Elder Scrolls Oblivion mod makes girls' tops fall off We boobed, says ratings boardBy Paul Hales: Thursday 04 May 2006, 10:17 FANTASY GAME the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion has had its rating tweaked after censors at the Entertainment Software Rating Board discovered you could get girls in the game to get their kit off.The thought of a few pixellated nipples had the worthies on the Board reaching for the marker pen and crossing out the 'teen' rating they’d recommended for the role-playing fantasy romp. In its place they scrawled 'Mature', having decided that you should be at least seventeen before being allowed to see a 3D rendering of a naked breast. The boob came to light after the censors learned of a mod for the title that renders female characters topless. Publisher Take Two suffered a similar fate after the "Hot Coffee" mod for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas tipped up that allowed players to bang hoes like there's no tomorrow. The game-maker was responsible for that mod and its not yet entirely clear where the latest one came from. Take Two remains un-miffed. Spokesman Jim Ankner said "We don't expect there to be a financial impact," according to Reuters. Most copies of the game sold so far are for the Xbox 360 and that version is un-modded and therefore free of corrupting mammaries. µ
COLUMBUS, Ga. - A 29-year-old man was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to killing a friend in a dispute over how to use a PlayStation video game console.Arthur Demaurice Priestly pleaded guilty to murder Monday in Muscogee County Superior Court in the killing of his friend, James Edwards Jr.Judge Bobby Peters had rejected Priestly's bid to plead guilty to the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter.Edwards, 24, was shot to death on March 20 at Priestly's house. The two men were drinking heavily during a barbecue when they got into an argument about whether music should be played on Priestly's PlayStation.Edwards died from a single gunshot wound to the chest. The two men were friends and met while working together at a foundry and machine shop.© 2006 The Associated Press
South Korea faces computer games addiction Selling your SeoulBy Nick Farrell: Sunday 28 May 2006, 21:30 AUTHORITIES in South Korea are concerned about computer games addiction, according to the Washington Post.The country is considered a nation which experts describe hosting the most extreme gamer culture.The government has launched a game addiction hotline. Hundreds of private hospitals and psychiatric clinics have opened specialised units to treat the problem.According to government figures, 2.4 per cent of the population aged nine to 39 suffer from game addiction. Another 10.2 percent were found to be "borderline cases". These are people who play games to the point of sleep deprivation, disruption of daily life and a loosening grip on reality. So far 10 South Koreans have died in 2005 from game addiction-related causes. Most of the deaths were attributed to a disruption in blood circulation caused by sitting in a single, cramped position for too long.One of the reasons that young people are more likely to suffer from gaming addictions in South Korea is the acute stress as they face educational pressures which are worse than other countries.Apparently they play to escape where traditional vices such as sex and drugs are rare.
Iranian computer game tackles nuclear theme USA the bad guysBy Nick Farrell: Monday 29 May 2006, 14:21 IRANIAN school kids have designed a shoot-em-up computer game which has an Iranian special forces hero rescuing one of the country's top atomic scientists captured by US forces in Iraq.The game called "Commander Bahman" was designed by schoolchildren belonging to the Union of Islamic Student Societies, will hit the shops next year. >{? The story is based around a Iranian atomic scientist "Doctor Kousha" who goes on a pilgrimage to the Shi'ite Muslim holy city of Kerbala in Iraq where he is kidnapped by US troops and has to be rescued by Commander Bahman.The big idea is to counter a game called "Assault on Iran" where American special forces have to destroy Iran's nuclear research capability.
Bloke snuffs it after three months in cyber cafe Didn’t get on with his wifeBy Mike Magee in Taipei: Monday 05 June 2006, 00:26A 37 year old man died of heart failure after a three month video game binge where he never left a cyber café, said the China Post.Hsu Tai-yang arrived at the RS Cyber Café on the eighth of March and died on May 29th during a sojourn where he played games, smoked tabs, munched on betel nuts and ate instant noodles, the paper said.The paper said Mr Hsu didn’t want to go home because he and his wife had had a marital tiff. He died, so to speak, with his boots on in front of a PC. The report was silent on essential details about the RS Cyber Café. Does it have shower facilities, for example? Or did Mr Hsu sweat it out for three long months?
