In the wake of E3 and its high-profile unveilings of the Nintendo Wii and Sony PlayStation 3, arguments have raged over whose console stole whose feature, and which system maker is really the most innovative. Wouldn't it be nice to know for sure?

Perhaps there's a way to find out.

The BBC is reporting that Pittsburgh's Carnegie Mellon University has created a website designed to answer just such questions.

The Game Innovation Database (GIDb) will be a Wikipedia-style resource for games, hardware/services, and innovations. Currently the site has accumulated over 400 entries, including "First use of in-game research" (Armada 2525, 1991) and "First Game with Cooperative Play" (Fire Truck, 1978).

Professor Jesse Schell of CMU's Entertainment Technology Center, a member of the team behind the idea for GIDb, explained it's importance:

"We have created the Game Innovation Database in order to create a historical record of which innovations appeared when, and why they are important... So many videogame innovations have occurred so fast that there is a danger that many fascinating and important innovations will be forgotten."
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Last month, GamePolitics brought you the story of a joint University of Pittsburgh / University of California at San Francisco study which suggested that violent video games influence attitudes towards risk-taking behaviors, namely aggressive social interactions and drug use.

A few weeks later, GameSpy spoke with the study's lead researcher, Dr. Sonya Brady. Brady told GameSpy she first became interested in the topic while teaching an undergraduate psychology course.

"I wanted to teach my students about research methodology in a way that was engaging and fun and would prompt them to question and evaluate the way that the research was done," she said. "To do this, I wanted to select a controversial and relevant topic of research that would elicit a variety of opinions in the classroom."

As far as her personal view on games, Brady said, "I have mixed feelings about videogames. I think they have the potential to be positive educational tools and to reinforce skills necessary for success later in life... Games that feature the frequent use of violence model a problem solving strategy that is not very successful in the long run."

The researcher said feedback from colleagues and adults has been generally positive. "What I find most interesting," she added, "is the feedback I have received from adolescents and young adults. Some people are interested in learning more about the research, even if they are skeptical of the results. Other people have been very angry... "
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Gamasutra reports that digital-savvy legislators in Georgia have passed a bill which gives digital entertainment producers tax credits for activities such as editing, animation, coding, special effects, and sound. GamePolitics first reported on the Georgia legislation last November, noting that State Rep. Ron Stephens (left) and Governor Sonny Perdue, both Republicans, were solidly behind the tax breaks.

Production companies will even have the chance to transfer costs incurred outside Georgia's borders to facilities in Georgia, with some restrictions. To make the pot a little sweeter, bonus tax credits are available for certain counties

Greg Torre, director of the Georgia Department of Economic Development's (GDEcD) Film, Video & Music Office, was pleased with the announcement:

"We see interactive entertainment as a vital element in the entertainment industry as a whole. Since Georgia has colleges and universities dedicated to cutting-edge technology sitting alongside mainstays in the broadcast industry, this tax incentive seems an ideal way to highlight the fact that Georgia can be an incubator for new and exciting entertainment technology. All the resources are here. Now, we help publishers afford it."

Georgia is home to several digital entertainment developers, such as mobile phone game developer Blue Heat, streaming technology company GameTap, 3D game engine builder and multimedia host Kaneva, machinima production company RoosterTeeth Productions (Red vs. Blue & The Strangerhood) and online developer Studiocom.

CM: It's great to see at least some governments acknowledge that game companies are no longer two guys operating out of a garage. Perhaps when game developers generate as much tax-revenue and regional economic benefits as the movie industry (that should be happening real soon now), politicians will be a little more reluctant to use them as their electioneering punching bags...

-Reporting from Saskatchewan, GP North American Correspondent Colin "Jabrwock" McInnes

What could be more controversial than a computer game based on abortion?

Not much...

At last week's Game Developers Conference (GDC), Ian Bogost (left), founder of Persuasive Games and a professor at Georgia Tech, unveiled work on a game which examines both sides of the abortion issue, challenges biases, and educates players about opposing views. Bogost explained the reasoning behind the game to Stephen Totilo of MTV News.

"Let's take on the most complicated, difficult problem that we could possible take on in contemporary American political discourse. We'll make an abortion game," he said.

While the underlying philosophical right-to-life question is not addressed within the parameters of the game, other aspects of the abortion debate are. The current build features mini-games in which the player guides a teen mother through pregnancy, explores a city in which all forms of birth control are outlawed, and rummages through the house in search of a condom.

