A state in Japan has decided to ban a U.S. video game from being sold or rented to minors, after officials deemed it harmful and capable of inciting violence.

The game has recieved a "harmful" product rating and warning label. This is the first time a game has been removed from Japanese store shelves for violence. Previously, lawmakers would target those with sexually explicit content.

Concerns are that teens and others would mimic the actions found in the game. So what game is it?

Grand Theft Auto III of course, what did you think?

While I wasn't able to attend E3 this year, I did manage to catch a lot of the press about, particularly the press touting the new games we should see coming out in the next year.

What impressed me was that, according to the manufacturers, cosoles have caught up to where game makers would have liked to see them in the DreamCast days.

That is, the game quality is going to be as good as the short movies you get between gameplay sections.

I saw a demo for a military style action game and was blown away when they said that was the actual game play and not some canned, pre-recorded movie. The graphics were awesome, the sound was incredible and the game makers made it feel like you were actually the one behind the M-16.

Overall, I think the next year to 18 months will bring us some incredible gaming advances, thanks in part to the new Xbox and PS3, plus I think we'll see some of that "new" technology begin to appear in the handhelds as well. It's going to be a great year for gaming.

Did you know you can hack your PSP to use a cell connection if wifi isn't available? Some resourceful people have been able to browse the web on their PSP using a wifi to cellular gateway (see the article here).

If that's not your style, and you liked our article about games music earlier this month, check this out - a site dedicated to mixing and mashing game music.

And finally today - could this be a leaked X360 screen?

Have a great mem day weekend!

Nintendo said its net profit more than doubled in the year ending March 2005 but predicted the cut-throat war in the saturated video-game world would mean a downturn in the current year.

Net profit jumped 163.3% to US$812 million as recurring profit rose 189.8%. Sales grew a marginal 0.1%.

The firm said its the DS handheld got off to a strong start after its launch in Japan and the United States late last year and in Europe in March.

Sales exceeded 5.2 million units, it said.

Not necessarily console specific news but gaming news none the less.

Two of the key unions representing actors have asked their members to authorize a strike against the video game industry after talks on a new master agreement between the two sides broke down.

Members of the Screen Actors guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists were approached on Tuesday by the unions in order to push for demands for greater residual payments (among other things).

This could bring the game manufacturing industry to a halt if a strike happens.

With all the talk about PS3 Xbox 360 and other new consoles, it's somewhat refreshing to see new news about an old favorite.

Have an old DC sitting around? Why not try and overclock it?

Devcast | Dreamcast Hardware | Dreamcast Mods

Not sure what console you want? Not sure if you should wait for the PS3 or chose X360 at Christmas? There's a pretty good comparions here:

Major Nelson.com � Blog Archive � Xbox 360 vs. PS3 (Part 1 of 4)

This article on CNN seems to indicate that the Phantom may be dead before it even gets beyond the vaporware stage - guess it really is a phantom console after all :)

Phantom nowhere to be found at 2005 E3, existence at risk - May. 19, 2005

Illinois will soon pass a law that will give officials the right to fine or even jail store owners who sell or rent violent or otherwise explicit games to anyone under 18.

The catch is that it's up to the store owners to determine what isn't appropriate. That's going to make this real interesting...

We told you earlier about the new Nintendo console, code-named "Revolution." Nintendo has finally announced that it will launch in 2006, giving users access to more than 20 years of games from past Nintendo consoles. No other details will be provided (such as price) until later this year however.

The Revolution, about the size of three stacked DVD cases, will feature wireless controllers, built-in wireless Internet and an add-on for DVD playback.

Here's an interesting post over at boing-boing:

Boing Boing: Nintendo promises a console that will run anyone's code?

So, you like the soundtrack from your favorite game and have already downloaded or ripped it into MP3 but what else can you do?

Why not see them on tour performed by various orchestras?

Gizmodo found a cool little (and we do mean little) handheld. Check it out at the link below:

E3: Game Boy Micro Hands On : Gizmodo

Just days after the M$ Xbox 360 announcement - Sony reveals it's plans for it's next gen console - the PlayStation 3.

There have been many rumors floating around -such as movie-like graphics quality, but some things we do know:

New processor architecture will allow for mulitple programs to run at once, as well as improved memory usage and support for the new blu-ray standard of disc.

All in all it should be an impressive console when it comes out NEXT SPRING!!!

