The Wii is Personified by its Own Download Screen

I just wanted to point out that everything you need to know about the Wii, you can find out from its downloading progress bar. Look at it here, at 2:20 in the video. Rather than a percent completed bar or something, it's Mario constantly running forward, collecting coins and eventually breaking the blocks above him with every 1/3 of the download that is complete. Here's why this is all you need to know about the Wii:

1. It looks slick and cool, though it doesn't actually give you the information you need.
2. It has Mario, who is in nearly every game worth owning on the Wii, excluding Zelda, of course.

The Wii is just really cool and fun, but isn't actually as powerful or helpful, exactly. But still, that Mario nostalgia draws me in heavily along with plenty of other people, so I like this download indicator better despite how mostly unhelpful it is for showing, you know, how much of the thing you have downloaded so far.

The Case of The You Testament

Now, this is a site about controversial games, and if this game were mass-market at all, this would be huge news. The You Testament is a game in which you play as a lost-to-history thirteenth disciple of Jesus, and you can be anything from white male to black female. Jesus also teaches you about meditation, and harnessing the power of chakra. The game also apparently ends with you hanging on a cross for hours, waiting to die (I haven't been able to play it this far). Thankfully, the only people who know about the game are basically open-minded and fair about it.

The game is the final work of the independent solo game developer Mat Dickie, who has been creating games entirely on his own of fairly large scope for years. A quick look at his other games after playing The You Testament will show you that this game uses bits and pieces of all of his other games, including some really interesting wrestling sims. This does give an odd feel to The You Testament that you don't find often, because it is 3D and nearly polished enough to appear to be a well produced game, but certain elements appear weak because you are actually playing the design of one man. The eyes don't really look right, you'll find almost immediately, and Jerusalem is oddly chaotic and weird, but that makes sense when again you consider that one guy had to program the AI, graphics, sound, story, and everything else.

Anyway, it's really a very interesting look at the Jesus story from the perspective of another man at the time, and I'm very glad that there aren't legislators out there citing this as destructive to our children or anything. I'm just very glad this sort of thing exists in gaming and sad to see such a productive game designer quit his post.

Saturday Silliness: Pokemon: The Live Action Film

There are, in the works, approximately 280 movies based on video games in a permanently incomplete state right now. There's even one for The Sims, which is only slightly less silly than a Tetris movie, in my opinion. Anyway, it's time to cash in on the Pokemon franchise once again, but back to the original Red & Blue set, this time with live action and more star power than a barrel full of very important monkeys. The cast:

The role of Ash will be played by Ben Affleck. Ash is being reimagined in this film as someone much more like Ben Affleck.

Pikachu: Sean Connery. The movie begins with the regular "Pika, pika chu!" crap but near the beginning Meowth teaches Pikachu English for some reason. Hilarity ensues as Pikachu yells "I cannuh do it, cap'n!" in a Scottish accent.

Meowth: Christopher Walken. 'Nuff said.

Team Rocket: Donald Sutherland and uh... Meryl Streep.

Squirtle is to be played by Jack Black.

Here's a script excerpt:

Ash (Ben Affleck): Pikachu, you can't do this, you have to stay in the Pokeball!

Pikachu (Sean Connery, heavy Scottish accent): Pee-kah! Pee-kah Choo!

Ash: It's really not all that bad in there... I think.

Pikachu: Ah've had aboot enough a ya talkin', laddie! 'Ere's a li'l taste o' the lie'tnin fer ya!

That follows quite naturally from there. I may or may not post more film material on the site in the future.

Code of Honor 2 One of the 10 Worst Games of 2008, Thanks to Me

I reviewed the God-Awful game Code of Honor 2: Conspiracy Island for AceGamez a while back, and MTV Multiplayer posted Metacritic's top ten worst games of 2008 today. I am proud to say that my review was partially responsible for keeping Code of Honor 2 #8 on that top ten list! Here's my blurb on its Metacritic page:

"Code of Honor 2: Conspiracy Island is a game that simply won't appeal to anyone who knows what a real first person shooter experience is like. It isn't over the top or realistic, it isn't exciting or interesting, the story is awful and none of the technical details are even close to being up to scratch either. All it really has going for it is that it installs, you can play it, and, as far as I know, it won't plant a virus on your computer."

I think it's also the funniest review out of that list, which is a real marker of how good a review of a bad game is. You can read the full review here.

New Blog: Everything Wrong with Everything

I have a new blog I post to erratically, called Everything That's Wrong with Everything. There are two TWE (Things wrong with everything) so far, those being gift cards and P'zones. They're basically humorous anecdotes on really stupid things that have over-reaching ramifications for humanity's survival in the long run. You're welcome.

Letter to Roger Ebert

I sent a letter to Roger Ebert just now, in an attempt to start a dialogue on games as art. Enjoy:

I have been reading your thoughts on video games as an art medium recently. I want to bring the types of reviews you do to the gaming world, in an attempt to reduce the stigma they carry as childrens' toys, or at least not art. Still, you are convinced that games cannot be, or at least, aren't currently capable of being art.

First of all, Clive Barker's defense was weak. He suffers from a limited vision even within gaming, as he talks about games as though all of their narratives have to always branch, which is mostly a western point of view. Japanese games are more often entirely linear in their storylines, so that ruins the scope of many things he said about video games.

Anyway, that was more than a year ago, and I need to construct my own points here, you've already responded to his. You said recently that you thought video games were getting better, but still not capable of art. In my opinion, games actually have a natural advantage over other mediums in the art they can produce, though certainly they haven't produced art to the point of any other so far. Just as film can utilize text, photography, and music, video games can use all of the above including film.

One basic problem with these arguments about gaming as art, I think, is society isn't familiar enough with video games to understand the scope they cover. Some video games are like board games, while some are like books, and others almost nothing but music and visuals. Other video games are just "games" that don't try to pursue any narrative. In the film medium, the boundaries here are clearly understood, as commercials, TV shows, narrative feature films, and animated shorts are all basically considered different things. People don't immediately realize this distinction in games right now, because game magazines and award shows all cover all kinds of video games, from Cooking Mama and Bejeweled to Metal Gear Solid and Valkyria Chronicles. Distinctions in coverage tend to follow which console a game is on rather than any sort of genre or technique, which is rather arbitrary in one sense, but only meaningful from the consumer end.

I really think game criticism has to advance for games to at this point as well. The game companies won't care about writing and art design until somebody does. All gaming journalism is stuck in the "enthusiast" mode right now, and most reviews focus on gameplay and technical details over writing and art design. As long as Battlefield: Bad Company sells well and gets an 85 on Metacritic with such completely awful writing, why should companies hire better writers? The average age of gamers (at this point around 33) also needs to move up, which should happen if games can start to be considered a serious art medium.

