Facebook and the iPhone/iPad, monolithic publishers like Electronic Arts, UbiSoft and Activision still continue to struggle to play catch-up.

Not that these outfits or popular franchises ranging from Call of Duty to Assassin’s Creed will go the way of the dodo anytime soon, just like retail boxed products as a whole. (People still love the feel of physical products, and the lure of familiar franchises when disposable cash is too tight to risk on unknown series can’t be understated.) But as today’s most savvy business leaders know, the hottest action in gaming and most innovative industry developments are actually happening outside the shelves of your local GameStop. Not to mention, of course, increasingly being dominated by a mixture of venture-funded start-ups, scrappy indies and resourceful garage developers, who are quickly flipping the traditional game publishing model on its head, and running circles around larger corporations as a result.

But we’re not telling you anything that you don’t already know, or can’t read elsewhere for that matter. Which is why, in episode two of Game Theory, we instead decided to ask the question: If it’s so darned obvious which way the wind is blowing, why is everyone still acting as if last year’s monumental sales drop-off was just a fluke, or worse – as if nothing whatsoever was wrong with the business? As a litany of gaming’s top names explain, the sky is indeed falling: Unfortunately, too many remain clueless or simply content to stick their head in the sand and pretend such historical changes aren’t happening, right up until the point that they get crushed.

Take it from Gaikai CEO David Perry, who sums things up quite succinctly. “Overall, the industry is on the same general path,” he says. “We are still today in a world of retail. That’s the way it will be for the short-term. Long-term, this industry is going digital, and it’s going digital very quickly. To some extent, as the retailers come up with policies like used games, they’re actually putting their foot on the gas pedal to oblivion. And that ultimately is going to make the game industry digital about as fast as it could possibly be.”

“We’re in the Cambrian explosion of games, where all these weird new life forms are popping out for the very first time and filling these niches that are appearing dramatically,” seconds The Sims creator Will Wright, who points to the rise of social games and free online games as a major turning point for the field. “Of course a lot of the old, established things are going to be dying off pretty rapidly,” he ominously portends. “Even the major life forms.”

However, game publishers continue to swear that they’re not only aware of the changes and taking steps to keep up, but also poised to come out better for having done so. Yet years continue to pass, and despite assurances to the contrary, revenues continue to flatline and studios disintegrate. As a result, game industry leaders are grudgingly being forced to accept  that nothing has changed.Besieged on all fronts by shifting player habits, growing economic issues and the rise of digital downloads, games for social networks and free-to-play online outings, insiders are becoming increasingly desperate to reinvent themselves. Forget the happy faces you see in the headlines. Here, the field’s biggest names let down their guard to reveal the magnitude of the changes rocking the business, and what it takes to survive. But the question remains: Can developers and publishers evolve in time? Tune in to episode two of Game Theory to find out.

Despite assurances to the contrary, as revenues continue to flatline and studios disintegrate, game industry leaders are grudgingly being forced to accept reality: Nothing has changed. Besieged on all fronts by shifting player habits, growing economic issues and the rise of digital downloads, games for social networks and free-to-play online outings, insiders are becoming increasingly desperate to reinvent themselves. Forget what you see in the headlines. In the second of our multi-part series on gaming’s reinvention, the field’s biggest names let down their guard to reveal the magnitude of the changes rocking the business, and what it takes to survive. But the question remains: Can developers and publishers evolve in time?

With a Supreme Court case that threatens government regulation of violent video games coalescing shortly and the token accompanying witch hunt that’s sure to precede its arrival, we thought it might be a good time to reiterate: Even the most seemingly ‘irredeemable’ and ‘horrifying’ games (e.g. Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto series) may simply appear that way because they’re viewed out of context.

Mind you, we’d be the last to say that Manhunt 2 was appropriate for minors, or spoke to anything besides audiences’ baser impulses (although it does emphasize strategic thinking and tactical approaches more than torture porn, which is the admittedly needlessly hyper-visceral visual payoff for your patience). And, of course, being fans of the Saw franchise, which topped domestic box office takes with nary a peep of protest from parents and educators throughout the U.S., realize that the whole argument seems a bit hypocritical at this point. Still, it’s important to note – just because a game is designed with mature adult audiences in mind doesn’t mean that it’s evil, intended to foster moral decay or, in fact, has anything to do with promoting crime or violence.

The above video, while shot for CBS News a couple years back on the eve of GTA IV‘s launch, sums up the point nicely, even today. People don’t necessarily play titles like Dead to Rights, True Crime or The Godfather for the bloodshed; rather, their mature approach to gameplay, storytelling and dialogue. Then again, we’re only human too: The occasional freedom to run amok with a chainsaw doesn’t hurt – if it helps, keep in mind that it’s a constructive outlet for negative impulses, and much more effective stress relief than doing so in real-life. And that’s word to our big homie, Saint’s Row.

Michael Pachter is many things to many people: Gaming analyst, constant source of industry chatter and omnipresent font of wisdom for today’s media. (Not to mention erstwhile Game Theory contributor, but that’s another story…) However, as you may be saddened to learn, not everything about this outspoken business critic is as it seems. In an exclusive Game Theory original, we go behind the scenes of video show Pach Attack to expose the truth behind this shadowy figure and the sick, sad little double life that he leads.