via gamespot

Last year a bill proposing gaming regulations in the state of Indiana stalled before it could be voted on by legislators. Lawmakers are trying again, however, as last month state Senators David C. Ford (Republican) and Vi Simpson (Democrat) introduced a bill that would ban the sale of games rated M for Mature or AO for Adults Only to children.

The bill passed its first test this week, as the Senate Committee on Economic Development and Technology (which Ford chairs) voted 5-2 to recommend it be passed by the full Senate. According to an Associated Press article, the committee members were shown a video of objectionable material in games, including characters "urinating on victims and setting them on fire" and "gunning down people in a church." Another clip showed a game that rewarded players' achievements with footage of strippers.

A representative with the Entertainment Software Association argued before the committee that the law was unconstitutional like those struck down in other states, the Associated Press reported. Ford responded by saying he would continue to work on the bill to make it constitutional. ...

via gamesindustry

Consumer gaming website Games Radar has come under fire from Gay.com UK for publishing an article "outing" five game characters.

The article, which is titled 'Are they gay?', begins by noting that God of War's Kratos "'accidentally' killed his wife and daughter. Which probably means he's got a grudge against women. Or something".

It goes on to suggest that Gears of War's Marcus Fenix, Bully's Jimmy Hopkins, Dead Rising's Frank West and Vaan from Final Fantasy XII also "show signs of covert - and not so covert - campness".

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz Hassan Mirza, news editor for Gay.com, said, "While it's reassuring to know that gamers are interested in the sexual orientation of digital superheroes, Matt Cundy's 'Are they gay?' article relies on a series of juvenile stereotypes and clichés.

"I can't imagine any homophobic intentions, but it can be dangerous to suggest that looking "camp" means gay, or worse, that gay men hold violent grudges against women. It's a completely misinformed suggestion."

Mirza also criticised the part of the article which states: "[Frank West] enjoys dressing in woman's clothes. And children's clothes. Probably not gay per se, but definitely a bit kinky and not one to shy away from carnal 'experimentation'."

According to Mirza, "Cundy's facetious tone, dismissive of an impressionable audience, justifies making jokes about the LGBT community."

The Games Radar article has been featured on gay news site PinkNews.co.uk, which poses the question, "What is the point of "outing" characters? Is this yet another bunch of childish "str8" boys laughing at gay people?"

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, online editor Tony Grew said he was not offended by the piece but did question its objectives.

"I didn't really know what to make of it. I know a lot of gay people play games and feel they're under-represented, and it's interesting that the macho world of games is taking this kind of approach," he observed.

"I'm not insulted by it, but I would question what it's trying to achieve. It will be interesting to see what our readers think of it." ...

Console software sales for January in North America were US $549 million (EUR 418m), a rise of 53 per cent compared to the same period last year.

Partly due to there being five weeks in the month during 2007, as opposed to four in 2006, the numbers were still a rise of 22 per cent when the extra days are taken into account.

The figure smashes estimates by analyst Wedbush Morgan which expected a rise of 32 per cent, as software sales of next-generation titles exceeded expectations.

Next-generation software sales reached US $310 million (EUR 236m), compared to a forecast of US $250 million (EUR 190m), while current-generation titles accounted for US $239 million (EUR 181m), ahead of expectations of US $225 million (EUR 171m).

The top three selling titles for Microsoft's Xbox 360 were Capcom's Lost Planet: Extreme Condition, Epic's Gears of War and Ubisoft's Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas.

Warioware: Smooth Moves was the best-selling title for the Nintendo Wii, followed by fan-favourite Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess and Ubisoft's Rayman Raving Rabbids.

The PlayStation 3's high-selling games were Resistance: Fall of Man, Madden NFL 07 and Fight Night Round 3.

Cumulative hardware sales in the US have now reached 4.8 million units for the Xbox 360, 1.5 million for the Wii and 933,000 for the PlayStation 3.

