Silkroad Online Forums

Just over two weeks ago, a day-long appeal against the British Board of Film Classification's (BBFC) decision to refuse a classification to the game Manhunt 2 was held in central London. Seven members of the independent panel assigned by the BBFC listened to the evidence presented from both sides before retiring to deliberate a verdict.

The argument from Jeffrey Robinson, the legal representative for Rockstar was that Manhunt 2 did not deserve to be singled out, and that it was no more or less violent than similar games currently released in the country, including The Suffering: The Ties That Bind and the original Manhunt. The BBFC's representative, Andrew Caldecott, however, argued that a line must be drawn somewhere and it had chosen to draw it under this game.

Today the Video Appeals Committee panel announced that its decision was four-three in favour of Rockstar, and that the game should be given a classification and released in the UK.

The appeal dealt with the edited version of the game, which is already on sale in North America, not the original version which was given an AO in the US and also refused a classification in the UK.

David Cooke, director of the BBFC, commented in a statement, "The BBFC will carefully study the judgement by the Video Appeals Committee when it becomes available. The BBFC twice rejected Manhunt 2 for its focus on varied and cumulative killings. We recognize that rejection is a very serious step, in which the desire of publishers to market their games, and that of gamers to buy them, must be balanced against the public interest, including the full range of possible harm risks to vulnerable individuals and to any children who may be wrongly exposed to such games. Such balancing judgements are inevitably complex and multifaceted and are made only after very careful consideration of the contents of a work."

Full story here

Well as happy as i can be about this, am not that really to tell the truth, i mean Manhunt 2 isnt a great game anyway. Also the problem isnt underage children coming into store to buy 18 rated games, its uneducated parents who come in to buy these games for their 10 year old boys thinking that it will be ok.

GTAIV UK release date set?

A report citing "senior industry sources" on the site of UK trade mag MCV says Grand Theft Auto IV is set for an April 25 launch in the UK.

MCV is reporting that Grand Theft Auto IV has a release date and that it will just barely make it inside the release window. According to the site, GTAIV will launch in the UK on Friday, April 25. As for where that information comes from, MCV cites "senior industry sources" in the story's deck head and "sources close to the game's publisher" in the body text.

Click here for the MCV article

But keep in mind that MCV and their unspecified sources have a history of getting things either
so spot on that you think they can even tell you next weeks lottery numbers, or have it so wrong
they sound like raving lunatics

My verdict = False, its more likely that the US release date would be "leaked" before the UK one as this game would come out there first.

25 April damn i thought it would be Febuary at least.

Baha, you've only just realised its 25th april...

go on pc world and it says you can pre-order for april

Well i wouldnt put to much stock into that, when manhunter 2 was banned
in the UK (at the time forever) websites were still displaying a date
for it.

Game of the Year

Well the last 12 months have seen a happen in the gaming world. Cyborgs saving earth, plumbers flying through space, a world in conflict, aliens who like it cold and boxes with a hint of orange.

Alas to coin an old phrase "there can only be one", and that one game that stood out above
all the others was...Super Mario Galaxy.

We could've seen a game that took very few risks and more or less replicated the same old stuff we've seen in previous games. We could've seen a game that relied heavily on nostalgia value and trotting out the same old characters and reprised music tracks instead of adding in fresh and exciting new content. Traditionally, every Nintendo console has been christened with a blockbuster Mario adventure, and with every Nintendo console launch, fans everywhere are always ready and waiting to grab their copy simply because the game features their favorite video game plumber.

But that didn't happen. Nintendo didn't take so much as a single step back with Super Mario Galaxy, and instead reinvented Mario's traditional platformer adventures with beautifully designed levels that make unique use of zero-gravity gameplay and clever, enjoyable puzzles. All of the levels are varied and look fantastic, and they even add replay value because the game has a set of collectible stars that you can go back to hunt for, as well as a limited but still enjoyable multiplayer mode. This is a game that plays great and looks fantastic; this is a game that you can recommend to basically anybody who might have any interest in video games--without having to qualify it or apologize for it with "it's great, but."

