Having been in this tech industry for 20 plus years I am no longer surprised when I read about lawmakers who, with little or no knowledge of what they are seeking legislate try to control video games but one would think that since the US Supreme Court provided video games with 1st Amendment rights lawmakers would call it quits.

Needless to say lawmakers continue to try and return to the well as we can see by this latest attempt from Oklahoma Democrat Will Fourkiller who wants to levy a special tax that is focus specifically against the sale of ‘violent’ video games. The problem is that his proposition is that he wants to use the ESRB rating system as the bases around which to levy the tax.

The one percent excise tax would be applied against all games that get an Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) of “Teen, Mature, or Adult’ which might be fine on the surface until you start looking at all the games out there with those ratings.

Games like Ultimate Card Games for the Nintendo DS or the Wii’s Robocalypse: Beaver Defense would fall directly under this plan as would probably the majority of the most popular games on the market right now.

The bill is being proposed under “emergency” rules because it is “immediately necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health and safety,” according to the text. After being read on the House floor next week, the bill will need majority votes in both the Oklahoma House of Representatives and Senate before being sent to the governor. After that, if it doesn’t receive a three-fourths majority in both houses, it will be put on a November ballot to be approved or rejected by Oklahoma voters

via Ars Technica

If this passes the countdown to the first court challenge would start within seconds.

Oklahoma lawmakers wants to tax any games with an ESRB of ‘Teen’ or above is a post from: The Inquisitr

Video game sales went down in 2011 and also were down in December compared to the year prior. The gaming industry still made a good amount of money with consumers still spending Billions of dollars.

While retail video game sales went down, the findings weren’t the same with purchases of digital games, add-on content, mobile and social games as well as rentals and subscriptions.

“Total consumer spending on video games at retailers dropped 8% in 2011, to $17 million from last year’s total of $18.4 billion.”

“However, digital sales of games and add-on digital content, along with spending on mobile and social games, rentals and subscriptions rose 7% to $7.24 billion in 2011, according to data from market research firm The NPD Group. ” The increase in these areas partially offset the decline in new physical retail sales of content in 2011,” says NPD Group analyst Anita Frazier.”

With retail video game sales still doing pretty good, it’s still a decent hit to companies, especially those who rely off of sales of a few titles while further developing new games that can take a lot of work and an extended period of time to finish.

One would think that December would result in far more retail sales than any other time of the year, but as it turns out, sales dropped in the month of December. Compared to the year prior, sales of games, game accessories, and game systems dropped a whopping 21% compared to December of 2010.

Out of all the game systems, the only one’s who saw an increase in December were Nintendo’s 3Ds and DS.

Retail Video Games Sales Dropped In 2011, Digital Content To Blame is a post from: The Inquisitr

The stroke of Midnight (EST), on Tuesday, 12.20.2011, is the moment online gamers have been anticipating for six years. The official launch of Star Wars; The Old Republic (SW;TOR) is just hours away and the people who created the game at Bioware are hoping that millions of players are sitting at their keyboards just waiting for the hours to pass. Bioware and their parent company, Electronic Arts have spent over $125 Million to create what they believe will be the ultimate Star Wars MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online Game). The development team was comprised of literally hundreds of the top talents in the game design industry.

The game went on sale back in July of 2011 and almost a million players in the United States alone pre-ordered the game. Worldwide sales figures have yet to be released but they are expected to top two million copies pre-ordered at prices between $59.99 for the regular version of the game, $79.99 for the digital special edition or $149.99 for the boxed collector’s edition. Electronic Arts is looking forward to what they have said will be the most successful launch in the history of the company. Along with the cost of the actual game, players will pay a monthly subscription fee of $14.99 starting 30 days after they first log in to the game. All the signs are pointing to a quick break even and a big financial success for the latest addition to the Star Wars Universe.

Those players who were able to pre-order were rewarded with up to a week of Early Access to the actual game. This allowed players to have a better chance of getting their favorite names for their game characters or “Toons” as gamers like to call their alter egos. Better yet, Early Access gave players the opportunity to get a major head start on the legions of players who will be first joining the game tonight at midnight. The servers are already populated with many players who have reached the game’s level cap of 50 and thousands of others are closing in fast on the maximum level.

Gamers have taken several different approaches to Early Access. Some players played virtually non-stop and only slept when they passed out at the keyboard as they pushed like mad to reach level 50. Other players took advantage of Early Access to work on their crafting and gathering skills. This will enable them to make a wide range of useful items that can be created by players in SW;TOR. Player vs. Player (PVP) combat is also a big part of the game and a good number of Early Access players put the majority of their time into it. PVP in SW;TOR allows players to earn some of the very best gear the game has to offer and it will be a high priority as the game progresses.

