In the tight-lipped, image-massaged corporate world in which game company execs exist, it's refreshing to find someone who isn't afraid to speak his mind - even if he is calling out the gaming press in the process.

Thus, we thoroughly enjoyed EA Sports boss Peter Moore's rant at Eurogamer for leaving FIFA 09 out of its Top 50 games for 2008:

Tuesday morning, coffee in hand and clad in my Liverpool FC officially licensed pajamas (you think I'm kidding, don't you), I log in and scroll down the list from 10 to 1, getting more excited as I get closer to the top spot. World of Goo? I'm sure it's fun, and the reviewers certainly loved it, but surprised to see up so high...  I scrolled quickly all the way to the number one spot...Huh? WTF?? As in WHERE THE HELL IS FIFA 09???

...c'mon, one of the best sports games of recent times not even in the Top 50? This title will sell in excess of 10 million units when all is done and dusted, but doesn't even rank a mention?

Really? Seriously? Is it not cool to include a so-called mass market game? Bangai-O Spirits (no disrespect Treasure) makes it and FIFA 09 doesn't? Eurogamer - you are and always will be one of my favorite gaming web-sites, but you were waaaay offside on this one.

UPDATE: Eurogamer editor Tom Bramwell has responded to Moore's criticism.

UK newspaper The Times reports today that radical corporate upheaval is coming to Sony.

Long-overdue cost-cutting moves will, according to company sources, result in "sacred cow-slaying measures" that will "will abolish or fundamentally alter many of Sony's long-established business practices."

The reorganization will likely be made public following CES in Las Vegas. The massive trade show ends on January 11th.

Could the PlayStation hardware business get the chop?

That's hard to say, but the PS3 has been bleeding money since it launched in November, 2006 and the PSP is struggling as well. One ominous sign: there is talk of a shift that would turn Sony from a manufacturing to a content-driven business model.

PS3 manufacturing costs have generated huge losses for Sony over the past two years. Content would include games, of course, but Sony also has a stake in movies and music. If the company judges its console business as too costly to continue, it could decide to pursue a system-agnostic approach like the one adopted by Sega after it abandoned the Dreamcast in 2001. Ironically, back then it was Sony's PlayStation 2 which steamrolled the well-regared Sega console.

Alternately, the PlayStation business might be salvaged in whole or in part  and manufacturing cuts could be made on the consumer electronics side of Sony's house.

In any case, we should know more next week. In the meantime, PlayStation 3 fanboys may suffer a few sleepless nights as they worry about the future of their system.

There's no word on what he played, but Sir Salman Rushdie told UK newspaper The Times that he indulged in some computer games while dodging a fatwa issued by Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini from 1988 until 1998.

Khomeini lodged the death sentence against Rushdie following the publication of his 1988 novel, The Satanic Verses. The book was regarded as blasphemous by some segments of the global Islamic community.

GameCulture notes, however, that Rushdie was rather dismissive of games in a 2008 interview with Stephen Colbert:

I think video games, YouTube, you know, these are the things that will change the world. Because when people see what garbage everybody else is consuming, they want it too.

Columnist Joe Blundo has a bit of fun with Grand Theft Auto (and other targets) in a recession - themed piece for today's Columbus Dispatch.

As per Blundo, in order to deal with recessionary pressures, GTA will be re-invented as Grand Theft Auto Executives: 

The amoral video game is retooled with a theme more reflective of the times. Instead of trying to steal cars, players maneuver executives of the Big Three auto companies on a trip through Congress.

 

Their goal is to secure more emergency loans or, failing that, pilfer trinkets they can sell on eBay to raise money for their faltering companies.

Jack Thompson is hoping that the United States Supreme Court will consider his appeal of the Florida Supreme Court ruling that disbarred him for life.

In mid-December the anti-game attorney requested from the U.S. Superme Court an extension of a Christmas Eve deadline in which to file what is known as a petition for a writ of certiorari.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has granted Thompson's request, meaning that the embattled anti-game violence advocate will have until February 18th to petition for cert with the Supreme Court.

While the extension is a positive development for Thompson, he nonetheless faces an uphill struggle. According to its website, the Supreme Court receives petitions to consider about 10,000 cases per year. Only about 100 of those will be granted a hearing.

Document Dump:

1. Thompson's request for extension
2. SCOTUS letter granting request

A Lawrence, Kansas boy's fondess for iconic video game character Sonic the Hedgehog has led to a successful crusade to overturn a citywide ban on the critters.

KTKA-49 reports that Judson King, 11, decided three years ago that he loved Sonic so much that he needed to own a real hedgehog, but...

Lawrence's animal code has long prohibited the fury rodents in the city limits, a fact that didn't particularly upset Judson's mother.

"I thought, that's my out. Now I don't have to get him one. Then he said, 'How do we make them legal?'" mom Rebecca Weeks said.

Judson researched hedgehogs for three years. When he finally got a chance to plead his case with the Lawrence city commissioners late last year, they agreed with him and lifted the ban.

In Illinois, a new law restricts certain content in video games.

