Thumb Bandits Australia - Gaming News

GameStop fitness magazine offer - Sexism in gaming at GameStop now!

GameStop are offering a free 12 month magazine subscription with the purchase of various "fitness products". The magazines are all 'female oriented' and this got us to thinking about the overall message promotions like this have, not only on the gaming psyche, but just in general. Sure guys who want the free subscription when they pick up Wii Fit - or other fitness product - are welcome to it, but given all the magazines in question are for women, we think it's a little lame-ass. Do only women need to get fit? Did only women have a bust out festive season with regards to food? These sorts of tie-ins - regardless of seeming innocence - do carry with them a socio gendered message and in this case it's one that once more places the female gamer as 'other'. Why not have a cross section of magazine subscriptions to choose from. Via ThumbBandits.com

Connie Talbot gets Wii Game - Everything that's wrong in gaming

You have got to be frakkin kidding me! The kid that won Britain's got Talent by making the judges cry with her rendition of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" is getting her own Wii game aptly titled "Connie Talbot: Over the Rainbow". This is - unsurprisingly - a karaoke game where you can warble along with 6 year old Connie.

Sounds like a blast doesn't it gamers? No? Why what's wrong with you! Rather scratch your eye out with a spork? Yeah me too. Guess they'll make some games about anything, whilst they happily can others worthy of actually being made.. ain't gaming fun!

The Timothy Plan - Hindering parents and gamers alike

The Timothy Plan is a handy little guide to what games are safe and unsafe for children. Problem being Timothy's plan seems to have a few flaws, not least of which is its inherent homophobia and ill informed writers.

Ahh well, why let fact get in the way of a good christian scare piece eh.

Via [Lesbian Gamers]

GTA IV uncut on PC for Australia?

The Australian Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) are a bunch of jokers. Apparently it's okay for GTA IV to get an uncut release on PC, despite it being cut on console, go figure.

This week Grand Theft Auto IV gets its PC release and Rockstar has stated the Australian PC retail release of GTA IV will be totally uncensored. Where's the sense? We've moaned about it before here, but the OFLC REALLY need an 18+ rating, but they're a bunch of jokers like we just said so it's unlikely.

Hey at least if you've been waiting on the PC version of GTA IV you didn't get slapped on the 'immature gamer' ass like your console cousins.

IEAA launch campaign to get Australian gamers the 18+ rating

Why Australia doesn't have an 18+ rating for games is beyond me. It makes no sense at all, other than the folks working in government think gaming is the realm of ten year old boys. Only yesterday I walked through a Big W store here in Australia to hear an advert played over the stores radio saying "Get the kids a video game".

Well it isn't just kids that play video games, in fact Bond Uni Australia has just released its "Interactive Australia 2009" report, suggesting the average age of the aussie gamer is 30 and not 10.

It all makes sense to us gamers, but the politicians have a hard time catching on. Australia NEEDS an 18+ rating for games because we keep getting releases edited the heck out of (or worse not released at all) and that annoys us older gamers no end!

Gaming should be rated along with film and have a higher age rating for its more mature titles. I'm sick of the Australian government punishing me because of other peoples bad parenting and a dark age mentality that permeates its politicians. Here's hoping the IEAA get listened to. Of course that brainless dipstick from the "Australian Family Council" will no doubt fight an 18 rating because he thinks a 15 rating should stay... he's the same bozo that thinks gay people shouldn't adopt and various other antiquated views. Moron.

Halo Recon female hero? Well we can dream.

The new trailer for "Halo Recon" is out and the "new Hero" we'll all see mid 2009 looks a lot smaller than one Master Chief. Sure the armor is different, but some of us girl gamers have this long held fantasy that one day Bungie, along with other developers will actually realise we're playing their games and throw us a bone.

A playable female hero in a Halo would be, well, a miracle, but it would also be really cool and this new trailer could be male or female, heck maybe they should leave it completely ambiguous. Nah.. female Orbital Drop Shock Trooper please Bungie - even if she has 'man hands'.

Halo 3: Recon 'Debut' trailer

Via [1Up].

Fable 2 co-op no more?

WTF?!! This can't be right surely, wasn't Molyneux only raving the cool Fable 2 co-op features mere weeks ago? According to the sci-fi blog fidgit "You won't be playing Fable II with your friends when it comes out next month, unless your friends come over to your house to play. And why would they do that, since they won't be able to use their characters?"

The much hyped hop in hop out multi-player that was totally bigged up mere weeks ago appears to be non present in Fable 2. XBox Community Manager "Sara N" let the news slip out. We're a bit stunned by this, we need to go have a coffee and rethink our game purchases. Sure they'll probably add it as a patch at some point, but to that we say... don't frakking big up a particular aspect of a game if it isn't going to be included out of the box!

Via [Fidgit]

Silent Hill Homecoming refused classification in Australia - Essentially banned.

Games banned in Australia are nothing new, this comes down to no "18+" rating like they have in other countries. "Silent Hill Homecoming" appears to be the latest victim in the Aussie censorship debacle. The Age is reporting that "Horror game Silent Hill: Homecoming has become the fourth game this year to be refused classification by Australia's censors."

As the news states "Censorship ministers in March agreed to canvas public opinion on the proposed introduction of a long overdue R18+ classification for games, but are still working on the mechanisms to let Australians have their say." Here's a silly idea, why don't they just ask Australian gamers if they think the "18+" rating is a good idea, then when they get the resounding YES, put the damn thing into action.

Rock Band Australia - release info

Aussies have been waiting on "Rock Band" for months, many, many months. It's lucky Australians are such a peaceful bunch or EA HQ Australia may well have been stormed by angry mobs. Finally though "Rock Band" releases in Australia November 7, that's a full year after it's release in the US minus a few days.

Pricing for "Rock Band" in Australia is at least not as painful as it was for European gamers, with the full kit coming in at $250 AUD ($208 USD), the drums and the game together for $180 AUD or if you want the guitar and game, you're looking at $140. The game alone will be one hundred bucks. The cynic in us thinks this pricing kindness is less to do with appeasing the long - and ridiculous - delay and more to do with the release of "Guitar Hero World Tour" being just around the corner (November 12). No word on the recently released (in the US) "Rock Band 2" needless to say.

C_nt the game by Edmund McMillan

Gaming is a funny ole place isn't it. You sometimes see something and you just have to shake your head in utter disbelief (or disgust). What you're looking at above is "C_nt" a new flash game by graphic artist Edmund McMillan, he had a little hand in a game called "Braid" - you might have heard of it.

What possessed an adult male - presumably human - to make "C_nt" is anyone's guess, but from a Freudian perspective we'd guess probably some sort of major mother issue or perhaps an innate fear of women. Alright, maybe Freud has bugger all to do with it, maybe the guy needed hits, he needed to be heard of, talked about and disgust.. sorry.. discussed. Whatever the case there's plenty of discussion going on about "C_nt" the video game, so we'll leave it to others, we're way too disturbed just now to consider it further.

Girl Gamers Australia consider what the hell Edward McMillan was thinking and come to the same conclusion we did, hits, hits and more hits.
Lesbian Gamers consider the question of this as 'art', which is interesting and puts a new spin on things.
Acid for Blood considers "C_nt" as one of the worst forms of misogyny in gaming and pretty much hangs McMillan our to dry.
Feminist Gamers - as you would expect - also take on the game of "C_nt" and they're about as impressed with it as you might be if you found a stool floating in your expensive soup... no.. not a bar stool.. a poo stool.