What would the Jack Thompson crowd do if this got released?
If you're going to bring Jack Thompson in this, then consider what hay he can make out of this already. If the console makers ban AO titles from their consoles to make them "family friendly", then they're also saying that M-rated titles are family friendly as well, thus marketing M-rated games toward kids.
Imagine a world where Jack Thompson goes after console makers for banning AO games yet not banning M games, resulting in the console makers caving on their ban of AO games.
Imagine if the DVD CCA decided that anything above R and Unrated content would not be permitted to press disks. I'd suspect the MPAA, wanting NC-17 to succeed, would put pressure on them to allow it.
Do the ESRB have equal power? I don't think they do. And anyway, they would appear to have no incentive.
I'd hope R* would at least push up the release date of Manhunt 2 for PC, at least while that platform is still open.
I'm liking that my local HD stations (and the networks) still don't have much in the way of capability in inserting these into the HD feed. They can't even put severe weather information overlays on the HD feed without pillarboxing it as upconverted SD, and some won't do that, so you only see breaking weather information during commercial breaks or if they have to break in from the studio.
Meanwhile, when my local Fox affiliate shows The Simpsons pillarboxed at 720p, the station's bug is in the right pillarbox, not over the image. No generic FOX bug either. A pity the network steps on the credits and the musical accompaniment though; I wanted to hear the whole restyled theme at the end of "24 Minutes".
I'd consider "scraping" it from one of my Series1 TiVos, but then TiVo allows access to web-based guide data to any user of their site, even without owning a TiVo.
I know because their FAQ told me so. I was looking to set up a timed recording on a channel not in my line-up (subchannel 11-1 over unencrypted cable on a Series3 without a CableCard installed) and found it only allowed remote scheduling of recordings for scheduled shows on listed channels, and it said:
Do I need to subscribe to the TiVo service to use TiVo Central Online?
Nope! Even without a TiVo subscription, you will be able to browse our television listings, see when shows are on, read about our daily picks, discover new programming and see what's popular.
However, in order to schedule recordings, you will need to have both a TiVo Series2 DVR as well as an active TiVo subscription.
Yeah, they should insert "or TiVo Series3 DMR" in there.
Of course, since the privacy law in question doesn't apply to surveillance cameras anyway, methinks you're just taking a cheap shot at our friends across the pond.
Is it flamebait if the question was rhetorical? Apparently one moderator thought so. (A subsequent moderator apparently thought "flamebait" was an overrating.)
I meant to say that while privacy protection against private interests is all well and good, I'm getting more and more concerned about privacy protection against government intrusion. I'm sure it's a good law to have (when viably enforced); I'm just concerned about both intrusions, and ever moreso over the latter here.
At least on this side of the pond, it might curtail some of government's outsourcing of surveillance duties to private institutions. Ah, but aren't they suffering from government-mandated data retention polices as well? Maybe not so effective over that after all.
AT&T, the ISP, is not a common carrier, they are an "information service."
So they are already liable for whatever goes over their wires?
As I understood it, either you're a common carrier not liable for any of the traffic carried on your lines or you're not a common carrier and are liable for all the traffic carried on your lines.
It is still available for pre-order on Amazon.com for PS2 and PSP for $39.99 and the Wii for $49.99, still listed as "Rating Pending". They may end up canceling pre-orders, but unless you have a competing vendor with a lower price that will assuredly ship, it won't hurt to try.
Then there may be a reason to rate the Wii version differently than other platforms, assuming that the more brutal aspects of the game even uses the unique gesture aspects of the Wii controller to mime the violent acts on screen, controlling them in real time.
In a statement, BBFC director David Cooke said the board was unable to approve the game because it was "distinguishable from recent high-end video games by its unremitting bleakness and callousness of tone in an overall game context which constantly encourages visceral killing with exceptionally little alleviation or distancing."
So the endless run of WWII games are M-OK because they use guns and have the occasional sniper scenario? (Are there any WWII games rated lower than M?) What about stealth games like Splinter Cell (I've never played it)?
[US r]etailers which will carry movies like Hostel, which is extremely gorey, shocking, and offensive, but will not carry Manhunt.
