Posts tagged as Videogames
Again With The Pee Game
As far as occupational hazards go there are far worse ones than my personal burden of being the guy who sees a news item about a Sega videogame for the bathroom that is operated by the force of one's micturition and shaking his head in the knowledge that the story is over a year old. So I won't be so quick to dismiss it, especially when one of the games is described thus: READ MORE
The Only Corporate Release System Worse Than Book Publishing
"I am pretty disappointed in this beta. This book just isn't finished! Man, there was a part in Chapter 3 where every time I turned the page, it was the same page again, over and over and over… I kept having to start over from the beginning, nothing made any sense! The translation seems off, like they're having trouble getting the words right." READ MORE
I Am Waiting For Rockstar Games' "The Artist Is Present"
“You can actually make it to the front. I did it yesterday and it took 5 hours. But once you get to the front, you can stare into her eyes for as long as you want.” READ MORE
Play "David Cameron Gets Shirty: The Videogame"
"Text-based adventure games are often perceived as a pixelated debacle of trolls, orcs and wizards, testing the patience of the player as they travel down a road stolen from Tolkein’s imagination. However, a little known independent video games developer named Mark Richards, has reinvented the turn based genre by adding the raucous ruling of politics into the mix. He has reconstructed the parliamentary roleplaying that is the Prime Minister’s Questions, into a homemade pixelated game." READ MORE
How Not to Be a Publicist
"The Redner Group's official Twitter account posted something you almost never see: an open threat stating that outlets who reviewed Duke Nukem Forever poorly may not receive review copies of games in the future. Anyone who has done this job for any amount of time has suffered through a dry spell after giving a publisher a bad review, but this is the first time the threat of a blacklist has been made public." They've since apologized, but, yow. (via
Best Hype Award: The "Dead Island" Trailer
Deep Silver, the publishers-to-be of the videogame "Dead Island," claimed yesterday that they hadn't yet sold film rights to their as-of-yet unfinished and unreleased product, in development since basically forever, despite reports to the contrary. Here's a working theory about this unusual event (the "Dead Island" trailer: has like 2.5 million views, from the last five days): "My theory: Deep Silver knew Dead Island was in video game purgatory and they needed something to gauge the interest in it to determine if they should shelve it or issue yet another release date. So they came up with this bit of cinematic genius, something that would go viral and get people talking about their game again. Even if the family featured in the trailer has nothing to do with the game, even if the game is not quite ready for prime time. It was a bit of manipulative genius to put this out there, sort of like a girl who’s not quite sure she’s ready to date making a match.com profile to see if she can reel in anything worthy enough to make her try. The Dead Island trailer was bait. And we all took a bite."
GTA: Vice City, Duke Nukem 3D Certified Totally Rape-Free
"An editorial on Friday about the Supreme Court’s review of a California law barring the sale or rental of violent video games to minors incorrectly described the content of three games. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Postal 2, and Duke Nukem 3D graphically depict many repellent acts. They do not depict rape." READ MORE
New Abstinence Videogame Like 'Avatar,' But Without Tail-Knocking
A new videogame will help middle school students learn how to say no when sex pops up its head and rubs its firm, grasping hands up and down their bodies. Or something. I don't know. I thought videogames were already a good way of preventing sex.
Why Is Crime Down? Is It... Mario Brothers?
People are hot for The New Theories about violent videogames and violent popular art in relation to the crime rate. Already back in 2008, one study thought perhaps "violent films prevent violent crime by attracting would-be assailants and keeping them cloistered in darkened, alcohol-free environs." Now some are thinking much the same about Grand Theft Auto, et al. (Also probably Mario Brothers. Really do you know what the body count is in Mario, if you count Shellcreepers and Koopa Troopas and whatnot?) Still, the more popular view is still that the insanely high incarceration level is what keeps the current crime rate low-ish. But that sort of neglects the fact that a substantial number of people in American prisons (in state prisons, a full half) aren't actually violent criminals, right?
