Raspberry Pi plays MIDI without an OS

January 22nd, 2013, 15:08 Posted By: wraggster

For all the interesting DSP functions locked away in the Raspberry Pi, it’s still hard to imagine using the Raspberry Pi as an eminently capable software synthesizer, tracker, or sequencer. Running any of the usual Linux digital audio programs means – surprise – running Linux, and the performance penalty associated with that.
It would be much better if all these audio programs could run directly on the Raspberry Pi without an operating system, and [Joe]‘s project is right up that alley. He’s playing MIDI files without an operating system, in effect making the Raspberry Pi a very powerful embedded platform.
[Joe]‘s build is the first bare metal audio code for the Raspberry Pi. It’s actually an LV2 plugin host that will load audio plugins, read MIDI files, and shoot the resulting audio out over the 1/8″ jack on the Pi. This work wouldn’t have been possible without a few Raspberry Pi bare metal tutorials put together by [David Welch].
Hopefully this won’t be the last we’ll see of [Joe] and his code; the Raspberry Pi has more than enough horsepower to be an amazing sampler, synth, beat machine, or the next generation of Akai MPC. All we need are a few brave coders to take up coding bare metal on the Raspberry Pi.



http://hackaday.com/2013/01/22/raspb...rating-system/

Join In and Discuss Here

Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here

Tired of playing the MacBook? Play the Raspberry Pi

January 21st, 2013, 22:48 Posted By: wraggster


Hit up any club, party, or get together where musicians are present and you’ll probably find a DJ booth stacked to the gills with faders, various MIDI devices, and a MacBook. However abundant an OS X-based DJ platform is, we haven’t heard hide nor hare of a Raspberry Pi being used as a sequencer, MIDI device, or MaxMSP box.
[James] over at Illuminated Sound put together a great tutorial for making all those cool electronic music devices play nice with a Raspberry Pi. He used a Novation Launchpad, an 8×8 MIDI controller that can act as faders, a keyboard, or even a functional equivalent to the pads on an MPC.
Hardware is nothing without software, so [James] used Puredata and libusb to turn the MIDI data into notes and audio effects.
[James] added a download that includes the Launchpad driver and a Puredata sketch to test everything out. You can see how it all fits together in the video after the break.
http://hackaday.com/2013/01/21/tired...-raspberry-pi/

Join In and Discuss Here

Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here

UK charts: DMC Devil May Cry in at number one

January 21st, 2013, 22:43 Posted By: wraggster

Ninja Theory’s reboot ends FIFA 13’s run at the top of the charts in this week’s GFK Chart-track top 40.DMC Devil May Cry is Capcom’s first all formats number one since Resident Evil 5 back in 2009. Chart Track adds that DMC has sold over a third that the previous game in the series, Devil May Cry 4, sold at launch when it hit the number one spot in early 2008. Once again, the rest of the top ten all suffer a week-on-week decline in sales.The GFK Chart Track UK top 10 for the week ending January 19^th is as follows, with their respective week-on-week sales declines in brackets.1. DMC Devil May Cry (N/A)2. FIFA 13 (-40%)3. Call Of Duty Black Ops II (-26%)4. Far Cry 3 (-49%)5. Need For Speed Most Wanted (-35%)6. Just Dance 4 (-18%)7. Football Manager 2013 (-16%)8. Hitman Absolution (-50%)9. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (-20%)10. Assassin’s Creed III (-21%)We dubbed Capcom’s chart-topper “the best in its genre since Bayonetta” in our DMC Devil May Cry review.

http://www.edge-online.com/news/uk-c...at-number-one/

Join In and Discuss Here

Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here

Chinese Government Appears To Be Blocking GitHub Via DNS

January 21st, 2013, 22:36 Posted By: wraggster

Reports are coming in that the social coding site GitHub has been blocked in China. While the service has seen blocks in the country before, this appears to be a much broader denial of service, affecting most, if not all users in the world's most populous country online and offline. GitHub released a statement saying: 'GitHub is still investigating, but it does appear that we’re at least being partly blocked by the Great Firewall of China. We’re looking into it, and will update with more information when we have it.

