X-rated content & other gaming news

Videogame news was hot this week, no doubt in anticipation of the holiday shopping season. Here's a sampler: After the X-rated "Hot Coffee" mod hit the headlines, the spotlight moved to "Adult"-rated games - the "dozens of games that address sexual issues, sexuality and sex itself, ranging from Cyberlore's 'Playboy: The Mansion' to Sierra Entertainment's 'Leisure Suit Larry.' Downloadable nude 'skins' have even been created by third-parties to (un)clothe characters in Electronic Arts' best-selling 'The Sims'." CNET reports. Here's the latest from the Washington Post on university-level game-design programs and from CNET, on the "State of Play" conference, where "leading thinkers on the social, intellectual, economic and legal aspects" of games gather each year. Xbox 360 "got game" this week, as Microsoft unveiled a passel of games for the next-generation Xbox 360 to hit store shelves next month; Reuters reports. Meanwhile, Halo, "one of the biggest video game franchises in the world," is moving into cellphones, IGM.com reports; the movie version will be produced by Peter Jackson of "Lord of the Rings" fame, the BBC reports. Two more signs of gaming's gathering power: 1) Nickelodeon's "Jungle Boy" will make its debut and build its franchise in videogames, then be a TV show, rather than the usual other way around, the New York Times reports, and 2) a new study found that "in-game ad campaigns resulted in a 60% increase in awareness of new brands," CNET reports. But the Chinese government is applying some brakes: Beijing will impose a three-hour limit on online game play. "The measures are designed to combat addiction to … games such as World of Warcraft and Lineage II," the BBC reports, adding that 20 million Chinese play games regularly, mainly in Internet cafes, and last year Chinese spent almost $500 million (US) on online games.