A virtual world for Muslims?

I’m not sure which is more interesting – that there are plans for a Muslim themed Second-Life like virtual world aimed at Muslims, or that the system will be offering social networking features usually banned in some Middle Eastern countries.

I’m usually not down on things that separate people based on ethnic or religious lines, but at the same time, it’s always nice to have a place where people share your feelings and beliefs.

The question is – how will the Middle Eastern countries like Iran – which are big on censorship – react? And just as importantly, how will the US government treat this new communications medium?

Vader and Yoda, Sitting in a Tree – If you pay them

If you bought Soul Calibur IV for the Xbox 360 or the Playstation 3, you would either get Darth Vader in the PS3 version, or Yoda in the 360 version.

Now it looks like you can have the character you didn’t get the first time around as long as you’re willing to pay for it. I would almost be OK with that – except that the characters are already on the disk, they’re just locked.

Hey, Namco – I bought some tube socks the other day, but the store didn’t tell me I could only wear one of them until I paid extra for the others. Just an idea.

When is charity worth it?

I think charities are great things, and every year I give up some money to support the Child’s Play charity.

But when is buying something for charity worth it? GameSetWatch goes over one gaming bundle for the Xbox 360 sold for charity, but then you look at the games offered. Shrek the Third Movie the Game?

It’s a hard thing, and sometimes I’d rather just give the money to the school rather than buy one of their horrible pies at the bake sale. Where does the line lie between buying something for charity because it’s a good thing, buying something for charity even though the “gift” sucks, and deciding that it’s just not worth the cost?

Want to make a disgusting game? Car accidents.

I’m not quite sold on the game Dead Space, a survival horror game set in space. Not that I don’t think it’ll be a good game, but because I don’t handle scary games that well.

So how did the development team create such horrifying creatures?

“This sounds horrible, but we had to go look at pictures of car accidents and war scenes and things like that because we had to get it right;

Ewwww.

Persona 2 Innocent Sin is finally in English!

Years ago, a game came to the US called “Persona 2: Eternal Punishment.” The problem is this was a game that was a sequel – the original never came to the US, so some plot twists and details didn’t quite make sense.

That, and US gamers felt a little cheated.

Now, that has changed! Thanks to the incredible efforts by Gemeni, a fan made translation patch of Persona 2: Innocent Sin is now available! Contratulations to Gemeni for all his hard work!

Now, where did my Playstation One emulator for OS X get to….

Bad news for game publishers – economy frags

Looks like the bad economy is going to hit the gaming industry pretty hard this holiday season.

The good news? In six months, those $60 games should be $30 in the bargain bin! PS3 Eternal Sonata on the cheap, here I come!

What kind of dots does Pac-Man lingerie eat?

I’m not going to say. I showed pictures of the Pac-Man themed lingerie to my wife.

She noticed that Ms. Pac-Man is running away from the model’s, uh, chest. Jealous, Ms. Pac-Man?

Is it wrong to want an Atari joystick?

There is part of me that finds the idea of a Atari USB joystick really appealing?

Oh – and you can buy one right here. Thanks, Gam’n Geek for the link!

Mirror’s Edge a Trilogy?

Are you as interested in Mirror’s Edge as I am? A strong heroine who spends her time kicking guys in the head and jumping from one building to the next?

And now it turns out the game is being planned as a trilogy – even more yay!

Until the game comes out – hope it’s worth my warm fuzzies.

Aya Brea should be my girlfriend

OK, don’t tell my wife that, but I’ve always loved the Parasite Eve games from Square-Enix. Real time RPG about a New York detective with psychic powers and a gun? I didn’t play the second game, though I may have to now that there’s a new Parasite Eve game coming out.

Will it hit stateside? If it doesn’t, somebody is going to get a belly slap.