Botched up British Law allows kids to buy whatever videos they want

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A rather silly hiccup in the UK has made purchasing adult games and videos legal for any age. Continue reading “Botched up British Law allows kids to buy whatever videos they want”

Bungie’s “Keep It Clean” Teaser 2!


Bungie’s viral madness continues. While I just reported the first teaser for Bungie’s mysterious “Keep It Clean” project, another new teaser just went up. Like before, this one takes the form of a transcript. This one seems to affirm that there will be a squad involved in the action, which points it in the direction of a tactical shooter.

It looks a bit sci-fi now, with captains and ships and all. Take a look:

<\\> UNSC OFFICE OF NAVAL INTELLIGENCE
<\\> TAC-OPS LOGISTICS DATABASE [ONI.SEC.PRTCL-1A]

<\ * PRIORITY! * RESOURCE RE-ALLOCATION REQUEST

>> SENT: [DARE.V.500341(S1)]
>> RECEIVED: HEAVY CRUISER “SAY MY NAME” [SMN.ACTUAL]

\ PARTIAL VTT TRANSCRIPT AS FOLOWS…

[SMN.ACTUAL]: “The situation on the ground isn’t my concern.”
[DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “I understand, Admiral. But I need –”
[EXPLOSION (4.0098s)]
[SMN.UNKNOWN]:[UNITELLIGIBLE > PANIC(?)]
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “Empty archer pods six through twelve!”
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “Ready the MAC, and come about!”
[SMN.UNKNOWN]:[UNITELLIGIBLE > INSUBORDINATION(?)]
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “It may have passed us, Lieutenant, but it’s still in range.”
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “Come about. And shoot it in the ass.”
[EXPLOSION (2.3482s)]
[STATIC (3.8761s)]
[SMN.UNKNOWN]:[UNITELLIGIBLE > COMPLIANCE(?)]
[DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “Admiral, about my squad?”
[DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “I’ve forwarded their NCO’s name to your –”
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “Enough, Captain!”
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “If I survive this attack…”
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “I will deploy per my orders from Fleet HQ!”
[DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “Sir. I don’t report to Fleet.”
[DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “And the men I want? Now they don’t either.”
[DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “Please. Read my request.”
[STATIC (2.8179s)]
[EXPLOSION (3.0194s)]
[STATIC (7.4501s)]
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “Didn’t think you S1 types ever left your cave.”
[DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “Desperate times…”
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “Alright, Captain. You’ve got your squad.”
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “If I survive the attack.”
[EXPLOSION (2.9016s)]
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “And right now? That’ll take a genuine act of God.”
[DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “I’ll see what I can do.”

Analysing this, we get:

  • “HEAVY CRUISER “SAY MY NAME” [SMN.ACTUAL]”: Heavy Cruiser? Will have be a naval ship like in the high seas, or a spaceship?
  • “[SMN.ACTUAL]: “The situation on the ground isn’t my concern.”: Seems to hint that we have a spaceship involved, because if they were on the seas, the word “Land” would have been used.
  • “[DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “Admiral, about my squad?”: There we go, the squad. There’s a bit more squad discussion after that.
  • “[SMN.ACTUAL]: “Didn’t think you S1 types ever left your cave.”: Sort of hints at a special corps of some sort, like the SPARTANs from Halo. Wouldn’t be surprised if the squad ends up having pimped-out armour and special training and stuff.
  • [SMN.ACTUAL]: “If I survive the attack.”
    [EXPLOSION (2.9016s)]
    [SMN.ACTUAL]: “And right now? That’ll take a genuine act of God.”
    [DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “I’ll see what I can do.”
  • In that convo, I think we’re going to get the premise for the opening mission: save that Admiral! And of course, our squad will come in, battling all odds and saving the day.

Bungie’s Upto Something: “Keep It Clean” Teaser

Well, Bungie has been upto something for a while. After their fanciful liberation from big daddy Microsoft, they’ve been upto something. But what? Rumour has it that they’re working on 3 different games, while another says that they’re also working on a Halo game. Bungie did say, however, that they wanted to explore new IPs.

This looks like it. Bungie has released something of a teaser on their site, which looks like a pseudo-ARG-viral-marketing thing. Like always it’s something all serious-looking and dangerous and stuff. The image above says “Keep It Clean” in a rather fractured kind of way. And below is this transcript of mystery:

<\\> UNSC OFFICE OF NAVAL INTELLIGENCE

<\\> CLASSIFIED SIGNALS ARCHIVE [ONI.SEC.PRTCL-1A]

<\ OPENED PER OFFICIAL REQUEST [DARE.V.500341(S1)]

\ SOURCE: URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE A.I. [SUPERINTENDENT]

\ RECIPIENT: PROWLER “TOKYO RULES” [COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]
>> NOTATION KEYWORD SEARCH: “EMERGENCY” “DATA” “CORRUPTION”
>> (…) ~ QUERY RUNNING
>> (..)
>> (.)   \ VTT TRANSCRIPT AS FOLOWS…

