: July 10, 2005 : Igniq Gaming News

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The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess Dated? - 16.7.05

Cubed3.com have discovered both the U.S. and U.K. Amazon sites have posted up release dates for the highly anticipated The Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess for the GameCube.

According to Amazon, the U.K. release date is set for 25 November, with the U.S. getting the game slightly earlier on the 14th.

The dates aren't official information from Nintendo, so should be treated as rumour until the company states otherwise.

Related:
Zelda.com
The Legend of Zelda Blows the Roof off E3
Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess E3 2005 screenshots
Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess E3 2005 artwork
Twilight Princess among CNN's Six to Watch
Discussion >>

By Rob -

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GTA Hot Coffee Also Confirmed On PS2 -

Rockstar Games' claim that the sex mini-game discovered in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was not created by them has been undermined by an independent test of the Playstation 2 version of the game, which cannot have unofficial content added to it.

In a statement released during the week, the company blamed the content on the hackers who created the mod for the PC version, who they said would need to "alter" the game's source code to display the scenes.

Gamespot decided to run a test on the PS2 version of the game, which comes on an un-moddable DVD that cannot be altered in the way the company describe:

GameSpot decided to test the cheat codes circulating around the Web on a sealed, first-edition copy of San Andreas. After acquiring the "Uncensored Hot Coffee" codes from the respected tech-blog Kotaku, we entered them into an easily obtainable Action Replay Max cheat device. After entering the "Enable all Girlfriends" cheat, we began the game and then gave CJ maximum sex appeal, via a cheat from GameFAQs that requires no external code.

After saving, our test editor had Carl visit the house of his nearest girlfriend, Denise in Los Santos. Carl then took Denise on a series of dates to the nearest bar. After a few complications--including being busted for two-timing by another of CJ's girlfriends--we completed a fourth date with Denise, after which she invited us into her house for "coffee."

The next screen proved that the PlayStation 2 edition of the game does indeed include a sexually graphic minigame, which plays almost exactly the same as the Hot Coffee mod. It begins inside a bedroom with Denise, wearing only a pink thong and a cutoff T-shirt bearing the Rockstar logo, performing simulated fellatio on CJ, who is fully clothed in jeans and a "wife beater"-style tank top.

After a few seconds, the minigame proceeds to semi-explicit simulated copulation. Although players can change the camera angle with the circle button, as well as cycle though three sexual positions with the square button, no genitalia are ever seen. To win, players must maintain a steady rhythm with the left analog stick to build up an "excitement meter" in the right-hand screen. Fill the meter and Denise becomes very excited, telling CJ he is "the man" before the game congratulates you with the words "Nice guys finish last!" Let the meter drop to empty and the game admonishes you with "Failure to satisfy a woman is a CRIME!"

Confirmed: Sex minigame in PS2 San Andreas

By Rob -

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Interview With Assemblyman At Centre of GTA Sex Mod Row -

Gamespot have an interview with Leland Yee, the Californian assemblyman whose sharp words about the Hot Coffee mod for GTA : San Andreas started a process that saw two investigations launched in different parts of the world, and had everyone from Jack Thompson to Hillary Clinton climb onboard to condemn Rockstar Games.

Yee says he is glad of the huge publicity given to the issue, and hopes there are even more investigations, while reserving some hard words for the ESRB, who didn't give the game a sales-crippling AO (Adults Only) rating when it was released:

The ESRB is not an appropriate forum to rate any of these games whatsoever. There's a conflict of interest. It's the fox guarding the henhouse. ... If you have the industry paying for the rating, and your salary comes out of their money, the last thing you're going to try to do is try to upset them. The last thing you're going to do is limit their market share by rating a game AO.

He also expressed scepticism at Rockstar's claim that the mod wasn't an official part of the game, and that they had no control over the work of independent hackers who make mods like Hot Coffee:

If, in fact, as Rockstar claims, these sexually explicit minigames were never in their games whatsoever, then I would assume that these hackers have violated the copyright of Rockstar games, of Grand Theft Auto, and that Rockstar should, in fact, take every action that they can to sue every single penny of those individuals who would violate their copyright," Yee said. "I haven't seen any of that at all, and that's why I'm suspicious of Rockstar's position of innocence.