Another quick point: Games also have the potential power of procedural rhetoric, which as far as I know was an idea first put into writing by Georgia Tech's Ian Bogost. Rather than arguing points with words, games can argue with numbers, basically, representing a real world system in an interactive way so people learn something. SimCity is a well-known example, though the recent editions of that series have abandoned all sense, resorting to a "have fun creating a city that looks cool" objective instead of showing people how a city must be run.

Okay, well, there's an awful lot to talk about on the topic, and I would be honored if you would reply to these considerations as jumbled and unedited they are. Thanks for reading.

Nathaniel Edwards
http://www.legalarcade.com
Location: Travelers Rest, SC

Call of Duty Multiplayer Game Ideas

Spliced from my own split-screen play with others, here is a list of potential ideas for makeshift Call of Duty: World at War (or technically COD4) multiplayer games.

• Suicide Bomber - Despite its controversial name, this doesn't have a lot to do with suicide bombing exactly. The rules are: no shooting, no secondary grenades, no knifing, and you can't let go of any frag grenades you pull out. The entire point is to kill your opponents by pulling out a grenade and being near them when it explodes. This leads to several interesting situations, as an attacked player is safe as long as they don't pull out a grenade, because they can sprint. If they pull out their grenade second, however, it becomes almost impossible for them to get away.
• Sniper Duel - Fairly straightforward, not an incredibly creative idea. Just only use sniper rifles with no frag grenades or pistols allowed.
• Group Hug - Nobody do any killing at all. Why don't we just put the guns away and give peace a chance? Rated T for Teen for mild lyrics. First one to kill anybody gets several damning books and blog posts written about them by all the other players as they get slaughtered over and over.
  

Alright, forget it, I had basically the one good idea with the Suicide Bomber mode. Try it, and you'll realize all sorts of funny situations pop up. Also, an optional rule for that mode for split-screen games, partially to discourage screen watching in general: Whenever someone yells "Compare Maps!" everyone press Up on the D-pad to show their map position for a moment. Don't overuse it.

Into Twitter I Go

Okay, I've hopped on the bandwagon of Twitter. (Just to be clear, I knew about it before you, I was just too... uh... cool to use it). That page will show where I'm being published when, along with some extra thoughts when I feel like it.

Play This Thing.com

PlayThisThing.com gave me a good link to my recent Oiligarchy review, so I'd like to return the favor here. They have a fairly brilliant site for anyone looking for artistic, well-done flash games and tabletop RPGs. Their reviews are terrific and there is no better place for bored browsing for some amazingly good freeware and shareware games. They recently inspired me to revisit text adventures after I played Lost Pig and Place Under Ground. Anyway, visit that site for a constant stream of brilliant games and genuinely helpful reviews.

Controversial Classics: Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3

Well, the big release season is basically over this year. Sure, there's still Prince of Persia, but that's about it until 2009, and I don't think it's going to garner a whole lot of controversy just because it says "fer-tile" a lot. That's why I'm going to look at some older games that may have been overlooked by the media watchdogs in the past. These are some sleeper controversies, starting with Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3.

So, it's a JRPG. There are also some little Japanese dating game elements, but nothing nearly as naughty as some awful ones that are out there. That's not the problem. The problem is, the protagonists are, at first blush, teens who gain powers when they shoot themselves in the head. Yeah. Let that sink in before I explain why that's, of course, not at all reasonable for me to say. Go ahead. I'll wait. Write a letter to your congressman demanding that it be banned. Say that it gives you points for committing suicide, and they'll jump on it. Do it.

The thing is, the "gun" they shoot themselves with is an "evoker". There are other, real guns inside the game as well, so the characters aren't actually shooting themselves, it just really looks like it. This GameTrailers video should show you what's going on at about 0:22. So yeah, it's kind of a bust. Of course, these "facts" here don't stop our politicians from saying that Grand Theft Auto gives you points for killing hookers and raping people, so I think this could really make it into the spotlight. That is, if it weren't more than a year old and not at all mainstream.

EDIT: Oh, and Persona 4 is out now. I can't believe I didn't realize that before I wrote this.

Oiligarchy: My Favorite Serious Game

I am in love with Oiligarchy, Molleindustria's latest "serious game" that puts the player in the role of an oil tycoon who, if successful, will somewhat indirectly destroy the world. Molleindustria's most famous game before this was the McDonald's Game which I thought was informative, but didn't function quite as well on the game side of things. I consider Oiligarchy to be the best mix of education and game I have ever seen, with many points to be learned and/or earned (a bit cheesy, I know).

So, you're an oil tycoon. At the start of the game in 1946 (each turn is a year) you have available to you a small strip of Texas, where you can search and mine for oil to your heart's content, no regulation. It's not too difficult to start turning a profit, but the world quickly starts to want more and more oil, forcing you to find new areas of the world to drill, baby, drill. Each other area in the game (Alaska, Nigeria, Venezuela, and Iraq) has its own problems that discourage drilling. To overcome most of those issues, you need to control the United States government.

Elections happen at the end of every decade. You are given a quick mini-game of sorts in which the "Donkey Party" races the "Elephant Party" to the presidency, with their popular support at the times and your money donations determining who will win. The parties have no actual difference inside the game, so you quickly figure out that party loyalty will get you absolutely nowhere. In fact, for real control and keeping down the growing environmentalist movement, you have to keep donating to the loser to some extent as well. Anyway, enough money for the winning party, and you'll receive access to the "secret room" below the Capitol Building that will allow you to pass special measures to help your own profits, like a whole event chain leading to the Gulf Wars.

A successful gamer will follow history exactly up to the present day. After that, oil peaks as supplies suddenly begin to dry up, and the game becomes much more satirical. Humongous catastrophes begin to strike the economy and the people start to reform absolutely everything in their lives in an attempt to get by, but if you successfully kept them hooked on oil and kept the government in your hands, then the game will (SPOILER ALERT) end with the Mutually Assured Destruction of the Earth over your oil. Other endings are possible if the gamer takes different approaches, but according to the victory matrix the game sets out, if you win, the world ends.

The game is very fun to play overall, even though it's (perhaps realistically) stupid-easy to turn a profit. Keeping the government in your control is a bit more difficult, especially as popular opinion becomes more and more skewed towards environmentalism, eventually leading them to vote out the incumbent party by huge margins over and over as they realize whichever president they elected was just as oiled as the last guy. Anyway, it's a brilliant game, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone. Experience it yourself.

