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Earlier this week, according to Digital Trends, a Capcom spokesperson was asked for the company's position on the Stop Online Piracy Act. "The ESA represents us on these matters," was the reply. The ESA supports SOPA. Applying the transitive property, that means Capcom supports SOPA. More »
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Much credit to Rock, Paper, Shotgun, for maintaining this registry of members of the Entertainment Software Association and their on-the-record positions regarding the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), a bill almost universally despised by rank-and-file gamers. More »
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The Stop Online Piracy Act, currently a bill before the Congress, is utterly detested by the Internet, in case you don't read the Internet. Gamers don't think much of it either, as it would have some rather stupid ramifications for how they enjoy that lifestyle and consume its products. So it's of note that Nintendo, Sony and Electronic Arts have taken their names off the latest list of supporters of the bill. More »
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We do! More »
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Video game preservation, educational robot dragons and Department of Homeland Security Sno Cones are just some of the "outlandish" federally funded projects called out in U.S. Senator Tom Coburn's annual big book of wasteful government spending this week. More »
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The Houses of the British Parliament are known to have bars. One MP, the minister for culture in fact, wishes to put in a video game room. Ed Vaizey thinks it would do some good in educating his fellow MPs on the industry that he has forcefully supported in the past. More »
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In Oregon, when I trade my games in, I'm required to certify there is no lien against them, like the IRS wants my copy of NCAA Football 11. It's one of the many fun-filled ways in which local ordinances regulate the sale of used games. Madison, Wisc., is scheming up another. More »
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The New York Times this morning published an extensive look at the system of tax incentives and breaks exploited by games makers, concluding that their write-offs to research and development costs satisfy the letter, but not the spirit, of 50-year-old tax policies that by now defy common sense. More »
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Electronic Arts today said it will expand its EA Sports operations to Texas, and bring in more than 150 new jobs in a move the state government will back with financial incentives. More »
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It might in the future, according to one reading of Senate Bill 978, assuming it gets passed. This is a proposed law put before the Senate about a couple months ago, but the games community just sat up and noticed once it read the language and understood the totality of its prohibitions. More »
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During the PlayStation Network outage, Sony was asked to appear before a U.S. House of Representatives committee to explain the situation. The company declined, sending an eight-page letter instead. Now it will go before Congress, when the president of Sony Network Entertainment visits a Tuesday hearing to answer questions. More »
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The PSN's service is being restored in North America, Europe, Australia and Latin America. In Japan, it's not. More »
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For years the National Endowment for the Arts' has been doling out millions of dollars to innovative television and radio projects about the arts or that could be considered works of art. Starting next year, video games are eligible for some of that sweet, sweet federal grant money. More »
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Last year U.S. President Barack Obama challenged video game developers young and old to develop a game that encouraged the learning of science, technology, engineering, and math. The winners of the STEM Video Game Challenge have been announced, and the grand prize winner is a game that teaches children how to spread disease. More »
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Last night President Obama delivered the State of the Union. Written for posterity, perhaps, it's still a policy speech, and policy costs. Here's "Debtris," reminding everyone that, a bilion here, a billion there, pretty soon you're talking about real money. More »
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Rep. Tim Murphy discussing the Tucson shootings. We have a Constitution that prohibits government restraint of most creative works, and guarantees a right to own firearms. Both can be called problems as well as values. Thanks truthtellah for the pullquote. More »
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Activision's so incensed over the United Kingdom's rollback of promised tax breaks for video games development that the publisher is considering the withdrawal of its 600-employee office from the country, according to The Telegraph. More »
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A Gallup survey conducted over the weekend finds that while Americans believe the greatest responsibility for keeping violent games out of children's hands lies with parents, they aren't opposed to the government stepping in to help. More »
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Rome. The Eternal City. Its elected leaders are the inheritors of a millennia-old tradition forming the basis of modern municipal and state government. Yet where senators once debated inside the august walls of the Curia, now city councillors play video games. More »
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In a recent interview with the New York Times, the U.S. secretary of education touted his own TV-less upbringing before unloading the chicken-dinner applause line that he's "not a fan" and "absolutely" wouldn't get his kids an "Xbox." More »
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Adventure game company Legacy Interactive and the American College Of Emergency Physicians have teamed up to create Disaster Hero, a web-based game aimed at helping people keep it together while the world is falling apart. More »
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As weird and scary as it sounds, there may be a time when you'll be able to blame your server going down on the current U.S. President instead of your internet provider. More »
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Last summer, as Germany grappled with a shooting spree linked to video games, state officials demanded the German government enact a comprehensive ban on violent games. A year later the government has refused, choosing to implement ratings education measures instead. More »
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The Department of Defense aims to train a better breed of soldier using video games (aka "simulations") that monitor voice recognition, facial gestures and cognitive patterns through EEG scans, reports Wired. Hope for future video game controllers! [Wired] More »
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Operators of gaming centers would have to write and file a policy on how they enforce game ratings at their establishments when applying for a business license, under an ordinance being considered by a Detroit suburb. More »
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The National Institute of Health is granting Yale associate professor Dr. Lynn Fielin $3.9 million over five years to develop a game aimed at helping children aged 9 through 14 say no to sex, drugs, and other HIV-transmitting behaviors. More »
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South Australia 's opposition calls for the firing of Attorney-General Michael Atkinson, the primary reason the country can't give games a R18+ mature rating, after he suggested that a West Croydon citizen was an imaginary plant for the Liberal Party. More »
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Somalia has a ton of problems, but at least it does have cybercafes where kids can enjoy playing games. But a fun-killing Islamist group has ordered them shut down in a ban on games in territories under its control. More »
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The Federal Trade Commission, in a report to Congress, lauds the video games industry as best among all entertainment producers when it comes to responsible marketing and advertising. More »
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In many places, should the unthinkable happen and a serious emergency arise, citizens are alerted via the TV and radio. How 20th century. New York, however, are going a little more modern, and adding gaming networks to the list. More »
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The games industry is unhappy that AT&T, in comments filed with the Federal Communications Commission, described real-time online video gaming as an "aspirational service" of broadband communications and not a core need. More »
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Remember how news about a week ago that the FCC was looking into a universal ratings system spooked the video game sector? Relax. A report delivered to Congress expresses a rather high opinion of how games are self-regulated. More »
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Video Game Growth Initiative Philadelphia, or VGI, grew out of IGDA's Philly chapter, and it's looking to make the City of Brotherly Love into an East Coast magnet for games development. More »
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Good news for the economy came today when U.S. Senator George V. Voinovich of Ohio used the iconic Pac-Man to illustrate the United States' nation debt, which currently stands at more than $11.38 trillion. Where's the good news? More »
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The third installment of America's Army is now available for pre-loading on Steam one week ahead of its June 17th release date. More »
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The Congressional International Anti-Piracy Caucus asks that Canada, Russia, China, Mexico, and Spain please cut down on the software piracy. Thanks! More »
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Georgia City Councilman John Dowdy thought it would be a good idea to send an email round the office recommending a racist flash game. John Dowdy is no longer a Georgia City Councilman. More »
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The United States government is going after gamers in its latest "Above the Influence" anti-drug ads, warning potential pot smokers that their gaming skills may suffer if they choose to get high. More »
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NASA wanted a massively multiplayer online game, and now they're getting one, signing three separate development studios to work on Astronaut: Moon, Mars, and Beyond. More »
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Six years after the first Army-branded game took the country by storm, the U.S. Army is ready to roll out sequel number two, announcing America's Army 3, due out later this year. More »
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