[Editor's note: Phist is our go to guy when it comes to event coverage in New York. Mostly because he's the only one we trust to do a good job. Read on for Phist's coverage of the Advance Wars premier party. Also, Phist is the first guy to get the new fancy promoted banner. It's so pretty. -- CTZ]

Nintendo World, Big N's flagship store in Rockefeller Plaza, hosted a launch event for the upcoming release of Advance Wars: Days of Ruin for the DS. Fans of the series who were willing to brave today's arctic conditions came out in numbers to show admiration for the critically-acclaimed turn-based strategy. 

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It's Digital Technology Week here in the New Yorks. For the fourth year in a row, media giant Ziff Davis is hosting its DigitalLife technology expo, and unleashing buttloads of premieres. From Gateway to M-Audio, to Microsoft to others, corporations are dishing out their newest gadgets (*cough* schemes and *cough cough* trickery) for the public to tinker with.

Red Octane premiered Guitar Hero at DigitalLife in 2005. Back then, they were an indie developer with an ambitious product that would be on its way to become the next-gen karaoke and street drug of choice for gamers worldwide. At this year's expo, Red Octane is one of five featured "hot" companies (along with Ford, HD DVD and some others). A videogame is considered to be the cream of the crop in the technology game. Damn, gaming's cultural status is leveling up (somewhere in-between Hasselhoff and foreign exchange students). view full story + comments

Today is the launch of the new version of the 6th most ubiquitous franchise in videogame history, Madden. Microsoft and EA put together a semi-secret press event in the heart of New York City, Times Square. In an attempt to have Christmas in August, Maddenoliday was the theme of the event -- it included a ball drop countdown, crowds of naive tourists, plenty of football celebrities, and that secret present your folks pulled out of nowhere.

Would constant plowing through the sweaty masses of pedestrians be worthy of the cause that is John Madden? (He's the one all these years that ate all the leftover turkey, I swear it was him.)

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