It was announced yesterday that Nintendo was changing its next console’s name from Revolution to Wii. This news was not good news for most of the gaming community, though there were a few that seemed to like it.

Most thought the name was set in stone; that there was no chance of Nintendo changing the name again. Those people were wrong.

Nintendo announced today that they have listened to their fans’ complaints and as such, have changed the name of their console once again. Gamers didn’t like the simplicity of the Wii name, the obscure meaning, and the connection with the slang “wee wee”. With that, Nintendo has decided to name their next console the Home Gaming Console Machine System.

Nintendo hopes the lengthy name with appease those that thought Wii was too simple. They also feel the new name is overly clear in its connection with gaming, so much so that it can’t ever be confused with anything else.

Nintendo admits that their PR and marketing campaigns will have to be reworked, costing them millions, but they feel it was needed to appease their fanbase.

Tags: Nintendo, Wii, Revolution

Google’s AdWords and AdSense internet programs have made huge waves in the online advertising arena. Online advertisers can quickly and effectively target specific keywords and/or sites to place their ads. With that, the context sensing system allows (almost) all kinds of web publishers to easily place ad blocks on their sites that will automatically determine the type of ads to display based on the content on the page. The system’s ease of use and effective convertion ratios have been a huge draw for both advertisers and publishers.

However, arguably the most lucrative online businesses, adult entertainment sites, have been left out of the Google advertising money train. Google’s current terms of service don’t allow adult oriented content, as they have been trying to maintain a family friendly image… until now that is.

Earlier this week Google announced that they have decided to start an adult related advertising service that will work almost identical to the AdWords and AdSense programs. The only real difference is that all the ads will be adult entertainment oriented. Google is calling the programs PornWords (for advertisers) and PornSense (for web publishers). The pay per click is expected to be nearly ten times the amount of the more family friendly versions.

The program is currently in beta and is by invitation only, though Google expects the number of participants to grow greatly over the next few months. Google hasn’t released many details about the program yet, though they have confirmed PornSense ads cannot be displayed on pages running Adsense ads so webmasters will need to choose one or the other. Google has also said that, for now, banner images will not contain any nudity, though they haven’t decided whether or not it will remain that way.

Google has not released any dates for when the next phases of the program will take place. As such, invitations to the beta PornSense program are selling on eBay for as much as $100.

Tags: Google Adsense, Google AdWords, porn ads, adult entertainment

E3 is only a few days away, but they’re already looking at ways to improve for next year. Perhaps the biggest change is going to be that next year they are going to be E4. The Electronic Entertainment Expo is adding “Extreme” to the beginning making it the Extreme Electronic Entertainment Expo.

They are trying to jump on the “extreme” bandwagon like many others have in recent years. Genres like Extreme sports and products like the Intel Pentium Processor Extreme Edition have added the extreme factor to attract younger audiences, which is an audience E3 (soon to be E4) is hoping to expand upon.

Even though they already have a good hold on a young demographic, they are trying to appeal to a wider spectrum in that younger audience; beyond the “geeks” and “nerds” that frequent the yearly tradeshow.

While some are applauding E3’s attempt at widening it’s fanbase, many others say it’s too little too late, and that it’s just plain tacky.

Tags: E3, Electronic Entertainment Expo, extreme

There is much controversy over the impact video games have on gamers. The biggest debate is over the sex and violence in video games and whether or not that translates into more violent and sexually active gamers.

Below is a list of the top 12 effects video games have on gamers, which is based on a recent study released by some very smart people that have never played a video game in their lives.

1. Violence
2. Alcoholism
3. Urge to listen to Ashlee Simpson
4. Tendency towards premarital sex
5. Atheism
6. Vegetarianism
7. Tendency to become a fireman
8. Scurvy
9. Fear of shiny objects
10. Bulimia
11. Spontaneous combustion
12. Enlarged penis / bigger breasts

As you can see from the list the negatives far outweigh the positives. However, the positives are quite strong, such as becoming a fireman, getting a larger penis, and spontaneous combustion.

Tags: video games, spontaneous combustion

China is no stranger to banning technology. In the past they have banned minors from playing games that allow you to kill other players, search engines, and even weird baby names. This past week China added a ban on running email servers without a license, allowing the government to more closely control the citizens’ available information.

Yesterday it was announced that China has decided to fully tackle the internet by completley removing the ability for its citizens to browse the web. They have developed their own browser that will bring up pre-selected websites that have been approved and that are constantly monitored. The user will not be able to search for websites or click on any hyperlinks, as all “browsing” is done via a form of slideshow.

When users open the browser they are asked for a topic. After entering their topic, one of the pre-selected websites will appear with all links removed. The only option a user then has is to click the “next” or “previous” buttons at the bottom to view the next website related to the topic.

China is hoping that this will help them completely control the online content available to its citizens.

Tags: China, email server ban, web surfing

Hype surrounding the new Blade television series is starting to build. With a little less than two months remaining before it hits SpikeTV, Wesley Snipes has come out with a lawsuit that may delay, or perhaps permanently prevent, the premiere.

Snipes, the star of the Blade movie trilogy, is not part of the cast of the TV series, with his character instead being played by Kirk ‘Sticky’ Jones. Snipes isn’t jealous of being passed up for the role, his problem with the television show is that it’s paying Marvel for the licensing the character and story and not him.

You see, Snipes is claiming that Marvel bought partial rights to the Blade universe from Snipes. Not only that, Snipes is saying the character and story are not fiction, but based on him and his real life experiences. He is claiming that he can back up all his claims and has scheduled a press conference for next week to demonstrate his vampiric qualities.

“Even if he proves that he is in fact part vampire, this does nothing to prove that the Blade universe is in any way related to Mr. Snipes’ life story,” a Marvel representative announced. “We plan on fighting this absurd lawsuit and are confident a judge will remember that vampires, like vegetarians, are evil.”

