Alternate Reality - Games

In a stunning show of support just about half a million gamers under the age of 18 have signed a petition to be shown video clips and trailers of games that require age verifacation before viewing. Citing the oft used first amendment of the constitution the constituency claims that free speech applies to video games and therefore they should be allowed to view the content which has been deemed as mature at such popular sites such as IGN.Com and Gametrailers.Com.

  After recently leaked footage of an in-game sequence from the upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, in which you can actively kill civilians as a Russian terrorist surfaced, Activision and Infinity Ward have come under a firestorm of criticism.

  A first in the video game industry; Activision is being praised for it's latest announcement regarding its Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 addiction line.  According to sources inside Activision, they are planning on launching the service by way of phone and internet starting November 11th in an effort to appease recent parental concerns.

  Online MMO, Evony, is under recent criticism, in which opponents are claiming the browser based game, which allows you to buy in game money with real cash is allowing children to gamble online and is in clear violation of US laws against such practices.

 
  Who can forget the grave error committed by Fox News Network on January 21, 2008 as Martha MacCallum, with the help of psychology expert Cooper Lawrence, did a six minute segment on "their" unfounded depictions of the sexual situations in the platinum selling video game, Mass Effect.  These two women had the Internet in an uproar.

  Midway Games, known mostly for developing the Mortal Kombat series, is the latest victim in this downward trending economy.  Once a huge publisher of arcade games in the 80s and 90s, Midway is looking for financial help to keep them afloat.

  Xbox fanboys everywhere were delighted after news spread of Valve’s decision not to develop their upcoming sequel to Left 4 Dead for the PS3, saying it was “too complicated”.  It now appears that gamers everywhere, Xboys included, will have to shelve their next-gen consoles and dust off their old equipment in order to get a piece of Valve’s latest offering.  A lead game developer on Left 4 Dead 2 had this to say:

Following Microsoft's keynote speech at E3 today it has been discovered that everything may not be what it seems with their new offering. Upon further inspection of the video that shows off Project Natal's impressive motion controlled camera it was revealed that the mascot for pedophilia known simply as "Pedobear" was lurking in the background of the demo.
 

Bethesda announced today that they are developing a Nintendo Wii version of the bestseller Fallout 3, titled 'Fallout 3: Scavenger Edition'. Players will wander the streets of post apocalyptic of New York, rumaging through trash to find stims and 'Nuka-Cola'.

  After the announcement earlier this week that Treyarch had already begun production on Call of Duty "7", Infinity Ward released a statement that once again overshadowed any potential success that Treyarch had hoped to get with this release: