So then, what's 'the haps' this week, as all the cool kids would say? Gaming leagues, political intrusions and new release dates await you.

We all (well, most of us anyway) follow the football leagues on a regular basis. We've grown accustomed to them over the decades, and with them there are basketball leagues, baseball leagues and tournaments of golf, tennis, snooker, even ping-pong. But how does a gaming league sound? That's right, a gaming league. A Global Gaming League to be more precise. There have already been massive LAN tournaments around the world, producing many 'professional gamers' from games like Quake, Counter-Strike and the rest. But there has never been a proper structure to the pro gaming scene, never been a way to fairly call someone 'the world's greatest gamer'. That is, until now.

This summer the Global Gaming League will begin, where top professional gamers and teams will have the oppurtunity to compete in GGL-organised tournaments to earn spots in the league, prizes, money and well, respect. Imagine it, a database of the world's best gamers in ranking order so that one person will truthfully be able to call themselves the best in the world. The GGL will be focusing also on the athlete aspect of the whole thing, allowing pro gamers to be signed and managed in a sytem not unlike modern sports in structure. So could videogames be called a "sport"? "V-Sports" specifically?

There's no doubt that the skill involved in competing with the top gamers in the world is just as much as being able to play for Real Madrid, just in a different way. It doesn't involve a whole lot of physical activity in the non-hand-area of the body, but I'd like to see Beckham or Ronaldo take on Unreal Tournament's best. The pro gaming scene has been building for years now, with many high-profile tournments and company-sponsored participants but this GGL will spur it forward even more. This is welcomed by this writer anyway. Chances are we won't be reading about the latest Quake 4 tournament in the back page of the Daily Mail, but anything that increases the profile of gaming as a sport can only be a good thing. I mean, getting paid for playing games? Not too shabby.

According to the New York Daily Times a 1% "fat tax" may be implemented in New York on junk food, TV commercials and, unbelievably, videogames. Assemblyman Felix Ortiz is the idiot who wishes to do add this 1% tax to New York's already 8% tax. This follows similar incidents, like in Great Britain here, where the government is planned to introduce a 17.5% tax on fatty foods, and also taxes on medical treatment for smokers, the obese and drinkers. Now I'm all for incentives for people improving their health, but this is going miles too far. If people want to eat a lot, or smoke a lot, or drink regularly, who are politicians to force them otherwise? Obesity is a growing problem in the UK and America, but this is not the way to deal with it.

We all know that politicians and games don't mix, and this 'fat tax' is another example. It seems they think that when we buy games we just sit on our asses all day playing them. Some gamers play sports regularly. Some go to the gym and lift weights. Others go for walks or bike rides. But then again, this doesn't matter to Felix Ortix who seems to have taken a terribly ignorant view of gamers. I urge anyone living in New York to take action against this coming into law, which doesn't seem quite so ridiculous when you consider it's politicians who are playing with games prices here. Now a 1% rise on games prices mightn't seem like a big deal, but look at the bigger picture. What's next? Stopping us reading because it doesn't involve physical exertion? Screw that, and screw Mr. Ortix and his absurd proposal.

I've also got a bunch of new release dates for you this week. You can expect Mega Man Network Transmission on June 27th, and the rest of Capcoms 2003 games August 29th (P.N 03) and October 31st for the cracking Viewtiful Joe (looks like no trick-or-treating for me this year :)). We'll have to wait until next year for Resident Evil 4, Killer 7 and Dead Phoenix though. V-Rally will be out on the same day as Mega Man by the way. And November 5th will see Snake return to a home Nintendo console; he'll be welcomed with open arms. We don't know the European releases of Crystal Chronicles and F-Zero (besides the fact that F-Zero will be out in October) but news this week came to us that Final Fantasy will be out in Japan November 5th and Americans will get their hands on Ninty's cheek-flapping racer this August 26th and it'll be arriving on Eastern shores July 27th.

And if you though Gamecube was already a pretty cheap console get a load of price drops that have been happening worldwide. In the East they will be able to get their hands on the console for the equivalent of 102 Euros ($119, �72), making it the cheapest console in the world, and in Canada the price has lowered from $229.99 to $199.99. You can get one at Blockbuster for only �99.99 too. This is good news for non-GC owners of course, but you have to wonder about the damage lower prices might do to Nintendo.

I end the article with the news from IGN that a bunch of Gamcube games have been cancelled. For the most part I don't really care about them (Army Men RTS anyone?), but the list includes Black & White: Titans. Too bad.

By Conor
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