When I ponder the things that I'd like to see in video games someday, a fully nekkid Congressman is not high on the list.

Nonetheless, Kotaku reports that a cut scene in GTA IV: The Lost and Damned, scheduled to release tomorrow, features a male character displayed with full frontal nudity:

[Congressman] Stubbs, in his first meeting with lead character Johnny Klebbitz, is receiving a massage at the private gentleman's club Jousters when we meet him. The Congressman, dressed in nothing but a towel, quickly becomes pretty comfortable with his new biker friend, choosing to deliver his monologue in the buff...

The ESRB rating for the game—which is "M" for Mature—does make mention of the gratuitous digital d*ck on display, noting that the game has "Nudity" in its content. The original Grand Theft Auto IV is listed as having only "Partial nudity."

As GamePolitics reported this week, online retailer Amazon.com has blocked sales of RapeLay, a Japanese hentai game being offered on Amazon by an affiliated re-seller.

While many were upset by news of the game, some felt that Amazon's decision amounted to censorship.

What do you think?

Register your opinion in the GP poll at left.

Last night GamePolitics reported on the outcry over a Japanese rape game offered on Amazon.com.

Among those expressing disgust over PC hentai title RapeLay was British MP Keith Vaz, long a video game industry critic.

At the time we predicted that - since RapeLay was offered as a used product by re-seller Hentaiguy - Amazon likely didn't know about the game and would do the right thing when they found out.

That now appears to be the case.

LifeNews.com reports that RapeLay has been removed from Amazon.com listings:

Amazon.com has dropped its listing for a controversial Japanese video game called Rapelay that involves raping women and forcing them to have abortions. The so-called "rape simulator" game was sold on the web site and included a graphic description of the gameplay.

Although a listing for the product is available through online searches, the link to it on Amazon's web page no longer functions.

We're also not finding any additional sales listings from Hentaiguy. Perhaps Amazon has shown him the door.

Labour MP Keith Vaz has vowed to raise in Parliament the availability of Rapeplay, a Japanese PC game. The hentai title is available on Amazon.com from Hentaiguy, an Amazon re-seller apparently based in New York City.

The Belfast Telegraph reports that the game features graphic depictions of sexual assaults on women and girls.

Contacted by the newspaper, Vaz, a longtime critic of the video game industry, said:

It is intolerable that anyone would purchase a game that simulates the criminal offence of rape. To know that this widely available through a major online retailer is utterly shocking, I do not see how this can be allowed. I will be raising this matter in Parliament and hope that action is taken to prevent the game from being sold.

Vaz also expressed a measure of vindication after being widely criticized last year for saying in Parliament that rape was a feature of some games.

The unrated game, apparently intended for the Japanese market only, is listed by the Amazon re-seller as "used - like new" and retails for $19.99. Only two copies are listed as available.

GP: While we find this game appalling, it is not a product of the U.S. or British video game industry. It is an import which is apparently only available through a single re-seller who specializes in the hentai market. We expect that Amazon will take the appropriate steps to correct the situation. 

Over at Kombo, journo Brad Hilderbrand surveys how gay and lesbian characters are depicted in games and finds those portrayals wanting:

Unfortunately games have fallen back into the rut of stereotype and hyperbole. While there are brief moments in games like Fable II or Metal Gear Solid that treat homosexuality with a careful, thoughtful approach, the game industry seems to be far more comfortable sticking with tired clichés and stereotypes for the sake of not offending, but also not progressing...

 

In a market where Marcus Phoenix stands as the definition of a man and Lara Croft is the essence of what it means to be a woman, there seems to be little inclination to tackle one of society's biggest taboos. While games have the potential to stand at the bleeding edge of social and political commentary, they prefer to play it safe and put sales above message, lagging far behind their contemporaries in television and cinema...

Sometimes you just have to go with your gut.

And my gut is telling me that a recent study dealing with gender in online games is seriously flawed. A BBC report describes the work of University of Delaware Prof. Scott Caplan, who surveyed Everquest II players with assistance from publisher Sony Online Entertainment. The University of Southern California and Pal Alto Research Center also participated in the project.

Caplan claims that about 40% of EQII players are female, but that the women are more dedicated, spending more time per day with the game that male players. Based on my MMO experience, I have a difficult time with that conclusion. But what really blew me away was this:

The survey revealed an unusually high level of bisexuality among the women who took part in the study - over five times higher than the general population.

