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Michigan’s proposed state law to make it a misdemeanor to sell video games rated Mature or Adults Only to minors has been ruled unconstitutional by the Honorable George Caram Steeh, of the US District Court, Eastern District of Michigan. Steeh had previously delayed implementation of the law in November, handing out a preliminary injunction while indicating that the law would more than likely not pass constitutional muster. Today’s ruling makes the injunction permanent.
Michigan state’s claim that video games were somehow less protected under the First Amendment were rejected in whole by the Judge, who ruled “that video games contain creative, expressive free speech, inseparable from their interactive functional elements, and are therefore protected by the First Amendment.” Steeh also ruled that the state’s expert witness failed to prove that “video games have ever caused anyone to commit a violent act, as opposed to feeling aggressive, or have caused the average level of violence to increase anywhere.”
Read More 
| ESA Press Release
PDF File | Judge Steeh’s Ruling
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Japan Sales Numbers
Posted by Brandon Gribin Categories: Corporate News, Culture, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Gamecube, PlayStation 2, PSP, Xbox, Xbox 360,
Next Generation recently posted an article with software and hardware sales numbers - and the DS is kicking ass on the software side of things. DS English Training though…? On the hardware side of things, it looks like the PSP is at the top - while the Xbox 360 and Xbox are suffering.
Here are the lists:
Software:
DS English Training (Nintendo, DS): 72,290 (424,214)
Train Your Brain 2 (Nintendo, DS): 70,407 (1,213,603)
Animal Crossing: Wild World (Nintendo, DS): 57,335 (1,850,063)
Siren 2 (SCE, PS2): 49,780
Otona no DS Training (Nintendo, DS): 32,082 (1,520,843)
Machigae Museum (Namco, DS): 21,132
Tourist Trophy (SCE, PS2): 20,433 (80,087)
Monster Hunter Portable (Capcom, PSP): 20,126 (4,67,180)
Shin Onimusha (Capcom, PS2): 19,916 (295,721)
Mario Kart DS (Nintendo, DS): 18,304 (1,098,472)Hardware:
PSP: 24,977 (310,253)
PS2: 23,383 (217,840)
DS: 10223 (351,802)
GBA: 5405 (52,337)
GBMicro: 2934 (32,588)
GC: 2025 (30,577)
Xbox360: 1288 (22,657)
GBA: 150 (1478)
Xbox: 84 (671)
Read More | Next Generation
WSJ: The Power Players
Posted by Brandon Gribin Categories: Culture, Nintendo, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Gamecube, PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PSP, Wii, Xbox, Xbox 360,
The Wall Street Journal has put together a great article featured in this weekend’s paper. The article’s subtitle is as follows:
Videogames are reshaping the entertainment business. But the moguls who make them are still largely unknowns. Our look at how the game is played.
The article looks at everyone from “The Game Gurus” like Shigeru Miyamoto to “Hardware Heavies” like Ken Kutaragi to “Entertainers” like Peter Jackson to “Team Players” like Tony Hawk. I’d highly recommend checking out the article - you have to been a subscriber to see it online. Otherwise, run out and grab a copy of this weekend’s paper starting tomorrow. Oh, you may learn about news issues outside of the video game world as well!
Read More | WSJ.com
Secret Xbox 360 Console Achievements Revealed
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Culture, Internet, Xbox 360,
The folks over at CheapAssGamer certainly had us chuckling at their secret Xbox 360 achievements list. I mean, imagine that you reboot your console after having it overheat, only to be greeted by a notification that you have just earned 10 points for the “En Fuego!” achievement. The list pokes fun at the more noticeable problems and complaints that users have been having with their 360 boxes. You see, it’s funny because it’s true. Follow the link for the full list.
Read More | CheapAssGamer
For all you Da Vinci fans out there, here’s a reason to smile - well, maybe. This spring, a Da Vinci Code video game will be released. The big question is whether the game will be any good. We’re skeptical only because of how poorly games based on movies/books usually turn out. This game’s being developed by The Collective - the guys who made Indiana Jones & The Emperor’s Tomb and Ecko’s Getting Up: Content Under Pressure. At any rate, we’ll keep our eyes peeled for this one, although we’re not expecting much.
Read More | Kikizo
IGN’s put together quite a funny list that’s worth checking out. Which video game character would you say has the worst hair? Cloud? Knuckles? Snake? Take a look to see what IGN thinks.
Read More | IGN
William Agnew from South Lanarkshire was sentenced at Hamilton Sheriff Court after admitting to the offences. 4,000 DVDs, CDs and games (PlayStation, Xbox and PC) were seized during a raid on the man’s business premises. The goods, if sold new, are estimated to be worth in the region of £100,000.
Selling pirated material from his ice cream truck? At least you can’t blame the guy for not being creative - I wouldn’t be surprised if we soon discover he plays a lot of the Twisted Metal games.
Read More | Pro-G
As we previously reported, Kojima - the creator of the Metal Gear series - recently began podcasting. The good news is that the podcast is available now, for download, in english. It’s conveniently located on his blog, which has also been translated. If you’re curious as to what the game creator’s been thinking, now’s your chance to find out.
Read More | GameDaily
Honestly, is there anything Wikipedia doesn’t have? Thanks to a tip from AFK Gamer, I stumbled upon a Wikipedia page entitled “List of video games considered the worst ever”. In addition to just having a simple list of “the worst games,” the editors included categories of the worst games along with examples of bad game design.
If you’re in game design - or hoping on getting into it - this page is a must-see. Of course, video game fans everywhere will get a kick out of the list.
Oh, and no ‘bad game list’ wouldn’t be complete without the presence of Shaq Fu.
Shaq Fu (1994, multiplatform) is widely considered to be a terrible game due to its poor Hit-Detection system and was seen to be a vain marketing vehicle for Shaquille O’Neal. [30]
Oh Shaquille! At least Kazaam wasn’t as bad, and I certainly don’t disapprove of his Nestle Crunch endorsements. Make the jump to see what else made the list.
Read More | Wikipedia
EuroGamer has posted an interview with the creator of Geometry Wars, Stephen Cakebread. If you’ve been hooked on the $5 Xbox Live Arcade title, you may just have to check out the interview.
Interestingly enough, Cakebread’s high score is 2.1 million - which certainly isn’t the highest worldwide. The current high is actually 12.8 million, which makes Cakebread’s score seem pretty small. 2.1 million isn’t easy to obtain by any means - I finally purchased the game last weekend and am working towards passing 500,000. The article does a good job of talking about why so many people have become insanely addicted to the game.
But why is Retro Evolved popular? What’s so special about it? Many games do the things it does. Perhaps the difference is that it appeals on a number of levels. One person who thinks so is Leo Tan of PR firm Barrington Harvey, who despite having no association with Microsoft or Bizarre Creations is well known in trade circles for going around telling everyone how great Geometry Wars is, and how he’s got the “UK games industry high score” of 970,360. The interesting thing is that he doesn’t play it just to lord it over us. “I love the sound, the insanity, the borderline nature of trying to stay alive. It’s an assault on the senses. Turn the volume up, the lights down and get an excessive amount of caffeine and chocolate by your side,” he says, soundbiting us a little in the process.
If you don’t have an Xbox 360, you absolutely need to take Geometry Wars for a spin if you haven’t yet. It’s absolute bliss.
Read More | Eurogamer
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