The Interesting Case of Black College Football Experience

GamePolitics brought back to the fore an interesting case in the annals of controversial games today, Black College Football Experience. To quickly summarize, the game is a college football game featuring historically black conferences, but it also features rhythm game bits when the marching bands come on at halftime, even using the Rock Band drum kit. The game was previously published almost nowhere in 2007, but is apparently nearing an Xbox 360 release.

From knowing as little as we do about the game, it can be easy to think "Why do black people need their own game?" as many commenters have said. I felt this way at first, but this is a game featuring the region's historically black conferences of colleges that were established to fix education inequality between the races. Highlighting a specific region of football isn't objectionable, but the game also has "Black" right there in the title, which does come off as fairly exclusive.

Also, this game isn't just about the football. The much larger emphasis on marching bands and dancing gives a different cultural perspective that is welcome, I think. The point is, this isn't taking the white/Hispanic/Asian/anybody else out of normal college football and making a game out of it. This is highlighting a real world slice of college football that is majority black and has some different features, like more prominent and active marching bands.

Still, this is an interesting case for people to look at, and comment wars seem to happen on every site the game is mentioned on. For more details on the game, here's their site.

Call of Duty: World at War Veteran Difficulty Guide

Well, since I've been taking a while off from writing to get the Platinum trophy on Call of Duty: World at War, I thought I should at least try to give back by writing a collection of observations and tips for tackling the dreaded Veteran difficulty. Here they are, in no particular order.

1. You will be spammed with grenades, constantly. You will have to know when you should attempt to run over and throw a grenade back, and when to simply run away. The number of grenades on top of you will eventually become sadly comedic, as they completely surround you and still challenge you to try and survive. This is especially true when you hide behind cover to try and heal.

2. Veteran difficulty is all about sprinting and going prone behind cover. If you aren't behind cover, you get about three seconds to get that way before you get shot and killed.

3. Unfortunately, several parts of the game require you to move ahead before they stop generating more and more enemies. You'll run yourself out of ammo if you stay at a safe spot in these occasions, and you just have to notice this and run forwards at some point. This is probably even more frustrating than the grenades.

4. In other cases, moving forward may not be necessary, but can still be very helpful, as your allies tend to follow and clean up everything that's behind you. Sometimes a good strategy is to charge forward to any safe spot you can find just behind enemy lines so that your allies can do the hard work for you.

5. When you're an American, smoke grenades are your friend. They can help a ton with points where you have to charge forward. You really miss the smoke grenades when you get to a Russian level, because the Molotov Cocktails just aren't that good of a replacement.

6. You should know this, but clearly enemy weapons are much easier to find ammo for, even if they're not quite as good as guns.

7. If you're looking for the "Throw a Six and a Half" trophy which requires that you beat a level on Hardened or Veteran without dying, do it on Black Cats. It's so much easier than any of the others, if you just focus on destroying the PT boats and you don't worry about picking up survivors.

Call of Duty: World at War Trophy Guide

Here's guide on how to reach that platinum trophy for Call of Duty 5. This is technically for the PS3 version, which is what I have.

Call of Duty 5 Trophy List - technically from www.ps3trophies.co.uk
All of the first trophies (1-15) are about beating the specific levels on Veteran, the highest difficulty. You'll need a walkthrough for that, there isn't enough space here to help you on those.