The servers are holding up well to the stress of Early Access and players are reporting a very positive experience. As with any MMO, every player seems to have some special feature that they would like to have seen in the game that isn’t there but there has been a minimum of complaining. SW;TOR is replete with a plethora of features and offers all the goodies one would expect from a high caliber online game that has the Star Wars name attached to it.

There is one nasty bug in the game that players are hoping Bioware will correct during the five hours downtime before launch. The planet Taris has a serious memory leak that is locking some players in place and eventually crashing their game. This bug has the potential to prevent a player from being able to complete their class quest line that is an integral part of the leveling process. Bioware has indicated that they are aware of the issue and are doing everything they can to correct it.

The game servers are now down and the people at Bioware are working furiously to get everything ready for the big moment at midnight. All early indications are that Star Wars; The Old Republic has what is takes to be a terrific MMO. Six years of incredible effort went into making this game and everyone involved, both the creators and the players, are wishing Star Wars; The Old Republic the best for a long and successful future. Hopefully, Bioware will continue to add new content on a regular basis and keep the SW;TOR experience fun for many years to come.

Will you be there at midnight tonight to join the never ending struggle between the Light Side and the Dark Side in Star Wars; The Old Republic? If you plan to play, will you be joining the Republic or the Sith Empire?

Star Wars; The Old Republic Launches at Midnight is a post from: The Inquisitr

First we had the Fallout Monopoly game story that was followed by the video of a fan who created a working model of the Pipboy 3000, and now we have a fan made film that has become a web series.

Fallout: Nuka Break – The Movie was released on YouTube earlier this year and got such rave reviews from fans that the film’s creators, Wayside Creations, decided to create a web series to go along with the movie.

Here’s the movie for those who may have missed it the first time around.

Now here’s the first web episode of the Fallout: Nuka Break web series, with a new episode apparently planned every two week.

a big thanks to the crew at Geeks are Sexy for posting about this originally.

Fan made Fallout film turned into a full fledged web series – Awesomesauce! is a post from: The Inquisitr

Whether it be incredible cos-play costumes to things like the Fallout Monopoly board game, gamers are known for getting into their favorite games in ways that the rest of us can’t even imagine.

Following the Fallout Monopoly board comes anther great DIY project, this time from TomPudding on reddit where he shares the end result of wanting to create a working Fallout Pipboy.

This is the first test of my attempt to build a working pipboy 3000, complete with fully functional controls just as depicted in the game.

It consists of an HTC Desire HD as the screen and processor, and an Arduino Uno with a USB host shield running microbridge to act as an ADB host for the phone. The Arduino then sends button presses to the phone via TCP over USB. The casing is a cast made by Skruffy over at http://www.therpf.com , it’s amazing!

Man I wish I was half as creative, and capable as these people who keep turning out really cool stuff.

Fallout Video Game Fan Goes the Extra Mile and Creates a Real Pipboy 3000 [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

If you are a gamer, or even just a computer geek, then the next time you are in Berlin I have a must see spot for you to check out.

Opened in the late 1990′s the Video Game Museum of Berlin is a must see destination with exhibits that cover a wide range of video game related topics as well as including the world’s very first home video game console, 50 portable and handheld consoles. It also has exhibits that are devoted to the social aspects of gaming along with its darker sides of violence and addiction.

As you can see from some of the images there is a very retro feel to the museum which definitely adds something to the experience.

Here is a bit of a video tour for you.

via Geekosystem

One of the coolest museums around, well, for gamers and geeks maybe. is a post from: The Inquisitr

The outdoorsy Cub Scouts, Tiger Cubs and Webelos Scouts have added a new Video Game badge to their selection of merit badges.

The Video Games badge joins Art, Astronomy, Chess and Citizenship among a host of badges to encourage the young scouts to “build character, develop citizenship, and encourage mental and physical fitness.”  The Video Games belt loop has three requirements, but in order to achieve the Video Games pin, scouts must satisfy five of these nine requirements:

With your parents, create a plan to buy a video game that is right for your age group.

Compare two game systems (for example, Microsoft Xbox, Sony PlayStation, Nintendo Wii, and so on). Explain some of the differences between the two. List good reasons to purchase or use a game system.

Play a video game with family members in a family tournament.

Teach an adult or a friend how to play a video game.

List at least five tips that would help someone who was learning how to play your favorite video game.

Play an appropriate video game with a friend for one hour.

Play a video game that will help you practice your math, spelling, or another skill that helps you in your schoolwork.

Choose a game you might like to purchase. Compare the price for this game at three different stores. Decide which store has the best deal. In your decision, be sure to consider things like the store return policy and manufacturer’s warranty.

With an adult’s supervision, install a gaming system.

