It would NOT make it fair to ban TV-MA and R-rated advertisements as well.

I hate it when people do this. They make the mistake of thinking that the ESRB M rating is equivalent to an MPAA R. Tell me, when was the last time you saw photorealistic nudity of real human beings in a videogame? When was the last time you saw gore that was realistic to the level of Saving Private Ryan? How about Saw?

No, an M rating in the videogame world is equivalent to a PG-13 movie. Even the most intense M-rated videogame is animated characters. And they're not even allowed to do things they would be allowed to in an animated movie. You could have full nudity on animated characters in a PG-13 movie, but such would earn you an instant M from the ultraconservative ESRB.

The ESRB is a pox on gaming. They present a chilling effect on free speech and they stunt the market artistically. We will never have videogames that deal with actual mature issues as long as the ESRB exists. And no, if we get rid of them the government will NOT step in. They have already tried, many times, and the courts have struck them down. If there were no ESRB, it would be the same. Games can be labelled for content without having to be "rated". Parents can decide at what age their kids are ready for content, not some shadowy secretive organization that demands tens of thousands of dollars to rate each game. And the videogame console manufacturers should be ashamed of themselves for throwing in so completely as to all forswear that no unrated or AO rated material would ever boot on their systems.

Would you buy a DVD player that would not play unrated DVDs or NC-17 rated DVDs? Of course not. But for some reason, gamers feel fine shelling out hundreds of dollars for these crippled boxes that won't play anything that might have the danger of actually having a cultural impact beyond the kitschy.

Where did you see any indication of whether teams will be able to profit at all? Thus far I don't think MS has announced the revenue split (and Joystiq apparently didn't care to ask)... I just hope its not like 10% or something dumb like that, or, hey this is a great idea, maybe they'll only pay in Microsoft points, not real money!

GRRR, how can you guys skip the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION? What is the REVENUE SPLIT going to be? Is it going to be possible for a single person to create an awesome game that sells a couple hundred thousand copies and be able to quit their day job from the money they make? Or is MS going to keep them as indentured servants and only give them 10% or something ridiculously low like that?

I want to see a market where a single person, not a team, not a corporation, but ONE GUY, can make a game and if it gets popular, that guy can quit his day job and live off of the proceeds. I would desperately like to cut out corporate structure and middle managers and the like from the entire picture.

I hope there is one person, just ONE in this documentary that actually approached the question like a scientist. And by that I mean approaching it with complete skepticism. The evidence that exists linking violent videogames, or any violent media, to violent actions is so scant and so tenuous that to consider an observable case/effect relationship is extremely absurd. The entire subject is a bunch of people avoiding scientific inquiry into the idea and simply pursuing what "sounds" good or what "feels" right going based on "common sense".

Does anyone in Mortal Kombat bother to stop and ask why cultures with the highest amount of highly available violent entertainment have the lowest levels of actual societal violence? Do they consider the actors in a play or the actors in a movie as participating more directly in the media than videogame players? Or is this just going to be another batch of people trying to advance their careers without trying to reach scientifically rigorous conclusions?

Here's a little information for you guys so you don't go around sounding idiotic:

A modded Xbox 360 can only play UNTOUCHED, UNMODIFIED copies of games.

A modded Xbox 360 CANNOT be used to hack or cheat or in ANY way exploit a game.

A modded Xbox 360 CANNOT be used to play imported games. The region code is part of the signed unmodifiable parts of the game.

There has not even been a wee tiny little bit of progress ANYWHERE towards making it possible to modify game files, hack, cheat, etc.

Everything you see that says this ban was to "stop cheaters" is absolute, 100% pure undiluted bullshit.

These bans came down in order to stop piracy, and for absolutely no other reason at all. Anything else you hear is a lie.

This information is provided as a public service because way too many of you guys apparently believe anything a PR rep from MS or Bungie posts on their blog.

Learning Japanese is not easy. I have spent HUNDREDS buying dozens and dozens of books. I would LOVE anything on the DS that made it more like a game... hell, even a concentration-style game with matching tiles for kana and kanji could help recognition of kana, radicals, and full kanji and move along from there!

For now I move along oh so slowly with the best thing I have found so far - I bought a bunch of books intended for 5 year olds off of eBay (including a Japanese original of the classic Everybody Poops! I had no idea it was even Japanese originally... also got Everybody Farts ;)

I really like the beatup, scratched up, well-worn cyberpunk look to technology. Wrap your DS Lite in duct tape. Work it over with steel wool. Give it an acid bath or something. Scuff it up, cover it with multiple layers of stickers, add some personality to it and destroy the branding!

But please, for the love of all that is electronic, keep it in WORKING order!

Ellory: Would you consider "possible violent overthrow of an oppressive government" a valid justification when applying to the government for your 'extra' guns? The reason we have a right to bear arms is not for hunting. The idea is that every person has a right to defend themselves. Both from criminals, foreign invaders, and your own government. Remember, the people who started shooting British soldiers in the 1770s were British subjects.

OK. You guys did it. You said "facts". You called me out.

You want the facts about gun control and crime? I'm not sure you do, but I'll sum it up for you in a single simple sentence that is backed up by more scientific study than you can shake a stick at (I'll give you the source right afterwards, don't worry):

The presence of guns in a society does not affect the rate of lethal crime, either in increasing it or decreasing it.

That's it. It's slightly counterintuitive (until you realize that guns don't give people motivation to kill, they are only a single method), but it is a FACT. If you want to read up about this fact and see all the studies (dozens) that it is drawn from, they are all tied together in one chapter in a book called "Nine Crazy Ideas in Science". Despite what the name might suggest, it is a reputable book and addresses every large study concerning guns in the chapter about gun control.

Countries like Switzerland have a gun ownership rate dozens of times higher than the USA, and an extremely low crime rate. A lot of countries in Africa have very low gun ownership rates and extremely high murder rates. The two factors are not correlated whatsoever. And that is a fact.

Videogames ARE just like sport killing. Except nothing dies. And it's not morally wrong. And it doesn't scar the participant for life. And it involves a bit more skill and action than pressing a button with good timing.... oh, wait, it bares no resemblance whatsoever.