government

Illinois Legislates Out of Existence Something That Doesn’t Exist

6:00AM Owen Good | Alcopops are a huge concern for fear-addled parents, because they’re sweet, alcoholic, and a gateway drug to total douche behaviour. So Illinois is taking a courageous stand by banning alcopop ads from video games. More »

U.S. Army Investing $US50 Million in Video Games

6:00AM Owen Good | The U.S. Army has created a video game training unit that will begin operation in 2010, and has funding for it set aside to the tune of $US50 million, reports Stars and Stripes. This isn’t for recruiting or marketing, but the training of its soldiers in virtual environments. More »

Refreshing Comments from an Elected Official

8:00AM Owen Good | On this site you can read a lot of lecturing about how others should do their jobs. Well, when an elected official shows that he can take games seriously, instead of personally, he should get credit for that. Unfortunately for Americans, this guy is a member of the UK Parliament. But here’s what struck me about Don Foster of Bath, in his remarks to The Guardian backing the gaming industry as an important part of the British economy: “I hardly play any games, I’m not from that generation, but because of my job, I had to research the industry. The vast majority of my parliamentary colleagues are always wanting to ban the latest game, but they don’t know the details of the industry. Few people in this country realise how important it is to the UK economy.” More »

Guardian Warns Politicians, Columnists: Gamers Are Taking Over, Deal With It

8:20AM Michael McWhertor | Richard Bartle, co-author of the original MUD, as MTV Multiplayer’s Stephen Totilo was kind enough to remind us, has a warning for UK politicians—and, we assume, the other silver haired no-funster luddite types—that their wrinkly old asses are about to be in the minority. That is, the minority of the population who have grown up with computer games in their lives. The best part, according to Bartle? “They aren’t addicted, they aren’t psychopathic killers, and they resent those boneheads – that’s you – who imply that they are addicted and are psychopathic killers,” he writes. More »

Scientists Create Wiiimote-Controlled Bomb-Bot

3:40AM Mike Fahey | We’re already well aware of the various health-related applications for the Nintendo Wii, but what about the military uses? The U.S. military, who were up until recently confirmed Xbox 360 fanboys, are now looking into the possibility of Wiimote-controlled robots. Scientists have created the Packbot, a Wiimote-operated robot armed with a machine gun, to be used in clearing mines and bombs. The military would generally use a standard remote for such purposes, but scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy say the Wiimote is more instinctive, allowing users to focus on date processing rather than which button to press. In my world the device would come with a screen so the soldier operating it could watch his Mii diffusing bombs and tip=toeing around land mines. My world is a much happier place. Wii controls to defuse bombs [Metro.co.uk] More »