The Entertainment Software Rating Board, the industry watchdog in the U.S. that rates video games, is investigating whether the blockbuster “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas” has some code embedded in it that allows players to make the characters engage in simulated explicit sex acts after downloading a modification.

The game has a M (mature 17 +) rating from the board and if the board decides to change it, it may get AO (adult only), which will mean major limitations in sales.

The serial games makers, Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. subsidiary Rockstar Games, admitted that the investigation is on and said it is cooperating. The games, one among the best selling, has also drawn rebuke for encouraging wanton violence.

The board’s president Patricia Vance said the board has “opened an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the ‘Hot Coffee’ modification for (the game) … to determine if there has been a violation of ESRB Rules and Regulations requiring full disclosure of pertinent content.”

‘Hot Coffee’ is a freely downloadable modification, which when installed on a PC with San Andreas on it, can generate several minigames in which the game’s hero can be made to engage in x-rated sexual acts.

The board will find out whether the modification will indeed unlock a code pre-existing in the game, or whether it is a creation of an outsider providing the modification.

Vance said, “If after a thorough and objective investigation of all the relevant facts surrounding this modification, we determine a violation of our rules has occurred, we will take appropriate action.”

Rockstar maintained that the work of the mod community is beyond the scope of either publishers or the board.

The board’s initiative is on the basis of criticism by a California lawmaker, Leland Yee (Democrat, San Francisco). Yee, a child psychologist, says the game is capable of creating explicit material on the computer screen and wants its rating to be modified to AO.

Yee implied in his outbursts that the board, which was set up by the Entertainment Software Association in 1994, is reluctant on giving AO ratings.

The board has so far assigned 1,036 ratings in 2004, and less than 1 per cent is AO.

“Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas” is about a character who seeks vengeance against gangs in streets, using automatic weapons and indulging in bloody violence. He steals cars for fun and picks up women along the way. The game allows users to download and install modifications from several freely available sites and one of the modifications, say enthusiasts, facilitate creation of girls in nude and simulation of explicit sex acts.

The video games of today allow the system of modification — mods — by which the look and feel and even content can be modified by software writers. Many games have tools embedded in them to make the modification process easier. The game vendors encourage mods because it can increase sales, while users will have the flexibility to add and reduce the content to fit their imaginations. And many of the mod creators offer their patches for free.

The author of this particular mod, Patrick Wildenborg of Deventer, Netherlands, however, says the code he has created just unlocks previously present content in the game. He has challenged Rockstar to prove that its code is free of these graphics. “They’re lying and I will be able to prove that.”

Wildenborg says the explicit material can be viewed only on the version of the game meant for desktop PCs and it would require his ‘Hot Coffee’ mod. It is like setting a censor flag as he calls it. When the flag is set, the explicit scenes are blocked. So, when the hero visits his girlfriend’s house for a cup of coffee, in the version of the game where the flag is set, one can hear only suggestive sounds. But, once the flag is removed, using the mod, all the explicit scenes are part of the normal game.

There are several critics for “Grand Theft Auto” mainly objecting to its beastly brutality. There is legislation in place against the game in Illinois, Georgia, North Carolina and Washington, D.C. intended to limit its reach among minors.

Chipmaker Intel has announced plans to step into the world of movies and has revealed that it would be investing substantially in a company called ClickStar Inc. Intel will be collaborating with film star Morgan Freeman’s Revelations Entertainment in this venture. ClickStar will offer movie downloads on the Internet on a pay-per-view basis.

The company plans to offer original movies to Web users before they are available on DVD and also while they are playing in cinemas.

This announcement was made in the presence of Mr. Freeman and Intel CEO Paul Otellini at the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference in Idaho. As of now, the company does not have any major Hollywood Studio on-board, but hopes that Intel’s brand name and Morgan Freeman’s clout would convince studios to sign on.

Speaking at the launch, Morgan Freeman said that the new service aims to address the growing worldwide consumer demand for digital content with special emphasis on filmed entertainment, “Our goal is to deliver first-run premium entertainment to film fans around the world and to make film easier to buy than to pirate,” he commented.

Nizar Allibhoy, who has previously served as a Sony Pictures executive will be the CEO of ClickStar. Producer Lori McCreary, who is a partner in the Revelations Entertainment, was enthusiastic about the new venture. She said that the company would be working with independent filmmakers as well as studio content, “We’ve basically been speaking with our filmmaker friends and getting great feedback. We see it as a tremendous opportunity for everyone in the business,” McCreary said on the occasion. For his part, Nizar Allibhoy hoped that ClickStar would do the same thing for movies as iTunes did for music, “We have the same advantage of being the first out there,” he said.

