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Should Rockstar Be Prosecuted For Thai Murder?

The murder of a Thai cab driver at the hands of an idiot teenager in Thailand has stirred up a controversy that is to GTA4 what Hot Coffee was to San Andreas. With global response to the incident, Rockstar seems to have riled up a bunch of video game violence critics.

In the latest chapter of this story, we have Somchai Jaroen-amnuaysuk, deputy director of Thailand’s Welfare Promotion, Protection and Empowerment of Vulnerable Groups Office going against poor old Rockstar, developers of GTA4.

He says that when a player “copycats a crime he or she sees in the game”, the makers of the game should be prosecuted. Prosecutions will force the game makers to act more responsibly, the director says. This is a pretty much WTF kind of idea, because till now, I’ve only heard these critics go against publishers, distributors and the like.

The fact that Rockstar is in good ol’ America is consoling, seeing as if it were a Thai company, it would probably have been “prosecuted” already. And speaking of Thailand’s legal system, let me remind you that the 19-year-old kid who killed the cab driver may be sentenced to execution by lethal injection. Not good news for the game makers.

Siggraph 2008: The Year of Softimage?

It may be difficult to comprehend now, but it was only two years ago that many in the video game world had given Nintendo up for dead. Despite the early success of the DS handheld, the company’s Gamecube had finished in distant third vs. its same generation competitors. And with the next generation of consoles dawning, the XBox 360 was lighting up the charts and the Playstation 3 was about to become reality. Then at E3 2006, Nintendo unveiled the Wii and the rest is history.

While nothing unveiled at this week’s Siggraph conference in Los Angeles will have that level of mainstream consumer impact, the event may feature a similar underdog story that will have far-reaching consequences for the business of video game development.

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Crysis Music plays at Video Games Live

Video Games Live and German based developer Crytek are pleased to announce the music from the multiple award winning PC blockbuster CRYSIS will make its world premiere on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 at the 7,000 seat Leipzig Arena in Leipzig, Germany during the world renowned Games Convention. Recently the “Video Games Live – Volume One” album debuted on the Billboard charts at #10 and in week 2 of the release has climbed to #8 (SOURCE: Billboard Top 10)

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Star Trek Online Coverage

The game that was flip flopping all over the place, apparently is actually being made. Yeah and it doesn’t look that bad either!

I honestly can’t wait. The game takes place 30 years after Nemesis. You get to work your way up to Captain. You get to control your character across planets, go aboard your ship, and then fly it around space.

Create your own race or go with a race we’ve already seen (Humans, Vulcans, and everyone else). Customize your ships and characters. At launch you can be part of Star Fleet or the Klingon Empire. Combat, exploration, tactical actions are all here.

The graphics look solid for an MMO.

Still no news on when it will be released. Below is the video conference held by the developer Cryptic Studios at the Star Trek Convention in Las Vegas.

Star Trek Online Las Vegas Webcast from Cryptic Studios on Vimeo.

New Batman Game Announced

With E3 came many announcements, but among them, one has been circling the internet and game stores with vast excitement: The announcement of the new Batman game, Batman: Arkham Asylum. Rumors that the game will be based on the movie were soon proven to be false as Eidos Interactive and Rocksteady Studios have decided on the dark secrets of the mental institution of Gotham City as the basis of their story line.

The game will start off with our hero Batman delivering the Joker to Gotham’s haunting Arkham Asylum, which is where the game hails its name. The Joker manages to escape and take over the mental institution, awesome gameplay ensues. Although the Joker is the main villain, you will also encounter many others throughout the game, such as Harley Quinn and Killer Croc, just to name a few.

There have been no confirmations yet as to who the voice actors will be, yet. The previous Batman game, Batman: Begins included an all-star cast with almost every actor from the film providing their voice for the character they played. Even so, the previous game failed on the market. Fans are hoping history will not repeat itself. Due to the success of The Dark Knight and the hype following this video game, it is more than likely this game will make up for previous disappointments.

Systems: Xbox 360, PS3, PC

Release: Fall 2009

Spanish Cabbies Want GTA4 Banned Too!

After being banned from Thailand, Rockstar’s infamous Grand Theft Auto 4 may also see a boot from another country: Spain. According to GamePolitics, the Catalan Taxi Federation’s secretary general Josep Maria Goñi has asked the government to ban the game.

Goñi states that the move has been triggered by the Thailand murder case where a loser kid wanted to know “if it’s as easy to hijack a taxi as it is in the game” and did just that. Kid will soon face execution by a lethal injection.

And GTA isn’t the only one on Goñi’s hitlist. He wants a ban on all games with “a high level of violence or which “celebrate” drug trafficking or prostitution”. Well, that isn’t something new, because there must be about a million people or more on this planet who want a ban on those.

Regardless, it should be noted that Goñi didn’t say anything about movies. Apparently, movies with a high level of violence and which celebrate drug trafficking or prostitution must be perfectly fine. But video games? Think of the kids!

While we don’t know how the Spanish Government has responded to this, we’ll just hope that they won’t. There must be more important matters in Spain that banning video games, dammit!