As reported earlier today, Nintendo's Wii sold 436,000 units in January in the region, while the Xbox 360 shifted 294,000, and the PS3 sold 244,000 units.

via gibiz ...

Retailers are reporting huge demand for PlayStation 3 as Sony gears up for what UK boss Ray Maguire says could be the company's "biggest hardware launch to date".

His comments were echoed by Gerry Berkley, head of games at Woolworths, who told GamesIndustry.biz, "PS3 pre-orders are coming in thick and fast. It is the fastest selling games product we have ever sold online and it is shaping up to be our biggest ever pre-order campaign for a console."

Berkley said Sony's new machine is "the hottest gaming system since the PS2", adding, "Demand will inevitably outstrip supply, so our advice to customers is to pre-order to avoid disappointment."

A spokesperson for Amazon.co.uk revealed that only one other product has seen a more rapid rate of pre-orders during 2007 - J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

"The customer demand for the PlayStation 3 is high and sustained and we are confident that it will take its place as one of the top selling items on Amazon.co.uk throughout 2007," the spokesperson said.

"We are only taking pre-orders until all our initial stock from Sony is accounted for - that way, no customer will be disappointed come day of release. We don't expect stocks to last long."

It's a similar story at Argos, with videogames buyer Anthony Stocker telling GamesIndustry.biz, "We're very pleased with the interest in the new PS3 and it is our most successful pre-ordered campaign for consoles."

Entertainment retailer HMV also said there is healthy demand for the console, as predicted. "Pre-orders are going well in line with expectations," a spokesperson confirmed.

But with such a high level of interest in PlayStation 3 and still just over a month to go until launch, will there be enough consoles to go round?

"Previous console supplies have been restrictive but Sony is promising such a big amount for day one that people can pretty much pre-order from whoever they like, and expect to be happy on the day of release," observed Chips MD Don McCabe.

"We've had they highest level of pre-orders of any machine to date - it's been phenomenal. Sony has guaranteed a healthy amount of units and we have every reason to believe they'll deliver."

The PlayStation 3 will launch in the UK on March 23, priced at GBP 425. Sony has previously stated that it plans to have one million units available in Europe on day one. A sizeable proportion of those will be allocated to Britain as it generally accounts for between 25 and 30 per cent of the market.

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Sony Computer Entertainment UK boss Ray Maguire said, "Feedback from retail has been incredibly positive, with early indications suggesting that this will be our biggest hardware launch to date.

"Whilst a successful launch is great, the real task is to build upon those foundations, in order to create a solid and sustainable platform, for consumers, developers and retailers alike," he concluded.

via gibiz ...

More details about Turok for Xbox 360 and PS3 have been excavated this afternoon, uncovering multiplayer support for up to 16 people, which doesn't appear to be as straightforward as it seems.

Naturally you'll be able to shoot your friends in the face whilst laughing raucously over your headset, but you'll also have to watch your back for for those ageing scaly dinosaurs.

By invading their planet, which effectively is a delicately balanced ecosystem, you might accidentally have put yourself on Terry Rex's dinner menu. It seems these fellows are somewhat more of a handful than your average hamster, and may well be-line for your meaty thighs over some Jurassic wildebeest. Chomp.

The game is in development at Propaganda Games for an autumn release, with a demo expected to appear closer to that time.

via eurogamer ...

via eurogamer

Nintendo Japan has said that classic puzzler Panel De Pon will be heading to Japanese DS owners in April (providing they pay for it, obviously), although there's no news on an American or European release.

It has been developed by Intelligent Systems, according to Famitsu magazine, and will mould classic Tetris-like puzzling onto the handheld's stylus-based approach.

Wi-Fi support for up to four humans is in, as reportedly is the inclusion of voice chat, which would be a bit of a boon and gift-wrap you ideal opportunities to make your opponents blunder by bellowing things like "grudge-pump" or "put your laces through it".