ClickStar refuted rumors that it was setting up a direct competition with online movie rental services as Movielink and CinemaNow, “There is a demand there, but we believe it’s a limited demand because the content has been out there already,” Roger Vakharia, the MD of Intel’s Content Services Group said. He added that ClickStar was “a missing piece in today’s environment.”

The main intention of ClickStar is to beat movie pirates by playing the game on the same rules, albeit legally. The service is scheduled to be launched sometime in 2006.

The Halifax has said that with the Olympics set to return to London in seven years’ time, house prices in London could go through the roof, as the demand will outstrip the supply in the run-up to the games.

The bank has based its predictions on the fact that all the host cities of the last four Olympic games saw house prices soar to unprecedented levels; Barcelona, Sydney and Athens saw a 50 percent rise in housing prices five years prior to the games.

According to Tim Crawford, the group economist at Halifax, the news that Olympics was returning to London was a great one, “Hosting an Olympic games encourages city regeneration and is usually accompanied by an improvement in facilities and transport links. These factors tend to be positive for house prices.” He added that homeowners in Hackney and Stratford stood to gain the most.

Dan McLeod of the estate agency, Atkinson McLeod expressed similar sentiments and said, “This is the best news for the property market in this area for years. Since the announcement, we have already had calls from investors asking about properties to develop in the east end.”

Russell Jervis, Spicerhaart managing director was of the view that the trend in growth of housing and economic prosperity in east London was set to be boosted by the news of a successful bid, “A new east London is fast emerging with much regeneration work currently underway and the already successful transformation of the Docklands. The win will create massive investment to the area, creating new jobs, homes and improved transport links,” he commented.

A sum of around £250 million has been earmarked for a new Olympic Stadium at Stratford in East London. Besides this £650 million will be spent on athletes’ village alone. Overall the London 2012 bid team expects to rake in a £100 million profit at the end of the games.

LONDON: Britain received its first shipment of imported liquefied natural gas Monday as the country prepares to rely on imports with its North Sea fields increasingly drying up.

The first tanker, the Berge Arzew, carrying 138,000 cubic metres of LNG from Algerian state producer Sonatrach for British Petroleum, docked at a new import terminal at the Isle of Grain on the Thames Estuary. The gas will be pumped into National Grid Transco’s new LNG terminal.

Two more such terminals will be built — at Milford Haven in South Wales — by 2007 to handle LNG imports, mostly from Egypt and Qatar.

Britain, Europe’s largest gas market, had stopped importing LNG in the 1980s with the North Sea taking care of its entire gas needs. However, the dwindling yield from the fields has forced the country to look at oil gas producers in the Middle East.

It estimates that LNG will meet between 20 and 25 per cent of the country’s gas demand by 2008-2009. Currently it consumes around 100 billion cubic metres of gas a year.

Centrica, one of the gas suppliers, has bought huge capacity in the Isle of Grain expansion and it is negotiating with gas producers in north and west Africa and the Middle East.

Plans are also afoot to import gas via subsea pipelines. An existing pipeline connecting Belgium is getting expanded and two pipelines connecting Norway and the Netherlands are under construction.

Britain at one time had gas reserves ranked fourth in the world. The reserves were optimally exploited in the 1970s, but as the reserves fell and the cost of extraction and refining went up, the country, like other industrialised counterparts, has started relying on imports.

Oil experts predict that LNG will cater to 10 percent of global fuel needs by 2020.

The heir to the British throne, Prince Charles, had a bumper year even as some companies struggled to make ends meet. His private estate the Duchy of Cornwall raked in an income of £13,274,000 for the year 2004. This was as compared to the £11,913,000 in the previous year. Clarence House released the Prince’s annual balance sheet yesterday.

The main reason for this windfall was the rising income for the estate from the commercial properties. The income for this year rose by 11 percent. This huge income was in addition to the £2,688,000 that the Prince gets as subsidies from the taxpayer. It was calculated that the taxpayer pays out 4p for the upkeep of the Prince of Wales.

The private secretary of the Prince, Sir Michael Peat said that the Prince had raised £109m for charities last year. Sir Peat claimed that this made him “the greatest charitable entrepreneur in the world.” Additionally, the Prince donated £2.5m from his own purse to charitable causes. “The Prince is the only person anywhere who sets out how he uses his private money,” Sir Peat commented.

According the report, Charles attended 191 formal briefings last year. He received more than 47,000 letters from the public, and replied personally to more than 2,300 letters. His office wrote a further 18,000 letters on his behalf. The costs for the staff were pegged at £3,814,000; housekeeping accounted for £96,000, while the upkeep of the gardens cost £30,000.

