A new game called In a Permanent Save State is set to release on Friday (October 12) on iTunes. The makers of the game hope to bring attention to the fact that several workers at China's Foxconn plants committed suicide and that their lives were inexplicably affected negatively by the Western demand for hi-tech gadgets like iPhones and Foxconn's drive to use workers to meet quotas - at any cost. The game will be released in conjunction with a downtown art exhibition in Reno, Nevada and a live orchestrated play through of the game, according to Benjamin Poynter.

EVE Online's player-run government has honored US embassy official Sean "Vile Rat" Smith, who was killed during an attack on the US Embassy in Libya earlier this week (thanks to Eurogamer). Eve Online's Council of Stellar Management formally responded to Smith's untimely death at the hands of protestors angry about a film clip that depicted the Islamic prophet Mohammad as a child molester and cruel oppressor, among other things.

Talking Points Memo has an interesting article on how the news broke of Sean Smith’s death in Benghazi, Libya. The foreign service officer was an avid EVE Online player who went by the name "Vile Rat" in-game. It was within that community that news of Smith's death first surfaced.

E. Zachary Knight makes a triumphant return in Episode 19 of the Super Podcast Action Committee. After a near-death experience (we might be slightly exaggerating) last week, he rejoins host Andrew Eisen to discuss getting older (be sure to wish him a happy birthday today!) Steam Greenlight's early hurdles, the latest GamePolitics poll, and Ubisoft's new DRM policy. Download it here: SuperPAC Episode 19 (57 Minutes).

If you're a video game tester and you act like a dumb ass (allegedly) you'll probably get fired. Just ask 20-something Blake Marsh, who decided to try a little political comedy with a dash of misogyny and hate on his Facebook page. It's too bad for Marsh that his bosses at Eidos Montreal weren't laughing when they found out.

Following a failed assassination attempt by suspect Richard Bain on the newly-elected Quebec premier-designate Pauline Marois that saw one person killed and another severely injured, Marsh decided to make light of the crime:

Playing Columbine is now available on iTunes, Amazon Instant Video and soon will be available via Netflix. The documentary chronicles the controversy surrounding the making of Super Columbine Massacre, a game that let players jump into the boots of the Columbine killers. The game was downloaded more than a half a million times and caught the attention of the mainstream media who strongly condemned it as wrong and as a "murder simulator." Here's an excerpt from the film's about page":

How do you think violent videogame critics would react to a Tactile Gaming Vest that allows players to physically feel in-game shootings and stabbings?

The vest was created by University of Pennsylvania graduate student Saurabh Palan as part of his course work for a mechanical engineering class called Haptic Interfaces for Virtual Environments and Teleoperation.

When hooked up to a game like Half-Life 2, the player is able to feel simulated gunshots, slashing by knives and blood flow from wounds. Feedback, according to Palan’s blog, is generated in the suit by a variety of “solenoids, eccentric-mass motors, and Peltier elements controlled by custom electronics and a personal computer.”

Hits on-screen also register on the appropriate part of the player’s vest and body.

More from Palan:

When the player gets shot in the game, the program will turn on the specific solenoid based on the position of gun shot in the game and also trigger the blood flow simulation process. The gun shot can be felt almost instantly as it occurs in the game.

Illustrating how few people pay attention to the terms and conditions of anything, UK retailer GameStation— as part of an April Fool’s gag—added a line to the fine print of its website that granted the souls of agreeing customers to the merchant.

The “Immortal Soul Clause,” as detailed by Bit-Tech, was slipped into a GameStation online sale promotion. 88.0 percent of the website visitors did not notice the clause and effectively signed away rights to an immaterial part of themselves (that may or may not exist).

Those who did notice the clause, and opted out, were awarded a £5 gift voucher.

For its part, GameStation said that it would not enforce the clause and plans to issue nullifications via email to those who were duped.

All in all, 7,500 customers reportedly signed away their souls.

Online game guilds and clans often become something of a second family for devoted players.

But if a WoW gamer unexpectedly dies, how will fellow guildies know?

The Associated Press looks into the issue:

When Jerald Spangenberg collapsed and died in the middle of a quest in an online game, his daughter embarked on a quest of her own: to let her father's gaming friends know that he hadn't just decided to desert them.

It wasn't easy, because she didn't have her father's "World of Warcraft" password and the game's publisher couldn't help her. Eventually, Melissa Allen Spangenberg reached her father's friends by asking around online for the "guild" he belonged to.

The AP notes that some hardcore MMO types are leaving detailed instructions in the event of their demise. There are even online resources that have been created for the purpose:

David Eagleman... set up a site called Deathswitch, where people can set up e-mails that will be sent out automatically if they don't check in at intervals they specify, like once a week...

If Deathswitch sounds morbid, there's an alternative site: Slightly Morbid. It also sends e-mail when a member dies, but doesn't rely on them logging in periodically while they're alive. Instead, members have to give trusted friends or family the information needed to log in to the site and start the notification process...