The tightened restrictions had meant passengers had to remain in their seats for the final hour of a flight, with nothing in their laps. Others had reported a total ban on electronics. The Transportation Security Administration was intentionally vague about what flights might or might not require, but nearly all of it meant bad things for the use of portable electronic devices - at least on international flights. Crecente, however, just flew 14 hours from Australia into the U.S. and was allowed to use electronics in flight.

The AP specifically said "In-flight entertainment restrictions have also been lifted." I suppose this means it's all over, for now anyway.

In-Flight Security Rules Eased [Associated Press on Yahoo! News]

While games have long been my time-waster of choice for the frequent international flights I take, it's usually video games I stock up on. Not so for my Sydney to San Francisco flight. This time around I was hunting for pocket chess, little wooden brain teasers and magnetic backgammon.

With the attempted bombing of a U.S.-bound Christmas Day flight and the heightened security that surrounded it, rumor quickly spread that one of the new rules for international flights bound for the United States might ban the use of all electronics.

The very thought of not being able to access the library of books and video games stored on my iPhone, my DSi, my PSPgo put me in a near panic.

So on the eve of my flight, my wife, son and I headed to an oddity in the Blue Mountains' town of Hazlebrook west of Sydney. Selwood Science & Puzzles is housed in the Selwood House, an 1865 cottage wrapped in a garden of ferns and eucalyptus. The many rooms inside the old home are packed with the sorts of diversions and toys most familiar to children born before the rising popularity of video games and electronics.

One room is dedicated to puzzles of metal and wood, board games big and small and a cornucopia of games featuring bits of plastic, dice, and magnets. There were pocket versions of chess, checkers and backgammon; bent nails nested in devious designs; decks upon decks of cards for games I had grown up playing and some I had never heard of. And not one of the hundreds, thousands of these games required a battery or electrical outlet to play.

Other rooms were packed with science kits and experiments, books of brain teasers, IQ tests and short mysteries.

If electronics, long the opiate for the masses of nervous fliers, find themselves device non grata for the near future, could these non-digital diversions be their replacements? Will flights start to resemble coffee shops with passengers hunkered around chess boards, games of Hearts and Dominoes raging in the back rows?

Probably not, but it's a reminder of how dependent some of us have become on the products of the digital age.

Arriving at Sydney International Airport on Sunday I discovered little had changed in the wake of the latest attempted attack. I was assured, repeatedly, that electronics could be used during the upcoming flight.

Not quite believing the reassurances I ducked into a bookstore to load up on the printed word, in case the digital one wasn't available to me. The lines in the bookstore, the crowds milling through rows of paperbacks, made me think I wasn't the only one fearing a last-minute, in-air electronics ban.

For now I'll keep the paperback and pocket chess at hand, just in case.

Well Played is a weekly news and opinion column about the big stories of the week in the gaming industry and its bigger impact on things to come. Feel free to join in the discussion.

Unfortunately, it sounds like they'll be verboten for international flights inbound to the U.S. While the Transportation Security Administration has issued no formal rules (and, in fact, is being deliberately vague about them) Gizmodo and several other sources are reporting the ban as fact.

Another key detail: for international flights inbound to the U.S., passengers will have to remain in their seats for the last hour of a flight, without access to their carry-on baggage (above or underneath a seat) and without any personal items on their laps. So, better pee up before that final hour, and make sure you're at a good stopping point in Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines.

It's also unclear how this affects travel within the U.S., but you can bet it will, beginning with long lines as screeners tighten their focus. Other measures either reported or expected include the aforementioned no cabin travel for the last hour of a flight; keeping the cabin lights on for the entire trip; disabling the display of a flight's progress in the seatback monitors offered on some planes; and generally making sure you resent the experience from check-in to baggage claim.

As there are a ton of variables in play here, for U.S. flights and for those in other countries, and as plenty of folks are flying either today or tomorrow - or this time next week - returning from holiday travels, we're opening up a comment thread here to report what you've seen. Especially as it relates to the use of electronic devices. Flying is such an unpleasant process these days, laptops, handhelds and DVD players have become almost indispensable for their diversionary qualities. Plus, some are still under the illusion they can get work done midair.

So here, and for future reference, use the hashtags #tsa #flights or #airtravel to talk about what you've seen, heard or experienced. You'll be doing your fellow flying gamers a service.