A sum of £72,000 was spent on utilities like electricity, gas and water. The organic foods company run by the estate, Duchy Originals, raked in a £1m profit for this year. All the profits are donated to charity. The Prince’s personal spending was billed at £5million, including tax. The cost of the April wedding to Camilla Parker Bowles, now the Duchess of Cornwall, will appear in next year’s accounts.

Prince Charles does not own the Duchy’s assets, but gets the profits that are made by the estate; he also receives an income from The Oval cricket ground and Dartmoor Prison.

LONDON: A chain of live music shows is slated for Saturday across the globe to canvass for the poor and to put pressure on the rich to dole out more funds. Over 100 renowned rock and roll stars and musicians will be seen in action in what is described as the greatest music show ever organized, telling the world leaders they must care for the poor.

Dubbed Live 8, it is an extension of the Live Aid show in 1985 and will be staged simultaneously in 10 cities in four continents. London is expected to be the key centre, where 10 grand concerts are planned with Paul McCartney and Bono of U2 rendering “Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” at the inaugural.

Live8’s organizer Bob Geldof says he is more concerned about people power than money. The concerts are intended to force the leaders of the eight industrialised countries — the G8 — to commit more of their resources to tackle poverty, mainly in Africa. The show is to precede the G8 leaders’ meeting in Gleneagles in Scotland next week.

A Live8 website notification said, “Ten concerts, 100 artists, a million spectators, two billion viewers, and one message … to get those eight men, in that one room, to stop 30,000 children dying every single day of extreme poverty.”

In 1985, Live Aid, organised by Geldof again, had a captive audience of 1.5 billion television viewers. It had generated spontaneous donations worth $100 million in aid for the Ethiopian famine victims. This time around, the organizers feel the reach will be more with Internet and mobile phones.

Geldof says in specific terms, he would want the aid to poor nations to be doubled, debts of these nations to be waived and international trade rules to be made fairer.

Live8, estimated to cost around 25 million pounds, has been well accepted by aid groups. Its run-up has been proved to be effective to a certain extent. There has been a recent waiver by the United States and Britain of $40 billion in debt and the U.S. government has pledged to double aid to Africa and Latin America.

Live8’s motto is “We Don’t Want Your Money — We Want You”. The shows are free.

In London, some 200,000 people are expected to converge at Hyde Park to hear besides McCartney and Bono, a host of singers like Elton John, Madonna and Pink Floyd.

Apart from London, the shows will be staged in Paris, Rome, Berlin, Moscow, Johannesburg, Tokyo, Philadelphia and Toronto, all cities in G8 countries. In addition, there will be an all-African concert at the Eden Project in southwest England and one in Johannesburg.

While the event will be telecast live by MTV and VH1 from each concert site, ABC is airing a two-hour capsule on the highlights. America Online’s www.aolmusic.com will present live feeds of the concerts from Berlin, London, Rome, Toronto, Philadelphia and Paris.

The organisers claim more than 85 per cent of the world’s population will have access to the show either through television, radio or Internet.

The show’s organizers plan to reach Scotland with protesters in the coming week.

Geldof has written an open letter to the leaders of the G8 countries, saying they are the real “stars of the show”. A failure to achieve “a historic breakthrough” at Gleneagles summit would betray the world’s poorest people, he said.

LONDON: State-owned nuclear energy company British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) is all set to sell its Westinghouse power plant construction business.

Westinghouse, headquartered in Pittsburg, U.S., and with its operations concentrated mostly in that country, is valued at over 1 billion pounds. It has some 8,000 staff worldwide. For the year ending March 2005, the unit had recorded sales at 1.1. billion pounds and profits before interest and tax at 43 million pounds.

BNFL said it has received substantive offers. Companies like General Electric Co and some private equity firms are speculated to be in the run.

BNFL’s chairman Gordon Campbell said in a statement Friday, the company’s strategy review concluded that the company’s businesses would be managed to deliver value and control risks to the U.K. tax payer and in line with this strategy, “we are starting a structured sales process for the Westinghouse business”.

BNFL said its losses have gone up to 344 million pounds in the year ending March 2005 compared with 194 million pounds a year earlier. The company operates the Sellafield nuclear-reprocessing facility in northwest England.

BNFL’s chief executive Mike Parker told newspersons that the sale process has been initiated and the 10 to 15 interested parties will be provided with information packs by the company’s banker NM Rothschild next week. He said the full sale process will take about two years.

