Gamertell

In an appalling incident in Brockton Massachusetts, (USA) on Tuesday (March 25, 2008), 15-year-old Olivier Baptiste was shot dead by his 18-year-old neighbor, William Suarez, when he refused to hand over a video game. Suarez has been charged with manslaughter and illegal possession of firearms and is being held on a $1 million bond.

The accused pleaded not guilty to the charges against him in Brockton District Court. He allegedly pulled out a .32 caliber Smith and Wesson from his waistband and…

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Canada has become a haven for European game developers who are looking for a tax reprieve.  The tax incentives being offered to game developers in Canada have ensured that the country gets a bigger chunk of the burgeoning videogame business while countries like Britain and France watch the exodus of game developers. Britain has decided that its time to take the war to Canada. And, no, Britain is not going to offer greater relaxation in taxes to the videogame industry, but it will challenge the very legality of the tax incentives on offer in Canada.

The UK Ministry of Culture, Media and Sport has convinced the European Commission to launch an inquest into Canada’s trade practices…

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Prototype, a much-hyped and much-anticipated game being developed by Radical Entertainment, will not feature any online multiplayer. The unfortunate news comes from Radical’s Tim Bennison who spoke with Team Xbox. Previously, the game was supposed to have online multiplayer functionality but it has been scrapped as the developers found it difficult to integrate it.

Bennison said they had envisaged Prototype as a single-player game but the…

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With Grand Theft Auto IV‘s release is less than a month away (April 29, 2008), developer Rockstar Games is still trying to guarantee that gamers have a all-encompassing, all-great gaming experience. To this end, Rockstar has launched Rockstar Social Club, a new website that will provide gamers leaderboards, performance-based competitions and awards.

Rockstar Games announced in a press release that GTA IV will be the first title supported by the website it plans to support all of subsequent titles as well. The registration for the service will commence April 15, 2008, and all you need to sign up is an Xbox Gamertag or a Playstation Network ID.

As for GTA IV-specific Social Club features, Rockstar is promising the following…

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In a weird turn of events one of the most iconic characters on the Xbox 360 console, Master Chief from Halo, is making appearances on one of its bitter rivals, the PS3. Unfortunately for PS3 owners and Sony execs they are not getting a Halo port any time soon but Spartan 117 is nonetheless a playable character thanks to a very clever mod for Epic Games’ Unreal Tournament 3.

In this version of the popular shooter, PS3 owners can download user-generated content for the PC version including the Master Chief model, which is…

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One thing that can be said about the latest Playstation Store update, it sure isn’t skinny.  Of course, the bulk of it is Karaoke Revolution enough songs ‘to make you dizzy, but who’s keeping score?

For this meaty update we have the demo of R-Type Command along with more first-person shooter maps, and Boston-mania for the obligatory Rock Band update.

But here, check out the complete list for yourself…

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It’s another week of two on the Virtual Console. This time around, we have our first Sega Master System game, Wonder Boy; along with shallow-yet-fun Nintendo 64 racer Cruis’n USA. Both are worth checking out, especially Wonder Boy (which is a steal at $5). All VC titles are available on the Wii Shop channel, with a fresh batch arriving every Monday at 9 AM PST. Wii points can be purchased at a rate of $1 for 100 points. The new games bring the North American count to 214.

Nintendo’s descriptions, from the press release:

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The dinosaur-slaying comic character Turok made his debut in video games in 1997 with the release of Turok: Dinosaur Hunter, a Nintendo 64 and PC game. This January, the series returned on PS3 and Xbox 360 and has already gone platinum.

Turok’s publisher Touchstone announced that the game has sold 1 million copies since its release. The publisher also announced a new map pack called Velociraptor that will include…

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The notion that dedicated consoles will eventually become obsolete is beginning to gain some support. The logic behind this belief is simple: video games are going to be available on umpteen devices and in forms never imagined before in the not-so-distant future. Sandy Duncan, former VP of Xbox Europe also is among those who subscribe to the game console extinction theory.

He told That Video Game Blog that in the next 5-10 years video game consoles will cease to exist…

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Adults Only-rated games have been despised by major retailers and console manufacturers. But there is a very distant possibility of console manufacturers giving the green signal to AO-rated games if they see any merit in the argument that AO-rated games are a form of free speech. Adam Thierer, director of The Progress & Freedom Foundation and a proponent of free speech, has addressed the possibility of AO games appearing on consoles on his blog.

Thierer feels that AO games should be accommodated into the mainstream but disagrees with a suggestion that…

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