Video game retailer GAME Australia has revamped its customer reward card with a risqué new feature that lets customers use their fingers to simulate various male naughty bits. The cheeky marketing gimmick has drawn a lot of attention - with a slight bit of it being negative. MCV is reporting that multiple complaints have been filed with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). GAME did not acknowledge or comment on those complaints; instead it talked to MCV about how wonderful the rewards program is for its customers.

Our own Andrew Eisen offers an interesting video that proposes a unique marketing campaign for Fox News involving moms. The source material will be familiar to GP readers - you can find those videos here and here.

The Umatilla, Florida Chief of Police has found himself in hot water this week over playing video games on the only computer in the office - among a litany of other complaints from his subordinates, who painted him as a bit of a tyrant. Police Chief Doug Foster, who has run the Umatilla Police Department for 19 years, has also been accused of using meetings to treat officers harshly, has made his staff run personal errands, took away officers' shotguns, neglected department vehicles, and required officers to submit a list of medication they were taking.

If you think that the cease and desist letter Bethesda sent Minecraft developer Mojang over plans to use the word "Scrolls" in its next game is ridiculous, then Andrew Eisen's latest video will make a lot of sense. After all, if one company can go after another for "Scrolls" then they can go after anyone for any other seemingly innocuous or common word. Take the word "the," for example...

Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson has offered a novel way to settle the impending trademark litigation Bethesda might bring against his company Mojang for its upcoming game "Scrolls" - and it involves deathmatch.

While everyone else is ranting and raving about Diablo III and having to be "always connected" to Battle.net to play it - even in single player - our very own Andrew Eisen takes a different approach with the following heartfelt letter.

If Blizzard listens, this could be the best Christmas ever! Check out his heartwarming plea to Blizzard to your left or visit YouTube.

With the British Parliament on summer holiday, many political junkies in the UK are feeling a void at 12 o'clock on Wednesday when it is supposed to be time for "Prime Minister’s Questions." Luckily, Pixel Politics has you covered with a new Flash game called PRIME MINISTER’S QUESTIONS: THE GAME. You play as the prime minister in this satirical, retro style game as he faces his weekly grilling from Her Majesty’s Opposition.

A new website not owned by Activision and - and at first glance dedicated to modern Warfare 3 - is causing a bit of ruckus. According to an Ars Technica report, the domain www.modernwarfare3.com began directing people to the official Battlefield 3 site, leading some to believe (including Activision) that the site might be owned by electronic Arts. The domain was registered in 2009 by Domains by Proxy - a company owned by Go Daddy, and the owners currently remain unknown. That hasn't stopped Activision from filing a domain name dispute with the National Arbitration Forum claiming that it has full rights to the domain for obvious reasons.

After garnering a bit of attention the web site offers the following commentary:

Prithvi Virasinghe, creative director at Comedy Central's internal game studio, would like to see a game based on Tak Jensen, a character created on Comedy Central's Colbert Report. Speaking to Joystiq, Virasinghe said that Tek Jansen, and the Colbert Report are subjects he'd like to make into games. Naturally such games would require the green light from Colbert and the network.

"I've honestly tried to do this many, many times," he said of concepts for a Colbert-themed game. "One of the ideas we had for Colbert was we wanted to do 'Colbert Quest,' which was kinda like an homage to the Police Quest or Space Quest games." Apparently his team at 345 even went as far as to put together a "design treatment" for "Colbert Quest," which he detailed by saying, "You're sort of in this world that's humor-based, that's kind of situational and quest-based, and it would have Colbert as some sort of overlord of this domain."

If there’s anything we love more than ponies here at GP, it’s studies that examine the effects of violent video games on those who play them.  Yes, we love writing about them and we know you love commenting on them.

Oh look!  This Critical Miss comic over at the Escapist features two violent video game studies and a gamer’s reaction to each.

...but no ponies.

-Reporting from San Diego, GamePolitics Contributing Editor Andrew Eisen

Modders and creative types are having fun mocking the death of Osama bin Laden at the hands of an elite U.S. Navy Seals, but one of the best pieces of video game-related comedy on the subject comes from a French television show that uses Super Mario Bros. as the backdrop. Instead of Mario and Bowser, the animation features former U.S. President George W. Bush chasing down Osama in various stages until the 2008 election where Obama takes over. Check out the video to your left to watch the hijinx.

Source: Go Nintendo by way of Kotaku

The Times Leader reports on a drug and alcohol counselor who is agitated over the Half-Life 2 mod, School Shooter: North American Tour 2012. The CEO of Wyoming Valley Alcohol and Drug Services wants parents, teachers, school administrators to be aware of its existence and the possibility that it might be "available soon."

Showing that he doesn't understand the concept of a mod or that it is being developed online and to be given away for free, Ambrosino said he has warned the superintendents of area schools, federal and state legislators, as well as major retailers such as Kmart, Walmart and Target about the game.

Want to cure those pesky homosexual tendencies? There is apparently an app for that. Apple is taking some heat for allowing an app on iOS that claims to cure homosexuality. The app was created by a ministry group called Exodus International and purports to "teach gay people that they have a choice when it comes to their sexuality," and that they have a choice to choose "freedom from homosexuality through the power of Jesus."