However, unlike the 2005 game violence law championed by recently-indicted Gov. Rod Blagojevich, the video game industry is unlikely to mount a legal challenge in this case.

The new measure, aimed at keeping alcopop beverages away from would-be underage drinkers, bars their depiction in games whose audience is primarily children. Here's the language from SB2472:

No entity may advertise, promote, or market any alcopop beverages toward children. Advertise, promote, or market includes, but is not limited to the following... (4) the display of any alcopop beverage in any videogame, theater production, or other live performances where the intended audience is primarily children.

As a practical matter, the wording of the new law seems to indicate that it would only come into play with games rated T and under. Historically, we can't recall any commercially-produced games featuring alcopops.

Via: GameCulture

Researchers at Sweden's Lund University are studying the ways in which interaction with file-sharing and social networking sites may affect how adolescents develop norms and values.

Swedish news outlet The Local reports that controversial file-sharing BitTorrent site ThePirateBay has been cooperating with researchers on the project.

Måns Svensson of the University’s department of sociology of law commented on the scope of the research, which will take four years to complete:

We’re going to try to see if there are social patterns which legislation and state powers normally don’t see and don’t address. We have a theory that there are processes for building norms on the internet which look different than those which take place in traditional society and that they are moving in a different direction than where the majority of society and legislation are headed.

This can be a problem for the law when you have a young, growing generation which creates its morals and norms through contact with these types of activities on the internet and a set of laws which doesn’t really comprehend what’s new and which risks heading off course in its attempt to regulate them.

Via: ZeroPaid

For most gamers, it's great to see an old classic turn up on Xbox Live, the PlayStation Network or the Wii Shop Channel.

But, as Ars Technica reports, such re-releases are often bad news for collectors of hard-to-find video games.

Video games are a digital medium, and re-monetizing rare games via digital distribution services has been a long time coming... How much do rare games drop in value when they're re-released via a service like Xbox Live? A good example is Rez HD, the Xbox 360 version of a rare Dreamcast and PS2 shooter...

"Rez used to sell for about $50 for the Dreamcast version and $45 for the PS2 version through the end of 2007 and beginning of 2008," Nick [of Racketboy.com] explained... "Ikaruga sold for about $75 for the Dreamcast version and $45 for the Gamecube port. Once it was announced that both games would be coming to XBLA in the middle of the year, the games dropped $5 to $15 in value... It seems that the Dreamcast games hold their value a bit more as it is more of a cult classic system, and they are also Japanese imports."

Nick also told us that the domestic copies of the relatively common PS2 and GameCube ports of the game have halved in value.
 

Chris Kluwe, who punts for the NFL's Minnesota Vikings, is a big-time World of Warcraft player.

In fact, he told the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star-Tribune that he has given some thought to adding Warcraft to his name. For pay, of course. Kluwe, who does a local radio program, commented on his gaming:

I think more people like to hear me talk about playing video games than football. I've played video games since I was 4 years old. I play them a lot more than I kick a football. I kick the ball about 45 minutes a day. I play video games about five or six hours a day. But that's OK. I don't watch TV...

 

Back when [Bengals receiver] Chad Johnson changed his name to Ocho Cinco, I told the guys at [radio station] 93X that I was going to change my name to Chris 'World of Warcraft. They said that's too long. So they started calling me Chris 'Warcraft.' I could make a lot of money if I changed my name to that.

GP: Personally, I'm hoping that Kluwe is thinking about WoW instead of his punting chores on Sunday when the Vikes host my beloved Iggles (that's the official Philadelphia pronunciation) in the playoffs.

Via: Kotaku

Best wishes for a fab 2009 to everyone in the GamePolitics community!

I'm taking Mrs. GP to a movie today (Milk), then dinner with the folks and maybe catch some of the Rose Bowl (rooting for Penn State).

How are you spending your day?

A 17-year-old Ohio gamer found himself in hot water after he allegedly threatened to commit suicide while talking to a Blizzard rep about an online game (presumably, World of Warcraft).

The Middletown Journal reports:

The teen was having an online conversation with a representative of Blizzard Entertainment, an online video game company, when he typed that "he was suicidal and that the game is the only thing he has to live for," according to the report.

The company representative called 911.

The juvenile told police it was a joke "to try to get what he wanted for the game," according to the report. He was then handcuffed and placed in a patrol car.

It's Game Over for 2008, a year full of fun, excitement and more than a bit of controversy for the video game community.

A couple of weeks back we looked at the Top 15 Stories of 2008. Today GamePolitics presents the most politically fascinating people of the year:

15. Politicians Who Play - The mayor of Muskogee, Oklahoma is a gamer. So is the mayor of the Anzin Saint-Aubin in France. Both were elected in 2008, a year which saw more gamers hold political office than ever before. Hard to believe? Check out our coverage of gamer-politicos.

