other gamers here?

[RobsanX]

This is actually a great time to get into ME, with the 3rd installment coming next March. It was supposed to be out this Fall, but apparently got pushed back.

I know, it's amazing! I'm on my second full playthrough. I have a paragon male Shep ready for ME 3, and I'm about done through ME 1 with a renegade Femshep.

[sirloot]

Video game murder, gore, sexual assault ok for minors. Just don't show them an uncovered boob!

yeah when did it become the state or federal govt's job to protect kids .. aint that what parents are for ?

[spirit72]

I know I'm a little late to the game, but I got a new PC, and I've been playing Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2. I like them so much I bought the novels set in the ME universe. Pretty awesome!

This is actually a great time to get into ME, with the 3rd installment coming next March. It was supposed to be out this Fall, but apparently got pushed back.

[RobsanX]

Video game murder, gore, sexual assault ok for minors. Just don't show them an uncovered boob!

Court: Calif. can't ban violent video game sales

By JESSE J. HOLLAND, Associated Press 16 mins ago

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on Monday refused to let California clamp down on the sale or rental of violent video games to children, saying governments lack authority to "restrict the ideas to which children may be exposed" despite complaints that the popular and fast-changing technology allows the young to simulate acts of brutality.

On a 7-2 vote, the high court upheld a federal appeals court decision to throw out California's ban on the sale or rental of violent video games to minors. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Sacramento had ruled that the law violated minors' rights under the First Amendment, and the high court agreed.
"No doubt a state possesses legitimate power to protect children from harm," said Justice Antonin Scalia, who wrote the majority opinion. "But that does not include a free-floating power to restrict the ideas to which children may be exposed."

Video game makers and sellers celebrated their victory, saying the decision puts them on the same legal footing as other forms of entertainment. "There now can be no argument whether video games are entitled to the same protection as books, movies, music, and other expressive entertainment," said Bo Andersen, president and CEO of the Entertainment Merchants Association.

More than 46 million American households have at least one video-game system, with the industry bringing in at least $18 billion in 2010.

But at least two justices, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito, indicated they would be willing to reconsider his vote throwing out the law, taking issue with the sweep of the court's holding.
"I would not squelch legislative efforts to deal with what is perceived by some to be a significant and developing social problem," Alito said, suggesting that a narrower state law might be upheld.

And an unlikely duo, conservative-leaning Clarence Thomas and liberal-leaning Stephen Breyer, agreed that the California video game ban should have been upheld, but for different reasons.

Breyer said the court's decision creates an insurmountable conflict in the First Amendment, especially considering that justices have upheld bans on the sale of pornography to children.

"What sense does it make to forbid selling to a 13-year-old boy a magazine with an image of a nude woman, while protecting the sale to that 13-year-old of an interactive video game in which he actively, but virtually, binds and gags the woman, then tortures and kills her?" Breyer said. "What kind of First Amendment would permit the government to protect children by restricting sales of that extremely violent video game only when the woman — bound, gagged, tortured and killed — is also topless."
And Thomas said the majority read something into the First Amendment that isn't there.

"The practices and beliefs of the founding generation establish that "the freedom of speech," as originally understood, does not include a right to speak to minors (or a right of minors to access speech) without going through the minors' parents or guardians," Thomas wrote.

California's 2005 law would have prohibited anyone under 18 from buying or renting games that give players the option of "killing, maiming, dismembering, or sexually assaulting an image of a human being." Parents would have been able to buy the games for their children, but retailers who sell directly to minors would have faced fines of up to $1,000 for each game sold.

That means that children would have needed an adult to get games like "Postal 2," the first-person shooter by developer Running With Scissors that features the ability to light unarmed bystanders on fire. It would also apply to the popular "Grand Theft Auto IV," a third-person shoot-'em-up from Rockstar Games that allows gamers to portray carjacking, gun-toting gangsters.

The California law never took effect. Lower courts have said the law violates minors' constitutional rights, and that California lacked enough evidence to prove that violent games cause physical and psychological harm to minors. Courts in six other states, including Michigan and Illinois, reached similar conclusions, striking down similar bans.

Unlike depictions of "sexual conduct," Scalia said, there is no tradition in the United States of restricting children's access to depictions of violence, pointing out the violence in the original depiction of many popular children's fairy tales like Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella and Snow White.

