Friday, July 20, 2007

"Spastic" Too Offensive for UK Players

Following the recall of Mind Quiz for use of the word "spastic," Nintendo has likewise pulled the newest installment of its Mario Party franchise. Cleverly titled Mario Party 8, some discs contained a manufacturing defect by using the word spastic. Hoping to avoid too much hoopla, they plan on relaunching the game immediately.

Spastic...really

Being educated from Berkeley, I am PC almost to a fault. But I just wonder how anybody could really be offended by Mario Party? Mind Quiz maybe since it is trying to rate intelligence, but frankly, every time I have ever played Mario Party my frenetic button mashing during mini-games is completely mindless. I feel like even if the parent is offended, the kid playing doesn't care.

Summertime, and the Litigation is Easy...

To all my faithful readers out there, I apologize for slacking on my blogging duties. I have been preparing for the CA bar, and it has left me little motivation to do anything else. Luckily, there has been a recent spat of video game litigation to draw me back in. Here are four updates on widely publicized suits.

Microsoft sued in two states for the scratching of game discs:

1. Florida

2. California, too

Sony settles on the overtime lawsuit with its employees:

$8.5 million paid out

Midway hit with a class action suit involving misrepresentations of and failure to disclose that it was "grossly underperforming because it was experiencing operational difficulties."

67% Decline in Stock Value, No Basis for Financial Statements, He's Heating Up...Insider Trading! He's on Fire!

Lets not forget all of the litigation that Microsoft is trying to avoid by extending the warranties of all Xbox 360's three years to handle the dreaded red rings of death malfunction:

Microsoft's $1 billion Reddening Ring

Looks like I'm taking the bar a bit too late to get in all of the fun.

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Woman WoW Player Arrested for Child Abduction

When I read the headline, "WoW Player Arrested for Child Abduction," I thought the worst. But, as it turns out, a 31 year-old Australian woman had formed a relationship with a 17 year-old North Carolina boy, and was arrested after coming over to this country to pick the boy up and take him back to Australia. She claimed that the boy's family paid for her to visit, but the parents are denying that allegation.

Woman Arrested for Trying to Take Underage WoW Friend Back to Australia with her

While I certainly would never condone illegal behavior, that boy is probably stoked that he landed that older broad, but not that he did so through WoW.