Click here for the game of the year

Kinda hard to call it "the game of the year" when it's based off only one of the many sites.

lol ^^

17.7 million 360s sold
Last month's full retail sales figures haven't been tallied just yet, but Microsoft today gave number-hungry gamers a few morsels to tide them over. Calling its Xbox 360 the industry leader "hands down," Microsoft announced that it had sold 17.7 million systems worldwide.

While that's the highest announced installed user base of the current-generation consoles--Nintendo in an October financial report projected worldwide Wii sales of 17.5 million through March of 2008--it suggests 2007 sales of the Xbox 360 were actually down nearly 18 percent from the year before.

At the company's early January Consumer Electronics Show keynote address, Microsoft announced an installed user base of 10.4 million, which would put 2007's tally at 7.3 million systems sold. Microsoft announced sales of 1.5 million for the system's 2005 launch quarter, which suggests 2006 sales would have totaled 8.9 million, significantly more than 2007's 7.3 million total

Full story here

Yoda, Vader warring in Soulcalibur IV

Cameos are nothing new to Namco Bandai's long-running Soul Calibur fighting series. When Soul Calibur II released for the PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox in 2003, each version received an exclusive, and seemingly oddball addition to the game's fighter roster. Nintendo's iconic sword-fighter Link wound up in the GC version, while Todd McFarlane's Spawn materialized in the Xbox game and Tekken's karate master Heihachi Mishima appeared in the PS2 game.

With Soul Calibur III seeing a console-exclusive release on the PS2, Namco Bandai forwent the cameo route, instead throwing all three out-of-place fighters into the same ring. However, with Soulcalibur IV slated to arrive this summer on both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, the Japanese publisher felt a new round of iconic fighters was in order.

Namco Bandai today announced from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that it would be partnering with LucasArts to add Darth Vader to the PlayStation 3 version's roster, with Yoda joining up with the Xbox 360 crew. Screenshots released with the announcement reveal the two will both wield their respective red and green lightsabers, though no other details on how the two characters will play were given.



full story here

*faints*


i get to play with....y-y.....YODA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SOUL CALIBUR 4!!!!!!!!!!





I love SC. ^_^

It's been a long time coming, and it's well deserved.

Sticky. Keep it up Satty

Thanks mates

and heres some more pics of Yoda and Vader from Soulcaliber IV

Thats unrealistic. Light saber should be able to cut through anything!!

ok....so you got a problem with lightsabers not being able to cut through their
swords.
But your ok with them not only going to the soul caliber galaxy but also back
in time

Also i take it then in soul caliber they have magical weapons

Lol yoda and vader can't wait.

i gotta say the SS look f@king sick

Wii and PS3 manufacturers taken to court by Pennsylvania man over wireless controller technology.

Ever since Immersion Corporation won its lawsuit against Sony over the rumble technology in PlayStation and PlayStation 2 DualShock controllers (and eventually forced nearly $100 million in damages and interest from the electronics giant), patent litigation has been a subject of keen interest in the gaming industry.

The latest dispute comes from the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, where Copper Innovations Group late last month filed suit against Nintendo and Sony for a patent it holds on a "Hand Held Computer Input Apparatus and Method."

The patent--which was filed in January of 1996--covers a method for connecting devices to a system and sorting their inputs by means of hardware identification numbers tied to each transmission. According to the suit, Nintendo and Sony are violating the Copper Innovations Group's patent by making and selling their systems and controllers. The Wii Remote, Wii Nunchuk, Sixaxis controller, and Blu-ray Remote Control are all named in the suit as infringing products.

Full Story Here

somewhat old news, heard about this right before the ps3 was released.

The biggest story for 2008 so far that relates to technology is Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema's move to back Blu-ray Disc exclusively. It's not entirely related to games but this can affect future sales of the PS3 since it's one of the cheapest BR players around.

Die HD-DVD!

yeah i work for Warner bros over 10k units of bluray ship daily

Bit by bit, Sony wins the format war over HD-DVD.

no nin64 > *

i wonder if resistance 2 will still be a ps3 exclusive

I can almost guarantee you it will.

OMFG awesome. Hopefully they do something about all the Macros and bots peopel use in the First one so In the second it's alot more fun.