Some sparks flew at the Royal Television Society's Cambridge Convention when Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello said that TV is just as bad as the video game industry when it comes to violence. Michael Grade, Chairman of the British media company ITV, responded by saying that video games exist in a "moral vacuum."

Riccitiello was expressing his views during a presentation, citing violence in TV shows and films to prove that the violent content is just as bad as in video games. As examples he showed clips from shows like 24 and CSI and films like Kill Bill and 300 and compared them to Grand Theft Auto. He expressed how video games are "unfairly demonized" in the press.

He added that the two industries attract the same demographics but in distinctly different ways, saying: "With video games, I can be on the edge of my seat immersed in them, but TV is storytelling - I'm lying back and it comes to me." Grade of ITV countered Riccitiello, saying that video games are created in a "moral vacuum" compared to TV, which worked within the "framework of a dramatic narrative."

In an interview conducted by QJ.net with Starz' online digital movie distribution service "VONGO", it was revealed that the service could make its way to Sony's powerhouse console.

"QJ: Is there any possibility this service might also be made compatible with other digital distribution platforms such as the PlayStation 3 or Apple's iTV in the future?

VONGO: ... As to Sony, we have a deep and long relationship there, as they are one of our largest content partners. There are many possibilities that we see with Sony and the PS3 is clearly one of them."

It should be noted that the interview was conducted in the earlier half of the year, however as of firmware update 1.80, the PS3 has become a DLNA compatible medial player, capable of "seeing" the VONGO media player folder on Windows XP and Vista machines, however, these files still read as incompatible.

We're not sure why a prison would want to carry the latest in gaming technology, but Britain's definitely not having any of that. ITV News reports that Home Secretary John Reid has put an APB out for PlayStation 3 units, banning them from prison premises.

The reason? Radio signals. According to Secretary Reid, it this advice was given to prisons "in December 2005 that the Sony PlayStation 3 was barred from the prison estate because of the equipment's ability to send and receive radio signals." In other words, they're afraid that prisoners could use Sony's console to communicate with one another across the country.

While such strange possibilities are not unwarranted, we hold some hesitation in this, mostly because there are cheaper alternatives that could be made, such as a hacked morse code machine or carrier pigeons. That being said, better to be safe than sorry, at least if you're talking about jail time.

SCE Studios Liverpool's F1 Championship Edition will be launched in London on March 1 this year. You can expect Super Aguri F1 driver Anthony Davidson to attend the launch. Davidson, who happens to be a gamer, will also be giving the game a spin. The event will be hosted by ITV's Martin Brundle and BBC Five Live’s pit lane presenter Holly Samos. It seems in addition to gamers, there will be serious coverage by the automotive and racing media people.

So if you live somewhere near London, and you're interested in the game and you want to rub elbows with all these racing and gaming bigwigs, then you'd probably want to know that Three Speech will be giving out five special invites to the event. But before you get all excited for that March 1 launch event, watch this teaser of the game first. Promise, it's good.

Download: [F1 Championship Edition Teaser]

So, how are we today? Still clutching your pitchforks, waiting for the next wave of attacks on your living room, eh? The Battle for the Living Room chronicles is still under full swing. Three set top boxes - Sony's PS3, Microsoft's 360, and Apple's Apple TV (iTV) - are vying for that oh-so comfortable spot in your living room. Digital download services have been around for quite some time now, but with these three new factions on the battle field, how can one survive through the media format wars?

Indeed there are a lot of interesting elements, features, and other factors involved when comparing these three set top boxes (again, we are stressing that we are viewing these as set top boxes with the "gaming console" aspect stripped out). Some might even say that, what with all the tech specs thrown into the equation, choosing your Living Room King can be a task left for the gods.

We here at QJ aren't gods (aaaw, sadness) but we can still enlighten you! When you're in a war, you'd definitely want to be on the winning side. And as of now, there isn't any clear-cut winner just yet. We can just assess the tipping scales as the battle changes every so often. Time to rip open the reports in the case file!

Cry: "Havoc!" And let click the "Full Article" link of war!

While people are rallying around with pitchforks and flaming torches to take part in the unending console wars, it's time to take a step back and view things differently. The gaming industry is aggressive and sometimes even rabid - there's no secret there. But gaming aside, another campaign being fought is that of the next-gen media format: the digital download.

The "movie download" industry has actually already started for quite some time now. You've got companies like Cinemanow and Movielink that are pretty well-established and successful already. New in the game would be the services provided by Starz's "Vongo" and Amazon's "Unbox".

Of course, this whole service wouldn't be just as booming without the specialized setup methods and software needed to download the content. What you need in your living room is a set top box to which content can be quickly transferred and is easily accessed by the user.

Cue in Sony, Microsoft, and Apple. Cue in props: PS3, Xbox 360, and Apple TV. Three new players in the game and it looks like it's going to be one fierce battle to be reckoned with.

Helm's Deep hasn't seen a battle this intense. Just before you pick up your pitchforks once again, click on the "Full Article" link below to see the 411.

No, we don't find it shocking when execs trash talk products made by the competition. For instance, take Bill Gates and his statements made to a small group of reporters after his speech at the CES about the PS3. Mercury News has an report on it and it claims that Bill said that Sony has no advantage in graphics at all. Here's the paragraph in the report:

He said that Sony had no advantage in graphics at all. He said Sony started earlier but "burned a year" trying to make the Cell processor do graphics functions. When it didn't work, Sony went to a fallback plan by tapping Nvidia for the graphics chip at the last minute. It also didn't have embedded DRAM or unified memory. The Xbox 360 game developers would always be a year ahead of Sony on the learning curve in taking advantage of the system. As a result, Gates said that Sony would never have games that look better than Microsoft. He said that either system, limited to 512 megabytes of memory, would not likely exploit HD resolutions beyond 720p. If you go to 1080p, he said, you will have to give up something.

Nothing shocking there. Bill Gates is doing what he's supposed to do. He's selling the 360. It's his baby. It's his job. That, and he's comparing the 360 to the competition: The PS3. Nothing here that makes you raise eyebrows.

When execs go out of their way though to trash talk products they aren't directly competing with, we do get a bit confused (well, some of us were). Comparing something that is essentially a multi-functional phone to a multi-functional gaming device? Definite eyebrow raiser. This is why we find it funny that in the same A-E report, Gates manages to find a way to trash talk Jobs. Here's how it went:

...And of course Microsoft announced in December that movie downloading is an option on the Xbox 360.

He said the Xbox 360 would be a high-end set-top and wouldn't really compete with Cisco or Motorola set-top boxes. And he noted that Apple doesn't necessarily have the best relationships with companies such as phone service providers as Microsoft does. So its iTV service may not be as expansive as anything Microsoft does with its partners.

"Jobs always says he doesn't like to go through someone else's orifice," he said.