1	Get Your Hands Dirty
	Complete 'Semper Fi' on Veteran difficulty. (Solo only)
2	Bloody Peleliu
	Complete 'Little Resistance' on Veteran difficulty. (Solo only)
3	The Sword Is Broken
	Complete 'Hard Landing' on Veteran difficulty. (Solo only)
4	Architect
	Complete 'Vendetta' on Veteran difficulty. (Solo only)
5	The Hammer Strikes
	Complete 'Their Land, Their Blood' on Veteran difficulty. (Solo only)
6	Scorched Earth
	Complete 'Burn 'em Out' on Veteran difficulty. (Solo only)
7	Fearless
	Complete 'Relentless' on Veteran difficulty. (Solo only)
8	Hell on Wheels
	Complete 'Blood and Iron' on Veteran difficulty. (Solo only)
9	No Return
	Complete 'Ring of Steel' on Veteran difficulty. (Solo only)
10	When It Rains, It Pours
	Complete 'Eviction' on Veteran difficulty. (Solo only)
11	One Bad Gato
	Complete 'Blackcats' on Veteran difficulty. (Solo only)
12	Blowtorch and Corkscrew
	Complete 'Blowtorch and Corkscrew' on Veteran difficulty. (Solo only)
13	The Sun Sets
	Complete 'Breaking Point' on Veteran difficulty. (Solo only)
14	For the Motherland
	Complete 'Heart of the Reich' on Veteran difficulty. (Solo only)
15	Bearing the Burden
	Complete 'Downfall' on Veteran difficulty. (Solo only)
16	Carlsons Raiders
	Complete 'Semper Fi' on any difficulty. (Solo only) Simple.
17	Stormed Peleliu
	Establish a beachhead at Peleliu Island on any difficulty. (Solo only) Surely, you can beat the game, at least.
18	The Last Stand
	Survive the conflict in Okinawa on any difficulty. (Solo only) Surely, you can beat the game, at least.
19	Stabbed in the Heart
	Complete all missions on the Eastern Front on any difficulty. (Solo only) Surely, you can beat the game, at least.
20	Hardened War Hero
	Complete the game on Hardened or Veteran difficulty. (Solo only) Complete every mission, in any order, on one of the difficulties. Clearly, you should be working on Veteran for all the other trophies above, so use that one.
21	War Hero
	Complete the game on any difficulty. (Solo only) Surely, you can beat the game, at least.
22	Saved Private Ryan
	Save the soldier before he burns to death. Shoot or melee the burning Japanese soldier in the first level when he charges Private Ryan. Shouldn't be a real problem.
23	Weapon of Mass Destruction
	Radio in a naval bombardment that kills at least 4 Japanese soldiers. You get the bombardment option in the next level, but I've had a lot of trouble actually getting this one to trigger.
24	The Professional
	Shoot all of Amsel's henchmen, including their attack dog, without reloading. (Solo only) Once you realize that you can kill two guards with one bullet if they are behind one another, this is fairly easy. Shoot the right pair, the middle pair, and the left pair (two bullets for them), then a guard will come out. Don't shoot him until his dog comes out and sticks its nose behind his left leg, when you can get both of them at once.
25	Gunslinger
	Assassinate General Amsel with a pistol shot. (Solo only) There is a YouTube video out there that shows how you can blow up a truck to kill Amsel with a pistol.
26	Lights Out!
	In 'Black Cats', blast out all of the spot lights in the Japanese cargo convoy. (Solo only) The spot lights are at both ends of the three ships. Just shoot them.
27	Rough Economy
	Kill 3 enemies with a single round. Can happen at any time, but is most easy on the first Russian level when you have a sniper rifle.
28	Guardian Angel
	In the final battle for Okinawa, save Sergeant Roebuck. When Roebuck and Polonsky go to negotiate with the "surrendering" Japanese, watch the two Japanese soldiers near Roebuck. When the grenade goes off near Polonsky, shoot the two soldiers to save Roebuck, which somehow means Polonsky dies instead.
29	Close Shave
	Survive a banzai attack. (Solo only) Let a banzai charger get to you, and you'll get the animation where he is about to bayonet you. Press R3 at basically any time to survive it.
30	Snake in the Grass
	Take out a Japanese soldier lying in wait in the grass. In several levels, soldiers are hiding in the grass waiting to attack you. You'll just have to realize in one playthrough where those surprise attacks are and shoot them before they pop out next time.
31	Grave Robber
	Collect all Death Cards in the game. (Solo only) Here's a link.
32	No Safe Place
	Burn an enemy out of a tree with the flamethrower in 'Hard Landing'. There are lots of trees with soldiers in them where all the soldiers pop out of the grass later in the level. They're fairly close to the ground, so just burn 'em out.
33	Throw a Six and a Half
	On Hardened or Veteran difficulty, complete a level without dying. (Solo only) This is easiest on Black Cats, if you just make sure you shoot the PT boats before doing anything else.
34	Purple Heart
	When staring into the face of adversity, show courage and persevere. Die. A lot. You'll likely earn it at some point while trying to complete the game on Veteran.
35	Firestarter
	Complete a level using only the flamethrower. Melee, grenades & explosives are OK. Burn 'em Out works pretty well for this on an easy difficulty. Just abstain from using bullets, and your infinite ammo flamethrower will get you through.
36	Kamikaze
	Complete a level on Regular difficulty or higher using only melee or grenades. (Solo only) This is easiest on the first level, Semper Fi. Don't use bullets, and don't be afraid to hide when you're hurt.
37	Iron Fist
	Destroy all towers and bunkers in 'Blood and Iron'. Not too nuanced.
38	Ruthless
	Kill 15 enemies while mounted on a tank in 'Ring of Steel'. At the end of this level, tanks roll up to pursue the fleeing Germans. Go up to one and hold Square to get on the machine gun on top, with which you can easily gun down 15 of them.
39	Mortar-dom
	Kill 8 Japanese with thrown mortars in 'Breaking Point. If you find the mortars, they're plenty destructive, so just use them and nothing else for a while until you get the trophy confirmation.
40	Shot in the Dark
	Kill 10 enemies while the lights are out in the subway in 'Eviction'. As the lights flicker out and your allies basically tell you to wait, start shooting the enemies, or even charging them for melee attacks if you're on an easy difficulty.
41	Sum of All Zeros
	Down 45 Japanese Zeros in 'Black Cats'. (Solo only) Difficult. Don't try to rescue survivors, and make sure you get a lot shot down in the initial crowd of them.
42	Blue Ribbon
	Complete a 4-player Competitive Co-Op match in 1st place. (Online co-op Only) No real advice here, except go on an easy difficulty and charge ahead of your friends.
43	Get Your Left Foot Wet
	Complete a match in Campaign Co-Op mode. (Online co-op only)
44	Get Your Right Foot Wet
	Complete a match in Competitive Co-Op mode. (Online co-op only)
45	Platinum
	Awarded when all other trophies have been unlocked.

Real World Cardboard Box Escape MGS-Style

In the gaming blog equivalent of soft news, apparently a Turkish prisoner escaped jail in a cardboard box, a la Solid Snake as pictured above. I'm guessing he wasn't just running around under the box, but Joystiq reports that he basically mailed himself out of prison in it. Then Joystiq go on to make jokes about other MGS oddities, like distracting soldiers with porno magazines. The internet is telling me that this is Turkish for Solid Snake: Katı Yılan

Fallout 3 Edited for Japan

We already found out earlier that Microsoft decided not to release Fallout 3 in India due to the two-headed cows, and today we find that the Japanese version was edited to get around other concerns with nukes. One of the first side quests in the game, in which the player decides either to disarm or blow up a dormant nuke in the middle of a city, was edited out over concerns given what happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II. Also, the mini nuke launcher in the game is not called a "Fat Man", as that was the name of the second nuke dropped on Japan. Heh, hmm...

Finally Got my Key to the City (GTA IV)

I finally received my Key to Liberty City, a nice little piece of gamer swag to show I completed Grand Theft Auto IV 100% in the first three weeks or so it was out. All that pigeon hunting was finally almost worth it. It is nice, though, really.

The Simpsons Negatively Mentions Video Games

I don't really want to be the Entertainment Police, but I should go ahead and mention that the latest episode of The Simpsons did present video games in a negative light, as I'm sure GamePolitics will point out in a day or two.

Bart was sitting in the back of the family car playing a Game Boy, the game being displayed as "Cereal Killer". It appears to be a first-person shooter where the player shoots several cereal mascots, like Cap'n Crunch and Toucan Sam. Homer later comments "Video games... Why this American generation will be the greatest ever..."

Just a bit insulting, I guess. Not a huge deal.

The Skeptic's Guide to Violent Video Game Studies

On BlogCritics, I published My "Skeptic's Guide to Violent Video Game Studies" today. Follow the link for my largest article in a long time.

Studying Studies: Violent Video Games Linked to Hostility Again

Yesterday, the Washington Post ran a story with the headline "Study Links Violent Video Games, Hostility", with the subtitle "Research in U.S., Japan Shows Aggression Increased for Months After Play". The only problem is, the news story is really weak on the details of how the study came to that finding. They mention in the body of the text that it was a group of three longitudinal studies over time, using kids from Japan and the United States. The study showed "an increased likelihood of getting into a fight at school or being identified by a teacher or peer as being physically agressive five to six months later in the same school year". The American children were from 9 to 12 and they lived in Minnesota.

First of all, 9 to 12 seems a bit young for what we should be looking for. Most of the concern about violent video games centers on real world violent crime, not little fights at school. Also, Mature-rated games aren't entirely prevalent at that age range, though they are likely more prevalent than we think.