Tags: Blade tv series, Blade Trilogy, vampires, Wesley Snipes, Kirk ‘Sticky’ Jones

Below are the top 10 most shocking *cough* facts *cough* that have been announced by Microsoft for their upcoming Windows Vista operating system.

1. Running Windows Vista will require at least 1 gig of RAM and at least a Radeon 9800 Pro or GeForce 5900 Ultra video card.
2. There will be 47 versions of Windows Vista, including versions designed for gamers, students, bloggers, programmers, and vegetarians.
3. There will be a few free versions of the operating system but these versions will display ads.
4. Users will not be able to use Vista unless connected to the internet. Microsoft says this is for security, anti-piracy, streaming real-time content, and serving ads.
5. Solitaire will not be included in any versions of the software. This is supposedly meant to increase productivity in the workplace.
6. As reported earlier, Firefox will be pre-installed.
7. Google.com will be the default starting page for both Firefox and IE.
8. Xbox Live content will be able to be downloaded onto computers running Vista, including full, playable versions of XBox 360 games.
9. The new Media Center will not only connect with the Xbox 360, but also with Playstation’s PS3 and Nintendo’s Revolution.
10. Windows Vista will be safe and secure as it won’t be able to be hacked, exploited, or misused.

Tags: Windows Vista, Firefox, Microsoft, Google, Xbox

Last week, scientists at Almost Science Community College discovered that there is no such thing as gravity. Researchers had been working on a theorum related to gravity when they realized that gravity itself doesn’t actually exist.

Their findings have come as an enormous shock to the scientific world, as gravity had been thought real for quite some time. The researchers at the college say that the previous explanation for the phenomenon of “sticking” to the planet was much closer to the truth than the current belief of Sir Isaac Newton’s Universal Law of Gravitation.

The previous belief was that God just made it that way, which researchers have discovered isn’t far from the truth. Since they don’t want to bring religious beliefs into the equation, they have all agreed to temporarily call the phenomenon magic until they can work out the exact science.

The scientists are assuring everybody that there is no need to panic and that everybody should continue to remain glued to the planet with no troubles.

Tags: gravity, Sir Isaac Newton, Universal Law of Gravitation

On an story reported earlier, Nintendo announced Mario MMO as being a launch title for the Revolution. The playable characters had been kept secret… until now. Below are the confirmed playable characters or “races” for the new massively multiplayer online Mario game.

• Yoshis: Everybody’s favorite Mario dinosaur has been confirmed as being a playable race in the new MMO. Players will be able to choose their own color for their Yoshi and will start on Yoshi Island. Yoshi’s specialties include speed, the ability to eat objects and creatures, and the use of “shell form”. Yoshi is sure to be a popular character among Nintendo fans.
• Toadstools: Toad has had an off and on run with Nintendo franchises. Toad was a playable character in the first Mario Kart, but was left out of Mario 64. He had a drought for awhile, as he was left out of being a playable character in many Mario Party games and Super Smash Bros. The Toadstool race was even abandoned for Piantas in Super Mario Sunshine. However, he will be a playable race in Mario MMO and will supposedly be the “balanced” character with no huge strengths or weaknesses, just an all around jack of all trades. Toadstool characters will start out in the Mushroom Kingdom.
• Piantas: These guys are one of the newest additions to the Mario world with their introduction in Super Mario Sunshine. Their specialty is their offensive strength and they will start on Isle Delfino.
• Boos: The ghost enemies that have been found in many Mario games will be a playable character and will start off in the Haunted Mansion. Boos will have the ability to turn invisible temporarily as well as causing fear in other creatures for a paralysis effect.
• Koopa Troopas: Koopa Troopas have been a staple in most Mario games and Mario MMO will be no different. Koopa Troopas will come in a variety of different colors and will have strong defensive capabilities. Players choosing to be a Koopa Troopa will start in the Mushroom Kingom.
• Goombas: The Goombas will be another balanced character. Not overly strong or weak in any one area, their balanced stats are their strongest trait. Goombas will also start in the Mushroom Kingom.

With this announcement, Nintendo also explained how the PvP aspect would work. Toadstools, Yoshis, and Piantas are all considered “good guys” and Boos, Goombas, and Koopa Troopas are all “bad guys”. The good guys cannot attack each other, same for the bad guys. However, if any good guy character meets with any bad guy character they can attack each other at will. Nintendo hopes to have epic good guy vs bad guy battles with hundreds of players all fighting for control of key areas.

The list is supposedly not a complete list, and other playable characters are expected to be announced closer to launch.

Tags: Revolution, Nintendo, Mario MMO, Mario characters

It was announced this past week that the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has once again shelved plans for adding the .xxx domain to the internet. However, it appears that the organization has in fact decided to make a home for pornography related websites, and that home is .sin.

Apparently, ICANN has decided to make the new .sin domain a place for not only pornography related sites, but also gambling, gaming, homosexual, atheist, and vegetarian websites. ICANN is most likely hoping to appease supporters of creating a separate domain for pornography, while also being able to advertise their disapproval over the content itself.

“We acknowledge the need for a separate and safe reserve for certain types of sites,” a spokesman for ICANN said yesterday. “The choice in the domain name was completely random and should not be taken as anything other than random letters connected together.”

The denial of the motivation behind the choice in domain doesn’t seem to be bothering adult website owners though. An anonymous adult web master replied saying “we’re just excited that we will finally have our very own place on the web to run our businesses. With adult websites being as popular as they are, it was only a matter of time.”

There is no official date set for when the new domain will become available. One thing is certain, the domain squatters will be out in full force trying to buy up as many popular domains as possible.

Tags: xxx, adult websites, pornography, ICANN