Educational Game Too Violent for Parents

In Albuquerque, New Mexico, a new video game used in schools to teach math has come under fire for being too "violent" for local parents. Local station KOAT Action 7 News had previously reported on the new math game after-school program, glowing with excitement over the technology. According to that report, kids were learning prime numbers! They never wanted to leave school! Fun and learning together, finally!

But the most recent report focuses on parent complaints about "violence." I've put "violence/violent" in quotes both times because the game seems to be almost entirely non-violent. From footage I've seen, it is a first-person shooter, but instead of shooting guns, kids are shooting abstract lasers at other abstract lasers with numbers over them. Also, the one parent the Action 7 News interviewed for the story really only complains that the game might make the children too addicted to video games, which doesn't have much to do with violence.

Both news spots are incredibly quick and lack almost any information, so it's hard to get a grasp on the situation. Presumably, this is a game that exists somewhere outside of Albuquerque, and I'd like to know what it's called so I can get a better look at the gameplay. In a way, this news encapsulates most controversial video game news: Excitement over amazing new technology followed by knee-jerk reaction by adults who have never played the game, and the knee-jerk reaction is always the better-publicized angle.


[via Kotaku]

Controversial Classics: "Postal 2"

Gary Coleman died last week, giving me a very thin excuse to talk about "Postal 2," in which you are able to kill Gary Coleman (who does contribute his own voice for the game). It's just one feature on an incredibly long laundry list of controversial elements you can find in-game. The game wasn't very widely released or critically acclaimed, but the controversy surrounding it has kept its name in the history books and even earned it a crappy Uwe Boll film adaptation. While it could possibly be defended for being a satire of game violence, the game is, on its face, likely the most immature entertainment you will ever endure.

"Postal 2" is the 2003 sequel to 1997's "Postal," which wasn't especially noteworthy. The game is a first-person shooter set in a suburban neighborhood. Your character must complete a list of mundane and not necessarily violent tasks each day, which will eventually be frustrated to the point that the player has to expend enormous effort not to "go postal." In order not to use violence, the player will have to sustain verbal abuse, wait in ludicrously long lines, and generally not have any fun at all playing.

The sheer amount of controversial material packed into the game is really too long to even recount. This gameplay video gives you a fair idea of what you're in store for, including the use of cats as gun silencers. Oh, and if you want to see a gamer suicide bomb Gary Coleman in-game, here it is. Pretty rough.