"These are not people who are following strict gender stereotypes," said Prof Caplan.

"I think that the game itself is right now a very non-traditional activity for women, and so I think what you would find in this population are going to be people who are in other ways less traditional than the majority population."

From here, the bisexuality figure alone renders Caplan's study questionable. EQ II women are five times as likely to be bisexual? What is the statistical likelihood of that occurring? Perhaps the answer lies in the fact that the survey relied on self-reporting data from EQII players. Could some respondents have been pulling Caplan's chain? 

Really, it's unfortunate that this statistical anomaly mars Caplan's work. His other conclusions are generally positive, indicating that EQII players are healthier and more social than the common MMO player stereotype.

Oddly enough, the bisexuality angle did not come up in earlier coverage of Caplan's work, including ours (See: Survey Says: MMO Players Not Fat, But Have Other Issues). We also note that University of Delaware school newspaper UDaily does not mention the bisexuality angle in its coverage of Caplan's reserach.

UPDATE: Sister-site GameCulture takes me to task for my comments regarding Caplan's study. However, I'll stand by my remarks. There was a fair amount of uncorrelated self-reporting data in the study, including the respondents' own claims about their level of fitness. Beyond that, the idea of the bisexual woman is such a stereotypically male fantasy that any study which finds a five-fold increase in that population, absent any compelling explanation, is, de facto, suspect.

A study released by watchdog group Common Sense Media this week strongly correlates the amount of time children spend with media to poor school performance as well as negative health outcomes such as obesity, substance abuse and smoking.

Media and Child and Adolescent Health: A Systematic Review is, essentially, a survey of research on the topic conducted over the past 30 years. The study was carried out by researchers from the Yale University School of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, and California Pacific Medical Center.

From a political standpoint, it is interesting to note that lead researcher Ezekiel Emanuel of the NIH is the brother of President-elect Barack Obama's incoming White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel. Common Sense Media CEO and founder Jim Steyer (left) discussed the Obama connection with Time:

[Rahm Emanuel] will have a strong position in the incoming Administration. And I am optimistic that you'll see a renewed emphasis, from the White House on down, on media, technology and kids. In that sense, I'm very hopeful that Barack and Michelle Obama will be parents-in-chief and role models-in-chief for our country. Barack talked about it repeatedly through his campaign—turning off the TV, turning off the video games, doing your homework, talking with your kids.

Steyer also told Time that the study deliberately stayed away from issues of violence and media:

The research team decided that there was a voluminous amount of studies that focus solely on media and violence. So they wanted to stay away from that... This report doesn't say, nor would Common Sense ever suggest, that media is the cause of all society's ills, or the sole cause of childhood obesity or risky sexual behavior or smoking or alcohol use among teens. But it is a significant contributing factor...

The study's politicial potential is also emphasized in a press release on the Common Sense Media website which quotes former FCC chairman and CSM board member William Kennard:

The new administration has shown a commitment to children and has already made important statements about how it will focus new attention on technology and media. There is a unique opportunity to make real change in the role that media plays in our children’s lives.

The Timothy Plan, a Florida investment firm which bills itself as "conservative Christian," is warning holiday-shopping parents away from what it calls the 30 "most offensive" video games.

While the usual suspects (GTA IV, Saints Row 2, Blitz the League II) make the list, there are some surprises as well, including the T-rated Bully: Scholarship Edition and World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade.

In its game rankings, the organization displays an obvious anti-gay bias. While it evaluates titles for sex and nudity, a gay/lesbian rating is also included, meaning that a game with a gay sexual encounter might get a double whammy when compared to a game where the sex is of the straight variety. This effect, for instance, pushes Fable II onto the group's most offensive list. Along that line a report prepared by the Timothy Plan contains this rather bizarre comment:

Army of Two: Homosexual Encounters: ...Somewhat homo-erotic undertones between the two main characters are present.

WoW made it onto the dirty thirty, thanks to a high "addiction" rating as well as a high rating for alcohol use (curse you, Noggenfogger elixir!).

How the group determined the addiction rank is really quite unfathomable. WoW received a 3, for example, the worst possible rating, while Lord of the Rings Online got a 1 and Age of Conan a 2. In fact, all of the MMOs were tagged for addiction as well as some multiplayer games like Halo 3. A few games (The Darkness, Devil May Cry 4) were punished for "demonic" references.