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/13/01/...github-via-dns

Join In and Discuss Here

Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here

HMV gift voucher u-turn

January 21st, 2013, 22:29 Posted By: wraggster

Deloitte, Joint Administrators to HMV, have today announced that the retailer will begin accepting gift cards from January 22nd.
The initial decision to block gift vouchers and store credit was announced the day after the retailer collapsed and entered into administration.
Customers will no doubt be pleased with the news as the previously worthless vouchers, which many consumers will have likely received over the Christmas period, will again become of value and useable within HMV stores.
An Irish grandfather recently made the news after walking out of his local HMV branch with three games after staff refused to accept his vouchers as an acceptable form of payment.
However, it remains unclear whether the brand plans to begin selling the vouchers again or if it will strictly honour them only.
Joint Administrator for HMV, Nick Edwards, stated: "Since our appointment as Joint Administrators on Tuesday afternoon, we have been urgently assessing the Companies’ financial position. I am pleased to confirm that, having concluded this assessment, we are able to honour gift cards."
“We will continue to assess the longer term options for the business whilst continuing to trade. I am hopeful this process will result in the business continuing as a going concern.”
Deloitte has also confirmed that HMV will move to pay all funds raised by charity initiatives, such as the Hillsborough Justice Collective single, in full to the relevant charities.

http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...-u-turn/030046

Join In and Discuss Here

Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here

Raspberry Pi and R

January 20th, 2013, 20:09 Posted By: wraggster


[Stephen] picked up a Raspberry Pi to do a little hardware hacking and add a blinking LED to the many feathers in his software development hat. He picked up an analog to digital converter and a temperature sensor that would serve him well in a few projects he wanted to put together, including a weather station and a small Pi-controlled home brewing setup. He ended up not liking Python, and didn’t like the C-ness of wiringPi. He’s a scientist, so he’s most comfortable with R and Matlab. Of course, playing around with a R and a Raspberry Pimeans replicating his sensor-reading code in R.
[Stephen] put together a neat little package that will allow him to read his sensors over an SPI bus with his Raspberry Pi. Yes, this functionality can easily be duplicated with Python, but if you’re looking to generate beautiful graphs, or just do a whole lot of statistics on something, R is the tool you need.
It’s a cool project, even if it is only measuring the temperature. Using R for the nerd cred isn’t bad, either.

http://hackaday.com/2013/01/20/raspberry-pi-and-r/

Join In and Discuss Here

Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here

Writer's Guild of America nominates 007 Legends

January 19th, 2013, 23:23 Posted By: wraggster

The Writer's Guild of America has announced its nominees for outstanding achievement in video game writing for 2012. Shockingly, the critically drubbed 007 Legends made the short list, while the near universally praised The Walking Dead did not.It'll be okay, sweet pea. Telltale's already greenlit a sequel.

The rest of the picks weren't much better with Far Cry 3 making the list after its attempts at satire were so subdued that its writer had to defend it to the press, while Uncharted: Golden Abyss has often been declared the weak link in that franchise as series creator Naughty Dog didn't pen it.The full list of nominations is as follows:

• 007 Legends - Written By Bruce Feirstein; Activision
• Assassin's Creed 3 - Story By Alex Hutchinson, Corey May, Matt Turner; Multiplayer Story By Richard Farrese, Jeffrey Yohalem; Lead Scriptwriter Corey May; Scriptwriter Nicholas Grimwood, Russell Lees, Matt Turner, Danny Wallace, Ceri Young; Ubisoft
• Assassin's Creed 3: Liberation - Scriptwriting by Richard Farrese, Jill Murray; Ubisoft
• Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two - Writing Consultant Marv Wolfman; Disney Interactive Studios
• Halo 4 - Narrative Design Christopher Schlerf; Microsoft Studios
• Uncharted: Golden Abyss - Written By John Garvin; Sony Computer Entertainment America

How can this be? According to the stipulations on the WGA's official site, "Credited videogame writers must have been or must have applied to become members of the WGA Videogame Writers Caucus at the time scripts were submitted."It then noted, "Work that was not produced under WGA jurisdiction was also eligible for submission." Thus, this list makes even less sense.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...e-walking-dead

Join In and Discuss Here

Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here

Bill attempts to make ESRB law

January 18th, 2013, 23:20 Posted By: wraggster

Congressman calls for $5k fine for sale of adult rated games to underage customers

A bill has been introduced to congress that would make ESRB ratings mandatory for video games.
American lawmakers have been scrambling to introduce legistlation concerning violent video games since the Sandy Hook school shooting in December, calling for aditional research, tax penalties, and now legal ratings.

