Stories like this warm GP's cynical heart...

Out of Stanford comes word that the PlayStation 3 will be powerful enough to participate in the university's Folding@Home distributed processing project.

FAH, which targets the study of protein folding and protein folding diseases such as Alzheimer's and Type-2 diabetes, has been ongoing since 2000. Thus far, the project has utilized the power of hundreds of thousands of volunteer home PC's to "perfom calculations which were previously considered impossible."

However, the FAH team is now looking ahead to the launch of the PlayStation 3. From the project's website:

"... we are looking forward to another major advance in capabilities. This advance utilizes the new Cell processor in Sony's PLAYSTATION 3 (PS3) to achieve performance previously only possible on supercomputers. With this new technology... we will likely be able to attain performance on the 100 gigaflop scale per computer..."
( Read more... )

Not long ago GamePolitics and other sites reported on allegations of racist images in the upcoming PSP game LocoRoco. Reactions to the racism charges were varied. Some GP readers wondered if game publishers would be required to ensure their imagery was not offensive across a wide range of cultures.

While LocoRoco was a high profile gaffe, amateur game designers are beginning to face up to similar questions. As reported by The Eastern Door, a website serving the Mohawk community of Kahnawake, Quebec, students in a Swedish game design course recently pulled a project, Mohawk Mayhem: When Apaches Attack, from their blog site.
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A Canadian researcher questions whether some popular video games encourage negative racial stereotypes.

According to AFP, Robert Parungao researched the issue at the University of British Columbia. Parungao looked at Kung Fu, Warcraft III, Shadow Warrior and Grand Theft Auto III.

A press release on the university's website reports that Parungao spent 100 hours playing the four games during an eight-month research period.

A gamer himself, Parungao noted that the games all feature non-white villains who "function as narrative obstacles to be overcome, mastered or ultimately blown to smithereens by the white hero."

Parungao also points to a "grab bag" of Asian stereotypes which he says are employed by game designers.

"The villain in Shadow Warrior goes by a Chinese name, Lo Wang. But when he fires his rocket launcher at his enemies, he screams 'just like Hiroshima.'"
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The flap over Sony's PSP White European ad campaign continues. Last week GamePolitics broke the news that the NAACP had condemned the racially-charged ads.

Now GP has learned that Sojourn to the Past, a youth civil rights education project, has joined forces with the San Jose Chapter of the NAACP as well as California Assembly Speaker pro Tem Leland Yee in opposition to Sony's controversial European marketing campaign.

"Sojourn to the Past works with young people to break down stereotypes and end discrimination," said Executive Director Jeff Steinberg. "We would hope that in 2006 major international corporations would no longer use such derogatory and racially-charged images to sell their products. This latest Sony ad is yet another unfortunate modern day example of tactic that only serves to divide us."
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The flames of controversy surrounding Sony's European PSP White ad campaign just got a bit hotter.

GamePolitics has learned that the San Jose/Silicon Valley NAACP Chapter has voiced a protest over the racially-charged ads, one of which depicts a blonde woman dressed in white squeezing the face of a black woman dressed in dark clothing with the caption, "PlayStation Portable White is Coming."

"The days of blacks being portrayed in minstrel shows are long gone, and with good reason," said Rick Callender, chapter president. "The minstrel show was an awful chapter in history and this ad smacks of that age and time. It is even further unacceptable that some corporations still think it is okay to use racially charged media images. The latest Sony ad conjures up bad memories of when stereotypical and offensive images of people of color were accepted means of selling a product. Sony should immediately apologize and discontinue these archaic, advertising tactics."

Callender's remarks were contained in a press release issued late yesterday by California Assembly Speaker pro Tem Leland Yee (D), author of California's contested video game violence law. Yee also expressed concern over the PSP White ads, saying, "I am deeply disappointed in Sony's senseless decision to publish this racially-charged advertisement. I can't begin to determine Sony's motivation but I believe this marketing strategy is unnecessary and is clearly offensive to many in our community."

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On the heels of last week's tempest over alleged racist graphics in upcoming PSP title LocoRoco, a Sony ad campaign currently running in Europe is drawing even more controversy.

A GamePolitics reader actually sent in the picture seen at left (and thanks, 8bitpixelrobot) but it was so over-the-top we weren't quite sure of its authenticity until we found the story a few minutes later on joystiq.

The ad, hyping a new PSP version with a white case, is appearing on billboards in Holland as well as on the Dutch PSP website.

With its racially and otherwise-charged look, is this another case of "What were you thinking, Sony?"
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Offensive and unsuitable for children! Encourages the objectification of women!

No, it's not the games this time, but instead the advertisements, reports Eurogamer.

GamePolitics readers may recall that some members of the Great British public took offense at Sony's billboard advertising campaign for the PSP earlier this year. Complaints were heard in some quarters that advertising slogans such as "Strong language and scenes of a sexual nature here" were inappropriate, particularly when posted near schools or churches.

Other contentious PSP slogans included in the campaign included "Your Girlfriend's White Bits Here," "Saucy emails won't get you fired here" and "Take A Running Jump Here", which, when posted in a subway station, was deemed by some as irresponsible.
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Are you 14 and plagued by raging hormones?

Forget stashing porn under the mattress; Mom and Dad already know to look there. Instead, succumb to the technological advancements of the twenty-first century and hide it on your Sony PlayStation Portable(PSP). Yes, PSP users have found they can download or transfer digital multimedia to the popular handheld gaming system. All kinds of digital multimedia.

According to the Bismarck Tribune, a fourteen-year-old North Dakota connoisseur of adult entertainment was cited with a class C felony last week after sharing his digital goods with fellow students. One of them tattled and the boy was charged with promoting obscenity to minors.

