Daily Mail's war on eco lightbulbs

Not content with hating Muslims, immigrants, Portuguese, gays, darkies, communists and everyone else, the Daily Mail has set its bigotry sight on energy saving lightbulbs, claiming that it can cause skin cancer or whatever. They are also moaning the pending death and unavailability of these 'traditional' and 'beloved' incandescent thingies. Remember this is from the same paper who enjoys complaining about rising cost of living and electricity costs. Go figure.

Anyway the good people at the Daily Mail is offering five "free" 100W (who uses 100W bulbs anyway?) tungsten lightbulbs. Whoopeedoo! Now you just need to buy 12 of their "newspapers" at 50p each and send them a cheque for £1.63.

ASA saves teenage girls from Cactuar

Oasis's Cactus Kid commercial has been ordered off the air by the Advertising Standards Authority. The ASA, fearing that underage girls around the country will attempt to fornicate in Homebase's gardening section or with a Sabotender soft toy, agrees with the viewers alleging that the ad promoted teenage sex and pregnancy, A further 16 complaints were filed that the ad promoted an unhealthy diet.

Now I've never seen an ad that promotes good dietary, not even those by Jamie Oliver, so I don't know how Oasis can get the stick where as KFC, McDonalds, Tesco, Asda, Carlsberg etc. are allowed to continue peddling their equally less than ideal products to us.

The mind boggles that people (ASA) are being paid to make stuff up.

via The Guardian

We get it, you still hate video games

The Times, continuing their assault on video games, has invited guest columnist Giles Whittell to post a rant listing his reasons on why he hates video games. This after The Times lied about video games box receiving health warning labels and whose two other hacks have no will to be responsible for their children's actions. His main reason: that video gaming is a waste of time.

I hate video games, on or offline. I hate the way they suck real people into fake worlds and hold on to them for decades at a time. I hate being made to feel hateful for saying so, and I hate being told to immerse myself in them before passing judgment, because it feels like being told to immerse myself in smack and teenage pregnancy before passing judgment on them.

This was written by a book author. What do authors do? Suck real people into fake worlds. I see no difference from people who take comfort in immersing themselves in films, books, music, musicals or indeed video gaming. To single out a medium specifically for his attack says a lot of this hypocritical old man, whose books are no where near as influential as those by authors like J.R.R. Tolkein, Terry Pratchet and J.K. Rowling.

This is not because of anything wrong or bad about video games or heroin or teenage parents. It's not even because of game-induced homicide or web-grooming of little girls by perverts - serious problems, but statistically low-risk. It's because, compared with everything else on offer in a kid's life, video games and heroin and teenage pregnancy are a colossal waste of time.

Silly argument. What do we do in this world that isn't a waste of time? Sudoku? Fishing? Hiking? Reading travel books written by the same hack who posted the above diatribe? All these are equally a waste of time. Writing the article itself for all intent and purpose was ultimately a waste of time, as was writing this reply. I know what isn't a waste of time. Giving birth to a beautiful baby, even if it was the result of teen pregnancy.

Dr Byron says a third of ten-year-olds in England spend more than three hours per school day playing video games. In England, maybe. In my house, only when I'm dead. Meanwhile, I want my kids to overdose on wind, rain, mud, gravy, tents, mountains and overcooked bacon. (Oh, and do their homework.) Why is that suddenly so weird?

I see you also enjoy time wasting. What is the difference of wasting time standing under the rain to wasting time playing video games or reading proper books? Is it because you are a bitter technophobic? Whose inability to connect with young people makes you angry? At the end of the day eating overcooked bacon or playing video games still results in the same thing - wasting time. But at least I had fun playing games. Overcooked bacons are not that great.

You could do worse than wasting your time with video gaming fun. You could be a Times reader.

Anne Diamond reviews some sick twisted games, assigns responsibility to everyone but herself

The knowledgeable Anne Diamond, writing via the Daily Mail - the trash passing off as a legitimate 'newspaper' that only sensible people like you and me uses to wipe their arse with, today gave her highly 'informed opinion' on video gaming in response to the Byron review. In it piece she trashed most, if not all major mainstream video games released in the past year. She did get a couple of things right, that Halo 3 is 'in' and that as a parent she should guard constantly on what kind of content she allows into her own home. But then she completely lost the plot, saying that war games like Call of Duty 4 is okay (in small doses!) but a fantasy game like Resident Evil 4 (which received a 15 rating from the BBFC) should not be sold to adults. Just like her puppet masters at the Daily Mail, the only thing she and her evil cohorts want is to regulate what we can or can not consume.