H.R. 287, introduced by Rep. Jim Matheson (D-Utah) makes prominent ratings mandatory on all video games.
In addition, “It shall be unlawful for any person to sell or rent, or attempt to sell or rent (1) any video game containing a content rating of “Adults Only”… to any person under the age of 18; or (2) any video game containing content rating of “Mature”… to any person under the age of 17,” reads the bill.
Last year the US Supreme court gave games full first amendment protections guaranteeing freedom of speech, deciding against a similar law in California banning the sale of violent games to minors.

http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...-make-ERSB-law

Join In and Discuss Here

Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here

GAME looks to buy up 45 HMV stores

January 18th, 2013, 23:13 Posted By: wraggster

Retail group OpCapita has approached administrators Deloitte about the possible acquisition of a number of HMV’s stores.
It appears OpCapita, the company that now owns GAME, is targeting between 40-45 stores.
Game Retail chief executive Martyn Gibbs told The Financial Times: “We will constantly review our property portfolio based on what is available. I would not rule out any stores that are becoming available, be that through an administration or normal property deals.”
Although Game Retail has not released any numbers for its Christmas trading, Gibbs claims they were ‘ahead of expectations’ and the retailer is confident it can hit its £20m annual earnings target by July.
HMV announced on January 15th that it was entering administration after its directors faced the realisation that the chain 'wasn't going to be able to reach a point where it could continue to trade'.
Less than a year ago, GAME was in a similar situation to the one HMV is in now, and after filing for administration, was saved by retail group OpCapita.
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...-stores/030035

Join In and Discuss Here

Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here

Valve may resubmit Left 4 Dead 2 for classification in Australia

January 18th, 2013, 00:31 Posted By: wraggster

Valve is "exploring options" for resubmitting Left 4 Dead 2 for classification in Australia, where it was released as a censored version in 2009.
<figure style="font: 14px/21px sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 20px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px currentColor; width: 300px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); text-transform: none; text-indent: 0px; letter-spacing: normal; clear: both; word-spacing: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; float: right; display: block; white-space: normal; position: relative; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" class="article-image article-image-alt article-image-300"></figure>The move follows the introduction of an R18+ rating in Australia on January 1, which may accommodate titles not suitable for an MA15+ rating.Posting on the Steam forums, Valve's Chet Faliszek said the company was on the case. "We have been exploring the options here and what we can legally do.
"We will have more information on this when we understand the issues fully and how we are moving forward, but don't worry, any cost associated with it doesn't worry us, this is something we want to do."
The news follows Warner Bros. submission for Mortal Kombat: Komplete Edition in Australia, following the original edition's ban upon release in 2011. Under the new guidelines - and with the new classification - it's possible that previously banned titles will be acceptable.
Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge was the first game to be rated R18+ in Australia.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...-in-australia/

Join In and Discuss Here

Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here

Black Powder Media's Impulse Controller

January 18th, 2013, 00:24 Posted By: wraggster

Black Powder Media showed up at our double-wide HQ with a couple Bluetooth Impulse Controllers on hand for us to play with. This tiny Bluetooth 2.1 controller is actually a jack of all trades device as it will control your phone, tablet or PC for gaming, multimedia control, remote camera trigger and even help find your keys -- via a free app -- if you lose them.
We had a chance to play a bit of Pac Man and Temple Run on an iPad and the control was really quite good, though, the device's housing isn't complete as you can plainly see in the pic above. Button feel was great with the right rubbery click feel to the various buttons on the face and shoulder keys on the rear. The D-Pad can be flipped to the opposite side of the controller using the small mode key so that lefties can join in the fun, too. To protect your Impulse Controller while it is tethered to your keychain it comes wrapped in a very clever plastic housing that doubles as a stand for your phone while playing a game in either portrait or landscape mode. We definitely are looking forward to seeing the final polished product, but until then have a peek at our quick video tour and photo gallery.

