The only alert I want is that there is finally an 18+ game rating in Australia.

Only kidding, I'm kinda on the fence on this idea. I'd like to know more about it.

008Zulu:
Pardon me gamer, Country X has just launched a nuclear strike against your country, one of their more powerful bombs will impact close to you. By the time you have finished reading this message the bomb will be so close you will not have time to do anything except soil yourself in fear. We apologise in advance of destroying your blissful ignorance of impending doom and ruining your gameplay. We thank you in advance for your forgivness and understanding.

This doomsday message has been brought to you by Doritos, for a more entertaining snack, try new Zombie Apocalypse flavour, so tasty it will make you think you are really eating brains!

You are my new favorite person ever. That was beautiful.

Why do they keep trying to interrupt my gameplay? I just want to play Borderlands, not be alerted of a tornado warning on the other side of the country. I just want to play Splinter Cell, not have big advertisements popping up all over the place. Leave us alone, please.

Treblaine:
Trust me people, this is bad. You don't want the government getting their head into this tech even for something as noble as warning of a disaster.

There are so many other ways that are more suited by their infrastructure and their user functionality. If games about terrorism like Modern Warfare 2 require are warning about something like terrorism, how long is it before some stuffy and out of touch politician or civil servant says "you can't have this in the game. I don't care if it's part of the experience, this is not a game any more, this is primarily a public broadcast system"

Resist this people. There are so many better methods like Twitter, mass email, even texting would be better and easier.

If it's done this way, BAD BAD BAD idea. But if they stay the hell out of our games and let Microsoft or Sony pass a message on, then we should be safe from censorship, right?

Its funny cause i thought about this alot, i thought, gee what if im playing xbox and then suddenly an earthquake hit and i died but if i was watching TV they would warn me to take cover...

Ftaghn_To_You_Too:

Treblaine:
Trust me people, this is bad. You don't want the government getting their head into this tech even for something as noble as warning of a disaster.

There are so many other ways that are more suited by their infrastructure and their user functionality. If games about terrorism like Modern Warfare 2 require are warning about something like terrorism, how long is it before some stuffy and out of touch politician or civil servant says "you can't have this in the game. I don't care if it's part of the experience, this is not a game any more, this is primarily a public broadcast system"

Resist this people. There are so many better methods like Twitter, mass email, even texting would be better and easier.

If it's done this way, BAD BAD BAD idea. But if they stay the hell out of our games and let Microsoft or Sony pass a message on, then we should be safe from censorship, right?

I wouldn't bet on it. Mention the "T-word" to politicians and they go NUTS! Conservative and even liberals all seem to do "whatever is necessary" which usually involves a massive over-reaction. I call it "24-syndrome".

This is the WORST medium to warn about terrorism, a medium that readily and creatively recreates fictional terrorism with increasing realism, but to mix that with warnings of real life terrorism which seems to be getting increasingly surreal in their boldness.

Look, if PS3 and 360 had a dedicated, obvious and explicitly SEPARATE news feed that could be for stuff like weather and traffic reports most of the time and disaster warning in an emergency... well great. That would work. But in-game integration is a foolish move and issues of government censorship are virtually guaranteed.

Maybe I should turn my plan for a huge Gamers Den into a Gamers nuclear bunker instead, then while the bombs fly I can sit in my room safely and play some Forza 3 without moving.

Good idea, but has the potential to get very annoying.

"There's a fire in Downtown New York! Roads in x district are closed."

What do I care? I'm sat in the outskirts of New York (or more accurately; I'm sat in the UK, but run with it) and do not intend to go downtown; I'm busy shooting people!

And there's the potential to cause needless panic too. If they send things to the wrong areas by accident.

But it could be very good. Of course, like others above the worst I will get in West Yorkshire is Flood Warnings, but I live in a top floor flat on a hill. Won't affect me much. :)

EDIT: Oh and for warnings of Terrorism... I just have images of a message appearing on screen "Terrorist alert!" and the gamer just going: "I know! I was in the middle of shooting them before you interupted!" and returning to the game without reading it. :P

Sunfirecross:
As a New Yorker I din find this very annoying to read.