Timothy Plan president Art Ally (left) comments:

Many, if not most, parents who buy their kids video games really don't know the extent of sex and violence imbedded in them. From drug use, prostitution, murder and mayhem to vulgar profanity and blasphemy these games have become a powerfully negative influence on our kids...

 

I believe, if parents would take a moment to look at the report we've created, their game selections would be quite different.

The group maintains a corporate "hall of shame" which includes game publishers EA, Take-Two and Microsoft. The Timothy Plan also offers to screen your portfolio to see if any of your mutual funds have investments in shameful companies.

So helpful!

Document Dump: Get the Timothy Plan's game score card here. The group's press release with holiday shopping warnings is here.

There's a confusing story on GameSpot this morning which reports that the PC version of Grand Theft Auto IV will be released in the Australian market with no content edits.

It's odd because earlier this year Australian censors refused to issue a rating to the console versions of GTA IV until some of the game's animated hooker sex scenes were chopped. An unnanmed Australian Rockstar spokesperson told GameSpot:

Grand Theft Auto IV PC has been rated MA15+ strong violence, sex scenes, coarse language, and drug references by the Australian Classification Office. The PC game is unedited in any way and identical in content to the international version.

So... does this mean that Australia's Office of Film and Literature Classification is no longer concerned about the hooker animations? Or that it is - for some reason - less concerned about them in the PC version? 

Is it possible that R* left the animations out of the PC version? Will future shipments of the console version to Australia add the sex scenes back in?

Something doesn't add up on this one.

The publisher of a sex game has taken the video game industry and its U.S. content rating board to task.

As reported by Spong, D-Dub Software, which publishes BoneTown, claims that it will create an "adult video game industry." The sex game company says that it is frustrated by restrictions put in place by console manufacturers and the ESRB.

Currently, the big three system makers won't license games which are rated Adults Only (AO) by the ESRB, leaving only the PC as a potential development platform. However, major retailers won't stock AO games on any system, leaving online distribution as the only viable option for such products. D-Dub CEO "Hod" says that the company will pursue the online model:

It doesn’t make sense. The ratings boards are not telling us that these games aren’t for kids. We know that already. What they’re telling us is that adult games shouldn’t exist at all. We don’t agree, and neither does our customer base of adults who are interested in games that might include themes like sex, drugs, and language.

 

Since they’ve made it so that games like ours can’t be marketed and distributed through the channels other video games use, we are starting a new industry to get this game out to our customers.

Although the Spong article mentions that BoneTown has received an AO from the ESRB, we're not finding that using the ESRB search widget located in GP's lower right sidebar.

GP: Thanks to GP correspondent Andrew Eisen for the tip...

Pharmaceutical manufacturer Pfizer has pulled out of plans to continue running Viva Cruiser, an advergame designed to promote the company's popular erectile dysfunction drug, Viagra.

According to Multinational Monitor, the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) nixed Pfizer's online game which had been appearing on Forbes.com. Viva Cruiser was quietly withdrawn in September:

The video game was pulled shortly after Pfizer removed a video ad from CNN.com, which aired without required warning messages. “The video is misleading because it makes representations and suggestions about the use of Viagra … but fails to disclose any risk information for the drug,” the FDA wrote in its warning letter to Pfizer.

Pharma Industry describes the gameplay aspects of the now-flaccid Viva Cruiser:

Players are instructed, “You’re about to take your partner on a romantic getaway. Pick up a few things on the way.” Players must then guide a motorcycle rider down a desert road picking up gifts for a date and avoiding orange hazard cones. The gifts include roses, scented candles, gift boxes — and of course little, blue, diamond-shaped pills.

As the game progresses, players get points for running over gifts and are penalized for hitting the orange cones. As a stopwatch counts down the available gametime, Pfizer’s “Viva Viagra” theme song can be heard in the background...

(The game isn’t likely to threaten Grand Theft Auto. In only three attempts, I doubled my points from an initially disappointing 27 to a more robust 47.)

On Fox News program The O'Reilly Factor, pundit Bill O'Reilly tries to drag Heidi Klum's Guitar Hero commercial into the culture wars, but even his two conservative female guests don't want to go there.

At issue is Heidi's Risky Business-inspired Guitar Hero shredding routine. O'Reilly is apparently concerned about the the moral effects of the commercial, featuring a lingerie-clad Klum, airing in prime time.