Gay rights group are confused by the inclusion of the app because Apple is considered a progressive company that generally supports the rights of gays and lesbians and even extends benefits to domestic partners.

On the other hand, does Apple have the right to censor an app based on its own policies and public position on issues? We will leave that question to readers. Apple's censorship of apps is seems to be unconventional; it will ban political comedy apps and then approve an app like this.

A hilarious video from College Humor called "Girls Can Be Jerks On Xbox Live Too, You Know" turns the tables on a male player as a gaggle of girl players treat him like a piece of meat. It's hilarious and most definitely not safe for work, but worth watching.

Update: Ubisoft has blocked its own video in the United States on YouTube. Watching the video brings up the following copyright notice:

"We Dare - Have a spicy evening !"

This video contains content from Ubisoft, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds.

Original Story: A promotional video for Ubisoft's decidedly adult Wii Party game, We Dare, will either make you cringe or laugh. Is the video some clever joke marketing or are these people serious? It's hard to tell..

This party game is supposed to be played with your "very attractive friends" and asks you to engage in some questionable behavior using the Wii Remote.

The mini-games will lead to some promiscuous behavior or a fistfight with a friend. To quote that classic comedy song, "Hands off my wife, the party's over."

I am sure that Blizzard (and other MMO companies) is delighted with today's press release from World of Wacraft gold reseller outfit BYGamer. While the press release isn't particularly thrilling one could imagine that the China-based gold farmers are not well liked on this side of the world.

The company issued a press release to announce changes to its web site - BYGAMER.com - which now offers visitors a plethora of fancy colors, improved navigation and lovely new frames. Are they mocking Blizzard? It sure seems that way.

The company tops off its wonderful announcement with customer testimonials:

"It’s amazing! What a beautiful site and Buy WOW Gold here is absolutely a good choice!, said new customer Monica to one of BYGAMER’s call center operators.

The company says that this new design is already proving to help "increase traffic and sales."

Full release below:

Boy oh boy, do I have a treat for you today.

FoxNews has posted an article examining the violent and sexual content of the upcoming Bulletstorm and I’m happy to report that it’s the most entertainingly sensationalistic tripe I’ve read in quite a while.

Bulletstorm is an M-rated shooter due out later this month from Epic Games.  Aside from copious profanity and over-the-top violence, one of its notable features is its in-game awards system, Skill Shots.  Basically, you get funny-titled awards for dispatching your enemies in unique and gruesome ways.  Here’s how the ESRB describes it:

Wired releases its list of 2010's most prominent Vaporware. Can you guess which game is right at the top of the list? Yeah, it is Duke Nukem Forever, though I imagine that by the time 2012 rolls around Gearbox Software will finally make that game a reality.

Other games, software, and gadgets on the 2010 list included Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, L.A. Noire, the Kno Tablet, Netflix on Android, Notion Ink Adam, Chrome OS Laptops, the fan-developed Half-Life remake Black Mesa, 64-Bit Flash Player, Half Life 2: Episode 3, and iPhone 4 in White. Honorable mentions included Flick Kick Football (PikPok), Shibuya (Nevercenter), Spirits (Spaces Of Play), Tentacles (Press Play), and Trainyard (Matt Rix).

Here is something that is pretty incredible: the entire over world from Nintendo classic The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past rebuilt from scratch in Minecraft. According to IndieGames.com, it took creator Roman DeNu over 100 hours to rebuild the over world from the popular SNES game.

Check out the video to see it all in real-time.

The Central Intelligence Agency has launched a special task force to deal with Wikileaks called "WTF," according to The Washington Post. The acronym doesn't equal the Internet standard - it stands for the "WikiLeaks Task Force," but apparently the CIA offices equate it to the popular catchphrase according to the Washington Post.

While we might get a giggle or two from that factoid, the truth is that the CIA is taking the numerous leaks of U.S. documents very seriously, and just what this task force will do in response to future leaks is unknown.

The CIA has remained relatively unscathed from the monumental amount of leaks at other U.S. agencies, mainly because the CIA's systems are separate from the rest of the government. That and the fact that the secretive agency is not in the habit of sharing information with outside sources.

An episode recap of the MTV's 16 and Pregnant reality show entitled "There's Nothing Wrong with Video Games" follows the trials and travails of teen parents Megan and Nathan. Nathan seems to be more preoccupied with lip rings and dungeon dwelling than being a father, while Megan hasn't grown up enough to give up rainbows and ponies.. There is also a lot of talk about a lack of tough love, but who cares? Let's get to the video game references:

Rooster Teeth, who you may know best as the creators of the popular Red vs Blue machinima series, have created a video short about passing through airport security in the age of the TSA's full body scanners and intimate pat-downs. If you plan on flying anytime during the holidays maybe you can experience these security measures first hand. Leave the kids at home.

via Boing, Boing

Cracked.com reveals six activities from Fallout New Vegas that made the author have an epiphany about his own humanity. Okay, not really, but "6 Ways Fallout: New Vegas Made Me a Worse Person" is funny.

