More than five years after its original release, Infinity Ward's Call of Duty is leaving the land of PC exclusivity and entering the console realm via PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

It's looking like the game will arrive as a PlayStation Store and Xbox Live Arcade download, based off a PEGI rating discovered by NeoGAF poster Tntnnbltn.

No word yet as to when the port will hit or what enhancements it may contain, but don't be surprised if its release ties in with the marketing for IW's Modern Warfare 2.

id Software's classic first-person shooter is headed to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, according to the ESRB game ratings list.

No further details are available but odds are it will be a downloadable release on Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Store, timed to promote the upcoming Wolfenstein game developed by Raven Software--coming this summer to PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

Wolfenstein 3D was open-sourced and released on the iPhone this week.

Entertainment Software Rating Board president Patricia Vance has penned an open letter to Utah citizens, urging them to oppose legislation that would see retailers fined if they establish and then break a policy for not selling mature content to minors.

The bill, drafted with the help of renowned anti-game activist Jack Thompson, would amend Utah's "Truth in Advertising Act" to cover "a good or service labeled with an age restriction or recommendation," such as movies and video games.

Opponents of the bill argue it actually discourages retailers from establishing such a policy in the first place, as stores are not penalized if they don't have or drop a policy that restricts the sale of explicit content.

The ESRB claims that a recent audit of Utah video games stores found that minors trying to buy mature games were turned away 94% of the time.

"It would effectively penalize responsible retailers that have policies, and provide safe harbor for retailers that refuse to adopt a responsible policy in the... Read more

As part of its ongoing family-oriented efforts, Microsoft today unveiled its "Get Game Smart" initiative to educate parents about family-friendly gaming practices.

The Get Game Smart website encourages families to play video games today, discuss appropriate content, set limits accordingly, practice online safety, and learn about parental controls in game consoles, such as Microsoft's own Xbox 360.

One activity, the "Do You Know Your Gamer?" quiz, tests a parent's knowledge about their children's favorite games, with an accompanying quiz for kids so parents can see how much they actually know--depending on the children's honesty, that is... Read more

The Entertainment Software Rating Board has struck again, leaking the first concrete information of the recently-trademarked Guitar Hero Modern Hits via its website.

In development for the Nintendo DS, Modern Hits will include Sum 41's "Still Waiting," Franz Ferdinand's "The Fallen," and Finger Eleven's "Paralyzer," going by the ESRB's rating page and the lyrics contained in the summary.

Modern Hits will mark the third Guitar Hero game for Nintendo DS. The previous two, both developed by Vicarious Visions, utilize a "Guitar Grip" add-on that plugs into the system's Game Boy Advance slot.

The first Guitar Hero DS, On Tour, arrived in June and subsequently broke sales records for publisher Activision. The second, Decades, released five months later.

The Entertainment Software Rating Board today announced it will offer "rating summaries" for all the games it has rated since July 1, 2008, a move it says will help parents by providing them with more information about a game's content.

The rating summaries are slated to be available at ESRB.org beginning later today, and will "explain in objective terms the context and relevant content that factored into a game's ESRB rating assignment."

For example, take this summary of the Mature-rated PS3 shooter Resistance 2:

Resistance 2 is a first-person shooter set in an alternate 1950's environment where the Earth has been overrun by aliens. Players must shoot their way through hordes of aliens, large-scale bosses and sometimes robots, using a variety of guns and grenades. Aliens and humans get blown up, torn apart, shot, impaled and killed in gushes of red blood and body parts. During cutscenes, team members are killed by aliens, and in one instance, executed by another character. Characters use strong profanity (e.g., "f*ck" and "sh*t") during gameplay and cutscenes.

A mobile site, m.ESRB.org, will let consumers find and view summaries from their phones, useful when browsing the game selection at a retailer.

The summaries join the ESRB's other efforts--rating labels on the front of game boxes and content descriptors on the back--to ensure consumers make educated purchases.

