House Introduces Video Games Ratings Enforcement Act, Virtual Rape Fans Worried

Guardian Warns Politicians, Columnists: Gamers Are Taking Over, Deal With It

Richard Bartle, co-author of the original MUD, as MTV Multiplayer's Stephen Totilo was kind enough to remind us, has a warning for UK politicians—and, we assume, the other silver haired no-funster luddite types—that their wrinkly old asses are about to be in the minority. That is, the minority of the population who have grown up with computer games in their lives. The best part, according to Bartle? "They aren't addicted, they aren't psychopathic killers, and they resent those boneheads - that's you - who imply that they are addicted and are psychopathic killers," he writes.

Bartle smugly namechecks Tanya Byron's level-headed report on the plight of raising children in a digital age, with access to realistic, sometimes violent video games. He finally warns "Gamers vote. Gamers buy newspapers. They won't vote for you, or buy your newspapers, if you trash their entertainment with your ignorant ravings." Yeah! Get 'em, Rich!

We've won: get over it [Guardian]

Hat tip to OriontheSmiter for pulling this up — don't know how the royal we missed it, seeing as how it took place on April Fool's (really). But a House of Representatives telecommunications subcommittee held a hearing on online virtual worlds April 1, and that included the requisite avatar-making and getting-hip-with-the-kids by the panel members.

Second Life is a convenient punching bag for gamers, and I feel kind of bad caning on it two days straight. But it invites the abuse with this kind of oblivious, self-serious self-parody: Rep. Ed Markey's avatar gaveling the online hearing, and in the public gallery there is "a goth character with feathered wings, a pink cat, a phantom with shimmering gray dreadlocks, a winged grasshopper, women in tube and bikini tops, and a naked man floating through the air." At least the griefers didn't show up to overrun the meeting with flying penises.

Scientists Create Wiiimote-Controlled Bomb-Bot

We're already well aware of the various health-related applications for the Nintendo Wii, but what about the military uses? The U.S. military, who were up until recently confirmed Xbox 360 fanboys, are now looking into the possibility of Wiimote-controlled robots. Scientists have created the Packbot, a Wiimote-operated robot armed with a machine gun, to be used in clearing mines and bombs. The military would generally use a standard remote for such purposes, but scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy say the Wiimote is more instinctive, allowing users to focus on date processing rather than which button to press. In my world the device would come with a screen so the soldier operating it could watch his Mii diffusing bombs and tip=toeing around land mines. My world is a much happier place.

Wii controls to defuse bombs [Metro.co.uk]

U.S. Air Force Wants To Buy 300 PS3s For Cell "Assessment"

Ripped from tomorrow's press releases comes word that the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory has submitted a purchase request for a bunch of PlayStation 3s—three hundred of the 40GB model, to be exact. They're not (officially) intended for playing Grand Theft Auto IV or training pilots under the harsh control conditions of Lair, mind you, but for "conducting a technology assessment of certain cell processors." Uh huh.

The Sony marketing coup disguised as purchasing request reads "The processors in the Sony PlayStation 3 are the only brand on the market that utilizes the specific cell processor characteristics needed for this program at an acceptable cost." We can only assume they're going to be running something fairly code intensive in a Linux install or that an announcement about the the War On Giant Enemy Crabs is imminent.

Presolicitation Notice: 70 — 40 GB Console Systems [FBO.gov via PS3mods]

Government After Terrorists in MMORPGs

And you thought gold farmers were irritating. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has released a report on data-mining that includes information on a new initiative called the Reynard project. The point of the foxy initiative?

Reynard will seek to identify the emerging social, behavioral and cultural norms in virtual worlds and gaming environments. The project would then apply the lessons learned to determine the feasibility of automatically detecting suspicious behavior and actions in the virtual world.

They do describe it as a 'seedling' effort that 'may increase its scope to a full project' if early results are promising. I have nightmarish visions of TSA meets virtual worlds, which won't be pretty. You can find the full PDF version of the unclassified data mining report at Wired.

U.S. Spies Want to Find Terrorists in World of Warcraft [Wired]

China Launching 'Operation For Tomorrow' Crackdown

What would modern China be without campaigns? This one's lacking in a snappy name and related propaganda, but the government is gearing up to go after those hotbeds of moral decay, crime, and WoW: internet cafes. Introducing "Operation for Tomorrow," targeting unlicensed websites, internet cafes, and porn.

