As reported by GamePolitics, the lengthy rant by twistedsymphony seems to have brought up a very interesting observation. ICE, a government agency whose purpose is to police Intellectual Property violations is in itself violating intellectual property (IP) by using photos of mod chips and related items taken dirctly from websites and/or advertisements.
If twistedsymphony is right in his statements, the IP enforcement agency is bragging about its operation with IP:
There is some cruel irony that none of the [photos] provided are actually owned by ICE or the DHS but are rather copyrighted images created and owned by the modchip manufacturers and stripped straight off of their websites.
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At the Xbox Scene forums, a modder who goes by twistedsymphony writes what is possibly the most lucid, detailed, clear, concise, and emphatic criticism of the actions undertaken by ICE last week in the raid against chippers. The following is his commetary in its entirety, unabridged and uncut. We mind you this is a lengthy read, but it is well worth it.
As many of you have probably heard, and perhaps most people probably have not, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in conjunction with “representatives” from the electronics industry recently raided 32 different modchip installers and distributors in the US. The largest strike against the modding community of it’s kind. I know many of the people who were effected by this, not personally, but I know enough that I could probably name all 32 installers who were hit with a little work. I don’t believe I’ve ever purchased anything from any of these businesses, nor have I ever owned or operated an installer business (if I mod something I mod it for my own personal use).
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In our previous article, we covered the basic nit-and-grit of last weeks raid on mod-chippers across 16 states as a total 32 search warrants were carried out. We also made no effort to hide our displeasure with the circumstances. Other bloggers, chippers, and media outlets have also sounded off on the topic.
From the right comes Consertive Gamer whom offers their own bit of harsh criticism of the actions, while also comparing it to the current immigration debate:
While the United States currently plays host to anywhere from 12-20 million illegal aliens, and states and cities are being forced to handle the problem themselves, it seems that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is playing games instead of focusing on more pressing matters…
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We’re a bit late catching on to this story, however, due to its level of importance, we cannot avoid publishing it. As most are already aware, Federal Agents working with the ESA recently raided mod-chip outlets across 16 states in the U.S.A. this past week. The problem is, was it worth it?
As is the general sentiment, we’re not too thrilled that our tax dollars are being wasted on busting guys who chip an Xbox so they can use XBMC (Xbox Media Center). While ICE and the ESA seem to be pretty proud of themselves, respectively touting comments such as:
The search warrants were executed at businesses, storefronts, and residences located in California, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, and Wisconsin at locations associated with subjects who are allegedly involved in the direct importation, installation, sale, and distribution of the devices that are of foreign manufacture and smuggled into the United States.The modification chips and circumvention devices allow users to play illegally obtained, pirated and/or counterfeit software on video game consoles including Sony’s Playstation 2, Microsoft’s XBOX and XBOX 360, and Nintendo’s Wii. Modification chips and swap discs for gaming consoles violate laws under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (DMCA). According to the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the makers of the gaming consoles, game developers, and others in the industry have incurred billions of dollars in losses worldwide due to sales lost to those selling counterfeit and pirated video games.
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Manhunt 2 continues to instill fear in companies with “questionable” content in their video games. Senior Producer of Condemned 2, Constantine Hantzopoulos made this very clear when speaking to CVG about just how much attention he paid to the Manhunt 2 situation.
Absolutely it did. And one of the things I want to make clear is that [Condemned 2] does not take place in the real world. This is a fictional universe. That said we’re pretty cognizant of the ESRB and the Manhunt thing.I worked on [Indigo Prophecy] and had to cut the sex scenes out of the game for the US… It sucked because I don’t believe in that, right. But you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. We’re working closely with the ESRB to make sure everything goes through okay but there’s stuff we’ve cut already. There were things we were doing that even I couldn’t believe we were going to those places.
An example of what we cut would be putting someone’s head in a vice. That was too much, you know. There are also some decapitations we’ve lost…
[ Joystiq ]
Manhunt 2, which has already been banned in the UK, Ireland, potentially Austrailia, and effectively in the United States, could be finding itself banned in Italy soon.
The Age is reporting that Italian Communications Minister Paolo Gentiloni (Pictured Right) has made statements that he will move to ban the game in Italy.
In a statement, Paolo Gentiloni described Manhunt 2 as:
“cruel and sadistic, with a squalid environment and a continuous, insistent encouragement to violence and murder.”
Austrailian officials may soon be joining the UK and Ireland in their bans of Manhunt 2.
According to Smarthouse, an Austrailian publication, insiders at the Austrailian Federal Government’s Attorney General’s Department, the game has no chance of being released in Austrailia once British censors have banned it.
“We don’t want to preempt the decision of the Office of Film and Literature Classification Review Board but it is looking very doubtful” they said.The original Manhunt was released for Playstation 2 in Australia in 2003, receiving a MA15+ classification for “Medium-level animated violence”. It sold 18,000 copies on PS2 and Xbox.
Such a move would add Manhunt 2 to the growing list of games which have been banned recently in Austrailia, whose system is slightly unique. What Austrailia’s Office of Film and Literature Classification does is assign to games a rating on a scale of up to MA15+. Anything higher and they will “Refuse Classification”. Such games which have already made that list include Grand Theft Auto III, NARC, and Marc Ecko’s Getting Up: Content’s Under Pressure.
aul Jackson, The Director of the ELPSA (The Entertainment & Leisure Software Publishers Association, The UK’s equivalent to the USA’s ESA) issued a statement in a press release yesterday backing the decision of the British Board of Film Classification to ban the sale of Manhunt 2 in the UK.
“A decision from the BBFC such as this demonstrates that we have a games ratings system in the UK that is effective. It shows it works and works well. Any decision the BBFC takes, it takes on the basis of its remit to rate on screen entertainment.
“The games industry is a creative phenomenon that produces all kinds of games across all kinds of genres that appeal to all kinds of people across the country, young and old, male and female. The important thing to know is that all games are rated according to age suitability, with over 70 per cent of games being available to all ages over three years.”
It seems Rockstar just can’t find a break so far. After being pummeled by the British Board of Film Classification, and slapped by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (again), the Irish Film Censor’s Office has jumped on the bandwagon and banned sales of Manhunt 2. Although the original Manhunt was removed from Irish store shelves post the murder of an English schoolboy, this makes Manhunt 2 the very first video game to ever be outright banned in Ireland.
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As reported by GamePolitics, A watchdog organization in France has placed the popular MMO Second Life in its crosshairs.
Parent-teacher group Familles de France (FdF) is apparently suing Linden Lab, the operator of Second Life, seeking to block minors from signing up for the game. The group claims that there are:
…pornographic photos and videos in free access [where] users can mimick sexual acts, going as far as rape scenes, bondage, zoophilia and scatophilia…
As reported by French newspaper Liberation.fr (Google translation) ten ISPs have been included in the suit as well on the basis that they provide French players access to the San Francisco-based SL.
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