14. Sarah Palin - While she's not a politican who plays video games, game designers can't seem to resist the controversial Governor of Alaska. During her failed vice-presidential bid Palin was the subject of so many online games that we actually lost count. Big-time game publishers cashed in on Palin-mania as well. A Palin character was featured (along with Barack Obama) as DLC for Mercenaries 2. Maxis created a Palin creature for Spore and featured the world's best-known hockey mom dancing in a bikini in a trailer for The Sims 3. And, even with the election in the rear-view mirror, Palin's hunting habit was lampooned this week by PETA. Personally, I even got into bit of a tiff with David Jaffe over Palin. In retrospect, I think I was too rough on the God of War designer.

13. Brad Wardell - While the big-time publishers continue to alienate their loyal PC customers with intrusive DRM schemes, delayed release dates and silly threats to abandon the platform altogether, Brad Wardell, CEO of boutique publisher Stardock (Sins of a Solar Empire) is one guy who is actually thinking about ways to provide PC gamers with a better experience. The Gamer's Bill of Rights that he and Gas Powered Games CEO Chris Taylor released at PAX 08 was a bold, if preliminary, step in the right direction. We also love what Randy Stude and the members of the PC Gaming Alliance are doing to keep computer gaming alive.

12. Wafaa Bilal - In an effort to show his belief that American foreign policy actually encourages terrorist recruitment, Iraqi-born artist Wafaa Bilal's controversial Virtual Jihadi game puts the player in control of a reluctant suicide bomber who must target President Bush. The game was at the center of a free speech controversy when Rensselaer Polytechnical Institute in upstate New York invited him to display Virtual Jihadi but abruptly un-invited him when campus Republicans protested. Bilal (left), a naturalized American citizen, then set up shop in a small, off-campus art gallery, but Republican city officials closed the place down, dubiously citing building code violations. The New York Civil Liberties Union is suing the city.

11. Hal Halpin - Yes, some will criticize Hal's selection since the Entertainment Consumers Association, which he heads, is the parent company of GamePolitics. But the ECA represents the first organized movement to protect and nurture the interests of the gaming public, so it's impossible to ignore. What Hal started in late 2006 really gained momentum in 2008. This year the ECA lobbied on behalf of game consumers and took positions on important issues like Net Neutrality, EULAs, Universal Broadband and game censorship.

10. Cooper Lawrence - The author of fluffy books about dating and celebrities clearly had no idea what she was stepping into when she smeared RPG hit Mass Effect during a Fox News-orchestrated video game beatdown in January. Thankfully, Spike TV's Geoff Keighley was on hand to provide some rational counterpoint. Lawrence's ridiculous comments about the best-selling Xbox 360 title were widely reported in the gaming press. Outraged gamers took guerilla revenge by flocking to Amazon.com where they trashed listings for Lawrence's books with one-star reviews. In the end it turned out that Lawrence was completely unacquainted with Mass Effect and relied instead on a lurid Fox News briefing, a fact which she later admitted to the New York Times. Whether or not one approves of the tactics employed against Lawrence, the episode provided an object lesson for the mainstream media: Gamers will not sit idly by while they and their hobby are slandered. (more after the jump)

It's not exactly a video game story, but...

Multiple reports are coming in that every 30GB Zune (Microsoft's mp3 player) failed this morning at 2 a.m.

College OTR has this:

Microsoft is just squeezing in under the wire to claim the rights to “weirdest tech story of the year.”Last night at approximately 2 AM, every 30GB Zune model on the planet crashed... The Zunes reset, powered up, then froze on the loading bar screen, and no conventional method of resetting them appears to work.

This is brought to you courtesy of Microsoft, who has been selling a video game console with a nearly 100% fail rate for three years. The Zune situation is all the more disasterous however seeing as all of them failed at the exact same moment, which people have taken to calling 2K9.

From Gizmodo:

Right, so this is a weird one: we're getting tons of reports—tons—about failing Zune 30s. Apparently, the players began freezing at about midnight last night, becoming totally unresponsive and practically useless.

The crisis has been dubbed by Zune users 'Y2K9', due to the apparently synchronized faceplantings across the country... This report is consistently corroborated by literally hundreds of others across the various Zune support and fan forums.

GP: Zune users, jump to comments and tell us what is happening with your player...

GameCyte has a posted an in-depth interview with Dr. David Walsh of the National Institute on Media and the Family.

On game addiction, Walsh told GameCyte's Sean Hollister:

[At a recent conference] therapists and counselors from all over the country were saying, “We’re seeing this in our offices every week, more and more frequently,” and so I think the frequency is definitely something that’s getting people’s attention...

Where we will go with video games, compulsive video game playing, whatever the term is, where we will end up with that ten years from now, I’m not quite sure. But I think it is something we’ll have to take seriously, and the people who just pooh-pooh it and say there’s nothing to it — they haven’t talked to the parents or the spouses that I’ve been talking to in the last couple of years...

 

I would hope that we wouldn’t go after companies that produce video games because for some people it becomes a problem... With video games, there are all sorts of positive uses and applications of the product… and I think that it would be wise for the industry to acknowledge that for some people, there could be a problem, and for them to actually become part of the solution...

 

Will we have [Congressional] hearings on this in five years? I wouldn’t be surprised.

The full interview is definitely worth a look.