- Washington state makes selling murder simulators a class 1 civil infraction (a really bad crime)
 "The Washington state Senate approved a bill Thursday to make selling M-rated videogames a crime. If the bill is passed into law... it will be the first time that the Entertainment Software Ratings Board ratings have been backed by the force of law." Gamers.com
- Sega and Namco discuss merging
Japanese newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun reports that Sega and Namco are currently discussing the possiblities of a 2004 merger, creating an entity that would topple Konami as the largest third-party publisher in Japan. According to reports, Namco would be completely absorbed by Sega were the merger to happen, with the subsisting conglomerate grossing about $3 billion a year in world-wide sales. Gamers.com
- Mother 1 and 2 coming to GBA; Mother 3 under development
 The official Mother 1+2 homepage has launched at Nintendo's japanese site, with information about the upcoming GBA game which will include both titles on one cart. Whether it will be coming to NA or Europe is unknown, and while Mother 3 is definitely under development, there are no details as of yet. Nintendo.co.jp
- Paid to promote? Pop-rap-metal band Linkin Park doesn't "play videogames", they "play Xbox"
 "We're not doing this to be stars," says lead rapper Shinoda. "We're just normal people behind all those lights." New album Meteora is selling well, but the band doesn't seem too involved. "People wouldn't be too excited to come backstage and hang out with us. We don't party or anything, we just play Xbox and we're pretty mellow." mtv.com
- Nintendo will cut royalty fees but still appear to be cheap douschebags
 According to Gamers.com, "Nintendo has confirmed a reduction in its royalty rates for third-party games on its hardware... The cost of releasing games for Gamecube is now roughly equal to that of any other console." Nintendo, however, will not follow an X-box price cut if it were to happen and considers Zelda to be enough of a holy blessing that they were so considerate to bestow unto us lowly peons.
- Xbox prices down in Europe; Nintendo blames MS fear for Wind Waker
Yasuhiro Minagawa today proved Nintendo's continuing lack of ability to "get it", stating that the Xbox pricedrop to $200 in Europe (to be brought over to the US soon after) was "for fear of the upcoming Legend of Zelda release". He went on to say that Nintendo was convinced that good games are more effective at selling consoles than price drops. But if that's the case, what about the recent gigantic sales increase when Dixons and Argos dropped prices as low as $130 in the UK? Gamingredients
- Impossible happens; Street Fighter 2 the Movie sequel under production; humans everywhere seen screaming in agony
 "Obviously hoping to save his dying career, action-man Jean Claude Van Damme has struck a deal to star in a sequel to his 1994 flick "Streetfighter", based on the video game of the same name. Australian singer, Holly Valance, has been in talks with Van Damme this week about co-starring in the movie. She would replace fellow singer, Kylie Minogue, who starred in the original. Van Damme is said to have been impressed by Valance - who can apparently kickbox - but according to The Herald Sun the filmmmakers will still be auditioning other actors up until the last minute." Moviehole.net
- Seamus Blackley Rahul's new personal hero
 PlanetGamecube.com recently got a chance to sit down with Seamus Blackley, former Chief Xbox Technical Officer and now the guy behind the first gaming production company, and talk about producing games and several other interesting things, like why DOAXBV rocks. It's a highly intelligent, deep interview and certainly a recommended listen (23.6mb).
- DOA movie developing "nicely"
Reuters reports that the upcoming Dead or Alive movie will be a "mix between Charlie's Angels and Enter the Dragon" and will feature at least one (1) volleyball scene including the girls in skimpy outfits. The story apparently involves a..fighting tournament of dodgy origin on an island in the middle of nowhere. Reuters
- Metroid Prime 2 not an FPS?
A poll currently running at Nintendo.com asks players about the upcoming sequel to Metroid Prime - whether they would they like to see it returning to a side-scrolling view, as a multiplayer title, with more GBA/GC connectivity, or merely a longer and tougher game. Considering Nintendo's love for industry 180s (the original Metroid Prime and Zelda: Wind Waker are excellent examples of this), it's not likely that the sequel will actually be an FPS title again.
- Capcom to withdraw Gamecube support in favor of PS2, Xbox
 According to Nikkei Business Daily, Capcom is planning on reducing software support for Gamecube in favor of PS2 and Xbox. The reason cited was "poor sales" of Gamecube hardware world-wide. In addition, the exclusivity of the Resident Evil series on the Gamecube will come to an end after Resident Evil 4. Gamers.com
- Panzer Dragoon Orta action figures
"What the hell is that?" "It looks like saliva moulded into the head of a dra-- oh, wait, it's the Panzer Dragoon Orta model series!" Click!
- Fairplay campaign for cheaper videogames wusses out
 UK campaign for cheaper videogames, FairPlay, which was met with critical success in the first week of December last year when they caused UK retailer GAME's shares value to drop by 80% when they asked people to not buy a single title for a week, has decided that "our work here is done" and listed a variety of supposed reasons that their campaign was a major success. While some are questionable, it does indeed seem like it mostly paid off, so here's to seeing them back someday, in some shape or form. We'll miss you. Fairplay
- Tecmo to gamers: "stop looking at our busty, voluptuous volley ball girls in a sexual, perverted manner, you fucking pervs"
 Tecmo has released a plea to gamers who access the official Tecmo User Forums to discontinue discussion and/or posting of fake and/or real images of nude DOA: Extreme Volleyball girls. Tecmo has also reportedly send a personal cease and desist plea to Rahul Choudhury to discontinue his repeated pursuits at programming a nude code for Rygar. The Tecmo User Forums
- Japanese girls excited by Zelda, Link's balls
Gamefront says, "Mit der Gamecube-Version wurde ?berraschend viel Hardware verkauft: Besonders weibliche Spielerinnen kauften Gamecube und Soul Calibur 2 im Set.". Which basically boils down to: girls are buying a lot of the Gamecube/Soul Calibur 2 packs in Japan. Link's balls have been cited as a possible reason for the heavy sales.
- Quiter goes boom
Japanese gaming site Quiter, essentially to the Japanese what the GIA was to us Westerners, closed down today, displaying a "coming soon" message for its presumed successor.
- Videogame sales not influenced by war; US Navy playing games on submarines
"Last year, the Interactive Digital Software Association, a trade group for the U.S. industry, organized a drive to equip each of the 72 submarines in the U.S. Navy fleet with a video game console and 20 games each" Reuters
- Horny geeks everywhere saved by erotic gaming development (not FFX-2 for once)
 "Motion Gravure", whatever the hell that means, will be a Sony Music-developed DVD that showcases a bunch of girls with rather large cleavage and other interesting physical aspects. The "interactive" part includes being able to use the PS2's joypad to, er, zoom in and out. Raiden, use the Triangle button to magically turn one of the girls into a real blow-up doll! Gamefront
- Berkeley makes Oddworld odd; no one cares
 Last week's art exhibit for Munch's Odyssey: Oddworld at the University of California, Berkeley received a nice write-up over at Gamingredients from our good friend Paul, but no one cared. Bastards! Good thing you get a last chance to atone for your sins. Read it
- Infinium Labs' Phantom console marketing shot in face by hilarious Flash voice-over
 It's not actually possible to explain the effect the Phantom's website Flash intro movie and accompanying narration has on you when you view it, so we suggest you head on over and experience it for yourself. It's worth it, trust us. Infinium Labs
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19 Apr 2003 by 
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