http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/17/b...ands-on-video/

Join In and Discuss Here

Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here

Raspberry Pi creator doesn't expect a sequel in 2013

January 18th, 2013, 00:24 Posted By: wraggster

If you were hoping for a full-fledged Raspberry Pi sequel this year, you'll have to keep waiting. Designer Eben Upton tellsZDNet that, while there should eventually be a replacement, he doesn't expect one in 2013. Both software tweaks and upgrades like the Model B are reportedly doing the job -- and it wouldn't be right to "orphan" the 700,000 existing owners with a new platform, Upton says. He isn't worried about the Cubieboardand other current rivals, as they have yet to be as fast as their raw numbers suggest. We won't hide our disappointment at missing out on a quick revamp, but we know what they say about things that aren't broken.

http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/17/r...equel-in-2013/

Join In and Discuss Here

Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here

Raspberry Pi power controller adds shutdown and startup functionality

January 18th, 2013, 00:17 Posted By: wraggster


This breadboarded circuit uses a PIC chip to control the Raspberry Pi’s power supply. We first noticed this gap in the RPi features when we built an XBMC setup around the RPi board. It’s not the end of the world, but since installing the Raspberry Pi we have been unplugging it after each use. [Kevin Sangeelee's] circuit could be the path to automating this process.
This is not really aimed at media applications. The PIC circuit does switch power to the RPi, but the goal was to add a push-button to do so. Other goals of the project include scheduled shutdown and data logging of brownout events on the power rail. As you can see, there’s a coin cell in the mix which keeps time when the system is in power down. The RPi communicates with the PIC via i2c. This facilitates full power-down using the Linux command ‘shudown -h’, as well as the ability to schedule a restart time.
Adding an IR receiver and tweaking the PIC code are all it would take to trigger the power controller from the couch.
http://hackaday.com/2013/01/17/raspb...functionality/

Join In and Discuss Here

Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here

Google Talk bot running on Raspberry Pi

January 18th, 2013, 00:15 Posted By: wraggster


[Michael Mitchell] put together a demonstration of how Google Talk can be used to communicate with scripts. Although the concept isn’t new we haven’t seen very many projects that use the chat interface for issuing commands and receiving data. The one that does come to mind is this home automation project which uses Google Talk because it’s quite a bit faster than SMS or email communications.
Luckily there’s already a Python library called pygtalkrobot which helps with the XMPPPY protocol used by Google Talk. In addition to that package, [Michael] also installs some extras which allow him to access the GPIO pins on the RPi via Python. In the video after the break he demonstrates switching and LED on and off, as well as reading from a slide switch connected to pin 8. Of course it’s a snap to code feedback from the OS itself. As you can see in the image above the RPi is reporting it’s uptime after being issued a command by [Michael]
http://hackaday.com/2013/01/17/googl...-raspberry-pi/

Join In and Discuss Here

Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here

President Obama orders research into links between video games and violence

January 18th, 2013, 00:11 Posted By: wraggster

Video games have again become central to America’s heated debate on gun ownership that erupted in the aftermath of December’s Newtown school shootings.
President Obama yesterday revealed a 23-step plan designed to address America’s gun violence problem. And one of those steps is an order for the Center for Disease Control to conduct further research into the relationship between video games, media images and violence.
Representatives of the US games industry last week met with Vice President Joe Biden to discuss games violence. They were assured at the time that video games would not be singled out over other media. A total of 22 meetings involving some 220 different organisations from across the media were involved in this process.
$10m will be provided to the CDC for its research. "Congress will fund research into the effects that violent video games have on young minds," Obama stated.
The Entertainment Software Association issued a balanced response to Polygon.
"We concur with President Obama's call today for all Americans to do their part, and agree with the report's conclusion that 'the entertainment and video game industries have a responsibility to give parents tools and choices about the movies and programs their children watch and the games their children play,'" it said.
"The same entertainment is enjoyed across all cultures and nations, but tragic levels of gun violence remain unique to our country. Scientific research and international and domestic crime data all point toward the same conclusion: entertainment does not cause violent behaviour in the real world.
"We will embrace a constructive role in the important national dialogue around gun violence in the United States, and continue to collaborate with the Administration and Congress as they examine the facts that inform meaningful solutions."
Obama’s other proposals include a possible ban on assault weapons.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/presi...olence/0109444

