In an effort to make their nation violent videogame-free, 16 German Interior Ministers have moved to ask the Bundestag (the equivalent of parliament in Germany) for a total ban on violent video games. If approved, this won't be just your average banhammer - this is a national banhammer that even goes as far as prohibiting violent game development in the country.

Factor 5, the San Rafael, CA-based US developer has now officially shut down for business after succumbing to financial trouble. The announcement was made on their official website, adorned with images of the games they have completed, mostly for the Star Wars franchise, and was also responsible for the PS3 title Lair.

Missed out on all the GDC action last month? You can make up for that by signing up for the Euro GDC right now. The online registration for the gaming event is now live and you can even get the early bird discount if you get lucky. Details after the link.

Last month's school shooting incident in Winnenden, Germany, opened the floodgates for German government officials to fire criticisms aimed at violent video games. Some have called for tighter restrictions, while others have even demanded for outright bans. Bavarian Minister of the Interior Joachim Herrmann, a frequent critic of violent games, falls in the latter category. In fact, according to GamePolitics, he think that violent video games are pretty much the same as drugs and child porn.

Calls for heavier video game restrictions are once again set ablaze following the German school shooting yesterday, where 17-year-old Tim Kretschmer opened fire in his former high school in Winnenden Germany, killing 16, and himself in addition shortly after. Kretschmer was believed to be a skilled Counter-Strike player, and now European reps in Strasbourg have voted for a resolution in order to prevent retailers from selling inappropriate games to minors.

A rather questionable report from Germany-based Games Blog posted several images of Rockstar Games supposedly testing a working Grand Theft Auto game for the Wii.

My excitement at the news was only drowned out by the hundreds of owls that suddenly flew into the office all hooting "O RLY?"

Who needs Jack Thompson when you have entertainment like this? At a conference in Munich, the sister of an outspoken critic against video game violence called EA a "pig of a company." EA's PR guy says he's glad he wasn't able to go to the conference at all since it would obviously have been a waste of his time.

Pigs the world over unanimously agree that they don't care.

So why do teenagers seem to be getting rowdy on the streets nowadays? Breaking speed limits, DUI, and whatnot, teenagers have been losing their licenses to many traffic violations of late. And why is that? Policemen think video games are the culprit.

 Have fun like Tony Hawk in Electronic Arts' (EA) Skate It (Wii, Nintendo DS), which will come out this November in the US and Europe. The video game is set in an abandoned place with different skating rinks to discover.

If the current listing by the USK board - that'd be Germany's counterpart for ESRB - is to anything to take from, it looks like GameLoft is moving up the pace of mobile development and seeking out bigger markets. Brain Challenge, a pretty popular game that started out on mobile platforms and eventually hit the iPod, DS, and Xbox 360 (via XBLA), has just been rated on the USK as games headed for the PSP, PS3, and Wii.