"There are a few things to do, and it will be a while before that happens," Murphy continued. "But yes, the product has been recovered from the liquidators and we are bringing it back to market."

Gizmondo is coming back - it's official [Eurogamer]

The much too talked about, consistently delayed, Bully is finding its way into the media yet again, this time via the Miami Herald. An article in this morning's Herald titled "Secretive New Video Game Might Inspire Bullies" consists of some interviews Miami-Dade school board members and the illustrious Jack Thompson. One school board member, Frank Bola os, has introduced a "resolution" to have local merchants refuse to sell the game and is urging families not to purchase it. In news from the future, Miami-Dade is not letting residents use the Internet for fear that someone might purchase Bully online.

Secretive new video game might inspire school bullies [Miami Herald]

GameSpot reports that Tennessee Senator Tommy Kilby is trying to shoehorn a bill through legislation that will make it illegal to sell or rent a violent game in Tennessee. This is a whole new level of legislation as previous bills attempted by other states have focused on keeping these games out of the hands of minors. If the law takes effect, Tennessee would become a dry state in terms of "extremely violent video games." However, the size of that "If" is pretty huge.

Tennessee Pondering Violent Games Ban [GameSpot]

Well, if the CDC can provide the link between video games and violent behaviors, then the courts that have been striking down state legislature left and right over the last year will have the link they've been looking for and the face of game legislation will change. Currently, when state X tries to enact some kind of law it eventually gets overturned by the courts - if the CDC shows a link that may no longer bet the case.

Clinton, Lieberman propose CDC investigate games [GameSpot]

Aside from simply being a sad story for the boys and their families involved in this mess, it's also a sad situation for gaming. Stories like this one are the type that people will latch onto in their campaigns against video games and online games. Isolated incidents become the biggest black eyes on the gaming industry's face.

JUSTICE FILES: Counter-strike Clan Leader Busted as Pedophile [GamePolitics]

The Family Guy is hitting current gen consoles this autumn. I expect a high degree of sucktitude, though the Simpson franchise finally pulled off a winner with their last title, so you never know.

This canned quote doesn't help my expectations at all:

We are looking forward to bringing the colourful Family Guy characters to life in a one-of-a-kind action/adventure style game.

Looks bleak.

Family Guy coming to current-gen consoles
[Pro-G]

In Utah, video games aren't porn after all.

GamePolitics reports that the Games-as-Porn bill was killed by the Utah Senate after passing easily through the house. The bill would've placed selling violent video games to minors beside selling pornography to minors - a bit of a stretch. For now, at least, the bill is dead. Thankfully, this is America and some other hairbrained video game related bill will pop up soon.

BREAKING: Utah Senate Kills "Games as Porn" Bill [Gamepolitics]
Utah House Passes Games-as-Porn Bill [Kotaku]

It wouldn't be President's Day without some politically flavored news, right? For that we thumb to GamePolitics who directs readers to an op-ed piece in the Salt Lake Tribune on the First Ammendment ramifcations of Utah's Violent Games Equal Porn bill. The op-ed, penned by First Ammendment experts Clay Calvert and Robert D. Richards admits that the concerns of Utah Rep. David Hogue are valid, but that his methodology isn't. The two experts pin the responsibility for what media children consume firmly where it belongs - back on the parents.

First Amendment Scholars Weigh in on Utah 'Games as Porn' Bill [GamePolitics]
Leave Video Game Choice to Parents [Salt Lake Tribune]
Violent Games Equal Porn?

GamePolitics reports that Utah representative David Hogue has slipped launguage into a bill that equates violent games and pornography as media that needs to be kept out of the hands of minors. The law would make it a felony to "exhibit or sell violent video games to minors." Everyone's heard of "gun porn," but this is taking the games and porn thing way too far.

BREAKING: Utah Games = Porn Bill Revived [GamePolitics]

An IGN link refers to Best Buy cleaning up some of the mess surrounding the Xbox 360 launch. The word via The Inquirer reports that a bunch of Best Buy employees (sounds like managers and white collar, primarily) were shown the door after an internal investigation. It all sounds so formal and intense, considering this is over a (still extremely) hard-to-find game console.

Best Buy Fires Xbox 360 Price Gougers [IGN]
Best Buy and 360 Bundling Revisited [The Inquirer]
Best Buy: Sorry, So Sorry
Best Buy is Full of Lying Swine

The Evening Times reports that PlayStation and PlayStation 2 units in the Children's Ward of Yorkhill Hospital in Glasgow, Scotland were ganked. The report says there is only one game console left in the children's ward now. The Yorkhill Hospital hopes to raise enough money to have a PlayStation 2 beside each patient's bed in the Ward. They are holding a Go-Kart night to raise money for the PlayStation 2's sometime in March.

