It's NeoFlash Sping Compo season and that's why we're getting a homebrew shower! Besides, game news has been dry anyway, so here's another entry from pspflashsystem. It's his latest update for prxutility, the handy plugin that gives you your PSP info straight up. Changelog after the link.


Download: prxutility++ v7.0

Heads up, Sony PlayStation Portable owners! The official 3.90 firmware for your gaming handhelds is finally here, and with the promised Skype feature intact! Check out all the details in the full article. Get to it!

Game developer blog update time, and it's rather squid-alien flavored. Yep, the guys behind LucasArts' Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron has recently updated their online journal, and this time it's about Admiral Ackbar and how his existence in the game gave rise to one of the developers' more cherished childhood memories.

Here's a snippet of the blog entry, verbatim:

If you remember -- and I sure do -- Admiral Ackbar was a "send-away-for" figure that you could only get after you sent in a certain amount of proof of purchase tabs. Well, I sent away for him as soon as I found this out, and one a warm summer day, I received a small gray package with his glorious figure inside. 

Unfortunately, such a collection was not meant to stay intact. The denouement to this childhood memory: I wish I knew where that figure was now. Like nearly all of my others, it fell prey to dreaded "spring cleaning" that many mothers do in their children's bedrooms over the years.

Quite a bittersweet ending, don't you agree? At least many other players will be able to step into Admiral Ackbar's shoes once you recruit him in Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron. Nothing like giving the old squid-alien Admiral some time in the field. Updates as we get them, and in the meantime enjoy this video of him in action!

With today's games being tailored for mature tastes and yielding graphic content, controversial lawyer Jack Thompson thinks America should be just as strict and as efficient as UK in rating titles and making sure those ratings stick.

This is after the entire hubbub of Rockstar's Manhunt 2, being refused a rating (which is tantamount to a ban) by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC). The following is Mr. Jack's statement, verbatim:

The UK does it much better than the U.S., which rates a game that's inappropriate for minors and then sells it to them. I think the U.K. has got it right. You rate a game and you can't sell it to people if it falls in a certain category - the rating actually has a sanction, whereas in the U.S. the rating means nothing.

Jack Thompson also cited the root cause of the problem in the U.S., being that the authorities' failure to punish or discipline those who ignore the ratings and continue to sell violent games to children. Whereas in UK, such acts mean paying up a hefty fine, or doing time behind bars.

He says that currently, there isn't a single law in the law books that prevent a ten-year-old child from purchasing a mature-rated game, and that other countries should do well to follow UK's system.

However, to be fair, shouldn't the first line of defense - if one considers exposure to mature-rated games as an assault to morality - for minors be their own parents or guardians? Perhaps, with responsible parenting and proper communication between the 'rents and the kids, this wouldn't be an issue.

Isn't that something to think about?

 

While we keep on hearing from the angry, outraged side trying to get Manhunt 2 (Wii and PSP) banned everywhere, we really haven't heard from the folks behind the video game that lets you choke out people with a plastic bag, namely Rockstar.

Here to break the silence, then, is a letter from Rockstar itself, sending out a heartfelt thanks to those who have faithfully supported the game even when it's clearly under so much fire. Here is the letter, verbatim:

We wanted to thank everyone who has taken the time to contact us about Manhunt 2, which we had been planning to release on PlayStation 2, PSP, and Nintendo Wii. As you know, Manhunt 2 was effectively banned around much of the world, after it was refused certification in the United Kingdom, prohibited in Ireland, and denied an M rating in the United States.

We are very proud of Manhunt 2 and believe it builds on what the team accomplished with the first title in the series. The game was developed as a horror experience, and to be an M rated title, aligning it with similar horror content created in other forms of media.

Unlike many other people, we do not think video games should be singled out for special treatment from the authorities. We hope to have more information for you soon, but in the meantime, we wanted you to know how much we value all of your messages of support.

Truly a graceful gesture by Rockstar, and certainly heartening for all to see that they haven't buckled under with all this flak. Let's hope, though, that everyone involved in this hub-bub about Manhunt 2 unscathed and unburned.

With all the hubbub about Manhunt 2 being banned, it's not surprising that it's caught the attention of the people, particularly a certain Mr. Jack Thompson. In an email that also spoke of Take-Two's troubles with its admittedly ultra-violent title, the lawyer states that the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) has given itself some much-needed credibility by slapping Manhunt 2 an Adults Only rating. He elaborates that by doing so, the ESRB has proven that its ratings actually mean something, and not just a fancy label.

Here's Mister Jack Thompson's email, verbatim:

This is all absolutely delicious. I warned Take-Two months ago that there would be huge problems if it went ahead with Manhunt 2. Who was right about that kiddies?

Secondly, the BBC and the world are now laughing at Take-Two Chairman Strauss Zelnick for his idiotic statement yesterday that Manhunt 2 is "a fine piece of art." Find the BBC story on that! Right, and Jack the Ripper was his generation's Rembrandt. Please.

Take-Two has been hemorrhaging cash over the last few financial quarters, and this must makes it worse. I love it. If you all would stop and think about this for a minute, this development is a HUGE benefit to the video game industry.

It fits nicely with their argument that the ESRB ratings are real and actually mean something. Responsible people within the industry, even Doug Lowenstein, have been saying for quite sometime that Take-Two had become a problem for the entire industry because it was painting a bullseye on the back of the whole industry and making it more difficult for the industry to get US politicians off its back.

Now the ESRB does something that indicates is might be trustworthy, and you nitwits go bonkers because of that development. Grow up and smell the hot coffee. This is the best thing that could have happened to the industry. The isolation and ostracism of Take-Two by the industry was long overdue. Now that it has come, rejoice.

Certainly strong words coming from Mr. Jack Thompson, but they do carry water, specifically about the ESRB. The fact that the AO rating was enough to instigate such a reaction gives more credibility to the ratings system, which means parents will be able to trust the label on the games they're buying for their kids.

 

Xploren's back with another reminder for us and the QJ-reading public. He said that there's a new version of their Black32 XMB Theme for people to try out, and it's added some more content that'll match up with their existing theme creations.

According to Xploren, there's more than just a background and battery bar in this iteration. He mentions that there are matching bootwave, font, and XMB sounds to use for this new version, so it'll perfectly mesh with your icons and whatnot.

They do note two things in their readme, however, which we will list verbatim. Remember these when you're installing these apps, alright?

• This will work on all OE firmwares, EXCEPT 3.10 OE.
• This XMB mod collection, along with all other collections and mods, can render your PSP useless by bricking it. INSTALL THIS THEME AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Download: Black32 XMB Theme - encore 3
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