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The Political Machine 2008 B For PC. Rated for ages 10 and up. $19 MY FELLOW AMERICANS: Do you cringe every time your favorite presidential candidate makes a stupid blunder or fails to support your pet cause? Well, now you can shape the message by taking the helm of the campaigns of Barack Obama, John McCain, Hillary Clinton and various other historical candidates and presidents in The Political Machine 2008. But while this strategy game is a lot of fun in short doses, hardcore political junkies will want more. CLAWING TO THE TOP: In the campaign mode, you select a...

Two decades have passed since the demonic denizens, Diablo, Mephisto, and Baal, wandered the world of Sanctuary in a vicious rampage to shackle humanity into unholy slavery. Yet for those who battled the Prime Evils directly, the memory fades slowly and the wounds of the soul still burn. When Deckard Cain returns to the ruins of Tristram's Cathedral seeking clues to new stirrings of evil, a comet from the heavens strikes the very ground where Diablo once entered the world. The comet carries a dark omen in its fiery being and it calls the heroes of Sanctuary to defend the...

Think you paid too much for your Playstation 3? Don't expect any sympathy from Sony. In the company's fiscal 2008 annual report, Sony revealed that they've now lost roughly $3.3 billion (that's billion with a B) on the Playstation 3 since its launch. That breaks down to $2.16 billion in 2007, followed by a notably smaller but equally daunting $1.16 billion loss in 2008.

Islamist forums are abuzz with a new theory: The designers of the video game Grand Theft Auto IV, they say, were inspired by killing methods developed by al-Qaida. But did the idea for the car bombs and suicide attacks in the game really come from Osama bin Laden? For user "Abd al-Wahhab," it is obvious. It isn't just military men all over the world who are studying the murderous methods employed by the terror group al-Qaida. Rather, designers, developers and graphic artists in the video game world, he argues, have realized that "al-Qaida is a killing school." His theory: The...

Thompson says You don't know Jack Jack Thompson, the infamous attorney that has been a factor in multiple anti-video game lawsuits, reportedly walked out of a hearing before the Florida Bar Association today. Thompson’s hearing went on without him and the Florida Bar Association recommended Thompson be disciplined with an “enhanced disbarment” stipulating that Thompson can’t apply to practice law again for a decade. ***** Thompson filed a massive and rambling 14 page document he titled “Thompson’s Formal Objection to June 4 Sanctions “Hearing””. Thompson points out in the opening lines of his objections that, “I depart from the traditional...

VIRGINIA - The objective of a new video game is to stop the spread of Christianity and Islam by brutally killing biblical prophets, says the game’s atheist creator. A graduate student at the University of Virginia created the game --which has not yet been released-- in order to give a voice to atheists, according to WSLS Television News. The grad-student wishes to remain anonymous for “fear of his safety.” His request is understandable --considering at one point in his game players win by beheading the Islamic Prophet Muhammad. Nearly a year ago, an even less bold stunt resulted in death...

BOYS who don't play videogames at all are at greater risk of getting into trouble than those who play violent games occasionally, according to two Harvard psychologists. The pair also said there was also no evidence to suggest violent games turn young people into criminals or violent people, despite some media reports. "If you look at the violent crime in the US over the past 20 years among teenagers it's gone down, and gone down significantly, and if you look at videogame play, it's gone up," said Dr Lawrence Kutner and Dr Cheryl Olsen of Harvard Medical School in a...

The publisher of "Grand Theft Auto" says the Chicago Transit Authority interfered with its free-speech rights by allegedly removing ads for the latest version of the hugely popular video game. Take-Two Interactive Software wants a federal judge to stop the CTA from taking down ads for "Grand Theft Auto IV." The New York-based company made that request in a lawsuit filed in Manhattan.

