Neil Thompson, Microsoft's regional director of Xbox in the UK, has emphasized the need for the videogame industry to impress upon parents that consoles and videogames have grown far beyond what they were in the past.

One concerned mother was spending some quality time with her daughter while playing The Game of Life, a video game adaptation of Milton Bradley's board game. To her surprise, the supposedly child-friendly title allows same-sex marriages to occur - something that she was not prepared to explain to her 6-year-old daughter. She later writes to conservative Christian site, WorldNetDaily, to air her story. Read more.

Okay, so you've got your agenda finalized. What's the next thing to do? Why, it's to announce the All-Star Speakers, of course.

Evergreen Events, the organizer of the 2008 ION Game Conference, has done precisely that. It's mentioned four important names to take note of. Find out who these four people are after the jump.

We don't know if you remember, but there's this video game called City of Metronome. It was presented by developer Tarsier Studios back in E3 2005, and was the bastion of graphics and originality at the time. Since then, unfortunately, literally nothing was heard about this game. Until now.

According to Tarsier Studios' Bjorn Sunesson, City of Metronome is not going to be the same exact title as the one revealed more than two years ago. He explained that the original title, where Metronome City is completely controlled by a single bureaucratic entity known as the Corporation, looked quite risky in the eyes of a publisher.

Anyway, the Corporation also owns all the lands, the entire infrastructure, and all the industries of the city. The game then puts players in the role of a young train conductor, where you have to search for proof around the city in order to discover the Corporation's secret agenda. As players, you will use sound to fight enemies, solve problems, and confuse citizens.

The premise sounds promising and intriguing, but that is all in the past now as Sunesson mentioned that they put Metronome on the back burner about a year ago, meaning it's in re-design stage. He elaborated,

So what we are doing now is basically building the needed track record, combined with re-designing gameplay to a state where it is still innovative and awesome, but not so unusual that publishers marketing people gets all confused and scared.

During the time the game was presented, Tarsier Studios was being considered as a new comer to the video game industry. When asked as to how the new game will look like and release details, Sunesson said,

It's hard to say, especially considering there is not one single "The City of Metronome"-game anymore, but actually a couple of very different concepts all taking place within the city. Add to this platform considerations, new versions of distribution and what have you, it could be anywhere from Christmas 07 to Summer 2011.

Tarsier Studios is currently working on another title called The Desert Diner.

Thank you to Justin for the heads up!

Take-Two Interactive is apparently taking its sweet time in making crucial decisions that will spell out the company's future as indicated by its postponed annual shareholders meeting which was originally slated for March 23.

Instead, the meeting will take place on March 29. Take-Two recently took the spotlight with shocking rumors that it would be sold to Microsoft. The report was later proven premature as both companies doused the rumor.

In the upcoming shareholders meeting, however, it's a fact that selling the company will be in the agenda. The board of directors are still exploring alternative action that the firm can undertake, but at this point, Take-Two is as blurry as they come in terms of details.

We'll keep you updated regarding this curious situation.

In a new article over at the First Amendment Center, Craig Smith mentions a new attempt to acquaint televised violence with pornography. Unfortunately, such a thing may also have repercussions on the gaming world, since it does happen to be a form of televised violence, in some sense.

This time, however, it's not from any legal body, but from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) itself. According to Smith's commentary, the FCC "sent a valentine" to Congress, seeking to censor violence on television.

Hatched in the bowels of the FCC, this report argues that it would not violate the Constitution to equate violence with indecency, which the FCC already has the power to regulate. All it would take is an act of Congress giving the FCC the power to move forward with its censorship agenda.

Here's the catch: is there really a connection between televised and real violence, and can the former induce the latter? That's the question asked by Smith in his article, and even cites some studies that say this isn't the case. While it isn't directly related to gaming, just remember: videogames are televised, and they can be violent. That's the very thing that creates the tenuous connection between the FCC's attempt and gaming life.