New York: The New Authority on What’s Appropriate for You to Play
If nothing else has remained consistent in the video game universe, it’s that people on Capitol Hill will continue to (attempt to) define what is morally acceptable for its citizens. Like Lieberman had done nearly twenty years ago (against the diabolical Mortal Kombat), Capitol Hill is up to its hijinks again. On July 22nd, Governor David Paterson (governator of New York) signed a bill that will lead to restrictions on the content of violence in games and help families better monitor gruesome titles.
The law will create an advisory council to study the effects of violent games on children. They will also require mandatory parental controls on consoles by 2010 and more obvious age ratings on the packaging of games. Get ready for a gong show.
It’s a good thing the Wii and DS print money, as Nintendo may be forced to dip into its colossal coffers. The company known for its innovative and unique controllers was recently pwned (again) for patent infringement by Anascape, Ltd. with an assist by our renowned court system. The allegedly illegal controllers in question are the Gamecube, Wavebird, and Wii Classic controllers. What does this mean for Nintendo? Should gamers rush out to buy up these contraband controllers before they’re pulled from shelves? Didn’t this exact same thing happen to a different console giant?
The gaming world is largely based upon evolutionary movement, due in part to its ability to reinvent itself and adapt to the changing political, cultural, and economical climate at hand. But with this broad and expansive ability to adapt, how is everyone else keeping up?
I love the PS2. Even after getting a Wii, I still play the PS2. But lately, I can’t even look at my old Sony stand-by. Why? Because of the blood it may have spilled. Once called Africa’s World War, a demand for a mineral used in making PS2 systems contributed to the conflict, in what is now being called 
Good new for Google: during a court settlement with Viacom in a New York federal court earlier this month, Google doesn’t have to turn over their source code, the code for identifying repeat copyright infringement uploads, copies of all videos marked private, and Google’s advertising database schema. Bad news for everyone else in America who has ever been to YouTube: due to the judge’s ruling, Google has to turn over the I.P. addresses and user names of people who viewed copyrighted videos and the databases concerning those copyrighted videos and how many times they were viewed. The judge deemed the privacy concerns as “speculative.” Why is this an issue worth mentioning? There are 
Nintendo has found themselves in yet legal another scuffle, this time it over their popular hand-held system. Controllers and Wii-motes aside, the Nintendo DS finds itself at the center of the latest controversy involving yet another disputed patent. With the huge success Nintendo has had in the latest console war, one must wonder if this were not coincidental. Could our beloved goomba-stomping, star-collecting hero be some sort of patent thief? Or is everyone just trying to cut down Mario’s precious coin count?
Recently, Fallout 3 has earned Austrialia’s RC rating, meaning it would be “refused classification” from their ratings board. As the Classification Board puts it, the current version of the game “cannot legally be shown, sold or hired in Australia.” Essentially, the board is putting Fallout 3 on the same aesthetic level of hard core pornography and snuff films. But the real surprising part: it’s not for its violence.
