According to Gamepolitics California is trying to bring back the 2005 video games bill in the court of appeals. For those of you who don't remember this is Leland Yee's bill that was declared unconstitutional late last year. Media Coalition has filled an amicus brief on behalf of its member's in opposition of the appeal.

"The Media Coalition members’ amicus brief in the appeal argues that the state’s claim is contrary to all U.S. Supreme Court and Courts Of Appeal precedent and could lead to a wide array of mainstream books, magazines, movies, videos, recordings, and other material with violent content becoming subject to regulation.

Additionally, the brief argues that the terms used to define a “violent video game” are unconstitutionally vague and the labeling requirement is unconstitutional compelled speech and a content-based requirement."

This bill was bad news in 2005 when Governor Schwarzenegger signed it into law and it needs to stay dead. I have no idea how California thinks its going to get anywhere with this appeal but I am glad that the Media Coalition is standing up for the industry in court. As a resident of California, it tells me my state government is at some point in the future going to try something along the lines of the 2005 bill again. As long as Yee is in office the states gamers have a fair amount of reason to be concerned.

Source: GamePolitics

There have been a lot of FPS games released in the last few years and a good number of them have been set in WWII. So it comes as no surprise that gamers really don’t want to see more games set in that war. It’s been rumored that Treyarch will be producing another COD title in that era and it’s hard to understand why when they have so many other unexplored directions they could go.


The first one that comes to mind would be the Korean War. It’s got all the elements needed for a decent game if developers are willing to do their homework. It took place in the cold war era and involved enough countries to draw stories from. The weapons used where pretty much the same as in most WWII FPS games so they wouldn’t have to do to much work there. Level’s or missions could take place at the landings at Inchon to the Pusan perimeter to the fight at the chosin reservoir and ending with the seesaw fights around the 38th parallel where the war ended with an armistice agreement. To my mind its one of the most overlooked platforms for an FPS and could be made into a good game.


Vietnam is another one which EA and Dice tried but in all honesty failed miserably with. It’s similar to the Korean War in that it’s the U.S. with allies fighting the communists over a divided country. The weapons are more modern which might appeal more to gamers and there are plenty of historical battles and campaign’s to set the game in. Dice touched on some of them in BFV so developers have a good starting point. While Vietnam shares similarities to Korea it’s still different enough to make a well researched game possible.


Really the possibilities are limitless when it comes to a setting and story for a good FPS.
A hypothetical WWIII FPS would be another good direction to head in. Either set it in the 60’s with U.S. , Britain ET all Vs. the U.S.S.R or with a little bit of imagination I could see a good U.S. and friends Vs. China and North Korea. All it takes is using a little creativity and developers can break the mold of going back to WWII to trot out another tired and pointless FPS. Just look at the few I’ve outlined and that hasn’t even scratched the surface of what’s possible.


So Treyarch or any other developer out there who is thinking about foisting another tired WWII FPS please for the love of robot’s don’t. Just use a little creativity and imagination in your next FPS offering and I promise you gamers will buy it.

GamePolitics is reporting that an attempt to Tax T.V. and video games has died in committe. Basically The bill if passed would have placed a 1% surcharge on T.V.'s and video games and the procceds would have went to outdoor education.

"The measure had been backed by a broad coalition of groups, led by the Sierra Club. The fund would have helped pay for outdoor education throughout the state. The tax would have been the first of its kind in the nation…

Critics complained they shouldn’t have to foot the bill for parents who don’t know how to raise their children." *

While this proposed tax was on electronic devices it would have pissed me off if it had been on car tires. Any form of government in this country that attempts to limit my freedom by taxing a behavior they deem bad needs to be bitch slapped by reanimated versions of the founding fathers. I am really glad the New Mexican legislatures had the balls to see this for what it was and kill it quickly.



* CopyPasta obviously but for some reason the BBcode was being a bitch about bolding shit this morning.

Warning wall of text ahead, if you don’t have the attention span to read through more than 700 words then avoid this post at all costs. If on the other hand you’re the adventurous type than by all means read away.





I was reading Gameboi's post on Cliffy B and I noticed some things in the comments that really irk the shit out of me. One was the whole Console vs. PC debate and the other was the PC’s are to fucking expensive to maintain silliness. Both of these topics really make me wonder about gamers and just what their really into gaming for.


First off we have which platform is better for gaming. Truly this is a stupid argument as I’ve always held the notion it’s about playing video games and not the machines we do it on. If it’s not the 360 vs. the PS3 then it’s those two against the Wii or all three of them against the PC. It doesn’t fucking matter at all, they all play games and that’s what gamers do play video games. This constant bickering over what system we should be playing them on and how much it cost’s is just retarded. If you prefer one then go with it and be fucking happy. That doesn’t mean you can’t proclaim your love for your system of choice just don’t bore me to tears with why it’s superior over the other ones. While that specific argument never boiled to the surface in the post that has set me off I could see it brewing. All it was going to take was one dumb ass trying to prove his internet coolness and it was going to be on.


The next one is all about these graphics whores I see running around the net these days. This cropped up in the post in the form of bitching about high end video card prices. I have seen countless times where some dip shit is complaining about how game X will only run at 57.5323 frames per second and not the optimum 60 fps. My response to that is so fucking what. If you’re that much of an art lover that 2.4677 difference in frame rate between what you get and maxed bothers you that much then go to the fucking Louvre and stare at the Mona Lisa all day. There comes a point where being anal about shit like that ruins any enjoyment you where going to get out of the game anyway. Granted choppy slow fps sucks but even a middle of the road card can handle all games decently. So the argument of needing a top of the line video card to enjoy gaming on a PC is bull shit. It’s not the rest of the world’s problem if you’re a snobby bastard.