Anne Diamond, these games are rated. It is your problem as a parent to stop your 12 year old son from buying the games you listed. You even admitted that you allowed a 15 rated game into your home! Stop acting like a hypocritical ding bag, as it only make yourself look more idiotic than TV presenters normally are. To be honest your reviews were entertainingly amusing, very comedic, that you may even make it to the staff of Official Nintendo Magazine, though that doesn't make it right.

Excuse my bad language. I have been reading what these idiots pretending to be experts have been writing, and it makes me sick.

The Byron review review

The Department of Children, Schools and Families is hosting the Byron review (PDF). Do make sure you download and read them carefully. There has been plenty of misinterpretation by the mainstream mass media (The Sun's sister paper The Times, erroneously suggested that video games will carry ciggies style health warning is completely made up - though not surprising considering their past opinions) on what the Byron review actually says and what they (the media) wants it to say.

One of the key summary from Tanya Byron that made an impression is how she thinks that society needs to move from a debate about whether or not new media (Internet and video gaming) cause harm to young people. She also points out ultimately that parental responsibility is a key factor in preventing violent video games from falling into minors. Concerned parents are said to hardly restrict access to the games their children are playing and are oblivious to the content due to misinterpreting PEGI ratings. She recommends that a parental awareness campaign be put into place (something I agree with) and to be funded by the games industry.

Further the BBFC rating will appear on all games requiring 12, 15 and 18 certificate with the PEGI rating at the back (previously only 15 and 18 games that has 'film'-like content requires them). PEGI will continue rating 3+ and 7+ games. This is because many parents are unaware of how the PEGI system works, preferring to trust their purchasing decisions on the more well known and established BBFC rating system. Personally I think it is a waste of time and good money. PEGI is fine as it is (apart from some questionable back icons). The BBFC age logo does not tell a parent anything more than a PEGI age rating already does. Last I heard, 18 means 18. Mind you, I quite like the BBFC logo, but again it is such a waste of time and money. It would be better to spend the money on educating the public on the merits of the PEGI rating system, rather than hemorrhaging them (something the British government does best).

A more detailed commentary is provided by the good people at British Gaming Blog and Eurogamer.

Nip/Tuck ad too racy for London commuters

As a perfect example that the UK is slowly but inevitably trasforming itself into a bleak version of prudish Americana, this relatively lame and restrained advertising campaign for Nip/Tuck has apparently been banned from going up around TfL's London Underground advertising slots. This follows the banning of the Fat Christ promotion, which features a man in pink boxer shorts being crucified. Sad. But at least this news does remind me that I really ought to catch up with season four, considering that season five is almost upon us.

Anyway does Julian McMahon look haggard in that poster or what? Time for another botox shot Dr. Troy.

Right wing hack prefers Hollyoaks to ICO

A hack writing for The Times, accused video games as highly addictive - the equivalent to Satan's Sudoku, and that she would never ever purchase a Xbox, PS2, GameCube and portable gaming consoles for her kids. Because apparently kids spend 5 hours a day staring at their DS and PSP, playing games that has no character development or plotlines, and it is the fault of the evil creators brains. While I agree that some games lack a decent storyline (e.g. Halo 3, Super Mario Galaxy), to say that she actually prefer her kids to watch hours of hours of repressive and downright trashy British soaps like Eastenders and Hollyoaks is downright amusing, or a desperation in her part to prove an invalid point. Like any other entertainment industry, video game are available with a wide variety of subjects - much like books and films, and not the black and white situation she accuses the industry of being in.


According to Ms. Turner, Hollyoaks is good for children...

Much like her other anti-video gaming Times buddy Emma Mahony, Janice Turner has taken a line that if her children ends up spending too much time playing video games, it is the fault of the industry. Never did she once, like her colleague, own up and admit that if their children play too much video games, or play the wrong video game - it is their own fault to supervise them as parents should. But then again, like many people nowadays, it is far easier to blame society for any ills their children could theoretically suffer from - rather than looking in the mirror. Yes too much gaming is not good, but to say that video gaming is the root of all evil isn't proper journalism - it is typical scaremongering. Why not sit down with your children and play with them or are you one of them technophobes who just can't accept change. Or is Hideo Kojima's intricate plots in Metal Gear Solid series too much to take in for such close-mindedness?