Grand Theft Auto IV hit the stores last week like a tsunami, and is expected to become one of the biggest sellers in video game history. Commentators agree that the game, with its sophisticated graphics, sets a new standard for realistic violence and sex. News reports and game-related websites give the flavor of what avid gamers are getting for their 60 bucks. GTA IV opens with an S&M sex scene. Players can gun down ordinary citizens, beat up prostitutes, murder cops and enjoy lap dances from strippers. This mayhem is accompanied by what the Associated Press called a "nearly constant...

This is quite a funny presentation. I'd discuss it but I'd rather you watch instead. Total runtime--5:52. Safe for work. I was hooting toward the end. Click here or at the link above.

Outrage comes easy at the sight of 15-year-old Disney Channel billion-dollar phenomenon Miley Cyrus -- known to screaming 8-year-old girls as Hannah Montana -- appearing barebacked with a come-hither smile in a photo shoot for Vanity Fair. Did no one understand how the slinky satin-sheet photo would be greeted by the eyes of teenage boys -- or men twice her age? Parents are covering the eyes of their Disney-drenched little girls while their role model has a train wreck. Do we need another Britney Spears Show? But teenage boys are going wilder this week over a more dangerous cultural low:...

Grand Theft Auto IV as a test of Christian conscience No doubt I'm going to draw flack for suggesting this, but it needs to be said. Yesterday afternoon I bought Grand Theft Auto IV. And having played it for a few hours, as a follower of Jesus Christ I would like to recommend that my mature brethren in the Christian faith (both spiritually and those who are not teenagers anymore, parse that as you will) play Grand Theft Auto IV as well. And not to gleefully look for reasons to condemn the game either. Why? Because I think that a...

It's the video game that launched a $2 billion takeover war. "Grand Theft Auto IV" is expected to have one of the biggest debuts in entertainment history when it hits stores today. Analysts predict it will ring up more than $400 million at retail in the first week, topping "Halo 3," which in the fall smashed the previous record with $300 million. The "GTA" franchise, which lets players enact a host of criminal activities, has stirred up controversy with its sexually explicit and violent fare. This time, it's also generating corporate drama. With its eyes on the blockbuster game, Electronic...

"Grand Theft Auto IV" hits streets on Tuesday and is expected to race into record books as the fastest-selling video game ever despite being tailed by critics condemning its violent themes. Rockstar Games is predicted to sell at least six million copies of "GTA IV: Liberty City" in its first week, with die-hard fans eager to play the game in which triumph depends on acts such as carjacking, gambling and killing. "This is going to be the game of the year," video game industry analyst Edward Woo at Wedbush Morgan Securities told AFP. Rockstar Games and its GTA franchise are...

Revelations that the March 29 phone call that sparked a raid on a West Texas polygamist compound may be a hoax have led prosecutors to doubt the reason for the original search-and-arrest warrant that granted authorities access to the Yearning For Zion Ranch.

Recently while wandering around the net in search of various game news I came across this reply to a post on Kotaku.com. The reply was in the form of a letter allegedly sent from Jack Thompson to the mother of Take-Two’s CEO Strauss Zelnick. Here is that letter: John B. Thompson, Attorney at Law 1172 S. Dixie Hwy., Suite 111 Coral Gables, Florida 33146 April 21, 2008 Mrs. Zelnick Strauss Zelnick, Take-Two Chairman’s Mother New York, New York Via e-mails to intermediaries Re: Your Son, Strauss Zelnick Dear Mrs. Zelnick: Your son, as you may know (or maybe you don’t...

ALFRED, N.Y.-- "I took my belongings, walked downstairs and darted as fast as I could and 13 to 15 zombies started running after me," said Rosemarie Fraioli, an Alfred University freshman. Fraioli isn't talking about a dream but real life playing the game Zombies versus Humans. In the game, the humans use Nerf guns to stave off a zombie attack. Tuesday, one of those guns sparked a campus-wide lockdown at Alfred University. "One faculty member saw one of our players walking through an academic building. And we think they just glimpsed one of the Nerf guns and thought it was...