Hansel and Gretel kill their captor by baking her in an oven, Cinderella's evil stepsisters have their eyes pecked out by doves and the evil queen in Snow White is forced to wear red hot slippers and dance until she is dead, Scalia said.

"Certainly the books we give children to read — or read to them when they are younger — contain no shortage of gore," Scalia added.

And there is no definitive proof that violent video games causes harm to children, or any more harm than another other form of entertainment, he said.

One doctor "admits that the same effects have been found when children watch cartoons starring Bugs Bunny or the Road Runner or when they play video games like Sonic the Hedgehog that are rated `E' or even when they `view a picture of a gun," Scalia said. "Of course, California has (wisely) declined to restrict Saturday morning cartoon, the sale of games rated for young children, or the distribution of pictures of guns."

The case is Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association, 08-1448.

[xrt]

I've been playing alot of CoD : World at War these days, the flamethrower perk is pretty sweet to clear buildings.
And NHL 11 on Xbox, just waiting for the demo to be released in August.

[deadohsky]

I'll find out next week when i get it from steam. Hopefully it was just cracked issues. I'm probably one of the few to never have xp, but with most of my older games, minus diablo 2, if i encountered any problems running it on windows 7, compatibility mode corrected the issue(s).

Does anyone remember Flicky? I first found out about the character from playing sonic on the genesis back in the day. There was actually a stand alone game that i didn't know about until about a year ago. You control the titular character (a bird) and your goal is to help chicks escape tigers to an exit door. It's surprisingly addictive. I first played it on the Ultimate genesis collection for 360 but just found it on steam the other day for $3. Great time waster.

[void]

It was a cracked version. I don't like demos so games i'm not sure on, i'll get a cracked version to check it out before i buy it. I'm having troubles pulling them up now, but if i remember correctly, people were having issues with the legit release as well, something to do with dual core CPUs. I was curious becuase i loved what i was able to play of it and wanted to purchase the Call of Duty Battlechest or whatever it's called on Steam, but not if it's going to have the same issue. Probably just have to risk it and see.

I downloaded cracked version of mafia 2 when it came out and it had lots of graphics etc errors so it might be just cracked version issues.
But dunno, it's "old" game and it might have errors even in legit version. But it think that errors is cause by vista or 7 with xp older games use to run like a charm.

[deadohsky]

Sorry, no. :/ Like you said im only multiplayer.
With vista i had some problems in multiplayer, lagspikes etc.. But not with 7.
Is it legal version of game? I ask cause some cracked games have weird problems like that.

It was a cracked version. I don't like demos so games i'm not sure on, i'll get a cracked version to check it out before i buy it. I'm having troubles pulling them up now, but if i remember correctly, people were having issues with the legit release as well, something to do with dual core CPUs. I was curious becuase i loved what i was able to play of it and wanted to purchase the Call of Duty Battlechest or whatever it's called on Steam, but not if it's going to have the same issue. Probably just have to risk it and see.

[void]

Have you had any issues with Call of Duty 2? I reluctantly gave up on it recently. I'm more into single player than multiplayer so you may have no idea what i'm talking about but; i got to a point where health just stopped regenerating and if i got shot once i was dead. It made it impossible to continue. I searched around online and tried a few of the fixes recommended for the problem but to no avail.

Sorry, no. :/ Like you said im only multiplayer.
With vista i had some problems in multiplayer, lagspikes etc.. But not with 7.
Is it legal version of game? I ask cause some cracked games have weird problems like that.

[deadohsky]

I use pc for gaming and only Call of Duty 2 and 4.

Have you had any issues with Call of Duty 2? I reluctantly gave up on it recently. I'm more into single player than multiplayer so you may have no idea what i'm talking about but; i got to a point where health just stopped regenerating and if i got shot once i was dead. It made it impossible to continue. I searched around online and tried a few of the fixes recommended for the problem but to no avail.

[deadohsky]

It's cool that you can just continue to play on the controller after switching video sources although the controller looks too bulky for my tastes. Really, my only remaining interest in nintendo is mario games.

[Veganpunk]

The Wii U. Not what I was expecting.

http://www.1up.com/news/nintendo-new-system-wii-u

[CM]

These days playing mainly BC2 vietnam..And waiting for BF3 and Warhammer 40K DMO. : )

[void]

Welcome to the forum void!

Thank you!

[sgreger1]

I use pc for gaming and only Call of Duty 2 and 4.

Welcome to the forum void!