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Commodore USA has announced the availability of a new beta release of Commodore OS Vision 1.0, a Linux Mint-based distribution designed to appear like a modernised version of previous Commodore computer systems: "Commodore OS Vision beta 9 online update. Release notes: added the ability to restore the GRUB boot menu from live mode after a Windows install; fixed Plymouth animated loading screen problems for most (but not all) graphics cards; added functionality to turn animated wallpaper on and off, enabled by selecting in the menu; tweaked Firefox CSS rendering to no longer follow the Commodore OS theme, resulting in...

Moves 3.5 million copies in first 24 hours Whoever said that PC gaming is dead has to be crazy, as the PC version of Diablo III has set a new sales record. The game moved an amazing 3.5 million copies in the first 24 hours of release, which makes it now the fastest selling game in PC history and the biggest PC game launch in history. The game also got an added bump of another 1.2 million World of Warcraft Annual Pass users who received the game as part of a Blizzard promotion. Blizzard has now confirmed that sales...

BAILOUT DEFENDER:  Obama Mission The title says it all, help the Bolshevik Boy Wonder defend industrial nationalizations and shameless giveaways to unions against the Teapartynaziclingers and other bad sorts of (racist) people who refuse to just shut-up, lay back, and learn to enjoy it. More at Reaganite Republican... Enjoy your weekend, FReeper patriots

Animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has set its sights on iconic video game character Mario for wearing fur in Nintendo’s latest 3DS game Super Mario 3D Land. Since the game launched Sunday, the organization has launched a scathing online campaign entitled “Mario Kills Tanooki.” In Nintendo's new game, Mario sometimes dons the skin of a tanooki, which is a Japanese raccoon dog. “Tanooki may be just a suit in the game, but in real life tanuki are raccoon dogs who are skinned alive for their fur,” PETA’s site states. “By wearing a Tanooki, Mario...

The sun had long since finished breakfast and turned serious. Then the best of the cartoons were over. It was time to find stuff to do. Buzzie would invariably recommend, "Let's do army guys." "Yeah, army guys." "I'm the sergeant-", "No, I'm the sergeant, you were last ti-","No, I'm the s-","No","Huh-uh" And so, eventually, by committee approval, we finally sorted out our respective roles as Vic Morrow, Rick Jason, and two unnamed krauts. We knew that krauts were the scoff name for germans, and since all of us were of between half and full german heritage, we further defined krauts...

Anyone who plays games on facebook notice how the wedding chapel was removed from Cityville - due to it being an insult to other religions somehow? All things Christian are removed from view I guess. I'm really at the over the top upset level on the anti-Christian everything by the Progressives. The bias even in games is sickening so this was refreshing to see. New competition that is conservative on facebook coming out next week. It is out now but I think not released until next week. Tea Party people at tea Party Express told me about it. I just...

Michigan taxpayers will give one company about $912,000 for it to make two video games under the state’s 42 percent film tax incentive program. The Michigan Film Office has approved tax incentives to BH Golfing Games Productions so it can make the Ben Hogan games, according to the film office’s 2010 annual report. The money goes to BH Golfing Game Productions LLC, which is one of a series of limited liability companies created for the project. The project has ties to Alliance Acquisitions, a venture capital company in California. There are also Michigan investors involved, according to Marc Seyburn, the...

Michigan taxpayers will give one company about $912,000 for it to make two video games under the state’s 42 percent film tax incentive program. The Michigan Film Office has approved tax incentives to BH Golfing Games Productions so it can make the Ben Hogan games, according to the film office’s 2010 annual report. The money goes to BH Golfing Game Productions LLC, which is one of a series of limited liability companies created for the project. The project has ties to Alliance Acquisitions, a venture capital company in California.

Notch, the creator of Minecraft and upcoming game Scrolls, is having to deal with a rather problematic legal issue at the moment. Because his new game is called Scrolls, Bethesda has a problem with it. Notch received a 15 page legal document earlier this month asking him to refrain from using the name because it infringed the Elder Scrolls trademark somehow. Bethesda is a big company with a healthy bank balance, where as Notch may be doing well from sales of Minecraft, but certainly doesn’t want to have to fund a court case. So he has come up with a...

Amy Kalson hates bugs, sunburns and cooked bell peppers. She loves dogs, tea and books. And now she can add one more thing to her love list: guns. Real ones. Amy’s a video game designer who until recently had never picked up anything that shoots without the aid of an Xbox controller. And she seems to feel pretty sheepish about it, pleading to her fellow game developers not to “throw rocks at my head” when they find out… There are a million stories in the naked city. And each gun convert seems to have his or her own unique one....