Why? It could be an effective way of telling people about natural/human disasters. The less lives lost the better.

"Alright, I've almost beaten this game on the hardest difficulty. The last boss is almost dead, it's taken so long to get here. I just need to listen in to where he's hiding around so I can move my character in position to figh-

BLAAAAAAA... BLAAAAAA...

This has been an emergency broadcasting test. Thank you for your time.

BLAAAAAAA... BLAAAAAA....

- What do you mean I lost? But... that's not fair! The damn test interrupted me! No... no! NO!"

Vote no on proposition 'WTF', kids. Think of your gaming!

Wakefield:

Only kidding, I'm kinda on the fence on this idea. I'd like to know more about it.

I'm in the same boat, need to know more.

If its done right... yeah, couldn't keep a straight face saying that. The messages will be about as subtle as a 15kg ham to the side of your head. This whole idea has waste of time and money written all over it.

Greg Tito:

Is it just me, or was that a backhanded reproach of our hobby from a stuffy old politician? Perhaps I'm being sensitive.

That's just it though, we do spend alot of time on videogames, and just because we take our minds out of what's going on around us doesn't mean the world stops. I mean, the emergency broadcast system probably doesn't work all that well if your television is set to video or component so it makes sense to have a back-up plan.

It would be ironic if that happened.

Me: Ha! I just killed 15 people with a nuke!

*Warining* A bomb just went off in New York City. 15 dead.

Me:.......

Saucycardog:
It would be ironic if that happened.

Me: Ha! I just killed 15 people with a nuke!

*Warining* A bomb just went off in New York City. 15 dead.

Me:.......

..oh my.

If that happened to me, I couldn't help but feel proud =3

QUICK CALL IN A AC-130

*EERRR* *EEERR* *BEEEEEEEEEEEEP* This has beena test of the Emergency Alert System *EEERRR* *EEERRRR* *BEEEEEEEEEP*

And your dead

"Cool, some-one made an earthquake mod for MW2".......roof collapses.........

As long as it doesn't do a daily test I'd be fine.

Furburt:

Kollega:

Also, 2000 posts. Yay me, i guess.

Yay you indeed. Welcome to the club. We're better than those 3000 post fools.

Your words hurt me. ;_;

Seems like a pretty good idea to me :o

I could actually find this a bit useful. I don't watch TV often nor do I frequently listen to the radio. There are fires EVERY SUMMER where I live. And they've been getting closer and closer to my house each year. If no one else were around when one broke out that could threaten my life... I'd like to think I'd get a message about it while playing a game. Y'know... so I could flee and live. I kinda like living. It's all I'm good at.

Furburt:

Vanguard_Ex:

Your words hurt me. ;_;

Wow, that was a good while ago.

Actually, no it wasn't.

How did I possibly post this fast?! I'm a stone cold weirdo.

Because, not entirely unlike me, the only other thing you could be doing is sleeping, and that's no fun.

"WARNING!!! Local tornado alert for the entire Kansas area, please evacuate. More info at 1-800-555-4567."

Achievement Unlocked: Passing Wind "There's no place like home."

Not on my 360 they're not! Ha ha!

I'm not actually convinced this is a bad idea, and it certainly does present a vaiable solution to contacting people who might normally eschew other means of communication, especially if engaged fully in a game. I've known people turn phones off, disconnect computers, ignore mail. If the only way to break that bubble was to interrupt the game, I say it's a good idea.

I would hope it would only be used in emergencies though, hurricanes, earthquakes, terrorist attacks, rather than to inform people that there may be a gas leak a mile from where they live. (My university alerts system tells me when they're going to perform maintenance on the staff only computers on campus, despite the fact that I am a student off campus. It's just annoying when this pops up while I'm in the middle of a sentence in an essay.)