Internet cafes have been repeatedly targeted for breeding juvenile crime and promoting truancy, despite widely ignored rules barring anyone under 18 from admission. Located in towns and small cities throughout China, internet cafes mainly offer online games that are popular among young people. Authorities have blamed the cafes for Internet addiction and for encouraging juvenile crime as a way to earn money to play online games.

First the problem was that kids were so busy playing WoW and other MMORPGs that they didn't have time for anything else; now the problem is that WoW's keeping them too busy ... with crime? Does this mean we'll see a related drop off in suspect addiction 'treatment' methods?

China Targets Internet in Crime Sweep [AP]

Social Responsibility and the Chinese Gaming Scene

New Mexico Proposes Video Game Tax To Get Kids Off Asses

The latest proposal that would tax video games (and televisions) in an effort to fund other, seemingly unrelated programs has popped up in New Mexico, initiated by the Sierra Club. The environmental organization's executive director, Carl Pope, writes on the Huffington Post that tacking on a 1% tax on games and televisions would generate some $4 million toward pushing the "No Child Left Inside" agenda, getting chubby kids off their humps and out to national parks where they can receive an outdoor education.

We suppose that this sort of diversion of funds makes more sense than others. I just hope they don't limit the use of PSPs for these poor kids brought to tears by the prospect of experiencing "nature." And, please New Mexico, make sure these kids are well stocked on Happy Meals.

A Tax to Remember [The Huffington Post via GamePolitics]

Chinese Government Cracking Down on Online Gaming

India Considering Ban on Violent Video Games

With a backstory that is apparently the absolute height of family melodrama, the Indian Parliament is currently considering a ban on violent games. According to speculation in a GameGuru article, after a political figure realized that the game she helped her grandson acquire - Manhunt 2 - was banned in the UK, she set out to make sure it would also be banned in India. Oh dear. As Desicritics intones:

Since when have we let these Bollywood actors and socialites dictate what the citizens of India can or cannot do? Maybe it's time Mrs Tagore sorted out her own house, paid more attention to the kind of games her grandkids played especially when the games have big letters saying MA printed on them instead of urging the government to baby sit the nation's children at the expense of the tax payers hard earned money.

Why should others pay for her blatant ignorance and negligence?

Will the parliamentary proposal be successful? We'll find out soon - this doesn't seem like a huge surprise (everyone loves an easy target), but the family drama is enough to make my head spin.

Video Games Censorship Comes to India [GameGuru] and Government To Regulate Video Games in India [Desicritics] [both via GamePolitics]

Senators Want Adults Only Rating For Manhunt 2

United States senators and presidential hopefuls Joe Lieberman, Sam Brownback, Evan Bayh, and Hillary Rodham Clinton have written to the ESRB, asking the organization to review its rating policies and suggesting an Adults Only rating for the recently released Manhunt 2. The Hollywood Reporter writes that the senators and other lawmakers asked the ratings board to consider the "robustness, reliability and repeatability" of the current ratings process in light of "'ultraviolent' video games and the advances in game controllers", presumably referring to the motion controlled Wii version of Manhunt 2. Clinton, the report writes, is moving for a unified rating system across films, television and games.

Senators urge tougher rating for "Manhunt" game [Reuters/Hollywood Reporter]

U.S. Gov't Okays EA's Bioware Pandemic Purchase

Good news for both the VG Holding Corporation and Bioware/Pandemic employees on the receiving end of some $155 million, as the Federal Trade Commission is pleased to announce that EA's purchase of the developers is just peachy. The $755 million buy out by Electronic Arts was approved by Federal Trade Commission regulators and should go through by January of 2008. Development on the Madden RPG is expected to begin in the Spring.

Regulators Clear Electronic Arts Deal [AP/Yahoo!]

War Is Not A Game

China Introduces Anti-Corruption Game

Nintendo Helping Gov't Piracy Raids

Nintendo and its developers and publishers lost an estimated $762 million in sales in 2006 due to piracy of its products. Nintendo's anti-piracy team works closely with law enforcement officials worldwide to seize mod chips and counterfeit software. Since April, Nintendo has seized more than 91,000 counterfeit Wii discs globally.

Chinese Anti-Addiction Measures Not Going So Smoothly

South Korea To Tax Virtual Assets