Gamertell

Released on July 31, 2008, SNK Playmore’s Nintendo DS game Doki Doki Majo Shinpan 2 Duo (DDMS2) stars middle school student and resident bad-boy, Akuji Nishimura, who returns as the now infamous girl groper witch hunter with a mission. Watch out girls (and boys - he discriminates not). With such a racy theme, it’s pretty safe to say that this title won’t make it outside of Japan.

While this game may look very cute, fluffy and, most of all, bouncy, it is very text-heavy. Those unfamiliar with Japanese kanji may feel a little intimidated but it would definitely help someone to practice determination, discipline and tenacity, all very admirable qualities. Since there is…

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The latest Japanese dating-sim (aka bishoujo or hentai) game to be released by G-Collections is Amorous Professor Cherry. Available for PC CD/DVD (Windows 98, Me, 2000, XP, Vista; $39.95), the sexy sim includes English text with Japanese voiceovers so you get to enjoy the essence of the acting while being able to understand what the heck they are saying.

What they are doing, however, is graphically clear in any language.

In the game you are a young school boy named Kouta who has a crush on his appropriately-named and uber busty teacher…

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Check out the gallery: Amorous Professor Cherry screen shots

According to the European Commission survey, Ireland is now banning violent video games.

The reason for banning violent games, according to the EU’s study of the implementation of Pan European Game Information ratings, is that many of the EU nations are not enforcing the age limits on the games identified by PEGI.

The only game currently known to be banned in Ireland is…

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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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The Australian Federal government is contemplating the introduction of the R-18 certification for video games that contain highly explicit content not deemed fit for minors. The absence of such a certification means that titles which exceed the MA certification (only for sale to persons 15 and above) are altogether denied an Australian release…

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2Snaps has just published a list of the most notable sexual moments in the history of videogames. Actually, the title is a bit of a misnomer - instead of detailing actual instances, the article is more of a straight list of older games that have sexual or suggestive content. Further, a few of the titles are more of a joke than anything - like the “tiger balls” from Knights of the Round (complete with photographic evidence!). Other entries are just puzzling - what was suggestive about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? Ghouls n Ghosts also makes an appearance, but showing a character in his boxers hardly qualifies as a “sexual moment in videogame history”.

There are a few fantastic choices, including a rather “interesting” screen from Pulirula, and nods to such classic fare as Ring King, Dirty Challenger - Muscle Man, and the perennial “naughty game” favorite Cho Aniki series. Give it a read, but prepare yourself for a few eyebrow-raising moments.

Read [2Snaps]

Naughty productions featuring nudity and sex have helped to drive various industries, including printed books and home video. Yep, you can thank that the porn industry for helping spawn and evolve the development of various video formats that ultimately put that shiny My Little Pony DVD collection on your shelf (soon in HD, I’m sure).

With a polite nod to naughty nostalgia, Kotaku takes a look back at the earliest days of home videogames, featuring those 8-bit beauties on the Atari 2600.

Some of the most infamous were created by Mystique, which later sold the rights of its three games to Playground. Of the three, Custer’s Revenge (1992) may be the most famous with a rather happy, pants-less pixelated cowboy looking for something other than a horse to mount. The other two games were Bachelor Party, a poor excuse for a Breakout clone, and Beat ‘Em and Eat ‘Em, playing much like Kaboom! but with very different bombs.

These games were more silly than sexy, proving that vulgarity is in the eye of the gamer and can involve a lot of imagination. Still, it was enough for various groups to protest. When Playground took over the games, they repackaged the three games, produced a few more and sold two games per box as “double-ender” cartridges, a pretty unique format that some collector’s still appreciate. Of course, Playground’s new games had even worse graphics than Mystique’s, so only six carts (12 games) were released.

The Kataku post is a nice nostalgic look at those naughty 8-bits, pointing out the graphic details in Beat ‘Em that were pretty advanced for the time and reminding us of how naughty even the game manuals can be:

With the power shut off, gently insert your Mystique video game cartridge into your Atari 2600 Video Computer System in the same manner as you would with any compatible game cartridge. Turning the switch “on” will activate the “foreplay” mode. This is very similar to the “attract” mode seen on many arcade games.

Oh, so very, er, naughty?The very joystick that came with the system was naughtier than these games. A post at FlowTV also reminds us that Universal Gamex also tried to get in on the pr0n with its single game, X-Man (1983). The maze game’s money shot was a larger pixelated image on the screen that was meant to offer more detail yet was still as silly as the Custer and his l’il Custer.