Join In and Discuss Here

Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here

MP accuses HMV of theft over gift card scandal

January 18th, 2013, 00:10 Posted By: wraggster

The Conservative MP for North Oxfordshire Tony Baldry has accused troubled retail HMV of theft.
The charges relate to the retailer’s continued sale of gift vouchers until the day it went into administration and then the subsequent decision by administrators Deloitte to block their use in store.
“I suspect, like every Member of Parliament, I have a number of constituents who bought HMV Vouchers or Gift Cards as Christmas presents, who didn’t have the chance to exchange them before HMV went into administration,” he wrote in an open letter.
“I understand that HMV was selling Gift Cards and Vouchers all through Christmas and up until the day they went into administration. That, of itself, must raise questions, in that way before they went into administration, directors and management must have known that the company was at very real risk of failure, and I think that of itself raises legitimate questions of, in those circumstances were the directors of HMV obtaining property by deception, i.e. offences against the Theft Act, in allowing their stores to continue to sell vouchers and gift cards, when they must have known that there was little prospect of those vouchers or gift cards ever being redeemed?
“Under the strict letter of Insolvency Law, anyone who has a HMV gift card or voucher is a creditor of the company and now stands at the back of the queue, behind the banks, HMRC and others who have priority claims.
“In theory, someone who possesses an unredeemed HMV gift card or voucher, could apply to the Administrators for a refund but the chances of success are tiny, given the firm’s debts of more than £170 million.
“Clearly it is unfair, indeed, more than unfair, that consumers should be left out of pocket when a retailer refuses to honour gift vouchers, and I would hope that BIS and other Government Departments would be having a consideration of the rules on gift vouchers and insolvency to ensure that consumers are adequately protected in cases like this.
“A gift voucher should be as good as a Bankers Draft, i.e. a consumer should know that they will either be able to redeem the gift voucher, or get their money back, and there is absolutely no reason why companies shouldn’t keep monies raised from gift cards or vouchers in a separate account.”
Yesterday MCV reported that Irish pensioner Eric Nolan took three games from an Irish HMV store after staff refused to accept the gist vouchers he purchased for his grandson for Christmas.
Note, too, that fellow retailer Blockbuster has chosen to continue accepting gift cards despite slipping into administration.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/mp-ac...candal/0109447

Join In and Discuss Here

Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here

Kobo: 12m users in 2012

January 17th, 2013, 23:51 Posted By: wraggster

Contradicting forecasts claiming eReader sales would decline in 2012, Kobo has announced that its E Ink eReader sales were up almost 150 per cent in December.
With the firm attracting more than four million new customer within the last six month, Kobo now has more than 12 million registered users.
"In December we celebrated Kobo's third anniversary as well as the biggest month for the company yet," said Michael Serbinis, CEO, Kobo.
"Millions of new users registered with Kobo in December alone, annual device sales soared with millions of Kobo eReaders bought, and eBook sales nearly doubled from the previous year. 2012 was truly outstanding for our company and our network of booksellers and retailers around the world."
In less than twelve months, Kobo has launched three new devices - Mini, Glo and Arc - and further established its services in new territories including Brazil, Portugal, Italy, Japan, Spain, South Africa, and the Netherlands.
Kobo reports that on Christmas Day its users read more than 22 million pages, and the most read ebooks on Kobo devices during 2012 were, unsurprisingly, Fifty Shades of Grey and The Hunger Games.

