Manhunt 2 FINALLY cleared for UK

It's hugs and kisses abound no-doubt in the Rockstar hallways, as its long battle to get Manhunt 2 released in UK is won with an 18 certificate from the BBFC.

Rockstar's appeal to the Video Appeals Committee was quashed once before by a Judicial Review from the BBFC, but the VAC has now reconsidered its decision again in the light of "the High Court's directions on the law".

By a majority vote of four to three, the BBFC has issued Manhunt 2 an '18' certificate. But it doesn't sound too happy about it...

"As I have said previously, we never take rejection decisions lightly, and they always involve a complex balance of considerations," said David Cooke, Director of the BBFC.

"We twice rejected Manhunt 2, and then pursued a judicial review challenge, because we considered, after exceptionally thorough examination, that it posed a real potential harm risk.

"However, the Video Appeals Committee has again exercised its independent scrutiny. It is now clear, in the light of this decision, and our legal advice, that we have no alternative but to issue an '18' certificate to the game."

Rockstar said in a statement: "We are pleased that the VAC has reaffirmed its decision recognizing that Manhunt 2 is well within the bounds established by other 18+ rated entertainment.

"Rockstar Games is committed to making great interactive entertainment, while also marketing our products responsibly and supporting an effective rating system."

No release date has been given.




source: cvg

Nintendo Wii Base in Stock!

Do you need a replacement Wii base? Are you looking for something more stylish than the original Wii base? If you are then look no further! We now carry three very stylish colors of the Wii base. Replace your tired looking Wii base with something that stands out more such as red chrome, black chrome, or clear blue! Best part is that it only costs $11.99!

source: wii-news

Wii Crossbow Has Laser Sight, Tip Covered by Ping Pong Ball

We have seen our fair share of Wii peripherals, but the Wii Crossbow actually looks like it could be used by police officials to take down the bad guys. Sure, the ping pong ball tip doesn't look too menacing, but we're sure there's a razor sharp arrow underneath.

If you're worried aiming is going to be an issue, fret not. A laser sight is included to make sure you beat all your current scores in Link's Crossbow Training. Priced at $28, the Wii Crossbow is priced on the steep side, but you can always take it in the garden, load it up with Nerf darts and pelt the bejeezus out of next door's cat. Alternatively, you could use it to save some Christian aid officials that unwittingly have happened upon difficult times in war-torn Burma. You are Rambo.

source: gizmodo

Japan: PSP slaps Wii/DS down to size

It seems Sony's recent push to drive up PSP sales is working - last week, the console utterly owned both DS and Wii in the hardware charts.

73,702 PSP consoles were plucked from Japanese stores in the week ending March 2, according to Media Create figures - a massive 20,000 more than the previous week.

This blew both of Nintendo's usually dominating consoles out of the ball park, with 51,922 DS units sold, and Wii selling 64,535 consoles.

We can't say we're surprised. While it's been pretty quiet on the Nintendo side, Sony has been throwing announcements out at a rapid rate, with Skype for PSP launching, multiple new PSP colours announced, new peripherals, as well as Koei game Musou Orochi doing well for the handheld, holding seventh in the software charts.

Top spot on the software charts has also slipped free of Nintendo's vice grip, with Gundam Musou Special nipping in ahead of Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

PS3, meanwhile, trailed with 13,520 sales in the same week, PS2 managing 10,986, and, of course, Xbox 360 nipping in with just-got-out-of-bed 2,282.

source: cvg

Baroque for the Wii by Atlus

In August, the niche Japanes RPG publisher Atlus Co. Persona 3 gained notoriety for characters' penchats for self-inflicted gunshot wounds to aid them in their magic-making. Running with that theme, Atlus today announced that it would be bringing Sting Entertainment's Baroque, again a game where death helps push things forward, to the Wii and PlayStation 2 in February.

While the most would argue that death is a pursuit worth avoiding, Baroque will apparently reward players for meeting their untimely demises. Atlus is promising a punishingly difficult, yet addictive, dungeon-crawling experience, where players search for items and pwer-ups as they attempt to unlock the secrets of the postapoclyptic world in which they have awoken.

Baroque is rated T for Teen.

New Wii craze is opening up

Bill Thompson looks at ways hackers are opening up the Wii for uses never intended by Nintendo.

The Nintendo Wii is an astonishing computer, the console for people who don't play games, nestling next to the TV like a family pet and encouraging those who would normally sneer at a PlayStation to wave their arms around in order to play virutal tennis.

The Wii remote has a lot to do with its success, of course.

This motion detecting wireless handheld controller gives players a far more direct sense of engagement with the game than the buttons, pads and triggers of traditional consoles, and accounts for much of the Wii's success as a family gaming platform.

