China wants us to protect us from ourselves

China is now requiring that all PCs sold as of July 1st must come shipped with filtering software that can block access to certain websites. I haven't come across any details on how the software works, but it's safe to say this is the most boneheaded and backwards move China has ever taken regarding Internet development. People will be annoyed at having government controlling their PC ever so literally, but more importantly hackers will break it, computer vendors will get tons of negative feedback for complying and lose a lot of customers if they don't.

The silver lining to this dark cloud of misery is

The head of a software developer involved in devising the program confirmed the report to AFP, saying it was aimed at protecting people from pornography.

"The software will be provided to consumers in new PCs and they have the option to install or not to install it," said Bryan Zhang, chief executive of Jinhui Computer System Engineering Co.

Actually it does make me wonder why this is even necessary? Doesn't the Great Firewall of China work well enough? Or is China worried that it can't handle the rising growth in Internet connectivity? It could be a sign of things actually changing for the better, in a weird way--giving customers the option to control their own level of censorship. Maybe China plans on passing the censorship buck in a few years, putting the GFW out of its miserable existence. One can hope...


http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-world/china-pc-filter-has-trade-implications-20090609-c1bp.html

New Army of Two video shows Shanghai looking pretty

Messed up! Man this game is going to be beautiful. I never played the first one, hearing only mixed reactions, but as terrible as this game might or might not be, it's worth the--what do games cost these days, $15?--price to see Shanghai's inevitable future self. If they release this on PC, my only question is, would China allow it? Or does it still hurt too many Chinese people's feelings, the way Fallout 3 hurt a lot (and I mean A LOT, like 6) of people's feelings in the US?

Burn motherheehaw burn

(thanks Joystiq!)

China to require real name gamer registration

FTA:

The government will start real-name registration for online game players this year, said Zhang Yijun, director of the General Administration of Press and Publication's technology and digital publication department.

Four online game companies' operations have been suspended after it was found that their software did not have the mandatory anti-addiction system, he said in Qingdao on Wednesday.

To be sure this affects only PC games, as the console market doesn't officially exist in China, but this is clearly one of the challenges companies like Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo will face in introducing their systems to China.

Would they have to design a completely new online service just for China, that forces users to present proof of identity and is monitored for sensitive content? Would doing so be worth the economic benefits? I imagine Microsoft and Nintendo could make the argument that it would be, but I doubt Sony can.

UPDATE: According to ars technica, this registration is for MMO players only, but of course that would be a large percentage of online PC gamers in China. Console gamers might not have to worry then, unless Xbox Live and the PSN get classified as MMOs, which I wouldn't be surprised if they did. (ars technica)