It seems that New Zealand has its own game-hating Jack Thompson counterpart. Get a load of New Zealand Chief Censor Bill Hastings, who says parents who purchase violent video games for their children should be prosecuted. More in the full article.

We've got here today QuickJump QuickPeek 60 carrying the second installments of our QJ QuickGuide and How-To Series, the continuing impact of the recession on the industry, awards and recognitions to deserving names in the industry, console make-overs, and of course, the run-up week to the biggest title to hit the PS3 as of yet. Let's get this quick rundown of the past week in QJ, via our brave Weekend Warriors, shall we?

We have more details about the AC/DC track pack that Harmonix, MTV Games, and Electronic Arts are releasing for Rock Band (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, PS2) and Rock Band 2 (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PS2) via a press release. Hit the full article for more.

Activision's apparently gotten around to fixing Guitar Hero 3's mono-only sound problems over at Australia. The company has recently sent the region an email detailing when and where its residents can pick up their replacement discs. The Activision memo's available for viewing in the full article.

 

The Game Developer's Association of Australia (GDAA) is announcing that early bird registrations are now open for this year's Game Connect: Asia Pacific 2007 (GCAP 07) conference. The conference - formerly known as the Australian Game Developers Conference - is hoped to be a gathering place for the discussion of best practice, learning, and growth of game development.

In line with these goals, the organizers have invited several well-known gaming industry personalities as guest speakers. Here are among the more notable people that were announced at the GCAP site:

• Paul Holman, Vice President of Euro R&D, Sony Computer Entertainment
• Pete Isensee, Director XNA Development Connection, Microsoft
• Jason Della Rocca, Executive Director, International Game Developers Association
• Careen Yapp, Vice President of Licensing and Business Development, Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc.
• Tony Albrecht, Senior Engine Programmer, Pandemic Studios
• Susan O'Connor, Writer, Susan O’Connor Writing Studio
  

We're also informing the readers that nominations are now open for the GCAP's upcoming GDAA and Independent Games Awards. The GDAA Awards is Australia and New Zealand's award for game developed by studios in their home territories. The Independent Games Award covers winners for both Best Unsigned Game (Professional), and Best Unsigned Game (Indie) categories.

Nominations for for the GDAA Awards 2007 will end October 31, while nominations for the Independent Games Awards will end October 26. Votes for both will be done so by the GCAP delegates from November 16 to 17, with the conference scheduled to run from November 15 to 17.

This year's GCAP event is expected to take place at the Melbourne Convention Centre, in Melbourne, Australia. Those interested can read up on the finer event details at the GCAP official site via the provided read link.

 He's not David Beckham, but in EA Sports' upcoming premiere soccer sim, FIFA 08, Melbourne Victory striker Archie Thompson will be the flag bearer for the A-League as it joins the FIFA series as one of the official playable competitions in the game.

Small compared to its other European counterparts, the A-League will finally get a chance at the limelight as it joins 29 other international leagues in this long-standing football sports franchise.

Also joining the roster of new leagues are Gambrinus liga of Czech Republic and FAI Premiere Division of Ireland. Archie Thompson will be carrying the name of Australia and New Zealand as their official ambassador for the game.

Thompson, perhaps most known for breaking the world record of most number of goals scored in a soccer game, was excited with the A-League's inclusion in FIFA 08. He had this to say:

I know that plenty of the boys at Melbourne Victory enjoy playing video games so it’s fantastic that we can now play as our favourite Hyundai A-League club either in a league or against other international Clubs.

Expect the release of EA Sports' FIFA 08 by September. It will be released on multiple platforms, namely the PC, PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, DS, PSP, and Wii.

Continuing a long-running industry tradition, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has announced a video game tie-in for next year's Speed Racer movie. Speed Racer will be released for Nintendo's Wii and DS video game systems once the movie hits theaters next year.

The Wii version of the game will reportedly be developed by New Zealand-based Sidhe Entertainment. It will let gamers play as one of the characters in the movie for some combative racing behind each character's signature vehicle. Details for the game's DS version have yet to be revealed.

"Speed Racer is an exceptionally creative property and teamed with the Wachowski brothers' vision it makes for action-packed racing gameplay," said Samantha Ryan, Senior Vice President, Development and Production, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. "The game will capture the intensity of the racing in the film to give gamers and movie fans a chance to take the wheel after they experience the film."

Vivendi Games Mobile, a division of Vivendi Games, is giving European mobile phone subscribers a chance to win a Nintendo Wii video game system in exchange for their "worst ever date" stories.

"Terrible dates are something that everyone experiences but few ever really talk about, so this is a chance to celebrate Larryness and engage in some collective laughter therapy courtesy of Nintendo and MySpace," said Paul Maglione, president of Vivendi Games Mobile.

This contest is part of Vivendi's campaign to drum up support for the recently-launched mobile game Leisure Suit Larry: Love for Sail. The game is now available on wireless networks throughout Australia, New Zealand, and across Europe. Leisure Suit Larry: Love for Sail will soon be launching on carriers in North America as well.

Those interested have until August 8 to post their worst date story to the Leisure Suit Larry: Love for Sail Myspace web page and add Larry as their "top friend." You can click on the Read link to head there. There will be five winners in all - one each from the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

These days, GameStop has a lot of reasons to celebrate. It's working on an industry that's growing every day, it's posting some serious numbers financially, and has recently opened its 1,000th store outside of the US.

The Texas-based game and console retailer has opened new stores recently in Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Norway to hit the thousand-store milestone. Prior to that, the company has already branched out to Ireland, Switzerland, Australia, Guam, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

GameStop points to the booming hardware sales led by Kyoto-based Nintendo with its DS handheld and Wii console. Microsoft and Sony are also pitching in with the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3, respectively.

Total sales posted by the retailer last year amounted to US$ 5.32 billion and is expected to grow even more this year as hot demand continues for pole platforms. The first quarter of fiscal 2007 saw GameStop with its best quarterly performance ever with US$ 24.7 million in profits while gross sales were at an all-time high of US$ 1.279 billion.

 

USK is Germany's software rating organization, much like the ESRB in the U.S. and Australia and New Zealand's OFLC. Over at the group's official online site, two retro titles have just been rated anew to be included in the Virtual Console's library of video games. The titles are Dragon Spirit and Devil Crash.

Namco's Dragon Spirit first appeared back in 1987 on Namco System 1 hardware but was later ported to other platforms. Personally, I played the NES version called Dragon Spirit: The New Legend from not so way back. The game is a vertical scroller where players control the blue dragon Amul to save the Kingdom of Mitgult's princess, Alicia.

Devil Crash, meanwhile, is more popularly known as Devil's Crush in North America. It was released back in 1990 on the TurboGrafx-16. There's nothing much to say about this game really because it's basically a pinball simulation game. Probably the game's most notable feature is its rather eerie theme with the tables oftentimes covered with demons and ghouls.

There's still no mention as to when the two titles will be available for download. And lastly, in case you really want to know, Germany's USK stands for Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle.