Dr. Tanya Byron has raided airwaves again with her latest endeavor with video games. After her six-month review of game violence, she was able to write and front a BBC TV show wherein she linked playing video games to heroin addiction. More details can be found in the full article.

After the whole Manhunt 2 (PSP and Wii) fiasco and the controversy it spawned, the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) is now facing heavy scrutiny to see if it still remains a viable option for the classification of video games. More in the full article.

Here's a treat for gamers in the UK. Rumor has it that Eidos Interactive just got the rights to the BBC's highly popular EastEnders soap opera. Speculation goes that Eidos is planning to release the game as a casual title for either the DS or mobiles.

First, a game based on the BBC's Little Britan TV sketches, and now this. Visit the Full Article for the rest of the details for this particular rumor.

Here's your chance to vote for your favorite games for the past year! Now on it's 25th year, the Golden Joystick Awards is going stronger than ever, again, being broadcast live on the internet this year. With over half a million votes last year, the producers are aiming for a million votes to celebrate a quarter of a century's voting. There are 17 categories you can vote in this year:

Ultimate Game of the Year
The Sun Family Game of the Year
Bliss Girl's Choice Award
Nuts All Nighter Award
BBC 1Xtra & Rampage Soundtrack of the Year
Handheld Game of the Year
Innovation of the Year
The One To Watch Award
Mobile Game of the Year
Nintendo Game of the Year
Online Game of the Year
PC Game of the Year
Playstation Game of the Year
Xbox Game of the Year
Publisher of the Year
Retailer of the Year
UK Developer of the Year

We'd love to give you a complete list of all the games you can vote for, but that'd just be crazy. But to give a sampling, there's MotorStorm, Crackdown, Rayman Raving Rabbids, and even the Halo 3 beta. Go on over the list and look at the nominated titles for yourself. And while you're at it, vote for the games that made you spend so much time on your couch - which probably already has your butt-print on it.

To vote, you can visit Golden Joystick's official site behind the Read link below! You can also watch videos from last year's Awards and if you have the cash, buy your own tickets to the show. (Take us with you.)

A joint celebration of everything entertainment and artistic, the Edinburgh Interactive Entertainment Festival (EIEF) coming on August 13-14 will highlight the games industry through the eyes of the entertainment industry as a whole. To be held at the Royal College of Physicians at Edinburgh, the fifth EIEF will reflect upon what has been the game industry's significant rise of popularity today.

Pooling personalities in the world of entertainment, what the industry gamers call "home" will be examined by parallel creative industries which include music, art, and movies. Keynoted by Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot, the conference will also feature reflections from Simon Nelson of the BBC, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE), Linden Labs' Jim Pubrick, and actor Steven Berkhoff on games as culture.

Together with Dare to be Digital game creativity competitions and Future Publishing's EDGE Awards, the event will also conclude with a Digital Interactive Symposium on August 15 at Edinburgh University. Chris Deering, chairman of the Edinburgh Interactive Festival, concluded the announcement, saying, "This year we have much to be excited about. The festival is now firmly established as one of the most important events in the interactive entertainment industry's calendar."

Ubisoft has decided to immediately stop selling its Nintendo DS game Mind Quiz and intends to have all copies pulled out of the market because the game was found offensive by certain people.

The French publisher apologized and said that it is now working with the developers and game retailers to try and correct what was found to be a derogatory term to people who have not achieved well in one portion of the game.

A woman in Belfast who lost a child to cerebral palsy and whose father is also afflicted with the disorder was playing the game when she came across the screen that berated players with low scores using words offensive to the disabled. The woman called BBC Radio and her sentiments were quickly brought to the attention of everyone concerned.

"The game was developed in Japan, and we unfortunately did not pick up on the offending word in our quality assurance. We are currently working with the developer to find a way to rectify the issue." explains a Ubisoft representative.

GamesIndustry.biz reports that Ubisoft boss Yves Guillemot will be keynoting this year's Edinburgh Interactive Entertainment Festival (EIEF) to be held in August. Guillemot will be delivering one of the event's two keynote addresses. The BBC's Simon Nelson will be delivering the other.

Fred Hasson, the CEO of festival organiser TIGA, said that this year's event will look at how video games interface with other media. This will most likely be the focus of Guillemot and Nelson's keynote addresses. Also taking to the stage will be Jim Purbrick from Second Life creator Linden Lab and a spokesperson from EVE Online publisher CCP.

The EIEF is the longest running event of its kind in the UK. This year's event will be the fifth time that the videogame conference will take place. Exact dates for the conference have yet to be announced.

Investors in controversial videogames publisher and favorite lawsuit target Take-Two Interactive have revealed plans to take control of the board. Due to news of the planned management coup, the company's shares jumped 18%.

According to the BBC News, documents filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission revealed that the said investors will try to aim to oust chief executive Paul Eibeler and install Strauss Zelnick, ex-chief executive of BMG Entertainment (which, incidentally, sold its own gaming arm to Take-Two in 1998) as non-executive chairman.

The investors, who currently own 46% of Take-Two, also aim to review the position of chief financial officer, Karl Winters. Take-Two has been under fire for a string of financial irregularities. Last month, former Take-Two chief executive Ryan Brant was convicted of backdating stock options to increase their worth.

JP Morgan analyst Dean Gianoukos said that the change in management would be "a positive for the company, assuming key development personnel are retained." Elizabeth Osur of Citigroup concurred, saying that the move was "long overdue". Arvind Bhatia of Sterne, Agee & Leach warned, however, that Take-Two's problems could not be solved "overnight".

It's been months since last year's Golden Joystick Awards wrapped up. And while this year is still fresh with plenty of soon-to-be-launched hits, UK-based publisher Future is already announcing their plans for this year's GJA, set to be on Friday, October 26. What makes 2007 special is that it will be the awards' 25th anniversary since its first launch in 1982.

The awards will be held at the London's Park Lane Hilton Hotel as it did last year, with tables to the awarding and after-show party now available at £ 1650. The event will once again be broadcast live via the Computer and Videogames site, and will be partnered by The Sun, Nuts, Bliss and BBC 1Xtra.

  

It has already been settled before that the faulty Wii controller straps are no laughing matter. Unfortunately for Nintendo, the damages inflicted by this setback goes beyond broken TV sets. For all we know, this could be a source of disappointment for the rather young and growing Wii fan base.

But in all fairness, their efforts to resolve the issue are being recognized. It seems, however, that they'll be needing a lot more than online safety information. When we said a lot, we meant pulling out from the market more than three million straps. And that is what Nintendo did, as reported today by giant news company BBC.

Aside from the straps, it was reported as well that the company recalled 200,000 AC adapters for its DS and DS Lite consoles in Japan. Furthermore, Nintendo claimed that the matter regarding the handheld is Japan-specific only. On the other hand, the strap recall would affect all Wii units that were sold worldwide, including those that are still in retail shops.

While we already know why are they doing this for the straps, no word was given about the adapters. Also, Nintendo didn't specify how customers could return the straps, be them faulty or not. We'll update you as soon as Nintendo makes a statement regarding the matter.

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UPDATE: Because of your comments, we checked the validity of this news. Speaking to SPOnG, Nintendo and its PR company clarified that Nintendo is not recalling Wii straps as BBC reported, but they will be offering customers the option to trade their old straps (0.024 inch diameter) for thicker straps (0.04 inch diameter).