Kotaku reports that Keighley appeared live on Fox News to try and clear the waters over a vast video game misrepresentation. In the first two minutes the anchor says that Mass Effect has full nudity and sex and a psychologist "expert" talks about statistics show that games are played by young boys and that Mass Effect is all about objectifying women. Oh wait, you can play as a woman too, Keighley points out and the full on nudity? About half a boob for 30 seconds of a 30 hour game.

Keighley totally took charge of the interview.

It's obvious that people who they had discussing it, never played Mass Effect, they probably heard about it five minutes before they were supposed to offer an opinion.
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Just a couple of new things today. Including Mass Effect documentry.
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It's called "Mass Effect" and it allows its players - universally male no doubt - to engage in the most realistic sex acts ever conceived. One can custom design the shape, form, bodies, race, hair style, breast size of the images they wish to "engage" and then watch in crystal clear, LCD, 54 inch screen, HD clarity as the video game "persons" hump in every form, format, multiple, gender-oriented possibility they can think of.
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A new, best-selling video game, Mass Effect, made for the Microsoft Xbox 360 console, allows the characters to engage in explicitly graphic sexual intercourse. Some game experts and pro-family analysts say Mass Effect is marketed to young kids and presents a moral danger to them and that the companies making and marketing the game should be prosecuted.

The game is "clearly marketed to minors," Cathy Ruse, a lawyer and senior fellow for legal studies at the Family Research Council, told Cybercast News Service.

"There are cultural implications for feeding porn to kids in this way," and "when you do this, you're teaching them a distorted lesson about human sexuality and human dignity. These are lessons that they will take with them into adulthood and ultimately society," Ruse said.
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BioWare's community coordinator and Mass Effect team member Chris Priestly recently commented on Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter's assertion that EA-owned BioWare will make Mass Effect for the PS3. In his message posted in the official BioWare forums, Priestly revealed that BioWare "could" make Mass Effect for the PS3, but they are not working on the PS3 version currently.

Here is the relevant snippet of Priestly's comments -- in which he highlighted the word "could":

"Sorry folks, this is just another rumor at this stage. *Could* BioWare make Mass Effect for the PS3 (or the PC, or some other platform) in the future? Yes we could, but we are not working on a PS3 version currently."
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TeamXbox Readers' Choice polls closed down on January 2, and all of the results have been tallied. Here are the results:

¿ Developer of the Year: BioWare
¿ Sports Game of the Year: skate
¿ Action Game of the Year: Assassin's Creed
¿ Best Sound of the Year: BioShock

¿ Role-Playing Game of the Year: Mass Effect
¿ Fighting Game of the Year: Virtual Fighter 5
¿ Hardware/Peripheral of the Year: Xbox 360 Elite
¿ Sleeper Hit of the Year: Crackdown

¿ Best Graphics of the Year: Call of Duty 4
¿ Xbox Live Arcade Game of the Year: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
¿ Best Visual Style of the Year: BioShock
¿ First-Person Shooter of the Year: Call of Duty 4

¿ Best Story of the Year: Mass Effect
¿ Music/Rhythm/Party Game of the Year: Rock Band
¿ Racing Game of the Year: Forza Motorsport 2
¿ Multiplayer Game of the Year: Halo 3

¿ Game of the Year: Call of Duty 4

View the full report for other nominees in each category.
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Jan. 2, 2008 -- MSNBC tallied in their Game of the Year readers' votes between December 19 and 27. "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare" garnered 33 percent of the over 17,000 votes and is MSNBC Readers' Game of the Year. The runner-up was "Bioshock" at 22 percent of the votes. The second runner-up was "Mass Effect" at 10 percent.

Here are MSNBC readers' picks for the best in each genre:

¿ Best sports game: Madden NFL '08
¿ Best racing game: Project Gotham Racing 4
¿ Best casual game: Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree
¿ Best family game: LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
¿ Best music game: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
¿ Best handheld game: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
¿ Best role-playing game: Mass Effect
¿ Best action/adventure game: Bioshock
¿ Best shooter: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

View the full report for the runners-up in each category.
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Here are the winners and runners-up for all the categories:

Game of the Year: BioShock
Runners-up: Rock Band, Mass Effect, Super Mario Galaxy, The Orange Box

Most Innovative: Rock Band
Runners-up: Portal, Assassin's Creed, Crush, Super Paper Mario

Best Writing: Mass Effect
Runners-up: BioShock, Portal, Assassin's Creed, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

Best Adrenaline Rush: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Runners-up: God of War II, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, Project Gotham Racing 4, Halo 3

Best Jiggle Factor: Heavenly Sword
Runners-up: Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Conan, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary

Guiltiest Pleasure: LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
Runners-up: Stranglehold, Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, Overlord, Mario Strikers Charged

Best Portable Game: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
Runners-up: Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow, Silent Hill: Origins, Dead Head Fred

Worst Game: Vampire Rain
Runners-up: Jackass: The Game, Lair, Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s, The Eye of Judgment, Hour of Victory

[ Judges: Scott Alexander, Damon Brown, John Gaudiosi, Scott Jones, Marc Saltzman, Scott Stein and Scott Steinberg ]
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Picking the Destructoid Game of the Year was no easy task, as evidenced by the overwhelmingly varied community response to yesterday's list of nominees. It seemed like each one of the five finalists garnered an equal amount of support: "Pick Mass Effect!" "Super Mario Galaxy is easily the best!" "COD4 FTW!" "BioShock, hands down!" "No competition. The Orange Box!"