Then again, O'Reilly has never been much of a fan of video games. Or iPods. Or Blackberries. But Mr. Morality does enjoy a good loofa.

GP: Thanks to GP jack-of-all-trades Andrew Eisen for the sharp eyes...

Federal prosecutors say that former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer will face no criminal charges for patronizing a high-priced, multi-state prostitution ring.

U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia told CNN:

After a thorough investigation, this office has uncovered no evidence of misuse of public or campaign funds.

 

In light of the policy of the Department of Justice with respect to prostitution offenses and the longstanding practice of this office, as well as Mr. Spitzer's acceptance of responsibility for his conduct, we have concluded that the public interest would not be further advanced by filing criminal charges in this matter.

Theoretically, Spitzer could face local charges lodged by Washington D.C authorities (it's illegal to hire a prostitute), but that seems highly unlikely at this point.

As governor, Spitzer pushed hard for legislation designed to regulate video game sales. Ironically, he claimed to be concerned about the cartoon prostitutes in Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto series, saying:

Media content has gotten more graphic, more violent and more sex-based… Currently, nothing under New York State law prohibits a fourteen-year old from walking into a video store and buying… a game like ‘Grand Theft Auto,’ which rewards a player for stealing cars and beating people up. Children can even simulate having sex with a prostitute…

In April GamePolitics readers voted Spitzer Gaming's Biggest Political Hypocrite, beating out the likes of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and British MP Keith Vaz.

GP: Pictured are Spitzer, a GTA prostitute and 22-year-old Ashley Dupre. It was the disgraced guv's rendezvous with the would-be singer that led to his downfall in March of this year. On the other hand, if Spitzer had stuck with GTA's virtual hookers he'd still be governor.

Thanks to: GP reader seikyo for the heads-up!

The Daily Mail reports that 19-year-old Ryan Chinnery (displaying bling at left) has been sentenced to an indefinite period of incarceration after pleading guilty to a series of sexual assaults in Kent. GamePolitics previously covered the start of Chinnery's trial in September.

As it does so often these days, Grand Theft Auto gets the blame:

[Chinnery] prowled streets in his car targeting innocent women he thought were prostitutes - imitating scenes from the controversial [Grand Theft Auto] game in which a man drives around and attacks call girls...  Officers found a copy of the 18-certificate Grand Theft Auto during a swoop on the home Chinnery shared with his girlfriend - and he initially insisted to detectives that he had been playing on his computer at the time of the attacks.

Prosecutor Eleanor Laws told a jury last month how Chinnery's obsession with Grand Theft Auto, which has sold some 35million copies, 'may go some way to explaining his attitude towards women'. Miss Laws added: 'Prostitutes in it can be exposed to violence. There may be some connection with the defendant admitting spending a lot of time playing that game.'

The judge, on the other hand, seemed to relate Chinnery's crimes to an obsession with porn, but did give GTA a mention. The Kentish Express reports:

Judge Philip Statman said: "What most troubles me is the mirror conduct between pornography and that which he later does. It is as if spurring on comes from the pornographic material.

"I know part of this case referred to something called Grand Theft Auto. While it appears the defendant does not accept it influenced his conduct on that particular evening, it could not have helped him, I would have thought, in all the circumstances of the case."

To my great surprise there was a plain brown envelope from Playboy Enterprises International in the GamePolitics post office box yesterday. Inside was the November issue.

After about three hours of perusing the magazine (in the interests of giving GP readers a complete and accurate report), I figured out the reason why Playboy sent the mag my way.

It seems that Miss November, Grace Kim, is a former publicist for Guitar Hero publisher Activision. The brief bio which accompanies her centerfold pictorial discusses her connection to the game: 

I play a mean game of Guitar Hero and I'm willing to challenge anybody. I must warn you I'm a very sore loser - at any game...

 

Grace says her ideal date is a round of Guitar Hero or Rock Band with perks.

Kotaku has a lengthy interview with Grace:

I had heard of an opening to work directly with the head director of Guitar Hero, so I applied, and I didn't think I'd get the job because there were so many applicants... but I also had a lot of PR experience. I was really blessed that they brought me on board. I think they appreciated my passion...