Future plans could allow the game to tweak its presentation based on the responses of the player. For example, if the player was pro-choice, the teen pregnancy mini-game would emphasize discussion of personal responsibility and suggest alternatives such as adoption in order to help the player understand the other side's perspective.

Bogost doesn't expect a working prototype until the fall. He explained to MTV that the purpose of the game isn't to push a particular agenda.

"This isn't a game that changes your opinion, but tells you why people have the opinion they do."

LifeSite, an anti-abortion website run by the Campaign Life Coalition, wasted no time in criticizing Bogost's early prototype sketches, claiming they displayed an "incomplete understanding of arguments for protecting the unborn." The site also protested that arguments against abortion are "rarely, if ever understood by the casual observer of the abortion battle."

CM: The abortion debate has been marred by misinformation and rhetoric from both sides. Rather than criticize a game in the early stages of development, perhaps abortion opponents such as the Campaign Life Coalition could offer their talking points to Ian Bogost and Persuasive Games for possible inclusion in the final product.

-reporting from Saskatchewan, North American GP correspondent Colin McInnes (aka Jabrwock)

Last November, GamePolitics brought you the story of plans for a game which taught good old communist values, like darning socks, helping old ladies get home in the rain, and preventing low lifes from spitting in public.

Xinhua News reports that Lei Feng, Hero of China for being an example of selflessness and modesty, is the main character in a new online game entitled "Learn From Lei Feng." The objective is to ultimately meet Chairman Mao himself. Players progress through levels by doing good deeds, such as contributing and volunteering on building sites.

The Lei Feng Simulator features treasure hunts (find a copy of Chairman Mao's Collection) and even trade skills (the aforementioned sock maintenance skill). The higher your level, the less impressive your needlework becomes, and you need to do more good deeds to advance further. There is even combat against enemy agents. Wounds suffered while preserving the workers' paradise are healed by visiting a Party secretary (CM: So the secretary can tell you what a great job you're doing, that's all. Get your mind out of the gutter!)

The Chinese government claims that the game is very popular with students, including Jiao Jian, a six-grade pupil in the in Yuexiu District.

"It's a novel idea, very interesting... I still have several tasks to go through. I will 'work hard' and strive to obtain the Chairman's autograph as soon as I can."

Jiao Jian added that many of his classmates are eager to learn about cultural icon Lei Feng, whose life is commemorated every March 5th, by order of Chairman Mao. An unnamed developer was quoted as saying the game aims at today's students, providing them with the tools to learn the pleasures of helping others.

CM: It's interesting to see how governments are turning to video games as tools to promote political agendas. China is also developing Anti-Japan War Online, a game where you resist the Japanese occupation during World War II, which is designed to "foster patriotism."

-Reporting from the pinko-commie regional district of Canada, GP North American correspondant Colin McInnes (aka Komrade Jabrwock)

Gold farming. Love it or hate it, it's likely here to stay.

Maclean's columnist Andrew Potter looked at the controversial MMO issue this past week, and explored the love-hate relationship between subsets of MMO gamers: those who tolerate gold farming, and those who decry it as the worst thing to vex online gaming since microphones were first used on Xbox Live.

Potter distills the never-ending argument over gold farming to a basic conflict of the real world - the quest for status. Whether it be gaining a castle, purple armor in WoW, a mount, a new addition to your secret hideout, or having a Lexus in your driveway, status symbols are the way society judges how well a person has performed in the big game of life. The more sucessfull you are, the more toys you have. The difference in online games is that the status symbol is not supposed to represent how rich you are, but rather how dedicted you were to the journey that the game represents.

The conflict arises between those who "earned" these status symbols through hard work, persistence, and long hours of gaming, and those who bought them. Those who put in the hours understandably feel that those who did nothing more time-consuming than swipe their credit card are somehow "cheating" the system. This isn't much different from the real world, as Potter notes:

"Sound familiar? Strip away the trappings of Tolkienism, and what you have are variations on the ancient positional joust of original inhabitants versus the nouveau riche, who in this case, are violating
the virtual social code by buying their way in, rather than getting there through hard work..."

Potter takes care to examine the oft-heard question from non-MMO players, "Who cares?"

"Any place," he writes, "where thousands of people can move about trading goods and building property and killing people and so on is not a game, it is a world, and its residents are not players but members of a community... For better and for worse, it will be just like the old world, but more so."
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Lowered net incomes, lawsuits up the wazoo, an SEC investigation, cash flow problems, a devastating product recall, horrendous P.R., negative political attention, key resignations, and a stockholder named Jack. For a publicly traded company, such indicators usually mean that your share price is headed for a swirly.

