Round Up: Smith Leaves Sony, Xbox 360 BC, China Game Bans

Today's round up includes news of Sony's top PR executive leaving the company, an upcoming backwards compatibility update for the Xbox 360, and China banning four video games, as well as the latest GameSetWatch posts, product news, Serious Games Source news, and Gamasutra job postings. - Sony Computer Entertainment America's senior director of communications and brand development Molly Smith resigned from the company this week. While Sony has yet to release an official statement regarding Smith's departure, various news sources have linked her leaving to the recent shift in the SCEA marketing department, specifically concerning the hiring of former THQ executive Peter Dille in April as senior vice president of marketing. Smith had served as SCEA's central PR figure since 1994 and the launch of the original PlayStation. - Following statements made recently by Microsoft's Peter Moore regarding the possible end to further updates concerning backwards compatibility between the Xbox 360 and the original Xbox, a post on the Gamerscore Blog indicates that the team working on backwards compatibility for the Xbox 360 is currently in the testing phase of a new update that, when released, will add a dozen or so games to the current list of over 200 original Xbox titles. Additionally, echoing Moore's recent statements that indicated emulation of these games is “a very complicated thing,” the Gamerscore Blog notes: "Many games did unique things to take advantage of the processing power of the Xbox, and that makes it difficult to emulate, especially when we then have to make new code work with existing (and future) compatible titles." - According to ChinaTechNews, China's Ministry of Culture has decided to ban four computer games, including Blood Rayne II, Obscure, AV Mahjong, and Kong Bu Lao Long (Horrible Cage) for “containing pornographic imagery, gambling or violent content.” The report indicates that the country's Ministry of Culture is, "requiring the cultural departments at various provincial levels to ban the games in cooperation with the local public security departments, communications departments and departments of industry and commerce." - The latest updates on Gamasutra sister weblog GameSetWatch include a look at a contest by Retro Remakes to "make the best remake you possibly can" in three months, a look at a fascinating Japanese vampire dating sim, and the opportunity to win some choice Death Jr. swag if you enter a competition before Monday. - Also updated today: Serious Games Source news on Creative Learning Group's The Land of GY$T, a mysterious new serious games event hosted by UC Berkeley, and a new feature from Games for Health 2006 regarding exercising and video games, plus Gamasutra product news regarding Qualcomm's BREW gaming solution, and a new motion capture facility by Vicon and House of Moves, and the latest Gamasutra job postings, featuring openings from Alion Science and Technology, Backbone Entertainment, Electronic Arts, Groove Games, and Wagerworks.