Hasta La Gadget!

It’s no secret that most politicians are against violent video games. Lawmakers in several states are fighting to levy a tax on such games, while even some advocate groups are banding together to try and stop violent video games from getting into the wrong hands. However, one politician in particular, Rep. Nancy Pelosi — the highest-ranking female politician in American history — has come out to defend violent video games, and says that they are not the cause of violence in America.

Pelosi essentially says that there’s not enough evidence to support the claim that violent video games cause real-life violence, and she is calling for more scientific research on the connection between popular culture and violence. Pelosi says that in Japan, “they have the most violent games and the lowest death mortality from guns,” suggesting that violent video games are not the cause.

Pelosi represents California’s 12th congressional district, which consists of most of San Francisco, a haven for video game development, so it’s certainly possible that Pelosi has a lot of knowledge on the subject, or she may have just gotten some statistics from biased supporters. Either way, it’s nice to see a politician looking the other way on a subject that a majority of other politicians believe in.

In the end, Pelosi says that Japan’s low death rate from guns may come from good gun laws, and hints that better gun control is simply what the US needs in order to cut down on the number of deaths from guns. In any case, President Obama’s State of the Union address is tomorrow night, and we’ll no doubt here more about his plans for gun control during that time.

[via Huffington Post]

Image via Flickr

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi defends violent video games is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Here’s something we weren’t expecting, at least not this soon. Terry Cavanagh, the developer behind VVVVVV and Super Hexagon, has brought his newest creation to BlackBerry’s newest platform. In other words, Super Hexagon is now available from BlackBerry World for BlackBerry 10 devices (only the BlackBerry Z10 at this point).

Cavanagh said that a BlackBerry 10 port actually wasn’t something he had originally lined up, but a friend who helped port the game to Android wanted to do the same for BlackBerry 10, as he maintains the unofficial Blackberry port of openFrameworks. Cavanagh had no qualms of porting the game to yet another device and decided to give it a shot.

Cavanagh also says that a BlackBerry tablet version of the game (read: PlayBook) may come along eventually, but there’s no guarantees. In the meantime, Z10 owners in the UK and Canada can grab the game for $2.99. Users in the US will sadly have to wait until March to get their hands on a new Z10, but that’s just right around the corner.

If you’re not familiar with Super Hexagon, it’s essentially an action game that has you guiding a small cursor through gaps that appear randomly from six sides (hence “Hexagon”), but you have to act quick, since the barriers come at you pretty fast. Just like with VVVVVV, the game is meant to be an incredible challenge. It’s currently available for iOS, Android, Windows, Mac, and of course, BlackBerry 10.

Super Hexagon makes its way to BlackBerry 10 is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

EA and Maxis are gearing up for another closed beta for their upcoming SimCity reboot. The companies hosted the first closed beta late last month, and now they’re going for a second round. The beta will begin at 9 am ET on Saturday, February 16 and will run until 9 am ET on Sunday, February 17. Sign-ups for this second beta close on February 11, so be sure to get your name in ASAP.

This second beta will feature an “enhanced version” of the one-hour slice of gameplay that was previously featured in the first beta, although we’re not sure what “enhanced” features we’ll be seeing this time around. However, you can bet that gamers will be seeing a bit more this time around, as opposed to what they saw last month.

Furthermore, Maxis also unveiled a new trailer showing off the Limited Edition version of SimCity, and if you pre-order it, you’ll get the Heroes and Villains expansion pack for free. The expansion pack, which is only compatible with the Limited Edition version of the game, allows you to add organized crime and superheroes to your city, so who knows, maybe you’ll create the next Gotham City?

SimCity will officially be released for Windows in North America on March 5 and in Europe on March 7. A Mac version will also be coming to stores as well, but it won’t hit shelves until the spring. Cross-platform play will be supported with the game, so you’ll be able to play against your friends using different platforms.

SimCity hosting another closed beta on February 16 is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Today during Ubisoft’s post-earnings financial call, company CEO Yves Guillemot announced that the next installment in the Assassin’s Creed series will launch in Ubisoft’s fiscal year 2014, which could be anytime between April 1, 2013 and March 31, 2014. The game will feature a new protagonist and will be set in a new time period.

However, this next game in the series will take see quite a shift. Guillemot promised that a major leap forward was coming for the Assassin’s Creed series, and he indicated that the game will be developed under a new development team this time around. It’s not said what platforms the game will launch on, but it’s safe to say that it’ll be coming to Microsoft’s and Sony’s respective consoles, possibly even their next-gen consoles.

The latest in the series is Assassin’s Creed III, which was released in late October last year and has shipped more than 12 million copies to date. The game took place during the American Revolutionary War and featured a half-Native American protagonist named Connor. It’ll be interesting to see where the next Assassin’s Creed game will take us.

In addition to the Assassin’s Creed series, Ubisoft also discussed the future of the Far Cry franchise, saying that fans should expect another Far Cry game in the near future, hinting that gamers won’t have to wait as long this time around as opposed to past Far Cry releases, which is definitely a good sign for fans.

[via Kotaku]

Ubisoft announces new Assassin’s Creed game is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

It looks like the OUYA will see an upgrade each year. At the 2013 DICE Summit, OUYA CEO Julie Uhrman said that they want to follow a strategy similar to the mobile industry, where manufacturers release new phones each year. However, instead of releasing a brand-new console each year, the OUYA will get upgraded components at the same price of $99.

Uhrman said that the updated yearly consoles will “take advantage of faster, better processors,” thanks to the decline of component prices every year. However, it seems that the yearly console will get a naming scheme instead of simply remaining the “OUYA.” Uhrman says that each new console will be the “OUYA 2,” OUYA 3,” and so on.

However, Uhrman assures gamers that all games will be compatible with all the consoles, meaning that you don’t have to worry about an older game not working on a newer console. This is certainly great news for gamers, but since the OUYA won’t see a release cycle like all the other gaming consoles, one may worry about futureproofing, and the minute they buy an OUYA, it’ll be obsolete within a year, something that other console gamers don’t need to worry about.

In any case, the OUYA should be a huge it when it release to the public in a few months. In fact, it’s already been a huge hit. The Kickstarter campaign collected almost $8.6 million, absolutely shattering its original goal. This first OUYA comes with a quad-core A9 Tegra 3 clocked at 1.6GHz, so if the company sticks with NVIDIA for future consoles, we could see them move to the Tegra 4 chip that we’ve been hearing a lot about recently.

[via Engadget]

OUYA to release new console every year is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.