U.S. Supreme Court Strikes Down California's Violent Video Game Law

In a seven to two vote, justices rule law violates protected freedom of speech rights.

The United States Supreme Court ruled today that California cannot restrict the sale of violent video games to minors. In a seven to two vote, the justices deemed California's law infringed upon First Amendment rights and put the state in a position where it would have the authority to restrict the ideas to which people are exposed.

The ruling on Brown vs. the Entertainment Merchants Association put an end to California's six-year-long effort to make it a crime for retailers to sell or rent video games loosely defined as "violent" to anyone under the age of 18.

"Video games qualify for First Amendment protection," the justices stated in their opinion. "Like protected books, plays, and movies, they communicate ideas through familiar literary devices and features distinctive to the medium. And the basic principles of freedom of speech do not vary with a new and different communication medium."

"This country has no tradition of specially restricting children's access to depictions of violence. And California's claim that 'interactive' video games present special problems, in that the playe rparticipates in the violent action on screen and determines its outcome, is unpersuasive."

Sony Confirms Uncharted Bundle Coming Soon

Get the first two games in the Uncharted series for $40.

If you missed out on Nathan Drake's first two adventures, Sony will help you play catchup in time for the third installment in the award-winning adventure franchise, Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception. The Japanese tech giant has confirmed a bundle of the first two Uncharted games is set for launch on July 22.

Sony previously announced that bundles for Resistance and Ratchet & Clank would ship on the same day, and now the Uncharted set makes July 22 an unofficial bundle holiday. CVG unearthed the Uncharted bundle on Best Buy's website (since removed), and Sony later confirmed with the publication the set is on the way.

The bundle will include Drake's Fortune and Among Thieves as well as an Uncharted PlayStation 3 theme and avatar. The Uncharted bundle, along with the Resistance and Ratchet & Clank bundles, will retail for $39.99.

Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception is a PlayStation 3 exclusive. The game is set for release on November 1.

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Halo Predecessor Coming to iPad

Marathon redone with touchscreen controls.

An interview published on Bungie.net with indie developer Daniel Blezek reveals that Bungie has given its blessing to his iPad port of Marathon, Halo's spiritual ancestor.

Originally released in 1994, Marathon was (at the time) a great technical achievement, but it never sold well and still isn't known widely, largely because its primary platform was Macintosh rather than PC.

The iPad remake will be out very soon, it seems – Bungie says it'll let us know when it hits the app store. It features redesigned controls for the iPad touch-screen, which Blezek worked hard to implement.

Google Gets into Gaming

Search giant is now hiring for 'Games at Google'.

Google is getting into games. The search engine behemoth is looking for a Product Manager for its gaming platform.

The job description reads, "Rare opportunity to grow a brand-new business - Games at Google! We are looking for a strategic, technical and game-loving Product Manager to drive Google's gaming strategy. You will design strategies for game distribution and discovery, player identity, game mechanics, and more."

One of the key responsibilities listed in the specification is to "Drive feature requirements for Google's gaming platform".

But what would you like to see from Google's new 'gaming platform'? The focus is likely to be on social and casual gaming. But let us know your thoughts below.

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Supreme Court Ruling on Violent Video Games Due By the End of Next Week

Brown vs. EMA will finally be decided as the Supreme Court's current term comes to a close.

In November, the United States Supreme Court heard arguments in the case of Schwarzenegger vs. Entertainment Merchants Association. Seven months later, the Justices have yet to decide whether or not California can regulate the sale of violent video games, but with SCOTUS now in the last two weeks of its term, a ruling is finally imminent.

The case, now known as Brown vs. EMA with the Governator out of office, marks the first time the Supreme Court has considered the issue of violent video games, a hot-button topic that has been debated nationwide for years.

In 2005, the California legislature passed AB 1179, a law that would punish retailers who sold or rented violent, mature-rated videogames to anyone under 18 years old. The lower court quickly struck down the law on free-speech grounds, as did lower courts in a dozen other states over the years that attempted to enact similar pieces of legislation.

FIFA 12 Release Date

EA announce that FIFA 12 will be released at the end of September.

FIFA 12 will be released in the US on September 27, and in Europe on September 30 on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC.

EA also confirmed that the Impact Engine - previously only available on HD console versions of the game - will be coming to the PC. The system simulates the way real-life players challenge for the balls and interact.