Scouts PR manager Renee Fairrer spoke to PC Magazine about the new merit badge and its place among traditional scouting pursuits like camping and outdoor activities:

“I don’t know of any household of anyone less than 30 that doesn’t have some kind of gaming system,” Fairrer said. “It’s at the home, it’s at the library, and nine times out of ten, in some form or fashion, it’s at their school.”

According to a 2009 study, 68% of US households play video games.

[Image]

Cub Scouts add new gaming badge is a post from: The Inquisitr

Late night stoner trips to 7-11 may be getting much more totally awesome, with a cheap video game rental along with your blunt wrap, bear claw and Super Double Gulp in the possible near future.

Popular DVD rental kiosk service Redbox, which is becoming a fairly common sight in many American town and cities, is looking to expand the offerings on its rental machines to games. A report from Reuters indicates that the company, conceived by McDonald’s to help drive foot traffic to restaurants, is in talks with game manufacturers to offer games in all the company’s kiosks.

Warner Bros., Twentieth Century Fox, and NBC Universal recently sought to block the $1-a-day service’s access to new releases, fearing the low-cost rental rates undervalued their DVD sales- Redbox sued, citing antitrust laws. But Redbox president Mitch Lowe said that talks with game developers were occuring “early and often” to avoid the same problems with video game rentals. Rentals for games are also projected to be $2 a night, rather than $1.

CEO of video game maker THQ Inc Brian Farrell took a swipe at music and film industry technophobic policies when commenting on the planned service:

“If you look at movies and music in some ways, resisting new business models has not been a great formula for success, so one of the things I like about our industry is we tend to think, ‘We have to adapt to this change.’ So it’s part of our DNA.”

[Image: Flickr]

Report: Redbox in talks to start game rental service is a post from: The Inquisitr

It looks like the folks at Rockstar are beginning to leak out some great looking screenshots for the next installment of the Max Payne video game franchise. As you can in this installment Max looks to in some nice warm tropical region to spread his style of blood and guts shoot’em up.

What better way to start off a hump day than a few good quality shots of what will probably be another hot game. As well Game Informer has a whole article devoted to Max Payne.

Max Payne 3 screenshots is a post from: The Inquisitr

There’s nothing like a few rounds of Doom 3 or a bit of mayhem in GTA to ease the stress of the day. Sure there’s a lot of nonsense about violent video games being responsible for people committing violent acts but to date there has been no (reputable) conclusive studies that have proven that argument.

This fact apparently hasn’t stopped the German government from moving forward with a plan to ban all violent video games, which they define as “where the main part is to realistically play the killing of people or other cruel or inhuman acts of violence against humans or manlike characters”. Not only that but the ban would be applicable to video game companies operating in Germany making it illegal to even create such games.

Well that pretty well means about 90% of the games on the market today as well as the majority of games that are created every year. Plus let’s not forget that Crysis from Crytek – a German based company – would no longer be able to see any future versions being created.

The government’s reasoning for this ban? As usual it stems from some teenager going on a killing spree and blaming on playing some video game for hours on end prior to thinking they could do it for real.

Why all the panic over video games? The usual stuff, really: Their potential link to violence, particularly among youths. Earlier this year a German teenager killed more than a dozen people while dressed in black camouflage, purportedly copying moves learned in the terrorism-focused Counter-Strike. Such links are extremely controversial, but Germany has been at the forefront of lambasting violent games for years as causing these incidents.

Source: Yahoo Tech News

Germany getting ready to ban all violent video games is a post from: The Inquisitr

Saving Captain Phillips

Saving Captain Phillips is a Flash-based adventure available for both free online play and free downloading. It allows players to take shots at the pirates and try to save the captain’s life.

The game itself is simple enough; it’s presumably its tie to the intense real-world event generating most of its buzz. Games2Win isn’t the only developer to try to get in on the action, either: Kuma Games has also released its own pirate rescue game entitled Somali Showdown: Pirates on the High Seas.

Saving Captain Phillips: The Pirate Rescue Video Game is a post from: The Inquisitr

Ever wondered what the really dumb folks do for fun?

Well apparently two brothers; both in their 30’s, in Waukesha got into a heated argument over who’s turn it was with the game controller for their Playstation 2 and started choking and stabbing each other. What first started out as a verbal bashing quickly went into a case of them choking each other and ended up with them both pulling knives out and stabbing each other.

To add insult to injury the one brother fled the scene and walked to the hospital which also led to his fingers being severely frostbitten. No word on what game was playing at the time of the bloodletting but you can be sure that some goodie two shoes will be rushing forward to claim how bad games are.

Me.. I’m just wonder how these two idiots even survived this long.

PS2 controller causes stabbing is a post from: The Inquisitr