Gamertell

Grand Theft Auto IV was recently removed from store shelves in Thailand by the order of New Era Interactive, one of Asia’s largest game distributors. The reason is that Polwat Chino, a 19-year-old boy, killed a taxi driver while trying to recreate a scene from the game.

Ah. Yet another case of “life imitating art.“ Remember the problem though. Before games, movies and any violent media, there was still violence. So, in comes the obvious step of scapegoating. The easiest thing the blame is something that really can’t defend itself. It’s the basic psychology of blame. Since the Columbine school shooting, the popular thing to blame for violence has been videogames.

We are in an age where one of crime’s biggest motives and accusations is…

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There’s a different type of console available exclusively for men in Belgium that is essentially a screen mounted over urinals and features a racing game. One word comes to mind on this matter - Ewww! Grossness! (Editor’s Note: That is one noise and one word.)

The game in question is called The Piss-Screen. Seriously that’s the name. If you’re looking for a less vulgar name try A Place to Pee. The urinals were installed in the restrooms of a GamePower Expo in Gent, Belgium. Belgium police did not find the game amusing and the game was banned.

The urinal design was created by Marcel Neundörfer. The basin has a pressure-sensitive screen recessed into it. I’d hate to be the one to clean that in the morning much less think about it. I’m feeling grossed out just typing this at the moment.

Supposedly this game also improves a male’s “aim” as well as add entertainment in the bathroom. It was designed to help intoxicated males at bars to make the decision of choosing a taxi over driving home by engaging them in a racing game displaying over the urinal. If the “driver” swerves too much, crashes or misses then he is too drunk to drive themselves and should call a taxi.

I had no clue a bathroom game existed and, being a girl, I probably never would until I came across this article about a wee game in the men’s room.

But then again, on those long sits in the ladies room I could use a PSP or handheld game to bide my time. Hey, you can only read about who’s being a jerk and who’s a slut in the area or look at lewd and gaudy artwork but so many times on stall door.

Read [Game Politics] Also Read [Shiny Shiny] Site [Yanko Designs] Site [Marcel Neundörfer]

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Microsoft doesn’t like thieves. When Xbox Live user “Scar” came into possession of Halo 3 through less-than-legal means, MS served him with the gamer equivalent of 114 life sentences – He’s banned from Xbox Live until December 31, 9999.

Gamespot had the details of this young man’s tale of woe:

“A friend said he got the [Halo 3] Epsilon from a friend and offered me to glitch it onto my account with what you call the two-controller exploit. I downloaded it from Marketplace and played it for maybe six hours or so all alone, in custom games and campaign. [Then] it would kick me offline every time I tried to play Epsilon. It wasn’t until the next day when I signed on that I found out I got banned.“

Scar is a 17-year-old who calls himself an “achievement whore” and boasts (ahem, boasted) a Gamerscore higher than 61,000. According to him, there are “at least 10 others that downloaded it and got banned till 9999”

So what have we learned today, class? That Microsoft overreacts in the most hilarious ways. Better luck in a few millenniums, Scar.

Read [Gamespot] Also Read [Destructoid]

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Forum chatter on console mod site, TeamModders, may indicate that Microsoft started to crack down on modded Xbox 360s the day of the Halo 3 beta (Crackdown - get it?).

The ban appears to affect systems with modded firmware using the system’s serial ID to determine the systems that get banned. Once banned, the system can no longer log into Xbox Live. Of course, any god modder knows that you never, ever try to play online with a modded system (unless, of course, you can deactivate the mod chip, and even then, it’s risky).

The site also has a screenshot of the ban, which reads:

“This console has been banned for violations of the Terms of Use. To protect the Xbox Live service and its members, Microsoft does not provide details about console bans. There is no recourse for Terms of Use violations.“

It then follows with the Network Adapter (Wired) verbiage.

This bad news for anyone who voided their warranty and spent a small fortune soldering in a mod chip. It’s also bad news for professional game critics who, unable to procure a debug system from Microsoft, had to mod a system simply so they could do their jobs and review early/preview versions of games.

Read [TeamModders] Also Read [Gadgetell]

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