"This is the moment all PC gamers have been waiting for, as they are finally going to fully experience the award-winning FIFA gameplay on their preferred platform," said Kaz Makita, FIFA 12 executive producer.

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Walmart.com Game Center Adding On-Demand Game Demos through Gaikai

Cloud gaming platform announces deal with world's largest retailer.

Walmart is taking a page from OnLive and getting into the on-demand video game business -- with a twist. The retailer has announced a new partnership with cloud gaming platform Gaikai that will allow potential customers to instantly demo games on the Walmart.com Game Center before they buy.

For startup Gaikai, the Walmart deal is a huge, linking its platform with the world's largest retailer. The company has also already signed a deal with Electronic Arts, and deals with a number of other publishers are now in the works.

The Walmart.com Game Center will use Gaikai's platform to allow potential customers to instantly demo the biggest upcoming video games. Because Gaikai hosts and runs the games on its own servers, even Game Center visitors with low end PCs will be able to sample titles.

Study: Violent Video Games Linked to Decrease in Violent Crimes in U.S.

Sales of violent video games directly tied to a decrease in lower crime rates.

In the video games and violence debate, the steadily declining crime rate in the United States has often been cited by gamers as evidence gaming does not, as some would lead you to believe, turn youths into violent killers. Now a group of professors has added a level of validity to the correlation, publishing the results of their research in which they conclusively state, "violent video games lead to decreases in violent crime."

A BBC article entitled "U.S. Crime Figures: Why the Drop?" cites 10 possible reasons why, over the past 20 years, FBI figures show a consistent drop in murder and robbery rates. Among those reasons is the study by University of Texas at Arlington and Baylor University professors and the Centre for European Economic Research, "Understanding the Effects of Violent Video Games on Violent Crime."

"Regulation of the video game industry is usually predicated on the notion that the industry has large and negative social costs through games' effect on aggression," the study states. "Many researchers have argued that these games may also have caused extreme violence, such as school shootings, because laboratory evidence has found an abundance of evidence linking gameplay to aggression. Yet few studies before this one had examined the impact of these games on crime."

Sega Sets up New UK Studio for Next-Gen Games

Working with original IP rather than established SEGA franchises.

SEGA has announced that it is setting up a new studio in the West Midlands, UK, dedicated to working with new technologies like the PlayStation Vita and Wii U. The studio has one unannounced game already green-lit, currently intended for the PlayStation Vita.

The core staff is made up of people that were retained when Sega sold its Solihull-based Racing Studio to Codemasters back in 2008, says Sega West VP of Production Gary Dunn. "We're not looking necessarily to concentrate on huge blockbuster titles," he claims. "We want to do innovative new things that others haven't been doing."

Interestingly, the studio won't be working on established Sega franchises, Dunn says, working on new ideas instead. "It's absolutely new IP. If there were a way to reinvent a Sega franchise in a way that takes advantage of a new piece of technology, we wouldn't rule it out. But that's not what they're doing with the first title they're producing."

On the studio's first game, Dunn had this to say: "I'd love to give it a genre, but I don't think I can. It uses the features of the system uniquely – when people see it, they'll say, I don't think I've ever done this on a games console before. I can say it's not racing!"

At a time when many UK studios have been closing their doors, Sega's investment in our gaming industry is hugely encouraging. Recruitment's currently underway for the new studio. Check out Sega UK's job site for details.

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May U.S. Video Game Sales at Lowest Level Since 2006

L.A. Noire, Xbox 360 led the way in a slow month at retail.

A light release schedule led to the slowest month of video game sales in the U.S. since October 2006, market research firm NPD Group revealed in its May industry report. But the numbers do not include what was likely the best selling title of the month: the latest Call of Duty: Black Ops map pack, Escalation.

Total hardware and software sales at retail topped $743 million, a 14% fall compared to May of 2010, NPD reports. Software in particular slumped, with sales totaling just over $400 million, a decline of 21% compared to last year.

"This month's story really is about a light release schedule compared to last year," NPD analyst Anita Frazier said in a statement. "There were 42 new SKUs introduced in May as compared to 58 last May, and 72 in 2009."

Bungie Aerospace Reveal Dated

Bungie will finally show us what it's been working on.

Bungie has confirmed that a full announcement regarding Bungie Aerospace will take place in the next few weeks.