"Activision was getting annoyed [over the time demands of the Playboy picture shoots], and I wanted to keep my job [at first]... But my boss wasn't happy and I wasn't happy, and being a Playmate is a job. I really wanted to explore that area, and see where this path would take me. And, working so much for Activision kind of killed my love a little for Guitar Hero.

According to Dutch researchers, guys with quick reflexes who are good at video games might also be a little too quick during moments of passion.

As reported by the BBC, scientists studying premature ejaculation found that the cause might be genetic. Sexual psychologist Paula Hall told the BBC:

These men have very quick reflexes. They may be excellent at playing tennis or computer games, for example.

If you've got those quick reflexes, don't feel bad, guys. One in three men suffer from premature ejaculation. And it's treatable. Just be glad for your high scores and in-game achievements.

Via: Kotaku

When it comes to the crime game genre, it must be difficult to compete with the Grand Theft Auto series.

Perhaps that explains the inclusion of streaking in the upcoming Saints Row 2. Edge Online put the question to Craig Mitchell, media relations guy for publisher THQ:

In terms of backlash from the game's content, we are not too concerned. THQ and [Saints Row developer] Volition have worked within the guidelines of the ESRB and the international ratings boards and the game has been rated appropriately...

In addition, Saints Row 2 has a very over-the-top tone and the activities like streaking play into that.  In streaking, the character's front is blurred out, plus, all the characters were made 'asexual' so even a possible mod/hack would not reveal anything.

In-game streaking earns respect points for the player's character.

While video games generally catch more heat for violence than sex, there have been a fair number of lust-fueled controversies in game land. Now, Playboy tech writer Damon Brown documents them in his new book, Porn & Pong: How 'Grand Theft Auto,' 'Tomb Raider' and other Sexy Games Changed Our Culture.

Salon has a lengthy interview with Brown who starts with Custer's Revenge and touches (appropriately, we might add) on everything from Leisure Suit Larry to Hot Coffee and beyond. Not one to leave out the online crowd, Brown includes a section on game-related cybersex:

One of the things I write about is the first documented cyberspace rape in a text-only environment called LambdaMOO. A user found a loophole that allowed him to control the actions of other players. He could make one player hurt or have sex with another player and so on. The malicious user went rampant through the game universe, forcing players into sexual acts, and was repeatedly kicked off the game, but he always managed to come back under a different user name.

The Playboy writer also explains his theory of why most protagonists in sexually-oriented games are male:

Most of the creators of these games are straight, most are white and a portion of them are Asian. [Game designers] want to have a protagonist the player can identify with and, on a different level, the designer himself can identify with. People identify with Larry, because everyone's been desperate and had those moments where they can't pick up anyone, or they want to be Niko Bellic, this awesome tough guy who can maintain five girlfriends across the city of New York.

In the future, Brown sees erotically-charged games becoming much more, um... interactive:

Our grandchildren are going to have amazing sex lives -- I can't think of a better way to say it. Connecting vibrators and other types of tools to the computer and getting pleasured by a professional or a long-distance lover is a brilliant idea. It will connect people in a much deeper way than the Internet or a webcam that's going 15 frames per second...

 

From talking to people at the Adult Entertainment Expo in Vegas in January, I understand the basic idea is that teledildonics will take off in a mainstream way any moment now. I'd say within five years it's going to become standard equipment for a lot of people.

UPDATE: Over at Edge Online, editor Colin Campbell has an entertaining whinge at the entire subject of sex in games. Best line:

Words like teledildonics leave me dizzy with nausea.
 

Hot Coffee? Manhunt 2?

Sure. They're on MCVUK's list of the top 10 video game controversies. So are Resistance, The Guy Game, the original Mortal Kombat and five more.

Cutting so many controversies down to just ten is a difficult assignment, though. Did they miss any? I can think of a few possibilities...

Via: GameCulture

British tabloid The Sun has laid the blame for a string of sexual assaults at the feet of Grand Theft Auto.

Under the headline Sex Beast copied Grand Theft Auto, the newspaper spins the tale of 19-year-old Ryan Chinnery (displaying his bling at left). In true tablod style, The Sun's prose is lurid:

A TEEN sex beast attacked four women in an imitation of violent computer game Grand Theft Auto, a court heard yesterday.  Ryan Chinnery, 19, prowled streets in his car targeting females he thought were prostitutes after becoming obsessed with the video nasty...

