Brazil this week imposed a ban on popular role-playing computer games Counter-Strike and EverQuest, claiming they incited violence and were harmful to consumers' health.
The federal prohibition on the sale of the games was being applied across the country, the official consumer protection agency in the central state of Goias said on its Web site on Thursday.
Both games allow players, typically teenage boys, to connect online to fantasy worlds where they interact with other players, form groups and carry out joint missions usually involving combat.
`COUNTER-STRIKE'
Counter-Strike, a game with a first-person-view and shoot-'em-up objective based on the motor powering the popular Half-Life game, requires participants to choose a role as either a terrorist in a mask or an anti-terrorist officer before going forth with an ever-sophisticated array of weapons.
An adapted version in Brazil permitted players to take on the perspective of either a police officer or a narcotrafficker in Rio de Janeiro's infamously crime-ridden slums.
`EVERQUEST'
EverQuest is a swords-and-spells game in the mold of Lord of the Rings in which human or elvish or other imaginary characters go on joint adventures to gain treasure and increase their avatar's abilities.
Both began in 1999 and have since developed huge worldwide followings.
Some psychologists have described them as addictive as drugs.
A few players have turned professional, earning money from powerful characters they sell, or from the auction of hard-to-win virtual items.
The ban was ordered in October last year by a Brazilian federal court, but was not immediately implemented.
The judge, Carlos Alberto Simoes, ruled that the games encouraged the subversion of public order, were an attack against the democratic state and the law and against public security.
Russia and Ukraine have exchanged prisoners of war in the latest such swap that saw the release of hundreds of captives and was brokered with the help of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), officials said on Monday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that 189 Ukrainian prisoners, including military personnel, border guards and national guards — along with two civilians — were freed. He thanked the UAE for helping negotiate the exchange. The Russian Ministry of Defense said that 150 Russian troops were freed from captivity as part of the exchange in which each side released 150 people. The reason for the discrepancy in numbers
A shark attack off Egypt’s Red Sea coast killed a tourist and injured another, authorities said on Sunday, with an Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs source identifying both as Italian nationals. “Two foreigners were attacked by a shark in the northern Marsa Alam area, which led to the injury of one and the death of the other,” the Egyptian Ministry of Environment said in a statement. A source at the Italian foreign ministry said that the man killed was a 48-year-old resident of Rome. The injured man was 69 years old. They were both taken to hospital in Port Ghalib, about 50km north
The foreign ministers of Germany, France and Poland on Tuesday expressed concern about “the political crisis” in Georgia, two days after Mikheil Kavelashvili was formally inaugurated as president of the South Caucasus nation, cementing the ruling party’s grip in what the opposition calls a blow to the country’s EU aspirations and a victory for former imperial ruler Russia. “We strongly condemn last week’s violence against peaceful protesters, media and opposition leaders, and recall Georgian authorities’ responsibility to respect human rights and protect fundamental freedoms, including the freedom to assembly and media freedom,” the three ministers wrote in a joint statement. In reaction
BARRIER BLAME: An aviation expert questioned the location of a solid wall past the end of the runway, saying that it was ‘very bad luck for this particular airplane’ A team of US investigators, including representatives from Boeing, on Tuesday examined the site of a plane crash that killed 179 people in South Korea, while authorities were conducting safety inspections on all Boeing 737-800 aircraft operated by the country’s airlines. All but two of the 181 people aboard the Boeing 737-800 operated by South Korean budget airline Jeju Air died in Sunday’s crash. Video showed the aircraft, without its landing gear deployed, crash-landed on its belly and overshoot a runaway at Muan International Airport before it slammed into a barrier and burst into flames. The plane was seen having engine trouble.
RSS