The reveal - which has not been given an exact date - will coincide with a series of celebrations hosted by Bungie to commemorate its 20th anniversary and the 10th anniversary of its hugely successful Halo franchise.

The festivities will run from June 23rd to July 7th.

Speaking on its official website, Bungie said one reason to turn out for the party was that it'll "tell you, in explicit detail, exactly what Bungie Aerospace is all about."

Back in March, IGN reported that Bungie had trademarked the title Aerospace, and that is was listed as being vaguely video games related. In a few weeks, we'll know exactly what all this mysteriousness is about.

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War Between Battlefield 3 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Begins at E3

CEOs from both publishers take shots, report claims Kotick denied from playing BF3 at E3.

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick and his counterpart at Electronic Arts, John Riccitiello, exchanged verbal barbs over their competing military FPS franchises at E3 2011 last week, with Riccitiello declaring the war between Battlefield 3 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 has officially begun.

Asked what he thought of Battlefield 3 in an interview with CNBC, Kotick defined the franchise as a PC-oriented game with a "small audience." The comments quickly found their way to Riccitiello, who responded with a statement to Reuters:

"It's the beginning of the war and [Kotick] recognizes they're going to be threatened. We're going to have a clash of the titans this fall. The very fact that he's trying to cast doubt on our game is a perfect example of how we got his goat."

Three Anonymous Members Arrested in Spain, Tied to Attacks on Sony Sites

Anonymous responds with a statement, apparent denial of service attack on Spain's national police website.

Authorities in Spain have arrested three men with links to hacker activist group Anonymous, charging them with organizing cyber attacks against Sony. Anonymous has already responded, knocking the website for Spain's national police force offline.

As Reuters reports, the arrests occurred on Friday in Almeria, Barcelona, and Alicante, with Spanish police referring to the three men as "core members" of Anonymous. The men, all in their 30s, were charged with the recent attacks on Sony websites, but authorities said they were not linked to the massive April 19 attack on PlayStation Network.

"They are structured in independent cells and make thousands of simultaneous attacks using infected 'zombie' computers worldwide," Spanish police said in a statement describing Anonymous. "This is why NATO considers them a threat to the military alliance. They are even capable of collapsing a country's administrative structure."

E3 2011: The Big Games List

Want to know what games are at E3 this year? We're here to help.

IGN's E3 Big Games List compiles all the titles confirmed by publishers or developers. There are plenty more games we know or expect -- this list isn't for those. These are the things that have been promised publicly or told to us on the record. Check the list. Come back to it often.

LAST UPDATE: June 2, 2011 08:30 PDT

2K Games

BioShock: Infinite (PC, PS3, X360)
Duke Nukem Forever (PC, PS3, X360)
The Darkness II (PC, PS3, X360)
XCOM (PC, X360)

2K Sports

NBA 2K12 (PS3, X360)

505 Games

Backbreaker Vengeance (X360)
Michael Phelps: Push the Limit (X360)
Supremacy MMA (PS3, X360)
Wrecked: Revenge Revisited (PS3, X360)

Activision

Prototype 2 (PC, PS3, X360)
Skylanders Spyro's Adventure (PS3, Wii, X360)
Spider-Man: Edge of Time (PS3, Wii, X360)
X-Men: Destiny (DS, PS3, Wii, X360)

Bethesda Softworks

Prey 2 (PC, PS3, X360)
Rage (PC, PS3, X360)
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (PC, PS3, X360)

Why the Next 7 Days are Crucial to Sony

Does anyone really believe the hackers who took the PSN down initially will sit back and assume it’s secure?

Speculation is hotting up over the possible relaunch date of the PSN Store, with many people believing (and everyone else hoping) that we’ll still see the store return by the end of May. If that turns out to be the case, Sony have got one hell of a week on their hands.

Impatient gamers will be desperate to get their hands on the free package that Sony have already outlined. While most people probably wouldn’t go out of their way to buy a copy of Wipeout, you can guarantee that the longer people have to wait for their free copy, the more annoyed they’ll be getting. Rumours on the Internet are Sony’s worst enemy at the moment, and with many gamers already angry about the PSN and store outages it doesn’t help when various sites wind everyone up with their “insider information” giving an accurate return date, which then turns out to be made up. Sony need to be ready with their Welcome Back package as soon as the store returns, otherwise the Interweb will explode with pre-pubescent angst and anger that Sony are “breaking their promise” to their customers. We’ve already got more than enough stroppy rants of YouTube as it is…

Universal Announces Chucky Video Game

Unlikely stealth-action game set for fall release.

