BIG! BREAKING! NEWS!: E3 is Over

Next-Gen has broken the news that E3 is cancelled for next year and the forseeable future (story: http://next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3538&Itemid=2).
What this means is that there will likely be no huge PR event for the video game industry. E3 was spawned off of CES. I doubt that any event is large enough as they are to replace the function that E3 had. At best, TGS is the closest event we have now, but that is mostly based around the Japanese market, rather then E3's worldwide focus. The Penny Arcade Expo is a growing event, but is very open, and has more emphasis on the gamer community as a whole.
So now we won't have major news congegrated into one event, but possibly spread out a little. Then again, with Microsoft's "soft" unveiling of the 360 last year and Nintendo's "Wii" announcement both being ahead of E3, there's already a movement away from a focus on E3.
The main problem is simply the fans. E3 was a time where one can nerd-gasm for many days long. Now, no more nerd-gasms.

Republicans Gaining a Backbone?

It has been reported that Senator Arlen Specter, a prominant Republican, is drafting legislation that would challenge the signing statements that has been often used by President Bush (story: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=2232349).
For the uninitiated, signing statements are a president's way of making comments on legislation, often showing what provisions they opposed or contain instructions on how the legislation would be carried out. These statements weren't used often by other administrations, but the Bush administration have used them hundreds of times, and used them as though they were law. This means that if Bush considered a provision illegal or relativly unimportant, the administration would ignore that provision entirely.

After five years of using this tactic, I'm not entirely sure if Republicans reject the use of signing statemtents in this way or just Bush's use of them. However, what this really signals is that Republicans are actually gaining a backbone, ready to take on the President. And this isn't something minor, this is something that has affected policy.
Let's hope that Republicans are ready to do even more.

Bush Actually Vetoed Something, But It Was Somthing Good

President Bush has decided to veto a bill which would expand federal stem cell research (story: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=2210063).
A reminder for everyone on this topic, stem cells are cells which are capable of becomming any number of more specialized cells. Medical research, in hopes of curing a number of diseases, focused on stem cells produced from embryos, and required the distruction of that embryo to produce the nessisary stem cels.
As the policy was before 9/11, Bush allowed any stem cells that was already produced could be researched, but banned creation of any more. At the time, Bush said that there was upwards of 64 lines of these stem cells available for research. However, the book All the President's Spin outlined that many of these lines were actually in development, and many wouldn't actually be viable. As of 2004 (the time of the book's publication), there was only 19 lines actually available for research (the major section about spin on stem cells in the book are on pages 95-100).
Then came this past week. Both the Senate and the House passed a bill which would make available any embryos from discarded embryos from invetro fertilization. While there weren't enough votes in the Senate to overturn a presidential veto, it marks the first time where Bush only listened to the hardcore Republicans. Which is strange, because it usually is those people to run the House, and they passed the bill.
This is a quote from the ABCNews article above:

""The unfortunate part is, if the president does veto the bill, then it sets us back a year or so until we can finally pass a bill that will have the requisite supermajority to be able to become law," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. "And that sets back embryonic stem cell research another year or so.""

This from a Republican. It also doesn't help that Nancy Reagan, widow of former President Ronald Reagan, supports stem cell research.
The president here has done medical science a great wrong. As I see it, using discarded embryos, or embryos that won't survive any way, should be the way to get this research done. Even if you are pro-life on this debate, wouldn't it be best to have these doomed embryos have some meaning?
Alas, partisan politics trump everything else for this president.

Worst Person in Videogames: DS Lite Edition

Nintendo finally dun it. They have gotten a Worst Person's award, and not just in saying something terrible, but in having a terrible policy.
Joystiq has reported that some Nintendo DS Lites have been getting cracks on the hinge. They seem to be only aesthetic and not hindering functionality, but some people are worried.
Now, if the story ended there, I wouldn't have much of a problem. However, the people at Nintendo has said that such a defect DOESN'T fall under the warranty, the one in which no DS Lite has expired (they have a 12 month warranty), and thus have to pay $50 to get the crack fixed (story: http://www.joystiq.com/2006/07/17/nintendo-ds-lite-cracks-on-hinge/).
It may just be an aethetic problem, but I have no doubt that is important for alot of people. One of the main improvements over the DS (Phat as it has been nicknamed) was that it actually looked good.
But I'll go futher and say that this does fall under the warranty. Here is the hardware warranty, as given for my DS (Phat):

"Nintendo of America Inc. ("Nintendo") warrants to the original purchaser that the hardware product shall be free from defects in material and workmanship for twelve (12) months from the date of purchase. If a defect covered by this warrantee occurs during this warrantee period, Nintendo will repair or replace the defective hardware product or component, free of charge. The original purchaser is entitled to this warranty only if the date of purchase is registered at point of sale or the consumer can demostrate, to Nintendo's satisfaction, that the product was purchased within the last 12 months."