 

And the court was told he may have been influenced by the virtual reality game, in which a character drives around on “missions” — including approaching prostitutes who can be beaten up. A copy of Grand Theft Auto was found at his home by police...

 

Prosecutor Eleanor Laws said Chinnery’s love of Grand Theft Auto “may go some way to explaining his attitude towards women”. She said: “Prostitutes in it can be subjected to violence. “There may be some connection with the defendant admitting spending a lot of time playing that game.”

The other day I called out God of War creator David Jaffe for a vlog in which he referred to Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin as "the perfect definition of a MILF." (see: God of War Designer David Jaffe Reduces Sarah Palin Candidacy to Lowest Common Denominator).

Apparently, Jaffe took notice - and took the heat. He has posted a new video which addresses the MILF issue:

There's this website out there, pretty good website in terms most of the content it covers. Pretty smart and I'm glad it's out there. But it was like... this accusatory tone of me being sexist or crass when I called Sarah Palin a MILF. I'm like, Oh my, god! ...Your Victorian sensibilities are very easily offended... I'm not sexist. I have two little girls. I respect and love women. I think we're all pretty much equal...

 

And I think that's just really f*cking nit picking and ultra-politically correct to the point of just being absurd to assume that because I look at a woman and I say the only thing I can see she's good for is f*cking... It's not sexist because I'm not saying that's what I see in all women when I look at all women. I'm saying when I look at her, that's the only redeeming quality I can find in her...

While I concur with Jaffe's position that there are more questions than answers about Sarah Palin, he and I will have to disagree on this one. Referring to Palin in public statements as a MILF reduces her - reduces any woman - to the level of a sex object.

I certainly don't think he's a bad guy - far from it. But Jaffe needs to realize that the level of candor which may be acceptable in a frat house or local pub doesn't play quite so well when delivered as public, on-the-Net-forever commentary. As the head of a respected game design studio, Jaffe has employees (some of whom may be women) who could be offended. He has key business relationships with corporate types who by nature are not eager to hand a ready-made issue to special-interest groups. Is that politically correct? To an extent, sure. But that's the nature of business today.

Beyond that, however, there's just something wrong about reducing a woman to the sum of her body parts.

The saga of Republican VP nominee Sarah Palin continues...

In the latest revelation, British newspaper The Telegraph reports that the father of pregnant 17-year-old Bristol Palin's baby is Levi Johnston, a self-described "redneck" hockey player.

The couple have been dating for a year, according to officials in their home town, and Bristol regularly cheers on her man at games...

 

On his MySpace page, since removed from the Internet, Johnston describes himself as a "f****n' redneck" and reveals: "I live to play hockey. I like to go camping and hang out with the boys, do some fishing," before warning that of anyone annoys him, he will “kick ass".

 

Poignantly, in the one part of the site where it asks about children, he wrote, "I don't want kids."

Meanwhile Hollywood Celebs Gossip picks up The Telegraph's report and adds in the the gamer bit (source not immediately clear):

Since Bristol Palin’s pregnancy news was broken out, those profanity-laden words have been withdrawn from the social network site, replacing with “I enjoy hanging with my buds and playing a good video game. Thanks for looking at my site!”

GP: A look at MySpace seems to indicate that at least three pages have created in Levi's name. Some or all are obviously fakes. For now, we're taking all of this info with a large grain of salt.

UPDATE: A GP reader wrote in to object to the story as not appropriate for the site. Here are my thoughts on that:

I agree with [the reader] to a point. I don’t love the story, either. However, I can guarantee you that *every* mainstream news organization is going to cover the “father of the baby” story by tomorrow morning, and on that basis alone I do not have a problem being early with it. And, I always seek to bring any connection between politics and gaming to the forefront. He’s reportedly a gamer, this is a high profile story.

 

Nor do I have a political dog in this fight. Personally, I don’t think the pregnancy is politically relevant. But, absent my beliefs, it has become an international story. So, it gets covered.
 

We've missed Perrin Kaplan ever since she left Nintendo last year.

But she's back, apparently, and made a bit of a splash at the just-completed PAX by remarking that:

Parents who use video games as a babysitter shouldn't have sex to begin with.

Perrin's comments came during a panel session on sex and violence in games. Her new company, Zebra Partners will ramp up later this year when her non-compete agreement expires with Nintendo.