Game Consoles Stolen From Kids' Hospital [Evening Times]

The newspaper that asked "Did Need for Speed Kill?" drew the ire of Kotaku reader Skitzo and he updated a message board with where things have gone since the email exchange. The short story is that the Editor-in-Chief was less than sympathetic to Skitzo's complaints, but he did get the EIC to admit that the cover was done the way it was (see image for idiocy) simply to sell newspapers.

My Battle with the Toronto Sun [Assembler Games]
One Reader's Battle with the Toronto Sun

More Need for Speed Blame on Accident

From: Skitzo
To: readership@tor.sunpub.com
Hello,
I've have just finished viewing Toronto Sun cover today, and might I add, you couldn't possibly be more repulsive. I'm saying this with no disrespect towards the family of the driver who was killed. How can you run a cover like that with out mentioning the teens parents? Are they not at fault teaching kids right from wrong? I myself grew up playing video games throughout my child hood, teen years and even to this day. My parents always showed me right from wrong, what is fantasy and reality. Maybe that's the issues these days' people like you pressing garbage in the media, for the masses to swallow to detour away from the real problem at hand. Parents being lazy in this day and age.
Maybe you're right; maybe the parents shouldn't be to blame, and maybe its rubbish news outlets such as yourselves pumping fictional prints like this to scare parents from the big bad video games. Hey I have a question if I rob a bank and blame it on video games, will I still go to jail? I would love to have your feed back, please email me asap.

From: Alison Downie
To: Skitzo
Hello,
Regarding today's newspaper ... the reason we did not mention the parents on the front page is because they are not facing criminal charges. Anyone who knows these 2 young men would know who their parents are. We identified the school they went to, where they live and where they are attending for post-secondary education. Both of the suspects are of legal age, so they are adults and are being treated as such by the courts.
I don't have enough information, and I doubt you do either, to determine if the parents of these young men were at fault or not. Life has taught me that good parents can sometimes have bad kids. And sometimes good kids do bad things. In this instance, there is no indication that either of these young men had any previous trouble with the police.
I must also point out that it was the police, not the Sun, that inked the video game with the accident. It is a fact that a car racing video was found in one of the vehicles involved in this crash. That's relevant information which is why we printed it. Had it been a fishing video, we wouldn't have mentioned it.
I doubt the video will matter much to a judge and I can't imagine it being used as a defence. If you believe parents are responsible for the actions of their adult children, and believe that should be in the paper, then you might consider writing a letter to the editor stating your opinion. Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts. I always enjoy hearing from our readers.
Best regards,
Alison Downie
Sun Readership Editor

From: Skitzo
To: Alison Downie
Good morning,

Please have a good look at your front page. http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/TorontoCover.jpg

I will give you the matter of the doubt, that yes the police did say, Need for speed video game was in the car. But yet again I point to that front cover and ask myself, "Wow so drag racing has not been around for years like I always thought it has, Sony Playstation 2 and Xbox must have invented that." I just love the way "cops say high octane video game found in car of one 18 year old charged in alleged street racing crash that left cabbie dead" and in the eye attractive color and size DID NEED FOR SPEED KILL?
Of course the sun did not link the video game to the death at all, how silly of me to think so. Please if you wish to pass this email over you're an editor. Since apparently I did at first, and now you are emailing me with this insulting reply back. I would love to hear your response.

With absolutely zero disrespect to the family of the driver who was killed, the image above - the cover of the Toronto Sun couldn't possibly be more repulsive. Video games can kill now? They can perform actions? To my knowledge they are inanimate objects incapable of killing anyone on their own. The type of language that's being used surrounding this horrible incident is extremely frustrating. Where are the parents of these two youngsters? We can't actually be trying to hold video games accountable for this, can we?

You can read more about the tragedy here.

Cop Makes Link Between Racing, Games [Toronto Sun]

Toronto's news, Pulse 24 reports on a car wreck that claimed the life of a cab driver. One of two Mercedes Benz automobiles, allegedly locked in a street race, hit the taxi cab and caused the accident. In the passenger seat of one of the Mercedes involved in the wreck? A copy of Need for Speed Underground. The story's lede: "It appears to be a tragic case of life imitating art—or in this case, a video game." Sounds like more finger pointing at the video game industry is incoming.

Deadly Driving [Pulse 24]

Texas gubernatorial candidate Star Locke thinks a 50% tax on violent video games, abortion and soft drinks is the way forward for the "everything's bigger here" state. This tax, in Locke's eyes, would replace property tax as the big breadwinner of taxation. Whatever happened to just taxing the absolute shit out of cigarettes and alcohol to make more money for the state? The times they are a-changin'.

50% Tax on Games? [1UP]

It'd be otherwise hard to tell, since the The Daily Record is a website you have either pay to see online or be a subscriber to read (seriously, be more regressive), but the main story on the front page right now is on two new bills that were introduced to keep kids under the age of 18 from buying video games. Despite the fact that every time a law like this has popped up, it's been swatted away - they just keep coming.

Thanks Justin.