With billions of dollars at stake in the entertainment world's fastest-growing business, the British government is launching a trade battle with Canada over tax credits being used to expand this country's video game industry. For months, British companies have been decrying the exodus of European game developers to Ontario, Quebec and B.C., where tax incentives are attracting multimillion-dollar investments and thousands of highly skilled foreign workers, whose talents are fuelling the Canadian industry's exponential growth. "The Canadians have driven a tank over the French Citroen and have now parked on our lawn," Paul Jackson, head of the industry organization representing...

Hospitals Turn To Wii For Rehab Therapy 'Wiihabilitation' Growing More Popular Among DoctorsPOSTED: 11:07 am EST February 9, 2008 CHICAGO -- It could be called "Wiihabilitation." Nintendo's Wii video game system is now gaining popularity in hospitals and medical centers, which are using the system as part of physical therapy programs for patients. While traditional physical therapy can be painful, repetitive and boring, hospital officials said playing Wii is more fun for patients, to the point that some almost forget they're in therapy. The system's motion-sensitive controller requires body movements similar to traditional exercises, but officials said the game format...

Perhaps you remember in 2006, when Governor Kathleen Sebelius took a stand for gaming legislation that eventually failed to get off the ground, saying "video games and music lyrics promote violence ... Moms and dads shouldn't be alone in their fight to raise children the right way." Perhaps unwilling to learn from mom's example, her 23-year-old son John has created a board game called "Don't Drop the Soap" in which players "fight [their] way through 6 different exciting locations in hopes of being granted parole ... Escape prison riots in The Yard, slip glass into a mob boss' lasagna in...

A man who spent long hours each day playing video games was convicted Tuesday of killing his 17-month-old daughter when she pulled down his Xbox console. Prosecutors believe Tyrone Spellman pummeled Alayiah Turman, cracking her skull several times, while her pregnant mother napped in another room ... Spellman fled the house after the beating... An autopsy showed that Alayiah had suffered a broken arm about two weeks before she died - an injury that city social workers did not see on two visits to the house in late August, when they found the baby well.

The Sierra Club is proposing a tax on video games and televisions with the proceeds going to programs that encourage families to get kids off of the couch and into the mountains. Call it “No Child Left Inside.” Mike Casaus of the Sierra Club says families hiking a mountain trail together are becoming scarce as childhood diabetes and obesity is soaring, which is why the organization is proposing the one-percent tax. “What we would do with this excise tax on tvs and video games and this type of equipment is to tax part of the problem to fund the solution,”...

A Democratic lawmaker in New Mexico wants to tax televisions and video games to raise funds to fight childhood obesity and improve education in the state, officials said Friday. "I have asked our legislative council service to prepare the "Leave No Child Inside" bill and am hopeful that it will be ready for me to introduce on Monday," educator-turned-lawmaker Gail Chasey told AFP. "Leave No Child Inside" -- a play on the federal education initiative "No Child Left Behind" -- is backed by grassroots environmental group, the Sierra Club. "The bill proposes levying a one-percent excise tax on the purchase...

A story in The New York Times yesterday reports that the video game industry has finally woken up and realized that in order to stay strong going forward, it can't rely on 13-year-old pimple-faced kids to promote its agenda. According to the report, Michael D. Gallagher, chief executive of the Entertainment Software Association, the industry's lobbying arm in Washington, told the Times that its political action committee (PAC) will be up and running by the end of March and will represent Electronic Arts, Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo, among others.

I know that they all probably assume they have better, much more important, urgent, timely, things to campaign on, but I sure would like to get their individual takes on the new video game that one company is marketing to fifteen year old boys. It's called "Mass Effect" and it allows its players - universally male no doubt - to engage in the most realistic sex acts ever conceived. One can custom design the shape, form, bodies, race, hair style, breast size of the images they wish to "engage" and then watch in crystal clear, LCD, 54 inch screen, HD...

