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The Associated Press reports that the Venezuelan government's attempts to ban violent video games such as Counter-Strike, is weeks away from passing, though it isn't likely to affect widespread sale of pirated games. More »
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People like banning things — books and films have been dealing with this issue for quite a long time, and the banning of games is no different. We watch the decisions of approval and censorship boards, waiting to see what will slip past, what will receive a de facto ban, and what will be banned outright. Vancouver Game Design wonders if this doesn't have to do with a fundamental misunderstanding of how the player-game interaction functions: More »
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The South American nation famous for its ability to create great soccer players, attractive swimsuit models and land that used to be rainforests has brought the banhammer down upon two of the world's most popular online games. Both Counter-Strike and EverQuest, each now nine-years old, were said to promote "the subversion of public order, were an attack against the democratic state and the law and against public security" by the judge enacting the ban. More »
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Shanda Entertainment - one of Mainland China's heavy hitters in the gaming industry - announced that their subsidiary, Aurora Technology, has frozen accounts of male players who have elected to play as female characters in the King of the World MMORPG. Apparently there are no bans on women playing male characters, but women (and men-wanting-to-play-as-women) will be required to prove their gender via webcam. How exactly is this all going to work? And is it going to last? Who knows - but it certainly seems very odd and not prone to lasting long: More »
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For those of you using multiple Xbox Live accounts, ones registered outside of your native country, you might see said account on the banning block soon. More »
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59,000 gold farmers just found themselves on a Blizzard-enforced diaspora from the realms of World of Warcraft; simultaneously, 22 million gold vaporized from the economy. That's almost 400 gold per player... more cash than my level 44 undead rogue has ever seen. More »
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