Prison time for retailers who sell violent video games to minors? [The Daily Record]

Over at Terra Nova they link to a piece in Legal Affairs that says the IRS is considering trying to find a way to charge people for virtual commerce. No, I don't mean using IGE, I mean taxing you on that gold you made for selling an Arcanite Reaper. Because the real world value of gold can be quantified, selling an item for 1000 gold, which has a value of (for the sake of argument only) $60. The IRS' thinking is this: "Goods taken in trade or won at play are taxable the moment they fall into somebody's hands, even if they are not sold for money."

Would a policy like this be the death knell for MMOs? Is the IRS overstepping its boundaries, here? Or are they within their rights given the popularity of virtual commerce?

The Taxman Cometh [Terra Nova]
Dragon Slayers or Tax Evaders [Legal Affairs]

In a move that surprises exactly no one, GamePolitics reports that Democratic Utah Representative Jim Matheson intends to bring legislation that would make selling M-rated games to minors an offense. The Desert News spoke with Matheson about the bill and GamePolitics latched on to the same quote I did when I scanned the piece: "You know darn well the 13-year-old is not being carded when he buys Grand Theft Auto 2. You get points (in that game) for having sex with a prostitute; you get points for killing the prostitute."

It'd be nice if the guys who attempt to bring these bills to law at least knew something about games to begin with.

Utah Congressman Introducing Yet Another Federal Video Game Bill [GamePolitics]
Game Crackdown Urged [The Desert News]

Ugh. Game Politics posts about an overzealous Indiana senator who is seeking to pass video game legislation based off of an Illinois bill that was overturned by the courts. Dennis Kruse is the Republican senator pushing the button for this latest bit of legislation. The bill's digest is after the jump or you can read more here.

New Video Game Bill Filed in Indiana [Gamepolitics]
New Video Game Bill

Adult video games. Requires a video game retailer to place a warning label on violent or sexually explicit video games. Prohibits the sale or rental of violent or sexually explicit video games by means of a scanning device that has not been programmed to prompt the sales clerk to ask the purchaser to show identification. Prohibits the sale or rental of a violent or sexually explicit video game to a child less than 18 years of age. Provides affirmative defenses if: (1) certain relatives of the child were involved in the sale or rental; (2) the child used false identification to buy or rent the video game; or (3) the video game was rated appropriate for children less than 18 years of age by the Entertainment Software Rating System. Provides an affirmative defense for a video game retailer if a sales clerk, knowing that the purchaser was a child less than 18 years of age, intentionally sold a violent or sexually explicit video game to a child less than 18 years of age.

Gamecore, CBSNews.com's video game section devoted their mailbag this week to the plight of the Star Wars Galaxies' gamer. The death of the old Galaxies community is being covered pretty heavily as are the changes being made to Galaxies.

GameSpot's interview with John Smedley from SOE illuminates that Galaxies' developers are aiming to compete with Blizzard's titan, World of Warcraft. I'm just not convinced that killing the core of your subscribers was the way to fight that battle.

MailBag: Star Wars Galaxies [CBSNews]
A Galaxy Far, Far From Full Worrying Description of MMOG Play
Q&A With John Smedley [GameSpot]

The second saddest Star Wars news of 2005, behind the passing of Star Wars: A New Hope pilot, Porkins (played by William Hootkins), might be the stories that Chris Kohler gleaned from the Star Wars Galaxies' community in a piece over at Wired. See, Hootkins actually lived for awhile (he was 58 at the time of his death), Galaxies wasn't afforded the same luxury.

Changes made to Galaxies turned the game on its head - and people fled in droves. A heartbreaking quote from the Wired piece: "People who we grew to know over the last couple of years are gone. Cities are ghost towns, guilds are gone. My galaxy is gone, my game is gone." That quote, from Carolyn Hocke, a web technician in a Wisconsin Hospital, sums up what is happening to the playerbase in the wake of these changes. They'll all come play WoW, now.

Star Wars Fans Flee Net Galaxy [Wired]
SWG Gets Jedirrific!
William Hootkins Remembered [StarWars.com]

The Chicago Tribune reports that Illinois Governor and temporarily defeated moralist Rod Blagojevich planned to launch a "multi-pronged effort" in his continued quest to protect the youth of America from the evil video game industry. Blagojevich also plans to work with Senator Hillary Clinton on passing a similar law on a Federal level. Maybe a Federal court can strike these moronic attempts at law making down once and for all? Is that asking too much, dear judicial system of America?

Governor to Fight Video Game Ruling [Chicago Tribune]

The first trailer from Uwe Boll's Dungeon Siege (the latest video game he's murdering into a movie) has popped up at the distributor's website according to Gamespot. The trailers takes a long time to open and it's actually just sitting at the website link, so when you click it, it'll be a few minutes before anything happens. But it's Uwe Boll, he's worth the wait, right?

Dungeon Siege Film Trailer Surfaces [Gamespot]
The Trailer Itself [Fantastic Films International]