Secondly, did all kinds of video games increase chances of aggressive behavior? Or just "violent" ones, which are defined by the study as "when one character harmed of killed another". This definition of violent obviously includes things considered very tame, like Kirby and Madden. Anyway, the rest of the article just says "we have conclusive evidence..." then goes on to say that certain important people now consider media violence a public health concern. They just pulled out their list of public health concerns, crossed out comic books and rock 'n' roll, then wrote video games right under there with no sense of irony at all.

So, we need more details. From what I've heard, that isn't conclusive evidence. Even if their study factored in previous aggression, kids who are more aggressive are more likely to play "violent" games. Also, violent crime in the United States has consistently gone down ever since video games became readily available for children. I'm not suggesting that video games cause less violence, but rather that there is little to no effect.

Don't Forget to Vote

LittleBigPlanet Has Instrumentalized the Controversial Song

I just picked up my copy of LittleBigPlanet, and I can confirm that the controversial song is still in there, but it would appear with the words cut out. I thought this might happen, because the singing is actually a rather short part of the song anyway, which has some really great instrumental bits in there.

Fallout 3 May be Banned in India Due to Post-Apocalyptic Cows

It was previously reported that Fallout 3 would not release in India (at least on the Xbox 360) due to cultural issues, but this may be the reason why. There are two-headed cows in the game (remember, it's post-nuclear) called "brahmin", which I believe approximates the name of one of the old Indian castes. I should be more clear, this isn't actually yet a ban, but so far Microsoft just said they weren't going to sell the game there. It may become a ban in the future.

Anyway, this sounds a lot like an April Fool's post I would make, seriously. People are so sensitive about media...

World of Goo Review

I recently wrote a review of World of Goo, Experimental Gameplay's maiden voyage into the world of retail games, for BlogCritics. Read it there, but here's the opening paragraph:

According to Metacritic, World of Goo is the greatest game of all time. It would be hard to argue that it truly comes close, but it's just extremely difficult to fault such a gem of a game for anything. The game came from Tower of Goo from the Experimental Gameplay Project, which cranked out game prototypes in just a week. In its fully realized form for the PC, Mac and Wii, the game is a wonderfully fun and slick puzzler that serves as a great example of an independent game.

Koran Passages in Music to Delay LittleBigPlanet

Perhaps the most anticipated game ever, LittleBigPlanet is going to be delayed some period of time because one of the songs contains passages from the Koran. Awful, awful news. I got to participate in the beta, and I and all of the reviews thus far can tell you that this game is going to be a huge deal. Sony is likely crapping their pants, to put it in the classiest way I can. This Kotaku post explains the situation the best from what I've read.

What can you do? Apparently, Muslims find singing the words of the Koran offensive, if I understand this correctly. Once Sony finds this out, they can't realistically just release the game and promise a patch, because anyone who isn't connected to the internet never receives that patch. I guess this is the only option this far down the road to release... They have to just re-manufacture all of the game discs with this minute change. Ugh...

Yeah, um, Disbarred.

Jack Thompson was finally and permanently disbarred yesterday. It's like there's no reason for this site to exist any more. Almost sad, really.

New Job: Blogcritics.org

Now that I'm back I guess I can take a break and write somewhere else again. I'm now going to write basically everything for blogcritics.org, which is obviously a lot more high-profile than what I've got going right here. Here's my profile page, so you can keep up with articles I write. My first article was Spore in Retrospect.

I've Been Gone for a While, But Hey, T-Shirts!

Yeah, I haven't written here for a while. I had, you know, stuff to do, sort of. Anyway, I'm now going to start putting some merchandise on Zazzle in case someone actually wants it. I've already posted a Legal Arcade shirt. So, buy it, if you'd like.

My New Column: Nate's Blank Slate

I've started up a column on playstationdirect.net called Nate's Blank Slate. My first post is here, and it's about the potential over-hype that could cause fallout with fans over LittleBigPlanet. I'll be putting down a new post there every Monday, so check it out.

PS3 Trophies Are Really Here

Super Stardust officially introduced the Playstation trophy system, but the combination of Uncharted and Pixeljunk Eden makes us now firmly in the era of PS3 trophies. I always had Uncharted, and I've purchased Eden, so both are competing with Civilization: Revolution and Metal Gear Online for my time. Rejoice Sonyites, we are all also now Achievement Whores!

Movies vs. Video Games: By the Genre

This post will discuss which medium has the expressive advantage in each common genre, movies or video games? I'm going to go by the genre, with possible other matchups in later posts.

Horror: Adv. to Video Games
In my opinion, video games have a slight advantage from the interactive nature of games. There is horror in asking "Why the hell are you goin' in there?" to characters in movies, but there is perhaps more horror when you know that you have to go in there, and you probably won't like what you find. Also, game cutscenes can use movie techniques to control where the camera can see if that's better. Oh, and in games you CAN actually die, while movies pretty much have to keep at least the main character alive.

Comedy: Adv. to Movies
Comedic timing is theoretically impossible during regular gameplay in a video game. Games can still use jokes and have funny cutscenes, but the expression is somewhat limited. The only redeeming factor is the extra hours of entertainment games give you and branching storypaths that can make a second time through better.

Action: Adv. to Video Games
Would you rather watch some badass cop on the edge shoot an explosive barrel between two terrorists that blows them up and directly into the dump next door, or would you rather be that badass cop? I think games win that one.

Documentary: Push
Right now, movies definitely win in the documentary category. However, games could make a better point by actually making a simulation of their situation and allowing players to simulate to better understand what's going on, sort of like Darfur is Dying.

Romance: Er... Movies
I'm just going to let movies have this one, both for balance and because I don't think Japanese dating sims really count.

Clearly, this blog has a bias, but I think I argue the points.

Universal Acclaim for Ping Pong RPG

A few days ago, I posted my rules for a Tabletop Tabletop Tennis RPG based around Penny Arcade's Paint the Line 2 series of webcomics. Today, I posted these rules to the Penny Arcade Forums (though likely in the wrong section) to "critical" acclaim. Here are some quotes on its reception in the forums:

"this... is... fucking... awesome. Seriously, dude who made this? Forget these other assholes. You you can keep on rockin' in the free world, this is some groovy shit you got going." - Rankenphile

"Holy hell. Keep on keepin' on, I will play the shit out of this game." - YaYa

"Wait, actually, yeah, this is pretty great." - Framling

"...I have to say that this is pretty fucking cool." - Insufficient Postage

"This is pretty fucking sweet. I have never played a tabletop card game, but I would play this." - Ten0101

Penny Arcade "Paint the Line 2" Tabletop RPG Rules

For those of you who have been following the Penny Arcade series involving an 80's Ping Pong tournament determining the fate of the world, I've devised a tabletop RPG as Tycho had wished for. The rules are pasted below, with changes to follow.