http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...-months/030031

Join In and Discuss Here

Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here

Raspi astrophotography board also does everything else

January 17th, 2013, 13:30 Posted By: wraggster


A few years ago the folks at Astro Designs put together a board that took off-the-shelf CCD sensors from point and shoot cameras and turned them into respectable astrophotography sensors. Since then, the world has seen an explosion of Raspberry Pis, Arduinos, and other microcontroller platforms, making this the perfect time for a hardware revision.
Their PiXi-200, like their previous AstroCam board, is able to take image sensors out of cameras and turn them into telescope mounted cameras. That’s only one of its tricks, though: The PiXi-200 also has accelerometers, gyroscopes, enough UARTs to do just about anything, a four channel ADC and four channel DAC, two dozen GPIO pins, enough LEDs and buttons for any project, and a 200,000 gate FPGA. All this in a board that plugs directly into the GPIO pins on the Raspberry Pi just like an Arduino shield. Needless to say, there’s a lot you can do with this board.
Right now, the design is still in the prototype stage, but once everything is finalized the basic model of the board will sell for £30 GBP ($50 USD). The high-end “Model C” board, with all the bells and whistles, will sell for £45 GPB ($70 USD).

http://hackaday.com/2013/01/17/raspi...erything-else/

Join In and Discuss Here

Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here

Obama calls for violent game research [Updated]

January 16th, 2013, 23:49 Posted By: wraggster

President asks Congress to fund studies on effects of games on kids, saying, "We don't benefit from ignorance"
President Barack Obama today unveiled a series of measures intended to curb gun violence in the wake of last month's Newtown school shooting. While most of his proposals centered on gun control issues, he also called for more research into the effects of violent video games on children.
"Congress should fund research on the effects violent video games have on young minds," Obama said. "We don't benefit from ignorance. We don't benefit from not knowing the science."
Beyond the gaming research, the President called for universal background checks, as well as bans on the sale of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. He also asked Congress to confirm his appointment for director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. That position has been an issue for some time, as the Bureau has only had a series of acting directors since 2006.
Obama acknowledged that his measures will face considerable opposition from legislators and political lobbies alike, who he said wanted nothing to change. The only way his proposals can be passed, he said, is if the public and the members of those groups make their own vocal calls for change.
Update: The Entertainment Software Association has released a statement on President Obama's gun violence proposal.
“ESA appreciates President Obama's and Vice President Biden's leadership and the thoughtful, comprehensive process of the White House Gun Violence Commission. We concur with President Obama's call today for all Americans to do their part, and agree with the report's conclusion that the entertainment and video game industries have a responsibility to give parents tools and choices about the movies and programs their children watch and the games their children play," said the organization in its statement.
“The same entertainment is enjoyed across all cultures and nations, but tragic levels of gun violence remain unique to our country. Scientific research and international and domestic crime data all point toward the same conclusion: entertainment does not cause violent behavior in the real world."
“We will embrace a constructive role in the important national dialogue around gun violence in the United States, and continue to collaborate with the Administration and Congress as they examine the facts that inform meaningful solutions.”

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-games-on-kids

Join In and Discuss Here

Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here

Missouri Republican Wants Violent Video Game Tax

January 16th, 2013, 23:39 Posted By: wraggster

New submitter sHr0oMaN writes with news that Diane Franklin, a Republican member of Missouri's state House of Representatives, has proposed a sales tax on violent video games. The proposal, HB0157I, is one of many responses to the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. The proceeds from the tax would go toward mental health programs and law enforcement in the hopes that future shootings can be prevented. The total amount taxed would be small — 1% — and would be applied to video games rated Teen, Mature, or Adult-only by the ESRB. Of course, many games earn the "Teen" rating without having violence in them, like Guitar Hero. The Entertainment Software Association responded to Rep. Franklin's bill with a statement: "Taxing First Amendment protected speech based on its content is not only wrong, but will end up costing Missouri taxpayers."

http://games.slashdot.org/story/13/0...video-game-tax

Join In and Discuss Here

Submit News and Releases Here and Contact Us for Reviews and Advertising Here