• finger-pointing

    Cops Blame Driving Games For Crap Young Drivers

    Some background: reckless driving and young deaths on Australian roads are a fairly big problem here. We've got lots of long roads, lots of kids with big cars, and a culture of people driving big cars fast. It's been a problem in Australian society for decades, but since games are around these days, they're becoming a convenient scapegoat amongst those who should really know better (ie the police). Having armed himself with a German report on the subject, Superintendent Dave Evans of the NSW Police has told the Daily Telegraph:

    Video games can have a negative impact on young drivers because it increases their complacency and their indulgence in risk-taking behaviour. In games you race, you crash and it is a matter of pressing the buttons and off you go again. In real life it doesn't work that way, you can be killed.

    Do any of you kids really think that real life driving comes with Gran Turismo crash modelling?

    Video games kill driving skills, police say [Daily Telegraph]

    5:00 AM on Tue Nov 18 2008
    By Luke Plunkett
    2,628 views, 149 comments

    Most discussed Greenstuff-Alex: I dunno, i'm taking my driving lessons right now, and I can really feel that Driving Games have desencetised(wrong word?) more »

  • Politics

    Clinton and Lieberman Praise ESRB's New Rating Summaries

    The Entertainment Software Rating Board today rolled out a new set of game rating summaries on their website geared toward parents looking to find out more information about the games they're letting their children play.

    Now the ESRB website lists the rating and content descriptors as well as a brief synopsis of the game. Take, for instance, this explanation of Call of Duty: World at War:

    Call of Duty: World at War is a first-person shooter in which players assume the role of Allied soldiers in both the European and Pacific Fronts during World War II. Combat can be intense with extensive use of camera effects (e.g., slow-motion, blurring, and screen shakes) and realistic sound effects to highlight the tense and frenetic nature of each battle. Fighting is fast-paced with players using a large array of military weapons (guns, grenades, and flamethrowers). Collateral damage includes sprays of red blood when enemies are shot; maimed appendages from explosions; and flailing and screaming when enemies are set on fire. Cutscenes and historical footage can contain graphic depictions of prisoner/POW executions. Strong profanity can be heard during gameplay (e.g., "f*ck" and "sh*t").

    Sounds like a fantastic idea to me. I've long argued that the ratings were sometimes too nebulous when it came to certain games, and most certainly when it comes to shooters.

    And I'm not the only one who likes the idea. Both Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Joseph Lieberman, who once stood together to attack the current rating system, are big fans: More »

    9:00 AM on Wed Nov 12 2008
    By Brian Crecente
    5,827 views, 105 comments

  • rock band

    Team Obama Endorses Rock Band

    Sort of. Tucked in a long how-the-campaign-was-won feature in The New Yorker is this little tidbit about President Elect-Obama's communications staff, and how they maxxed and relaxed after a long day of writing talking points and beating up on McCain.

    "Like many campaign teams, Obama’s was young. The communications department –made up mostly of guys in their twenties and thirties — had a fraternity-house quality. On weekends, they would often drink beer together and play the video game “Rock Band” at a group house in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood."

    What you say? Isn't this the campaign that advertised in Guitar Hero. Someone got seriously off message here.

    Team Obama Plays 'Rock Band' [MTV Multiplayer]

    3:00 PM on Tue Nov 11 2008
    By Owen Good
    3,187 views, 42 comments

    Most discussed Rebochan: So I guess Filibuster Cartoons has made the big time now that a gaming blog just linked to them. more »

  • rumor

    Obama On All Your Base Are Belong To Us: "Bwah?"

    Out of all the things one could talk with President-Elect Obama, someone apparently brought up this: "All your base are belong to us." That's right, the funny English phrase from Zero Wing turned internet meme. In a one-of-us-one-of-us thread over at Scifi site Tor.com in which Obama's geekatude is being discussed, one commenter recounted a story from a friend who claims to have interned for the Obama presidential campaign: More »

    9:00 PM on Fri Nov 7 2008
    By Brian Ashcraft
    63,342 views, 137 comments

    Most discussed Owen Good: Somebody set up us Obama! more »

  • okami

    Obama Wins Election, Becomes Sun Goddess, Not President

    Congratulations, Barack Hussein Obama! You won the vote! Hope you're ready in Janunary to begin your term as...the sun goddess Amaterasu, whose duties include not so much leading a nation as they do drawing bridges, sprouting flowers and carrying midgets around on your head. Oh, and giving 30-minute speeches you can't skip.