In the ‘80s my friends where emailing each other ASCII text calendar pages of naked ladies (and yes, it took hows to get the file on our 400 baud telephone handset coupler modems - yeah, I still have mine in the original box). Once you got it printed on the dot-matrix printer, you had to stand back 10 feet and squint at 8 printed pages just to make it seem like you actually saw some naughty bits. Games and porn have certainly gone from titillation and “strip tease” to “here ya go, there it all is” thanks to inexpensive home video equipment, super powered graphics engines and the internet.

Read [FlowTV] Also Read [Atari Age] Via [Kotaku]

Take Two announced today that it has finally settled all consumer class action lawsuits pending in the US against the company and its subsidiary Rockstar Games regarding the controversial third party program called “Hot Coffee Modification” that unlocks a sex scene in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

The lawsuit began when 85-year-old Florence Cohen who, up until July 20, 2005, didn’t care if her 14-year-old grandson played mature rated games like GTA: San Andreas. That is, until her grandson, who had the modification program unlocked a very steamy scene in a game where the player’s objective is to please the woman he’s with.

The program Hot Coffee v2 was made available online on a few GTA-specific websites on July 7, 2005, allowing players to unlock the scandalous secret hot sex minigame that Rockstar hid in the PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions of the GTA: San Andreas game. Since posted, there have been more than 31,200z viewers and has been downloaded more than 7,200 times.The most recent download was made November 10, 2007. The download also unlocked other secret sex scenes and the ability to interact with any female characters any time the player wanted.

“If the case had continued, we believe the court would have agreed that Take-Two was not liable for consumers acting independently to modify their games with third-party hardware and software to access normally inaccessible content,” said Ben Feder, Chief Executive Officer of Take-Two. “Nonetheless, we believe it is in the best interest of the Company to avoid protracted and costly litigation to prove our case and to finally put this matter behind us.”

It was already bad enough that Take-Two’s subsidiary, Rockstar Games, had already caused controversy because of its violent content, but things got out of control when it was discovered that sexually explicit scenes could be unlocked.

As a result, under the terms of the settlement Take-Two agreed to offer the following benefits to consumers who were upset or offended by the “hot coffee” content of the game if they:

• Bought a copy of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas before July 20, 2007.
• Were offended and upset by the ability of consumers to modify and alter the game’s content using the third-party Hot Coffee modification.
• Would not have bought the game had they known that consumers could modify and alter the game’s content using the third-party Hot Coffee modification.
• Would have returned the game, upon learning the game could be modified and altered, if they thought this possible.

Take-Two also agreed as part of the settlement to offer benefits that ranged from exchanging the game disk for an edited “sex free” copy of GTA: San Andreas to paying consumers up to $35 if they can submit detailed proofs of purchase for the game. The actual value of cash payments will depend on the number of consumers who actually apply for these benefits. Take-Two said in their press release that it’s prepared to commit to $1.025 million in settlement benefits.

This amount is in addition to the out of pocket costs, cost of providing notice to class action members and paying a fee to the plaintiff’s counsel, the expected cost of the settlement and other related expenses Take-Two must endure as part of the agreement.

“Its coming out of a rough stretch and we’re very optimistic for the new year,” said Mike Hickey, Janco Partners analyst, who added that this lawsuit would not likely have any negative effect on the company but its organizational restructuring would help their earnings.

Take-Two took the initiative to set aside more than a million dollars to pay the benefits and set aside as much as $2.75 million if needed to meet the needs despite the companies shares dropping 9 cents and closing at $16 per share prior to their announcement of the settlement.

Read [CNN Money News] Read [Take-Two Press Release] Read [Game Politics] View [Original Complaint] Site [GTA-themed Forum]

Often when people think of women in gaming, they either think of the digital super cute, super sexy or super barbaric women found videogames often portrayed as the damsel in distress or weak. On October 25, 2007, the Xfire Debate Club logged on for their ninth meeting to discuss issues women face trying to get into the gaming industry or as a gamer.