Seems like they are going to be a little late getting into the game, since the Xbox is set to be released this fall, in time for the Christmas season.

At a news conference in LA, M$ said 160 titles were under development for the console, including Final Fantasy XI.

Among the other titles heading for the console are Dead or Alive 4, Need for Speed Most Wanted, Madden NFL 06 and a game of the best movie of all time - The Godfather.

Oh yeah, did we mention that X360 will be backward compatible, so that you can still play all your old games on the new console.

I realize that it's only a snippet of what's to come, but it has been confirmed that the Playstation 3 will in fact be backward-compatible. This may or may not prove to be a critical issue in the impending console wars, as Microsoft claims to be undecided on the issue, and Nintendo... well, no one really knows what's going on inside Nintendo. Additionally, the advantage that the PS3's Cell processor has finally been quantified: the Cell processor is supposedly capable of 2.18 teraflops as opposed to the Xbox 360's 1.15. Even I admit that this sounds farfetched, although it came straight from the horse's mouth.

Update! Jeez, when it rains, it pours. Here is, according to Joystiq, the finalized PS3 specs:

• It will support Blu-ray (obviously), DVD±R/W, CD-R/RW
  
• Backwards compatible with the PlayStation 2 and original Playstation
  
• One 3.2GHz Cell processor—total system performance rated at 2.18 teraflops (uh, that’s actually about twice what Microsoft is claiming the Xbox 360 will do); it will have 256MB system RAM 3.2GHz, and 256MB GDDR VRAM at 700MHz
  
• The nVidia graphics will be called the RSX (”Reality Synthesizer”), and will trump the Xbox 360 with 1080p (yes, that’s a p) graphics support.
  
• Memory Stick Duo slot, and very surprisingly, an SD and CF slots
  
• Bluetooth support with up to seven wireless controllers
  
• Six USB system ports

And of course, the obligatory money-shot:

I'll be editing this post throughout the fine as more details are revealed, so stay tuned.

We must apologize for our lack of posting last week. It was kinda hectic around the warehouse.

Iamlegend is busy working on other projects which he may decide to let the rest of us know at some point :) All the other authors have been chasing down leads and watching for the latest news.

As for me, I was away last week deep under cover. I plan to release some of my findings over the next few weeks, so be sure to check back soon!.

Thanks
Sincerely,
Consoleconspiracy.com staff.

Here ya go... Site seems to be slow to load so be patient...

Xbox 360 pictures leaked, peripherals and customization revealed - News at GameSpot

Seems that the true test of a consoles worth is how easily it can be hacked and linux loaded on it.

The good people at DSLinux have figured out how to boot a Nintendo DS into linux and get a command prompt.

Check it out here.

Guess it's quickpost day today.

Check these out - for the handheld gamer who has everything:

gameboy belt buckle - hack a day - www.hackaday.com _

I had to share this. While I'm not a big Mac fan, I thought this was a great way to mod a Mac case:

The G3 beer server - Engadget - www.engadget.com /

Some ingenious hacker has figured out how to read and share a PSP disc. Read all about it here:

PSP UMD format cracked; game ISOs appear - Engadget - www.engadget.com /

Seems that everyone is buzzing about the new Xbox these days - Someone clued in to the fact that it may now be an entertainment hub in your home (could that be why its called the 360?). In other words you can play tunes, and look at pics. But can you watch Vids or even TV? Maybe.

Turns out the system may support WebTV.

It's also supposed to have a menu similar to M$ Media Center. It would make sense that the media center menu now controls the console, but what will that mean for the gaming experience?

Another story illustrates that the Xbox 2 may be beat in terms of power by the PS3. Specs released by "unnamed but reliable sources" state that the PS3's main CPU may be 3x as powerful as the 360's. However some feel that that may not be entirely accurate as the architecture of the PS3 is different and therefore some of the CPU power might support other aspects such as graphics and sound.

Guess we'll have to wait and see.

Seems that Bill can't hold his tongue. A report at the Seattle PI says that Bill has let it slip that the year of high def will be "this year, because we're going to ship this next Xbox."

Thanks Bill, you just scooped your expensive MTV ad next week :)

And who said handheld gaming consoles were only for games?

Another innovative app for the PSP has hit the web today. Owners of the popular console can now get news served via ABC news, should they wish.

While there doesn't appear to be such a plugin yet, I would expect we'll see one soon, and I'm sure other content providers will follow suit.