Speaking at the DICE Summit today with a small gathering of game designers, executives, and reporters, former Junction Point founder Warren Spector said that he had no desire to retire and that games like Warner Bros. and Grasshopper Manufacture's Lollipop Chainsaw should not be made. During his presentation on how his taste as a gamer and a game designer has changed over the years, he showed a slide of Lollipop Chainsaw and said (from Kotaku):

It's Luigi's 30th anniversary this year but it seems like Mario's taller brother - like Rodney Dangerfield - can't get any respect. Luigi was introduced as an optional second player in the arcade version of Mario Bros. thirty years ago.

Here's a story I can get behind - and if I owned a Wii U - I likely would have thrown my .02 in the mix. For years North American gamers have been begging Nintendo to bring another Earthbound game to our shores. For no real reason Nintendo has refused to do so, despite releasing multiple titles (it's called Mother in Japan) in its home country - Mother on NES, Mother 3 on Game Boy Advance, and various sequels.

We meant to mention this earlier in the week, because it is mildly amusing. While other organizations are offering their expertise on video game violence to the President and Vice-President of the United States, Sword of the Stars 1 & 2, Fort Zombie, and NorthStar developer Kerberos Productions offers some expertise in another area: the future weaponization of space.

While it might be funny that Anonymous now has a petition up on the official website for the White House, it is doubtful at the Obama Administration finds it all that humorous. The loose-knit Internet hacking collective has taken some time out of its busy schedule of attacking various government agencies and other organizations it hates to launch a petition asking the Administration to make DDoS attacks a form of protected speech under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Forget about the so-called "fiscal cliff" the country faces in January, the debate over gun control or any other important pressing issues that matter in the United States - what's important to Barbara Walters and ABC seems to be what the President of the United States and the First Lady do in their off time. During the most recent Barbara Walters special, she gets the First Couple to divulge... their favorite iOS app.

While there's a lot of people upset over a variety of things the National Rifle Association said today in its press conference, gamers are a bit annoyed with the gun lobby comparing violent video games to pornography. But as this The Escapist report points out, the NRA doesn't think that the medium is so horrible that it won't swim in the interactive entertainment pond.

While we admire Link for saving Princess Zelda and defeating different variations of Gannon in Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda, one constant in the series is his penchant for breaking other people's property.

Andrew Eisen's latest video is probably not safe for work, school, or your local church group, but it raises an interesting point about who among the human race might be categorized as a$$h*les.

From DRM to piracy and attitudes about the holidays, Andrew lays it all down in the simplest terms and with the most colorful language he has used to date. You can check out his latest video on his YouTube channel or to your left.

When you develop a game without the permission of the copyright holder, chances are you will be in for some sort of legal action. Such is the fate of the My Little Pony MMO, which has been shut down after the developers of the game received a copyright and trademark infringement claim from Hasbro. The game was not approved by Hasbro. Fearing serious legal action the developers decided it would be prudent to just shut the game down.

If you have ever thought to yourself "what would happen if Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and actor Danny Trejo teamed up to fight crime?" then the iOS game "Vengeance: Woz With A Coz" may be worth a look. The game turns that "other guy" that helped start Apple into an 8-bit hero in a side-scrolling beat 'em up, alongside popular actor Danny Trejo (Machete, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Sons of Anarchy). Woz solicits the help of Trejo after his wife is kidnapped.

Prenda Law is one of the law firms involved in ongoing mass-BitTorrent lawsuits in the US. They represent a number of adult entertainment companies, but their tactics are so repulsive and rude that they stand out among the pack of firms around the world hoping to collect settlements from alleged infringers. With the aim of squeezing a settlement from a target the firm has engaged in such behavior as calling people at home urging them to pay up.

A new game for Android devices called Whack a Candidate: Election' 12 charges you with suppressing the vote of the political party you don't like by whacking them in the face with the "Hammer of Justice." The game is much like whack-a-mole but the field is a map of the United States. When a candidate or their vice-presidential running mate pops up on the map you whack them with a hammer to stop them from scoring votes in a given state.

Serious Sam 3 publisher Devolver Digital is urging fans to openly criticize EA's newest Medal of Honor game for a free copy its first-person shooter.

"During this busy season of video game releases the team at Devolver Digital realize that not every game will live up to expectations. One such game has been Medal of Honor: Warfighter – yet another military shooter where cover is king and most folks spend their time peeking out from behind a wall or a strategically placed concrete barrier," a post on the Devolver site reads.

According to a published report by security research firm KrebsonSecurity, a machine inside Cisco is being used remotely by evil doers for unknown purposes. The server in question is apparently being rented to naughty internet users Dedicatexpress.com, a service that allows anyone in the world to access hacked computers at specific organizations.

While we would be hard pressed to attest to the validity or effectiveness of the ReConstitution 2012 interactive web app, we do find it more than a little amusing - mostly because of the way its creators describe it.