Your dreams of playing a video game as a serial killer trapped inside a child's doll are about to come true. TikGames (Domino Master) and Universal announced today that the first officially licensed game based on the Child's Play (Chucky) movie franchise is now in development.

Chucky is described as a "stealth-action romp" that will allow gamers to experience the killer doll's gory exploits first-hand.

"We're proud to be able to bring a fan-favorite movie character, such as Chucky, to gaming platforms," Alex Tikhman, TikGames co-founder, said in a statement. "Fans have been asking for a Chucky game for years and, soon, gamers around the world will be able to enjoy highly-entertaining, interactive, downright gory experiences with this brand."

BlizzCon 2011 Tickets On Sale Saturday

Here's your first chance to secure tickets for this year's convention!

Get ready to test your ninja-like mouse button reflexes! This weekend is your first shot at snatching up tickets for Blizzard's huge annual World of WarCraft, Starcraft, and Diablo-themed shindig. Tickets for BlizzCon 2011 will go on sale this Saturday, May 21 at 10 a.m. PDT, and they can be purchased through the Blizzard Store online. Beware: The convention sells out fast each year, so if you plan to attend get ready to fight for your right to party.

If you don't manage to grab your tickets on Saturday before they're all out, there's still another opportunity to pick them up. A second round will go on sale on Wednesday, May 25 at 7 p.m. PDT. Tickets cost $175 each and there's a limit of four per household. Check out BlizzCon's official site for more details.

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Report: Ubisoft Prepping Assassin's Creed, Splinter Cell, Ghost Recon Movies

Video game publisher moving quickly to establish film division with marquee franchises.

It's full speed ahead for Ubisoft Motion Pictures, the recently established film and TV division of the French video game publisher. According to one report, the studio is already at work on 3D feature films of three of Ubisoft's biggest franchises: Assassin's Creed, Splinter Cell, and Ghost Recon.

Speaking with Ubisoft Motion Pictures boss Jean-Julien Baronnet and Jean de Rivieres, VP of marketing and distribution, Variety learned that the film division has already been working with the game developers to "identify the DNA of each game and come up with storylines that are consistent."

"Our strategy is not to diversify but to bolster the appeal of our franchises -- that's why we want to make sure our films will reflect the brands accurately and consolidate our fan base while expanding beyond the games' primary target audience," de Rivieres told Variety.

Sega, Creative Assembly Announce New Alien Game

UK developer opening new studio, hiring 40 people for AAA "peer to the likes of Dead Space."

After its latest trip to feudal Japan, developer Creative Assembly is headed for the stars. The Total War studio, fresh off of shipping Shogun 2 in March, announced today it is making a game based on the Alien movie franchise.

Sega, which owns the rights to Alien games, has tasked Creative Assembly with creating a "core console" game set in the sci-fi universe first established by Ridley Scott's 1979 film and expounded upon in James Cameron's 1986 sequel, Aliens.

The announcement came via a press conference this morning in the UK, where Creative Assembly said it will open a new 10,000-square-foot studio for the project and hire an additional 40 employees. And while the studio and Sega provided few details about the game itself, CVG managed to squeeze a bit more info out of Sega West Boss Mike Hayes.

Namco Bandai Announces CG Tekken Movie, Blood Vengeance

Full 3D film set for release this summer.

Capcom and Namco Bandai have partnered for a duo of Street Fighter and Tekken crossovers, and while Capcom has already given gamers hands-on with its Street Fighter X Tekken, Namco is just getting started on Tekken X Street Fighter. As the publisher revealed at its Step Up event in Dubai, it has its hands full with other projects based on its fighter franchise, including a CG movie set for release this summer, Tekken: Blood Vengeance.

Digital Frontier (Resident Evil: Degeneration) is on animation duty, and Tekken 5 and 6 cinematics boss Youichi Mouri is directing. The story was written by Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and Cowboy Bebop scribe Dai Sato. Check the trailer:

The movie will be available in full 3D, and Namco Bandai attempted to distance itself from the recent live-action Tekken film, noting that the team behind the games had nothing to do with the movie.

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