Handheld gaming devices are now terrorist weapons
Now I’ll need to build a steam powered gaming device for my trip to England. I was really looking forward to playing Al Qaeda’s Touch Terror and the Taliban’s Death to Americhat on my DS, too. Apparently, US Flights are also banning liquids. I think I’ll debate the flight attendant on how glass can be considered a liquid and therefore the windows must be removed until he decides to ignore me.
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If most gamers were nerds who got beaten up as kids, wouldn’t they want to play a game where you beat up bullies instead of a game where you are a bully? |
Kotaku talks to anti-bullying guy
In the interview, the anti-bully group guy says that some games shouldn’t be made. George Carlin has said that everything is open to humor and I completely agree with him, only I include more than humor. Everything should be open to every kind of creative art. If people don’t like Eat a Cheerleader’s Spleen 2 then they won’t buy it. And as Rule of the Rose will hopefully demonstrate, there are many unseemly topics that can be explored in a mature way.
I think part of the problem with games is that they’re too mainstream. Because Rockstar is enormous, everyone on the planet will be subjected to Bully ads. If games were more niche then we could use them to role play specific fantasies. Power trips, being popular, and all kinds of other games could allow adults to do in games what they dream about in real life. The religious right tries to convince us that having negative thoughts is immoral and your mind is always under surveillance but the truth is we all have twisted thoughts from time to time. Games can allow us to live out those thoughts and relieve stress.
Activision buys Red Octane for a shitload of money
They paid just under 100 million. It’s safe to assume the Heroes franchise isn’t going anywhere soon. Look forward to Blues Hero, Hip Hop Hero, Bach Hero and my favorite, Gregorian Chant Hero.
PS4 likely to not have a disc drive
New games to be delivered via a series of tubes, not a truck. That’s if the PS4 even has games. It’s possible that the system will be so far ahead of its time it will allow you to create spreadsheets in virtual reality. Who needs childish game systems when Sony has invented a multimedia computer?
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“I know, I’ll start my own political party!” |
Joe Lieberman loses because he sucks
Gamers often seem to see issues solely through the eyes of a gamer. Lieberman didn’t just dislike violent video games; he disliked many other types of violent or obscene media and has the PMRC decoder ring to prove it (he was a hidden member, secretly pulling the strings, or so I just made up). A Democrat who wants to limit freedom of speech on moral grounds is as contradictory as a Republican who wants to increase Welfare spending or a president who doesn’t base his foreign policy on the book of Revelations.
Probable Wii release date and price
The drama behind these revelations is not very interesting nor confirmed fact (maybe I’ll post some bullshit, pull it down, then say it was all true but I was forced to remove it), but the info itself is pretty titillating. $230 is $30 more than I wanted to spend. $230 for a Revolution is a great buy, but there’s no way a Wii is worth that much.
Sega compilation for the PS2 and PSP
Sega continues to pimp out its past with this 30 game collection. Will it live up to the Sega Smash Pack on the DC, the Sonic Mega Collection for the PS2, the Classics collection for the Sega CD, the Sonic Gems Collection for the Xbox, the commercial emulated Saturn games with GiriGiri, the Sega Ages ports for the Saturn, the Sega Ages remakes for the PS2, the Sonic Collection for the Saturn, the classics available on Gametap, the classics available on Xbox Arcade, or the classics available on the Wii?
EA guy blasts Sony’s PSP performance
EA has made dozens of bland generic games and been involved in at least one labor lawsuit. EA demanding Sony suck less is like Uwe boll ranting about how talentless Ed Wood was.
i was too young to actually remember the pmrc stuff going on, so most of my knowledge of the situation came from jello biafra’s (lead singer of the dead kennedys) spoken word albums. he defintely said that lieberman was part of the hearings, although i cant recall whether he was actually a part of the group. i absolutely agree that censorship is bad, but there is something to be said for keeping certain materials out of the hands of children. the problem arises when the largest retailer in the country refuses to carry music (or games)considered offensive and as a consequencec the art is changed or not even made. sticky situation. lieberman does suck though. and to prove it he’s running for senator of ct any way.
I get the weekly Gamesindustry.biz newsletter, and they mentioned something that no one seems to talk about anymore: adult games are for adults. Games like GTA and, I guess, Bully are made specifically for adults, and why deprive them of that kind of entertainment? I don’t think that every 20+ year-old would like to play a Babar or Puff the Magic Dragon game, just because some younger gamer may play an M-rated killfest. Then again, the Puff the Magic Dragon game does sound interesting…
I like Babar. Puff, not so much.
The sad truth is just saying “This game is rated M, its not for kids.” should be enough, but its not. Games still aren’t viewed in the same light as literature, or a rated R film, and even then, kdis still can get their mitts on it. Until that association is made, people are going to see “games for adults” as being “games for everyone”. Of course, it also doesn’t help when Rockstar, one of the biggest names in the industry, goes around hiding code in their games and then denies it exists (and then the ESA tries to dance around the subject). As long as “kids” are running the show, we may have to prepare for a whole lot of bullshit.