Terminator/Total Recall/Conan star Arnold Schwarzenegger (and he’s also the governor of California or something) has appealed the decision of a federal judge in an attempt to make it illegal to sell violent games to minors in the state of California, Reuters reports.

US District Judge Ronald Whyte ruled last month that the law was unconstitutional, adding that it was unsupported by evidence that violent games are any worse than violent shows or movies.

In a survey conducted by PopCap Games, 1 in 4 gamers (24%) responded that they play casual games at work. Tsk tsk. And where do you people work? Additional results of the survey include:

14% has played during a business meeting/conference call.
61% play during lunch or break periods.
52% play during the work day
79% play several times a week or more
53% play at least once a day

91% claim to play for stress relief and relaxation
69% call them mental workouts
54% cite memory strengthening

Of those respondents who were supervisors, 79% encourage staff to take brief mental breaks, while 29% say more than half of those they’re responsible for play casual games.

“It’s not surprising that today’s white-collar workers are casual video game users,” said Carly Drum, Managing Director of Drum Associates in New York, a leading executive recruitment firm. “The face of today’s executive workforce is definitely changing: we’re seeing younger employees who are much more technologically savvy and familiar with all forms of new media from social networking to blogging and beyond. So, it’s natural that some white collar workers would also look to casual videogames that they can play on their PC, mobile phone or BlackBerry during a work break, as a way to quickly relax and recharge their batteries, so to speak.”

Senior execs have even more fun:

35% play casual games at work
70% play during work
61% play at least once a day

18 Grateful Dead songs will be available for download for Rock Band, including: Truckin’, Uncle John’s Band, Touch of Grey, Sugar Magnolia, and Casey Jones.

“Grateful Dead’s unique fusion of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, and jazz challenged traditional musical boundaries and pushed the limits of creativity to produce a signature sound that is undeniably their own,” said MTV’s Paul DeGooyer. “With an enormous legion of fans all over the world, ‘Rock Band’ will give players a chance to interact with the music of these beloved rock pioneers and experience what Grateful Dead did best - jam from the depths of their souls.”

Rock Band is slated for a November release for the PS3 and Xbox 360.

Activision has released a demo for Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground. Check it out below.

Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground Soundtrack

Double Fusion will announce a new game advertising model tomorrow, according to a report in Adweek.

Unlike the typical gaming ads, which are permanently inserted into games, Double Fusion’s platform fusion.runtime will be similar to television and the Internet, allowing non-permanent dynamic ads that can be changed and rotated in real time. These ads can be added long after the game has already shipped, and this process would allow all the coding typically needed to be skipped.

Double Fusion has already lined up partnerships with Ubisoft and Oberon. Ubisoft will use the ads in free online versions of older games, while Oberon will use the ads in its casual games.

According to Enterbrain, Nintendo continued its lead over Sony for the four week period ending August 26. Wii outsold the PS3 by a 3:1 margin, an improvement for the PS3 compared to the 4:1 margin in July and 6:1 in June. Microsoft remains a non-factor.

The main contributor for the PS3’s boost was that it finally got not just a game, which in recent months has been rare with all the PS2 support, but also a game people actually want, Everybody’s Golf 5. The problem is it’s just one game and can only be stretched so far, particularly up against the slew of first party games from a company whose last system has been dead for years. The upcoming schedule remains not completely barren but still pretty thin, though the highly popular Gran Turismo 5 does have an October release date, with Dynasty Warriors 6 as the other high profile holiday title.

Nintendo Wii: 245,653
PlayStation 3: 81,541
Xbox 360: 11,288

20th Century Fox will be bringing the first two seasons of Family Guy to Xbox Live starting Monday. This marks the first Fox product for release on Xbox. The cost will be 160 Microsoft points ($2.00 in the US) per episode.

“This is our first one,” Jamie McCabe, executive vp at 20th Century Fox, told Reuters. “We hope to have other content on there, but right now with the launch of ‘Halo 3′ and the launch of the new season of ‘Family Guy’ coming out, the timing really worked well for this one.” He added, “It’s about as perfect a demographic fit as we can get.”

The Art Institute Online will be sponsoring the Austin Game Developers Conference from Sept 5-7, 2007. The conference is intended to provide opportunities for game development professionals. Full press release follows.

 In support of its commitment to game development, the growing demand for new designers with gaming degrees, and with the hopes of bringing the content knowledge present at the conference to their classrooms, The Art Institute Online, a division of The Art Institute of Pittsburgh, will be sponsoring the 2007 Austin Game Developers Conference.

The Conference will be held at the Austin Convention Center from September 5-7, 2007, and is the official trade event of computer, console, mobile, arcade, online games, and location-based entertainment, and attracts more than 1,100 attendees.  The conference provides educational, networking, and business opportunities for game development professionals, driving this quickly growing sector of the entertainment industry.

“As the established leader in online creative arts education, we are very excited to play an integral role in the conference this year,” said Warren Wake, Game Art & Design, Academic Department Director at The Art Institute of Pittsburgh, which currently offers seven degree programs online related to interactive media and game design, including bachelor’s in Game & Art Design, Graphic Design, Web Design & Interactive Media, and Media Arts & Animation, and associate’s in Graphic Design and Web Design & Interactive Media and a diploma program in Web Design. “This is an event held exclusively by developers, for developers, and we hope that our involvement will demonstrate our commitment to educating and training the gaming industry’s future designers and animators.”

The Art Institute Online will also serve as the podcast sponsor for the Game Career Seminar, a day-long program for students and individuals interested in learning how to launch a career in the videogame industry. The Art Institutes Speakers Series will host transcripts from the podcasts, as well as exclusive content from the seminar online at www.aionline.edu/speaker-series/.

Jeannie Novak, Online Program Director for the Game Art & Design program at The Art Institute Online, lead author and series editor of the Game Development Essentials book series on game development, and Producer and Lead Designer of The Art Institute Online’s “serious game” currently being developed in the Second Life virtual environment, will be one of this year’s panelists.

“I’m thrilled to be involved in this year’s conference,” Novak said. “The Game Developers Conference is an incredible opportunity for developers to come together to exchange ideas, meet with experts, and discuss the ever-changing landscape of the gaming industry.”

For additional information about the Austin Game Developers Conference, or to register for the event, please visit http://www.austingdc.net.

The Call of Duty franchise continues this November on PS3, Xbox 360, and PC. Activision has released the box art for it.

Image 1
Image 2
Image 3
Image 4
Image 5
Image 6

Kane & Lynch: Dead Men is a crime-story third person shooter from Io Interactive (Hitman) and Eidos. The game will be released in November for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. Check out the trailer below.