In response, a number of outspoken video game industry critics, including Senators Joseph Lieberman and Hillary Rodham Clinton, expressed their... Read more

Censorship and Bethesda's Fallout 3 (PC, 360, PS3) are good friends, and the two just got a little closer: Bethesda has asked gaming websites including Shacknews to pull all trailers for the open-world RPG.

The request came from Bethesda marketing VP Pete Hines in an e-mail which is reproduced below. The e-mail does not delve into the reasoning behind the decision, but says the request is "in connection with ESRB's advertising guidelines."

The move comes on the eve of Fallout 3's release, with thousands of retailers ready to start selling the game at midnight tonight, and follows a widely-reported public complaint regarding depictions of post-apocalyptic Washington DC in Fallout 3 ads.

The ESRB struck last year when news outlets including Shacknews were asked to remove trailers for D3 Publisher's Dark Sector, with the rating board citing "gameplay montages [which] have been deemed to contain excessive or offensive content."

The full e-mail from Hines follows... Read more

The National Institute on Media and the Family, the non-profit group that has repeatedly blasted the video games industry, is now proud to "work together" with the Electronic Software Association after receiving $50,000 in funds from the ESA.

"Reasonable organizations can disagree on principle, but can work together for the betterment of families and children," said NIMF spokesman Darin Broton to GamePolitics.

In an editorial aside, GamePolitics points out that "there's a wide gap between 'working with' and 'accepting money from.'" Continuing, the editorial claims that "taking funding from the industry it purports to be watching is a credibility-damaging decision on the organization's part."

As reported yesterday, the NIMF is using the ESA funds to "develop an on-line e-learning zone for using the latest interactive technologies to help kids and adults understand the issues and potential areas of concern with the Internet."

When not "working with" its foes to build "on-line e-learning zones," the NIMF usually occupies itself by bickering with the ESRB and claiming to prove that exposure to violence causes violent behavior. Broton's complete statement, reproduced from GamePolitics, follows... Read more

The Electronic Software Association, the trade association lobbying for the video games industry, has given a substantial grant to the National Institute on Media and the Family, the controversial media watchdog non-profit known for inflammatory statements towards the games industry and its ratings board in particular.

The NIMF will use the money--an unspecified piece of $1 million divided among nine recipients--to "develop an on-line e-learning zone for using the latest interactive technologies to help kids and adults understand the issues and potential areas of concern with the Internet," according to a press release from the ESA.

Late last year the NIMF made headlines by slamming the Entertainment Software Ratings Board as complacent, blaming the game-rating organization for allowing the violence in Rockstar's Manhunt 2 for reaching game shelves. It was only the latest in a long fight in which the NIMF and ESRB have repeatedly criticized one another.

The NIMF also published a report in 2001 claiming a causal link between exposure to violent entertainment and violent behavior.

A new listing on the Entertainment Software Ratings Board's website appears to indicate that Neversoft's multi-instrument rhythm title Guitar Hero World Tour (PS2, PS3, Wii, 360) may be coming to PCs.

Though the port has not yet been officially confirmed by publisher Activision, it would follow the PC and Mac edition of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, which was developed for those platforms by Aspyr Media and released after the console version.

While Activision did not issue an outright denial of Guitar Hero World Tour on PC, the publisher told GameCyte that "that title has not been announced yet."

Curiously, the listings make no mention of the PlayStation 2 and Wii versions of Guitar Hero World Tour, which were announced alongside its PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 incarnations. It remains to be seen whether those platforms will be shown in a second entry, a la the ESRB's listings for Guitar Hero: Aerosmith.

In related news, Activision and hardware manufacturer Logitech today announced a partnership to develop and market "premium" instrument controllers for the console editions of Guitar Hero World Tour. The peripherals are set to roll out after the title's release later this year.

A memo from the Entertainment Software Ratings Board revealed that the agency is implementing new functionality in its website to prevent evidence of upcoming game titles from being leaked before their official announcements.