Gamespot.com: Assemblyman Yee talks Hot Coffee

By Rob -

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Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Game -

To coincide with the release of Tim Burton's movie remake, Take2 have announced Charlie and The Chocolate Factory the game has hit retail in the U.S.
The game was released yesterday for the PS2, Xbox, PC and GameBoy Advance, with the the GameCube version hitting the stores next week.

The voices and likenesses of actors from the film, including star Johnny Depp, were used in the game, and creative consultation was provided by Tim Burton.

The game also features some elements from the original Roald Dahl book that didn't make it to the Burton film:

Inspired by the Warner Bros. Pictures feature film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, directed by Tim Burton and based on the classic Roald Dahl book, the videogame allows players to embark on an adventure exploring the many extraordinary environments of the factory, including some elements from the book that do not appear in the film, accompanied by everyone's favorite Oompa-Loompas. Players discover what happens after the other children, greed-driven and unrestrained, wreak havoc throughout the factory and solve mystifying puzzles using special candy powers. Only by helping the Oompa-Loompas and restoring order to the factory can gamers earn the respect of Willy Wonka and win a prize beyond their wildest imagination!

Press release

By Rob -

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Worms Coming To PSP, Nintendo DS -

THQ and Team 17 have announced Worms will be wriggling onto the PSP and Nintendo DS. No release date for either format has been announced yet, and the official press release doesn't give much info away about the gameplay, but Gamesarefun.com uncovered some extra tidbits on the Team 17 forum:

Both the PSP and DS editions will feature classic Worms gameplay - as vociferously requested by our fans. Both versions have been in development for some time, news on release dates will follow much later in the year.

The PSP will utilise 3d background imagery and zooming, full width 16:9 proportions. It looks cute as sin

Both platforms feature ad-hoc wireless play and of course, hot-seat play as well as single player games that suit the play patterns of the devices. I.e. short bursts.

The DS will feature touch-screen use; planned to be finger rather than stylus control to make it better for hot-seat situations. The touch screen will be used for map scrolling, weapon controls and stats.

The gamecode is all new for both editions and not a port of earlier 2d games.

A 3d version of Worms is not currently planned for these devices, for both technical and play-factor reasons bearing in mind their screen resolution and suitability to the original 2d game mechanics.

Team17.com forum: PSP & DS Info (reg. req.)

Related:
Team17.com
Worms 4: Mayhem Demo (22 June)
Lemmings Coming To PSP (19 May)
Discussion >>

By Rob -

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EVE Online Cold War Edition Deployed -

CCP Games have announced the smooth roll-out of Cold War Edition, the major content update to EVE Online. Described as somewhere between a patch and an expansion, the update included a host of new features, and introduced a whole new beginners experience to the game, making it much easier for new players to quickly become accustomed to the game environment.

CCP also previously said the Cold War Edition will pave the way for the next expansion to EVE Online, code named Kali and expected for release later in the year.

EVE Online players can grab the Cold War Edition free here, and read the full list of features here.

Related:
EVE Online - Cold War Edition Revealed (24 June)
Eve Online official site
CCP (Crowd Control Productions)
Discussion >>

By Rob -

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President Bush and Lowenstein under fire from disgruntled lawyer - 15.7.05

It seems controversial anti-game attorney Jack Thompson is back in the headlines once again. Thompson has recently written an open letter to a long list of Entertainment Software Association members, compromising developers and publishers.

In the letter he launches personal attacks on both U.S. president George Bush and the president of the ESA Doug Lowenstein. Thompson is demanding the replacement of Lowenstein as president of the ESA who he believes has failed to take the appropriate action against violent games.

Quote from the letter:

When Hitler invaded Russia, opening up an Eastern offensive on the eve of winter, Britain's Prime Minister Winston Churchill noted that Hitler must have been rather loosely educated, not having learned the lesson of Napoleon's autumn advance on Moscow Your Doug Lowenstein is similarly 'loosely educated' about the United States Constitution.'

Jack Thompson brands ESA "Criminal"

By Gary -

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Xbox to make the big splash on November 4th? -

According to Xbox365.com, Microsoft may have let slip the official release date for their upcoming Xbox 360 console. The article claims to have got the information from a Microsoft partner site.

The Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system places you at the center of the experience. Available this holiday season, Xbox 360 ignites a new era of digital entertainment that is always connected, always personalized, and always in high definition.