The last one is the fallacy that computers are to expensive to maintain. Actually I want to wander into a tangent that kind of ties into this somewhat. I see a metric shit ton of people wandering around explaining how they build their own PC’s and would never buy one. Well good for you I suppose you want a cookie as a reward for such a stunning achievement. Fact of the matter is if you give me a monkey a screw driver and the necessary parts I could teach the fucking monkey to build a computer. It’s not fucking rocket science people but some of you sure seem to act like it is. It also appears some people want to perpetuate this myth that PC’s are so expensive to upgrade and maintain. If your smart and schedule your upgrades correctly costs shouldn’t be that much of an issue except for possibly the mobo and the processor. I’ve had my current system about 9 months or so and coming up I plan on adding a little more memory. Later this year I may add another whopping hard drive to store all my midget porn. Towards the end of the year I will probably pop for a video card. Spaced out like that and doing the upgrades before its absolutely necessary will spread the overall cost out in such a fashion that even a poor bastard like me can afford it. That’s not to say the PC gaming is the most economical choice going but it’s possible even on a budget if your hell bent on staying a PC gamer. Once again though it depends on how much of an elitist ass you are. If you just can’t live without the high end video card or the largest dual core processor possible then of course it’s going to be outrageously expensive. That doesn’t mean sane people can’t get a decent PC that will run all the current games at a decent pace for an affordable price. My current rig is no where near alien ware capabilities and it runs Bioshock extremely well at decent settings. I will never be convinced that even a game as beautiful as that would have been better if I had a $7000 dollar rig.


I’m not aiming this at any one person it’s just the overall attitude when discussing PC gamin that pisses me off. I know no matter what I say the bitching and arguing will continue and that’s really sad in a way. Because as was stated before it shouldn’t matter what platform you play games on. What should matter is how much fun you’re having playing the games and that type of enjoyment shouldn’t come with a min/max requirement.

The video game industry has finally matured enough and become main stream enough that it is currently being attacked by every pundit and ultra moralist looking for a wind mill to tilt. It’s no surprise really considering television, movies and music have all gone through the same battle. The problem is a lot of gamers and gaming pundits advocate ignoring these misinformed fools in a vain hope that they and the rest of the anti gaming crowd will wither and die if we don’t pay any attention to them.


I can think of one prime example that makes that attitude dangerous and possibly harmful to the gaming industry. For those of you to young to remember I present for your viewing pleasure the PMRC. The Parents Music Resource Center was a group founded by Tipper Gore, Susan Baker, Pam Howar and Sally Nevius in 1985 and their goal was to censor and rate music. They felt that a lot of music was glorifying violence, sex, drugs and alcohol and it was harmful to the youth of the country. Eventually the whole fight ended up in front of congress and in the end the RIAA chose to voluntarily label music with warning stickers. While being forced to label music wasn’t the best of out comes if the RIAA and artists themselves had chose to ignore the PMRC the outcome could have been vastly different.



I was 11 years old when the PMRC made the RIAA tap out in front of congress and because I had parents who cared my music purchases where monitored for the next few years. The PMRC never intended to reach parents who don’t care what their kids do. Their audience all along was the concerned and caring parents of the world. In that respect they had a small victory against the music business but never attained there ultimate goal of music censorship because the RIAA chose to fight. The case can be that the gaming industry finds itself in much the same situation. Concerned parents still exist and they are a very formidable group. If pundits, groups and media outlets reach this audience with a bunch of misinformation and propaganda the gaming industry is screwed. It won’t be long until we see a rise of another PMRC type group only this time they won’t settle for labels and ratings like the PMRC did. They will want out right banning of video games and this is why these pundits must be brought to task for attempting to spread misinformation to their audience. By doing this we can make them think twice about using video games as a vehicle to fame and fortune. The trick is to respond to these attacks in an intelligent fashion which will is the only way the community will be taken seriously.


Threats of violence and necrophilia on the author of something we disagree with was hilarious in 1997 it just isn’t going to cut it in 2008. Its time the gaming community and the industry they support start putting thought and care into how we respond to attacks and critics otherwise we will forever be viewed as basement dwelling mouth breathers. Making intelligent and constructive arguments for gaming will help us shed this reputation but we must do far more than just answer our critics. Because answering the critics is great and all but if we don’t trumpet the positive aspects of gaming nobody else will. In my mind doing both of these will be the last steps in making gaming as much a part of the mainstream as music or movies. The critics will still exist but they will be forced to make more intelligent attacks on the industry or suffer the consequences.


Ultimately one thing is certain, the mindless attack on the gaming community are just too juicy a target for our critics to pass up. If we ignore them they will continue until they reach their goals of seriously doing damage if not outright killing video games as we know them today. That may sound a bit alarmist but it wasn’t long ago they wouldn’t show Elvis from the waste down on television due to his swiveling hips so it’s not that much of a stretch. To my mind it’s also the reason we need to answer them every time they decide attack the gaming community.

Normally I can solve most of my electronics related problems all by myself but this one has me stumped and pissed. I bought a 360 this morning and was going to use it with my PC monitor. I bought all the proper adaptors to do so and it was actually fairly easy. The problem is I have no bloody sound. I tried hooking into the jack on the speakers and about every combo I could find on my mother boards on board sound chip and I get nothing. According to the reading I did on the net I should have sound and yet I get fucking nothing. It's driving me nuts as I want to play fucking COD4 and cant unless I play as the worlds first completely deaf solider. Any help the community here can give me would be greatly appreciated. My computers OS is Vista with onboard sound.