What comes to your mind when you hear the words "Adults Only?" Chances are, you're thinking what we're thinking. There are, however, certain things you should know about what makes the rating and what the actual number of games with this kind of rating is. The latter point is especially important. Find out why after the jump.

Wondering just what is up with Gibson Guitar and its suing frenzy over its alleged 1999 patent? Well, we're wondering, too, but it seems that Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter knows the inside score. So, what does the man think about Gibson suing everyone involved with Guitar Hero and Rock Band (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii)? Check it out after the jump.

Suits and countersuits, statements and counter-statements have flown back and forth between the camps of Gibson Guitar and Activision for patent infringement. Today's update on the issue centers on a recently filed suit against retailers of the game. The defendants? Wal-Mart, Amazon, Kmart, GameStop, Target, and Toys "R" Us. Check out the entire story at the full article.

As it turns out, trying to sell Linux pre-loaded computers from brick-and-mortal stores may not be as lucrative as selling them through online retail. So what does one need to do in this case? Quit restocking the stores with computers - and that's exactly what Wal-Mart did. This and more in the full article.

Taking a look at the games from both the east and the west, there's no denying both have their own charm in wooing their respective crowds. However, some gamers enjoy crossing the lines and end up playing games, despite the fact they don't understand a word of what the characters say.

Read more about import gamers in the full article!

BioShock is popular enough as it is. But how do you know its popularity has reached critical level? It's when mothers are convinced that they can't do household chores without the help of Plasmids from Andrew Ryan.

As a humor post to lighten up the mood around here, we're taking something that we stumbled across in a Blogspot entry from one gamer mom named Crystal. You may have heard about her - or not. But the important point here is that you can't deny the impact that BioShock has among its many fans.

We've taken an excerpt from Crystal's blog entry to share it with you guys. This one has Crystal and her 14 year old son Devon, who is trying to convince her to get BioShock - especially right after getting to play the demo:

"So, Mom. BioShock comes out today."

"Mmm. I know. We need groceries. We're out of milk. Don't talk to me about buying anything."

"I've been reading reviews. It's received a perfect in every category. Awesome, huh?"

"Yeah. Milk. Meat. Vegetables. Costly. La la la. I can't hear you."

"You get these things called Plasmids and they control your abilities. And you can upgrade your weapons, even create weapons out of stuff you find laying around."

"Growing children. Need to eat."

"And this one ability? You create bees that pop up right out of your veins and they attack and kill."

"Let's go to Wal-Mart. You guys can live on rice, right? 20 bajillion Chinese people can't be wrong."

Now, here's where he hasn't figured out how to perfect this scam of his. You see, once we get the game home, I'm as good as useless for a few days until I finish it. He mopes and whines because he has to wait.

"When do I get to play? Why can't you be like normal Moms and bake cookies and crap?"

"Does this game have a Plasmid for that? No? Then shaddup and wait your turn."

Hello. My name is Crystal and I'm a gameaholic.

Yeah, we sympathize for poor little Devon. Not only is he deprived of getting to play BioShock (whether on the Xbox 360 or PC), but he won't be able to stuff himself silly with some cookies before bedtime either. And to think he knew quite a lot about the game too, it's sad to note that it's actually rated M. If moms always know best, he'll probably be deprived of BioShock for three more years.

As for Crystal, we do wish there were Cookie-Baking Plasmids available in the market today. You won't believe how much the world would be a better place with more cookie-baking moms to go about (just leave out the Bee Plasmids, thank you very much). And likewise, we could probably use some Common Sense Plasmids as well - because some would say that common sense isn't all too common nowadays.

You might want to click the Read link below to see the full post for some chuckles. Just don't mind that bit referencing John Holmes - the BioShock bit is right after that section.

Microsoft is reaching out its hand of global domination once more - the worldwide software company claims that free software like Linux violates their patents.

It's pretty clear that Linux users enjoying their free operating systems at home would be affected, but corporate users like Wal-mart, AIG, and Goldman Sachs will be in quite a pinch. Microsoft responds through CEO Steve Ballmer that it is a matter of principle, that everyone should play by the same rules and what fair is fair.

Furthermore, Microsoft Counsel Brad Smith reveals that these free software infringes at least 235 patents. If they can push this through, the software developers will diminish and Microsoft will continue to spread its influence to those that use open-source programs.