The latest round of bad news for Take-Two began on January 27th, when an SEC filing revealed the resignation of board member Barbara Kaczynski. T2 (NASDQ: TTWO) stock hit an all-time low of $14.69 at that point, a far cry from its June, 2005 pre-Hot Coffee peak of $27.81.

Take-Two had losses of $29.1 million (about 41 cents a share), and revenues were only half of what they were during the GTA: San Andreas sales peak. Surprisingly, the decaf version of GTA: San Andreas, was listed alongside GTA: Liberty City Stories as T2's best selling products for the quarter. Other top-selling titles included Civ IV and NBA 2K6. Three Xbox360 launch titles (including NBA 2K6) were rushed through production to try to cash in on the holiday market, although a shortage of Xbox360's hampered software sales for T2 and everyone else in the business.

According to GameSpot, analysts went into ho-hum mode, most erring on the side of pessimism about the company's future performance. While revenues exceeded expectations, so did losses. Most analysts slashed their earnings-per-share estimates, and predicted that Take-Two had a rough year ahead.

Morgan Securities' Michael Pachter was skeptical about the company's efforts with regards to sports titles (especially Rockstar's upcoming title Table Tennis), and expects Bully to be "a mediocre title at best." He did note that, as a franchise. GTA was still going strong, accounting for 25% of revenues, and is "a key announcement away from providing a catalyst for rapid share appreciation." (CM: A possible GTA sequel? Read on...)
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Pirates vs. Ninjas = good times.

Pirates vs. the FBI? Not so much.

In December, 2005, GamePolitics covered the case of three Los Angeles men charged with selling Xbox systems chipped to play pirated games. The consoles also came pre-loaded with 77 pirated games.

More recently, the Honolulu Star Bulletin reported that two Hawaii residents were indicted by a federal grand jury for selling modded Xboxes, this time pre-loaded with hundreds of games, big-screen films, music videos and images.

The FBI's Cyber Squad investigated the case. The suspects, 26-year-old Don Perreira of Pearl City and 39-year-old John Oroyan of Waialua were charged with criminal copyright infringement, a felony which carries a maximum five years' imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.

J: While the pre-loading of games and movies onto an Xbox is a clear case of piracy, the legality of modding a system remains a sticky question. Technically. it is a violation of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, since the Xbox has to be modified in order to play a copied game, thereby circumventing the copy-protection. But the DMCA is controversial as it prevents users from making a backup copy of a console game legally purchased, which is normally allowed under "fair use" (although the RIAA now claims that backup copies are not "fair use", but that's another story).

-Jabrwock

Even in Japan, a nation known for pioneering the video game business, government concerns over content issues are in the news.

Several years ago, under pressure from the Japanese government, the Computer Entertainment Rating Organization (CERO) was formed to voluntarily label console video games for sale in Japan. The system included 4 ratings: "All Ages", "12 ", "15 ", and "18 " (ESRB equivalent E, T, M, and AO). The ratings were expanded in 2004, with descriptors for drugs, tobacco, alcohol, gambling, crime, love, sex, violence, horror, and language. Japan also has another ratings system, The Organization for Computer Software Ethics (EOCS), which has 2 ratings for pornographic content in PC software, "R" (15 ) and "18 ". EOCS voluntarily restricts the sales of labelled software to minors below the age on the label.

In response to several prefectures banning the sale of Grand Theft Auto III to minors, and calls for a new system, GamesIndustry.biz reports that the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association (CESA) has revamped the CERO system, and encourages their members to post CERO information in stores. The "new" CERO system will be 5 ratings. "A" (Everyone), "B" (12 ), "C" (15 ), "D" (17 ), and "Z" (18 ). "A-D" would still be voluntarily enforced by CESA, and are only an advisory rating, but "Z" would be regulated by the government. The new version of CERO goes into effect March 1.
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We've heard the claims before. Video games cause desensitization to violent images. The military uses video games to inhibit their soldiers' aversion to killing. Cranial menus, learned reactions, "zombie-like state", etc. But does it *really* work?

The Washington Post attempted to answer this question by interviewing US troops in Iraq.

At first glance, they discovered that games like Halo, Full Spectrum Warrior, Ghost Recon, and many other military-themed games were favourites during downtime, and many troops compared day-to-day situations to those in-game.

