Jack Thompson must have been partying when he heard this: the current Pope of the Catholic Church has condemned violent or sexually explicit games, marking them as “perversion” and “repulsive”.

Pope Benedict XVI did so as part of the annual papal message for World Communications Day, the theme of which was Children and the Media: A Challenge for Education. He talked about the media’s effect on children, as well as family values.

“Any trend to produce programs and products–including animated films and video games–which in the name of entertainment exalt violence and portray antisocial behavior or the trivialization of human sexuality is a perversion, all the more repulsive when these programs are directed at children and adolescents,” he said.

His entire address can be read in English online.

NCSoft has announced the ninth free expansion to the City of Heroes/Villains universe, introducing new features to the gameplay. Details:

Invention System (Heroes and Villains)
Using the highly anticipated Invention system, players acquire and collect valuable resources in the form of Salvage and Invention Recipes. These will be used together to invent powerful new enhancements, costume pieces, new powers, gadgets, and more. This creates a world of new possibilities, rewards and even greater character evolution!

Auction Houses (Heroes and Villains)
Where better to buy and sell all of these new items than in the new auction houses! Wentworth’s Fine Consignments have sprung up throughout Paragon City™ while the villains prefer to do their dark dealings alongside “black-market” trucks placed throughout the Rogue Isles™.

Statesman’s Task Force (Heroes only)
This high-level PvE content allows eight heroes to team up in order to face and defeat Paragon’s greatest enemies! Completing this difficult challenge results in some of the game’s rarest rewards!

New Hamidon Encounter (Heroes and Villains)
Not only do villains get their own end-game raid encounter with the “Hamidon,” but the new experience is also brought to the Heroes side where players must use new tactics to bring down one of the city’s greatest threats.

Here are three screenshots from the update, dubbed Issue 9: Breakthrough.

SCi Entertainment, through its financial report, has revealed that a sequel to Just Cause is in the works. The GTA-esque game that had players inciting a revolution to overthrow a President will be released on (now) current-gen platforms. No other details were revealed.

In related news, the company expects Just Cause to sell over one million units by the end of the current financial year.

An anonymous reader of Shacknews reported to the site that BioWare is working on a PS3 title. The RPG developer has supported the PC and Xbox so far, with Xbox 360 titles in the pipeline, and this would be the first time they will be developing for another console. This comes from BioWare co-CEO Dr. Ray Muzyka, who, as per the source, confirmed this to several people at the latest Video Games Live show in Edmonton, Canada.

What is BioWare’s official stance on this? “We haven’t officially announced support for the PS3, but stay tuned…”

Yeah, there you have it: BioWare is (un)officially onboard for PS3.

The studio that brought you the Sin franchise, and worked on Quake 4 and Alice, among others- Ritual Entertainment - has been acquired by MumboJumbo, a casual games maker. Though the acquisition may seem odd at first, the guys at MumboJumbo think otherwise: “The combination of Ritual’s high-end, multi-platform expertise and our own industry-leading publishing model will set the bar for quality and sophistication in casual games and create a major industry powerhouse.”

It is still unclear what Ritual’s future holds, but this GameDaily article paints a bleak future. The long-standing studio may have to drop the Sin franchise and work on casual games, if the quotes from MJ are followed through.

In a weirdly translated Russian press release, GFI Russia announced JAZZ: Hired Guns, a turn-based strategy game from the ashes of Jagged Alliance 3D. Scoop:

A vehement struggle between extremely well trained and equipped mercenary squads will sweep across Africa like a fire storm in the near future. Use all available methods to combat for power, and become a leader of the most powerful military group in the region.

More details and media can be found on the company’s website.

Love dressing up as your favorite videogame characters? You can put your dressing-up skills to test as Square Enix has announced an exclusive Cosplay competition to celebrate the release of Final Fantasy XII in PAL territories.

The competition will end on February 11, with competitors sending in emails with three photos of themselves in their favorite Final Fantasy XII costumes. Cosplayers wishing to play characters from other games in the franchise will not be eligible to enter the competition, though they are welcome to be part of the launch event.

Three grand prize winners will win a two night trip to London to showcase their costumes on stage at the official launch event in central London; they will also receive a Final Fantasy goodie bag. Further details can be found here.

Final Fantasy XII is already available in Japan and North America; it will launch in Europe and other PAL territories on February 23 for the PS2.

Sunflowers’ has mentioned on its site that it has ended its partnership with SEK, the studio behind ParaWorld. This post notes that though the game received positive feedback from the gaming community, sales was below expectation; it also notes that “there is no sequel planned for the moment, and the title will not transfer to any other platforms.”

It continues, stating that SEK has been shut down. However, the company is still evaluating the possibility of releasing the previously announced booster pack for ParaWorld.

The US Military has announced that America’s Army, the freeware FPS/recruiting tool, has registered over eight million user since its inception in 2002. More number dropping below:

This weekend, the America’s Army PC game passed the eight million mark for registered users. Debuting in July 2002, America’s Army has averaged nearly 150,000 new accounts per month and is an international success with registered players coming from over 60 different countries.

America’s Army registered players have logged over 3 billion player rounds and nearly 200 million player hours. Over 1,100 fan sites have registered to be listed on the game community website. From the United States to New Zealand, Greenland to Singapore, Latvia to Chile, 38 different countries around the world host almost 1,200 Honor servers. These honor servers track honor points that form the basis of America’s Army unique scoring and rewards system.

If you’ve been craving for more Wii, then you are in luck, because Nintendo has announced its Q1 2007 lineup for its latest console. There is no point in wasting time, so here’s the list:

Feb. 14 Wii Play with Wii Remote Nintendo
March 27 Disney’s Meet the Robinsons Buena Vista
March Bust-A-Move Bash Majesco
March Prince of Persia Rival Swords Ubisoft
March TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) Ubisoft
March Bionicle Heroes Eidos
March Blazing Angels Squadrons of WWII Ubisoft
Q1 Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 EA
Q1 SSX Blur EA
Q1 The Godfather Blackhand Edition EA
Q1 Medal of Honor Vanguard EA
Q1 Sonic and the Secret Rings Sega

This does not include the Virtual Console games that will be released during the time period.