The Supreme Court has today upheld the ruling that video games, even violent video games, are protected under the US Constitution's First Amendment.
In the US today, the Supreme Court reaffirmed the decision that the First Amendment to the US Constitution was also applicable to video games, and that bills in Vermont and California aimed at banning the sale of violent video games would be overturned permanently. In 2005, California introduced a bill aimed at severely limiting or outright denying the sale of violent video games to minors. The bill was placed on hold, as representatives from the video game industry fought the bill, citing protection under the first amendment.
Today's Supreme Court decision confirms that video games, even those with acts of violence in them, are fully protected under the First Amendment. Games have long been vilified as being too violent, or causing kids to act violently or commit acts of violence. This is a stance that most gamers, industry professionals and supporters have vehemently denied. Avid gamers have been known to role play as their favourite characters, or take an extreme interest in the collectibles that come with popular franchises; however, outside of extreme examples of younger children, games are not often a target for reenactment.
Movies, music, even novels have contained gore and violence long before video games existed. Childrens' stories, best-sellers, even multi-award winning films have been known to contain violence, all of which are protected under the US Constitution's First Amendment. Now, thanks to the Supreme Court, video games finally fall into this same category. A small victory, or the end of one road which starts another for the detractors?
In light of Killzone 3's new recently released DLC, developers of the game are running a triple XP event this weekend.
The event started June 24 at 9:00 AM Pacific time, and will continue to run until June 27 at 9:00 AM. It doesn't matter if you bought the new DLC or not, everyone can get in on the triple XP action by playing the online multiplayer. Regardless, the triple XP seems pretty generous and fans will love the ability of leveling up faster than they ever have before.
Owners of the recently released FPS known as Brink will be pleased to know that the developers are being generous and offering the first DLC completely free for two full weeks.
As Bethesda's blog states: "the DLC features two all-new environments, five new player abilities, two new outfits, and two new weapon attachments". So, it's safe to say that this DLC has decent content, especially for the free price tag. The update for this DLC is already available for PC users while Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 users will recieve the update with the release of Agents of Change. The DLC will be available on Xbox LIVE, PSN, and Steam. There is no officially release date, but Bethesda is saying "early July". Make sure to look out for this DLC because it will be free!
This year, Sony decided to give us a little more God Of War at the 2011 E3 Show. Don't get too excited though, no "new" games were announced. However, the two recent PSP titles (Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta) are coming to the PS3 in a HD collection.
Both of the best selling PSP titles will have added features that the PSP doesn't support. The first is 3D compatability. Both of Kratos' adventures can be experienced in compelling 3D action. Both games will also have full, and seperate, trophy support. Trophy collectors will have a blast trying to get as many trophies from two full games.
As seen in the above trailer, the expected release date is September 13, 2011.
Four games in Microsoft's flagship series revealed, two dated.
Possibly one of the worst held secrets of the year, Microsoft Game Studios officially revealed Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary at this afternoon's E3 press conference. Few details were revealed during the conference itself, being announced simply as a fully remastered version of 2001's Xbox launch title of the same name complete with online cooperative play. Members at NeoGAF have since identified the studios behind the title as Saber Interactive and Certain Affinity. The game seems to be running on the same engine as 2010's Halo title, Halo: Reach, but using the gameplay and physics systems found in the original Halo: Combat Evolved. Some posters have also claimed that Halo Anniversary won't have its own multiplayer component, instead following in the footsteps of Halo 3: ODST and being an extension of Halo: Reach's multiplayer, complete with new (old) maps. Whether the maps can be exported for a nominal fee or not isn't clear at present. Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary is scheduled for release on November 15th, 2011, exactly ten years after the original release. MSRP, according to Siliconera, is $39.99.
Microsoft also announced today the start of a new Halo trilogy. The first game from this trilogy, presumably under development at 343 Industries, is simply titled Halo 4. A brief clip shown at the end of the conference was all Microsoft was willing to share, however the game has a tenative release window of Fall 2012.
