A petition on the internet (boy, I love typing that) has been public for about a week, collecting signatures from thousands of gamers who want Ubisoft to port “The Division” for the PC.

The petition was started by a gentlemen named Sean Tyler of Georgetown, Texas and as of this writing has over 70,000 signatories.

The petition states:

Tom Clancy’s The Division should be released for PC for many reasons but the most important one is that the release of this amazing game will only be for consoles…This leaves out those of us who like playing games on our PC’s more than console. This leaves out those of us who can only play on PC for whatever reason or are best on PC, whatever the case maybe.
Continue reading “Over 70,000 Sign Petition Demanding THE DIVISION For PC (Probably Isn’t Going To Happen)” »

BALMY CONVENTION CENTER, LOS ANGELES – The votes are in, gamers have declared Microsoft the winner of this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3).

Sony, the company that made the Discman still sitting in that one box in your attic, came in a distant second.

The polling was sampled from a selective sub-set of gamers, some who were attending E3 for their first time, others who were at the convention for what they thought was a car show and ended up staying when they saw a Lamborghini McLaren F1 P1 in the Microsoft exhibit. Continue reading “Gamers Declare Microsoft Winner of E3” »

I received a number of negative reactions, many of which stated that roles are superfluous and that genders are built on structures that society teaches, resulting in behaviors that are not dictated by nature. I was called sexist for assuming that men should be held accountable for their actions and that women shouldn’t actively try to rob men of the messaging meant to communicate these responsibilities. Continue reading “Dear Kotaku: Are We All Just Sexist?” »

Video emerged this week of Adam “Pac Man” Jones, an NFL player who plays for the Cincinnati Bengals, violently slapping a woman across the face at a Cincinnati establishment. According to video of the event, Jones had two woman came up to him, one of which appeared to throw a bottle in his face, to which Jones proceded to deck her with his left hand.

While Jones turned himself in on the assault charge, he has pled NOT GUILTY. Jones, however, was quick to go on the defense and state that he was merely defending himself.

Your Tax Dollars at Work

We now know the XBOX One needs to connect to the internet at least once over a twenty four hour period, or else you will not be allowed to play video games. Why?

Microsoft needs to “verify if system, application or game updates are needed and to see if you have acquired new games, or resold, traded in, or given your game to a friend.”

This all comes on the shoulders of one of the most monumental intelligence leaks in the history of the United States, which reveals a potentially dangerous relationship between Microsoft and the U.S. government. A relationship where the government can access your hypothetical, private data — which with the new XBOX One specs, could include the ability to recognize your face, count how many people are with you in a room, and even track your heartbeat. Continue reading “XBOX One’s Problems Show XBOX One is The Last of Our Problems” »

We last featured Richie Branson for his efforts to bring back Toonami.

This week we received notice that the artist who made rapping about Anime and Nintendo famous has made it onto the Billboard Charts for his Chrono Trigger inspired album “From Guardia with Love“.

Branson tells us the album debuted in the following spots:

#4 First week release on the Billboard Rap Chart
#69 Overall Billboard Rap Chart
#6 First week release on the Billboard R&B Chart
#106 Overall Billboard R&B Chart
#140 Overall Billboard New Artist Chart

“I feel that many fans of the series have been waiting a long time for a true hip-hop tribute to all things Chrono. I’m sure the use of Chrono Trigger samples in popular songs by mainstream rappers only intensified the hunger for an artist to actually spit actual references to the game, as opposed to wasting such awesome beats to simply rap about the same tired subjects.

Having “From Guardia With Love” chart as a top 100 rap album proves that there is definitely an audience searching for a different type of hip-hop. If nothing else, I just wanted to prove that there is a place on the charts for the type of music I make. Consider this the “shot heard round the world” in the war for better hip-hop.”

In terms of what Richie wants to achieve in the future, he believes this can be JUST the beginning for rap artists interested in bringing video game music into the mainstream.

“It’s just surreal to see my album right up there with other big names like Wiz Khalifa, Odd Future, Big K.R.I.T. and Snoop Dogg…I feel like I can certainly improve on my numbers when I release my next album. This may sound a little ambitious, but with the help of my supporters and fans, I will deliver a top-10 billboard charting album by year’s end.”
Below is a playlist of the songs on the album, in addition to a link to the purhcase page.

From us here at The Jace Hall Show, congrats to Richie for the success and keep on making on video game inspired music!

WDAM.COM – TV 7 – News, Weather and Sports

A 10 year old boy was credited with saving the day when two burglars disguised as delivery men tried to break into his apartment complex. The robbers were packing heat and a couple of delivery boxes, as shown in the above video. What they weren’t armed with was the expectation that a 10 year old boy would be able to stop them.

According to the above video, the men brushed past two teenage girls at the front door and and told them to get on the ground. They proceeded to move upstairs to one of the bedrooms. When they tried to make their way in, a 40 year old woman shut the door on their arm, freeing the man’s firearm. Continue reading “10 Year Old Boy Foils Robbery Using Burglar’s Firearm” »

Once again the unabashed  mission to emasculate men rears its head in every area it can find. For those of you who happened to see Iron Man 3, did you notice anything odd about the ending? (spoiler alert!)