Launch Date: November 4 2005

Whether or not the release date turns out to be accurate, November was the slated release date so it would fit in nicely with earlier announcements from MS.

Xbox 360 Launch Date | Via Kotaku

Related:
Xbox 360 design team bare all
Xbox 360 In Black
Hundreds of Fan-Created Xbox 360 Faceplates
Report: Xbox 360 Mass Production To Start In August
Japan yawns at Xbox 360
Xbox 360 Beta Kit Image Hits The Web
PS3 most expensive console ever/Xbox 360 shortages?
Xbox 360 Beta Dev-Kits Shipped To Developers
Team Ninja chief attacks Xbox 360 DVDs
PS3/Xbox360/PSP/DS Compatibility Rumours Swirl
Discussion >>

By Gary -

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No Godfather game in '05, Cube release not likely -

Earlier we reported that Godfather legend, Marlon Brando's voice will not likely appear in the upcoming Godfather game. There are now reports coming in that suggest EA has delayed the entire project until a later date.

The game had been slated for release to PC, Xbox 360, GameCube, PS2 and PSP later this year, but according to an article over on Ferrago, EA are now looking at an early 2006 release.

The Godfather is one of the most cherished franchises in entertainment. Releasing the game in early 2006 allows us more time to perfect the open-world experience of being a member of the Corleone family,

explains Executive producer David DeMartini.

EA has also said that there is no plan to develop the Godfather for Nintendo's GameCube any time soon, despite earlier speculation to the contrary..

Whilst the power of the Godfather brand is expected to mean this delay won't impact sales, it is believed that EA's results prior to Christmas may be harmed by the delay - though we're more than convinced this won't do EA any real harm. In related news, EA have also confirmed that The Godfather isn't planned for the GameCube any time soon - despite rumours sourced to EA Italy suggesting the contrary. More on this soon, my children.

Godfather delayed, not on Cube

By Gary -

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Blue-Ray all the way, consumers say -

Following recent turmoil surrounding the next-gen DVD wars between Toshiba's HD-DVD and Sony's Blue-Ray, it appears that consumers have spoken out in favour of Blue-Ray disks which will be appearing in Sony's Playstation 3 next year.

The survey was conducted by US polling firm Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates in which they presented customers with all the important factors surrounding each of the formats, like: technology company support, film studio support, games console support, storage capacity, potential movie title availability and estimated launch dates.

Out of 1200 people who participated in the survey, only 16 percent favoured Toshiba's HD-DVD offering, 26 percent were undecided but 58 percent of the people surveyed were sold on Sony's next-gen DVD format.

Those who chose Blu-Ray gave reasons such as the potential to play the discs in a greater range of CE devices, PCs and games consoles, backwards compatibility with the current DVD format, greater disc capacity and the potential to store bigger amounts of both HD and standard definition media.

"While we are still in the pre-launch phase for both formats, Blu-Ray is the early front runner," said PSB's Mark Penn. "Consumers perceive Blu-Ray as the favourite on technology company support, gaming, storage and disc lifestyle."

Consumers choose Blu-Ray over HD-DVD

By Gary -

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EA snub Revolution? -

In a recent interview with Japanese magazine Famitsu, EA has hinted that Nintendo's next-gen Revolution console will not be high priority for them.

According to the interview, EA Vice-President David Gardner told Famitsu that Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's Playstation 3 will be getting the 'main force' of EA's support next-generation.

What exactly this means for the Revolution is at this stage unknown, with a possible continued trend of EA just giving Nintendo ports of releases from other platforms speculated. Certainly, EA will be supporting the Revolution to a degree, but at this point exactly how much is now unclear.

EA Reluctant To Support Revolution?

By Gary -

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Battlefield Sector -

Half Life Fallout has announced another add-on game site to its network. After the recent announcement of Star Wars Tactics, Battlefield Sector has been launched as a site with up to date news, articles and information for Battlefield 2.

From the about page:

Our main goal is to keep you updated on the latest Battlefield 2 news as it happens. But also providing quality downloads, articles and much more. Be sure to make yourself at home in our forum, and once you're all settled in? Feel free to drop by the IRC channel too!

Battlefield Sector contains loads of information about the game. BFS includes an overview of the game, as well as information about the maps, classes, weapons, vehicles and ranks of Battlefield 2.

