Thank you for calling the PlayStation tipline!

12-year old PlayStation fan Ammon Bricker got more than he bargained for after calling a Sony tipline to help him get past a particularly challenging part of Ratchet and Clank. Turns out Sony had abandoned the tipline two years ago (probably when they realized, as little Ammon should have, that a Google search is quicker and cheaper) and the number was now in the hands of a tawdry phone sex service. Ammon's mother, Margo Myers, did what any responsible parent would do and immediately called Sony to give them hell. After all, it's no longer Sony's number so they must be responsible for whoever has it now, right? According to Ms. Myers the whole event "has been stressful on both her and her son." Oh, please. The kid's only stressed out because he's been on the news and now all his friends know he needs to call 900 numbers because he can't get past the third Invinco-Lock at the Gemlik base. Everyone knows the code is Right 6, Right 4, Right 3. And what kind of mother let's a twelve year-old play a T-rated game anyway? I bet she'd even let her 16 year old son play an M-rated game! Can you imagine the scandal? What is this country coming to!? Don't anyone tell the ESRB about this or they're liable to re-rate Ratchet and Clank as an Adults Only title. As it is, every game in the series sports a sexual innuendo as a subtitle. That deserves an M-rating at least, no? The sad part is, I'm only half kidding. [ KNDU News via Game|Life]

If you’ve been meaning to download Opera’s Wii Web Browser but kept getting distracted by other activities (like surfing the web on your PC), next week is your last chance to get it while it’s free because after June 30th, Nintendo will begin charging 500 Wii Points for it. It’s an odd move by Nintendo, since other consoles offer a browser for free, but the Wii is also outselling “other consoles” by several orders of magnitude so I doubt they’re too concerned.

This price only applies to new downloads, so as long as you’ve downloaded it before the end of the free period, you’ll never have to pay for it.

It’s worth having, if only for messing around on WiiCade, a collection of flash games perfect for playing with the Wii remote. It’s also not bad for watching YouTube videos on your TV.

[via Kotaku]

It was announced earlier today that Rockstar Games has “temporarily suspended” the release of their brutally violent stealth/survival game Manhunt 2 across all platforms. This comes as a reaction to the ESRB’s decision to assign the game an AO rating for graphic violent content.

This wouldn’t be a death sentence, except console manufacturers - namely Sony and Nintendo - have denied licenses to games that receive an AO rating. This effectively endows the ESRB with the absolute power of censorship. The ESRB knows this, and it gives them incentive to be more generous in assigning the dreaded Adults Only brand to games it disapproves of. After all, the ESRB is a privately owned body with no public or legal accountability for fairness and consistency.

Never did the ESRB consider giving the first Manhunt such a rating, but now, just a few years later, they’re being rewarded for doing so as the arbiters of good taste, and robbing you of your choice as a consumer. Australia has faced a similar crisis. Its Office of Film and Literature Classification rates games based on content, and certification by the OFLC is required for sale within Australian borders. The OFLC has refused to rate games that it doesn’t approve of, effectively banning their sale. Such was the case with Grand Theft Auto III.

Now we don’t have government intrusion in this case. While there have been attempts at legislation to require the rating of games sold in the US, they have been largely unsuccessful. Our constitution does a good job of preventing government censorship, but it is of little help when an entire industry is controlled by three companies that have conspired to give the ESRB absolute authority.

Yeah, Rockstar could port the game to the PC, the last bastion of open development, free from license approval, but it shouldn’t have to. First parties wield too much power, and at this point it seems unclear why we even need them. Why can’t we have an open, industry-wide standard like DVD that imposes no such restrictions on content? I’ve been sick to death of games being denied because they’re 2D or they’re not commercial enough, and when we toss censorship into the mix, it becomes increasingly clear that this model is bad for publishers, and, in many ways, for consumers as well.

Get pissed off, people.

Not to rest on their laurels with the super-awesome MLB 2K7, the folks at 2K Sports have announced today the their brand-new baseball title The BIGS has gone gold today and will officially be shipping next week (June 26th to be exact).

Sporting a completely different take on major league baseball video games, The BIGS is an over-the-top, fast-paced experience heavy on speed and power ups. Are you thinking “this is just Slugfest ‘07?” Well, don’t. The producers have emphatically stated that they do not consider the game based at all upon that franchise. Which is good - believe you me.

You can check out our preview here very soon, based upon my chat with the game’s developers today. In the meantime, you can be assured that the game looks incredibly interesting, especially considering the wide variety of platforms on which it will appear. It’ll hit the next generation (Xbox 360 and PS3), current generation (PS2), waggle generation (Wii), and handheld generation (PSP).

Motorstorm fans can now enjoy an all-new time attack mode, officially released on the PlayStation store. There’s not too much else I can say about this… I mean, it’s basically a challenge to set the best possible time as you race against the clock. Players can create and share ghost car laps which you can race to improve your skill or just to show off to the rest of the Motorstorm community.

Sony has also released two more PlayStation classics (Hot Shots Golf 2 and Coolboarders) which are available to enjoy on the PS3 (or PSP if you’ve already purchased them to play on the handheld). Each title can be purchased for $5.99

Meanwhile on the Xbox 360 front, Capcom has released the third multiplayer map pack for Lost Planet. The map pack costs 400 Microsoft Points™ and includes THREE new multiplayer levels: “Lost Technology,� a throw-back to the good ol’ days of pixelated 8-bit gaming; “Ruins,� ancient temples set amidst a lush jungle; and “Ice Drop,� a frigid glacier with lots of peaks, nooks and crannies. On a related note, Capcom is currently working on a new patch which addresses connectivity issues, scheduled for release in July. Good news for all because nobody loves lag.