The law would have provided people with the means to sue game retailers who advertised they were family friendly, and then were found to sell mature-rated content later. We've covered how stupid the concept was. Gov. Jon Huntsman agreed, banhammering the bill and pointing out its constitutional flaws.

But while the president of Utah's state senate thinks he could get a two-thirds majority in his chamber, he's not going to take the lead if the state house, which originated the bill, isn't pushing for a veto. And that seems to be the case. The representative who sponsored the bill sent a letter to his colleagues sticking up for the bill, but not asking explicitly for their support of an override session or their vote in it.

Because on the back end, there's a money issue. The legislature had canceled this month's "interim study day" between sessions, saving about $25,000 in costs related to convening it. Like most states, Utah is pinching every penny where it can. So if the anti-game bill is worth the fight, and it isn't, they'd have to spend the $25K just to take a vote. And then, if it succeeded, spend more taxpayer money in a constitutionally doomed defense of it.

May 11 is the deadline to call such a session. Anything can happen, but when money's involved, my bet is on the least expensive outcome.

Utah Lawmakers Unlikely to Call Override Session [Deseret News via GamePolitics]

"What they realize is that they can scan their world in, because this is the most life-like, real Sims game ever. As they are playing this, they are all of a sudden realising [that] what they are playing on the game is having an effect on the real world. So in effect, through the game, they are able to control their world. It's wish fulfillment, and obviously it turns against them."

Oh I see what they did there! The kids are playing The Sims, but for real! I'm with Luke on this one. If there isn't a scene with a man peeing himself in a room with no doors then it isn't The Sims at all.

Producer explains 'Sims' movie concept [Digital Spy]

RadioShack reorganizing retail outlets to sell games [GameSpot]

Kotaku reader Weefz has been on a quest, taking as many pics of the UK Sony PSP ads as possible. Apparently there are 22 of them in total, and Weefz has documented 15 of them so far. Granted, not all of them are annoying, but there are a couple doozies. More after the jump.

Photo Set [Flickr]

Sony UK's latest ad campaign has not only alienated the mainstream, but now has pissed off the Metro. A PlayStation Portable ad that read "TAKE A RUNNING JUMP HERE" was only a few feet from the subway tracks at bustling Piccadilly station. Disturbing, as according to Manchester Online, there have been a rash of passengers getting hit by trains in recent months. An employee noticed the ad, thought it was inappropriate and had it covered with tape. The ad has now been taken down. The electronics giant refused to comment.

Have Sony lost their minds? There's a difference between name-checking Paris Hilton and explicitly telling people to "take a running jump" at the edge of a subway platform. Up to now the company's boneheaded PSP campaigns have been annoying, but stuff like this is inexcusable. Period. Shame on you, Sony.

Full Story Here [Manchester Online] Thanks, Marco!

The game is already off-line apparently, but Harry and Co. from Ain't-It-Cool-News took a few tasteless screen shots.

Did we say NSFW? Well, it's NSFW.

Hey, New Line Cinema is run by thirteen year-olds.
I didn't know that, did you know that?
No, I didn't know that.

Full Story Here [Defamer]

Full Story [GameSpot] Thanks Randy!

I'm sure this is old, but stuff like this really irks me. YouTube has a clip up from Spanish language video site elRellano.com, which shows some punk in a witch's hat smashing a perfectly good PSP with a hammer and then repeatedly blowing it up with firecrackers. Now, I shouldn't have to explain why this is utterly insipid. I won't even link you directly to the clip. Instead, I'm posting the email addy to contact these chowderheads, because guess what, they've included it at the end of their video tripe. That's smart fellas, real smart.

Find it Here [YouTube]

Chowderhead Uwe Boll put up the website for his certifiably horrible BloodRayne flick. A quick tour around the website turns up pictures of the cast (victims), BloodRayne merchandise (now worthless) and an "interview" with chowderhead (insert comment).

"As I was looking around at what kind of movie I wanted to make, I wanted to make one that had many elements of what we like most about movies. Movies are an opportunity to go somewhere you've never been. There is something romantic and yet noble about the time of swords and legendary battles. And yet there is the mythical side of possibility that appeals to our imagination. The reason we are fascinated with vampires is because they are mythical creatures. They are immortal. That's intriguing to us. But they are also dangerous. So I decided I would take the era of swordplay, blend it with the mythical dangers and evils of a potential vampire sub-culture and throw it all into an epic adventure that thrills us, excites us and keeps living in the adventure. There is action. There is romance. There is adventure and there are the characters of nobility, immortality and danger. I think this will cross many genres and attract a very large audience."

