Rendition: Gitmo Joins Shunned Video Games

Chinatown Wars is getting good reviews from early users

(NEWSER) - Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars has been released for the iPhone, for those who want to indulge in a little Liberty City mayhem in between emails. The game is a direct port of the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP versions and costs $9.99, a little pricey for an iPhone game but much cheaper than the game console versions. More»

Boston police talk boy into shutting off PlayStation

(NEWSER) - A Boston teen's excessive video game playing caused his mom to call 911 this weekend. Angela Mejia awoke at 2:30am to find her son still playing Grand Theft Auto IV, so she unplugged his PlayStation. "I want to help my son, but I can’t find a way," lamented the stressed-out mom. The video-addled 14-year-old argued, so she called the cops, who managed to persuade the son to hit pause on his life of virtual crime. More»

Star Wars impressed, but Donkey Kong was barrels of fun

(NEWSER) - They may seem primitive alongside your Wii, but lest we forget the glory days of arcade games, Peter Hartlaub counts down the best in the San Francisco Chronicle. The top five:

1. Donkey Kong: 30 years on, “they’re making documentaries about this incredible video game,” whose barrel-throwing gorilla helped put Nintendo on the map.
2. Star Wars: The game made you feel “immersed in the movie,” and boasted the voice of Alec Guinness.

(NEWSER) - A federal appeals court ruled today that violent video games can be sold to minors in California, GameSpot reports. Upholding a lower court's decision, the judges struck down a state law that sought to ban the sale of violent games to those under 18. The law violated free speech rights, said the three-judge panel, which dismissed research suggesting that such games lead to violent or anti-social behavior, the AP reports. More»

Download-only add-on episode revs new life into franchise's fourth outing

(NEWSER) - Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and the Damned brings gamers back to a Liberty City as gritty and darkly funny as ever, Seth Schiesel writes in the New York Times. The add-on episode, only available as a download through the Xbox Live service, swiftly ditches GTA IV's protagonist to let players take the role of a would-be biker gang leader. More»