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'New' iPad landing in South Korea, Israel and 19 other countries, officially ceases to be new in US
Are you not in one of the 35 countries that already has the "new" iPad? Well, this week may finally mean you can get your hands on the tablet that's already become old hat here in the US. The "resolutionary" slate is landing in South Korea, Venezuela and ten other nations this Friday, while Israel, India and seven more will be granted membership to the cool club on April 27th. Outside of some region-specific language tweaks the devices will be exactly the same as those that have been on sale here in the US for whole month now. (Isn't it amazing how time flies!) If you want to see if you're home is joining the list of places you can pick up a Retina display-equipped tablet head on after the break.
iTunes Match launches in 19 more countries, shows Latin America some love from the cloud
Once Apple let the iTunes Match genie out of the bottle it has actually been pretty quick to spread the love to our international friends. Australia, Canada, the UK and a host of other European nations came online last month, now a sizable chunk of Latin America (along with a few EU stragglers) are joining the party. In total, 19 new countries were added to the list this week, headlined by Central and South American nations like Argentina, Guatemala, Venezuela and Nicaragua. With a few Eastern Block countries, including Lithuania and Latvia, also being added to the list, Apple has increased the total number states where iTunes Match is available to 37. Now Apple just has to start getting a few of the Asian and African areas where the iPhone is available on board and it can officially call Match a global service. To see if your country is invited hit up the more coverage link.
Venezuelan president says PlayStation is 'poison,' leads children down 'road to hell'
digg_url = 'http://www.joystiq.com/2010/01/18/venezuelan-president-says-playstation-is-poison-leads-childre/'; Venezuela's extreme leftist president Hugo Chavez recently took aim at the PlayStation and non-indigenous toys in his weekly radio-TV show, Alo Presidente. According to the AFP, Chavez stated, "Those games they call 'PlayStation' are poison. Some games teach you to kill." El Presidente had previously knocked Nintendo for promoting "selfishness, individualism and violence." He believes video games reinforce capitalism which, of course, is "the road to hell." Chavez would like to see Venezuela making "educational games" instead of Super Murder Simulator VI and "little indigenous dolls" in place of Barbie. Venezuela's (sometimes paranoid) government outlawed violent games last October in an effort to curb the country's extremely high violent crime rate.
Venezuela could completely ban the sale of violent video games
If a bill currently being reviewed by Venezuela's parliament is formally approved by the nation's president, then gamers living in the country may have (legally) purchased their last M-rated title. The "Bill for the Prohibition of Video Games and Toy Weapons" aims to completely ban the sale of violent video games (and, as you may have guessed, toy weapons) in the country. It was approved by the National Assembly yesterday, and now must be approved in one more debate and signed by the president to become a law.The bill was written out of concern for the negative effect violent video games and toys are having on the nation's youth (sigh), but was also created to prevent the use of toy weapons in real crimes. We'd scoff at this, too -- but we just watched a harrowing cinematic example of this type of criminal activity. It must be stopped!
Venezuela shows off locally-produced El Vergatario phone
There are already cheap phones in the world, yes -- but very few can claim to run under $14, and even fewer can claim to be made in Venezuela. In fact, the C366 "El Vergatario" -- introduced by none other than Hugo Chavez himself -- will be the very first phone ever produced on Venezuelan soil, a partnership between the government and minority outside investors including Chinese manufacturer ZTE. It'll cost 30,000 bolivar when it goes on sale, and plans are already in place to offer it throughout Latin America and the Caribbean (to anyone not expecting fanciness like cameras or media players, anyhow).
iPhone in 29 new countries; unlocked in Hong Kong
Our sister site Engadget reports that Apple is now offering unlocked iPhones in Hong Kong via its online store. HK$5,500 (≈ US$700) will buy you an 8GB model, HK$6,200 (≈ US$800) gets you 16GB. The Apple Store's terms and conditions limit sales to individuals in Hong Kong only, but who knows what the gray market will bring. Three Russian carriers will also begin selling unlocked iPhones on October 3, with the 8GB model selling for over US$900. In related news, 29 new countries will begin selling the iPhone, some today: Botswana, Brazil, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Croatia, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Latvia, Lithuania, Madagascar, Mali, Malta, Mauritius, Nicaragua, Niger, Panama, Qatar, Senegal, South Africa, Turkey and Venezuela. [Via IGM.]