Hey, did you know that Uwe Boll is German for "Ritalin-addled diarrhea"? I had no idea.

More Here [Official Site] Thanks Tony B!

Finally, the 360 Ebay auction to end them all. A seller is offering the next-gen console, five games and an extra controller for the starting price of 100 grand. The site does not list which games (look at the image to tell what's what), and only four are pictured. Note: There is a notice in the middle of the page that reads, "Dead Auction, Don't Bid." Uh, thanks for the heads up, but I wasn't planning to.

Bid Here Rich, Stupid People [Ebay, thanks WhiteRabbit!]

The guys at Akihabara News picked up a PSP Giga Pack and got this plastic PSP stand. I guess Sony expects us to put our portables on it or something. But seriously Sony, I've gotten better prizes outta ceral boxes.

See More Photos Here [Akihabara News]

Okay, Steven Spielberg might have made some rubbish in his day (1941, anyone?), but it's still Steven Spielberg making crap. Conversely, chowderhead Uwe Boll has made nothing but crap, and his crap is worse than anything conceivable by the human mind.

My fellow Texan Harry Knowles over at Ain't-It-Cool had the unfortunate luck of not only meeting Uwe Boll, but having to sit through his latest cinematic diarrhea, BloodRayne. Harry writes:

What is Uwe Boll like? Well, at the screening last night he was charming, warm, funny, frank and hilarious. But then, I've often held that really bad filmmakers had to be charming as hell, otherwise, how could they get the money with which to victimize audiences?

During the filming of BloodRayne, Uwe said that Michael Madsen (Kill Bill, Reservoir Dogs) was drunk everyday, and that Ben Kingsley refused to shoot scenes with him. Dr. Boll then went on to explain that it didn't matter what actor you put in the roles, just as long as they are famous enough to attract foreign investors. ("Casting hasn't been this bad since John Wayne played Genghis Khan," writes Harry.) Chowderhead then advised to cast yer movie at the last minute, because you can get great names as suddenly people's schedules open up. BloodRayne's cast was assembled a mere two weeks before cameras started rolling.

To get the proper T&A, Boll actually hired real Romanian Mafia owned "whores" for the Eastern-European shot film. "They were better than actors," the chowderhead says. "We looked for local Romanian actresses, but there they are all from the theater and act broadly. For 150 euro a piece, the whores would be naked and do as they were told. It was better."

After the film, Harry talked with the hack outside the Paramount Theater. Uwe began criticizing Spielberg's War of the Worlds. "He really hated the end of the film," writes Harry. "This was amazing. There was just an amazing sense that this was Uwe Boll presuming to gripe about Spielberg."

Apparently in Uwe's universe, people wear hamburgers on their heads and eat shoes. This man is insane.

Full Piece Here [Aint It Cool]

Mend socks? Help old ladies get home in the rain? Prevent people from spitting in public. That's right comrades, red China's developing a computer game that'll help you be a good mindless serf. Called Chinese Hero Registry, the game hopes to learn players from evil capitalistic titles.

Man, China, yer gonna hafta do better than that. Stuff like this is the reason why young Chinese are playing foreign games.

Red China's Gaming [Game Politics] Thanks CB!

Tour de France: Official Mobile Game has got to be the worst cellie concept. Ever. Last I checked, the actual 3,607km Tour de France lasts almost all of July, and who wants to play a cellie game for an entire month? Aren't cellie games supposed to be pick up and put down games like Tetris? Either this Tour de France is just time trials or really cheats the distance factor. And I mean really cheats. Well, there's no way for me to find out. Visiting the online site turned up nothing but unadulterated frustration. Need a sample? The site lists the game features as "Inspiring sounds and stunning graphics." Gee, thanks. I tried to download the game, but when the pop-up said "Please choose your country first" and then only offered "Deutschland," I gave up. Good people of Germany, please pitch in and help us figure out what the hizzy heck this game is.