Jack Thompson has issued a press release suggesting the U.S. Department of Defense is involved in an "unholy alliance" with the gaming industry, with the aim of turning kids into violent, remorseless killers. According to a report by GamePolitics, Thompson said he will be training his guns on the U.S. military in the new year as a result of its continued collaboration with the game industry. In a press release, Thompson said one of the results of this partnership is "the increasing number of commando-style assaults by young gamers," citing the recent killings in Omaha, Nebraska as evidence of his...

Last week, GamePolitics reported on Common Sense Media's survey of the 2008 presidential candidates and where they stand on media issues, including those related to video games. While the initial response from candidates was somewhat sparse (only John Edwards, Barack Obama, Mitt Romney and Bill Richardson replied in time for CSM's release deadline), Sen. Hillary Clinton, the Democratic frontrunner, has now weighed in. Here is CSM's question on the topic of video game legislation, posed to Clinton and other responding candidates: To date, nearly 10 states have considered legislation to keep violent video games out of kids' hands. Would you...

Mitt: I’ll “go after� retailers who sell violent adult video games posted at 5:03 pm on December 21, 2007 by Allahpundit This comes courtesy of HA’s resident IT czar, Mark Jaquith, whose inner libertarian shivers at the prospect of it. Mine too. We’ve been binging on Huck’s nanny statism for weeks now, but with Mitt emerging as the viable alternative it pays to remind ourselves of the lengths to which he’s willing to go to clean up the “cesspool� that is America. I want to restore values so children are protected from a societal cesspool of filth, pornography, violence, sex,...

Johnstown - A quiet, working-class neighborhood in this small town 40 miles north of Denver quickly became distraught over the news of the death of a popular 7-year-old girl, who allegedly died from abuse by her older sister and her boyfriend. Zoe Garcia, who was described as "a beautiful little girl", died on Dec. 6 from "blunt force trauma" to her brain and central nervous system, according to the Weld County Coroner. Her right wrist was broken, her body had more than 20 bruises, her neck muscles were bleeding and a skin flap near her tongue had been torn. Zoe's...

After catching his teenage son smoking pot, a father sold his son's coveted "Guitar Hero III" video game on eBay as punishment, and made over $9,000, PC World reported. The father, a Canadian school teacher, spent two weeks searching for the rare video game for the Nintendo Wii gaming system before buying it for his son. But later, after coming home from work early, he caught his son smoking reefer in the backyard with his "delinquent friends," PC World reported. Click here to read the full PC World report. In the eBay listing page, the man said he put the...

Since its debut little over a year ago, the Wii has been a startling success for Nintendo. The company managed to shift an astounding 981,000 units in November alone. However, Wii sales have been constrained by supply. While Nintendo having trouble meeting demand for the Wii is nothing new, it looks like those supply problems could cost the console maker some serious money. James Lin, a senior analyst at MDB Capital Group, believes that Nintendo could be selling twice the 1.8 million Wii consoles it is manufacturing a month and that the company is set to miss out on an...

MONTREAL (AFP) — After catching his 15-year-old smoking pot, a father sold the hard-to-get "Guitar Hero III" video game he bought his son for 90 dollars for Christmas at an online auction, fetching 9,000 dollars. The sale took place after the father spent two weeks searching for the video game for the Nintendo Wii gameboard. "So I was so relieved in that I had finally got the Holy Grail of Christmas presents pretty much just in the nick of time. I couldn't wait to spread the jubilance to my son," the father wrote on the eBay website. "Then, yesterday, I...

DRYDEN, Mich. — Aside from birthdays, Christmas is the time when teenagers Paul and Mike Brestovansky ask for video games as gifts.“As far as luxury items, that’s all they want,” said their mother, Laura. Still, she limits the games they own.“I only let them play E-rated [Everyone] games. I don’t let them play the T-rated [Teen] games because I have a 6-year-old daughter who is often in the same room with them,” said Brestovansky. Neither my husband nor I will allow M-rated [Mature, 17 and above] or ‘first-person shooter’ games in our home.”The Brestovansky children aren’t alone. According to a...

