China has banned Web sites from advertising or linking to games that glamorize violence, another step in China’s censorship campaign aimed at ensuring social stability ahead of the 60th anniversary of communist rule on October 1st. A notice posted on the Culture Ministry Web site on Monday said games that promote drug use, obscenities, gambling, or crimes such as rape, vandalism and theft are “against public morality and the nation’s fine cultural traditions.” The ban on the Web sites starts immediately, but no details were given on how the law would be implemented.

China has the world’s largest population of Internet users, more than 298 million, and the world’s most extensive system of Web monitoring and censorship. While the government claims the main targets of its Web censorship are pornography, online gambling, and other sites deemed harmful to society, critics say that often acts as cover for detecting and blocking sensitive political content that can be found on sites such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, which are all blocked in China.

Don’t go on Facebook or play GTA IV, but you may run sites that advertise hacking lessons? Let’s get our priorities straight people!

Source: AP

The party is over and the Rabbids are ready to go home…to the moon! While viewing the new video, you can enjoy the Rabbids hot-wheeling it around, wreaking havoc, and scaring humans right down to their undies, all while in their weapon of choice, the shopping cart. You can watch them grab as much human stuff as possible in order to build a huge pile to climb to the moon, but remember, beware of those vicious pooches. Rabbids Go Home is scheduled to ship this Holiday season for the Wii, Nintendo DS and Nintendo DSi.

Publisher: Zen Studios
Developer: Zen Studios
Genre: First Person Shooter
Release date: Available now

With the release of games such as The Punisher: No Mercy on PSN, we might just be witnessing the decline of the bargain bin. Why waste time and money manufacturing hard copies of a budget game and shipping them to retailers when you can distribute the game digitally at a cheaper, more attractive price? The current generations will be Web browsing through the latest B-list games such as No Mercy instead of doing what we all did as kids: walking to the mall and thumbing through the waist-high piles of cartridges at FuncoLand.

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2K Games has announced that Borderlands, the world’s first official role-playing shooter (RPS), will arrive in retail stores on October 20, 2009. Coming to the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC, the game will blend first-person shooter combat with co-operative gameplay and character progression to deliver a unique player experience. Players will be able to freely join or leave each other’s games at any time for collaborative mayhem and have the freedom to choose to play in full single player mode to experience the world on their own. This title is not yet rated by the ESRB, but given the age gate on their site, I’m thinking “M”.

Episode 39 includes a conversation with Tom Mustaine from Escalation Studios. Tom came back on the show to discuss his new game, Doom Resurrection, and how they adapted it to the iPhone platform. Is $9.99 too much to pay for a game at the App Store?

In addition to the interview the guys explore summertime beverages, Battlefield (not bad for fifteen bucks), Ghost Recon, Left 4 Dead, and Dragon Ball Z… (the full name defies pronunciation).

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For decades, Hollywood’s relationship with video games has come down to one word: licensing. Game publishers have been licensing and adapting movies all the way back to 1984′s E.T., and studios started doing the opposite with 1993′s Super Mario Bros. Both of those projects were infamous flops, as were many of their follow-ups, but neither side could long resist the easy name recognition and potential crossover audiences that came from the others’ properties.

In the last few years, however, the licensing flow out of Hollywood has slowed as studios increasingly produce their own video games. Warner Bros.’ recent $49-million purchase of Midway Games and the rapid growth of Disney Interactive Studios illustrate how two of the biggest movie companies are more interested in publishing their own games than having others do it for them.

Microsoft and Ubisoft are now turning the tables on Hollywood, and both are unveiling at Comic-Con a series of short films based on their bestselling game series, Halo and Assassin’s Creed. “Halo Legends” and the live action “Assassin’s Creed II: Lineage” represent a major shift in the relationship between game publishers and movie studios, but how will it affect the final product? Will Microsoft and Ubisoft ruin two of their biggest properties? As neither series of films is ready for full viewing yet (Assassin’s is in post and Halo is still in production), we’ll just have to wait and see.

Source: LA Times

Rock Band Country Track Pack, the first Rock Band game focused exclusively on country music, is available now for the Xbox 360, PS3, PS2 and Wii, for $29.99. Featuring 21 tracks from some such artists as Willie Nelson, Alan Jackson, Kenny Rogers, Kenny Chesney, Jason Aldean and Shania Twain, Rock Band Country Track Pack allows owners of Rock Band and Rock Band 2 to keep the party going with a whole new set list. In addition, the pack is compatible with all Rock Band controllers, as well as most Guitar Hero and authorized third-party controllers and microphones.

Available in early 2010, Ghost Whisperer: Shadowlands will debut on the PC and include characters and themes from the hit television series. Players will assume the role of Melinda Gordon, a young woman living in Grandview, who has inherited the gift of being able to see and communicate with the dead. These earthbound spirits have unfinished business in our world preventing them from “crossing over” into the light. While trying to live as normal a life as possible with her paramedic husband, Jim, and as an owner of the antiques shop, Same As it Never Was, Melinda helps ghosts find resolution and pass over to the other side.