Slate has released the fourth episode of its Political Kombat ’12 video series, which retells the story of the 2012 presidential race in a succession of animated video game fights modeled after Mortal Kombat. In the latest episode, Vice President Joe Biden goes toe-to-toe against his Republican challenger Congressman Paul Ryan.

You can check out the latest video to your left and visit Slate to check out previous episodes.

While the upcoming game developer jam - F*ck This Jam might have the most colorful name ever - organizers are aiming to take developers out of their comfort zones to create games in genres they absolutely loathe.

A new poltically themed game from developer Mayonaise Games lets you cast your vote for the U.S. president in a whole new way. The Android game is called Face Chop: Decision 2012, and it lets players "chop" the faces of candidates to earn points and "win the election."

You may recall the Space Invaders-inspired flash game Truth Invaders way back during the 2008 presidential campaign. Back then the game focused on the "lies" told by both Democrats and Republicans.

Well the game is back with a 2012 edition, but this time it focuses only on the "lies" of Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney and the Republican party.

The FAQ on the site tries to explain the change:

Yesterday Slate debuted its gamified political video series Political Kombat '12 with a fight between Mitt Romney and former Republican presidential candidates Rick Santorum and Herman Cain. In Round II he takes on Libertarian super hero Ron Paul and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.

In Episode 3 President Obama will take center stage as the lead combatant in a fantasy battle with millionaire Donald Trump. Ultimately Romney and Obama will meet for a series of fights as we speed towards the real thing - election day on November 6.

In what Comedy Central and 2K Play describe as a "dramatic end" to the Comedy Central's Indecision Game smartphone tournament challenge, The Hotline's Editor-in-Chief Reid Wilson was crowned "Greatest Political Mind of our Time." The competition was between 20 of the nation's most recognized political pundits and reporters and played on mobile phones and tablets during a three-week period. Wilson managed to beat out Fox News Anchor Greta Van Susteren in the final round of competition.

The following faux game commercial is over-the-top but admittedly funny in an ironic sort of way. The commercial is for "the greatest real time strategy game never made; Chinese Electronics Factory Worker: The Game!"

The best and most cringe inducing quote from the video is when the young boy playing the game proclaims:

"Exploiting Chinese Workers is awesome!"

Watch the video to your left. Thanks to Jamie Stanton for sending us the video link.

An error with an image in Madden NFL 13 has one NFL star agitated to no end. New York Giants player Marcus Thomas was upset when he noticed that an in-game photo of a different Marcus Thomas was in his profile. That Marcus Thomas played for the Denver Broncos three years ago and looks nothing like the New York Giants star.

Obviously the Marcus Thomas who was supposed to be pictured in the game wasn't too happy about it and took to Twitter:

Our chuckle of the day is sponsored by the BBC, who reports the surprising and mildly amusing response of Judge Lucy Koh after reading Apple's Witness list. The judge in the high-stakes, high profile US patent trial between Apple and Samsung made her comments after Apple attorney William Lee named 22 people in a 73-page witness list he wanted to call to rebut the testimony of Samsung's witnesses.

After looking at the list, Judge Koh offered the following response:

I am not sure if GameStop is one of the top ten worst companies to work for in the United States, but analyst firm Glassdoor does. Glassdoor lets employees rate the company's they work for, and apparently GameStop employees voted for the company enough to push it in at number ten on their list. Employees that contributed to the study say that GameStop puts too much of an emphasis on high sales and doesn't provide enough attention to customer service.

If you could sell your life on eBay - not your physical body or your soul, mind you - but your life, what would it be worth if your tangible assets could be sold? One man is trying to sell his life on eBay and his asking price is $3.5 million. So why is his life - his assets, his work - worth so much in his mind? Because the seller, Shane Butcher, is the proud owner of the video game retail store chain R.U. GAME? (comprised of three stores and all of its current stock), which he has put up for sale.

Two French gamers decided that it would be a grand idea to reprogram a Sega Genesis so that every time a player made a mistake or took damage in a game they would get some punishment from shock collars. You can't make this kind of stuff up, folks. Also it goes without saying that you shouldn't try this at home.

The two gamers try everything from Sonic to Golden Axe 3, with amusing results. You'll notice in one of the shots that alcohol might be involved in the production of this little experiment...

It isn't particularly sophisticated, but klutzGames' Windows Phone 7 release of LeaderFlip does let players (particularly those in Germany) have a bit of fun with Chancellor of Germany and Chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Union Angela Merkel -- I mean Angie Makel. The game lets you play as a caricature of the German Chancellor who you must send to the moon by flipping her upwards on platforms using a simple game mechanic and a variety of power-ups that include beer, sausage, and beans.

Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom has launched a song online attacking U.S. President Barack Obama and urging supporters not to vote for him in November. The song and video on YouTube is called "Mr President" and offers dire warnings to U.S. voters about the President such as "don't vote for those who would take us back in time."

In another line from the song he says"what about free speech Mr President, what happened to change Mr President."