Jon Erpenbach, who is a Senator from Wisconsin, has proposed a new bill that would add one percent in additional sales tax to video games. His plan is for the extra money earned this way can be used to allow 17-year-olds to be treated as minors instead of being included in the adult system.
He was quoted as saying “Number one, I think it’s the right thing to do because not all seventeen-year-olds belong in the adult system when it comes to non-violent offenses… secondly, in the long run, the numbers show that if you treat certain situations in a juvenile delinquent-type of a setting, as opposed to an adult setting, chances are there’s going to be less of a problem when the kid gets older.”
The sequel to BioWare’s Xbox RPG, Jade Empire is getting a sequel. So far this is still a rumor, but it’s very likely to be true. If you were a fan of the first one, this should be good news to you.
If you own Time Crisis 4, there’s a patch for you to download. Namco hasn’t released any info about what the patch does though, so you are just going to have to install it and try to figure it out.
If you’re not doing anything for New Years, why don’t you play some games for the Virtual Console on the Wii tonight. First there’s Bubble Bobble, which everyone knows and loves, I think. This game is just a great classic that everyone can play. Then you’ve got Light Crusader…which I think kinda sucks. If you just gotta have another RPG, go ahead and pick it up though. Lastly, is Top Hunter. I’ve never played this, but it looks like it could be a lot of fun.
WII-KLY UPDATE: THREE NEW CLASSIC GAMES ADDED TO WII SHOP CHANNEL
As I’m sure you remember, about three weeks ago Robert Hawkins went into Westroads Mall in Omaha where he shot and killed eight people and then himself. The police are looking for a cause into what could have brought Hawkins to commit such a horrible thing, but Jack Thompson seems to already know. You guessed it…videogames.
So in his conquest to take good ol’ violent games out of our murderous hands, you know, because violent games turn us all into murderers, Jack Thompson has filed a writ with the Fourth District Court of Nebraska against Omaha Police Chief, Thomas Warren. Basically, Jack Thompson wants to know what was taken out of Hawkins home, specifically videogames, because by withholding this info “the defendant Warren demonstrably puts at public safety risk residents of Nebraska and elsewhere.” Huh? Ok, whatever you say Jack.
If you are too lazy to create your own pads for the Rock Band drum set, Drumshhh has got you covered. You can attach these pre-cut, self-adhesive felt pads right onto your drum set and they aren’t permanent so you don’t have to worry about any kind of damage or sticky stuff left over if you want to take them off. There are four different types of pads you can get too. No prices are on the site yet, but they say they will open on the 28th, which is today actually. Maybe you can check back tomorrow.
Microsoft has just announced that they will be bringing the very fun, but short, Metal Slug 3 to Xbox Live Arcade this coming Wednesday. This run and gun action packed game will also come with updated HD graphics and co-operative multiplayer over Xbox Live. You can expect to pick it up for 800 Microsoft points.
I currently own a 60GB Playstation 3 and I’ve realized that it’s pretty easy to fill up the hard drive and have to start deleting things, so I can imagine how often I would have to do some clean-up with a 20GB or 40GB hard drive.
If you are having the same problem, you may want to consider upgrading your hard drive to something a little more hefty. Sony actually posted a link to CNET on their Playstation Blog about how to upgrade your PS3 hard drive. I’m actually kind of surprised that they posted something about this, because I thought it would have some kind of effect on your warranty.
One really cool thing you could do instead of opening up your PS3 is getting an external hard drive. I’d actually like to have a 250GB but then I might end up storing too much stuff and have a real big mess later down the road that I really wouldn’t want to clean up.
