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Video Sandwich: November 19, 2006
Here are two very different approaches to PSP video fandom. They're both creative and show effort, but only one ends up being actually worthwhile. The top video is a fan-made commercial, submitted by Dane Kaplan, and it shows how Sony's portable can bring people together. I loved the principal that volunteered to take part in this silliness: it shows you that there's always a pal in a principal! (Ugh... bad joke...)The second video below certainly takes the cake for originality. These two teens got some meticulously crafted George Bush and Osama Bin Laden masks. Apparently, these two have more than a conspiracy theory in common--they both love to play the PSP! Too bad it isn't as funny as it could've been.
U.S. internet gambling legislated [update 1]
The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act passed through congress last week as a rider to a port security bill, like a tick clinging to a deer. The gambling legislation intends to make online poker and other money-winning internet games illegal super illegal in the United States (see below). (Business Week mentions that some gaming companies are counting on loopholes, but most U.S. operations have a dire outlook.) President Bush is expected to sign the bill into law within the next few weeks.Card Squad says, and we agree, that laws should be created on their own merits. The site covers Shelley Berkeley (D-Nevada) debating the act, expressing her disappointment that the bill was tacked on to critical security legislation.While we usually leave the poker playing to Card Squad, these bills make us nervous for impending legislation in the videogame industry. Will the Video Game Decency Act pass or fail on its own merits, or will it ride on the back of a more important law?Would U.S. lawmakers try to save Springfield from a comet if they had to allocate $30 million to "support the perverted arts?"Thanks to Dirk and others for pointing out that gambling is already technically illegal in the United States. It's only legal under state laws or on Native American land, which has limited sovereignty in this situation. (Although state-run gambling exists as lotteries.)The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act gives the government new tools to enforce old laws, making the transaction illegal. Read the act in its original state or in its new habitat, hiding in the SAFE Port Act.[Update 1: Added last two paragraphs.]
Bush the target in Iraq war game mod
The Global Islamic Media Front, which has been described as a "jihadist mouthpiece," recently released Night of Bush Capturing, which is, ironically, a mod of Petrilla Entertainment's crass budget-FPS, Quest for Saddam.The game, which according to an advertisement is being distributed for "terrorist children," features six stages, with images of Bush, Tony Blair, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, and Hassan Nasrallah (Hezbollah's leader) pasted on the walls of a generic U.S. military camp. War nasheeds can be heard playing in the background as the player progresses to a final showdown with U.S. President George W. Bush.While we don't anticipate the threat level being raised because of this release, or for that matter, Night of Bush Capturing becoming budding terrorist's "Halo," this mod is an interesting example on how a 'weapon' can be turned against its creator -- in this case, off-color Iraq war game becomes "Bush Hunter." All's fair in love and war, right?[Via GameSpot]
Video Sandwich: August 27, 2006
myFlash = new FlashObject('http://www.gametrailers.com/umremote310.swf', 'swffile', 480, 409, 8); myFlash.altTxt = ''; myFlash.addVariable('umid', 11079); myFlash.write(); Afraid of global warming? Hate seeing gas prices keep on going up? You can blame George W. Bush, but the secret's finally out. This hard-hitting edition of Video Sandwich reveals that every single problem in the US of A is caused by monkeys. Yes. Monkeys. These are no ordinary monkeys, though. They are college educated bionic monkeys that are trying to destroy the world. I have complete faith in our president to stop this evil menace: I mean, imagine how much he's learned due to Brain Age.The heart-stopping news doesn't stop yet, folks. PSP Fanboy revealed recently that PSPs may be used as weapons by terrorists. Well, it looks like I've uncovered one of these terrorists' videos. It shows a scrawny white guy dancing to the music of Loco Roco and is obviously used as a torture device. His awful outfit, and even worse moves, clearly go against all Geneva Convention laws.
Kane Kramer: "world's biggest failure" for losing DAP patents
We thought the matter had been resolved earlier today when our President credited the government with developing the technology that led to the iPod-filled world we live in today, but now another claimant has come forward in an attempt to recoup his "rightful share" of a billion dollar DAP market he may have helped create. British inventor and furniture shop manager Kane Kramer is currently consulting lawyers to see what, if any, recourse he has to enforce patents he filed in 1981 for an iPod-like device but which he subsequently lost control of due to reported boardroom coup. The patents, which describe a three-and-a-half-minute-capacity digital audio player with a screen and central navigation controls, eventually became part of the public domain after Kramer's company dissolved and he was unable to raise the money required for renewing them across 120 countries. Kramer, who is most definitely aware of the riches he lost out on, says that the runaway success of iPods specifically and DAPs in general surely makes him "the world's biggest failure."