The eight million strong gaming community, Xfire, invited nine successful women of the gaming industry to speak with the Xfire community on the topic of women in the gaming culture, game marketing, portrayal of female characters in videogames and the online gaming experience as women to name a few. Xfire is one of the fastest growing online gaming platform and community in the world helping gamers to easily connect, chat and play with their friends online

The eight women in the gaming industry who attended include:

• Colette Bennett, Editor, Destructoid
• Amber "AthenaTwin" Dalton, Clan Leader and Founder, PMS Clan
• Robyn Fleming, Senior Editor, Cerise Magazine
• Jasmin Kassner, Founder, PixelTamer Games
• Helen Kennedy, Senior Lecturer, University of the West of England
• Lesley Smith, Freelance Games Journalist

Leigh Alexander, Staff Writer of Gamasutra was unable to make the panel.

"Women play an increasingly important role within the gaming industry as gaming becomes ever more mainstream," said Frederic Descamps, senior director of marketing at Xfire. "We are thrilled to welcome this panel of experts, each of whom brings a unique perspective and approach to issues facing women in the industry."

Helen Kennedy, a feminist researching and writes about women and how they game and play, moderated the event and began the debate by asking the panel about the specific challenges each of them faced as a gamer and as a professional.

"I think most women have had at least a few irritating conversations about whether they really play games," responded Fleming."... and when you do something gaming-related for work, the assumptions just keep right on coming - only now it's about you as a professional as well as a hobbyist. I think there are lots of gaming communities that are ready to take women seriously as players."

Bennett agreed and added, "I know personally (that) people still don't really believe women play games," she said. "Or if they do, they play girl-specific games. Personally I feel you just have to let these stereotypes roll off you. I think women are very much judged because of the fact that we are women; a stereotype that is hundreds of years old won't just go away because a girl shows up and says she can beat you at a game."

During the debate Bennett mentioned that the image of women in general is always an issue to some communities.

"I think the image of women in games versus women who play games in real life is always an issue," Bennett explained adding that to avoid the harassment some women hide their gender when playing online. "Women are still being heavily objectified in most games. Whether we like it or not, it has an impact on how we are viewed in general. Well, the internet gives you the ability to create yourself as you wish (to a degree.) You don't have to identify as female if you don't want to. Hiding your gender seems pointless, but some women will do it so they won't be harassed."

Dalton agreed and added, "Offline is more friendly I think than online," she said. "Online, where people hide behind anonymity, is where women are really harassed more I think."

Kassner disagreed stating that she has been playing MMOs for a long time to include Ultima Online for 9 years and has never been harassed. Kassner added that in Germany women are widely more accepted as gamers than elsewhere.

Dalton was quick to tell Kassner that her perfect gaming experience won't last once the male gamers start see more and more women coming out and saying "look we are here, we play just like you do."

Kennedy asked the ladies if they had experienced any pressure as gamers professionally and as competitive gamers. The panel all agreed, Fleming pointed out that there is even pressure for women to be the right kind of female player to earn acceptance within gaming groups.

"Sometimes there's pressure to be 'one of the guys,' and not remind your fellow players that you are ... a woman," Fleming explained. "And other times, the pressure is to be cute or sexy, or to play the damsel in distress, etc."

Bennett agreed and said even as a female journalist in the gaming industry there is pressure, but not as much as the ugly treatment competitive female gamers often go through just to enjoy gaming.

"I think the image of women in games versus women who play games in real life is always an issue," Bennett added. "Women are still being heavily objectified in most games. Whether we like it or not, it has an impact on how we are viewed in general. Games became important to me when I was 8 years old. I think girls of today may have to contend with what their parents think of gaming and if they believe in the negative media that people like Jack Thompson support. If that doesn't stand in the way, they may be able to discover the gaming culture naturally. It scares me because when I think of what games represented to me, and how they made my childhood and young adulthood so much better, I fear that girls growing up may be cheated out of that because of the media image of gaming."

Kennedy focused on how negative media has scared many potential young female gamers and created the "Pink Poison" most young girls are given as alternative games.

"The pink poison problem (are those) games that are targeted at women (and) are always in pink boxes and advertised as for women only," Fleming explained. "I kinda like the pink ... but I hate the way it's marketed."

Smith agreed and added that "pink consoles are a bane, I personally hate them intensely and yet the major manufacturers continue creating them," she said. "I think women don't really care about the colour, it's the console and games that matter but the industry can't understand they do not need to make special ones just for us."

Dalton agrees the whole usage of color to make a system or game women specific is a lame attempt by the gaming industry to make them feel apart of the culture when it actually separates them.