Citing a connection between violent video games and a rise in youth crime, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy blasted some of the biggest names in entertainment and urged a holiday boycott of 11 best-selling games.

Greenpeace has released its updated Guide to Greener Electronics and, ohhhh...Nintendo...not doing so well. In fact, Nintendo has received the first score of absolute zero that Greenpeace has ever handed out. It's almost as if, as soon as I really start to like a company's products, GreenPeace just HAS to slam them. But the story behind Nintendo's 'zero' has a lot more to do with the way it reports its practices than its actual practices. The Wii might not have any brominated flame retardants in it...but Nintendo has no policy against using BFRs and doesn't report whether or not it...

WASHINGTON — Like many middle-class, suburban American parents, Shannan and Joey Troiano worried about their son’s behaviour and his bad grades at high school. And like many wayward teenagers, Cory Ryder was grounded for weeks at a time, had a PlayStation confiscated and was banned from watching TV. Less typically, this 16-year-old was plotting to murder his parents by hiring a hitman, while his mother was organising a sting operation involving a police officer posing as a contract killer. Cory’s trial is scheduled to begin today at the circuit court in St Mary’s County, Maryland. His mother is expected to...

<p>Microsoft Corp. said its hotly-anticipated new videogame, Halo 3, generated an estimated $170 million in U.S. sales in its first day of release, a record for the games industry and a big boost for Microsoft's Xbox 360 business.</p> <p>The sales for Halo 3 exceeded first-day U.S. sales of $125 million for Halo 2, which came out three years ago for Microsoft's original ...</p>

The frequent video game critic, already facing professional misconduct charges from the Florida Bar which could see him stripped of his license to practice law, has outraged a U.S. District Court judge by including images of men having sex in a document filed with the court last week. .... His Honor was not amused. In an order issued on Monday, Judge Jordan directed Thompson to show cause as to why he should not face sanctions, including possible contempt charges. Judge Jordan wrote: The attached exhibit, which includes several graphic images of oral and genital sex between adult males, was filed...

PALMDALE - "Halo 3," the long-anticipated third installment of the futuristic video game series, went on sale at midnight, helping give closure to the hundreds of devotees who bought or picked up pre-ordered copies of the game in the wee hours of the morning. Ernie Casillas, assistant manager of Gamestop video game store on 10th Street West, said about 800 people pre-ordered copies of "Halo 3" from his store alone. Gamestop will be host to a "Halo 2" tournament at the store as customers wait until midnight to pick up their discs. "We have one gent in line already," Casillas...

Play classic Nintendo 8-bit games online! Free! Remember these video games from the mid 1980s? http://www.nintendo8.com/

Kevin Ryan | Friday, 3 August 2007 No way to raise a boy Do boys have to be bored, fat and dumber than their sisters? The first in a series about educating boys today. A ten year old boy, whom I watch with an eagle’s eye, is reading The Dangerous Book for Boys by Conn and Hal Iggulden. The book is teaching him how to play poker, build a go-cart from scratch, how to fold a paper glider so that it really flies, to makes a paper water bomb and much, much more. He has found his Holy Grail. Wedged...

The majority of video games out there today are far from great – that’s why we get so excited whenever we find one that’s truly enjoyable. But sometimes a game can be so much fun that we might start ignoring other things – important things like work, school and relationships. Though we’d like to think of this as a healthy love of games, some people might say we have an addiction. If that’s the case, then these are the games we’re most addicted to.

A plague carried around the world by travellers, pets and curious teenagers may show that experts have not taken everything into account when planning for an outbreak of disease, researchers have said. Luckily, the world involved is an internet game. The outbreak of "Corrupted Blood" indicates that specialists trying to predict what the next pandemic will look like might make use of a real-world laboratory - the culture of online gamers. "It really looked quite a bit like a real disease," Nina Fefferman of Princeton University, who worked on the report with her then-student Eric Lofgren, said in a telephone...