[SUPERINTENDENT]: “METROPOLITAN EMERGENCY!”
[SUPERINTENDENT]: “METROPOLITAN EMERGENCY!”
[SUPERINTENDENT]: “METROPOLITAN EMER–!”
[COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “We know. Personnel are en route. Can you–”
[SUPERINTENDENT]: “DETOUR! PROCEED WITH CAUTION!”
[COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “–put Kinsler on the line?”
[SUPERINTENDENT]: [UNITELLIGIBLE > DOG GROWLING(?)]
[COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “Sorry, what?”
[SUPERINTENDENT]: “BE A HERO! REPORT VIOLATORS!”
[COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “Oh, come on… ”
[SUPERINTENDENT]: “METROPOLITAN EMER–!”
[COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “Listen. We have a report of core data corruption.”
[COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “I need you to upload your–”
[SUPERINTENDENT]: “PARDON OUR DUST!”
[SUPERINTENDENT]: “YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK!”
[COMM.DUTY.OFFICER] “–logs for the last twenty-four hours!”
[SUPERINTENDENT]: “KEEP IT CLEAN!”
[SUPERINTENDENT]: “KEEP IT CLEAN!”
[SUPERINTENDENT]: “KEEP IT CLEAN!”
[COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: [UNINTELLIGIBLE > PROFANITY (?)]
[COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “We’re sending a team, alright?”
[COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “Until they arrive, all additional comm needs to route through me.”
[COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “Repeat and acknowledge.”
[SUPERINTENDENT]: “OBEY POSTED LIMITS!”
[SUPERINTENDENT]: “YIELD TO UPHILL TRAFFIC!”
[COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]: “I’ll take that as a ‘yes’…”
[SUPERINTENDENT]: “PLEASE REMAIN CALM!”

\ ~ QUERY COMPLETE

\ ARCHIVE CLOSED \>

I have no idea what that is supposed to mean. If we’re going to look at hints:

  • “Metropolitain Emergency” can probably hint at an urban disaster, of some sort.
  • “We’re sending a team”: a Gears of Wars-style squad or some sort of a tactical team in general?
  • “URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE A.I. [SUPERINTENDENT: An AI, possibly added for humorous effect, but maybe a funny villain like GLaDOS?
  • “RECIPIENT: PROWLER “TOKYO RULES” [COMM.DUTY.OFFICER]”: Japanese setting? Is this Metropolis mentioned above Tokyo? Or maybe it’s just a Japanese Comm. Duty Officer?
  • ““YIELD TO UPHILL TRAFFIC!”: I have no idea what this is supposed to mean. But it just has to be a clue.

Whatever this is, I have my eyes on it. All this looks very intriguing. Hell, I’m a sucker for viral marketing!

Will Wright’s Top 5 Favourite Video Games!

Tired of random bloggers and trolls and other nobodies listing their top 5 video games, lists that nobody cares about? Now read it from game designer extraordinaire, Will Wright, creator of Spore, Emperor of Maxis and a Geek Hero. Here’s Will Wright’s 5 favourite games, straight from MSNBC.

The ‘Civilization’ series

“I think the strategic diversity of ‘Civilization’ always interested me. There’s just so many different strategic approaches to playing the game.”

‘Grand Theft Auto’ series

“It’s such an open-ended world … you can actually be very nice in the world and drive an ambulance around saving people, or you can be very mean. The game doesn’t really force you down one path or the other unless you’re playing the missions. For me, it’s not really about the missions, it’s about the open-endedness … going out and living a life in this little simulated city. It’s like a big playground.”

‘Battlefield’ series

“I really liked the first one the best – ‘Battlefield 1942.’ I’m a big World War II history buff. It’s a team-based shooter but it’s about the only team-based shooter that I can remember where half the time I’m playing, I’m laughing. It’s humorous because of the weird things that happen. It very much feels like kids playing in the backyard, cowboys-and-Indians-type thing. It’s not so much gritty reality as it is a bunch people just having fun in a multiplayer environment.”

Advance Wars’ on the DS

“This is a turn-based strategy game on the DS. I used to play these board games as a kid – these elaborate, real board games, so it’s kind nostalgic for me, for that reason.”

‘Flight Simulator’ series

“Even though this isn’t a game, one of my very first introductions to computer games was the original ‘Flight Simulator.’ The original one was black-and-white, with wireframe graphics and before Microsoft bought it, Bruce Artwick designed it. It was this little micro world inside the computer that always fascinated me.”

Watchmen May Be Delayed to June?

The Comedian

Looks like the seemingly awesome adaptation of Alan Moore’s Watchmen may be in trouble. In the worst kind of trouble possible. Legal trouble. Fox claims the rights to the masterpiece, which has resulted in some nasty tug-of-war between them and Warner Brothers.

While legal troubles go over the naive and petty heads of us bloggers, we have some disturbing news at hand. The trial itself may go all the way upto June. And since it doesn’t make sense that Fox would allow the movie to be released till then, that could only mean…

The movie may be delayed to after the trial is over, and that is at least June 2009. Bad news. The movie was already a ways off, at March 2009 and is now delayed further? Not that I seriously mind this: I’d wait for all eternity for a Watchmen movie, so what I find scarier is that…

Fox may be trying to sabotage the movie itself. That would mean that if Fox wins the battle, the movie might actually not come out and the trailer we just saw may go into the ancient halls of “Awesome Movies that Weren’t”. And that’s a scary picture for us Watchmen fans.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky Delayed for Silly Reason

Clear Sky screenshot

Most game delays have reasons like an extended development cycle, or maybe trouble in the development team, or so. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky isn’t one of these games. According to reports, Clear Sky’s copies were recalled from North American stores when it was found that a printing error had left without CD Keys. Without goddamn CD Keys.

The game was to be released of September 5th, but will now be pushed back, most likely to September 15th. No change in the European release date, so it’s only North Americans affected. Well, to be entirely honest, I don’t think STALKER was too big of a title to miss for 10 days anyways.

STALKER: Clear Sky is the follow-up to STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl. I go on about it now, but why don’t you just checkout this post I made back when it was first released? It’ll sure as hell make my keyboard last a little bit longer.