Warning: The above clip contains heavy profanity.

Source: Gamepolitics

Have you ever looked at the back of a video game box and wondered what the heck “Experience may change during online play” in the ESRB descriptor means? Or have you actually had to suffer through an online Halo match where some prepubescent brat on the other end dropped racial slurs and f-bombs to the delight of his elementary school buddies? Sadly, there are a lot of jerkwads on X-Box Live who have no shame about blurting choice vocabulary words whenever they can. But according to Gamepolitics today, that will change very soon.

Microsoft has just received a patent for a real-time language censorer that will comb audio streams over XBox Live and block out the Big F. The device works, according to GP’s source Ars Technica, by monitoring phonemes and overriding recognizable words with silence or beeps.

It’s certainly impressive and could prove useful, but I have one issue with it. Is it optional? If it can be turned on and off at the user’s leisure then that’s great, but if it’s a static feature, then that reeks a little of forced censorship. Hopefully Microsoft will take it easy in this area.

The Nintendo DS is, without question, the best portable console currently available. Not only does it have a metric ton of good software in comparison to the PSP, it’s compact, innovative, and uniquely designed.

Yet still, you can’t help but feel that it’s capable of so much more. There are things the DS could do that’s regrettably absent out of the box. MP3 support? Video playback? Built in internet applications (Pictochat doesn’t count)? This thing was practically tailor-made to be a multimedia device.

That’s where homebrew comes in. For an admissible fee, you can make your DS do all the things it was meant to do. I’ve had my CycloDS Evolutionfor a couple of weeks now, and I gotta say, it’s been taking up an ungodly amount of my time. From playing Leisure Suit Larry to running NES ROMs to using my DS as an mp3 player for the car, I’ve gotten more entertainment out of $ 100 than is possible at that price. To show off all my favorite applications (and to give you a good idea of what homebrew is capable of) I’ve compiled a list of essential software. In no particular order:

NESDS

Website Note: Link is temporarily or permanently dead.  NESDS can be found in other places, however.

There are a few DS NES emulators floating around on the web, but NESDS is undoubtedly the best. It has full speed support, decent compatibility (a few mappers still don’t work, or serve up interesting glitches) and good sound playback. Hopefully the next update will make it even better.

DSReader

Website

Imagine being able to carry the entire Project Gutenberglibrary around in your pocket. For organizing and viewing .txt files, DSReader is your best bet. It’s got a clean interface and support for TrueType fonts. Just load and read.

LemmingsDS

Website

Lemmings! Who can resist the classic strategy game, where you guide dozens of brainless creatures across hundreds of hazardous maps? A direct port of the Amiga game, it features all 292 levels from the original Lemmings as well as the expansion packs.

DSOrganize

Website

A must have for anyone wanting some more professional utilities at their fingertips. It seeks to turn the DS into something resembling a palm pilot and features (among other things) an address book, day planner, and fully-functional IRC chat client. There’s also a web browser included, but I wasn’t too impressed with it. One other thing I like is that it can patch ROMS for further compatibility with your homebrew unit.

DSVideo

Website

I don’t know about you, but there’s something nifty about being able to watch .mpg and .avi files on your DS. DSVideo is currently my favorite app for video playback. With the use of a simple encoder, you can port your favorite movies or TV shows and carry them around with you. Awesome.

Scummvm DS

Website

I’m amazed that Lucasarts hasn’t released their entire back catalog for the DS by now. Scummvm DS, a port of the ScummVM emulator, allows you to play all those old point-and-click adventure games on your DS. And what’s this? You can run all the Sierra AGI titles as well! Leisure Suit Larry, King’s Quest, Space Quest, Police Quest… oh yes, you want this.

Currently lacking- Homebrew that should be

16 bit emulation- For those wanting Super Metroid, Chrono Trigger, or Toejam and Earl, emulation for 16 bit consoles still has a long way to go. SNESDS shows promise (Note: Link is temporarily or permanently dead) but the incompatibility list is still staggering. Hopefully a team of coders will step up and bring us something wonderful. Until then…

Web browsers- The closest alternative to the commercial Opera browser that I could find was DSHobro, and it still wasn’t what I was looking for. All other options were either clunky or just plain didn’t work. Decent web surfing on the DS is still a ways down the road.

Sources: Joystiq, Kotaku

Newcomers and veterans of Bullworth Academy are apparently none too pleased about the XBox 360 version of Bully: Scholarship Edition. Widespread reports all over the internet have pointed out freezing, framerate issues, and audio glitches.

