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British censors have won the right to fight the UK release of video game Manhunt 2 in the High Court.

A judge accepted the British Board of Film Classification’s argument that the game had been approved for release on a misinterpretation of the law.

The game was banned in June but the Video Appeals Committee said the game could be classified and released.

The BBFC said that the VAC had been guilty of “a very serious misdirection of law” on the question of harm.

The judge said: “I have taken into account the high public interest in the possibility of harm to children.”

Mr Justice Wyn Williams ruled the Board had an arguable case that should go to a full hearing.

Both sides agreed that the game was not suitable for children, but the BBFC argued that if given a certificate for release, it could still end up in the hands of minors.

The judge also suspended the VAC’s decision that the game should be classified, halting any possibility of it going on sale until after the High Court challenge, due to take place before 31 January next year.

The BBFC said it would pay any damages that developer Rockstar might suffer as a result of the stay, if the Board loses its legal challenge.

The Board had warned that if the VAC decision had stood, it would have fundamental implications for all of its decisions, including those about unacceptable levels of violence.

Rockstar Games said that Manhunt 2 was “well within the bounds established by other 18+ rated entertainment”.

British censors are seeking a judicial review to block the sale of controversial video game Manhunt 2.

Last week developer Rockstar won a hearing at the Video Appeals Committee to have a ban on the title lifted.

But the British Board of Film Classification said that decision was based on an incorrect interpretation of the Video Recordings Act.

The game was first banned in June, as was a revised version of the game which was presented to the BBFC in October.

“The VAC judgement, if allowed to stand, would have fundamental implications with regard to all the Board’s decisions, including those turning upon questions of unacceptable levels of violence,” the BBFC said in a statement.

Rockstar was not immediately available for comment.

When the game was first refused certification, effectively banning it, David Cooke, director of the BBFC, said the game featured “unremitting bleakness and callousness of tone”.

He added: “There is sustained and cumulative casual sadism in the way in which these killings are committed, and encouraged, in the game.”

The title has become one of the most controversial games in recent times.

At the VAC appeal hearing, Fred Hasson, president of developer association Tiga, said he was “surprised at how tame [the title was] compared to some very graphical scenes I’ve seen in other games which have received certification”.

He added: “I expected it to be a lot worse… I can’t believe that this has been singled out as something that is worth banning.”

One game player decided to sue Activision for “deceptive and unlawful” conduct.

Samuel Livingston of San Diego has brought suit against Activision for “deceptive and unlawful” conduct for the marketing of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock for the Wii. The class-action lawsuit charges Activision with not addressing or attempting to warn customers about the mono sound issue, despite the game’s packaging continuing to advertise Dolby Pro Logic II sound.

Activision said that they would replace the defective discs in early 2008, an announcement that occurred five days before the Livingston suit was filed on December 11. The timing demonstrates Activision’s willingness to resolve the mistake. Activision’s only public response: “We cannot comment on any on-going litigation.”

This is the second lawsuit to hit Activision over their smash hit Guitar Hero. An 80’s rock band, The Romantics, filed suit for the game’s use of their song in the Rocks the 80’s PS2 version of Guitar Hero. No matter that Activision retains legal authority to use all of the songs featured in the game, this will be a battle of nuance in the courtroom.

Greenpeace has called on gamers to persuade Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo to make their consoles greener.

According to the environmental campaign group, game console makers have so far “failed to reduce the toxic burden of their products”.

It accuses Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony of lagging behind mobile phone and PC manufacturers.

The initiative is part of Greenpeace’s campaign to persuade the electronics industry to be greener.

“Game console manufacturers are lagging way behind the makers of mobile phones and PCs who have been reducing the toxic load of the products over the past year,” said Zenia Al Hajj, Greenpeace International’s toxics campaigner.

“Game consoles contain many of the same components as PCs so manufacturers can do a lot more,” she added.

Workers “at risk”

As part of its campaign, Greenpeace has launched a 90-second video featuring some of the iconic games console characters - Microsoft’s Master Chief, Nintendo’s Mario and Sony’s Kratos - competing for the prize of a greener games console.

Gamers can compare how each console meaures up on toxic materials, recycling and energy efficiency, as well as logging their support for the campaign.

The campaign is aimed at the big three game console manufacturers - Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft.

All were asked to respond to the allegations but, at the time of going to press, had not responded.

Greenpeace is engaged in a wider campaign to persuade the whole electronics industry to eliminate hazardous chemicals across the board.

It does not believe that current legislation goes far enough and on its hazard hit list are brominated fire retardants and PVC, the use of which it claims can lead to dangerous chemicals building up in the environment and in human and animal tissue.

It said that Chinese and Indian workers in production facilities and scrap yards where goods are dismantled could be at risk.

Leading mobile phone makers, including Motorola, LG, Sony Ericsson and Philips, have all implemented eco-design aspects into their production lines, including reducing the amount of hazardous substances used in their products.

Global warming

Nokia, the world’s largest mobile phone manufacturer, produces a handset every nine seconds. It has decided to implement requirements set out in the EU Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive in all 10 of its factories around the globe.

The RoHS Directive bans six substances (lead, cadmium, mercury, hexavalent chromium, PBB and PDBE) from products that are either made or sold in the EU.

Greenpeace has been busy garnering support for its various initiatives from the web community. Earlier this month it teamed up with teenage social networking site Habbo to find out more about youngsters attitudes to global warming .

50,000 teenagers responded to the survey, with 74% rating global warming over drugs, violence and war as the issue they were most concerned about.