Perhaps the fact that at the end of the movie, after doing everything he possibly can, Iron Man is completely defeated by the bad guy – and then suddenly out of the blue, Pepper Potts not only saves him but entirely defeats the bad guy on her own in less than 2 minutes.

Now if you are sitting there thinking, ‘so what, why can’t a female save a male character’s life’ you are clouding your mind with your own political issues and missing my entire point so I ask you to please read this article closely. The question you should be asking is, ‘why in a film about Iron MAN, called Iron MAN, with Iron MAN on the cover of the poster, am I watching Pepper Potts save the entire day alone and unaided?’ Continue reading “Was Iron Man 3 Ruined By A Woman?” »

Most rap artists today have become notorious for spitting out rhymes reminiscent of life in a club or inside a Lamborghini — suffice to say, a lifestyle that doesn’t resonate with most of the general public.

That isn’t to say there aren’t a few emcees standing out with lyrics relevant to those of us in the gaming/science world. Wu-Tang Clan’s GZA a.k.a. The Genius is stepping out and is dedicating his next album, Dark Matter, to his studies and experience working in science, some of which was spent with M.I.T. researchers.

“I was interested in science from an early age, but not to the point where I wanted to go to school and be a physicist — I just liked learning about the elements and knowing we are part of this whole universe structure. It’s something to write about,” GZA said in an interview with Hip Hop Wired. Continue reading “Wu-Tang’s GZA and Science Geeks Form Bond to Bring Hip Hop Music to the Masses [Video]” »

Okay I get it, Microsoft didn’t exactly live up to the expectations of many dedicated gamers with their XBOX One reveal event — what was supposed to be an announcement for the console leading us into the next generation of gaming ending up being a dog and pony show for execs to brag about the XBOX One as a glorified cable box.

What inevitably became the poster child for the conference that treated games like an afterthought?

Dogs. Highly detailed, gorgeous looking canines with snouts so real and ears so pointy you could seemingly reach out and touch them. Continue reading “Why We Should Go Ahead and Stop Making Fun of DOGS in COD: Ghosts” »

It was a littler over eight years ago that Microsoft began giving audiences glimpses at the 360, by playing a little “game” called ourcolony, which allowed large groups of users to team up and peel away photos of the new console in all of its glory.

A more formal announcement was carried over onto MTV in a special dedicated to the “revealing of the next gen console”, a few weeks later.

Sony took a more conventional approach with the PS3 and mainly featured the console at E3 2005, showing off a slew of trailers and letting fans know that backwards compatibility was an option (at least initially).

Both consoles had announcements that were substantially smaller in scale than what we saw from the PS4 and XBOX One, respectively, but their initial releases saw little bearing on the product’s result now eight years later. Continue reading “Why History Tells Us Console Reveals Don’t Really Matter” »

The much balleyhooed XBOX Reveal Event overtook the internet today, and splashed in between the proverbial oohs and ahs was the announcement that the next XBOX a.k.a. XBOX One would not be backwards compatible.

“The system is based on a different core architecture, so back-compat doesn’t really work from that perspective,” said Microsoft’s Marc Whitten in an interview with The Verge.

While we’re yet to know if this applies to XBLA games, we can assume only games intended for the XBOX ONE will work on the XBOX ONE.

Never mind that the event Reveal Event mostly focused on Steven Spielberg making a TV Show, a franchise whose boldest move was adding dogs, and the bromance that is EA Sports and Microsoft — the angst coming from gamers is that you can’t play old games on a new console.

Case in point: Continue reading “XBOX One Announces No Backwards Compatibility; Crybabies Commence Complaining” »

From out of the heavens this week, EA reigned down the announcement that they will discontinue their practice of online passes. For those not privy to how the “passes” work(ed), a customer who bought a second hand or used game had to purchase an additional, separate pass to access the game’s online features (which usually cost around 10 bucks). If you buy the game new, the “online pass” could be activated with a code included with the game.

The measure allowed the publisher to pocket some coin on the sale of a used game; while EA is largely credited with beginning the practice, it has since been adopted by publishers Activision and Ubisoft. However, EA, in impeccable corporate speak, said the practice is donezo: Continue reading “What EA Getting Rid of Online Passes Tells Us About The Games Industry (And Gamers)” »

It’s a Wednesday evening. You’ve just gotten off work at the restaurant or the video store or the office or some wacky combination of all three.

Ten minutes is a very long time…

You kick off your feet, which have by now become extensions of your body, pop open a carbonated beverage and turn on whatever console or PC of your choosing. You begin.

After a beat, from out of the shadows lurks a figure. A familiar body comes into the light signaling that it is not a crook or a robber, but in fact is the woman that you live with, or for all intents and purposes, might as well. Even more light reveals something revealing — she wears a thin outfit and a large smile.

“Hi,” she says.

“Pause” your game screen flashes.

Your head asks you what you’d prefer, while the rest of your body made up its mind the moment you woke up, this morning. Continue reading “You’re Focused Intently on Your Video Game, When Your Naked Girlfriend Comes In and This Happens…” »

Vectigal Urinae.