With its stories penned by Emmy award-winning television writer Lance Gentile, Ghost Whisperer: Shadowlands combines light adventure and hidden object-style game play where players need to help the recently departed move on to the afterlife and provide closure to loved ones left behind. Gamers must collect objects for their inventory to solve challenging puzzles while unraveling the mysteries.

Microsoft Corp. says Windows 7 is complete, and has sent the final code for its next computer operating system to manufacturers for an Oct. 22 launch.

According to Microsoft, Windows 7 should be an easier launch than Vista, because at its core, the new version is a lot like Vista. If a company updated a product to work with Vista in the last few years, it should also work with Windows 7. Windows 7 has also progressed in an orderly way, which means outside companies have had more time to make sure their products will work. Vista was plagued by changes to Microsoft’s plans, leaving partner companies scrambling to keep up.

Microsoft has also built in a way for companies to run older, Windows XP programs in Windows 7, in an attempt to avoid losing those corporate customers that skipped Vista altogether because critical software wasn’t compatible. Companies that have long-term agreements to buy Microsoft software in bulk will be able to download and start installing Windows 7 in a few weeks, and starting Oct. 22, Windows 7 will come on new PCs, and be available for people to buy separately and install on their existing machines.

Source: AP

The ESA sued the Chicago Transit Authority yesterday, saying a rule barring ads on trains and buses for “mature” and “adults only” games violates the right to freedom of speech. The association maintains that computer and video games are entitled to the same free speech protection under the First Amendment as other forms of entertainment such as movies. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, alleges that the CTA’s rule unconstitutionally “restricts speech in a public forum that is otherwise open to all speakers without a compelling interest for doing so.”

Kenneth L. Doroshow, general counsel of the association, pointed out that the movie Resident Evil, which is based on a video game, could be advertised on CTA buses and trains but the game itself could not under the rule, which was approved in November 2008.

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A recent announcement for the upcoming title, Serious Sam: The First Encounter, mentions the involvement of an unknown company called Devolver Digital. Curious about the small unknown that describes itself as a “production and publishing company based in Austin, Texas, specializing in delivering top quality entertainment to gamers worldwide at affordable prices by any and all means available”; the folks over at Big Download went ahead and did some digging. What they learned, is that Devolver Digital is in fact the new company from Mike Wilson and Harry Miller, two of the co-founders of Gamecock. When contacted, Wilson admitted his and Miller’s involvement with the company “along with a few other old friends.”

Mike Wilson will be dropping by the podcast on July 31st, so make sure to tune in and gather the knowledge. In the mean time, stop by the forums and let Turks and Company know what you’d like to learn about Devolver.

Source: Big Download

King.com recently brought together women gamers, between the ages of 24 to 61, to reveal what it is about gaming that motivates them. Key questions posed to them included: Have you been playing more games during the recession vs. earlier? What else is competing for your leisure time? What do you get out of online games that you don’t get from other forms of entertainment or diversion? How many hours a day or how many hours a week do you play? What do you think your choice of games says about you? Do you think you become a different person online than offline when playing games?

Their findings? Women are just as competitive as men, and they really want to win. Women also want games to look good and be visually captivating. Vivid colors and animation are big motivators, and dull colors and flat graphics are a turn-off. In addition, they described playing games online as “sexy”, and no longer “geeky”. When it comes to the numbers, most spent between $30-$50 a month on gaming and some up to eight hours a day, though not at one sitting. One panelist stated that casual games better allow her to break up her gameplay time to accommodate both her professional and domestic duties.

No, it’s not a new addition to the Hall of Justice! Not to be outdone by Legacy Games, Ubisoft has stepped into the social gaming arena. UbiFriends is a new gaming portal on Facebook, which will regularly offer new games and applications for Facebook users to share and have fun with their Facebook friends. The first game available is TickTock, a trivia game designed to test Facebook users’ knowledge of their friends.

Sam Raimi has signed on to direct “Warcraft,” the live-action film adaptation of the fantasy videogame franchise World of Warcraft. Legendary Pictures and Blizzard Entertainment are mounting the film, and Warner Bros. will co-finance and distribute. The plan is for Raimi to supervise development of “Warcraft” and shoot the picture after he completes work on “Spider-Man 4,” which gets under way early next year. The universe features an epic conflict between the Horde and the Alliance, and we can probably expect this theme to continue in the film. Anticipate more details to come out at Comic Con.

Source: Variety

Ever since the official announcement of Dante’s Inferno by Electronic Arts back in late 2008, there has been some confusion about whether or not the publisher had any plans for a PC version of the upcoming third person action game. Early previews of the game on several web sites mentioned a PC port and EA’s own web site states that “Electronic Arts looks to continue its tradition of innovative and compelling PC and Mac games with top-tier titles such as Dante’s Inferno, Dragon Age: Origins, and Battlefield Heroes.” Recent press releases for the game, however, have mentioned Xbox 360, PS3 and PSP ports of the game but say nothing of a PC port.

Big Download contacted the title’s PR rep who revealed what the company’s plans for the game currently are. “When Dante’s Inferno was originally announced in December, we attached no platforms to the project. When we came out with a first look for press in February we announced 360/PS3 and then in April we announced PSP. We never announced a PC SKU nor are there plans for any.”

Source: Big Download