Rules for Nathaniel Edwards' Ping Pong tabletop RPG v. 0.5
A1. IntroductionB1. Game System OverviewB2. CardsC1. RPG ElementsC2. Player Experience SystemC3. Decks and Bonus Abilities
=================A1. Introduction==================
This game is a tabletop RPG version of table tennis or ping pong made for Penny Arcade's Paint the Line 2 series of comics. Strategy, player skill, and luck determine the results of ping pong matches. A detailed system of experience and leveling is being developed to facilitate repeat plays and customized player decks based on their skill.
The game relies on a simple system with 30 cards representing stroke possibilities, a d20 to determine stroke success, and a positioning score from 1 to 5. The game effectively resets between each point, with positioning restored and previous rolls playing no effect on the next shot. The system is described in detail below.
================B1. Game System=================
Each player will use their own deck of thirty cards representing their stroke repertoire. Each player will always have a hand of three cards, playing one for every stroke (except the serve) to determine what variety of shot they wish to attempt. The strokes in the current ruleset are speed drive, hook, smash, block, loop, and drop shot, and their effects will be described later. Both players begin every point with a positioning score of 5, which will be taken up and down by the effects of each shot type.
Each shot requires a d20 to determine its quality, using the following formula:
d20 roll X positioning score (1-5) - enemy's previous d20 roll (unmodified)
A combined result of less than 25 results in a miss, giving the point to the opposing player. Any unmodified 20 roll while a player has at least 3 positioning automatically wins the point, without any enemy opportunity to return.
On serves, there is no previous enemy die roll, giving serves a natural advantage, as they do in the real game.
Games are played first to eleven points, but a player must win by two, as the system works in real life since 2000. Serves alternate every two points, then every point once a player reaches eleven points but has yet to clinch the match.
==========B2. Cards===========
The cards' current effects (likely to change with more testing) are:
Speed *common card*: +1 to your positioning (always after the shot for you), -1 to your enemy's modified return attempt, -1 to your opponent's positioning (before their next roll)
Loop *fairly common*: +2 to your positioning, +1 to your enemy's return attempt, +4 to your next hit after this one (if it's in this point)
Hook *fairly common*: +1 to your positioning, -3 to your enemy's return attempt, -2 to your current hit attempt (difficult to hit correctly), -1 to your opponent's positioning
Block *common*: +1 to your positioning, +10 to your current hit attempt, +1 to your opponent's return attempt
Drop Shot *rare*: -3 to your current hit attempt, -3 to your opponent's positioning
Smash (exclamation points encouraged) *rare*: REQUIRES 5 positioning, -1 to your positioning (again, after this shot), -3 to your opponent's positioning (again, before their return), -10 to your opponent's return attempt
More shots may be added and those effects may be changed. A current suggested deck for a quick start is 8 speed, 8 block, 5 loop, 5 hook, 2 smash, and 2 drop shot. Actual player decks will be decided through the RPG system detailed below.
=================C1. RPG Elements==================
The currently unnamed Ping Pong RPG will use a currently untested leveling and experience system for unique games. All players theoretically begin with a deck full of Block cards, but diversify this 30 card deck through player creation and later experience points.
=============================C2. Player Experience System==============================
For now, player experience will be earned at 3 points for each win and 1 point for every loss in tournament games. Every 10 points will earn the player passage to their next level, which is required for some special abilities. Experience points can be redeemed (at no cost to level advancement) in changes to the deck and special abilities.
================================C3. Decks and Special Abilities=================================
Each player upon creation will be given ten experience points to immediately diversify their deck from the theoretical all-Block deck they begin with. The following values represent the EXP necessary to trade out any current deck card for a card with that shot on it.
Block: 0Speed: 1Loop: 2Hook: 3Drop Shot: 4Smash: 5
Thus, upon player creation, a player may trade out for 2 Smash cards or 3 Hooks or 10 Speed Drives or any combination of those shots fitting under ten EXP. Any later EXP can be utilized between matches for deck changes in the same fashion.
As for special abilities, these are costlier and often wackier modifications to a player to give a very special bonus in all matches. These are meant to be earned primarily after a player has solidified their deck how they wish, but can be bought at any time if their level threshold is passed. Special abilities are also automatically put on special characters (i.e. Tycho, Siberian girl) to give them a unique... er... taste. Here are the player-characters' possible abilites (again, subject to change or be added to):
Incredible Quickness (Level 2): This player begins every point with a second layer of five positioning, allowing them to lose one with no effect. - 15 points


Yeah, that looks somewhat retarded right now without new formatting from the notepad version. I'll get to work on it at some point.

Jack Thompson Gets Freedom Award

Provo, Utah has given Jack Thompson, best known for his anti-GTA lawyering, a Freedom Award. It's a different definition of freedom, alright. Even when he's disbarred and forbidden from practicing law in his home state for a decade, he's a hero of conservatives, apparently. Follow the link for a complete story, or at least a link to a complete story.

YetAnotherReviewSite.co.uk

I've started writing all my reviews for www.yetanotherreviewsite.co.uk, so anyone interested in reading my reviews should head straight over there right now. So far, you can find my Puzzle Quest, Political Machine 2008, and Metal Gear Solid 4 reviews on there. Check it out.

My DMC 4 Walkthrough Published

Here it is. I know you don't care, but I do. I'm too busy with Metal Gear Solid 4 to post anything interesting.

Review: Puzzle Quest

I've been stuck at the beach for a week, leaving me unable to play Metal Gear Solid 4, so I decided to play an old game for my PSP while I was here. The game I picked up was Puzzle Quest, which gained a lot of popularity from Penny Arcade's Tycho's recommendation of the PC demo when it came out. Otherwise, the game is so awfully marketed that it's incredible anyone ever played it. Even the title immediately makes it sound just awful, guaranteeing that no one would ever enter a game store and buy it unless they already knew about it. Even inside the game, it just looks like you'd be embarassed playing it. Despite all that, it somehow manages to be just fun enough as a game.