He was also cited with simple assault for using a key to scratch the fellow student who told school officials he had dirty pictures on his PSP.

AE: As a juvenile, it's very unlikely the boy will bear the full brunt of the law (up to five years imprisonment and/or a $5000 fine). Of course we don't know all of the circumstances, but from a distance, one wonders whether the response was a bit heavy-handed. Confiscation, counseling and suspension seem like more reasonable approaches to the issue. Then again, his retaliation against the tattling student surely didn't help his cause.

-Reporting from San Diego, GP Correspondent Andrew Eisen pauses from his PSP mpeg's just long enough to pen this story.

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More harsh criticism for Sony game marketing? Surely not!

Okay, maybe so. A billboard ad for the PSP displayed at the Picadilly MetroLink light rail station in Manchester has been covered up by JC Decaux, the company maintaining the board, according to Manchester Online, via Kotaku.

The ad, a largely empty poster with the text "TAKE A RUNNING JUMP HERE," - presumably referring to any number of PSP platform games - was spotted by a Picadilly staffer. A spokesman for the station said: "The message goes completely against all our safety messages, particularly because Playstation is aimed at youngsters and we are constantly telling them not to trespass."

In the past few months, there have been numerous accidents on the MetroLink involving people being hit by trams, which presumably was what fuelled the initial reaction to the advert. Exactly none of them were playing PSP at the time of the accidents.

Sony have declined to comment, while JC Decaux claims that it was the responsibility of MetroLink and Sony's agency to ensure that the advert was suitable for display. GP readers will recall the recent flap over Sony's PSP graffiti ad campaign in U.S. urban areas. Or perhaps the company's naughty ad take-off on Christ's passion.

-Reporting from the U.K., GP International Correspondent Mark Kelly

SCRUB 1, SONY 0

GamePolitics recently reported on hard feelings caused in Philadelphia by Sony's underground street art campaign designed to promote the PSP.

Last evening we received a copy of a celebratory e-mail sent out by a prominent Philadelphia anti-graffiti activist. Mary Tracy is a member of the Society Created to Reduce Urban Blight (SCRUB). Tracy's e-mail celebrates the painting over of PSP wall ads in Philly. It reads, in part:

"SCRUB is pleased to report that Sony's graffiti-inspired ads have been eradicated from Philadelphia... I want to express our thanks... to Mayor John Street... our officials took the matter seriously and took Sony to task for this brazen attempt to circumnavigate our laws... Sony has remained silent, not responding to... Philadelphia's 'Cease and Desist' order... you may not be aware that this became an international story... as far away as London, India and Australia."
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The fallout from Sony's secret PSP graffiti campaign continues, this time in the City of Brotherly Love.

This morning's Philadelphia Inquirer reports that city officials plan to cite a property owner who leased wall space to Sony for its underground graffiti art marketing campaign to promote the PSP handheld system.

According to the paper, the city has strict billboard regulations which require a permit from the Department of Licenses and Inspections before putting up an advertisement. Neither Sony nor the property owners obtained such permits.

Fred Wolfson, whose truck rental business at Eighth and Girard bears the PSP graffiti told the Inquirer Sony paid him an undisclosed sum to keep the graffiti visible for one month

"It's an interesting little wall mural," he said. "I don't have a problem with it."

At least one local critic sees the ads as a slap at the neighborhoods in which they were placed.

Mary Tracy, a member of the Society Created to Reduce Urban Blight (SCRUB), told the newspaper, "It's not mural art. This is someone trying to sell a product. This is commercialism. You have a multi-conglomerate operation coming into the city and breaking our laws. They're not putting this on walls in [wealthy neighborhoods like] Gladwyne or Ardmore. These are poor neighborhoods. The whole notion that 'if it's urban, it's OK' is very arrogant and very disrespectful."
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GamePolitics has received a press release from Miami attorney and self-described "anti-game activist" Jack Thompson, claiming that a wrongful death lawsuit against the video game industry will be allowed to go forward. Defense attorneys representing Sony, Take-Two, Rockstar, Wal-Mart and GameStop had petitioned Judge James Moore of the Fayette County Court to dismiss the case outright for lack of merit.

GP has confirmed Judge Moore's decision with an official of the Fayette County Court where the case was filed earlier this year.

Although it has no bearing on the eventual outcome of the trial, the ruling is a clear setback for the industry and a victory for the plaintiffs. The families of two Fayette police officers and a police dispatcher murdered in 2003 by GTA player Devin Moore are seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages from the video game industry defendants.

Thompson, whose over-the-top conduct got him thrown off the case by Judge Moore last month, indicates in his press release that he "...will likely be a witness in the case..." and "...will be assisting plaintiffs' counsel during the discovery process and in the courtroom at trial..."

Read Judge Moore's ruling here. The Tuscaloosa News has a little more on this.

Gamers know the PSP is hip, but...

A fascinating thread over on 1up speculates whether Sony, maker of the handheld PlayStation Portable system (PSP) is behind a graffiti campaign that has an obvious PSP theme.

According to the report, PSP wall art has sprung up in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Philadelphia and Chicago. It is unknown whether Sony is sponsoring the graffiti or whether the targeted building owners granted permission. We have a call into our Sony rep, but there's no official word so far. Viral marketing campaigns are big these days, of course.

The photo at left, reportedly taken in Philly, appears to show a graffiti artist following a diagram as he paints a cartoonish PSP scene on a brick wall. The 1up piece has links to additional samples.

Graffiti is a big issue for America's big cities. Municipal governments spend millions of dollars each year to remove the stuff. A Sony-sponsored graffiti campaign would be sure to spark a controversy.

A shout-out to GP reader quartermaine for pointing us in the direction of this story. Way to go, Q!