Update: There is now a video of the debate over at BBC News

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll no doubt know that tomorrow, Activision’s money maker Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is released. Being the first game in the Call of Duty series to recieve the 18 rating in the United Kingdom, it contains a very controversial section that I’m sure you’ve heard about by now. (If you haven’t, then I won’t spoil things for you.) The section is regarded so disturbing that Infinity Ward have even allowed players to skip the scene if they don’t wish to play through it. Now, because of this, video games have found their way into the House of Commons again today, no thanks to lover of videogames, Labour MP Keith Vaz.

Vaz brought up the issue by asking  Sion Simon,  Culture Media and Sports Minister, if they knew about tonight’s midnight release of Modern Warfare 2 and the brutal scenes it contains. Using Modern Warfare 2, he then went on to question how the government will be preventing games like Modern Warfare 2 falling into the hands of minors, in the guise of protecting the children.

In response, Sion Simon referenced the Byron review, saying how the game, rated 18, should only be sold to adults and not children. However, Labour MP Tom Watson, creator of the Gamers’ Voice group, argued that the particular content in question is disturbing but is no worse than anything in an 18 rated film. He then goes on to ask that the games industry should be supported, instead of having the likes of Vaz collaborating with The Daily Mail to create what he calls “moral panic” over the use of videogames. In this comment, he is referencing to the recent article made by The Daily Mail, who is outraged over the scene in question and took a comment from Vaz about it.

Well oh dear, this isn’t good for our government. During the recent Digital Britain report, it was discovered that the the Video Recordings Act that was brought in by Margaret Thatcher’s government in 1984 never actually got passed by the European Commission because we failed to tell them about it. This means that for the past 25 years the Video Recordings Act has been a fake law and until today’s government brings in a new law and gets it passed, anyone can go buy anything that is meant for adults, such as 18 rated games and DVDs as the media have been nothing, but more worryingly, hardcore porn. (Wait, people still get porn not on the internet?)

Although people who have been prosecuted under the law won’t be given any benefits, anyone who was currently awaiting trial under the law is free to go, because right now it is perfectly legal to sell adult entertainment to minors. Of course this is hugely embarrassing for the Tories as well as the government and an emergency legislation will be made as soon as possible but until then, there is no law for adult material. While I could take advantage of this, I feel no need to but it is obvious that people will. The only thing left to say is, how has this got unnoticed for 25 years?

Source: BBC News

We don’t normally do political stories, but The Pilsbury Doughboy Glenn Beck went off the deep end on his radio show the other day when a caller suggested that he is misleading the American people when it comes to healthcare reform.

This had me in tears laughing this morning, compared to how stressed out the yelling made me yesterday when I heard the entire segment.

After a bit of drama today with one of our older posts, there’s nothing better than a nice comedic post to brighten things up and today’s comedic post comes from troubled Iran. Now this hasn’t got anything to do with the political situation in Iran (not going to get into that here) but actually comes from the state’s second television channel. In an effort to keep people inside and not out in the street protesting, this channel has started airing more western movies than the normal 1 or 2 per week. This week, it has decided to air a Lord Of The Rings marathon, which is obviously all 3 movies. Depending on whether they air the normal or extended editions, that will keep potential protesters occupied for at least 8 hours. Yeah, nice job guys. Apart from just the absurdity of trying to keep people occupied by airing a LOTR marathon, it’s interesting that they chose these films. After all the LOTR trilogy is about a band of warriors who fight against a rising evil and try and put an end to it once and for all. So isn’t this going to inspire people to fight even more if anything, if you take the protesters as the warriors against a rising evil that is Ahmadinejad. But hey, I think most people in Tehran and the rest of the Iran are more worried about their country right now than what films are on channel two.

Source: Salon.com

In celebration of the soon to be released Resident Evil 5, I’d like to us all to take a moment and think about the controversy that has been stirred up since N’Gai, gaming’s most distinguished African American, criticized the game’s first trailer by saying that clearly no black person worked on the creation of the game.

I know I know, you’re thinking: “Not another racism commentary about RE5…”, but I offer you what I hope to be a new perspective on the topic that will hopefully settle this discussion until the actual game itself makes up all of our minds for us.

While watching the news not long ago, I caught something that’s been getting on my nerves.  They were noting the anniversary of a school shooting that occurred and were going into details about the perpetrator(s) and made sure to state that, “They were known to play many violent video games.”  I dare say that the majority of people, since the inception of such games as Goldeneye and Halo, have played violent video games.  Even my friends who don’t play video games regularly could be considered to “have played violent video games”.

