Technology and business tech website Ars Technica reports that they have apparently been banned in Iran, not coincidentally right after their second story on a computer virus targeting an Iranian power plant.

Australia’s Office of Film Literature Classification (OFLC) unit is making headlines again, denying another game from being released in that nation in its current form.

The Refused Classification (RC) ruling on Vogster Entertainment’s MMO Crimecraft came down November 26, 2009, placing it in the same banned-this-year category as Necrovision, Sexy Poker, Risen and, most notably, Left 4 Dead 2.

Left 4 Dead 2 was subsequently released in an extremely edited version that took much of the violence out of the game. Critical and fan reception for the neutered version has not been kind. Crimecraft received a “Mature” rating from US-based Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB).

Back in 2004, Microsoft filed a patent for real-time speech technology and, four years later, the patent has been approved, reports Ars Technica.

In a nutshell, if developed, the tech could automatically censor naughty words. As every Xbox Live player knows of the horror, er, stupidity that is caused by the famous…

According to the European Commission survey, Ireland is now banning violent video games.

The reason for banning violent games, according to the EU’s study of the implementation of Pan European Game Information ratings, is that many of the EU nations are not enforcing the age limits on the games identified by PEGI.

The only game currently known to be banned in Ireland is…

Every country has their own opinion as far as ratings go. In the US we have the ESRB rating system and in Finland they have the PEGI (Pan European Game Information) classification.

Recently the Finnish Christian Democratic Party demanded censorship of video games which was not previously included in their laws.

PEGI, a collaboration between game studios, child welfare and other organizations, wants to divide games into five categories to prevent possible violence and erotic content of video games from getting into the hands of Finnish children. With all the hype about game content flooding the news, they deemed it necessary to inspect and…

Some games have embedded political messages. A few games flaunt those messages openly. Much like the United States’ America’s Army, a game called Special Force 2 is an advertisement for armed forces, but for terrorists.

Designed by Hizbollah, an international terrorist organization, Special Force 2 re-enacts a 34-day war between Hizbollah and Israeli forces in Bahrain. The game is not free, like America’s Army, but it costs only BD5 (approximately US$10). The game has made quite a stir in the Arab nation, Bahrain, enough to spark an online petition to…

For those gamers who’ve followed the tragically comic progression of Manhunt 2 through the various dens of censorship, the announced death of the game’s launch date just goes to show that ignorance and arrogance are alive and well in the minds of the opponents of the video game industry.

These are the people who told you that the Columbine shooters wouldn’t have snapped if they hadn’t played Doom. These are the people who told you that rap music and the Sopranos are to blame for violence on the streets of urban America. These are the people who made a living pointing fingers and shifting blame. These are the people who peddled a crackpot theory of an inherent inability in the minds of young people everywhere to distinguish between fantasy and reality, between the pixel and the real world.

Bull…