Blizzard announced to players on the WoW forums that with the new 2.1.0 patch, it is now easier to report and block spam. They also stated that they have filed a lawsuit in federal court against peons4hire, the most audacious gold seller to ever harass a WoW player. Hopefully this will deter more companies from gold farming and spamming the WoW community, but inevitably someone will find a way around it. Crooks and cheaters always do.

Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich has spent $1,000,000 in taxpayer money attempting to “appeal a 2005 federal court ruling that a state law banning the sale of violent or sexual-explicit video games to minors was unconstitutional.” Money was diverted from “the public health department, the state’s welfare agency and even the economic development department,” because health and welfare aren’t important when our children’s welfare is at stake. Wait…what?

The measure would have banned stores from selling or renting violent or sexually explicit games to minors, calling for $1000 fines for stores failing to comply. A Federal Court ruled that this violates the 1st Amendment. One million bucks ought to solve that problem, right Mr. Blagojevich?

Awhile back, we reported about a letter Jack Thompson sent to Bill Gates voicing his concerns (with his usual amount of tact and disregard for reality) about the upcoming release of Halo 3. Well the folks over at Spong.com decided to do a little fact-checking to see when the illustrious lawyer actually played the Halo 3 Beta. His response: to not answer the question and instead make baseless accusations towards them. It kind of reminds you of a porcupine, curling up into a ball with it’s spines pointing out, doesn’t it? Instead of just not responding at all — which would’ve left his opponents with really nothing to shoot back at him — he decided to accuse Spong.com (falsely I might add) of encouraging children under 17 to purchase M-rated games.

Way to dodge the question with the classic “I’m right and you’re wrong” defense, Mr. Thompson. I haven’t seen such skilled lawyering like this since the McCarthy hearings. Have you no sense of decency sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?

Luck and skill.

That is the difference between legal and illegal when it comes to gambling in video games in Ohio.

Apparently there have been a number of questionable video games at bars across the state, so much so that Attorney General Marc Dann has had enough requests to get him going on the matter.

“This explosion has occurred because there is no clear standard for determining whether a machine is a game of skill that belongs in the arcade at Cedar Point or at Chuck E. Cheese or an illegal game of chance that belongs in Las Vegas or a state that has legalized gambling,” Dann said to whiotv.com.

Looks like a lot of bars could be in trouble if they’ve got the drunks playing roulette on screen.

“The New York State Senate today passed legislation, sponsored by Senator Andrew Lanza (R-I, Staten Island), that would take steps to crack down on video game violence, and combat and reduce children’s exposure to violent and inappropriate materials within these games.

The bill (S.5888) would establish the Advisory Council on Interactive Media and Youth Violence to review the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) rating system and its effectiveness, and recommend additional steps that can be taken to curb children’s access and exposure to such “adult-only” material. The advisory council would consist of nine members and six ex-officio members”.

Lanza has joined the long list of politicians and media to publicly blame video games for the Virginia Tech massacre. I am really getting tired of how people in the public actually listen to these morons. The killer in Blacksburg didn’t even play video games. No games were found in his room… no systems.. not so much as a hand held game. Are the days of personal responsibility truly gone? I lost a great friend here at Virginia Tech and mourn the loss of all 32 victims. The only person or thing I blame is Cho. I’d do anything in the world to have my friend Ryan “Stack” Clark back here with us. I will not blame anything or anyone other than the killer, because blaming does not bring anyone back. Blaming will not prevent the next campus attack. No one knows when or where, but it will happen again in our future. Fortunately, it’s the outsiders who are blaming video games and whatever they can to further their political agendas. The majority of people here in the Virginia Tech community are not reacting this way. Maybe some of the world could learn from us.

Read the full article »

EmpireStateNews ran an article on current legislation. The New York Senate is taking steps to limit children’s exposure to the violence in video games. The state Senate has passed legislation to implement several new measures including establishing an Advisory Council on Interactive Media and Youth Violence. This organization would review the current ESRB ratings and recommend steps to increase its effectiveness. The bill also outlines a plan to establish a Parent-Teachers Anti-Violence Awareness Program.

Are video games as bad as heroin? Well, yes, but not in the way that it’s talked about in the Virgina Tech Review Panel.

What they are talking about is banning video games like heroin is banned for people’s apparent safety. And all because the panelist couldn’t get his facts straight.

It comes down to a bunch of bullshit.

Read the full article »

Gamepolitics.com has an excellent article up regarding the interviews of the Virginia Tech Review Panel, a group created by Virginia Governor Tim Kaine that was tasked with studying the April 16th shooting on the college campus. The commission invited witnesses to speak on the many possible causes and influences on the shooter for the massacre and one of those, former Lyndon LaRouche team members – Don Phau, is presenting just about every anti-gaming source in the media to defend his case. Phau quotes Florida lawyer Jack Thompson, and video game violence critic David Grossman to support his claims that games should become a controlled substance or controlled media like porn.

One would hope that the members of the panel would be intelligent enough to disregard the erroneous information Phau is spouting. In one quote he even claims Microsoft developed Counter-strike – the only game the VT killer was known to play years ago. While Microsoft did publish the Xbox version they are not its developer – they just have a big well known name outside of the gaming community. Sometimes I just wish the media talking heads would do their homework before they spouted off at the mouth.

Click on over to the Gamepolitics.com article for more in-depth commentary. Gamepolitics also has links to audio and video of the testimony.

There are many gaming titles in this world that I would like to play, but I refuse to pay $40 or more on something that I am sure I will never play again. Granted, anything Zelda, Morrowind, Silent Hill, Kratos or Mario Cart related, I just hand over my wallet and say thank you very much. Games like Fatal Frame, Condemned, Clock Tower, or The Mark of Kri, well you either rent those or you buy them used. When you finally decide that you have enough coasters and could use some cash or a new game though, you take it down to your local game store and either trade, get credit, or sell it out right. Everyone has done this, and it works well for the consumer. This, however, could change and it already has in some states.

Call it, the Brady Bill of Gaming if you will. What it boils down to is this: a mandatory 15-30-day period before the used game can be resold. WHAAAAA???? Yep. It is already a fact in Florida, Utah, and Toledo, and Ohio – although different cities and areas may vary. It is pending in Rhode Island and Wisconsin. Stores such as Gamestop and EB Games enjoy a 50% profit margin on sales of used video games. What this means for the consumer, is that the impatient (aren’t we all?) will have to pay full price for a new game, and the publishers will no longer miss out on the “used” sale. This puts the gaming stores in the same category as a pawnshop. Maybe some crazy entrepreneur will combine the two one day, and you will able to pawn your wedding bands and used beta and cassette players while purchasing a nice used Commodore 64 or Super NES game. That is all I see at pawnshops around here anyway. Who knows, maybe we will see Kratos sitting next to a display of gold nugget rings someday.

This was the state in which a student was removed from school for making a Counter-Strike map, so it figures there might be some unnecessary lameness abound when it comes to video games and Texans.

However, it looks like their state legislature has decided not to exclude video games for grant incentives. This means free money for creative people to make video games, and other similar media like movies and TV.

Read the full article »