CNN walks us through a number of experimental programs being tested by Homeland Security's Future Attribute Screening Technology, or FAST.

The different systems check a person's heart rate, breathing, eye movement, body temperature and, yes, fidgeting.

There are a number of different devices and technology involved in all of this detection, from thermal imaging to cameras used for eye tracking. But the most interesting to many of you will likely be the improvised fidgeting monitor.

Researchers took a Wii balance board — a device people stand on to interact with certain Nintendo Wii video games — and altered it to show how someone's weight shifts. Studies are now under way to determine whether there is a level of fidgeting that would suggest the need for secondary screening.

Fortunately, the screening wouldn't rely strictly on a person's Wii Fit Age to determine if they're a terrorist or not. Instead, screeners would look at all of the body signs before unjustly labeling a nervous flier a possible suicide bomber.

Will airports screen for body signals? Researchers hope so [CNN, thanks mjarantilla]

The actor was dining at the Oberoi Hotel in Mumbai when militants opened fire. Rudder was hit by three bullets and rushed to hospital where he successfully underwent surgery and is expected to make a full recovery.

You may recognise Rudder's voice from such games as Far Cry Instincts, Prince Of Persia: The Warrior Within (he played the Dark Prince), Jagged Alliance and - somewhat ironically - terrorist-slaying black ops game Splinter Cell.

[UPDATE: to clarify, Michael Rudder did NOT play Sam Fisher in Splinter Cell - that was Michael Ironside, who to our knowledge has never been shot by terrorists of any kind. Rudder provided other voice work for the game.]

Canadian actor recovering in Mumbai after being shot [CBC]

The tabloid press are predictably irate about this 'game' that casts you as a suicide bomber bent on claiming as many innocent lives as possible and indeed in more competent hands this might be worth getting all worked up about. The developer's comments on flash portal Newgrounds are rather telling, though:

"IF YOU'VE SEEN OR READ ANYTHING ABOUT THIS GAME LATELY PLEASE E-MAIL ME ABOUT IT. MOST OF THE TIME I AM UNAWARE OF WHO'S BITCHING ABOUT IT."

Let's not. Instead, just hope that he never has to suffer the kind of loss that his game makes light of. You'll feel better in the long run and he will go away that much faster.

The Suicide Bomber Game [Newgrounds via The Daily Star]

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]

The theory is fleshed out by evidence that things explode in GTA IV. Compelling stuff. You've given us a lot to think about this day, random internet moron.

Was Grand Theft Auto IV Inspired by Al-Qaida? [Spiegel via GamePolitics]

Wired's David Thier contends that in-game plagues like Corrupted Blood provide real-world insight into terrorist tactics that traditional computer sims can't. Why? Artificial intelligence is little match for genuine human intelligence, which may (or may not) be better at exploiting holes and vulnerabilities.

MMOs may also give better insight into "civilian" behavior, but fails in the sense that real world death and in-game death don't quite have the same impact.

Watch out, sexless griefers. Someone may be keeping an eye on you. Now back to less fear-mongering...

World of Warcraft Shines Light on Terror Tactics [Wired]

Activision gets the credit for being the first third-party developer, but Apollo followed shortly after, in 1981 (Imagic was also started in that year, by a second round of dissatisfied Atari developers).

One of their games was Lost Luggage another Kaboom! clone, this one challenges the player to retrieve luggage from an an airport carousel. Three of the game variations offer the additional challenge of a "terrorist suitcase." The terrorist suitcase is always black, and looks different from the rest. Normally, you lose a life for every bag you miss. Three misses and the game is over. But if you miss the terrorist suitcase, the game is over immediately.

It's a simple but reasonably effective way to communicate the urgency of threat. If only the terrorists would all use distinctive, color-coordinated suitcases...

Lost Luggage [Atari Age]

As a part of their series of solar powered LCD handheld games, Bandai released Airport Panic in 1982. One of the neat things about this game is that it had two game levels, and the scene changed depending on which one you were on.

In the first, you have to cross the tarmac to the plane while avoiding the hijacker's bombs. Then you board the plane (this is where the scene changes) and have to traverse the rows to shoot the hijacker and "rescue the stewardess and the passengers."

When Gonzalo Frasca showed me this game today, I was reminded me that I actually have one, fully packaged, somewhere in my collection stash. I should find it and take it on my next flight. You don't need to go to those extremes though. You can download the manual scans and a PC emulator.

