UAE State Enforces God Of War Ban

A UAE national said he was one of the people who was shocked to discover that the game was distributed in commercial areas, including the Central Souq, Al Rolla and sports shops in Nuammiya. "I knew that it was banned, but many of my friends were able to buy pirated copies from Dh5 to Dh10. I was shocked to see how much it contradicted Islamic values," said Khalid Bin Deemas, adding that it was dangerous as the video game was popular among children.

BBFC Manhunt 2 Judicial Review Is Go

The BBFC was today given permission to judicially review the decision by the Video Appeals Committee to overturn the Board's rejection of the video game Manhunt 2. The Board has also been granted a stay on the classification of the game. It is expected that the case will be heard in January.

Videogames Guide for Parents offers reviews, not advice

John Davison, the former editor of Electronic Gaming Monthly, has started What They Play, a website that bills itself as "the videogames guide for parents." Reading a few of the reviews already up, it seems that the site focuses on short, fairly traditional reviews with a final "moral warning" for parents. For example, on Guitar Hero III:

However, be aware that the ESRB's "T" rating for "Lyrics" and "Mild Suggestive Themes" is no joke. The songs in the game deal with traditionally edgy themes of rock music, ranging from the sexually suggestive ... to the occult

The Ultimate eBay Auction: 30 Years of Videogames

So you think you're a hardcore gamer? Try again. Someone on eBay is selling their personal 30-year video game collection. The bidding starts at $9,000 and includes 1,8000 items. Keep in mind that you'll also need to pay up to $1,500 in UPS fees just to have the collection shipped to you. If you want a complete list of every game and item in the collection, check out this site where everything is fully detailed. It definitely skews toward the old systems, as the seller is only offering up 6 Xbox 360 games including Perfect Dark Zero. But you do get a VM Labs - Nuon as part of the deal!

Giant Game Auction
http://videogames.neocurve.com/list.aspx

This Day in Gaming, July 9th

1997: Dark Horse Comics announces a new 4-part series based upon the game Myst, 'Myst: The Book of the Black Ships'. Hmmm...Myst in comic form. Exciting panels of valves, levers and lighthouses...the whole idea reeks of a bad Thomas Kinkade prints.

2004: The Federal Trade Commission publishes an undercover investigation where they found that 69% of UNDER-17-year-olds were able to purchase games rated M without adult consent. And then the PTA attacked the FTC for their perversion of statistics.

2007: TDIG hits its 365th day on Kotaku and enters early retirement. Because shuffleboard is the ultimate game.

This Day in Gaming, July 8th

2002: Nintendo announces Game Boy Advance Latias/Latios editions. They are special versions released to commemorate (read: promote) the new Pokemon movie. Because nothing says commemorate like ugly purple and pink GBAs.

2003: Playmore Corporation changes their name to SNK Playmore Corporation. We know you don't care, but it might be on the quiz. Do you care now? Good. Because we were just making that quiz stuff up. We would never do that to you. OK, we would, but it would involve large heads of industry "giants."

This Day in Gaming, July 7th

1987: Konami releases Metal Gear for MSX2 in Japan. This is the first release in the famous/revolutionary/uberawesome Metal Gear series—so let's commemorate it right. What is your favorite Metal Gear moment in any of the titles? Then let's dream about how great the PS4 PS3 version will be when it finally comes out.

2000: Square Co. releases Final Fantasy 9 for PS in Japan. The game sells less than the previous two FF titles, even though it receives rave reviews and overall positive reception. I think it's an issue with cover art that alters the mass appeal of FF titles, because the die hards buy the game no matter what, and obviously the reviews have little to do with the success.

This Day in Gaming, July 6th

1998: Prima Publishing releases Lara's Story: Lara Croft and the Tomb Raider Phenomenon. More than just a compendium of strategy guides, the paperback features a hefty collection of Lara Croft pictures and "facts". Though we're sure prepubescents everywhere bought this literature for the articles.

2000: The 3DO Company releases Vegas Games Midnight Madness: Table Games for PC in the US. Why is it "midnight madness"? Because you are up late. Because you are cool. That's why.

This Day in Gaming, July 5th

This Day in Gaming, July 3rd

This Day in Gaming, July 2nd

This Day in Gaming, July 1st

This Day in Gaming, June 30th

2000: Activision releases Dark Reign 2 for PC in the US. Why do some franchises feel forced to reinvent instead of simply improve? Here's hoping for a Dark Reign 3 the way we all wanted Dark Reign 2.

2005: Atlus releases Trauma Center: Under the Knife for DS in Japan. I seriously just looked at this game and thought, "That was released only last year?" Then I remembered, it's 2007 and half-way to 2008. And I'm never going to med school to please my parents.

This Day in Gaming, June 29th

This Day in Gaming, June 27th

This Day in Gaming, June 26th

This Day in Gaming, June 25th

This Day in Gaming, June 24th