Police search murder suspect for video games One plus one equals?By Nick Farrell: Sunday 04 June 2006, 23:11 POLICE IN St. Francisville have searched a murder suspect's mobile home to see if he had any violent video games. The police were apparently acting on the suggestion of Jack Thompson who suggested to them that violent video games may have figured in Tuesday’s slaying of a West Feliciana Parish man. A 16 year old and a 17 year old have been arrested and charged with first degree murder and armed robbery. Thompson got in touch with coppers and suggested there might be a link between the murder and the games because some of the injuries described matched some of the violent games he had seen. Published reports that Neher told detectives he and Everette killed Gore because Gore would not let them borrow his car followed the same scenario in (the video) 'Grand Theft Auto', claimed Thompson. Coppers who carried out the search say they did find several 'm' rated computer games on the property, although it is not clear of GTA was among them. Captain Spence Dilworth said that the question of whether video games can spark violence in juvenile players may be "more of a debate for the living room rather than the courtroom". He added that he thought that this particular case went beyond video games. µ
Rockstar to release Bully game in October Sticks two fingers up at criticsBy Nick Farrell: Wednesday 09 August 2006, 14:28 MAKER OF the controversial video game Grand Theft Auto, Rockstar, has confirmed that it will release a game with themes of school fighting in October."Bully", in which a 15 year-old defends himself against school bullies at a fictional US boarding school called Bullworth Academy has got the anti-violent video games lobby hot under the collar since it was announced last year. The hero has to use baseball bats that break after several blows, stink bombs and bags of marbles that when strategically thrown will lay flat most pursuers. A Rockstar spokesman said that Bully can speak for itself. People can look at the game and see what it is and what it's not. In March, Florida's Miami-Dade County School Board called on retailers not to sell the game to minors, even though development work on the game had not finished yet.Rockstar said that the fighting scenes did not include blood or result in the death of characters. So, a bit like Tom and Jerry then.
I have seen R rated movies showing for All Ages here already. That alone should show some level of hypocrisy.
Louisiana Judge squashes violent game banWhat where they thinking of?By Nick Farrell: Tuesday 29 August 2006, 16:17Click Here!A DISTRICT JUDGE has chucked out a Louisiana law banning the sales of violent video games to minors.US District Judge James Brady said the state had no right to stop any distribution of games because they showed violent acts. Brady dubbed the law an "invasion of First Amendment rights" of producers, retailers and kiddies who play the games. He said that depictions of violence are "entitled to full constitutional protection."The law aimed to ban the sales of video games to minors if an "average person" would conclude that they appeal to a "morbid interest in violence." The question of who would constitute an average person in Louisiana would open a real legal can of worms, we would have thought. Given the fact that The Axeman serial killer, pirate Jean Lafitte, and Lee Harvey Oswald all hail from the area, the state which gave us venetian blinds has a wide range to choose from.More here. µ
US judge lets Bully go Game less violent than the tellyBy INQUIRER newsdesk: Monday 16 October 2006, 16:50US JUDGE Ronald Friedman has decided that the Rockstar game, Bully, can be sold in the shops. Friedman said the game was pretty violent but not as violent as stuff shown every night on the telly.Vociferous lawyer Jack Thompson had wanted the game banned from being sold to minors, labelling it a "Columbine simulator". He said as much to a court in Florida.The game, which will be released later this week in the UK under the title Canis Canem Edit, Latin for Dog Eat Dog, will have a teen-only rating in the US and a 15 rating in the UK. The judge sat down with an employee of publisher Take Two to decide how violent the game is. This miffed Thompson as he thought the employee would hoodwink the judge by showing him non-violent action.But the judge has made his mind up. "There's a lot of violence," he said, "a whole lot. Less than we see on television every night." µ
The WoW Diet: 41 lbs in 90 daysPosted Oct 31st 2006 3:25PM by James Ransom-WileyFiled under: Culture, PC, Online, RPGs, MMO, ExergamingWoWGreg shed 41 lbs. from a 274-pound frame in just 3 months -- and did it playing World of Warcraft. Word?Dubbed "Warbiking," Greg strapped a keyboard onto the display of his stationary bike (Schwinn 213 Recumbent) and used a side table to operate his mouse. He hung a 46-inch Samsung LCD to hold his attention, outputting WoW from his XPS Gen 2 laptop. Truth be told, Warbiking was only part of the regimen, which included weightlifting, a low calorie diet, and even fasting; but WoW was the cornerstone for the weight loss, as Greg attests:"I really think the Warbiking had a LOT to do with how well I did, and how much I lost. I have done over *100* hours of cardio in three months, which is wild. There is NO WAY I could have done that without Warcraft ... it's [sic] ability to suck me in and make me ignore what I'm physically doing is amazing, and made this possible."Yo Blizzard, you payin' attention? This guy could totally be the next 'Jared.'