Bandai Solar Handheld Simulator Downloads [ via Ludology.org]

Tabloidish UK paper The Sun reports that the DS, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 have been banned from UK jails over fears they could be used to plan terror attacks.

The fear stems from the discovery that all three devices contain software that "enables users to send or receive radio signals" and that they could be used to talk to fellow conspirators to "plot carnage." The Playstation 2 also faces a possible ban, the paper reports.

A source said: "The technology in the new generation of computer games makes them a security risk.

"There is concern that top terror suspects have been using systems already in jails. Radio software is an integral part of the equipment."

A secret security bulletin warns that planned advances in computer games technology could mean ALL systems being barred.

And here I always thought Osama was just a fan of BioShock.

Xbox banned in jail terror fear [The Sun]

While I can certainly see the need for such precautions, I like to think of this as gaming's way of getting revenge for my past month of delayed, missed, rescheduled, rerouted, and just plain over expensive airplane flights. Video games got my back, yo.

Game in bag prompts airport evacuation [Houston Chronicle - Thanks Randy!]

Oh wait, it was completely founded. He had swords. Thank god we stopped him before he went medieval.

I can understand folks being a bit jumpy in the wake of the Virginia Tech incident, but whatever happened to just...I dunno, talking to the guy? Asking him what his intentions were. Seeing if maybe he'd take it down? There are better ways to safeguard ourselves then having police ransack a teenagers bedroom. What a complete nightmare.

Now the Chinese community of Fort Bend is rallying support for the unjustly punished young man, trying to get him reinstated in class, or at the very least trying to get the school board to admit they might have gone too far. As one community member says, "We should teach our children not to judge others harshly." What exactly are we teaching or children these days?

Twenty-two years ago a teacher caught me drawing him with an arrow through his head and made me stand next to his desk holding the picture for a half hour while my fellow students made faces at me. How far we've come. Michael Fahey

Computer Game Violence Level, Confiscated Swords Led To Student's Removal
Chinese Community Rallies Behind Student Removed From Clements [Fort Bend Now via Joystiq]

Neither man, nor woman, nor furries, nor Wagner James Au is safe from terrorism, even when digitally ensconced in the Metaverse, as wild-eyed Warren Ellis describes a terrorist attack that took place in Second Life.

Materialising on the Integral Castle grounds, I found myself in the middle of a rain of small boxes, all of which were trying to load themselves into my inventory (where the objects in SL that I choose to hold on to are kept) while looping some Biblical jabber through the chat circuit, filling the entire screen.

Well, terrorist attack might be a tad hyperbolic on Warren's part. Instead of insidious agents of Al Qaeda, think pustule-faced teenage dorks hyurking in their computer labs. This isn't a purposeful attack targeting a civilian population to enact political change: this is just a bunch of griefers. Florian Eckhardt

Second Life Sketches [Warren Ellis]

Reuters is reporting that an Iranian group, using state-sponsored development, has modded the fan favorite team based FPS Counter-Strike to allow players to virtually train for demolition runs against oil tankers. From the report:

The game, "Counter Strike", invites players to plant two bombs on the oil tanker to sink it and make the strait of Hormuz impassable, the Jomhouri-ye Eslami daily reported. About two-fifths of globally traded oil passes through the channel.

The Reuters report, most likely written by someone concerned more with world events than playing CS with 15 teenage boys, doesn't seem to have a good grasp on how the game is structured. They imply that the game is less of a mod or custom map than a built from the ground up title. Anyone who has spent time with Counter-Strike knows that bomb planting is one of the core game types.

Thanks for the heads up, Ross. Michael McWhertor

Iranian video game offers chance to blow up U.S. tanker [Reuters]

We previously reported on the jihadist video game, Night of Bush Capturing (the stunning sequel to Carbomb Panty Raid), and now Game Politics says that a member of British parliament is so incensed that he's calling for an official investigation, and prosecution.

Labor Party MP Andrew Dismore, pictured at right about to be struck by a seagull piloted by Al Queda hijackers, demands:

The police should prosecute whoever is behind this. Soliciting murder is a serious criminal offence and the producers of this game should be dealt with.

In terms of gaming as a whole, prosecuting video game makers for inciting violence is a dangerous precedent. And like trolls and Insane Jackasses, terrorists' favorite food is attention.