The ESRB's notice, forwarded to Next-Gen by an unspecified publisher, speaks of a new online submission form that will allow publishers to choose a date when a game can be revealed on the organization's website.

The new functionality was requested by publishers, likely those whose marketing schedules were disrupted by previous ESRB leaks. Listings on the website have confirmed the existence of several titles, including Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (NDS) and Lost Planet: Extreme Condition Colonies Edition (PC, 360)... Read more

A bill presented to the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday would force retailers to check the ID of anyone buying an M or AO-rated game or face a $5,000 fine.

Proposed by Lee Terry (R-Neb) and Jim Matheson (D-Utah), the effort relies heavily upon the Entertainment Software Rating Board's established ratings, and would ask that retailers have in-store materials explaining the system.

The use of the ESRB's rating system sets the bill apart from the typically unconstitutional game legislation proposals, which often use vague standards to label violent games instead of a set guideline.

"Many young children are walking into stores and are able to buy or rent these games without their parents even knowing about it," Terry told Variety.

In a statement released today, the ESRB said that retailers denied sales of M-rated games to 80% of individuals under 17 in a recent Federal Trade... Read more

A new listing on the Entertainment Software Rating Board's website indicates that a new title in Konami's long-running Castlevania series is heading to the Nintendo DS.

Entitled Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, the title was also recently discovered in an entry in the US Patent and Trademark Office's database which revealed the game's title and logo.

Previous Castlevania appearances on the Nintendo DS platform include Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin, released in 2005 and 2006, respectively. A third title in the 2D adventure series was confirmed as in development by series producer Koji Igarashi last year.

Shacknews has reached Konami for confirmation, but has not heard back as of this writing.

Former rater for the Entertainment Software Ratings Board Jerry Bonner thoroughly criticized his ex-employer in an article appearing in this month's issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly, GameSpot reports.

In his editorial, Bonner called on the ESRB to make a number of changes to its current system and policies for rating games, asking that the Board drop its insistence on secrecy and make the process of rating games more transparent.

Bonner also suggested that the ESRB should consider splitting the T for Teen rating into the age-specific ratings of T13 and T16. He advocated eliminating the AO for Adults Only rating altogether, and changing the M for Mature rating to apply for gamers 18 and older, a one year increase to the current age limit.

The former rater also shed some light on the goings-on within the organization, revealing that more than once the ESRB has overruled designations agreed upon by its raters. Though many of the changes were minor tweaks to descriptive ... Read more

Update: Contradicting earlier statements, Funcom community manager Shannon Drake now claims that the North American version of Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures will include nipples, though the German edition will still be edited to reduce in-game violence.

"It has come to our attention that the North American edition of the game was submitted (by [publisher] Eidos) to the ESRB without any server-side censorship," Drake clarified. "Funcom apologizes for this small error (or maybe two small errors)."

However, despite the insistence that the North American version was granted an M rating with no censorship, Drake points out that the game will not feature full nudity. At this time, it is unknown if other editions will include full nudity or if this was merely a general statement.

Original Story: Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures developer Funcom today revealed that certain elements of its upcoming PC and Xbox 360 action-MMO will be... Read more

A new entry in Capcom's Lost Planet franchise may be headed to Xbox 360 and PC, according to the Entertainment Software Ratings Board.

A listing for Lost Planet Colonies recently appeared on the ESRB's official site, proudly announcing the title's receipt of a T for Teen rating. The game's moniker game matches a trademark listing made last year, which at the time, set off a flurry of speculation regarding a possible sequel.

Interestingly, the site only lists Lost Planet Colonies for Xbox 360 and PC. While the first entry in the snowy shooting series, Lost Planet: Extreme Condition, arrived on those two platforms last year, a PlayStation 3 edition--packed with bonus content, including new single-player and multiplayer characters--is currently slated to arrive February 26.

Shacknews has contacted Capcom for more information, though a response has yet to be received. However, responses to other publications have consisted of an image reading "Stay Tuned," suggesting that an announcement is inbound.