... but games like ICO, which features a storyline that encourages the player to think outside the box are like 'crack'

As a Eurogamer commentator perfectly summarised - this is yet another right wing hack one again proclaiming his or her preference for the 'good old days'.

Video games blamed for the killing of Rhys Jones?

The suspects has not been identified yet and the motif has not been established by the police, but the unfortunate killing of 11 year old Everton fan Rhys Jones has resulted in certain quarters coming out to blame video games yet again.

In today's The Times' "Letters to the Editor" in which the headline was 'A nation brutalised by drugs and computers', a commentator from West Sussex wrote in reply to the clearly uninformed piece by Emma Majony that chastised the "violence depicted in PlayStation games freely available to children of all ages" claiming that with even reputable mainstream dailies reviewing video games, the battle against video games has been lost.

Video games are available to children of all ages only if their parents allow them to obtain it. It is the same case as television, films, music, books and magazines. And even then there is no clear evidence that video games (or indeed any forms of media, whether print of electronic) can act as a stimuli for violence.

And to Ms. Majony, your son kicked the shoe stand not because he was influenced by a crap Simpsons game, but because you did not teach him that it was wrong to kick a shoe stand.

Church of England "Digital Code of Conduct" aims to demolish creative freedom

Manchester Cathedral today issued a "digital code of conduct" for videogame developers:

1. Respect our sacred spaces as places of prayer, worship, peace, learning and heritage.
2. Do not assume that sacred space interiors are copyright free.
3. Get permission from the faith leaders who are responsible for the building interiors you want to clone.
4. Support the work of those engaged in resisting the culture of gun crime and those involved in promoting the work of conflict resolution.

This was after Sony issued another apology to Manchester Cathedral and the Church of England over the some death that they (Sony) had no involvements. And like the greedy nutjobs they are the CoE isn't accepting the (second) apology, probably still scheming on extorting a pot of money from Sony and, indirectly, from us videogaming fans.

A couple of things is obviously wrong with this so called 'code of conduct', which I hope the videogaming industry as well as the whole entertainment and media industry will ignore, which I will attempt to explain here. An old building architectural design can not be copyrighted (at least extended beyond the original expiration date) much like books by H.G. Wells is no longer copyrighted. They will pass into the public domain, as I am sure if the design of the 600 year old Manchester Cathedral probably has (if it ever was copyrighted in the first place). Even then building a replica of a building, no matter how closely it resembles, isn't 'copying'.

It is how Las Vegas (the most 'sinful' place on earth) was able to rebuild replicas of famous buildings. It was also how the aliens in Independence Day were able to blow up a replica of the White House. It is how 99% of all homes in the UK isn't unique. Do they really think that Alfred Hitchhock's North by Northwest's climatic battle at Mount Rushmore was shot at the real location? If they do then they are in for a rude awakening. What about previous videogames when we could lob grenades into mosques? I never heard them complaining before. Oh wait, they are muslims, so it doesn't matter...

Gun crimes are a local issue. How they expect a multinational company like Sony, which is primarily based in Japan, to take issue on local Manchester gun crimes is beyond me. If Manchester Cathedral and the CoE wanted to tackle the issue head on then they have to do it through their local community - and the parents. At most they can take it on a national level by lobbying the government to tighten gun control and what not. But to blame Sony and the gaming community for the deaths of people they have zero responsibility for?

Last of all let us not forget the content of the game in question itself. The game, Resistance: Fall of Man, involves mankind battling some kind of alien humanoids to save the planet earth. Now, I have never played the game (nor has the church I believe, but at least they can afford a PS3 with all the begging for money stuff they do), but from what I garnered from my more trustful gaming buddies, the Manchester Cathedral was being used as a field hospital (a very noble gesture by Insomniacs, the game's developers) and actually involved alien humanoids attacking the Cathedral and killing sickly patients. Quite how protecting a hospital is bad I can't imagine. Maybe it is because the old farts do not believe in fictional aliens, but then again their bible made up of mythical content.

Or maybe they just want us to shoot gays. They are after all responsible for the miserable weather.

Eagerly awaiting a map mod of Manchester Cathedral for Unreal Tournament 2007 when it is released.

Manhunt 2: BAN THIS SICK FILTH!

