Daily Bits for 8/27/10

In today’s Daily Bits: More great deals for gamers, StarCraft II gets patched, Final Fantasy XIV gets a beta and video games get their day in court.

More deals than you can shake a…oh forget it

So the deals we listed in yesterday’s daily bits aren’t enough for you? Well, good news; we have more! First up, the EA Store is offering deals on Dead Space, Mirror’s Edge and Spore from now through Sunday. Then there’s NewEgg.Com, which is selling the black wireless 360 controller for $29.99 with free shipping, no date as to when that will expire.

So basically, you get some good deals on 2 great games, expansions and a good accessory. Too bad you also get a great deal on one horrible game, but we cannot blame EA for wanting to get rid of Mirror’s Edge (sorry Jordan, could not resist).

StarCraft II 1.1 patch coming soon

One thing that always impresses me about Blizzard: the company is always working to improve its product, even when that product is pretty impressive as is. Blizzard has announce the 1.1 patch for StarCraft II, which should be hitting Battle.Net here soon. The patch gives more editing tools to players, opens up left handed hotkeys to all regions and adds several little balancing tweaks the serious online player will appreciate, even if most of us will probably never notice the difference. No word as to an actual release date for the patch. For more info on what 1.1 includes, check out the official post on Battle.Net.

Final Fantasy XIV open beta hits August 31

Do you love Final Fantasy? Was Final Fantasy XIII just not enough for you? Did you miss out on the closed beta of Final Fantasy XIV and feel hollow inside ever since? Well, soon you will be able to rejoice. Square Enix has announced it will open up the beta test for its second MMO set in the Final Fantasy universe Tuesday, August 31 at 7 PM PDT. Be aware that while the servers will be going public then, only a certain number of people will be allowed to join into the game at one time; Square Enix stated it will be increasing that number as it tests server loads.

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California Violent Video Games bill goes before Supreme Court November 2

By now, most of you have probably heard of the California bill which would make it illegal to sell violent video games to minors. Well, this case against this bill, Schwarzenegger vs. EMA, is due for oral arguments in the Supreme Court on November 2. So far this bill, which would impose penalties on any retailer found to be selling games to minors, has been ruled unconstitutional by lower courts, but the Supreme Court does have the right to overturn those rulings.

Now I am not saying I am a proponent of violent video games, but I really hope the Supreme Court upholds the rulings of the lower courts on this. While I do believe retailers should try to keep these games out of the hands of minors, making it a crime to do sell the game to them and charging penalties to those who do sell them is not the way to go. Despite what those in favor of this bill say, there is no provable link between violent video games and violent behavior, and trying to make this tenuous “link” the basis for this bill is foolish at best and a violation of the Constitution at its worst.

No matter which way the court decides, it will have a huge impact on gamers.

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Daily Bits is a collection of all the gaming news that has happened for the current day that we deem as interesting and relevant to our readers. Check back daily for more news round-ups and feel free to send your suggestions to dailybits@everydaygamers.com