Page 2: Supreme Court Rules 7-2 in Favor of Video Games:

Not a lot to say here, other than, “Good job affirming the obvious, Justices.”  The problems with California’s violent video game law were legion, and I think you’d have to bury your head in the sand to think the Court would ever approve of the law.  Both sides’ reactions have been typical; the industry is positive, the senator is negative.  Without hearing statements from either side, I could probably quote them verbatim.

For all the standardness of the story, though, this is a big step.  They shouldn’t have needed to, but the Supreme Court has affirmed that video games are as valid a form of First-Amendment-protected speech as books, movies, or plays.  If you’re going to regulate games, you must simultaneously regulate the rest, and good luck with that.

Page 2: LulsSec Takes Permanent Shore Leave:

Apparently the founders of LulzSec have decided they’ve had enough lulz.  In the past fifty days, they’ve attacked game companies, broadcasters, and governments.  Now, they’ve released an open letter explaining that they’ve got diverse interests they want to explore…?  It’s not the clearest of reads, let’s put it that way.

In the letter, they try to comfort the downtrodden.  ”You are not failures. You have not blown away. You can get what you want and you are worth having it, believe in yourself.”  They point out how we’re all alike.  ”The mediocre painter turned supervillain[, Hitler,] liked cats more than we did.”  They also beat a sailing metaphor to death.

Does it actually mean anything?  I guess only time will tell.

Page 2: Team Fortress 2 Now Free to Play for a Wee—Make That Forever:

The Uber Update is coming to TF2, and the game was set to be free for a week.  Valve also recently added Free2Play MMOs to Steam, and coyly let slip that they were planning on getting into the F2P market at some point.  Well, “some point” is today.

Team Fortress 2 has gone Free-to-Play.  The game will be supported entirely by the Mann Co. store.  If you’ve already purchased the game or spent money in the store, you’re account will be upgraded to “Premium” status, which confers a bunch of bonuses that, since I haven’t played in over a year, I don’t understand.

I really enjoyed TF2, but haven’t been in a shooter mood for a long while.  As this announcement doesn’t really affect me, I’ll continue to have fond memories of the game without getting back into it.  How about you, though?  Will the free-to-play model get you to give it a chance (again)?

Page 2: Get Your Games from the Red Box:

Redbox began testing video game rentals from a few of their locations a while ago, and have no announced that they’re rolling it out to over 21,000 locations.  I’m assuming that means pretty much all of them.  Rentals will be $2 a day, and the selection includes new releases like Red Faction: Armageddon, L.A. Noire, and InFamous 2.

I used to get new movie releases from Red Box, back when I worked near one, but I don’t go out of my way for them any longer.  Video games might get me stopping at the kiosks more often, especially since GameFly is hit or miss with the new release shipments (understandably so).  What do you think?

Page 2: Original Xbox Controller May Make Brief Reappearance:

This story excites and disappoints me far more than it probably should.  343 Industries, the studio behind the Halo Anniversary Edition, is considering shoving 360 controller guts into the original, chubby Xbox controllers.  I realize I’m in the minority, but I loved the big Xbox controller.  It was the most comfortable controller I’d ever held.

Unfortunately, if 343 Industries follows through, they’ll only be making enough for demo units at Halo Fest, which will run concurrent with PAX Prime.  Thus, my disappointment.  They will be auctioning them off afterwards, though, so perhaps I’ll get a chance to nab a custom brick for myself.

Page 2: How Not to Conduct P.R.:

We rounded up a variety of reviews of Duke Nukem Forever recently.  A good chunk of them were less than positive.  Jim Redner, of the Redner Group PR Agency, didn’t care for this slighting of the King, and tweeted that his company would be examining who gets review copies and who doesn’t based on that negativity.  

Redner later sent out a formal apology letter, and 2K Games confirmed that “the Redner Group no longer represents out products.”  It’s one thing to get upset about a product’s negative reviews, or even to act surreptitiously to hinder those who slight your product, but it’s something else entirely to openly admit that you plan to punish those who express an honest opinion.

Video games already have trouble with legitimacy.  Let’s not make it even more difficult, okay?

Anonymous has attained notorious status for targeting governments, corporations, and (most recently) the Spanish police.  Another group, though, looks to be competing with Anonymous for hacker glory.  LulzSec has targeted Epic, Nintendo, Bethesda, Pron.com, and Congress in recent days, shutting down servers, nabbing user information, and generally making a nuisance of themselves.

Ostensibly, LulzSec claims to be trying to make a point about Internet security, presumably how companies need stronger measures in place.  Things get a little sketchy, though, when the group posts fake news stories, or encourages their members to try to access Facebook accounts using information from the porn site in order to shame the users.  That’s just standard douchebag trolling, not a useful service.

It is, though, a good reminder to shore up your passwords; diversify and complicate them.  I know I’ve been kind of lax, choosing ease of use over security by keeping my email, social network, and other less sensitive passwords fairly similar.  With so many different sites requiring individual logins, it’s tempting to take the easy path, but the massive run of hacks recently should give plenty of reason to make your passwords strong and varied.

Page 2: Peter Molyneux and His “Horrendous Mistake”:

Peter Molyneux desperately wants you to believe that Fable: The Journey is not an on-rails game.  He’s on a massive PR push to explain that the navigation features of the game were removed from the public demo to provide a more controlled experience, a decision that was, in Molyneux’s own words, “a horrendous mistake.”

Pete’s even gone so far as to have a bunch of journalists, those saw the navigation controls in action, sign a wall affirming that The Journey isn’t railroaded.  Now the question is, will this PR push do any good?

Page 2: Sony’s “Welcome Back” Package Available:

Technically, Sony launched their “Welcome Back” package last week, but when I tried to connect to the PS Store, apparently everyone else on the planet was doing the same thing.  I did connect to the store once, and then got an error when I clicked on anything else.

Hopefully by today, things will have calmed down, and you’ll be able to get hold of your games.  Don’t forget the PSP gets a package, too. 

The offer expires June 14th, so hop to it, folks.  Which games are you choosing?

Page 2: PSN Fully Online:

Sony has announced that the PSN is fully functional again, as of today, in most of the world.  I know it’s been a long month for a lot of people.  Will the “Welcome Back” package be enough to let you forgive and forget?