And the winner is...
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Dec. 26, 2007 - John Gaudiosi is a national journalist who has been covering the video game business for more than a decade. In addition to blogging for WRAL.com, he also writes about gaming for Wired Magazine, The Washington Post, Xbox.com and Yahoo! Games. Here are his picks for the best games of 2007:

¿ Mass Effect
¿ Halo 3
¿ BioShock
¿ Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction
¿ Unreal Tournament 3
¿ Rock Band
¿ The Orange Box
¿ Call of Duty 4: Modern Combat
¿ Super Mario Galaxy
¿ Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

Notes: In addition to his credentials already listed above, John Gaudiosi is a senior editor for Variety's Video Business and regularly writes about videogames for Electronic Gaming Monthly, GameDaily, GamePro Magazine, Kotaku, MCV, Prima Games, Business 2.0 Magazine, CBS, Chicago Sun-Times, ESPN, Home Media Magazine, NBC, Reuters, and The Hollywood Reporter. He also works on video game programming for networks like The History Channel, The Discovery Channel, Starz Entertainment and VH1.
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These lists are based on global unique users connected to Xbox Live or in the case of Arcade, full versions purchased this week. Here are the top 3 for each charts, see the source for the complete top 10 list.

Xbox 360 Top Live Titles
1. Halo 3
2. Call of Duty 4
3. Gears of War

Top Arcade Titles (Full Versions)
1. Sensible World of Soccer
2. Arkadian Warriors
3. Tempest

Original Xbox Top Live Games
1. Halo 2
2. Battlefield 2: Modern Combat
3. Star Wars: Battlefront 2
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Yahoo has announced their Games of the Year awards, which culminated in their 2007 Overall Game of the Year. Here are the categories, winners and runners-up:

¿ Best Action Adventure Game: Super Mario Galaxy
¿ Runners-Up: Assassin's Creed, The Orange Box

¿ Best Online Multiplayer Game: Halo 3
¿ Runners-Up: Call of Duty 4, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade

¿ Best Racing Game: Forza Motorsport 2
¿ Runners-Up: DiRT, Project Gotham Racing 4

¿ Best Sports Game: skate
¿ Runners-Up: FIFA 08, Madden NFL 08

¿ Best Shooter: BioShock
¿ Runners-Up: Call of Duty 4, Halo 3

¿ Best Party Game: Rock Band
¿ Runners-Up: Guitar Hero III, Warioware: Smooth Moves

¿ Best Role-Playing Game: Mass Effect
¿ Runners-Up: The Witcher, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade

¿ Best Strategy Game: Supreme Commander
¿ Runners-Up: Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, World in Conflict

¿ Best Overall Game: Super Mario Galaxy
¿ Runners-Up: BioShock, Rock Band
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ActionTrip's 2007 Game of the Year voting poll registered 10673 participants. 1809 registered users voted for Call of Duty 4, 1279 for Halo 3, 1192 for Assassin's Creed, 837 for "None of the Above", 716 for BioShock, 710 for Crysis, 627 for The Orange Box, and so on. The rest of the results can be viewed in ActionTrip's voting poll section.

¿ People's Choice: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
¿ Runners-up: Halo 3, Assassin's Creed, Crysis, Half-Life 2: The Orange Box

¿ Game of the Year (ActionTrip Staff): Portal
¿ Runners-up: Mass Effect, Halo 3, BioShock, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, The Witcher

¿ Best Action Game: Halo 3
¿ Runners-up: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Half-Life 2: The Orange Box, God of War II, BioShock, Crysis

¿ Best Strategy Game: World in Conflict
¿ Runners-up: Supreme Commander, Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars

¿ Best RPG: Mass Effect
¿ Runners-up: The Witcher, Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer

¿ Best Sports Game: FIFA 08
¿ Runners-up: SSX Blur, NHL 08, Winning Eleven: Pro Evolution Soccer 2008

¿ Best MMOG: World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade
¿ Runners-up: Tabula Rasa, The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar

¿ Best Rhythm/Music Game: Rock Band
¿ Runners-up: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

¿ Babe of the Year: Joanna Krupa
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The Bitbag editor picks the winners for:

¿ Best 3D Action Game
¿ Best Racing Game
¿ Best RPG
¿ Best Fighter
¿ Best FPS
¿ Best Strategy Game
¿ Best Sports Game
¿ Best War Game
¿ Best Mecha Game
¿ Achievement In Excellence
¿ Best Handheld Game
¿ Best Graphics
¿ Best Sound
¿ Best Online Multiplayer
¿ Developer Of The Year
¿ Game Of The Year
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Without a doubt, 2007 was one of the best years ever for blockbuster video-game releases. Be sure to check out TXB's picks for this year's best titles, but right now TXB wants to turn to you to get your opinion - what do you think were the best of the best in 2007? TXB has provided a simple-to-complete form for you to vote in these categories...