Sgt. Sinque Swales told the Post, "It felt like I was in a big video game. It didn't even faze me, shooting back. It was just natural instinct." He compared his reaction to a scene in Halo. "The insurgents were firing from the other side of the bridge... We called in a helicopter for an airstrike... It didn't even seem real, but it was real."

Movies like Saving Private Ryan, Full Metal Jacket, and Apocalypse Now were also favourite viewing material among the troops.

The military has acknowledged games as a useful training tool in a society where the new generation of soldiers finds "Ctrl-Alt-Del as basic as ABC." Retired Rear Adm. Fred Lewis notes: "Live training on the field is still done, of course... but using simulations to train them is not only natural, it's necessary."
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Concerned about the game... of life?

Hot on the heels of the Canadian Red Cross asking gaming companies to stop treating the "Geneva Cross" as if it were in the public domain, we have yet another story of trademark "borrowing."

ChatterBox Games Show reports receiving a pamphlet from the Crosswalk Lutheran Ministries in Phoenix, AZ. The pamphlet was advertising a "high-impact" series called "Life 360", and had a slightly modified version of the Xbox 360 logo. The program is divided into 4 steps, "Spirit, Heart, Body, and Mind" and says "Admit it - life is not always fun and games. Life is challenging and complicated. And you don't get to 're-start' at the push of a button... we get one shot at life, and then it's 'game-over.'"

The overall pamphlet design was also quite similar to a lot of the print-media Xbox 360 ads. The front page could easily be mistaken for an Xbox 360 ad were it not for the tiny "Crosswalk" logo in the corner.

J: As of the writing of this piece, the Crosswalk church has not yet responded to my query about whether they had spoken to Microsoft, or whether they felt that this falls under "fair use." I was also curious to know if they had considered other mainstream consoles.

I think this one is a little more clear-cut than the Red Cross issue. This isn't just using the logo within a game, historical context or otherwise. This is using someone else's logo, name, and ad campaign style to promote a series of lectures.

-Jabrwock

So there's this videogame, and there's a scene where you control your character as he performs explicit sex acts with his significant other, and it's available online...

No, it's not the multiplayer version of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. It's the "adult" level from New Line Cinema's advergame for the upcoming movie Running Scared, available on the movie's website. According to a report on MTV.com, there are two levels that are playable on the website via Macromedia Shockwave. One which is accessible by anyone, and the other is an "mature" level, which includes a "bonus" section of the main character performing, er, a "love scene" with his wife, as she sits on a laundry room appliance.

But there's a catch.

Instead of relying on the often-mocked "please enter your age, we trust you", New Line has opted for a newer method of age verification. According to New Line, they verify your name, birth date, and zip code with local state DMV records. How they access DMV records is not clear.

Once verified, you can use your e-mail & password to "verify" your age on any New Line website. Of course the only people who can verify their ages are US residents with drivers' licenses - or those who know their friends' DMV info.

Paul Walker, whose movie character "Joey Gazelle" is portrayed in the game, had virtually no input into the creation of the game. "I haven't actually played the game; it was rumored that they may have shut it down... It's a marketing tool... But, seriously, I wouldn't want my 7-year-old daughter playing that game."
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We've all heard gamers described as "juveniles who can't grow up." But ironically, some argue that this is due to games' "anti-aging" effect on the brain.

According to a Toronto university study reported in the Globe & Mail, the effects of being a "video game player" were comparable to learning a second language: improved multitasking, visual skills and short term memory.

The study, which looked at 100 undergraduates, found that gamers consistently out-performed their fellow "non-gamers" in mental tests. Those who were bilingual gamers scored even higher.

Prof. Ellen Bialystok suspects gamers, like bilinguals, have learned the ability to block out information that is irrelevant to the task at hand. A new study, published in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, shows the elderly lose the ability to "power up" certain "task-handling" areas of the brain, such as the frontal lobe, and to "power down" inner brain regions that are active when a person is in "idle/default mode." Those between the ages of 20-30 have no problem "switching gears" between idle mode and focusing on a task, but the ability declines with age. Studies have long shown that learning a second language slows this decline.

Shitij Kapur, a neuroscientist at Toronto's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, says "it would be quite reasonable to expect that these teens are good at multitasking, because they grow up in a world that demands it." Although he notes that the next generation will likely be able to out-perform those that came before it, so it's a "relative impairment."
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Porn, porn, pr0n.