A former prisoner of a Chinese labor camp claims guards are forcing detainees to play online games as part of a huge money-making scam. Liu Dali told The Guardian website that guards traded the credits inmates built up playing games such as World of Warcraft for money. "Prison bosses made more money forcing inmates to play games than they do forcing people to do manual labor," he said. "There were 300 prisoners forced to play games. We worked 12-hour shifts in the camp. I heard them say they could earn 5000-6000rmb a day. "We didn't see any of the money....

Because i do and i hope this isn't a dumb thread,because i find Heavy to be the best on most things. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team_Fortress_2

As the Patriots would say, these are T-shirt and hat games this weekend. Too bad for the Patriots they will be home watching it with you and me thanks to the Jets. The NFL Championship games are Sunday, the two winners get a trip to the Super Bowl in Dallas while the losers get to send unused T-shirts and hats to Haiti. Sure most of them are size XXX, they'll shrink in the wash. See, everybody wins, sort of. We have the polls again in the sidebar, feel free to participate. Last week we were mostly right as a group,...

It's been a bad week and frankly I don't really care that much about this weekend's games because my Eagles will be watching them on TV. Still you might care, so. The Armageddon bowl, so called by the Ravens secondary, pits the Steelers against the Ravens. It's probably the best game of the weekend and it happens first, 4:30 PM ET Saturday on CBS. The Steelers are a 3½ point favorite and that seems about right to me. The Steelers are home and their QB is better. At 8 PM ET Saturday on Fox the Packers visit the Falcons. The...

Today on the blog, as promised, we're going to talk football. No issues of war and peace, no making cruel fun of a second rate American President, no water-boarding the Treasury Secretary today. Its Friday, its playoff time, and it's my blog so there's no one to stop me. This weekend is wildcard weekend, which traditionally means none of these teams are going to the Super Bowl. There have been exceptions, but sometimes exceptions only prove the rule . The Steelers, Patriots, Bears, and Falcons are watching the other 8 playoff teams beat the hell out of each other from...

Games are a natural part of life. Think about it. Even in nature, pups, cubs and kittens play, practice and sharpen the skills they will use as adults. Littermates will tumble around, with fake growls and go in for a “kill” with a pretend bite to the neck. The puppy on his back, knows he’s lost the game. Throughout history, there were games that displayed strength, stamina and skills in every culture. Today, those who can play games to display their strength, stamina and skill are given multi-million dollar contracts– and we pay big bucks to watch them. However, though...

The Chinese are playing grandmaster chess against an amateur America that can’t see beyond the second move... China is doing a very different thing. The Communist regime sees trade policy as merely one weapon in a war aimed at overtaking the United States as the world’s preeminent economic and, by extension, military power. The undervaluation of the renminbi is a necessary means of keeping China’s export machine running at full tilt so as to create jobs for the millions who are moving from the country to the nation’s cities. Lacking democratic legitimacy, the regime’s principal claim to the loyalty, or...

Games are a natural part of life. Think about it. Even in nature, pups, cubs and kittens play, practice and sharpen the skills they will use as adults. Littermates will tumble around, with fake growls and go in for a “kill” with a pretend bite to the neck. The puppy on his back, knows he’s lost the game. Throughout history, there were games that displayed strength, stamina and skills in every culture. Today, those who can play games to display their strength, stamina and skill are given multi-million dollar contracts– and we pay big bucks to watch them. However, though...

President Barack Obama has transcended just about every medium there is, from books to playing cards, to artwork. He even makes an appearance in a few video games. But today EA Sports announced that in its newest release of “NBA Jam,” a two on two, high flying basketball game, you can unlock a team of Democrats, including Obama. Others include Vice President Joe Biden, former President Bill Clinton, his wife Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore. Quite a formidable team, right? But what if you’re not a fan of the current President? Not a problem...

The Commonwealth Games in India have been thrown into more chaos after a ceiling fell in at the weightlifting arena - a day after a bridge collapsed, injuring 27 people. The latest calamity comes as Scotland said it was delaying sending its athletes to Delhi over health and safety fears, and Wales gave organisers a deadline of this evening to confirm whether the venues are fit for purpose. In another development, Mike Fennell, the Games' federation chief, announced he was travelling to the Indian capital for emergency talks. Some of the world's top athletes have already pulled out amid widespread...