After it became evident that the issue was on a large scale, Rockstar Games issued a statement:

We have just become aware of the issues people are having with Bully Scholarship Edition on Xbox 360. It appears that some older 360s are experiencing framerate issues, freezes and other problems. You have our word that we never experienced any of this in QA – in any of our offices or at Microsoft. I am horrified, and we are now working around the clock to rectify this situation. Thanks to Neo-Gaf for bringing this matter to our attention. We love our games and put a huge amount of energy and care into making them all that they can be. We would never shove anything out the door – we never have and never will. We apologise to everyone affected for the inconvenience. Respectfully, Sam Houser

It’s good to know that Rockstar Games (according to this statement, anyway) is on top of the issue. And speaking of Bully, I recently rediscovered my love for the game (the PS2 version). Perhaps a (somewhat late) review is in order soon.

Sources: Gamepolitics, Joystiq

Boy, does time never cease to stop flying.

It seems like only last week that the hotly anticipated Bully finally arrived, easily alluding attempts to get it banned or declared a ‘public nuisance’. Review scores were positive, and gamers the world over couldn’t get enough of rough (but likable) Jimmy Hopkins and his schoolyard misadventures. Although the game was shorter and easier compared to the series that popularized its engine, it was a wonderful and nostalgic experience.

Today, Rockstar released a revised version for the Xbox 360 and Wii consoles. Bully: Scholarship Edition features four new classes, eight more missions, extra items, two player mini-games, and online multiplayer. For those who bought the original PS2 edition, that’s more than enough bonus content to justify repurchase.

Unfortunately, history repeats itself with the frequency that the years pass. Once again, Bully’s release was followed by controversy. According to The Globe and Mail, a coalition known as the Canadian Teachers’ Federation (representing eight teachers unions in several countries) is calling for the game to be banned.

“We’re asking retailers to be responsible,” Emily Noble, president of the Canadian Teachers’ Federation, said Monday. “Yes, they can sell it and make a buck out of this, but is this the kind of marketing that they want to be [doing], selling games that glorify violence?”

[...]

“What it does is it encourages kids to target other kids, to be a bully with other kids. This doesn’t help us as teachers in the work that we’re doing at school. It also targets teachers at the school as well,” Ms. Noble said.

You’d think that the amount of time since Bully was released would’ve been long enough for the CTF to, you know, actually play the game. The counterargument– that you really assume the role of an underdog who brings down cliques that are dominating the weaker students– has been established hundreds of times by now. Bully’s content is on par with a PG-13 movie, and its violence as brutal as River City Ransom.

If Sierra’s entire AGI library is re-released, maybe the CTF can rail against Leisure Suit Larry. Or hey, I hear Golgo 13 on the NES is pretty racy.

Talk about easy targets…

After all the hype, censorship, legal threats, political yammering, rating refusals, and rampant idiocy surrounding “Manhunt 2″, the game is finally scheduled for release tomorrow- just in time for my favorite of all holidays. It’s certainly been a long and grueling stab in the ankle, for the future of the game as well as those who kept up with the anti-fun giblet storm.

In a not-uncommon development, reviews of the game have already begun pouring in. As of this moment (10:53 AM EST), Metacritic has given “Manhunt 2″ a score of ‘71′ for the Playstation 2 version and a ‘69′ for the Wii, which equates to ‘mixed or average’ according to the site. There is currently no percentage on Rotten Tomatoes.

While not astonishingly terrible (a starting score of 30 would be something to worry about) it’s not really a good start. But you can expect the scores to change dramatically over the next few days, after the game has actually been released. The lowest score so far (that I know of) is a ‘40′ from 1UP (4.0, ‘bad’) The highest is a ‘92′ from NGamerUK (no link avaliable… hey wait a minute, UK!?)

The original “Manhunt” on the Playstation 2 has a score of ‘76′, or “generally favorable”

In other news, Gamepolitics reported this morning about the possibility of “Manhunt 2″ actually being released today. I wouldn’t be surprised, but that will require some investigation on my own part. It’s normal for games to be released on Tuesday (and everybody, including me, is going to be busy tomorrow), but come on, blood and gore goes with Halloween like a knife through a turkey.

Steve Urkel once guest-starred on “Full House”. The pain. The pain! (poeTV)

The UK battle over “Manhunt 2” continues. (Gamepolitics)

Microsoft is cracking down on profane gamer mottos. (Joystiq)

The Angry Video Game Nerd posted a review of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” Atari 2600 game. Possibly NSFW due to language. (Gametrailers)

Saw V is scheduled for an October 2008 release. Enough already! (ComingSoon.net)

Filthy tears apart The Heartbreak Kid. NSFW, language. (The Filthy Critic)

Nintendo Vice President: No Wii Price cut soon. (Game Revolution)

Classic “South Park”. I’m tired of these language warnings, go for it. (poeTV)

Gamers who have avoided the Playstation 3 because of its abominable $ 599 price tag may finally be getting a well-needed break– sort of.

