This a scrape of news from the BBC website. Thought it mnight be interesting

"Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo are not doing enough to eliminate potentially harmful chemicals and metals from their games consoles, Greenpeace has said.

The body examined materials used inside the Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3), Microsoft Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii.

Greenpeace said that while all three machines complied with European laws, the consoles still contained harmful materials that "needed to be replaced".

Nintendo's environment policies were "non-existent", Greenpeace added.

"Nintendo doesn't have any environmental policies, " said Zeina Al-Hajj, Greenpeace's International Toxic Campaign co-ordinator.

"We were shocked with Nintendo; it was our biggest surprise."

Nintendo is ranked at the bottom of Greenpeace's global assessment of "green" technology companies.

"Recently they added a list of certain commitments they have, which purely comply with legislation," said Ms Al-Hajj.

The organisation has called on all technology firms to take immediate action to eliminate toxic chemicals from products.

The report found that the PS3 and 360 both contained "very high" levels of chemicals, called phthalates, which are used to "soften" flexible materials like wires and cable coatings.

They are not permitted in toys sold in Europe but under EU regulations games consoles are not ****d as toys.

Ms Al-Hajj said: "We see a gap there. For us this is still a toy.

"And whether or not it's a toy, we do not want these chemicals in our products."

The report found that all three consoles contained varying levels of the toxic element bromine, which is used as a flame retardant.

The presence of beryllium was found in both the PS3 and Xbox 360. The element is not banned under EU law but it has been linked to lung cancer when dust and fumes are created through some recycling processes.

A Nintendo spokesman told BBC News: "We fully comply with all the necessary EU Directives on the Restriction of Hazardous Substances aimed at environmental protection and consumer health and safety.

"Furthermore, in order to ensure our products are safe for use by young children we also take into consideration the standards applicable to toys."

According to the United Nations Environment Programme 50 tonnes of hazardous e-waste is generated every year.

Greenpeace said it was concerned that there was no "safe way" to dispose of old consoles and called on games console makers to introduce return and recycle policies.

A spokesman for Sony said the firm had joined with other companies, Braun, HP and Electrolux, to establish the European Recycling Platform.

Microsoft has committed to eliminating the use of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which includes phthalates, and brominated flame retardants (BFR) by 2010.

Nintendo has also committed to removing PVC from future products, but has not given a specific timeframe.

The Nintendo spokesman said: "We have endeavoured to eliminate the use of PVC by replacing it with other materials and other methods.

"However, we continue to use PVC in certain products such as AC adaptors, within the scope of regulations from the viewpoint of ensuring safety."

Greenpeace criticised Sony for failing to agree to eliminate PVC and BFR from its games consoles, while at the same time pledging their removal from its mobile products.

Ms Al-Hajj said: "Sony has a very good record in our ranking guide. They have committed to eliminating these chemicals from mobile devices.

"But why are we finding them in such high percentages in a console? This is a tool used by children in our homes.

"None of these chemicals exist in Sony's Vaio laptop. So if they can do it for a laptop, why can't they push this for the console also?"

A spokesman for Sony told BBC News that the company would eliminate PVC and BFR from all of its products "as and when we are satisfied that we can produce products of equal Sony quality in all regards using new alternative materials".

Ms Al-Hajj said the electronics industry needed take more responsibility.

"This is one of the most innovative industries we have on the planet.

"This is an industry that is changing our way of life and if it does not take these challenges upon themselves to be more green, we are going to be in deep trouble very, very soon.

"It is not enough just to comply with the law for such an industry."

She said the European Union's Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive was not strong enough.

"RoHS is not enough now to control the electronics industry.

"If they are pushed to putting the environment as the priority the electronics industries will come up with alternatives because they are technically capable."

No-one from Microsoft was available for comment on the findings of the Greenpeace report."

Hi. It's been a while since my last blog post. I hope all of you lovely people who are reading this blog post have had a wonderful time since. As for me I got a new job! That's why I've been too busy to check my blog or add new entries. Maybe the people who manage GS have the same problem too! I mean recently you hardly find anything new on the Gamespot. The game reviews come out one month after the release (or they don't come out at all! for example FIFA 08 for PC doesn't have a review). And the news are all the same boring stuff!

I'm an English Teacher now! I work in Kish Institute licensed by Cambridge University. Here's a summary of what I've been doing:

I upgraded my RAM to 3 GBs. I am a Vista Ultimate user now. I have changed from a ZoneAlarm Security Suite user to a Norton Internet Security one. My new semister at university has been awful! Because of my new job and the fact that I'm too busy to study properly (and the exams are close!). I have been a successful teacher until now. I played lots of new games like Crysis, Gears of War and Guitar Hero 3. I'm trying to get used to all these busy activities! I miss the summer more than ever now, a summer that I will never ever experience again as an English teacher!!

btw, I'm at level 20 now! I don't know how I got there (!) since I didn't have much activity in GS lately!

Take care.

This year was absolutely my best summer ever. I will give it 4.5 out of 5! I would have given 5 if it wouldn't have become so boring in these last days. There were many great games that I played this summer, the best of which was Bioshock and then Dirt. I got my own Geforce 8800GTx early this summer and enjoyed a lot of stunning visual scenes in my games. it even made me play some of my old games in order to see how would they look like on the high setting. I also had got great results in the university and there was nothing to worry about. I went to a great trip this summer too which was so entertaining. I got my own job now.

I'm looking forward to my new semister in my university, all those great games that are release dated for the fall, improving my RAM! and enjoying some fall time.

to wrap it up, I will miss summer for sure, but I believe that although you have less free time to enjoy yourself in fall, but you will enjoy that free time more than you did in summer because you really need it. since you have all this free time in summer you just get overjoyed sometimes, which happened to me in the end and as a result I felt so bored!

how was your summer you guys?

no no no!

don't get me wrong! I didn't mean reading! I meant Reading (as in the topic!)! still baffled? Reading is a club in the premier league! you might have known that anyways! did I getcha??!!

Ok! here it goes:

1.they just care about the result not the game itself

2.they injure opponents key players

3.they get sent off only 37 seconds after playing!

4.they are so much lucky!

5.they even defend against a team that has no forward player!

man utd's draw really was frustrating! you're gonna get it Reading! SOON!

Hi everyone.

yesterday (July 20th) was my birthday. you can't believe it! I don't know how they obtained a copy but I got Harry potter and the Deathly Hollowes one day before it was even published as a birthday present!

you can't guess how long some friends can go to impress you. I'm officially 19 now. guess things are speeding up a little bit! there's a whole world that I might not to be a part of but I also have no choice to just quit! so I would go forward in the memory of the good old child and teenagehood days.

I also got my report from the university:

Analysis of The Islamic History : 20/20

Calculus 2 (General Mathematics 2) : 19/20

Metallogy : 19/20

Health and Fitness 2 (Basketball) : 18/20

Economics 1 : 16.5/20

Phisics 1 (Mechanic and Thermo-Dynamic) : 16/20

Static : 15/20

Phisic Labratory 1 : 14.5/20

as you can see, here in Iran, we have grades from 20. your exam has 20 marks which is consisted of the activity you had during the term and the final exam's result. I guess 17+ counts as A. So all my results are from 20. and you also must have noticed the impact that my grandmother's death had on some of my mark, specially the Phisics Labratory 1. the exam was conducted the same day as my grandmother's funeral!

That's the end of this post. Have a fun day all.

Hey you all. I just wanted to say that I've been promoted to Leader position in The Konami Union.

Since I have never been a leader before, I surely don't have enough experience for the job. Can anyone out there step up and help a friend in this?