The lead-in to the article:

Webcomic Virtual Shackles wryly illustrates how California's violent video games law might work when put into practice.

During Tuesday’s oral arguments, Justice Sotomayor pointed out what could easily be viewed as a rather large loophole in the law at the heart of Schwarzenegger v. EMA.

The law seeks to prevent children under 18 from purchasing games in which the player can “virtually inflict serious injury upon images of human beings.”  But what about characters that are almost, but not quite human beings?  Here’s the relevant exchange:

JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR: Would a video game that portrayed a Vulcan as opposed to a human being, being maimed and tortured, would that be covered by the act?

 

MR. MORAZZINI: No, it wouldn't, Your Honor, because the act is only directed towards the range of options that are able to be inflicted on a human being.

A few months ago the consummate smart assess at the Onion News Network deployed a news report on a hot new game (fake, of course) called Close Range. The report detailed the main point of the game: to shoot people and animals at close range in the face. The video, which you can watch here is hilarious.

But that wasn't good enough for ONN. They decided it would be a good idea to create an actual game for the iPhone. When they went to get approval from Apple, their app was rejected. Big shock there. Apparently, the idea of shooting people and animals at point blank range was too violent of a concept for Apple.

What got them, as Game, Set, Watch points out, is this line from the Apple App Guidelines:

"apps portraying realistic images of people or animals being killed or maimed, shot, stabbed, tortured or injured will be rejected."

It's not funny to make a joke of a desperate and scary situation, like a man holding a neighborhood hostage, but when the smoke has cleared and the fear subsides, sometimes humor just can't help being found. Case in point: a Chattanooga, Tennessee man, armed with a revolver and his girlfriend trapped in the house had a stand-off with the Chattanooga Police Department's SWAT team.

After hours of tense negotiations, police blasted the house with teargas and stormed in to find that the man had shot himself in the head. Police rushed him to a waiting ambulance. He is currently in critical condition. Though the man was gone and everyone was safe, the neighborhood was rattled by the chaos of it all.

As soon as the man -- who police say had a history of mental health issues and prior weapons charges -- was loaded into the waiting ambulance, residents stuck in their homes all day stepped outside. While many of these residents were scared, one didn't notice at all. Here's how the Chattanooga Free Times Press described the man's confusion:

Brooklyn, NY-based rappers Das Racist have released a flash game to promote their brand new single "Who's That Brown" on the group's official web site (thanks Game | Life). The simple Flash game is interesting because it pays homage to several classic games through various sequences using gameplay mechanics borrowed from games such as Double Dragon, Frogger and Narc. But the reason I mention it here is that the game features a cameo by former Alaska Governor and conservative firebrand Sarah Palin (pictured left).

The story is also mildly amusing: when Jay-Z and Justin Bieber get into a limo accident, the promoter asks Das Racist to step in and save the day.. but first they have to find their Hype man Daz who has inexplicably disappeared. Retro hijinx ensue.

You can check out the game for yourselves at dasracist.net. Image from Game | Life.

One might argue that hitting your elected official in the face with a pie is as close as you can get to living the American Dream, but Senator Carl Levin (D-Mich) , doesn't think it's funny at all. Levin, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, was speaking to the Mecosta County Democratic Party gathering when a 23-year old Michigan State student named Ahlam Mohsen began questioning him on his stance on foreign policy issues - with a lean towards the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The end result was a pie in the senior democrat's face.

Oddly enough, Mohsen had mostly nice things to say about the senator afterwards:

 

"Carl Levin is one of the most respected senators in Congress," Mohsen told local TV station WZZM13-TV. "People tend to blame the war on Republicans, but we wanted to target Levin today to send a message that liberals and Democrats are just as implicated in the violence as the Republicans."

Mohsen got a ride in the party van for his part in the incident, though what he was charged with was not disclosed. Probably a misdemeanor assault one would guess.

Double Fine Productions founder Tim Schafer didn’t pull any punches when talking about Activision CEO Bobby Kotick at this week’s Develop Conference in the UK.

To be fair, as Crave notes, Schafer’s Brutal Legend game was originally going to be published by Activision before it merged with Blizzard. The game was dropped and eventually published by Electronic arts, which could have contributed to some of the bad taste in Schafer’s mouth.

Among Schafer’s comments on Kotick:

A 30-year old man suspected of stealing an SUV was arrested by police in his home while playing Grand Theft Auto III.

Tampa Bay Online has the story on Michael Ray Ekes of Haines City, Florida, who was busted after the stolen vehicle was found in front of his home. For some reason Ekes was asked what he thought of GTA III. The suspect replied, “It’s a blast.”

Sheriff Grady Judd offered the pearl of wisdom that, “Crime is not a game.” He continued, “Real-life crime has real-life consequences – and I hope he goes to prison for a good long while, where they don't have 'Grand Theft Auto' video games.”

At the time of his arrest, Ekes was free on bail on two counts of grand theft auto and was on probation for a series of other offenses.


Thanks to no one in particular for sending this in