Puzzle Quest (for the DS, PSP, and also at some point it came out for the XBLA, PC, Wii, and PS2) casts you as a fairly generic hero (you pick your picture, name, and class) in a fantasy world that is facing an odd resurgence of evil. The story is advanced through text bubble conversations between your character and others, with no voice acting, and a single expression that tends to look comically inappropriate the majority of the time. Your character must quest against lots of orcs, undead, rats, and whatever else. However, you don't fight through an RPG engine or with real combat, but instead with special Bejewled-style puzzles. Matching sets of three or more skulls cause direct damage, while other objects give you gold, experience, or mana for spells. These spells allow you to actually take advantage of your enemy beyond the mostly luck-based regular puzzle, which means you can actually come up with some fairly interesting strategies for taking it to those ogres. Like the rest of the game, this may all sound like a really bad idea, but it magically just works.

The interesting combination of spell strategies with Bejewled gameplay actually makes for an interesting take on combat that will stay intersting, at least for several hours. I tended to get sick of it after about five separate combats, which is pretty much exactly the amount of time I want to play the PSP anyway. I would still be interested and ready to play again after a few hours, making for a good general gameplay experience. Though enemies have different abilities that will make combats somewhat unique, you still will tend to repeat the same offensive strategies against them, meaning you'll want to turn to the mini-games for some variety. After earning a bit of gold from combat and quests, you can unlock the ability to play mini-games (all still based on the tile-switching puzzle system) to get new spells and mounts. These are fairly welcome, but the fact that you're still only playing a slightly modified form of the same puzzle system means they aren't totally refreshing. Gold from combats also allows you to get new equipment, giving you new abilities in combat, which is also an interesting option to keep you playing.

It wasn't too long before I actually all the mini-games bought and what I thought was the perfect set of equipment for my character, meaning that the gold I earned from then on didn't interest me very much even though I wasn't even halfway through the story. This was somewhat disappointing, but goes to show that the hours of gameplay to actually beat the story are very satisfying if not too much.

In conclusion, Puzzle Quest is a seemingly horrible idea with an awful marketing campaign that is fun to play. It's right for everyone (well, not FPS enthusiasts) on some level, be it the RPG elements, Bejewled casual gameplay, or strategy. I've decided that my reviews shouldn't have scores or even letter grades given the recent controversy over them, so I'll stick with an Ebert & Roeper style recommendation. Thumbs up, I suppose.

Spore Creature Creator Impressions

Over the past two days I've been casually messing around with that new trial for the Spore Creature Creator. I enjoyed creating a few monsters and things, but got fairly tired of it after a while. One very important observation, though: Kids freaking love it. When I let kids play with the creature creator, they couldn't stop. It was infinite entertainment for all of them. Penny Arcade had a similar revelation yesterday as well. It's incredible just how fun and intuitive this is for kids, which has great promise. They even made me buy the full version of the Creature Creator for them. Very exciting.

There has been a huge marketing campaign for Spore come out of nowhere just recently, which is apparent if you check out YouTube or Wal-Mart or their masterful information releases to Joystiq that are spaced just right to keep everyone waiting every second until September 7th or whenever it will finally come out. I think this is guaranteed to be a huge hit that most actual gamers claim to hate because of the extreme hype.

While messing around with the Creature Creator, I did make an honest attempt at a few Mario characters. I had a go with a more impressionistic view of Birdo, but here's the YouTube video for my Koopa Troopa. At least that gives me a video upload that's not just a walkthrough for Echochrome.

My First Published Letter to the Editor (Escapist Magazine)

I wrote a letter to the editor at Escapist Magazine last week on a story about a game store owner of some sort and his problems dealing with parents and controversial games. He stated that "some games are lucky to get an M rating", which I thought showed that the ESRB ratings need a switch-around. There are basically no games in the United States that really would deserve AO, but anyone who doesn't understand the system perfectly (i.e., everyone) would think that games like GTA and the like must be upgraded to it. I proposed that the rating system move M up to where AO is now, and introduce a new name that might better indicate that the old M rating is the same as the movie R rating, and AO is like X or NC17. Even R-rated movies tend to be technically a bit dirtier than M-rated games, so, well, read the letter.

Distractions Upon Distractions As Another Walkthrough is Begun

Last time, when I began writing my Devil May Cry 4 walkthrough, I assumed I'd have less time to write online. Somehow, I wrote even more on those days then stopped writing after I finished it (it's currently awaiting quality-control review at Mahalo.com). Now I've begun a walkthrough for Folklore and started to read Ian Bogost's book Persuasive Games in the hope of finding more material to write about. Theoretically, all that combined with my upcoming week-long beach trip should make me write less here, but that will probably turn out to be exactly what doesn't happen. We'll see.

Video Game Reviewer Bias Sheet

I'd like to propose that all reviewers of video games keep a public record of their biases towards certain types and genres of video games. Video game publishers always complain whenever they get a review from someone who doesn't especially like their genre, so reviewers should just fill out a standard sheet with what genres they think they like the most. Here's the general format I've come up with:

1-10 scale with 10 most favorable towards that genre, 1 least, and 5 meaning that it is entirely dependent on the game and the reviewer doesn't feel any bias towards or against that genre. I've filled out my perceived biases for several genres here for an example.


Action-adventure: 5
Beat-em-up/hack 'n' slash: 4
Fighter: 3
FPS: 9
Third person shooter: 9
Adventure: 5
Simulation: 10
RPG: 7
MMORPG: 5
RTS: 8
TBS: 10
Rhythm: 6
Puzzle: 5
Sports: 6 (favorite sport may also be necessary)
Racing: 6
Pro-independent/anti-major game companies: 7

That would probably be the basis of a review bias sheet if one were to be created. I just think that would help assign the correct reviewers to their sort of games, and hopefully not exclude reviewers from reviewing all that they can anyway. I have a feeling this sort of thing exists where there are lots of reviewers anyway in a less formal way, because the magazines/websites still don't want the wrong reviewer for a game. A clear example of this is whenever Yahtzee Croshaw reviews anything that's not an FPS. Watch his review of any RPG and you'll see what I mean, then probably send him more hate mail.

Expressing My Impressions: Civilization and Battlefield Demos

This week, after a very slow Playstation Store update, I got access to the demos for Civilization: Revolution and Battlefield: Bad Company. These were two very big demos in the middle of nowhere, so I felt like talking about them. I've always been a big fan of the Civilization series, and Sid Meier is actually working on this one unlike the past few computer editions, so this is very exciting. I'm even listening to their podcast right now, so I'm rather giddy, you might say. In general, the deal with this game is that it's more compact and built ground-up for the consoles. The demo itself was just a tutorial, basically, but it did allow you to play the opening turns of a game as either Caesar or Cleopatra. The first sort of shocking moment for PC fans is when the advisor pops up on the screen and starts babbling in a sort of Simlish, which is immediately irritating, (especially when he's blocking the text you have to read) but eventually sort of becomes normal. I'm not sure whether that's a good thing or not. The Civiliopedia looks incredible this time around, with not just text entries but also pictures and videos for all kinds of subjects, showing off the added console power. The only other real difference I found so far was a much more interesting looking combat, with your little warriors sort of jumping around and not fighting so predictably.