Got your attention? According to Gamespot, it's the one word that catches a geek's attention faster than "games". It's also a term God of War director David Jaffe (left) used to explain the dilemma he sees the game industry facing. David was speaking at the "Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain" (DICE) convention in Las Vegas this week.

Now before you go trilling "there's no pr0n in mainstream games!", that's not quite what he meant. While David definitely used a poor choice of similes, he was attempting to illustrate a problem he saw building within the game biz. "We have an industry filled with craftspeople that make compelling content... but we don't have a lot of writers and directors who bring creativity to the process."

Speaking about the game-art contest Into the Pixel, he rhetorically asked "Can we marry that creativity with the more soulless games which do really well?"

David also targeted the flaccid tendency of modern games to emulate movies. "Why is it that every game pitch I hear these days wants to be like a movie. Why don't video games embrace game language? Why film language? ... I understand film is glamorous, I understand the making of films is glamorous. But the reality is I think that thinking is hurting the industry." He especially disliked games that try to be too cinematic, although he conceded that movies do provide inspiration for games. He would rather though, that the experience be duplicated, not the movie itself.
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Last week GamePolitics reported that a lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) guild in World of Warcraft had been warned for violating Blizzard's Terms of Service. The issue was whether advertising a "LGBT friendly" guild was in violation of WoW's sexual harassment policy, which stated that you could not discuss sexual orientation in an "insulting" fashion.

The official Blizzard reprimand caused an outcry in the gay community, and many accused the WoW publisher of being discriminatory toward homosexuals. Kotaku subsequently reported that Lambda Legal, an organization which champions gay civil rights, was looking into the incident for potential violations of California's anti-discrimination laws.

Yesterday, Lambda Legal took an official position on the WoW dust-up. According to Kotaku, they sent a letter to Blizzard, questioning their policies on harassment, and asking for a cessation of apparent discrimination.
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In-game advertising - the so-called "advergame" - is on the rise as companies acknowledge the ability of videogames to reach millions of potential customers. But not all gamers are not amused. According to a report on CNet, some cynical coders are creating videogames to carry on the time-honored tradition of the corporate send-up.

Dubbed "anti-advergames," titles such as Disaffected! have been created to lampoon big corporations. Disaffected! (screen shot at left), for example, puts the player in charge of running a FedEx Kinkos location. Persuasive Games, developer of Disaffected! explains it this way: "Feel the indifference of these purple-shirted malcontents firsthand, and consider the possible reasons behind their malaise - is it mere incompetence? Managerial affliction? Unseen but serious labor issues?"

Other anti-advergames, such as La Molleindustria's McVideoGame, target McDonald's. Not all focus on corporations, however. Some contain political messages. In Gonzalo Frasca's September 12, players try to kill terrorists with missile strikes, but the blast usually takes out civilians as well, and outraged or weeping bystanders transform into terrorists themselves.

While there is a potential issue of copyright infringement, most anti-advergames are satire, a protected form of speech. Even so, most creators release their games for free, a defense mechanism that allows them to truthfully claim they didn't profit, should corporate lawyers decide to get testy. Then again, as news of late has shown, no press is bad press. Brad Scott, a digital branding expert, says companies that get singled out might actually benefit from anti-advergames, "You can almost use it as, 'Boy, we've become such an icon as a brand that we're being mimicked by video games.'"

Ian Bogost, one of Persuasive Games founders, is happy if people start asking questions at the very least. Ironically, some "anti" companies also produce straight advergames themselves. According to Bogost, "Just as many independent filmmakers work on television spots and music videos to fund their features and documentaries... we work on advergames to fund our social and political games."

-Jabrwock

Following the recent, disturbing trend of threatening law enforcement action to silence online critics, StarForce, Inc. has apparently requested the FBI to investigate Boing Boing, a popular blog for alleged harassment.

Boing Boing's "crime?" It had the temerity to criticize StarForce's copy protection software, which the company licenses to publishers of computer games.

Boing Boing claims the copy protection, used to thwart software pirates, causes instability on installed PC's. The blog site has called for a boycott of games published by companies that use StarForce. Similarities.org has posted a large list of video-games that employ the copy protection scheme. StarForce clients include a number of well-known game publishers, incuding Ubisoft, Strategy First, Namco, and CDV.

StarForce's ham-handed response to the proposed boycott was a letter accusing Boing Boing of violating "approximately 11 international laws", noting that, "I [PR Director Dennis Zhidkov] have also contacted the FBI , because what you are doing is harassment."
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