Germans Go Here to Help [Living Mobile]
Tour De France 2005 Schedule [Official Site]

Back in the 1950's, movie theaters wired movie theaters with buzzers, hired men in rubber alien suits and added off-stage effects to make watching the motion picture more interactive, more "real." Fifty years later, Philips follows suit with "ambient gaming." Due for release in May 2006, AmBX (as they've christened it) is a "step towards a full sensory gaming experience." Well, that's what Philips says.

Here's what they're planning. AmBX incorporates a not only a scripting language, but also software engine and architecture. The system's been designed to deliver feedback through LED lights, furniture, fans, heaters, audio and video. Basically, if you blow up stuff in a game, yer neighbors would know. I am perfectly satisfied with my PS2, GC and current Xbox gaming experience. Do we really need to turn our house into a giant rumble pack? It didn't work for the movies, and it ain't gonna work for gaming.

Full Story Here [Next-Gen]

They've could've been gracing 360 kiosks across the country, but MSoft didn't think they were up to snuff. A BBC documentary featured all of the rejected 360 mock-ups, which look more like suitcases from the film 2001.

Space luggage after the jump.

Find them Here [Next-Gen] Thanks Ice!

Microsoft is being taken to court for music copyright infringement. The drummer of the now defunct punk band Ink & Dagger claims the 'Soft used three of their songs for the snowboarding game Amped without obtaining permission. Ryan McLaughlin, the band's sticksman, told the U.S. District Court that he is "outraged that his artistic integrity has been so brazenly violated."

Uh, am I missing something? Amped went on sale, what, four years ago. And the dude is suing Microsoft now? Good thing he copyrighted his band's songs in June this year. Otherwise, this retarded lawsuit would look truly pointless.

Full Story Here [The Inquirer] Thanks Sinner!

According to Eurogamer, an American gamer forked over $100 grand for a virtual space station in the online RPG Project Entropia. The space station sits in the Paradise V Asteroid Belt and includes mining and hunting tax rights, a mall, billboards and the right to name the space station whatever the hell he chooses.

Over 236,000 players are registered and swap real US dollars for fake Project Entropia dollars. This isn't the first piece of real estate to command big bucks. Last year, some dude bought a PE island for $26,500.

God, why do you have to give idiots all the money?

Dork With Too Much Cash [Eurogamer]

Video games not real enough? Hire New York artist Brock Enright, and he'll make a real life game that promises to scare the crap outta ya. Originally an art project, his company, Videogames and Adventure Services, offers "customized reality adventures," AKA real-life video games. In short, VAS specializes in kidnapping rich people and psychologically screwing with them for about $1,500 a pop. What he does is not technically illegal; however, the NYPD are not happy with this business venture. "In what I do," assures Enright, "there is alot of smoke and mirrors."

During the first meeting, the client undergoes rigorous psychological examination. VAS customer Margo Lawless says that the artist is "very good at figuring out your personality: what your fears are, what your desires are, what your sexual attractions are. Then they figure out a scenario which will best fit that." These scenarios, or video games as Enright's website calls them, seem masochistic. The kidnapping plan promises "maximum terror" with phobias tailored to each player.

Other services available include being a voyeur player for somebody else's video game, a target for a food fight or a bound figure to decorate birthday parties. Want to get friends involved? Their "DayWreckers/DayMakers" option is self-explanatory. You'll be happy to know that the company even offers a video and photo-book documenting yer adventure is also available.

The service has been a hit, with Enright bagging celebs and business execs alike. "It's turned into a kind of Frankenstein's monster. I created the demand for it, then the demand went out of control, and the project was misunderstood by the public. But I knew that that was going to happen," the artist says.

It's not the public that's doing the misunderstanding. The kidnapping and torturing shenanigans are between two consenting adults so whatever. I'm just annoyed that the dude has to drag games into his sordid mess. Obviously this guy doesn't play video games or care about them one bit or he wouldn't try to make the connection between heavy S&M/pseudo violence and games. He's taking advantage of non-gamers' perception in order to create his art and profit. And that's the real crime here.

Visit the Website [VAS]

Read More [The Guardian] via WMMNOT

Is it even necessary to say why a Gundam motorcycle helmet is a bad idea?

Buy Yer Helmet Here [LaLaBit Market]