Via: Spong

Final Fantasy XI gamer catwho, posting on liberal political supersite Daily Kos, describes using her feminine wiles (read: cleavage) in an attempt to win a "player of the month" election on a popular Final Fantasy XI fan site. Posted under The Politics of Video Games, catwho writes:

While the Presidential war rages on, I'm fighting the good fight on a video game forum of all places...  But now, I'm in a race on that very forum -- for Player of the Month for my video game.  This is more or less like the Democratic Primaries where it came down to Clinton and Obama -- I'm the only girl in the race, and it's the funny popular guy that is my main competition...

 

More or less, the "race" is just a popularity contest.  Unlike the Democratic primary, however, this is a no-holds-barred knock-down drag-em-out slugfest.  I'm behind in votes, so I offer to sing songs for people.  I surge ahead briefly.  Then I break out the big guns and post a shot of my cleavage.  (Sexism? What's that?)  My competitor responds by posting a pic of his man cleavage, chest hair and all.  Words cannot describe the horrors contained in this image...

GP: Seems like it worked. Election results on Allakhazam show catwho edging out her nearest competitor.

The Daily Mail has published news of the first - but surely not the last - mainstream attack on Sega's upcoming Madworld for the Wii:

Players in the 'hack and slash' game, which is due for a UK release in early 2009, can impale enemies on road signs, rip out hearts and execute them with weapons including chainsaws and daggers.

 

The decision to release a violent game on a console which has based its reputation on family fun has shocked anti-violence pressure groups.
 

John Beyer, head of watchdog group Mediawatch-UK, called for a ban on Madworld:

This game sounds very unsavoury. I hope the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) will view this with concern and decide it should not be granted a classification. Without that it cannot be marketed in Britain. What the rest of world does is up to them. We need to ensure that modern and civilized values take priority rather than killing and maiming people.

 

It seems a shame that the game's manufacturer have decided to exclusively release this game on the Wii. I believe it will spoil the family fun image of the Wii.

An unnamed Nintendo spokesperson told the Daily Mail:

Wii appeals to a wide range of audiences from children and teenagers to adult and senior citizens, anyone from 5 - 95, as such there is a wide range of content for all ages and tastes available. Mad World will be suitably age rated through the appropriate legal channels and thus only available to an audience above the age rating it is given. The game is not made by Nintendo but by Sega.

So you handled all the killing and thuggery in GTA San Andreas but found yourself traumatized by the hidden, pixelated sex?

Don't spend your Hot Coffee lawsuit settlement money just yet.

The New York Times reports that the Hot Coffee class-action lawsuit, which was nearing settlement, has been tossed by a federal judge:

...Judge Shirley Wohl Kram wrote that purchasers of the game could not be lumped together in a class action. The claims of members of the proposed class would be affected by the law in each purchaser’s home state, Judge Kram wrote, and therefore could not be resolved in a single proceeding in federal court in New York.

 

“Accordingly, the court decertifies the settlement class on the grounds that common issues do not predominate over individualized issues,” the judge wrote.

 

The judge’s latest decision undermines a settlement agreement reached between lawyers for purchasers of the game who contended they were offended by the hidden scenes, on the one hand, and lawyers for the game’s makers, Take-Two Interactive Software and Rockstar Games.

The NY Times notes that less than 3,000 GTA San Andreas buyers had applied to join the lawsuit. The paper had previously questioned the size of the plaintiffs' legal fees in the case. Meanwhile, attorney Ted Frank of Overlawyered writes:

Take Two spent millions negotiating and administering a settlement because the court refused to rule on its decertification motion last year; that wasted effort demonstrates why it is important for courts to resolve certification questions early in the case. But with no certified class, there can be no class settlement...

Frank, who joined the class and filed objections to the proposed settlement, wonders whether there will be an appeal.

The judge's ruling may be found here...

Will Wright's Spore, due for a September 7th release, is one of most anticipated PC titles ever.

But, as CNN reports, some users of the Creature Creator utility, released last month, have built animals which are apparently intent on breeding. Or, at least coupling.

...Buried among the more wholesome attempts [at Spore creature creation] were two-legged dancing testicles, a "giant breast monster" and a four-legged, "phallic fornication machine," for starters...

 

For EA, the developer of "Spore," it's the downside to tapping into the booming user-generated content arena, which has made sites like YouTube, Flickr, MySpace, Facebook and Second Life so popular... Many of the popular user-generated content sites have faced similar challenges in trying to control obscene material...