Battlefield Sector Launched

By Gary -

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Nintendo Revolution "Deepthroat" Dropping Hints? -

Nintendo Revolution Think Outside The Box ad

We received a pretty vague email about the Nintendo Revolution from someone who doesn't give any specific details, but comes across like he might have some new info and wants everyone to guess what it is (apart from us, it was sent to a number of major sites who haven't published it yet).:

Revolutionary Factor
Its Really All Too Simple.

The rumors about Nintendo's newly announced console are being passed around these days like the common 'One Dollar Bill'. Not to say this is a bad thing, however, just how far does the speculation go before turning people away? Hold the phone. Speculation never does that. Why is this 'Revolution' different?
The mock-ups have become dull, and redundant. What is left of the non-discredited rumors, however educated of a guess they were, has left the watcher to think for themselves as to what the mystery is. Nintendo has yet to bring anything forward since the late E3, setting aside the few details of already confirmed specs.
A relatively new photo has sparked my personal interest as to what is ahead for 'us' to discover. We, as a whole, are waiting for any lick of information to drop from the tight grasp of the Big N's bound hands. There is only one question left to ask. Why aren't we thinking "outside the box", when it comes to our speculations?
For those of you who didn't quite catch on, the before mentioned photo was that of a poster that simply stated, "Revolution begins March 2006. Think outside the box.". The stale ideas of touch screens, gyroscopic abilities, and dual-controllers have gone on far enough. What are we going to see in this system that will make us all say "wow", in a lovely state of awe.
With a seemingly endless ammount of information at our fingertips, ala the internet, how can we have reached our peek of creativity? Has Nintendo officially stumped the obscure minds of its loyal customers? Well, maybe it hasn't. The hype certainly hasn't died down, however, the speculation is in a checkmate position. Nintendo can choose to cut us off, or we can flip the playing table, and turn this into a 'whole different game'.
I guess i can't order a full attack on established reasoning without giving fuel. So I have found one thought that has been gnawing at the back of my mind. Why does the Revolution have a "Docking Station" exclusively for Gamecube controllers and memory cards? Can these not simply just be built into the system itself? Well there is a logical explination, as that could be considered a size issue. It still raises the question as to why they would call it a "Docking Station", that is, unless it was meant to 'move around'.
Ok, that is going a little TOO far outside of this miracle box. It's like saying Nintendo is going to throw a flip-up screen and battery somewhere into the already miniscule machine. That's more than way out there, close to an impossibility, but it's a start. The focus, in general, is on the controller. While the controller is important, it more than likely compliments the features not yet 'revealed'. Though i don't know how much longer those features can be restrained.
Just because an 'official picture' has been released, doesn't mean there isn't something left to discover inside the box that is "outside the box". If the controller were the revolutionary item in question, Sony and Microsoft would adapt quickly enough to essentially take away its selling point. The secrecy of what this system holds in store for us, can not only be with the controller, but in the device that is only 3 DVD cases in size. An item so small holds something 'so big', but what?

It's not new.
It is really all too simple.
Find me.
It's all about the 'Game'.

~Your Deepthroat~

By Rob -

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Rockstar Again Denies Stirring Hot Coffee - 14.7.05

The huge stir caused by the discovery of a pornographic mini-game in GTA: San Andreas has forced the usually press-shy Rockstar Games to release a statement disowning the mod that enables it. A spokesperson for the company had earlier told Gamespot.com the mod was not an official part of the game.

Rockstar claim the scenes in the Hot Coffee mod "cannot be created without intentional and significant technical modifications and reverse engineering of the game's source code", before going on to say they are looking at ways to increase the security of the source code to prevent the game being altered by the mod.

However, the creator of the Hot Coffee mod has said "the scriptcode, the models, the animations and the dialogs by the original voice-actors were all created by RockStar", which has resulted in two separate investigations into the game, by the ESRB in the U.S. and the ratings board in Australia.

Political heavyweight Hillary Clinton has also jumped into the controversy, and is expected to call on the Federal Trade Commission to launch an inquiry into the matter.

