Do Video Games Depict Blacks In A Bad Way? Depends On Who You Ask!

Video Game Stereotype Debate A No-Win Situation

By the time Priester was a teenager, he had decided to limit his play to mentally challenging games such as SimCity and Intelligent Qube. The series NBA: The Life alienates Priester because it shows basketball players using their salaries to buy rims and other materialistic goods. "When you're younger," says Priester, now a Boston University sophomore, "you're not cognizant of these stereotypes. As you grow older it becomes more and more glaring."

Video games have long had a bad rap for stereotyping women and promoting violence. Grand Theft Auto IV, released last week, is generating controversy for its focus on an Eastern European immigrant who goes on a car theft and murder rampage. But Priester is among a growing number of gamers and scholars criticizing the lack of diversity and high proportion of stereotypes in video games.

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Buying Into All The Grand Theft Auto Hype? Get In Line!

If you have a PlayStation addiction like me, this story is definitely for you.

Confirmed reports today have laid two additional issues at the feet of the PlayStation 3 version of Grand Theft Auto IV. These issues include inaccessible online play and a less-than-true-HD 640p resolution.

Sony is aware of the online problems, read a post over at Kotaku, but Rockstar so far has not responded to their inquiries. The GTA IV servers are hosted by Gamespy.

As for the resolution issue, several outlets have confirmed the PS3 version runs at 640p, compared to the Xbox 360's HD 720p. Before you go stringing up Sony and Rockstar for the gaff, however, remember that Halo 3 experienced the same un-HD treatment when it launched in 2007.

It should also be noted that neither version runs at 1080p, the resolution most touted by both Microsoft and Sony in the run up to the "next generation console war." Maybe GTA IV could come out for Wii after all?

Barack And Hillary Knock Each Other's Block Off Online!

THIS WAS A GAME MY 6-YEAR-OLD FOUND ONLINE AND WAS TOTALLY INTO IT! C'MON, LET'S PLAY!!!

BLACK RAPPER 50 CENT THINKS IT'S OKAY TO CALL WOMEN HO'S: JUST DON'T SHOOT AT HIM!

Curtis '50 Cent' Jackson Says Let's Take It To Court, Sues Over 'Shoot the Rapper'

NEW YORK -- Fiddy is going after an Internet advertising company for $1 million, claiming it illegally used his image in a game where the player pretends to shoot him according to the Associated Press.

The game, called "Shoot the Rapper," shows the brother walking back and forth in an ad across the top of a Web page while the viewer is encouraged to shoot him by aiming and clicking with the mouse, court papers say.

A successful shot results in a misty cloud of red, and the viewer is then directed to another Web page where the ad firm's client sells goods and services, according to the lawsuit.

The rapper's lawyer, Peter Raymond, says the game doesn't use 50 Cent's name, but "it looks like him, and there's no doubt the character is intended to be him."

Successful Black man trying to play up the thug image while continuing to perpetuate a cavalier attitude about denigrating Black women in his music... yeah, that's him!

The lawsuit names Traffix Inc. of Pearl River, N.Y., as the defendant. A lawyer for the company, Ezio Scaldaferri, said he had not been served with the papers and could not comment.

The rapper is a well-known victim of gun violence, Raymond said. He said the advertising company is using 50 Cent's likeness without his permission and suggesting that he endorses the game. "For all those reasons, he is personally offended," the lawyer said.

Raymond said the rapper learned about the ad after one of his management people saw the it on a MySpace page.

The rapper's lawsuit asks at least $1 million in actual damages, a permanent injunction against the use of his image without permission, and unspecified punitive damages.