I’ve played these games for as long as I can remember and no matter how much I practice on them, my real-world shooting skills just don’t seem to get better.  It’s the darndest thing.  Perhaps I’m doing something wrong.  Anybody got advice?

I know Gandy experienced nerdrage on Tuesday and I was close to. I didn’t explain it in the WORT recording post but basically we recorded WORT2 all fine and dandy, except the recording file only outputted Gandy’s voice. But for some reason Call Graph played the raw podcast fine. Very confusing. At one point I was talking to Call Graph support but they left. Guess it just goes to show that at least with MX Skype Recorder you’re getting what you pay for. Basically, instead of 2 weeks you’ll have to wait 4 weeks for WORT2 now. Anyways, onto our PSAs of this weekend. We’ve got NARCS in a half shell, a speed comparison and

Drug PSA -- TMNT: Joey’s Got Smart

You’ve seen Peewee Herman, you’ve seen Clint Eastwood and now ladies and gentlemen I present to you the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES, TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES! NARCS IN A HALF SHELL! NARC POWER! Ok it’s a run of the mill 1980s Drug PSA and it’s not like the Ninja Turtles were the only cartoon stars to appear into Drug PSAs but it’s still a funny advert. First off, since when were the Turtles teachers? I’m so angry I didn’t get them as teachers when I was little. I got Mrs.Bird but no Mr.Turtles. Secondly, that must be the youngest drug dealer ever and finally, “I’m not a chicken, you’re a turkey!” Ladies and gentlemen, you just witnessed the greatest insult of all time.

Hit the jump for the remaining two PSAs.

So, President Obama has officially been sworn in, and nothing happened!

There was no mass murdering of babies, there was no instant 80% tax increase, there was nothing out of the ordinary at all, just a new president…in front of a crowd of over 2,000,000 citizens. That’s a shitload of people.

I do have something to say to all the people who think that he is this large messianic figure that will immediately fix everything wrong with our beloved USA. Well, he isn’t.

This is the craziest set of PSAs so far so don’t miss out. We’ve got blind singers telling you not to drive, a suicidal animal kingdom and a certain childhood figure talking to you about a serious topic. Hit the jump for the videos.

You’ve got to love PETA. Unlike say, The Daily Fail or Fox News (or both) they won’t try and be serious when they’re trying to make a bad argument. No, instead of complaining about something ridiculous they would rather just make us laugh our arses off. From showing us the real Cooking Mama to arguing that animals should have the same rights as humans, they continue to make us laugh whenever they try to make a “serious” argument. And their latest effort is just as hilarious as you’d imagine.

Your attention, please. The story you are about to see is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent. For example: George Baker is now called “Sylvia Wiss. ”

Most of you know by now that I am normally not a ‘violent’ person per-se, but I do have my issues and often find my self in ‘interesting’ situations’.

Hit the jump to read about my latest adventures.

I wouldn’t be the first in saying that today is an historic moment. About 40 years after famous black rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. made his now historic speech, a man of black skin has been elected into presidency. I can appreciate why it will dominate the media for the next few days. After all this isn’t just a big event for America but for the whole world. But when it’s all died down, can we just shut the fuck up already?

Yes, it’s that big day, the day that people won’t shut the hell up about politics and politicians. I personally get tired of hearing about it, but it can’t be avoided, so I like to think about politics in a way that I can understand them, which is obviously video games. Over the last couple of days, I thought to myself, what if politicians were gaming systems? Who would be what? After some deep thought, I can help even the most casual gamer finally understand who they’re voting for. After the jump, of course.

Hey whores! It may be a day late but I present to you the most off-topic and hilarious episode of the Red-Light Roundtable yet. The whole idea for a topic specific political episode might not have been the best and most exciting topic, but at least it guaranteed that we would have plenty of chances to derail a conversation that could have gone boring at a moment’s notice.

It was me and BigPopaGamer as usual, but we had King3vbo, a MediaWhore author and a famed podcaster from Failcast, join us this episode. King played the liberal weeaboo to Popa’s more libertarian views and provided more than one non-sequitur as the show progressed. Make sure you listen closely for the few running jokes we had on this episode…especially the one about phalluses in sodas.

So here at MWN, we have a very wide range of political views.  We have the right-wing conservatives, we have the liberal fascists, the socialists, the libertarians and even a couple of monarchists.  So needless to say we have discussed this election and its candidates many times over.  But of course none of us can agree on who is right.

Well my friends, that day is over.  Today, we have uncovered an incredible diamond amongst the junk of youtube political videos that sums up the entire election process and the different candidates as well as the farce that is our political system.  Don’t believe me?  Guess you’ll just have to click on the link to find out.