It has launched a 90 second video, aimed at gamers, in which iconic characters from each of the major manufacturers compete for a greener games console.

NOA says the Nintendo DS will outsell all other systems this year, even the highly sought Wii.

NINTENDO DS WILL FINISH 2007 AS THE YEAR’S TOP-SELLING VIDEO GAME SYSTEM

Appeal to Core and Casual Gamers Keeps Portable System Going Strong

REDMOND, Wash., Dec. 11, 2007 – While many eyes are focused on home video game consoles, Nintendo projects Nintendo DS™ to be the top-selling system of the year. More than 6 million Nintendo DS portable video game systems have sold in the United States in 2007 through Nov. 30, according to internal Nintendo of America Inc. sales numbers. That’s a rate of about one sold every five seconds of 2007, enough to project Nintendo DS will be the top-selling video game system of any kind for the year. Nintendo DS has increased its sales in the United States every year since it launched in November 2004.

“There’s no letup in sight,” says George Harrison, Nintendo of America’s senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications. “Nintendo DS appeals strongly to both core and casual gamers, and its momentum is set to propel us into 2008.”

Nintendo DS began 2007 strong, but its momentum only increased as the year progressed. Before 2007, Game Boy® Advance held the all-time U.S. Thanksgiving week sales record, with 600,000 systems sold in 2005. But Nintendo DS beat that Thanksgiving week record with more than 650,000 sold.

The huge appeal of Nintendo DS stems from the diversity of software available for the system. Four Nintendo DS games have sold more than 2 million in the United States alone, including New Super Mario Bros.®, Mario Kart® DS, Pokémon® Diamond and Super Mario® 64 DS. Another eight games have sold more than 1 million each in the United States, including Brain Age™: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day, Pokémon® Pearl, Animal Crossing®: Wild World, Big Brain Academy™ and four separate versions of Nintendogs™.

4,000 parents cross Europe have been surveyed about video games, and game content. An astounding 75% of parents said that they were concerned over the content of games, while 43% didn’t know of the PEGI ratings system (U.S.A’s ESRB), and 44% think that games should be kept to an hour a day. The study also found that 63% of children played games without any supervision. Can the parents really be that concerned when they aren’t even monitoring what their children are playing?

Meanwhile adults are threatened with possible censorship of the games!

The Internet Rights Forum, a French lobbying group, has issued new guidelines for online game publishers and legislators.

Along with proposing an on-screen timer to let players know how much time they are spending online, the group is proposing changes to the ratings system for online games according to a PC World article.

Currently, European publishers use the voluntary PEGI rating system with categories based on recommended ages such as 3+, 7+, 12+, 16+, and 18+. Because online games may expose players to text messages and conversations beyond the control of publishers, however, the Internet Rights Forum wants to strengthen the ratings system.

The group is proposing that games which allow text messages cannot be rated 3+ or 7+, and can only be rated 12+ if the game’s text messages are moderated by an adult.

The Internet Rights Forum also wants publishers to guarantee that age ratings will apply to in-game advertisements, and to put warnings on packaging if an online game contains ads.

Some of the groups’ recommendations could be applicable across Europe, according to spokesman Laurent Baup, while others specifically address French laws restricting hate speech or defining intellectual-property rights.

The Internet Rights Forum plans to create a Web site for parents and teachers, warning about the risks of online games, that should launch early next year.

The great new game from the makers of killer7.
Gouichi Suda the man behind the great game killer7 revealed not that long ago that he was working on a Wii game called Heroes he said it would have sinister undertones and hard bolied attitutude of killer7. Hes also given more information about the game. It focuses on an organisation called the UAA which run a world network that searches for the best killers and ranks them according to who they have killed. The game features some impressive… weaponary. Helter Skelter wields a pair of two foot long magnums and arm mounted mini guns, hes main oponent Travis Touchdown hides a six foot lightsaber under hes cloak.
You dont contact the UAA, if you want to join them they contact you if your are good enough that is. This gives you the opportunity to challenge others. Your main goal is to become the worlds number one assassin.
Like in killer7 the game has a unique graphical style thats a cross between film noir and cel shading. The game will feature a number of different styles like there will be Wii remote controlled lightsaber and sword battles as well as normal adventure sections. This game is looking good and one that is deffinetly worth keeping a eye on.

1. Nintendo DS Lite 128,621
2. Sony PlayStation 3 42,099
3. Sony PlayStation Portable 16,690
4. Sony PlayStation 2 15,068
5. Microsoft Xbox 360 4,050
6. Nintendo Gameboy Advance SP 1,199
7. Nintendo Gameboy Micro 1,037
8. Nintendo GameCube 514
9. Nintendo DS 182
10. Nintendo Gameboy Advance 30
11. Microsoft Xbox 6

N0.1 Mega Man

• If you include the special editions there are 76 Mega Man games. the first one was called Mega Man (or Rockman if you live in Japan) it was for the NES it… came out in 1987. And the newest Mega Man game so far is Mega Man ZX on the DS.
• Mega Man suit is known as Rock in Japan and Mega Man’s sister is called Roll this is just a joke to make there names and make you think of Rock and Roll.
• Mega Man and Roll have appeared in many Capcom Fighting games such as Poket Fighter, Marvel Vs Capcom and Cannon Spike.
• One of the strangest mega man games was mega man soccer it was released on the SNES only in the US and Japan. It wasnt very good.
• In the some of the mega man games the year was 200x meaning the future. But from mega man 3 to now the year has changed to 20xx this is because 200x will be out of date in a few years time.