More, they do carry the unrated edition of Hostel that includes the content that they originally had to cut to get it down to an R. They'll also carry "This Film Is Not Yet Rated" which officially got NC-17 but was released without a rating with no additional cuts. But they won't carry released-as-NC-17 movies or AO or unrated games.
And even if the games originally came out before the ESRB came into existence, that Pac-Man collection that you plug directly into your TV is still going to need an ESRB rating before they'll sell it.
Are the age ranges for board games assigned by a review board or do they just say who they are marketed towards?
More like a distinction between you being a witness to an execution and having you manipulate some switches, turn some keys, and press some buttons and/or pull some levers in order to perform an execution.
Unless it's on the Wii, but then we don't tend to execute people by swinging an axe at their necks anymore.
they will not accept bills larger than $20 (or occasionally $50), because it's unreasonable to expect them to make change on a $4.50 purchase made with a $50 bill.
Shouldn't it be just as unreasonable for them to expect me to pay for $240 worth of food for a whole busload of people in $20 bills or smaller?
But yeah, if wheels don't spin a full 360 degrees on their axle, how would they roll?
I think they meant that they could be turned to point in a direction within a 180-degree range (reverse gear gets you the other 180, unless you really do need to drive towards, say, your 8 o'clock position at 75 MPH).
That is, unless the wheels are spherical. Then there's no need to point them: just roll them the way you want to go. (Spinning them around an axis perpendicular to the road though would be a pointless exercise.)
The "Just a sec, have to concentrate on traffic" works for the third concern with actual people in the car.
Not really. You can put down a phone; it's not so easy to silence some passengers: those mandatory seatbelts make it difficult to shove them out of a moving car.
I don't think it's the talking on the cell phone that's the problem or else, "The phone was on mute, officer," would have more sway.
And don't park parallel in a perpendicular spot; a second Fortwo will block you in. Or someone not seeing it crushing it (do some experiments with shopping carts).
Will they fit in, and would it be legal to park it in, a motorcycle spot?
What's the legality of two Smart Cars sharing one metered stall?
Most popular plate will be "SMRT CAR". It will probably make a cameo appearance as a temporary car of Homer Simpson's.
A common photo will be a big-ass four-seater pickup with two Smart Cars in the bed, probably in an ad for such a pickup.
"I'm a marketing manager who lives in the suburbs and commutes to work on the highway. I live alone, so of course I needed a car that can seat 12 and is equipped to drive across arctic tundra. It just makes me feel better."
"The new Maibatsu Monstrosity -- Mine's Bigger!(TM)"
"Phil and I just had another kid. So of course we need a bigger SUV. Being a mom is hard, with soccer, football and lacrosse practice, so we bought the new Maibatsu Monstrosity. It's so big, we lost little Joey in the back and couldn't find him for an hour! When I'm rushing to the mall or talking on my cell phone, I know me and my family are safe. The Maibatsu Monstrosity has 4-wheel drive and in amphibious mode it can cross rivers! So far I've only hit a few puddles, but it's good to know it's there. With the time I save taking shortcuts through the strip-mall parking lot I can focus on the important things, like gazing longingly at the pool boy or buying more exercise equipment off the TV. So what if it gets 3 miles to the gallon? I'm a mom, not a conservationist!"
"The new Maibatsu Monstrosity -- Mine's Bigger!(TM)"
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No, I blame the Seatopians. They've done this before.
Flamebait? WTF?!
I meant, do the ESRB have equal power to the MPAA? The DVD CCA is equated to the gaming console makers in the analogy.
They just don't want the general public finding out about our existing DSC-304 shipyard on Mars.
"Do you expect me to talk?"
"No, Mr. Bond. I expect you to die!"
Or is a laser to the groin considered more humane than a saw?
Imagine a world where Jack Thompson goes after console makers for banning AO games yet not banning M games, resulting in the console makers caving on their ban of AO games.
Imagine if the DVD CCA decided that anything above R and Unrated content would not be permitted to press disks. I'd suspect the MPAA, wanting NC-17 to succeed, would put pressure on them to allow it.