"We are a viable market companies should be targeting as consumers, employees, etc.," Dalton explained and said although she likes pink consoles but more of a fashion or personalization choice not because its for women. "We are individuals that like all different things, brought together by a love of gaming. I think they all work together, have the games we like and have the way to make it as personal as we like it. It is about personal preferences, and neither is wrong. (It's not just about) color, fashion is a natural companion for male and female audiences ... personalization is key. Women on the forefront is still underdeveloped, and we owe it to the next generation to be able to say 'yes you are a girl' and that is fine to play."

The debate then turned its attention to the new line of girl-specific games from UbiSoft called the Imagine series. The series was released in October 2007 as the first games in the Imagine line for the Nintendo DS system. The game series for girls include Imagine: Fashion Designer, Imagine: Animal Doctor, Imagine: Babyz and Imagine: Master Chef. With an upcoming release of Imagine: Figure Skater to be released in early 2008.

Smith calls this new line a "prime example of how not to do games for women."

Kassner told the panel that companies should stop being gender specific and just produce good games.

"What I really want to bring across is that in front of the PC we are all the same. No matter what color, what gender or what sexual preferences. We have this unique opportunity to be all the same: Gamers," Kassner said. "Why does the marketing still cling on to the old fashioned values of male or female and stuff. Its stupid. By marketing a game to guys you loose females players and vice versa. Marketing peeps have to come into the present and realize that they can just market good games."

Bennett added that she couldn't blame a videogame company because they only produce what the public wants based on a survey, but even the survey needs to broaden.

"Well, the hard thing about trashing the Ubisoft line is that it is based on a survey of what girls in a certain age range wanted (supposedly)," she said. "I don't like the idea that these games are being pushed at little girls, but at the same time how do you market Contra to an 8-year-old girl? I think all PR and marketing ideas are directly linked to the bottom line. Money. Which is what makes it difficult to ever escape these stereotypes."

When challenged by the panel over her Contra statement Bennett explained her opinion further.

"What I am getting at is that when I was growing up, I played all kinds of games, Contra and Barbie games alike," she said. "I got to choose what I liked. In today's day and age, it seems much more important to be marketing at certain groups since gaming has become such a powerful industry."

Smith added that the whole pink issue is purely based on the childhood idea that pink is for girls and blue for boys which is outdated. The panel agreed that this type of marketing strategy separates women and men in gaming and often times turn female gamers into targets.

"I think it's a case of there are no such thing as women or men games, there should be just gamers,"mith said.

The panel agreed that because a lot of women don't have a problem with the sexualized images they use as avatars or screen names which separates men and women gamers, and often open themselves up as targets.

"I've received too many random rape threats just for having a female name on an online game," Fleming said surprising the panel and the audience. "It doesn't happen to every woman, but it does happen to many. When I'm playing a game, I often like to have a female avatar but that's as far as I tend to go and I still get that crap."

The group agreed that the gaming experience is getting better with monitoring to prevent harassment but as far as the gaming industry, they agree there needs to be more women in the gaming industry. At the end of the discussion Kennedy asked each panelist one final question. If they could improve the contemporary game culture what would they change?

Lesley Smith: "Stop segregating women, make games and magazines for gamers not for one gender or the other."

Colette Bennett: "More emphasis on creativity and breaking the mold. We have enough FPS, RPG, Platformers, etc., etc. Try to strive for genre hybrids or new genres altogether."

Robyn Fleming: "More variety of female characters in all kinds of games."

Jasmin Kassner: "Marketing should change to 'Global' in a sense of no sexism, racsim, etc..."

Amber "Athena Twin" Dalton: "Make development groups more diversified, all races, backgrounds, lifestyles to appeal to all aspects of gamers."

Site [Xfire Debate Panels] Read [UbiSoft] Site [PMS Clan] Site [Cerise: Gaming Magazine for Women]

Gamer Help Online recently posted 99 - yes you read that right - codes that will unlock secret movies, game enhancements, practical jokes, humor, mini-games and system tricks.

Have you ever become so infuriated with a game because you just can’t seem to overcome an obstacle. Like the hand-numbing button masher scene in the first Metal Gear Solid when you have to save Snake from getting electrocuted to death by Ocelot? Or maybe you just want to do something funny like give James Bond a bobble head or play as a piece of Tofu in Resident Evil, put your character in god mode or even unlock secret ending movies or minigames?

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