Gamespot reported a couple of days ago that a stripped down, $ 399 PS3 will be hitting North American shores on November 2, at least according to The Hollywood Reporter. Given that the lite version of the console has already been announced for Europe, this report is likely true.

The 40GB model will be the cheapest Blu-Ray player currently available, and will actually cost less than the Xbox 360’s $ 449 Elite model. Finally, those of us with more lint than crisp bills in our pockets will be able to play the anticipated games on the horizon. Unfortunately…

Unsurprisingly, the Reporter also says the console will have the same stripped-down form factor as the European 40GB PS3, with just two USB ports, no memory card readers, and the still-baffling lack of software-based backward compatibility.

The 2 USB ports I could easily deal with. But no memory card slots or backward compatibility? That’s a major letdown. Given how tremendous the back catalog of Playstation titles is, and the fact that most of the good games are (currently) on the older systems, what’s the deal here?

On the other hand,  the Playstation 2 still widely available and very affordable. But if you don’t own one and have to shell out the extra $ 130 just to have it next to your neutered PS3, guess how much you’ll end up spending.

Last December, things were relatively quiet here at Quad’s Corner (then called “World 7″). I had just set up the blog a couple of months earlier, and wasn’t really sure what to do with it. On a whim, I decided to write a short little piece on Left Behind Games and their ever-so-controversial RTS game, “Left Behind: Eternal Forces”. I don’t think I offered much of an opinion or peppered the post with my usual sarcastic spite; I was merely repeating what I’d heard elsewhere.

Shortly after making the post, I received a response in the comments section. It was from a ‘representative’ of Left Behind Games (a.k.a. a spambot) and said the following:

This statement is posted from an employee of Left Behind Games on behalf of Troy Lyndon, our Chief Executive Officer.

There has been in incredible amount of MISINFORMATION published in the media and in online blogs here and elsewhere.

Pacifist Christians and other groups are taking the game material out of context to support their own causes. There is NO “killing in the name of God” and NO “convert or die”. There are NO “negative portrayals of Muslims” and there are NO “points for killing”.

Please play the game demo for yourself (to at least level 5 of 40) to get an accurate perspective, or listen to what CREDIBLE unbiased experts are saying after reviewing the game at www.leftbehindgames.com/pages/controversy.com

Then, we’d love to hear your feedback as an informed player.

The reality is that we’re receiving reports everyday of how this game is positively affecting lives by all who play it.

Thank you for taking the time to be a responsible blogger.

At first I was all excited, because hey, Left Behind Games considered ME and my fledgling blog important enough to leave a response! It wasn’t until later that I found out the exact same message had been sent to everybody else who happened to have written an “Eternal Forces” related post. Type any portion of that into Google and you’ll find several examples of it. LBG had merely been using a bot to crawl around the web and fire off a rebuttal. Why a game company would feel the need to do that– even if the rumors going around made them look bad– still strikes me as out of the ordinary.

I never downloaded that demo, by the way. Trying to read the crappy books in high school was bad enough, and there are a lot of other games I’d rather finish. (“Silent Hill 4″, woohoo!) I’ll never know for certain whether or not there is “convert or die” or “killing in the name of God” in the game, but I have heard reports from people who DID play it- and according to them, those elements are in fact present in”Eternal Forces.” Or they aren’t. And you get penalized for killing… or you don’t. It’s all very confusing. Since I don’t care enough about the game to find out for myself, I’ll have to remain in the dark.

According to a story posted on Gamepolitics this morning (which had links to other sources) LBG is still going out of their way to convince bloggers that “EF” is being misrepresented… only this time, they’re backing it with legal force. Several people have been hit up with angry letters demanding that false information be deleted, lest they face consequences.

Here’s a snippet of a LBG legal threat, from Gameology:

… Unfortunately, there are many statements on your website which appear to be false and misleading. This type of misinformation may cause significant and irreparable harm to Left Behind Games Inc. and must be removed.Left Behind Games Inc. generally supports free speech in the media and understands how important it is to have various opinions presented for public consumption. It will not, however, tolerate the publication of information regarding its products that is false or misleading.

Left Behind Games Inc. is demanding that you immediately remove any and all information contained on your site about the above stated game that is false and/or misleading, including any such statements or commentary and the responses thereto. This includes posted comments made by others in the context of reading the incorrect or misleading statements.