¿ Game of the Year
¿ FPS of the Year
¿ Action Game of the Year
¿ Multiplayer Game of the Year
¿ RPG of the Year
¿ Sports Game of the Year
¿ Racing Game of the Year
¿ Fighting Game of the Year
¿ XBLA Game of the Year
¿ Hardware/Peripheral of the Year
¿ Sleeper Hit of the Year
¿ Best Graphics of the Year
¿ Best Sound of the Year
¿ Best Visual Style of the Year
¿ Best Story of the Year
¿ Music/Rhythm/Party Game of the Year
¿ Developer of the Year

All you have to do is click your choices and hit the button to submit them. TXB will compile the results and pass them on to you shortly.
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Some years it's hard to come up with a clear-cut winner, because there aren't games that stand out in a particular category. This year, for almost every award, it's been hard to pick just one to take the crown as the best in that group. The TXB staff fussed and debated, they yelled and slammed things down, they furiously IMed and e-mailed among themselves¿ and what follows are TXB's selections.

¿ Best Action Game of the Year -- Crackdown
¿ Best Shooter of the Year -- Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
¿ Best Role-Playing Game of the Year -- Mass Effect
¿ Best Sports Game of the Year -- NHL 08
¿ Best Racing Game of the Year -- Forza Motorsport 2
¿ Best Fighting Game of the Year -- Virtua Fighter 5
¿ Best Music/Rhythm/Party Game of the Year -- Rock Band
¿ Best Multiplayer Game of the Year -- Halo 3
¿ Best Sleeper Hit of the Year -- Crackdown
¿ Best Xbox Live Arcade of the Year -- Switchball
¿ Best Graphics of the Year -- Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
¿ Best Sound of the Year -- BioShock
¿ Best Visual Style of the Year -- BioShock
¿ Best Story of the Year -- Mass Effect
¿ Best Hardware/Peripheral of the Year -- Xbox 360 Elite System
¿ Developer of the Year -- Infinity Ward
¿ Game of the Year -- Mass Effect

TXB wants to hear what you have to say about their picks, and also get your selections for what you believe are the best games in each category. Be sure to offer the TXB staff your feedback in the forums, and also fill out the Readers' Choice form with your votes. They'll compile what the TeamXbox community has to say and report the results after the holidays.
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The New York Times - Seth Schiesel, December 23, 2007:

For gamers 2006 was all about the introduction of Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii systems; there weren't many great games released. This year, by contrast, has delivered one fabulous interactive entertainment experience after another. Even without Grand Theft Auto IV, which was delayed until next year, 2007 has witnessed the strongest lineup of new games since the fall of 2004, when Halo 2, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, and World of Warcraft were introduced.

Even with heavy hitters like Spore, G.T.A. IV and Super Smash Bros. on the horizon for 2008, it will be tough for next year to top the crop of 2007. Here are some of this year's most important, intriguing and just plain amusing games and developments:

¿ Best Newcomer
¿ Most Difficult Delivery
¿ Best Adaptation of an Adored Intellectual Property
¿ Best Unambitious Representations of the State of the Art
¿ Best Single-Handed Rescue of a Major Game System
¿ Game of the Year
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MSNBC video game section has been polling gamers about their favorite games in a number of categories, trying to narrow down the search for the Game of the Year.

On Thursday the site put up the poll to decide which of the finalists, culled from the best of each genre, should be named the game of the year.

The finalists are:
¿ Madden NFL 08
¿ Project Gotham Racing 4
¿ Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree
¿ LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
¿ Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
¿ The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
¿ Mass Effect
¿ Bioshock
¿ Call of Duty 4

At the time of this writing Call of Duty 4 was leading with 31 percent of the vote. BioShock was close behind with 22 percent and Mass Effect was in a distant third with 8.6 percent.

[ Words: Kotaku's Brian Crecente ]
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Welcome to the Rumour mill, VideoGamer.com's run-down of the big rumours currently doing the rounds in the video game industry. VideoGamer.com give their opinion on the following rumors: Gears of War 2 on November 15, God of War 3 only a year away, Mass Effect coming to PS3 and LA Noire not until 09.

LA Noire not until 09

The Rumour: Take Two released its results for the fourth quarter of its financial year. Missing on a forecast for titles for 2008 is Rockstar's LA Noire, causing people to believe that the secretive title won't be out until 2009.

Verdict: While it's true that the game is missing from the forecast, Rockstar's financial year runs from November 1st to October 31st, meaning LA Noire could still see a release in November or December 2008.

Plausibility rating: 3/5
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These lists are based on global unique users connected to Xbox Live or in the case of Arcade, full versions purchased this week. Here are the top 3 for each charts, see the source for the complete top 10 list.

Xbox 360 Top Live Titles
1. Halo 3
2. Call of Duty 4
3. Gears of War

Top Arcade Titles (Full Versions)
1. Arkadian Warriors
2. Sonic The Hedgehog 2
3. GripShift

Original Xbox Top Live Games
1. Halo 2
2. Fable
3. Battlefield 2: Modern Combat
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