No More Heroes 2 To Come In Gory/Non Gory Flavors

In an attempt to avoid the censorship criticism that surrounded the European release of the original No More Heroes, Marvelous Interactive is to release two seperate boxed editions of the game - both with and without rivers of gore.

"We won't be able to make the same game for all territories," Goichi Suda told Eurogamer, "For Europe, we're going to release two versions. One extreme version, and one with less violence."

This could be a smart move - Germany in particular would welcome a less bloody version of the game and just the publicity value of being seen to need a watered-down edition of the Wii title might be worth the effort. Be interesting to see the comparative sales figures, though.

No More Heroes 2 to get two versions

Dead Space Ban: Fact or Fiction?

Parents Fear GTA More Than Sex And Alcohol

Back in my days as a teen, my parents weren't afraid of anything as far as I was concerned, but not all 15-year-olds are 6'6" with a goatee. Today's parents have plenty to worry about in fact, though a recent survey performed at the family-focused consumer game site What They Play seems to indicate their priorities are a bit out of whack. They asked a series of asked over 1,600 respondents what they’d fear the most if their 17-year-old were to participate in a sleepover. The results, picked from single answers only - no multiple choice here - indicated that while 16% were concerned about pornography and 14% about beer, 19% voiced concerns that their child might end up playing Grand Theft Auto.

Proving that parents haven't gone completely crazy, the vast majority - 49% - were worried that their child would smoke a little chronic with their pals and then...I dunno, giggle for 8 hours straight, like we did back when i was a teenager. That's the real danger folks.

With some calling Facebook the new frontier for gaming, it's unsurprising that it keeps making headlines. After all, it's not part of the gaming industry unless someone's complaining about excessive violence.

Yes, game violence. On Facebook.

If you're already a Facebook user, then you already might know about SuperPoke. If you don't, it works like this: you basically send a greeting message and icon to your friends — "give flowers to," "party with," generally nice things like that. They have "pokes" that are themed around holidays or events like popular movies, too. Some of them are a little bit offensive or silly. It's game-like, in that the more pokes you send your friends, the more you unlock, and it really doesn't get much more complicated than that.

So what's to rail against?

One "Mortal Kombat Killer" Avoids Prison Term

Heather Trujillo, the babysitter implicated in the death of 7-year old Zoe Garcia, has been given an 18-year suspended sentence, according to a report from Colorado NBC News affiliate 9 News. Trujillo, who was arrested along with her boyfriend Lamar Roberts, will instead spend six years in a youth offender program as part of a plea bargain. The two were charged with child abuse after acting out — in their own words — Mortal Kombat moves, kicking, punching and body slamming the young girl in December of last year.

Roberts' trial has not yet been set, but Trujillo will testify against him as part of her plea agreement.

Teen avoids prison time in sister's 'Mortal Kombat' death [9 News]

Kotick: We Cater To Adults

Activision is well aware that most of its customers are over 18 and plans to address their R-rated expectations, Activision chairman and CEO Bobby Kotick told the Wall Street Journal's Kara Swisher at today's D6 event.

"We try to stick to violence against small animals," said Kotick, (hopefully) joking, when Swisher asked him about the in-game violence issue:

Most of our users are over 18, they go to R-rated movies and we need to to cater to that preference. We are a broad-based medium today and we must appeal to as many demographics as we can. Part of that demographic audience enjoys in-game violence, and that includes gratuitous violence.

Bobby Kotick, Chairman and CEO of Guitar Hero-Maker Activision - D6 Highlights [All Things Digital]

Grand Theft Childhood Author Weighs in on GTAIV

Art Imitates Life - Man Stabbed In GTA IV Queue

A queue of gamers waiting in line at a Gamestation store in South London were treated to a gruesome preview of the game they would soon be playing when a hooded man who had seemingly been waiting in line for the game repeatedly stabbed a 23-year-old male who had been passing by. Around 50-100 people were present at the Gamestation in Croyden when the attack occurred, with members of the queuing public contact the police. The victim was discovered a short distance from the store and was taken to a hospital and treated for multiple stab wounds.

Authorities are currently looking for "a light skinned black man aged about 21, 6ft 5ins tall, of medium build wearing a light grey hooded top," while the mainstream media is currently seeking the best possible way to shock the living hell out of the non-gaming public with the headline for this story. I think we're going to have to give them this one. The assailant just picked a really inconvenient time to go apeshit.

Stab attack at Grand Theft queue [BBC News - Thanks g2dat]

Matt Damon OK With Movie Violence, Not OK With Game Violence

Matt and I don't share the same views about violence in adult films, but we do see eye-to-eye on the importance of protecting children. We both support regulations to stop the marketing of violence in films to children through violent toys, products, and video games.