Update: Peggle is indeed headed to Xbox Live Arcade and is tentatively slated for a Q2 release, a PopCap representative has confirmed to Shacknews.

Original Story: PopCap's ultra-addictive and mega-colorful casual gaming sensation Peggle is on its way to the Xbox 360, according a listing on the Entertainment Software Rating Board web site.

Though not officially confirmed, the title is expected to be a downloadable Xbox Live Arcade game, as past PopCap Xbox 360 releases, such as Zuma, have been. It has been assigned an "E for Everyone" rating.

Previously released on PC, Mac, and the iPod, the Pachinko-like skill-based offerings of Peggle have won over many a cold-hearted gamer despite its... Read more

Officially halted in September after more than a year of court battles brought on by the Entertainment Software Association, the Oklahoma bill equating games to porn was originally authored by Rep. Fred Morgan (D-Oklahoma City) and Sen. Glenn Coffee (R-Oklahoma City). In an interesting twist, Coffee has returned to the spotlight in the games industry, this time on the side of the ESA.

Coffee has created a public service announcement endorsing the Entertainment Software Rating Board's ratings system, the ESRB announced yesterday. "ESRB ratings are an effective and informative resource that allows parents to decide if the video game their child wants is appropriate," Coffee said in a statement. "I'm proud to be educating parents in our state about the tools at their disposal."

Coffee's PSA will air on Oklahoma television channels and radio stations this month. ESRB president Patricia Vance said the board appreciates Coffee's collaboration, and the announcement unsurprisingly made no reference to the senator's previously opposing standpoint.

Coffee's pro-ESRB stance is certainly not indicative of other policy-makers' views, and some U.S. congressmen have come forward today to make a request concerning... Read more

A feud between the National Institute on Media and the Family (NIMF) and the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) has erupted, causing the two organizations to clash about the effectiveness of and policy behind video game ratings.

NIMF's 2007 Video Game Report Card claims that, despite retailer and industry efforts, an investigation revealed that minors were able to purchase M-rated games, which are intended for audiences 17 and older, nearly 50% of the time.

Earlier this year, a separate study performed by the Federal Trade Commission showed that though 42% of unaccompanied children were able to purchase an M-rated game, 71% of minors were able to purchase R-rated films on DVD.

NIMF president and founder Dr. David Walsh also noted "several shocking incidents [that] have inadvertently revealed dangerous loopholes in the ratings process," no doubt referring to the ESRB's decision to uphold the M-rating of Rockstar's Manhunt 2 (PS2, Wii, PSP) despite the existence of a technically-demanding hack that allows a clearer view of the game's violence.

The ESRB has been under fire since that controversial decision, with... Read more

The month in review starts off with a list of this month's most notable Shack-crafted features, followed by the most popular news items and feature posts. It continues after the jump with a concise synopsis of November's most important news in an easy to digest paragraph form.

Shacknews' feature picks:

• The Shacknews Holiday Buyers' Guide 2007
• Shacknews' Guide to Underhyped Holiday Titles
• Shacknews' PlayStation 3 Buyer's Guide
• World of Warcraft: The Guilded Age
• Super Mario Galaxy Review

Most popular news items:

1. First Crysis Patch Arriving Within Two Weeks
2. Report: GameSpot's Gerstmann Fired Due to Negative Kane & Lynch Review
3. Call of Duty 4 Online Woes Being Addressed
4. Wireless 360 Guitar Hero III Controller Compatible with PC Version
5. Update: Star Trek Online to Become 'More Casual,' Developer Perpetual Acquired by New Ownership

Most popular features:

1. Crysis Review
2. Hellgate: London Review
3. Gears of War PC Review
4. Mass Effect Review
5. Kane & Lynch: Dead Men Review

The month of November will come to a close tonight, heralding the arrival of December and its multitude of traditional celebrations. But November has much to be remembered by in in the world of gaming news.

The month started with the creation of a hack for the PSP version... Read more