The year is 2007, but somehow it feels like 1973. Why? Because the BBFC has rejected to classify Manhunt 2, effectively making it illegal to sell the PS2 and Wii ported game in this country. This would be the first video game to be banned since Carmageddon (Later overturned. Remember that game? It was awesome). I did not like the first Manhunt, so this isn't a huge loss to me. Though it scares me to think that Suda 51's No More Heroes might get banned because apparently it contain more violent content than Manhunt 2.

The reason I didn't like the first game was the gameplay, and not the violent content (although the sadistic content is pretty nauseating) itself, so I think for a game like Manhunt 2 to be banned based on the content is irrational thinking - something akin to book burning days of yore. Which is shocking because I tend to respect the BBFC's more liberal approach (I still do, the BBFC are one of the few organisations who actually play the games rather than view a video of it) when it comes to classifying games compared to other countries, like Germany's USK - where knee jerk reaction by idiot politicians can have affect the process.

This wouldn't be the first time that video games are to be used as scapegoats. "Ban this sick filth" is already a common hysterical theme among right wing tabloids like the Daily Mail. The first Manhunt game didn't escape criticism either when some shops removed it from the shelves due to tabloid hysteria. Then there was the Rule of Rose scandal, a game that none of the MPs played, but still wanting to create a teacup storm over nothing. This and the mad demands by the Church of England over Resistance: Fall of Man is making me sick.

If you want to ban something, ban something which is rubbish, like Dan Brown's new book or the new Fantastic Four. Oh well, the game is probably rubbish anyway, like most of Rockstar's post GTA III games. But still...

via Eurogamer

More Church of England rant

I see that the Church of Henry VIII is seeking its old habit again of attempting to extend its influence over places it does not belong. The Anglican church today pleaded with the Japanese people to join with them in their fight against Sony. They argued that any religious building such as a mosque should not be included in games of violent content, which I find amusing as many US war games contains maps of mosques where we can blow people up inside. I never heard the church coming to their defence before.

The media as usual has been up to its usual sleeve, reporting the church's propaganda by referring to the game where 'hundreds of people' are killed in the church, which as far as I know (speaking to other gamers online, is bull). As much as I dislike Sony's PlayStation department nowadays (SCEI), as a gamer I have to side with Sony (and other games developers who seek artistic freedom). Did Westminster Abbey sue Dan Brown when he wrote that superbly average blockbuster known as Da Vinci Code? No. BTW, You can read my original opinion here which has not change.

If they are so concern about gun crime, perhaps it is time for the dying institution to look at themselves as community and what they can do to fix it, rather than shifting blame to a company thousands of miles away.

via Yahoo! News

Mythical fairytale god hates games...

But Londoners definitely loves portable video games.

On National Express coach:
- One adult male with black DS Lite
- One adult male with black PSP (SEGA Mega Drive Collection)

On Tube (in my 45 minutes worth of journey today)
- One adult male with black DS Lite
- One adult male with white DS Lite
- One adult female with white DS Lite
- One adult male with enamel navy DS Lite
- One adult male with white PSP
- Zero Blackberries!

It was great to finally see more adults willing to whip out their DS Lite consoles to play in public. Yay London!

In other news an old insignificant relic known as the Church of England is threatening legal action against Sony Computer Entertainment over Insomniac's PS3 game Resistance: Fall of Man. This was because of the inclusion of a Manchester cathedral in the game where men had to battle aliens (sounds pretty cool, maybe I will get a PS3 after all - make that 50% price drop happen SCEE!).

The Beeb has even created four separate articles on this subject (that is an average of TWO a day, for a none-news! Must be a slow news day yesterday), even giving it top bill BBC News website for much of Saturday. I guess they are not interested in 'Maddy' now (thank you German reporter).


Spiffy. Too bad you can't WASD+mouse'd the game.

Now I don't know about you (and my law knowledge is at best consigned to consumer law) but last I heard you can't 'renew' the copyright of old buildings, especially old relics like cathedrals and such (which at 800 years old, probably/should be in the public domain anyway). Now, any lawsuit based on copyrights would likely be thrown out by a sensible judge, so me thinks the CoE is doing this as part of their 'morale crusade' on video games (you don't see churches complaining when films or books use them in fiction) or probably for some kind of money related intent.

I mean they are asking Sony to 'donate' a 'substantial' amount of profit from the game to their coffers (What? Weekly church driven donations isn't enough?). That and a bunch of old irrelevant codgers trying to pin the blame someone else other than themselves because no one here goes to church any more, apart from coffin dodgers. I really can't understand the CoE's logic on how is it Sony's fault that Manchester is riddled with gun crimes. Damn, it really is about money and shifting blames...