Rockstar Games blames Hot Coffee on hackers

Related:
Senator Clinton climbs onboard Hot-Coffee witch hunt
Watchdog Jumps Into GTA Sex Mod Debate
Modder: "the scriptcode, the models, the animations and the dialogs by the original voice-actors were all created by RockStar"
NIMF Stirs GTA Hot Coffee Debate to Next Level
GTA sex scandal goes down under
ESRB investigating San Andreas sex minigames
Rockstar Deny Sex in GTA: San Andreas
Discussion >>

By Rob -

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Marvel MMOG's Coming To Xbox 360 -

Microsoft and Marvel have announced a partnership to create massively multiplayer online games featuring Marvel characters for the Xbox 360.

The game universe will feature Marvel's 5,000+ characters, which include the X-Men, The Fantastic Four, Spider Man and The Hulk, and Microsoft's Peter Moore said the plan is to "use as many of the Marvel characters as we can" for the game.

Reuters reports the first title from the deal is expected for release in 2008, while more official details are promised for the coming months.

Reuters: Microsoft and Marvel ink online game deal - Press release

Related:
Marvel.com
Hulk website officially live
Fantastic Four Screenshots Emerge (7 June)
Sony acquire rights to produce DC Comics MMOG
Discussion >>

By Rob -

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Battlefield 2 Expansion Pack Announced -

EA Games and Digital Illusions have announced an expansion pack for Battlefield 2.

Battlefield 2: Special Forces will let players fight as one of 6 different Special Forces soldiers - Navy SEALs, British SAS, Russian Spetznas, MEC Special Forces, Rebel groups and insurgents. Players will be equipped with all the latest Special Forces weaponry and gadgets, and will have 10 new vehicles at their disposal.

The expansion is scheduled for release this winter for the PC:

Battlefield 2 Special Forces takes the intensity and quality of Battlefield 2 behind the scenes of news headlines, showcasing the most elite and deadly forces in the modern military world. Using accurate Special Forces weapons, gadgets, and vehicles, these covert armies battle to control key military and strategic locations.

Press release - Check the forum for BF2: Special Forces screenshots

By Rob -

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Mythic Put Sci-Fi MMORPG On Ice -

Mythic Entertainment have announced their postponement of Imperator, a sci-fi MMORPG they had scheduled for a 2006 release.

The company have set themselves a standard of "nothing less than triple-A games", and said Imperator simply wasn't meeting that standard.

The staff working on Imperator will be reassigned to their other current games, Dark Age of Camelot and the Warhammer MMORPG, announced recently at the E3:

"Our team made a tremendous effort with the game and the praise it drew at E3 and in previews reflected their skill and dedication," [CEO of Mythic, Mark] Jacobs continued. "But in the final analysis it just wasn't great enough to be a Mythic game at this time."

Mythic will perform an internal reassessment of the game's features and make a decision on how to proceed with its development in the future.

The decision to postpone "Imperator" also means that the company's plans to establish a European publishing office have been postponed. It is expected that those plans will resume as the company prepares for its 2007 worldwide publication of the "Warhammer" MMORPG.

MYTHIC ENTERTAINMENT TO POSTPONE PRODUCTION OF "IMPERATOR" MMORPG

By Rob -

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Planetwide Announce Comic Book Creator -

Planetwide Games have revealed that their latest piece of software in development will let gamers create comic books using screenshots from their favourite games.

The Comic Book Creator isn't available just yet, but the features listed include a drag & drop interface for adding text to the screenshots, as well as the ability to easily add effects and balloons to the story.
The software will save the newly created comics as PDF files, ready for printing.

For more information, check out the official site.

Related:
Planetwide Games
RYL.net
$1M RYL Tourney Underway, Monthly Fee Now Optional (1 June)
Gamasutra: Planetwide Games Plans Extreme Sports MMO (23 June)
RYL Hits Retail (22 June)
Discussion >>

By Rob -

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Become a Drug Lord in "The Dope Game" -

A sure-to-be-controversial sim has been released by New Zealand developer 89 Games called "The Dope Game", the aim of which is to earn cash by growing marijuana and opium on farms, or by manufacturing harder stuff (morphine and heroin) in labs.

The PC game features 3D graphics and a third-person perspective, and players must protect their illegal business from law enforcement by stocking up on weapons, including mines, turrets and missile launchers.