Like other games systems the Wii is as far from an open platform as you can imagine.

Games cost a lot of money to develop, and Nintendo has worked hard to make it difficult to get inside the Wii for fear that easy access would allow games to be copied and distributed.

As a result you can only play licensed games, run licensed programs and do the things that Nintendo thinks you ought to, even though you've paid good money for the hardware.

As you might expect, this has not deterred bands of gifted progarmmers and engineers around the world form working hard to find and exploit the holes in the Wii's setup that could allow access to its inner workings.

Remote uses

The Wii remote is just a clever Bluetooth device at heart, so it has proved to be an easy target.

It can already be used to control a Roomba robot vacuum cleaner, and the delightfully named 'DarwiinRemote' team lets your Wiimote act as remote control for Macintosh computers - the name is an pun on Darwin, one of the main components of Mac OS X.

Other members of the homebrew community, whose name comes from those who prefer to make beer at home instead of settle fro industrially-manufactured stuff, have had a lot of success with the Wii itself, just as other groups have managed to open up the Xbox and PlayStation.

According to the technology site Slashdot there is now an MP3 player, a way to convert and play gameCube game files and even a port of GNU/Linux that runs on the Wii.

The developers involved, true hackers who want to know how things work and exploit the capabilities of the hardware to the full, are not aiming to pirate Super Mario Galaxy or Jenga.

They are driven by a desire to overcome the limits put in place by the manufacturer so that they can, for example, run games from older Nintendo consoles on the new platform or even write their own.

Why have a GameCube and a Wii in the living room when the Wii can do it all?

And why have a powerful games system that won't let you write and run your own games?

Getting it all to work can be complicated, of course.

There are hardware modifications that involve soldering 'mod chips' onto the main circuit board, or a neat trick that uses a coding error in specific pressings of 'The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess'.

And there is always a danger that Nintendo, caring more about potential games copying than the desires of their customers, will block these holes and prosecute the providers of mod chips as Sony and Microsoft have done in the past.

But this is unlikely to deter them.

Cat and mouse

The desire to open up the case and remove what are seen as arbitrary and capricious limitations on the way our computers operate is not limited to games consoles, of course.

It is estimated that around one third of all the iPhones sold by Apple have been unlocked so that they can run on any phone network, and the pressure to allow application developers to program the device has forced Apple to release a software developers kit.

All around the pressure is on for the developers and manufacturers of hardware to open it up for others to use creatively, instead of simply providing a set of authorized functions and expecting customers to be happy with what they are offered.

Doing this carries risks, of course, and not just the unlicensed copying of games that worries the console makers. Security flaws could be uncovered, causing problems for online services or even the back-end servers that support online games communities.

But those risks exist anyway, as we can see in the success that the hackers have had in opening up every single platform out there. Surely it would be better to admit that there will always be a way in?

Much as I admire the skills, effort and sheer brilliance that has gone into finding ways to hack the Wii, the iPhone and the Xbox I can't help thinking that there are better ways for us all to spend our time than a game of cat and mouse between the talented hackers who work for Apple, Microsoft and Nintendo and the talented hackers who buy their products.

Just think what brilliant software we'd have for the Wii by now if Nintendo had said: "here's a games console. And here are the hardware schematics - go play!"




source: BBC

Destroy All Humans! Big Willy Unleashed Wii

Features

• BIG WILLY – A prototype Furon Mech masquerading as a fast food restaurant mascot - BIG WILLY can destroy tanks or buildings with his massive power, pop humans brains with ease or singe targets with his laser Eye Beams.
• High Fidelity Destruction – Manipulate or destroy virtually anything in the world; on foot, in the air (UFO) or with your BIG WILLY, a giant Furon mech.
• Open World Game play – Explore 5 open world game environments and play through a variety of story missions and side-missions, or destroy everything and anything in sight via open-world sandbox gameplay.
• Multiplayer Modes – DAH! Big Willy Unleashed features all new multiplayer modes.

Description

Control Crypto as he travels the world in the Funked Out 1970's, unleashing massive destruction on foot, in his UFO and, for the first time, in the Big Willy mech. As the storyline prequel to
Destroy All Humans! Path of the Furon, Destroy All Humans!® Big Willy Unleashed™ takes players around the world, lampooning hallmarks of the funkiest decade—the '70's. Take on humans and other enemies with a devastating arsenal of weapons and mental abilities—or take to the sky in your UFO to unleash massive destruction from above. Freely demolish 5 invasion sites as you take on over 30 story missions and 30 sandbox missions through three modes of play—Crypto, UFO, and BIG WILLY Mech.

source: play-asia