As the warranty information says, defects and workmanship is covered; which includes any cracks. So Nintendo saying that it isn't covered is clearly wrong, even if it is just for aesthetic value.
As always, I am a forgiving person. So until they decide otherwise, Nintendo gets the Worst Persons in Videogames award.

UPDATE: Via Joystiq, MaxConsole has gotten a press release from Nintendo, which says that they aren't aware of the problems. All the while, MaxConsole compiled testamonies on the crack, including some that are saying that it actually removed the casing, affecting stability of the hinge (story: http://www.maxconsole.net/?mode=news&newsid=8543). All the while, Joystiq said that Nintendo customer service is still attributing the crack to misuse (which means that you have to pay for repairs).
Not a good step forward for Nintendo.

Bush Agrees to Put NSA Through Court

ABCNews reports that Bush has agreed to put the program though the FISA Court (story: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=2191051).
The problem I have with this is that it isn't even doing what the law already says. The law says to get a warrent (and thus, consult with a court) before tapping wires. But as I read this story, this wouldn't even do that. All this would do is put the program as a whole though the FISA court.
If anything, it actually is worse then what Congress should do. This program is very public. Bush knows this program is illegal, and decided to have it go through a secret court, not Congress. This means that if (ok, when) the program is found unconstitutional, the ruling won't be made public.
While this is a step forward, it is hardly where we need to be. Bush needs to follow the law, yet Congressional Republicans are letting him get away with it. This whole controversy is their problem as well, yet they're not dealing with it.

World's Worst in Videogames: Sony's PR Stikes Again Edition

One of my first Worsts was Sony's terrible Italian PR run for its 10th aniversery. Now, they have struck again with terrible ads for their white (yes, it is going that way) PSP (story: http://www.gamespot.com/news/6153643.html).
This has been the talk of the entire tech industry. More over, every week some other exec. says something that just compounds the pricing of the PS3, as 1up has been going over on their audio podcast. But this is just terrible. How many people go over an ad design before it goes out? Even if it was just ten, that is ten too many. Someone should have noticed that the ad is very much appearently racist. I'm sure that wasn't the intention, but ignorance is not an excuse here.
I used to look forward to Playstation ads. The Ratchet and Clank 1 and 2 commercials were classics. Just with that series alone shows how Sony's PR has been going. And now this.
Sony: you have to do something about your PR. It isn't good that your PR department now has two Worst Persons in Videogames now.

Nintendo: A Worlds Worst?

Nintendo has recently dodged any horrible moves. Sony, on the other hand, seems to be stumbling to get any footing PR-wise.
Nintendo has yet to get one of my Worlds Worst in Videogames Awards (although they have gotten near one with my March 28 entry on Metroid). However, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has recently listed one of Nintendo's own patents to be one of the most dangerous (story: http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,64038-0.html).
If they have actually sued over the patent over emulators, then I would given them the Worlds Worst award. Emulators don't just exist for videogames, they can emulate any kind of program. Mac owners, for example, have to emulate Windows one way or another to get Windows programs. Even some older Windows programs or games require emulation.
Sony has even gotten into emulation, with the announcement of a PS1 to PSP emulator (although no other announcement has been made as to how the game-roms will be distributed). Heck, Microsoft has to emulate their original X-Box games for the 360.
I can see why Nintendo decided to patent emulation, since the Wii's Virtual Console hinges on emulation. However, emulation has been around for a long time, and often exist for research purposes. If Nintendo decided to, they could wipe out the 360's backwards compatability or the PS1-PSP emulator.
Luckily, I have yet to see any evidence that they have taken any negative actions about this. I did a quick google search which turned up nothing on even one Nintendo lawsuit (some still wonder how Nintendo avoided the Immersion patent lawsuit). While it has the potential to deal great harm, I just can't give them a Worlds Worst in Videogames award until I see that harm. As such, they will get off with a warning.