More info on the game can be found at Gamespot

Discussion >>

By Rob -

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Black & White 2 Mailbag & Screenshot -

Lionhead have released a new screenshot for Black & White 2, and answered questions from fans in a new mailbag Q&A. Among the questions answered are how to become a B&W2 beta tester, and a rough idea of the systems specs that will be required to play the game:

Will it take a super-computer to run Black and White 2, or do you know the system requirements yet? Alan O'Dwyer

Hi Alan, currently we don’t know the system requirements yet. Most likely we are looking at similar requirements like other (more demanding and recently released) games. Black&White 2 attempts to push back the barriers of games in all areas; graphics, gameplay, audio etc…

The Black & White 2 Mailbag #4, screenshot

By Rob -

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Brothers in Arms Mod Kit Released -

Ubisoft have released the software development kit for the WWII shooter Brothers in Arms, allowing players to create their own missions and maps for the game, as well as their own unique weapons and characters.

The SDK is a small 14.7 MB file and can be downloaded from the official BiA site; for specifications and features, check the readme file here.

Related:
Brothers In Arms official site
Brothers in Arms demo
UBIsoft Announce Brothers In Arms Earned In Blood (19 May)
Brothers In Arms - Tested Cheats
Gearbox Software - developer
Discussion >>

By Rob -

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You can't handle the G-man! -

The creative folks over at nailbiter.net have put together a reenactment of the famous court scene from the film 'A Few Good Men' using Half Life 2 modding tools. G-man is there, Barney too and many others to take the place of Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson.

Hey gang, this is my first crack at making movies with the HL2 engine. I originally thought this would be a quick "two-weeks" maximum project ("hey, the phoneme editor practically does all the work for you!"), but turned into a 2 month learning experience. I probably would have hesistated had I known what I was in for, but thought this would be a good test project (and didn't you always want to see the G-Man get grilled?).

A Few Good G-Men

By Gary -

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Senator Clinton climbs onboard Hot-Coffee witch hunt -

The Hot-Coffee witch-hunt has stepped up another notch as New York senator and former 1st lady Hillary Clinton gets onboard to whoop some Rockstar ass into moral shape. The New York senator is expected to call on the Federal Trade commission to launch an inquiry into the so called 'Hot Coffee' mod for GTA: San Andreas.

Hillary Clinton is no stranger in voicing her disgust for violence in games. In fact, she has already trampled on San Andreas before, calling it a 'major threat' to morality.

Children are playing a game that encourages them to have sex with prostitutes and then murder them.

This is a silent epidemic of media desensitisation that teaches kids it'’s OK to diss people because they are a woman, they'’re a different color or they'’re from a different place.

Clinton is determined to get to the bottom of the controversial sex mod and find who is responsible for making it.

Clinton is expected to call on the FTC to determine who is responsible for the Hot Coffee mod, a modification that unlocks sexually explicit minigames in Rockstar's recently published PC version of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

Hillary Clinton to take on Rockstar over Hot Coffee

By Gary -

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Hulk website officially live -

Vivendi Universal has announced that the official website for the upcoming The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction has been launched. The site features some details about the features of the game, some downloadable wallpapers, icons for online chat programs. All that plus tasty trailers and screenshots to get your appetite whet.

In the game, players play as the ragin' Marvel Comics superhero The Incredible Hulk. Hulk can run rampant in the game's open environments, destroying just about anything that makes him cross, and using debris as weapons. There will be more than 30 main missions and 40 side missions, as well as rumbles with bosses such as The Abomination and Mercy.

Hulk punches out new Web site

The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction is slated for release to PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox on August 23.

Check out the website
Discussion >>

By Gary -

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I want the house, the kids, oh and the avatars -

Couples have to deal with many property issues when divorcing. It might be kids, a car, old records. It's slightly different for gaming couple Mr Wang and Ms Ye who are currently in a bitter dispute as to who gets to keep the avatars from their favourite game, Legend of Mir 2.

The couple met online while playing the game last year and married within four weeks, but now it seems that after achieving a 'level forty or fifty status' in the game, they decided to call it a day.

The accounts are valued in the region of 50,000 Yuan (or about $6,500 US), but the dispute over who keeps the characters is growing ever-bitter - with Wang offering their apartment in return for the accounts, whilst Ye wants to sell the apartment, splitting the proceeds, and the LoM 2 accounts, equally. A compromise seems far off on this matter, but lawyers are working on it. This case certainly demonstrates the power of the MMOG in China. More soon.

Chinese couple battle for MMOG avatars

By Gary -

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EA look to boost market share in Japan -

According to the latest issue of Famitsu magazine, EA has plans to increase its market share in Japan by developing games that will appeal to Japanese gamers. EA's senior vice president of international publishing, David Hardner was interviewed by Famitsu. Gardner is entrusted with overseeing EA's European and Asian publishing operations.

Gardner told Famitsu that EA have plans to employ two major strategies in order to expand its market share in Japan. Firstly, EA has plans to hold back on the amount of games it currently imports into Japan. Instead selecting the finest cuts which they believe will entice Japanese gamers.

However, American games are still generally cult products in Japan, aside from a few titles such as the Grand Theft Auto series. Gardner said that it will be easier to win over the Japanese customers' interest by developing games locally rather than by trying to convince them that American games are good. So as its second step, EA is expanding its studio in Japan.

Electronic Arts developing next-gen console game in Japan

By Gary -

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Sony and Nvidia, buddies forever? -

According to reports coming in, Nvidia may be sticking around with Sony, long after the launch of Sony's PS3 next year. David Kirk, Nvidia's chief scientist and leader of the teams behind the recent GeForce 7800 graphics card and PS3 GPU has hinted that Nvidia will be working with Sony closely and extensively in the future.

The Nvidia heavyweight told UK website Bit-Tech that their relationship with Sony thus far has been 'great' and that both companies shared a much broader vision for the future of graphics.

While NVIDIA's dealings with Microsoft have traditionally been based around a customer-supplier relationship, NVIDIA has worked in close co-operation with the Japanese giant to design the RSX chip for its next-gen console.

NVIDIA's Sony relationship will go beyond PS3

By Gary -

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Tomb Raider's Djimon Hounsou and Bono to tackle poverty - 13.7.05

Tomb Raider star Djimon Hounsou has recently teamed up with U2 frontman Bono, in an attempt to encourage African scholars to give back to their homeland and help rid the corruption among some African politicians and leaders.

The Tomb Raider star is also a native of Benin and believes that he can achieve his goals if the top minds are there to lend a supporting role.

"So many countries in Africa have not really had great leaders because of corruption, so I'm working with Bono in trying to find ways to get African scholars and African artists together to find solutions to end corruption in some of the places." Hounsou said.

"We do need to improve in trading with the West and we do need to improve on an education level. We do need to end corruption. We need help, but more than anything, Africa needs to be able to trade with the West. That's the only way we can be self-sufficient.

TOMB RAIDER STAR LOBBIES FOR AFRICA

By Gary -

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Xbox 360 design team bare all -

Gamasutra has an interesting and thorough write-up in which they discuss the design of the Xbox 360 with the people behind the look of the upcoming next-gen console.

Microsoft is first out the door in the next-gen console wars, so it's not very surprising that they are getting a lot of attention lately, also some close scrutiny I might add, courtesy of critics and Kuteragi.

Check out Gamasutra's interview with the Xbox 360 design team, were they delve into the evolution of the console and the reasoning behind the design.

Related:
Xbox 360 In Black
Hundreds of Fan-Created Xbox 360 Faceplates
Report: Xbox 360 Mass Production To Start In August
Japan yawns at Xbox 360
Xbox 360 Beta Kit Image Hits The Web
PS3 most expensive console ever/Xbox 360 shortages?
Xbox 360 Beta Dev-Kits Shipped To Developers
Team Ninja chief attacks Xbox 360 DVDs
PS3/Xbox360/PSP/DS Compatibility Rumours Swirl
Discussion >>

By Gary -

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Are hackers stealing your cyber-money? -

Korean media reports are suggesting that hackers are using daring new tactics in an attempt to steal cyber-money from players of MMORPG titles. The report claims that popular websites are being hacked in order to seed password stealing software which then collects users' passwords. The passwords are then used to hack into the player's account were the hacker can help themselves to all the cyber-money he or she can hold.

A 37-year-old man named Lee is said to have hired eight Chinese hackers who installed Trojan horses on popular Korean websites and are said to have stolen 50,000 usernames and passwords in May.

Another 37-year-old, named Cho, is alleged to have launched a denial-of-service attack against a popular massively multi-p