Thursday, September 25, 2008

Court says hit the road: Jack Thompson disbarred, Thompson responds

Hit the road: Jack Thompson disbarred, Thompson - Image 1"And don't you come back no more, no more, no more," and so on. Breaking news, gamers! The Supreme Court of Florida has approved Jack Thompson's disbarment.

Aside from the disbarment, he is also ordered to reimburse the Florida Bar fees totaling to the amount of US 46,675.35.

It was Judge Dava Tunis who recommended the disbarment to the court last July, saying that Thompson:

[...] does not proceed within the guidelines of appropriate professional behavior, but rather uses other means available to intimidate, harass, or bring public disrepute to those whom he perceives oppose him.


Thompson, of course, responded to the court's decision, saying that the disbarment was the Court's retaliation for a case he won a few years ago, when the SC was forced to pay him money damages. He explains in his press release that:

This disbarment is in retaliation, among other things, for Thompson s Tyndale House book Out of Harm s Way, published in 2005, which blew the whistle on the Florida Supreme Court s earlier efforts in the 1990 s to literally pathologize his faith-based and successful activism against the American entertainment industry.


This rush to disbarment is in retribution for the filing of that federal suit. With enemies this foolish, Thompson needs only the loyal friends he has.


Well, looks like another court drama for Thompson. He has a chance for a retrial, but only if the motion is submitted by a member of the Florida Bar in good standing. Any bets on the chances of that happening?


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Dodge The Squares v1.3: final version, new mode and difficulty

Homebrew - Dodge The Squares v1.3 final! - Image 1Here's the final version of dan369's Dodge The Squares game. Aside from some minor improvements to the code, this version also has a new game mode called Bouncy, and a new difficulty level, also called Bouncy.

So what are dan369's plans after Dodge The Squares? It seems that he has another project lined up, though he's a bit too busy to work on it right now. However, he does say that he will release details on this new project in the future ("at a VERY later date").

Unfortunately, dan369 wasn't able to squeeze in MP3 support and other promised features, but as he pointed out, gameplay is key in any game, and that's what he's been working on. Here's the changelog for Dodge the Squares v1.3:

  • Added new game Mode Bouncy
  • Added Difficulty to Bouncy
  • Change some aspects of they Game Modes to Make Them Harder/Easier.
  • Various Little code/design changes.
  • You can easily mod it as well!!
Download: Dodge the Squares v1.3
Visit: QJ.NET PSP Development Forums


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Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Koei reveals Tokyo Game Show lineup, Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires on display for PS3

Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires PS3 - Image 1Koei follows the lead of the likes of Capcom, Marvelous and Squeenix and releases their games lineup for the upcoming Tokyo Game Show 2008. Most of the enlisted tiles are for the handhelds PSP and DS, and in fact, only one game is to be on show for next-gens PlayStation 3 and Wii.

Here's the list of games making an appearance at the TGS 2008 in the Koei booth:

PSP

  • Dynasty Warriors Multi Raid
  • Neo Angelique Special
  • Warriors Orochi 2
  • Zill O'll Infinite Plus
Nintendo DS
  • Saihai no Yukue
  • Monster Racers
Wii
  • G1 Jockey Wii 2008
PS3
  • Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires
PC
  • Nobunaga no Yabou Online
  • Sangokushi Online
  • Daikoukai Jidai (Uncharted Waters) Online
PS2
  • Dynasty Warriors 6 Special
Among these titles, only Dynasty Warriors Multi Raid (PSP) and Saihai no Yukue (DS) will be playable. Keep it posted here for more updates on TGS 08.

Thanks to Peter Bauer for the tip!


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Ted Price says video game legislation "has no place in America"

Sticker image from Jinx.com - Image 1


Insomniac founder and CEO Ted Price has spoken out on the issue of video game legislation, saying that it "has no place in America".

"We're going through what every other entertainment industry has gone through, and that's being the temporary scapegoat for society's ills," Price told Shacknews in a recent interview. "It saddens me to see legislators stomping all over our First Amendment rights for their own specific interests."

He's right, too. Pop culture has always been an easy target. Theater, movies, TV, music, and even books have been used as whipping boys in the past. Heck, even dancing wasn't spared, although admittedly maybe that was just in Footloose.

It's become a cycle. What's popular today will always eventually be used as the reason for why kids are getting "worse". In the 50s and 60s, it was rock and roll, and then later on, heavy metal. Dungeons & Dragons, too, for a time. Today, it's video games. Right now, most game-related legislations have so far been ruled as unconstitutional, but when will all of these attacks stop?

"It won't be until we have more gamers running for office that this will calm down," said Price. "It's something that we'll weather, because we are right, what we do is defensible under the Constitution and shouldn't be regulated by the government."

That, or until the next scapegoat comes along. For now, Price recommends joining the Video Game Voters Network. He also recommends letting your Congressman know what you think about video game bills in your state. Otherwise they'll just be "walking blindly, following what they think is the mainstream opinion."


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PSP homebrew: Uo FBA4PSP 23/09/2008

SNK vs Capcom SVC Chaos - Image 1


There's a new version out for Uo FBA4PSP, an unofficial release of OopsWare and lbicelyne's FinalBurn Alpha emulator for PSP. FinalBurn Alpha is an arcade emulator than lets you play MC68000/Z80 arcade games.

The changelog for this one is still in Japanese, but from what I could gather, it looks like frameskipping is now supported. There's also a fix for the sprites in Kosodate Quiz My Angel 2 along with some changes to the cache files. If there's anybody out there who's fluent in Japanese, the changelog's available at the source link.

Anyway, the download's below. It includes a short English readme taken straight from the original FBA4PSP. A list of the games supported by this emulator is also included.

Download: Uo FBA4PSP 23/09/2008


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Spider-man: Web of Shadows: symbiote-Wolverine dons Venom suit

Ok, first I hear that Tricia Helfer's lending her talents to Spider-man: Web of Shadows. And now I hear it's going to have - no, not just a Wolverine, but a symbiote-Wolverine! (Oooh boy, another "oh my god" moment!)

In this video interview, studio head Chris Scholz sheds a bit of light on certain snippets of what the overall story for the game will be like. It looks like Web of Shadows' major conflict will center on Venom's symbiote (the "living costume" that makes him Venom), which decided to pull a Raccoon City of its own.

Yep, Venom's symbiote goes out of control in this game, which causes an outbreak on New York City. This leads to a whole mob of civilians, superheroes, and villains getting infected by the alien zombie-bug. Heck, even Wolverine isn't safe!