    OBAMA by *spacecoyote [DA, via Capcom]

    3:30 AM on Thu Nov 6 2008
    By Luke Plunkett
    12,256 views, 110 comments

    Most discussed IronsUK: According to the metro this morning, 55% of white american male voters went for Mccain. WTF were they thinking? more »

  • hot flashes

    Political Platforming In Super Obama World

    Still buzzing after the Election '08 celebrations/commiserations? The nice thing about this topical SuperMario clone is the way it reaches out to appeal to both Red and Blue states.

    Obama supporters can guide the new POTUS-elect on to another stunning victory - this time against Pigs (Pork barrel politics! Do you see what they did there?) and money bag toting lobbyists. McCain supporters can settle for repeatedly plunging the Prez off an Alaskan ice shelf.

    The makers promise that Arizona, Illinois, and D.C. levels will be added soon. The Alaskan maps on offer did provide one moment of authentic Biting Satire - a several screens long Bridge to Nowhere that ends in an impassible barrier. Nice touch.

    [Super Obama World] Thanks to reader UppityCracker for the tip.

    4:20 PM on Wed Nov 5 2008
    By Stuart Houghton
    18,819 views, 42 comments

  • clips

    LittleBigPresident

    In case you've been living under a rock, America has picked itself a new president. Here's a LittleBigPlanet level created by game site Aeropause that commemorates the event, complete with exploding John McCain.

    Barack Obama elected President of LittleBigPlanet [Aeropause]

    1:00 AM on Wed Nov 5 2008
    By Brian Ashcraft
    5,741 views, 171 comments

  • election 2008

    Obama Leads McCain in Xbox 360 Pwn the Vote Poll

    Over the Halloween weekend thousands of Xbox 360 gamers were able to cast an early, unofficial vote on Xbox Live for their candidate of choice. The unofficial exit poll shows that there are more participating gamers leaning toward undecided and less toward McCain and Palin compared to CNN’s poll for the same weekend. Obama and Biden’s percentage remains unchanged between the two polls.

    Today, of course, is the day you can vote in the United States. I know that politics are a passionate and important part of a lot of people’s lives, so if you want to talk about it, civilly, here’s the place to do it. Any political talk in this post will be considered on topic, but remember we still ban for trolling and disrespectful, or insulting comments.

    4:40 PM on Tue Nov 4 2008
    By Brian Crecente
    6,442 views, 348 comments

    Most discussed GundamAC197: Haven't made it to the polls yet, but I'm definitely voting for "That One". I don't think McCain is more »

  • politics

    Al Qaeda Suspects "Making Detonators Out Of Sega Cartridges"

    So it's true - there really is a link between violence and video games. In an otherwise run of the mill article on how the next US President will have to deal with the issue of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, the New York Times printed this little nugget:

    One detainee is said to have been schooled in making detonators out of SEGA game cartridges.

    Nobody at Kotaku (especially those who frequently travel overseas) has any idea if that is even possible, or why SEGA specifically, but the story seems to originate from the case of Hassan Bin Attash - a seventeen year old (at time of capture) detainee that several human rights organisations claim was tortured in Jordan before being held in Gitmo. Possibly, after a few months of waterboarding a weaponized copy of Toe Jam & Earl: Panic on Funkotron might seem more credible.

    Next President Will Face Test on Detainees[NYT via DasGamer]

    2:20 PM on Mon Nov 3 2008
    By Stuart Houghton
    4,622 views, 78 comments

    Most discussed deathbunny: Everything a torture victim says is garbled beyond use. The fact that this, of all the lies a person would more »

  • politics

    Election 2008: Mario Casts His Vote

    Lots of people call Mario "Italian", but they're either falling back on creaky old racial stereotypes or just plain guessing. Mario may be of Italian descent, but he and his brother are from Brooklyn. They're American. And as such are as eligible to vote as any of you other non-incarcerated American adults. With Election 2008 now upon us (well, you), who is Mario Mario throwing his support behind? Here's a hint: it's not John McCain. More »

    7:00 AM on Mon Nov 3 2008
    By Luke Plunkett
    6,650 views, 149 comments

    Most discussed Aloran: Mario the Plumber is way cooler than Joe the Plumber. I mean, Mario the Plumber can turn into a more »