Do not feed the trolls. Any of them. Eliza Gauger

British Official Calls for Investigation of Al Qaeda Video Game [GamePolitics]

Jonathan B. of the Gamebang Blog wrote us in about a curious Xbox 360 College Tour that occurred at his university on the fifth anniversary of September 11th... right across from a Red Cross Blood Drive.

The Xbox 360 college tour started today at my campus right across a 9/11 blood drive. With girls in skimpy clothes and free shirts not supporting the blood drive but, the xbox 360 and mountain dew. Who starts anything fun on 9/11? I wrote a open letter to the Xbox 360 team on how crappy they are for doing this on my blog and I'm sending the same words to the opinion section of my college newspaper. I would be really grateful if you showed this letter on your site or at least told they many fans like myself ofKotaku how dumb the Xbox 360 Marketing team is.

Although I sympathize with Jonathan on the aspect of setting up the tour across from a blood drive (what a bonehead move), I have to respond to his assertion that it's somehow in bad taste to do anything fun or celebratory on September 11th.

The culture of fear we live in just has to stop. There's exactly two groups of people who profit from fear: terrorists and politicians. An eternal day of mourning and depression isn't anything the victims of September 11th would have wanted; it's what those who would like us to give up our liberties want.

You want to stick it to Al Qaeda? You want to pay tribute to the thousands of Americans who died in the World Trade Center? Then celebrate how wonderful it is to be an American on September 11th. And I can't think of anything more American than sitting back, sipping a beer and playing some video games while scantly-clad women prance sexily about you. That's the sort of thing that causes Al Qaeda aneurysms. Florian Eckhardt

The Xbox 360 Marketing Team is Incredibly Stupid and maybe a little curious about same sex relationships [Gamebang]

This should techinically be titled "shitting iPods = terrorism" but this is, after all, a gaming blog.

A member of the WoW.com forums posts that a simple trip to the airplane lavatory ended in disaster when his iPod fell off its clip and into the bowl. He didn't realize it was missing until some time later, and when he told the stewardesses they had already called the feds about the mysterious electronic device in the toilet.

After an emergency landing, the passengers were bussed to a warehouse and interrogated. Our hero's recreational habits fell under scrutiny.

They asked me why I was visiting Canada. I was to visit a friend I met on World of Warcraft, Cara. They took down her name and what I could remember of her address. They asked me how we met.

"In an online game."
"What online game?"
"Umm ... World of Warcraft," I responded meekly.
"What kind of game is this?"
"It's a fantasy game ... it takes place online."
"Fantasy ... like it's got wizards and warlocks?"
"Well, it's got warlocks." (And they need to be nerfed.)

Later on he talks about giving some lip to the fascist bastard that was searching his laptop for "propaganda". I hope this is true, as I am eager to hear about any sort of protestation against the clusterfuck that air travel has become. My last trip through John Wayne Airport was the best reason to move to Vancouver I've ever seen. Eliza "fuck the TSA" Gauger

Full post here [WoW.com] [pic]

We've already established that PSPs will reduce children to tears. Now we learn that they'll get you in trouble with homeland security, as well.

Blogger Robert A. relates that he was simply sitting in his car, "pleasuring himself to a round of Tekken" (I wish I made that up) when he got hassled by angry cops who thought he was a terrorist.

He immediately yelled (not politely) at me and forced me to put my hands in the air, step outside the car, and place both hands on the side of the car. He then proceded to pat me down and handcuff me from behind, and then asked me to sit down on the curb. He peeked inside my car, with flashlight in hand, and thoroughly searched my car (lucky I didn't have my 6-pack next to me, as I originally planned to bring along). He picked up my PSP as evidence of "unusual behavior" and left to his car. There, I would assume, he traced my tags, performed a background check, and called in an additional police cruiser. He came out, and by now, the second cruiser had arrived with two additional men; they all came towards me. I was deeply interrogated.

The article unfortunately reads like a republican 14-year-old's essay on the political climate, and ends How safe are we? Could the PSP pose as a tool for the next generation of hacking? Is this potential one of the things that Sony is trying to protect us from by pressing firmware updates, and, eliminating the ability to run homebrew? Is the PSP really a toy? Give me a large break. Eliza Gauger

More here [XhardwareReviews, via Digg]