http://www.thestar.com/article/611472

In Lara Croft’s latest action adventure, part of the wildly popular Tomb Raider video game series, the lithe heroine can demand of her evil doppelganger either, “What the hell are you?” or, “Qu’est-ce que tu es, exactement?”

And that’s exactly the way Quebec wants it, from now on. French language rules on video games come into force today prohibiting the sale of new English-only video games in Quebec if a French version is available.

It’s causing a lot of consternation among retailers and gamers alike, who fear the rules will lead to delays in video games arriving in the province, and may not accomplish what the law intends, which is to promote and protect the French language.

Ronnie Rondeau, co-owner of the eight Game Buzz stores around Montreal, said he even fears bankruptcy.

“I’m afraid it’s going to cost me my business,” Rondeau said. “If it really was going to make a difference, I’d be for it, but only a small number of people want to play in French. The rest don’t care.

“And money-wise, it’s going to hurt.”

Rondeau said gamers are notorious for wanting new games the minute they come out. It’s why he has had numerous midnight sales with lines stretching around the block.

It’s why he even carries Japanese games that won’t be available in English for months.

If there’s a delay of even a few days, they’ll find other options, such as buying online or across the border.

Way to kick the local economy when it’s down.  Gamers will just order online or drive to the US. These bureaucrats really don’t have a clue. If consumers really cared they’d demand French audio and subtitles.

Original source

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.231:

To require certain warning labels to be placed on video games that are given certain ratings due to violent content. (Introduced in House)

HR 231 IH

111th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 231

To require certain warning labels to be placed on video games that are given certain ratings due to violent content.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

January 7, 2009

Mr. BACA (for himself and Mr. WOLF) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

To require certain warning labels to be placed on video games that are given certain ratings due to violent content.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION REGULATION.

(a) Regulation- Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Consumer Product Safety Commission shall promulgate regulations to require the warning label described in subsection (b) to be placed on the packaging of any video game that is rated T (Teen) or higher by the Electronics Software Ratings Board.

(b) Warning Label Content- The warning label required under a regulation issued under subsection (a) shall be placed in a clear and conspicuous location on the packaging of the applicable video game and shall state: `WARNING: Excessive exposure to violent video games and other violent media has been linked to aggressive behavior.’.

(c) Video Game Defined- As used in this Act the term `video game’ means any product, whether distributed electronically or through a tangible device, consisting of data, programs routines, instructions, applications, symbolic languages, or similar electronic information (collectively referred to as `software’) that controls the operation of a computer or telecommunication device and that enables a user to interact with a computer controlled virtual environment for entertainment purposes.

http://games.slashdot.org/…

Ars Technica reports that the FTC is getting ready to take a hard look at gaming DRM, setting up a town hall meeting to be held on March 25th. They’re currently recruiting panelists, and they say the meeting will, in part, “address the need to improve disclosures to consumers about DRM limitations.” The controversy over DRM came to a head in 2008 with the release of Spore and the multiple subsequent class-action lawsuits focusing on the SecuROM software that came with the game. Ars Technica says the town hall meeting will also look at “legal issues surrounding DRM” and “the potential need for government involvement to protect consumers.”

What horse shit. DRM is in no way something the government needs to be involved in. There is no protecting necessary. No one is harmed by DRM. DRM isn’t cutting people’s throats or stabbing their pets or stealing their Blu-Ray player. If the customer doesn’t want the product they don’t have to purchase it. Part of the product is the sellers attempts to restrict copying of the information stored on the CD, DVD, etc. Caveat emptor.

It is clear that this whole DRM thing is failing where it actually effects customers in a significant way. In fact it’s likely a vocal minority that’s actually leading to DRMs failure. Look what happened to the videogame Spore. Look at what Apple just announced yesterday. Many if not all of the providers of the music which they provide through their iTunes service have agreed to remove DRM from their songs. Most iTunes users however couldn’t care less. Seems fairly obvious given the populatity of iTunes and Apple products which must have been used (unless the DRM is broken) to play the purchased songs upto this point.

Until complete end to end solutions are created DRM will fail. Even with end to end solutions crackers and hackers will likely break the systems which they care about. The Xbox360 security is pretty good but a bug in the hypervisor allowed experts to break into the system. Blu-Ray, even with a dynamicly changing DRM system, has been continuously cracked.

While I disagree with patents, copyrights and trademarks and dislike DRM I fully support the property rights of the producer. If they wish to offer a product and that include methods to limit it’s use then so be it. The customer is fully in their right to not purchase it or purchase it and attempt to break those restrictions without fear of government interference.

I hope the game is good.

http://kotaku.com/…

About seventy-five percent of game industry presidential campaign donations went to democrats, based on a sampling of developers and publisher donations over the past two years obtained from the Federal Election Commission.

Kotaku looked at presidential campaign donations for nine companies from January of 2007 through the end of July, 2008. The companies included were Activision, Blizzard, Electronic Arts, Nintendo, Sony Computer Entertainment of America, Take-Two, THQ, Ubisoft and Valve.

The database showed that the nine companies donated a total of about $97,800 to ten candidates, about $61,000 of which went to democratic candidates, while about $36,700 went to republican candidates.

The company with the largest contributions to campaigns was Electronic Arts, followed by Activision and then Valve. The company with the smallest amount of donations was Take-Two. Hit the jump for an avalanche of colorful pie charts and one, single, lonely bar graph.

The graphs unfortunately are scaled down too much to clearly see the legends on all of them but it is clear that while they lean Democratic party, Ron Paul was the favorite Republican. Being that I’m a gamer and a supporter of Ron Paul I’m glad to see this. Especially the Sony breakdown.