Not played Panel De Pon? Then get yourself to the nearest airport, where you'll discover it making up part of one of those random aeroplane companies' in-flight entertainment systems can't remember which one gotta go sorry. ...

via engadget

Judging by the sheer number of modifications and hacks for the NES that are out there, we'd have thought the limit to the number of things that it's possible to do with the hardware is close to being reached. Apparently not: as this latest mod by a guy called Mark Feldman proves, as long as the games stick around, people will go to extraordinary lengths to get authentic hardware to go with it. Mark's wireless NES controller mod for Wii involves opening up a SNES and NES controller, sticking a wireless transmitter, a microcontroller, and an iPod mini battery inside, and constructing a wireless receiver module with a GameCube cable on the end. Thanks to some sort of black magic -- Mark refers to it as "coding" -- when all this is put together, an off-the-shelf Wii can interpret the control input from the modded controllers, and the nostalgia-fueled gamer can play classic games on their virtual console without worrying about wires, and without a Wiimote-tethered Classic controller. Full details of how to make your NES controller wireless, and how to code the microprocessor so that it'll understand the signals, are available on Mark's site. Before attempting to execute any of the plans, we'd recommend warning friends and relatives that they may not see you for a while. Especially spouses: they tend to get worried when their SO disappears to the basement with a bundle of chips and circuitry.

More Info ...

via cvg

A release list of Nintendo games to release in Japan in 2007 has been compiled by Japanese website, Dengeki Online.

However, apart from confirming Ouendan 2, the list compiled heralds few surprises for Wii owners - although of course Nintendo could well pull something out its hat to add to this year's currently short release list.

Panel De Pon DS may incite a few 'HURRAH's' from puzzle fans but other than that, everything else is as we expect.

Check out the full list below, translated by the guys at Kotaku:

Wii

Fire Emblem
Eyeshield 21: Field no Saikyou Senshi Tachi
Super Paper Mario
Wii Brain Softening Game
Wii Health Pack
Disaster (Day of Disaster)
Mario Party 8
Project H.A.M.M.E.R
Wii Music
Super Mario Galaxy
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Totsugeki Famicom Wars (Battalion Wars 2)
Donkey Kong Taru Jet Race (Donkey Kong Bongo Blast)
Forever Blue
Mario Strikers Charged
Metroid Prime 3 Corruption
Animal Crossing
Hoshi no Kirby

DS

Yoshi's Island DS
More Eigo Zuke
Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2
Worldwide Club House Games Wi-Fi
Panel De Pon DS
Ouendan 2
ARCHAIC SEALED HEAT
DS Beautiful Characters (Letters) Training
The Legend of Zelda DS
Chibi Robo! DS
PuraPura Donkey DS ...

via cvg

A release list of Nintendo games to release in Japan in 2007 has been compiled by Japanese website, Dengeki Online.

However, apart from confirming Ouendan 2, the list compiled heralds few surprises for Wii owners - although of course Nintendo could well pull something out its hat to add to this year's currently short release list.

Panel De Pon DS may incite a few 'HURRAH's' from puzzle fans but other than that, everything else is as we expect.

Check out the full list below, translated by the guys at Kotaku:

Wii

Fire Emblem
Eyeshield 21: Field no Saikyou Senshi Tachi
Super Paper Mario
Wii Brain Softening Game
Wii Health Pack
Disaster (Day of Disaster)
Mario Party 8
Project H.A.M.M.E.R
Wii Music
Super Mario Galaxy
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Totsugeki Famicom Wars (Battalion Wars 2)
Donkey Kong Taru Jet Race (Donkey Kong Bongo Blast)
Forever Blue
Mario Strikers Charged
Metroid Prime 3 Corruption
Animal Crossing
Hoshi no Kirby

DS

Yoshi's Island DS
More Eigo Zuke
Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2
Worldwide Club House Games Wi-Fi
Panel De Pon DS
Ouendan 2
ARCHAIC SEALED HEAT
DS Beautiful Characters (Letters) Training
The Legend of Zelda DS
Chibi Robo! DS
PuraPura Donkey DS ...