The UpStream

Citing increased real-life criminal activity originating in the online space, the Vietnamese Ministry of Information and Communication has placed a number of tight restrictions on massively multiplayer titles. These include bans on any and all advertisements for online games, as well as regulations forcing ISPs to shut off service to gaming cafes and retailers after hours.

According to the website 70% to 76%, of primary school children play online videogames on weekdays, with 100% of the surveyed saying they played on weekends. Videogames have been blamed for a rise in crime and truancy by young people, as well as fears over videogame addiction.

The government has asked videogame creators to have their games put through a standard ratings system based on their content. Some have already done this and the ratings range from "below 6; 6-11; 12-15; 15-18; above 18; and 'unsuitable for all ages'." There’s also, according to Vietnam News, a move for "electronic IDs", which seems to indicate a universal log-on system which would help "manage internet usage".

More drastic is the Ministry's decision to stop allowing any additional online games to come into the nation until further legislation on the matter can be considered. What I am wondering is if this has anything to do with the large amount of gold farming that comes out of countries like Vietnam and Korea. It looks like all the people who depend on buying fake money with real money. Looks like I am going to have to hold off on buying my epic mount.

The mobile landscape is changing and we owe a lot of that change to mobile apps, or more realistically, the advertisement of mobile apps. These applications have been in existence for decades, but no one has made a big deal about them until Apple, who infamously advertised just that aspect of their products for a long time.

In the app world, there seems to be three distinct approaches to policing content: Apple, Google and Palm. Apple has been known for policing their apps too much, Google doesn't have any approval process to speak of and Palm only looks for malicious or broken code to approve apps. Who has the right idea?

To see evidence of who might be right and whose approach is wrong, hit the break.

After a tease on Capcom's Twitter account this morning that new Marvel vs. Capcom 3 characters would be revealed today, Capcom has gone ahead and announced four new characters. The Capcom side adds Street Fighter's Chun-Li and Devil May Cry's Trish, while Marvel gets Doctor Doom and Super-Skrull.

None of the new reveals are especially surprising. Silhouettes of the unannounced characters were shown in a trailer a few months ago, and some were incredibly obvious. But now that they're official, you can look forward to getting your hands on these characters when Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds is released in spring 2011 on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

I am particularly disappointed that we didn't get to see much gameplay of one of the characters Amaterasu, a god from the Okami games, and sadly it seems that Marvel V.S. Capcom 3 is the closest PS3 gamers will get to having an Okami game on their console. But I was excited to see Dr. Doom on the roster so I can cause some magical mayhem.

Earlier in this week BioWare decided to issue a mission to the community of TOR calling it "Comic-Con Reveal mission!" via a thread of the forums. The thread stated:

Comic-Con International is almost upon us! You already know about the "Beyond Solo" panel being held on Friday, but we have something extra we want to announce during it. You're going to work for this one, though. If we get at least 200,000 "Likes" on our Facebook page and 30,000 Followers on our Twitter page by Friday, July 23rd, 2010, we will bring you this cool reveal!

Now it's our turn to bribe you. Hit the break to find out the reveal!

The Swedish Pirate Party have decided that hosting The Pirate Bay on its own servers is not enough to defend people's "right to act politically" and have moved forward with a bigger and better plan. Two members of the political Piratpartiet are launching their very own ISP that will have the service coincide with the views and expressions of the party. Pirate ISP founders insist that the experience will be like no other - users will be responsible for maintaining the service and privacy will be one of their highest priorities.

Click the break to see what exactly this ISP is about.

It looks like we can forget about the crazy prison cellphone jamming ideas that wardens have been wanting for the past few years. The House of Representatives has approved S. 1749, which will now make it against the law for prisoners to be in possession of a mobile phone or any other device that can access any wireless service. The Senate had approved this bill in April and now with the House also passing it, the only step left is the President's signature.

Follow the break to read more and to see a summary of the bill.