Killerspiele

Ah those pesky Germans. Love to blame video games for all their misbehaving criminals. German tabloid Bild-Zeitung (equals to Murdoch's The Sun) is putting the blame squarely (no pun intended) on Square's horrid Final Fantasy VII, dubbing it a killer game, after police arrested two teenagers who killed a mother and father.

Video gaming persecution seems to be on the rise, isn't it? Quite a nice coincidence too. EU lawmakers in Brussels has recently agreed on a set of rules limiting the sale of 'violent' video games to minors, which is all fine and dandy, except that they are also planning for more stringent banning orders.

Do take comfort in knowing that while Germany is keen on imposing bans, they realised that each member state will be able to decide which games are violent and so on. Or so insists Franco Frattini, the EU Justice and Security Commissioner. If I remember correctly this guy (whom I dubbed EU twit) insisted on a blanket ban on Rule of Rose.

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I wrote a nice article that some how relates Final Fantasy last night before I had the chance to read about the EU debacle. I will probably post it later. I am not a FF freak, but with the release of Final Fantasy XII next month, you can forgive me if I appear to be. Ta.

Technorati tags: Final Fantasy Final Fantasy VII Killerspiele Germany Video Games

Christmas controversy

India nuclear export okay according to US.

Bloody fucking hypocrite!

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Ooo... about 15 days to Christmas and we already have a Christian vs Seculars, Muslims Vs Christians, believers Vs non-believers etc. war of words going on through the mass media. With nothing like Jerry Springer: The Opera planned on the BBC, I thought we would have a boring December. But no... Let me say this, this Christmas will be a lively one.

First up, Muslim Association of Britain has decided that after the way the right wing media managed to kill of any possible release of Rule of Rose video game, they thought that they could do the same - this time on a crap game based on crap Christian books, titled Left Behind: Eternal Forces. In this RTS title you command a Christian army, out and about killing non-believers (apparently modeled after the UN). Wow. The Times reported (wrongly) that the game could be heading for the best seller chart (didn't they know how un-Christian Britain is?). They also failed to mention that progressive Christians in the US has already condemned the game. Even seculars are joining in, but fortunately stop short of calling a ban, instead respecting our rights to make decisions on our own.

Next up, Channel 4 has decided to drum up some kind of controversy, by inviting a veiled Muslim lady to deliver the 'alternative Christmas message' - which is kind of stupid, even by C4's standard. But it brings in the kind of irrelevant religious debate that we are hoping for. First strike by Christian Voice UK's Stephen Green: "The niqab is a veil of separation between Muslims and the indigenous Christian community. This will expose multi-culturalism for what it is – a bias against the indigenous Christian population". But nobody takes him seriously so nobody bothered to reply.

Tabloid victory over Rule of Rose

Just had the misfortune to watch a couple of minutes of the gross Madonna Confessions Tour on Channel 4. Ugh. Didn't even bother to wait for the hypocritical religious critique.

Am getting my arse pwned in Final Fantasy III by entering the Forbidden Land Eureka before I was ready. It is a great place to level up and earn some gils though.

Sticking with gaming, thanks to several right wing tabloids, a Japanese game titled Rule of Rose has been shelved for any UK release. Although not banned by the government (it received a PEGI rating of '16' after all), publisher 505 Games (the same publisher of that bible 'game') has decided to pander to media pressure and canned the UK release, which means until some other brave publisher picks it up, the UK gamers has to import to play it.

Reviews of the game has been mixed but when I showed the clips to Jenni a couple of weeks ago, we found that we were interested in a game that allows us to play as an underage British school girl, hacking away at her peers. The game must be good then, and the macabre style reminds me a lot of American McGee's Alice - a game that I enjoyed.

For some time we gamers this side of the Atlantic, has been pretty lucky to be spared the moralistic crusade by politicians attempting to blame violence on video games, much like what has been happening in the US for a number of years. I think the BBFC and PEGI has been doing an outstanding job in rating games effectivel. Obviously some EU twit down in Brussels thought otherwise, calling for changes in the way PEGI issues rating, evoking a sense of deja-vu to those who follows the US gaming scene, where Hillary Clinton et al. is attempting to pursue changes to the ESRB rating system.

Technorati tags: Madonna Final Fantasy III Rule of Rose