In defense, master legal strategist Eben Moglen of the Free Software Foundation explains that software is a mathematical algorithm and thus, not patentable. Free software have always been running in this premise, they're not afraid of whatever Microsoft comes up with. 

For more info about this news, check out the link below.

In the world of gaming industry trading, the latest word is that analyst Michael Pachter believes that GameStop should have purchased the retail chain Gamestation when it had a chance. He believes that GameStop missed an opportunity by not buying the chain, as consequently, it was purchased by the Game Group for £74 million.

The reason for this is quite simple, and Pachter gave a very good explanation why he feels that GameStop lost an opportunity.

They should be in the UK market, and instead of purchasing Gamestation and immediately being one-third the size of Game Group, they allowed Game Group to get bigger. If GameStop were to open 200 stores now, they would be a quarter the size of GAME. They could have been two-thirds the size of GAME by buying these stores and opening 200 more.

Now the increase in The Game Group's market share has certain individuals worried who believe that The Game Group may use their latest acquisition as additional leverage against game publishers. Pachter was quick to put down this rumor, stating that while the company has grown quite a bit, they still don't have enough of the UK market to make demands.

He discussed a worst case scenario where GAME will attempt to exert pressure on the game publishers, and as he explains it, publishers will simply sign exclusives to Wal-Mart or Dixon's. Now, Pachter mentions that the majority of Game's market is composed of hardcore gamers. If they run out of these titles, then gamers will turn to  the likes of Dixon's. He also pointed out that mass-market titles are not really the strong suit of the said company. His conclusion is simply that "If enough publishers shift supply away from them, GAME will learn to play ball in a hurry."

For now, it seems that a gaming distribution monopoly will not be happening in UK. However, the threat of that happening is always there.

Well, it looks like there's no turning back now.

As it turns out, Valve is starting to test out the use of in-game ads for their titles, and the first guinea pig for this experiment is none other than Counterstrike 1.6 (screenies above, both courtesy of SK Gaming). Despite the flurry of protests that the mere mention of in-game advertising tends to generate, many game companies may soon be following Valve's lead.

While some fans argue that the sight of a real-world item being advertised inside a game tends to be detrimental to the whole experience, devs have noted that this form of advertising is actually beneficial for everyone in the long run.

After all, it generates revenue for game-makers.

Revenue equals more (and better) games.

More games equals happy gamers.

On top of that, there have been promises that the ads will remain discreet and out of the player's way.

At the moment, Valve is displaying advertisements for Portal and the upcoming Orange and Black boxes, all of which are their own products.

There have been earlier reports that Google ads may also end up invading the gaming world, and this has caused many to fear the possibility of having to encounter an in-game advertisement for Starbucks in a war-torn, World War II setting. After all, can you imagine running into an ad for McDonald's as you're crawling the trenches in games like Call of Duty or Brothers In Arms? Or perhaps one for Pedigree puppy food during an Unreal Tournament deathmatch?

On the other hand, there are also those who are willing to reach a compromise between revenue generation for the game companies and immersive gaming experience for the gamers. One point of this compromise involve the conditions which specify that ads that appear in games must be carefully chosen to match the theme and setting of the game itself.

Read the rest of the article after the Jump!

The folks running DVD Empire are announcing that they're closing their video games division.

Below are the reasons they've cited. You might find this enlightening if you're an angry customer. If you're not, read through them anyway, there might be a few gems there that might cause you to point your finger at your monitor and then laugh. Then again there might be a few gems in there that might cause you to raise your fist and scream expletives about how evil the system is.

Their reasons:

• The Video Game Industry does not care: The video game industry only cares about mass merchandisers like Toys-R-Us, Wal-Mart, Best Buy, etc. They completely ignore the needs and wants of the medium to small game retailers.
• They can't make Money: They just can't make money selling video games. There's just not enough Price Protection. That' and the Game Prices Drop Quickly
• No product returns: The game industry releases many bad games, and word of mouth spreads fast. All those bunk games sit on their shelves. The industry won't let them return the bombs.
• Distribution is dumb: Distribution is horrendous for new releases. They get the new releases (of games) 3-4 days after street date. It's likely that their customers will be able to purchase the games at retail before they manage to ship the game to you.
• The bottomline: The industry does not allow them to provide the same level of service that they do with DVDs. They cite that they cannot allow their name to be tarnished when they have no control of how they receive the product. They say that they cannot afford to loose potential long-term customers due to a poor video game experience.

The bright side of this is that they stopped it because they can't do it right.