Do the ESRB have equal power? I don't think they do. And anyway, they would appear to have no incentive.
I'd hope R* would at least push up the release date of Manhunt 2 for PC, at least while that platform is still open.
I don't think we'll be seeing ads for Fox programming during Battlestar Galactica.
It'd be frakking more likely they'd be for NBC shows.
Meanwhile, when my local Fox affiliate shows The Simpsons pillarboxed at 720p, the station's bug is in the right pillarbox, not over the image. No generic FOX bug either. A pity the network steps on the credits and the musical accompaniment though; I wanted to hear the whole restyled theme at the end of "24 Minutes".
I know because their FAQ told me so. I was looking to set up a timed recording on a channel not in my line-up (subchannel 11-1 over unencrypted cable on a Series3 without a CableCard installed) and found it only allowed remote scheduling of recordings for scheduled shows on listed channels, and it said: Yeah, they should insert "or TiVo Series3 DMR" in there.
I meant to say that while privacy protection against private interests is all well and good, I'm getting more and more concerned about privacy protection against government intrusion. I'm sure it's a good law to have (when viably enforced); I'm just concerned about both intrusions, and ever moreso over the latter here.
At least on this side of the pond, it might curtail some of government's outsourcing of surveillance duties to private institutions. Ah, but aren't they suffering from government-mandated data retention polices as well? Maybe not so effective over that after all.
As I understood it, either you're a common carrier not liable for any of the traffic carried on your lines or you're not a common carrier and are liable for all the traffic carried on your lines.
And even if the games originally came out before the ESRB came into existence, that Pac-Man collection that you plug directly into your TV is still going to need an ESRB rating before they'll sell it.
Are the age ranges for board games assigned by a review board or do they just say who they are marketed towards?
More like a distinction between you being a witness to an execution and having you manipulate some switches, turn some keys, and press some buttons and/or pull some levers in order to perform an execution.
Unless it's on the Wii, but then we don't tend to execute people by swinging an axe at their necks anymore.
How effective is that law in the UK at preventing the proliferation of surveillance cameras?
But yeah, if wheels don't spin a full 360 degrees on their axle, how would they roll?
I think they meant that they could be turned to point in a direction within a 180-degree range (reverse gear gets you the other 180, unless you really do need to drive towards, say, your 8 o'clock position at 75 MPH).
That is, unless the wheels are spherical. Then there's no need to point them: just roll them the way you want to go. (Spinning them around an axis perpendicular to the road though would be a pointless exercise.)
I don't think it's the talking on the cell phone that's the problem or else, "The phone was on mute, officer," would have more sway.
And don't park parallel in a perpendicular spot; a second Fortwo will block you in. Or someone not seeing it crushing it (do some experiments with shopping carts).
Will they fit in, and would it be legal to park it in, a motorcycle spot?
What's the legality of two Smart Cars sharing one metered stall?
Most popular plate will be "SMRT CAR". It will probably make a cameo appearance as a temporary car of Homer Simpson's.
A common photo will be a big-ass four-seater pickup with two Smart Cars in the bed, probably in an ad for such a pickup.
"I'm a marketing manager who lives in the suburbs and commutes to work on the highway. I live alone, so of course I needed a car that can seat 12 and is equipped to drive across arctic tundra. It just makes me feel better."
"The new Maibatsu Monstrosity -- Mine's Bigger!(TM)"
"Phil and I just had another kid. So of course we need a bigger SUV. Being a mom is hard, with soccer, football and lacrosse practice, so we bought the new Maibatsu Monstrosity. It's so big, we lost little Joey in the back and couldn't find him for an hour! When I'm rushing to the mall or talking on my cell phone, I know me and my family are safe. The Maibatsu Monstrosity has 4-wheel drive and in amphibious mode it can cross rivers! So far I've only hit a few puddles, but it's good to know it's there. With the time I save taking shortcuts through the strip-mall parking lot I can focus on the important things, like gazing longingly at the pool boy or buying more exercise equipment off the TV. So what if it gets 3 miles to the gallon? I'm a mom, not a conservationist!"
"The new Maibatsu Monstrosity -- Mine's Bigger!(TM)"