Well, all of the t0xicnet sites are live.  Considering they were all based on the same theme, this probably shouldn't have taken as long as it did, but what can I say... I'm lazy.  But, now that the heavy lifting is done, I can focus on getting some content live.  I'm going to be trying to hold to a schedule of at least one post per site per week, but I'm not making any promises (I know what my schedule looks like).

Also, the forums are live and look pretty spartan right now.  Pop on in and start posting.

Now that everything is (for the most part) fully functional, I'm officially putting out the call for volunteers.  If you'd like to contribute to any of the five t0xicnet sites, or would like to participate as a forum moderator, click on the "contact" link in the top menu of any of the t0xicnet sites and drop me a note.  I haven't quite figured out what the selection criteria will be just yet... having your own blog or being a mod (or at least a respected active poster) on another forum will probably be required, and some familiarity with b2evolution will probably be a plus, so be prepared to send some links along with your note to me.  If this project takes off, there's a really good possibility that I'll be putting together a paid staff at some point, and I'll be picking that staff from the volunteers that have been with me from the begining, so maybe that'll be the little carrot-on-a-stick that motivates you to volunteer.

The t0xinet sites have been undergoing a lot of changes lately, though you wouldn't know it by looking at 'em.  We've recently upgraded to better hosting accommodations, and have been working on a lot of neat behind-the-scene bells and whistles to help turn the t0xicnet sites into a pretty damn cool community.

Of course, the side effect has been a complete and utter lack of posting on any of the sites.  So here's what's going down in the next several weeks...

Read more »

We've officially switched over to the new blog software. We're using b2evolution now, which (at first glance) appears to be able to do what I want to do with ConsoleGames.com (and her sister sites) with a great deal more elegance.

Here's the gameplan: articles (most of them at least) and features are going to be back shortly. I'll be doing this manually, so it will take place over the course of the next few days (starting tonight). Comments and Trackbacks will not be coming back. Neither will the old users, which is fine by me since most of them were spammers anyways.

If you happen to find anything that doesn't quite look right, click the contact link in the main menu (up top) and drop me a note.

I'm hooked on Wii Fit.

It's fun, it's a damn good workout, and I've lost 6 pounds last week. Still got plenty left to go, but hey, it's a start.

It's also got me worried...

Read more »

Apparently one just arrived at my house... a birthday present for my wife. I really wasn't interested enough in it to do anything official, but I suppose as long as I've got one in the house, I might as well write about it.

Expect to see something once I get around to playing with it.

Story over at Ars Technica. Game Politics has fallen over, but we'll link there when they come back online. GP is back, their coverage is right here (albeit slow... clearly this is getting some attention).

Judge Dava Tunis has issued her preliminary report on the complaint filed by the Florida Bar against Jack Thompson. In her report, she has recommended that JT be found guilty of 27 out of the 31 charges raised by the Bar. Here's the rundown (courtesy of GP):

• Knowingly making a false statement of material fact or law to a tribunal
• Knowingly disobeying an obligation under the rules of a tribunal
• Communicating the merits of the case with a judge before whom the proceeding is pending
• Using means that have no purpose other than to embarrass, delay or burden a third person
• Engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation
• Engaging in conduct in connection with the practice of law that is prejudicial to the administration of justice, including to knowingly or through callous indifference disparage or humiliate litigants or other lawyers
• Making statements that the lawyer knows to be false or with reckless disregard as to the truth or falsity concerning the qualifications or integrity of a judge

Now, I've never been subjected to a Bar disciplinary hearing, but those look like some serious charges to be found guilty enough... certainly enough to cost an attorney their license. We'll find out the full extent of the damage on September 2nd, when the full report is scheduled to be delivered to the Florida Supreme Court.

...specifically, Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick Lynch. In a recent press release on the Rhode Island state website, AG Lynch is quoted as saying:

“As video games become more realistic and in many cases, more violent, parents must become more vigilant before buying them or letting their children use them,” said Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch. “Also, retailers and salespeople have a responsibility to better inform parents how violent these games actually are. Grand Theft Auto IV is obviously rated M for a reason, and parents need to keep a game like this away from their kids.”

It's worth noting that Patrick Lynch is no stranger to the video game industry. Lynch parterned with the ESRB back in 2007 on an ad campaign intended to educate parents on the ESRB rating system.

So, to all you politicians out there, take a good hard look at Patrick Lynch. This is how you are supposed to conduct yourselves.

Double Dragon (NES, 500 Points). Really, that's it. I mean, for only getting one game this week at least it is a classic (and a damn good one at that).

But that's not why I'm still typing... You see, it would appear that with the forthcoming appearance of Bionic Commando Rearmed on XBLA, quite a few people (myself included) began to wonder why the original NES Bionic Commando had not yet made its way to the VC. Some of those people (myself not included) saw it necessary to ask that question directly to Capcom. The answer was, to say the least, a bit shocking.

Read more »

In what can only be described as an unholy alliance sufficient enough to open a vortex of failure large enough to swallow an entire US city, the ESRB has released a joint statement in cooperation with the (largely impotent and oft maligned within these walls) National Institute on Media and the Family.

I'll let you all read the release and come to your own conclusions. I do applaud the efforts of the ESRB and NIMF to make nice-nice with one another. While I hope this marks the end of NIMF's efforts to cram their skewed definitions of decency and morality down America's throat, we'll just have to wait and see. Statements like the one below do inspire hope:

According to the Federal Trade Commission, a parent is involved in the purchase of a video game nearly nine out of every ten times, so it is critical that parents consider the assigned rating carefully when purchasing or renting computer and video games for their children.

The NIMF advocating parental involvement? I'm still in shock.

I've not been paying attention to Virtual Console releases lately, mainly because it seemed like the best Nintendo could do is Yoshi's Cookie. Imagine my surprise just a few minutes ago making the rounds through the various game sites to discover that this week we got two of the best games ever made for their respective platforms.

• River City Ransom (NES - 500 Points)
• Phantasy Star III (Genesis - 800 Points)

I sure hope this means that Nintendo is trying to redeem themselves... with the dawn of the WiiWare store just on the horizon (next Month), and the announcement that the Nintendo Channel will be coming at the same time, there might be hope for Nintendo's online efforts after all.