Venezuela begins semi-cheap PC rollout
Well they're no OLPCs -- heck, they're not even as cheap as some Dell systems that you can buy in China -- but Venezuela has finally begun rolling out its long-promised, domestically-produced computers in a move designed to give the South American country more technological independence. Consisting of four models (three not-ugly desktops and a laptop) ranging from a relatively inexpensive $405 to a "did Sony make this one?" $1,400, the machines all run an unspecified Linux distro powered by 1.5GHz to 3.0GHz Pentium IVs (desktops) or a pretty high-end 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo processor (notebook). Santa Chavez and his revolutionary elves have apparently been handing these out like candy to domestic interests since last year, and are now in the process of ramping up the scope and scale of production so that more components can be produced in-house while sales channels become international. These so-called "Bolivarian Computers" are currently being manufactured by a joint venture between the Venezuelan Ministry of Light Industry and Commerce and Chinese company Lang Chao's Venezuela de Industria Tecnológica, with the latter company apparently unafraid of getting nationalized like so many of its colleagues.
Hugo Chavez to give out free PCs to Venezuelans?
While we're not sure what happened to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's $6.26 million plan to manufacture $350 "Bolivar" PCs with unnamed Chinese manufacturers, it seems as though that project's apparent failure hasn't set ol' Hugs back at all -- CNET is reporting that Venezuela is planning to enter the oddly crowded PCs-for-undeveloped-regions market, alongside such players as Intel and OLPC. Details are pretty light, as you'd expect, but apparently Venezuelan authorities are contacting Asian OEMs about building the machines, which will be funded by oil profits and either heavily subsidized or given away free to people in various Latin American countries. It's a nice idea, but we're wondering why these "authorities" don't just call up any random catalog reseller and place an order -- last we checked, you could spec out a laptop at retail for under $500, so we can't imagine the wholesale revolutionary-discount price would be over $300. And hey, we just might know someone who'll laser-etch Hugo's face on the lids for cheap -- feel free to give us a call, El Presidente.
U2's Bono called upon to battle Mercenaries
More Venezuela versus Pandemic news now, with the attack on Mercenaries 2: Venezuela World in Flames now bolstered by the attempted enlistment of Bono -- charitable human rights rescuer and lead singer for rock group U2. In a pair of open letters addressed to religious leaders and the bland-o-rama band frontman, Venezuelan Solidarity humbly asks Bono to use his "considerable influence" to halt development on the game and perhaps invest in a company that doesn't detract "from [his] image as a human rights defender." Does Bono know how to dismantle an anti-static BD-ROM? The political group's concerns arise from the fact that the "extremely realistic" game allows players to shoot and otherwise demolish people and constructions within the recognizable borders of Venezuela. Their paranoid plea frantically plucks nebulous studies ("research demonstrates that playing violent video games increases the likelihood of aggressive behavior"), bizarre gamer hostility ("the game inevitably will provoke increased tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela) and unfounded fiction fear ("celebration of violence in much of our media, music and video games is poisoning our children") from the air, shortly before rolling everything into a moist ball and splattering it across Bono's front door. In other news, both Sony's David Jaffe and Cory Barlog have been asked to stop their rampage against Greece's tourism industry. "We're not all half-naked barbarians and bloodthirsty minotaurs, you know!"[Via Gamesindustry.biz]
Venezuelan lawmakers wary of Mercenaries 2, suspect US government agenda
According to a recent Associated Press report, Venezuelan lawmakers are concerned that the US government has influenced the development of Pandemic's Mercenaries 2: World in Flames, which is set in the South American country and features missions based on real-world events. Lawmakers fear that the game supports an agenda that seeks to invade Venezuela and overthrow President Hugo Chávez."[Mercenaries 2] sends a message to Americans: You have a danger next door, here in Latin America, and action must be taken," says lawmaker Gabriela Ramirez, "It's a justification for an imperialist aggression."Pandemic, creators of Full Spectrum Warrior, which is based on a simulation commissioned by the US Army, defended its decision to set the game in Venezuela, stating, "Although a conflict doesn't necessarily have to be happening, it's realistic enough to believe that it could eventually happen."While claims of a US government led conspiracy rank really high on the 'paranoia meter,' there's no denying that Mercenaries 2 echoes politically charged sentiments that have been around in video games for decades. Remember Rush'n Attack?