"The Defense Department at www .americasupportsyou.mil is endorsing an Iraq tour by Operation Straight Up to offer "faith-based entertainment" there. It does not mention that Operation Straight Up views its entertainment tours as a "holy crusade" to convert soldiers and Iraqis to fundamentalist Christianity. The entertainment includes the distribution of packets with religious tracts printed in both English and Arabic, along with a rapture video game, "Left Behind: Eternal Forces," in which the player is assigned to convert or kill the unbelievers left behind after the rapture. The game's virtual character shouts "Praise the Lord!" every time a nonbeliever is...

In response to this ridiculous article: http://www.suntimes.com/news/quicktakes/506963,CST-NWS-qt12.article Quote: "The entertainment includes the distribution of packets with religious tracts printed in both English and Arabic, along with a rapture video game, "Left Behind: Eternal Forces," in which the player is assigned to convert or kill the unbelievers left behind after the rapture. The game's virtual character shouts "Praise the Lord!" every time a nonbeliever is killed. The Bush administration knows what our soldiers in Iraq need -- additional holy wars." I emailed the author: Quote: On Sunday, August 12th, you wrote about the "Left Behind: Eternal Forces" computer game being distributed...

"Raid Israel to capture soldiers, battle tanks in the valleys of south Lebanon and launch Katyusha rockets at Israeli towns" - A new Hezbollah computer game puts players on the frontline of war with the Jewish state. "Special Force 2" is based on last year's 34-day conflict between the Lebanese guerrilla group and Israel. It was launched yesterday at a special exhibit south of Beirut by Hezbollah legislator Hussein Haj Hassan. "It is not only a game, it is an education and culture and it is part of the confrontation because the American and the Western companies created games featuring...

Police: Pa. Boy Stabs Brother Over Game Jul 17 01:16 PM US/Eastern LANSDOWNE, Pa. (AP) - A 13-year-old boy fatally stabbed his brother with a steak knife after the 16-year-old refused to turn over a video game controller, authorities said. Jahmir Ricks was charged with first-degree murder in the death of Antwan Ricks at their home outside Philadelphia. The older boy died of a single stab wound to the chest, police said, and a bent and bloody knife was recovered from the home. Lansdowne police said the younger boy told them, "I just stabbed my brother," when they arrived at...

RENO, Nev. — A couple authorities say were so obsessed with the Internet and video games that they left their babies starving and suffering other health problems have pleaded guilty to child neglect. The children of Michael and Iana Straw, a boy age 22 months and a girl age 11 months, were severely malnourished and near death last month when doctors saw them after social workers took them to a hospital, authorities said. Both children are doing well and gaining weight in foster care, prosecutor Kelli Ann Viloria told Reno Gazette-Journal. Michael Straw, 25, and Iana Straw, 23, pleaded guilty...

Whether it's storming the beach at Normandy, slugging a heavyweight champ or stealing cars in San Andreas, video game developers have made billions by letting players' imaginations run wild in increasingly sophisticated virtual worlds. Now a New York human rights group called Breakthrough is taking advantage of the same strategy -- but not for its entertainment value. The group's controversial new game "ICED! I Can End Deportation" in which players can step into the role of an illegal immigrant attempting to avoid deportation has a political agenda. "It's really important in today's world to create a dialogue about social issues,"...

At an addiction treatment center in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, teenagers and young adults begin detox by admitting they are powerless over their addiction. But these addicts aren't hooked on drugs or alcohol. They are going cold turkey to break their dependence on video games. Keith Bakker, director of Smith & Jones Addiction Consultants, tells WebMD he created the new program in response to a growing problem among young men and boys. "The more we looked at it, the more we saw [gaming] was taking over the lives of kids." Detox for video game addiction may sound like a stretch,...