But it's as good a jumpoff for me to reminisce about the intersection of Street Fighter, my fraternity in college, and a case study in cognitive dissonance.

This happened back at N.C. State, where I was a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon's Beta-Beta chapter. Names have been changed to protect the ashamed, but the frat nicknames are, I swear to God, real. Here goes.

Around 1993, everyone was playing one of two games on their Genesises or Super Nintendoes — Street Fighter or a college football ripoff game that called us "STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA" to skirt NCAA licensing rules. But I digress. Everyone knew Street Fighter is the point, and everyone got their asses handed to them by Evil E, Ton O' Fun, Big Al, or Strap-On, almost always playing Chun-Li or Ken.

My roommate, Queef, and I lived next door on the front hall to a brother, Guy, who was about as shady as they come. Like a few years later, the State Bureau of Investigation was looking into the fact he and some others signed up for free Columbia House CDs under a dog's name, and some other identity shit. In fact, one night we heard a "business partner" stop by and threaten Guy within an inch of his life over, I guess, money that was owed. So Guy had a rep for moving with unclean company, that's important.

One day, and I forget how this unfolded, but Guy's roommate, Cooter, dragged me and Queef into their room to play their answering machine. Cooter got home from class before Guy, hit play, and heard a startling threat from, apparently, a Korean gangster. There was a demand for money, an ultimatum of bodily harm, and a meeting place and time: "[REDACTED] THIS IS ... CHUN LI ... YOU MEET ME ... ELEVEN THIRTY AT ... HOUSE O' PANCAKES ...!"

It was an utterly ridiculous, cartooned, even racist voice, but at the time, none of us had ever lived outside North Carolina. So we fucking fell for it. Cooter and I actually drove out to the IHOP on Hillsborough Street to stake out the encounter, following our chapter rule: "The object is not to fuck your brother, but to get your brother fucked."

Even though intercourse was not on the menu of options, we figured allowing Guy to be murdered by a Korean gangster out to collect a bad debt fell into guilty knowledge or passive allowance of fucking over a brother.

So away we went. We even bought 12-inch sandwiches from Sadlack's Heroes to gnaw on while we waited in the car, the two biggest shithead cops on a two-hour stakeout ever. And neither Guy nor any Korean mafiosi showed up.

And when we got back, Ray White Trash and Grape Ape copped to leaving the prank message.

Evil E said, "I knew it was fake. The Korean language does not produce words that sound anything like Chun Li. That's specifically Chinese."

Gee thanks, asshole.

For the record, my fraternity nickname was Fellatiowen.

Is Chun-Li a Post-Op Transsexual? [Destructoid]

Now here's a familiar story, modder cooks up something and gets in legal trouble, although it's usually from the software publisher. In this case, "unauthorised use of a police uniform" is an offense under New Zealand's Police Act. And even though it's unclear whether this really fits the definition of that offense, the cops are looking at their options. A cop spokesman said the police are looking into the matter.

Honestly, what the fuck is it with Australasia and Grand Theft Auto? I'll just leave it at that. I've never been to either Australia or New Zealand, but crikey, their collective pants-wetting over American video games, this series in particular, makes them look like the schoolmarms of western democracy.

Gamer's Real Brush with the Law [stuff.co.nz.] [pic by Robert Kitchin, The Dominion Post]

I did a little research and according to the all knowing internet (which is generally about as reliable as a Magic 8 Ball), only about 20% of homes in the US have HDTVs so you'd think that these companies would try and cater a little more to the other 80%. Of course this opens up all kinds of conspiracy theories about the game companies helping to support the sales of HDTV's and vice-versa. Still, something tells me there are going to be quite a few angry PSP/SDTV owners out there. Why? Because they can be.

Our second experiment showed that both men and women can improve their spatial skills by playing a video game and that the women catch up to the men...

Moreover, the improved performance of both sexes was maintained when we assessed them again after five months...Clearly, something dramatic is happening in the brain when we see marked improvements in spatial skills after only 10 hours of game playing and these improvements are maintained for many months.

Action Games Improve Women's Spatial Abilities, Says New Study [gamepolitics]

Full release notes after the jump.

NFO(release notes):

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Manhunt 2 (Banned Uncut)
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General Information
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Type.................: Game
Platform.............: PS2
Number of Parts......: 57 Including PARS
Image Format.........: Other (specify)
Image Created with...: CloneCD
Burn Tested..........: Yes

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Post Information
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Posted by............: Team Slonik
Posted to............: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Parts per Day........: Dont Ask
Fills Policy.........: Other (specify)
Repost Policy........: Other (specify)

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Release Notes
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Greetz to the scene. Here we have the kick ass game (Manhunt 2 Banned Uncut
Version) from Team Slonik.

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Install Notes
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Extract and Burn with CloneCD

Note: We believe this to be a BETA version, so no crying if it fucks up on you.

Peace out!!!Manhunt 2 Leaked [via play]

The Xbox 360's lack of a guaranteed harddrive is creating limitations for the Rockstar team developing Grand Theft Auto IV for the Xbox 360, Rockstar Veep Dan Houser said in a recent interview with Official Playstation Magazine.

In the interview Houser was asked:

"On PS3 you've got a guarantee that every machine is going to have a hard-drive and, with Blu-ray, you've got plenty of storage, whereas on Xbox 360 there's no guarantee of a hard-drive and you're working with the DVD format. Does that create limitations?" To which he replied, "Yep."

He continued, "To be honest with you we haven't solved all those riddles yet." The difficulties aren't limited to working on Microsoft's box, as Houser explains that "both have enormous challenges" and that "both have their own particular pleasures and pains".

I sure hope this doesn't mean that Rockstar would handicap the 360 version of the game. Personally, I'd rather they just say the harddrive is required. Brian Crecente

Xbox 360 is limiting GTA IV, says Rockstar [CVG]