This is by far the best argument I have heard on the whole "violent games" issue that the media decided to make a carnival of. A new study says that various groups - politicians, the media - promote the hysterical beliefs of video game violence because they present a simpler solution than the real problems.

Full story after the link.

Poster ads for Rockstar North's controversial Grand Theft Auto 4 (Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony PlayStation 3) were pulled out from Chicago buses and transit spaces a few days after they were put up, and publisher Take-Two Interactive certainly wasn't pleased. T2 sued the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) due to breach of contract and free speech violation. More details in the full article.

Now that Rockstar North's Grand Theft Auto 4 (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3) is already gold, we can expect more advertisements to come not just from skyscrapers. However, in Chicago, don't expect to find any GTA4-related ads from buses as they have all been removed. More details after the jump.

Jack Thompson is at it again, and this time he has his eye on the recent shoot out that occurred at North Illinois University earlier today. In an interview with Fox News, he presented the same arguments as with previous campus massacres and other violent incidents, pinning the blame once again on violent video games. You can read more about what Jack Thompson had to say, as well as the video interview in the full article after the jump.

(Editor's note: L'amour, l'amour! It's sure as hell driving us mad, but who's complaining?)

It's not even Valentine's day yet, and already, people are spreading the love all around. And that's with or without Barry White songs stuck in our heads right now. The fireworks are over; time for the season of love! QuickJump QuickPeek is brimming once again with some loving, and here's the latest box of chocolates, from us, directly to you!

Brandon Burns, 13, was supposed to receive a Sony PlayStation 3 from his parents for Christmas. To his and his parents' dismay, the big black box from EB Games only contained a phone book which price tag probably doesn't come close to the US$ 500 Brandon's folks spent.

More on this at the full article.

Article originally posted Oct 27, 2007 at 02:20PM

(Editor's Note: Double, double, toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble; eye of newt and... all that jazz. What's your costume going to be like this year? It's finally that time of year when CosPlay fanatics can run wild in the streets without fear of getting hounded by the cops. Do we have some people coming in as Kratos this year? Maybe wanna dress up as a character from a new IP, like say, Altair from Assassin's Creed - he seems to be pretty popular among the ladies. Be that as it may, it's time to don the QuickJump QuickPeek suit - hold the eye of newt, please! The 18th edition rolls out today!)

Clear the decks for this one, folks! Following last week's #17, QuickJump QuickPeek 18 has parked its merry bottom on the QJ blogs! Halloween is just around the corner and this edition of our weekly recap has nothing less than the most wicked news and updates. Of course, "wicked" here may connote either of two things: 1) wicked in the sense of being vilely putrid in nature, or 2) wicked in the sense of being made out of pure win, awesome, or [insert your own expletive of jubilation].

This week, we've got a heavy dosage of updates that'll make pumpkin heads roll. For one, Clive Barker's Jericho is already on shelves this week for the PC, Xbox 360, and PS3 - that right there is probably enough to give you some goosebumps for the next couple of weeks. Rawr. Now just to give you a slight swig from the QuickPeek cauldron, it's a potion of sorts with various PSP batteries colliding, highly-anticipated games finally getting the gold status, and some little after taste of bold remarks from iconic analysts, CEOs, and attorneys.

Something wicked this way comes! On with the pumpkin rolling!

Click the Full Article link below to read the whole of QuickJump QuickPeek 18!

Jack Thompson's "secret shopper" ploy along with his credit card-toting 15-year-old son continues. Thompson has recently given out a statement that he will file a lawsuit against Best Buy today for charges of selling M-rated games indiscriminately to minors in their online store.

Thompson will use Florida's Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act as his trump card to use against the retail sales mogul Best Buy. The controversial lawyer drafted a letter addressed to Best Buy's corporate counsel, part of which reads as:

Best Buy, despite promises made to the American people and to me personally, has continued to sell Mature-rated video games to children under seventeen years of age. Best Buy has been doing this at its cash registers here in Miami, Florida, and it is presently doing so, this very moment, at www.bestbuy.com, as it sells Mature-rated games to anyone of any age with no real age verification whatsoever.

At this point it should be noted that according to the Federal Trade Commission, the mere use of a credit card is already an acceptable proof that the buyer is of 18 years of age, since most teenagers under 17 years cannot be issued credit cards.

How will ole' Jack Thompson fare this time? It looks like he is indeed on a roll, what with his recent plea to ban Manhunt 2 through Fox News. Do stay tuned for more updates!

First and foremost, we would like to give our sincerest condolences to the family and friends of those 32 people (33 including the gunman) involved in today's shootout at the Virginia Tech campus. While everyone is still reeling in shock from the events at Norris Hall this morning, we share everyone's sentiment that it is indeed a horrible tragedy. Already, CNN is even calling it the deadliest shooting in U.S. history.

But why post something that's not gaming related? Well, we would have wanted to avoid this whole issue altogether, however, someone had apparently brought videogames (something oh so close to all of our hearts) into the picture. Hence, the relevancy to these blogs.

As Kotaku reports, Jack Thompson spoke on FOXNews about the Virgina Tech shooting, saying that the massacre is linked to videogames. Now, we do not know to what extent Jack Thompson said this and we do not know the exact context in which the attorney said this. While it's pretty hard to form any substantial and unbiased judgment from such a lack of details, CobaltBlue, as a comment to Kotaku's post, sheds some light on what happened in FOXNews for us:

@possiblymalignant: Fox News Live was calling him a "School Shooting Specialist", or that's what he's calling himself now. All he talked about though was linking video games and "murder simulators" to school shootings. I guess we can look forward to a new Jack Thompson crusade now.

Maybe there is more to Thompson's statement than just "the Virgina Tech shooting was due to videogames" after all? And we have yet to find an actual video, transcript, or news clipping from FOXNews or any other news source. For now, this is what we have.

Pic courtesy of FOXNews.

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Update: We've managed to grab the Fox News interview with Jack Thompson over at YouTube which was uploaded by rgbyhkr. Here's the clip.

A lot's been said and featured here about the PS3-related violence during the launch days, from the robberies and muggings (which were the more serious aspect of this console's release) to the ridiculous and dorky (such as the Wiimote visit and the SmashmyPS3 people). With that in mind, we found this interesting vid over at youtube, which features the darker, uglier side of the launch lines.

The video's a compilation of new reports from various media groups like Fox News, and features some of the more violent moments that cropped up among the gamers camping out at the retails stores. You might remember some of the more famous moments here, like the BB gun incident. Sadly, we don't see any seriously graphic footage...