If you do not comply immediately, the company will be forced to pursue additional legal action which will include claims for damages, costs of suit and attorney’s fees. This may subject you and your organization to significant legal and financial damages…

First of all, it’s always been my belief that anybody who ever says “I’m for freedom of speech, BUT…” is clearly NOT for freedom of speech. Second, if LBG honestly considers comments on some random dude’s page a serious threat to their company, really, how significant are they? If word of mouth is enough to put them out of business, that doesn’t put them in a very positive light. Right now I’m looking at them and seeing the local high school library lunch break D&D club, not a group of guys with scary lawyers at their beck and call.

What kind of game company would have the gall to do this? That’s not a rhetorical question, I’m seriously asking. Nintendo has never threatened people for saying that Mario is an Italian stereotype. Rockstar and Take-Two Interactive didn’t sue modders or subpoena game websites when the ‘Hot Coffee’ controversy broke out. Capcom isn’t telling bloggers they’ll be financially ruined for saying “Resident Evil 5″ looks racist, and Microsoft didn’t bully the guy who pointed out that “Halo 3″ doesn’t actually display in HD. Bethesda Softworks LLC was nice to me after I said “Where’s Waldo?” was the worst game ever. This is something that, as far as I know, no one else has ever done, and it’s staggeringly ridiculous.

Furthermore, what LBG doesn’t seem to realize is that controversy usually promotes sales. People who keep hearing about a game and the awful things it allegedly contains are naturally going to want to buy it out of curiosity. Perhaps the lackluster success of “Eternal Forces” is due to it being a lousy product, not any allegations of glorifying extremism as the company claims.

Resorting to legal intimidation because an individual or group is speaking out against a product, even if their words aren’t necessarily based on reality, is a sign of weakness and desperation. I’m going to make the following statement to Left Behind Games now, at the risk of it being labeled “false”or “misleading”:

You are all pussies.

When I was a kid, TurboGrafx-16 was one of those consoles that I wanted solely because of the name. I mean, come on. ‘TurboGrafx-16′. It didn’t just have Grafx, it had turbo Grafx, and that ‘16′ suffix made it all the better because it was a number higher than ‘8′. Incidentally, that’s the same reason I wanted an Atari Jaguar (RARRRW!) for about a day and a half.

Alas, I never claimed a TurboGrafx-16 as my own, mostly because I never saw one. The game section (more specifically, ‘corner’) at our local ghetto Wal-Mart was dominated by Sega and Nintendo products, and absolutely nothing else. I grew up assuming that the TG-16 was a fantasy some kids at school had collaborated on for a creative writing assignment.

Evidently it wasn’t though, as the Nintendo Wii Virtual Console has effectively demonstrated. Since the debut of the system and its emulation service nearly a year ago, over a dozen TG-16 titles have been added to the North American menu, allowing me to play the games that didn’t exist in my little closed off Seahaven.

Like a lot of the big ‘we’re totally amazing and awesome’ consoles of the early-to-mid 90s, the TG-16 was given a CD add-on. Although it was the first system to do such a thing, it didn’t have the impact that Nippon Electric Company (NEC) hoped it would.

Two of the TurboCD’s offerings (‘Gate of Thunder’ and (‘Super Air Zonk’) will be added to the Virtual Console, according to Gamespot, although they won’t be on discs and hey, waitaminute- the Wii only has 512 MB of internal memory. How is downloading a 700 MB CD supposed to work out? Obviously a lot of compression has been involved with these downloads.

From what I’m seen of the discussion after the GameSpot story, there’s a lot more history about NEC and their ill-fated CD add-on, so be sure to check it out.

Nintendo DS: 50 million units in less than three years (Game Revolution)

This is easily the most depressing thing I’ve seen all week. Have something on hand to vomit in. (poeTV)

And this is the most annoying thing I’ve seen all week, but at least it will wash the taste of bile out of your mouth if you viewed that last clip. (poeTV)

More “Halo 3” woes. First scratched discs, now some guys claiming that it’s not actually HD. (Joystiq)

Nintendo doesn’t give developers enough credit, leaves their names off packaging spines. (Kotaku)

Resident Evil: Extinction has a current metacritic score of 42 and was number one at the box office last weekend. Metacritic score for the previous RE movie: 35. (Metacritic, CNN)

“Chuck”, a new show about a nerd with a computer in his brain, has earned a ‘generally favorable’ response from critics. (Metacritic)

Can I get away with one more Metacritic link? “Halo 3” has earned (so far) a 95. (Metacritic)

A boy did NOT strangle his sister over “Bioshock” (Destructoid)