 

The creatures are not just static. Users can create animated scenarios for the characters to engage in, some of which include sexually graphic acts.

When EA got word of the "Sporn" creations, it began working with YouTube to pull them down. Spore executive producer Lucy Bradshaw told CNN:

Whether it's modeling clay, dolls or crayons, a small number of people can be counted on to use it for something vulgar.

CNN also spoke to the "Spornmaster," a 37-year-old man who has created a number of reproductively equipped Sporn creatures:

I admit it is silly and juvenile, but I don't think there's anything perverted, vile or awful about it. If people find it offensive, they can simply not search for it online. No one is forcing anyone to see this content.

One Spore fan told CNN:

I consider this very similar to child pornography, at least to the extent of distributing the material to children.

GP: Buzzfeed has additional NSFW links...

Connecticut State Senator Gayle Slossberg (D) is eager to do something about the rape scene in Grand Theft Auto IV, she told the New Haven Advocate.

But she faces a major hurdle: There is no rape scene in the controversial game.

From the newspaper story:

[Sen. Slossberg] wants confirmation of the rumored rape scene in Grand Theft Auto IV—but she can't reach that level of the game. The Milford state senator's never played GTA, but she fears it's corrupting the youth and thinks a law requiring better warning labels might be the fix. She told the Nose as much at a Capitol press conference last week...

 

Slossberg hints she'll... introduce legislation next session calling for clearer labeling of depraved video games like Grand Theft Auto...  Slossberg's a bit unsure of how the warning labels might read: "I mean what would it say? 'This game will make you a sociopath'?"

The New York Times takes a look at the controversy surrounding legal fees sought by attorneys in the Hot Coffee class-action suit.

Seth Lesser, lead counsel for the plaintiffs, told the NYT he was disappointed that only 2,676 buyers of GTA San Andreas filed claims:

Am I disappointed? Sure. We can’t guess as to why now, several years later, people care or don’t care. The merits of the case were clear... The game was sold as something that it wasn’t.

As previously reported by GamePolitics (see: Did Lawyers Inflate Fees in Hot Coffee Class-action Suit?), Lesser and his legal colleagues are seeking $1.3 in fees. Meanwhile, defense attorneys for GTA publisher Take-Two say it only cost them $30,000 to defend the case.

University of Kentucky law prof Mary Davis told the Times:

It doesn’t typically go that way. [To have legal fees far exceed what plaintiffs receive] is sort of backwards.

Ted Frank, an attorney who also writes for the Overlawyered blog, commented:

There are two possibilities. Possibility one is they have a meritorious lawsuit and they’re selling out the class for attorneys’ fees. The other possibility is that, and frankly I think this is the more likely possibility, they brought a meritless lawsuit that had no business being brought to court at all.

The Times also ponders why GTA's non-stop violence is seemingly more acceptable than the Hot Coffee sex animations. Here the newspaper turns to Craig Anderson, an Iowa State prof whose research on game violence and aggression is accepted in some quarters, disputed in others:

For some reason sex is seen as more harmful to kids than violence. The irony is that in terms of the research literature on harmful effects of various forms of media, television, movies, video games, the research is very, very clear. There are significant short-term and long-term effects of violent content.

A hearing on the proposed settlement is scheduled in U.S. District Court in Manhattan today.

UPDATE: Overlawyered's Ted Frank posts his impressions of the June 25th hearing...

The Chief Judge of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court is under scrutiny for maintaining a personal website with graphic sexual images while at the same time presiding over a closely-watched obscenity trial.

Judge Alex Kozinski, as GamePolitics has reported in the past, is a video game fan who has authored game reviews for the Wall Street Journal.

According to this morning's Los Angeles Times:

Kozinski acknowledged posting sexual content on his website. Among the images on the site were a photo of naked women on all fours painted to look like cows and a video of a half-dressed man cavorting with a sexually aroused farm animal. He defended some of the adult content as "funny" but conceded that other postings were inappropriate.
 

The obscenity trial over which Kozinski was presiding included charges related to images of bestiality. At the request of the prosecutor, Kozinski issued a 48-hour stay of the proceedings.

There's an additional video game connection, of sorts. California's appeal of a lower court ruling which found the state's 2005 video game law unconstitutional is currently before the 9th Circuit. There's no reason to expect that Judge Kozinski's problems would impact the Court's review of the video game law, however.