Parker said the increase in oil prices has caused a “change in the attitude and atmosphere towards nuclear (power). As a mature and a semi-autonomous business, Westinghouse is a prime asset that has all the skills to prosper in the private sector. It has reached all its targets, continues to win new business and is in an excellent position to capitalise on the China new-build programme.”

BNFL has three strategic divisions now — Westinghouse; British Nuclear Group, (engaged in decommissioning and clean-up work) and Nexia Solutions (a research and technology wing).

It has transferred most of its U.K. assets to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and the BNG division is left with the work of cleaning up Britain’s nuclear sites. This is a highly competitive area, especially with several private sector players in the field.

The company’s union, Prospect, which represents 6000 scientists, engineers and managers, fears that the sale will rob the company of its expertise when the country is trying to build more nuclear power stations.

In April this year, BNFL had a “level three” leak from a pipeline carrying nuclear waste at Thorp. The leak was contained in a heavily shielded cell without any damage to people and property.

REDMOND, Washington: Britain’s Vodafone Group Plc is aligning with Microsoft Corporation’s MSN division to introduce an instant messaging service that facilitates interaction between a mobile phone and a personal computer. The two companies will together launch the service, described as enhanced messaging service — the first of its kind — in several European countries by year-end.

The two companies in a statement said the service will enable users to see their contacts and exchange messages between a MSN Messenger on a computer and a Vodafone Messenger on mobile phones, bringing together the 165 million users of the latter and the the 155 million of the former around the world.

Vodafone is the world’s largest mobile operator by revenues. It said the proposed service will be charged on the basis of “calling party pays”.Users of MSN Messenger, who do not pay for the IM service, would be able to reach Vodafone customers by purchasing online with a credit card.

The service is to go into trials in July and will be initially introduced in Italy, Spain and the Netherlands in the next two months, a Vodafone spokesperson said.

Vodafone’s instant messaging facility is used by customers of its Live! service mainly for purposes of downloading games, movies and music.

Messages sent from a Vodafone handset to a computer will be delivered in text and will take some time before it lands in the MSN Messenger panel.

NEW YORK: Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America is buying out MBNA Corporation, the largest independent credit card operator in the U.S. for $35 billion. The acquisition will push the No 2 U.S. bank (and No 5 credit card operator) as the world’s top card operator, with 40 million card holders on its rolls and as the largest issuer of debit, prepaid and credit cards from Visa and Mastercards.

The deal will also bring in a business balance of $143 billion to the bank.

The stock-and-cash deal values each MBNA share is valued at $27.50 (a 36 per cent premium) and the company’s shareholders will get 0.5009 of a Bank of America share and $4.125 in cash for each MBNA share.

This is Bank of America’s second big acquisition after the $48 billion purchase of FleetBoston Financial Corp. in April 2004.

The bank’s chairman and chief executive Kenneth Lewis said the acquisition will bring in $31.2 billion in deposits, but it will not exceed the stipulated 10 per cent cap on U.S. deposits.

“Today’s announcement is not only about the creation of one of the world’s largest card providers,” Mr Lewis said. “That is compelling in and of itself. But it’s really a much larger story about two companies with complementary strengths.”

The acquisition will see job cuts to the extent of 6,000 from a combined workforce of 200,000 in order to have savings of $850 million a year by 2007 and to claim a restructuring charge of $1.3 billion.

The bank intends to rebrand MBNA cards with the bank’s name. This may result in some revenue loss as some of the existing MBNA co-branding companies are banks that may not want to continue with the arrangement. MBNA has a number of co-branded cards, called affinity cards, in alliance with several organization.

The deal has been been negotiated and concluded at super speed. It is also linked to a helicopter accident — happened on 17 June — in which several senior MBNA executives, including chief executive Bruce Hammonds were travelling. They escaped the crash that landed them in New York’s East River, apparently while returning from negotiations for a possible acquistion of the company by Wachovia Corporation. The publicity of too many senior officials of the company travelling together and the subsequent rejection of the offer by Wachovia’s board had put MBNA officers in an unpleasant situation. The deal with Bank of America was worked out against this background and Hammonds approached the bank on 22 June and the deal was through on 30 June.

Post-acquistion, the bank said, 55 per cent of its earnings will be from global consumer and small business banking, 17 per cent from global business and financial services, 11 per cent from global capital markets and investment banking and 10 per cent from global wealth and investment management.

The bank had earlier this month announced a $3bn investment in the equity of China Construction Bank.

Recently, JP Morgan Chase had bought BankOne for $59 billion and Wachovia Corporation acquired South Trust Corporation for $14 billion.