Translation (from Latin to English): Urine Tax.

In first century A.D., The Roman Emperor Titus Flavius Caesar Vespasianus Augustus sought to raise revenues for his government and subsequently put more gold into his, um, toga. So, naturally, he taxed his constituents’ urine. In the Roman days, urine wasn’t merely flushed away to be forgotten, it was sometimes used as a “chemical” to help clean clothes.

As history tells us, Vespasianus’ son Titus apparently opined to his father that the practice was dirty and shameful. As a response, Vespasianus held up a gold coin for his son to see and asked him “sciscitans num odor offenderetur” (are you offended by this smell?). Continue reading “Joe Biden’s “Violent Video Game Tax” Smells A Lot Like Old Urine” »

California State Senator Leland Yee is no stranger to getting himself in front of the spotlight, be it for vociferously coming down on violent video games or for his wife’s tendency to crash their government funded automobile.

Yee’s latest act is to spearhead efforts regulating 3D printers, particularly the ability to “print” plastic guns.

“We must be proactive in seeking solutions to this new threat rather than wait for the inevitable tragedies this will make possible,” Yee said in a press release.

What Yee is referring to is the viral video of a Texas man successfully firing a plastic gun he manufactured using a 3D printer. The uploader, Cody Wilson, then put the design/manual of how to create the gun on the web for 100,000 of his closest friends to download (until the Feds took it down). Continue reading “Remember The Guy Who Wanted To Ban Violent Video Games? He’s Now Going After Printers” »

Earlier this week, a film meant to highlight the “abuse suffered by female gamers and women in the industry” was successfully funded. The film is titled GTFO: A Film About Women and Gaming and is being directed by Shannon Sun-Higginson (below), a women who doesn’t game but does want to point out that men continue to verbally abuse women in the gaming world.

“I wanted to tell people like myself, outsiders who aren’t aware of this about this problem… I heard about it and I have always cared about womens’ and feminist issues, and I didn’t realise this was happening under everybody’s nose.”

Good on her for doing something men seemingly haven’t been able to do — take a stand. I applaud the effort, but why does a filmmaker, who admittedly doesn’t even game, have to make a documentary in order to correct an issue men are causing in the gaming world?

Why is the onus on a female to point out that a group of men, albeit a minority (whatever that means) are calling women sluts and altogether making it uncomfortable for them to play video games?

The fact that Higginson, and other women before her, have to take the initiative to deal with this issue speaks to a bigger problem.

Men aren’t fucking holding other men in check.

There are countless websites of Continue reading “My Problem With The Latest Documentary On Sexism and The Gaming Industry” »

You want to know when crowdfunding has officially gone out of control?

It’s not when a proven hollywood producer turns to kickstarter to fund one of his movies.

Or when some nincompoop tries to pitch you the idea of attaching your cell phone to a hat as an option for hands free gaming (no words).

No. It’s when Donald Trump starts his own crowdfunding site – that’s when we really know we’re screwed. Continue reading “Donald Trump Begins His Own “Kickstarter Website”, The End is Officially Nigh” »

“I have absolutely no pleasure in the stimulants in which I sometimes so madly indulge. It has not been in the pursuit of pleasure that I have periled life and reputation and reason. It has been the desperate attempt to escape from torturing memories, from a sense of insupportable loneliness and a dread of some strange impending doom.”

You can thank Edgar Allen Poe for that quote and for subsequently bringing down the house. But I thought it was fitting, given that for this feature I’d like to focus on the notion of addiction, particularly in regards to video games.

There are a slew of medical professionals working their tails off trying to determine whether video games can cause a disorder more addictive than smoking, alcohol, or gambling. So far, they’ve come up snake eyes — there is simply not enough “sufficient” evidence to determine whether video game overuse is an addiction. Continue reading “How Video Games Helped Me Overcome Video Game Addiction” »

I have to say I was pretty excited when I heard that their was a team working on re-imagining the original Road Rash franchise. After all, Road Rash was one of the most iconic games of the late 90′s, and before the likes of sandbox games GTA, Sleeping Dogs, etc. brought vehicular combat to motorcycle games in a way that had never been seen before.

Now the team at DarkSeas Games has the ambitious task of bringing this project to life, and with merely days to go, is nearing it’s $160,000 goal.

EA (the original developer of the game) spoke in 2011 about rebooting the franchise, saying that “we can’t just put them on new tech with the same gameplay from ten years ago, we’ve got to have something new.” The original Road Rash creator also said he was “ready” to make a new Road Rash on Reddit earlier this year. While he’s not part of the DarkSeas team, he did say he want the project to “get funded” and that he “wanted to play it.”

Based on the kickstarter page, Road Redemption will offer new weapons, a combat system that includes counters and parries, and a number of multiplayer missions.

We had a moment to ask the DarkSeas team a few more in-depth questions in regards to how they plan on bringing Road Rage to life in “Road Redemption.” Continue reading “How “Road Rage Redemption” Plans To Bring “Road Rage” Back To Life” »