Battlefield: Bad Company is, clearly, the next Battlefield game, but this edition appears to be ready to really feature a single player campaign and sort of interesting characters. Even in the online, this version is obviously going for a bit more of a sense of humor, with radio stations playing in vehicles. Similarly to Civilization, some of the quirky elements of this game immediately put me off, but I found them easier to take as time went on. The single player generally doesn't look great, and I found aiming difficult as is so often a problem in console shooters. For some reason, online play seemed just fine and natural enough. I only saw one real bug, when a blown up helicopter fell and balanced on its tip on the ground, but that's not game-breaking at all, and the multiplayer is fun enough to keep playing for a long time on its own. Both of these demos looked very promising for the summer game drought, I just wish the Playstation Network hadn't taken until 4 in the morning to put them up.

Jack Thompson Recommended to be Disbarred

I've been mostly avoiding coverage of Thompson's Florida Bar disciplinary hearing, because GamePolitics has me totally outclassed in their coverage, and there's not more I can add to it. Still, I want to just give them a quick link, as Thompson has been recommended by the Florida Bar to be disbarred (no longer allowed to practice lawyering in Florida, basically) for ten years before he can reapply to be an attorney.

See GamePolitics' coverage here.

It's Finally Over... Democratic Primaries '08

Legal Arcade Jumble of the Week #1

I've decided to start a precedent for gaming-themed jumbles. Why not? Here's my first Legal Arcade Jumble of the Week, presented in some just horrible looking handwriting when it's so zoomed in like this. Click the picture for a closer look if you need. A transcript follows.
Q: "What Gordon Freeman brought back from the party --- forever."
A: "_ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _"

Clues:
O T R S O E H - game genre
I A R T A L - gaming assassin
A D K R O
V C B I E R - GTA traitor

Two word jumbles are independent of one another, so letters above one word stay in that word, they don't all go together in one letter pool. Anyway, you take what you get in the first three jumbles and use the letters that end up in the spaces with circles in them to create a jumble for the answer. Email me (link on the sidebar) with the answer, and I'll... uh... Create a hall of fame or something.

Echochrome Review Diamante

There has been a lot of talk about corruption in video game reviews recently with Konami's reviewer contract for Metal Gear Solid 4. Let me just quickly say that this story falls into exaggeration too easily. Konami basically asked reviewers not to reveal story details, then slightly more controversially asked that they not talk about the mandatory install or cutscene lengths. That doesn't mean they sad no bad reviews at all, and reviewers didn't have to agree or anything, either. I'm not defending what they did, I'm just basically asking everyone to calm down. Anyway, I want in on this reviewing world, so here's a diamond poem review of Echochrome from last week when I was obsessed with it:

Echochrome

Creative Puzzler

Perception Is Reality

Calm Experience, Frustrating Hell

How Much Time?

Haunting Violins

8.5

Pros: Great idea for a puzzler, level-sharing and world leaderboards good use of network. Some will love the music.

Cons: No idea how much time is left, only one look to the game, some will hate the music.

Two thumbs up, because I have two thumbs all to myself.

Small Break to Write Walkthrough for DMC 4

Sorry, complete lack of loyal readers this site attracts, but I have to take a couple of days off to write a walkthrough for Devil May Cry 4 at Mahalo.com. I'll link to it once it has been completed, which should only be a few more days. I'll leave you with this Al Qaeda demonstration- no, sorry, that's a screenshot for Fallout 3.

Common Sense Media's Reply

I emailed Common Sense Media about their previous fearmongering, and here's what their likely automated response said:

Thank you very much for writing and sharing your concerns. Our mission is to give parents the information they need to make decisions about what media is right for their family. We do hope we can influence the choices kids make, and as an added precaution, we can raise awareness with parents and also within the industry. By raising awareness with parents, by reinforcing what an M-rating means, and by recommending that M-rating sales policies are enforced at stores, we felt we were helping to keep violent games from children. Our aim was to show that change can happen, if the conversation continues.

Again, thanks for writing. We appreciate your feedback.

Not especially enlightening, was it? Oh well.

Echochrome Video Walkthrough

Well, in my new-found discovery of recording video game play, I have now begun work on a new video walkthrough of my recent obsession, Echochrome. As of this posting, you can see both A and B courses solved fairly efficiently on my YouTube channel. I've got D nearly done (C is harder for some reason) and I'm going to keep adding to the walkthrough as days pass. Just trying to give back to the community...

New Legal Arcade YouTube Channel (also, free Echochrome puzzle)

I've started up a new YouTube channel for the Legal Arcade. Why not? Friend me or subscribe there if you happen to follow me on this site. At some point, I'm going to post a video of my custom Legal Arcade Echochrome puzzle there. If you'd like to get that Echochrome puzzle, tell me either here, there, or anywhere what your PS3 ID is, and I'll send it to you.

BBC Newsnight Sort Of Covers Positive Aspects of Gaming

The aforementioned BBC Newsnight did indeed happen, but it didn't focus on gaming as much as the ad suggested it would. The program explained the Flynn effect, describing the 14-point rise of childrens' IQ since 1950 (which doesn't totally mean gaming years) but they still had on Steven Johnson, author of Everything Bad is Good for You, and he named games like Civilization IV that help make "complex problem-solving fun" for this new generation. However, the program barely touched on gaming itself, only showing some footage of Battefield 2, which isn't necessarily the best example for what they're talking about. Oh well, it was still theoretically positive coverage for gamung.

BBC Newsnight To Cover Games' Effect On Learning

I've just seen an ad(vert) for tomorrow night's BBC (America) program(me) on the telly(vision) at 10 that will apparently cover video games' effect on learning. This is apparently going to frame them positively, though I'm not sure yet. The ad mentions children's rise in IQ over the years, and apparently gaming is part of the reason. Cool. I'm recording it and will report back after I've actually seen it.

Common Sense Media Scares Parents for Donations

I signed up with Common Sense Media a while back in hope of writing a few reviews and pointing out exactly how violent certain video games are so that parents can know without any sensationalism spliced in. This allowed me the privilege of receiving their newsletter, (which interestingly enough wound up right in my spam folder every time), which this morning gave me this (click the image for a size large enough to actually read):
This bit was followed immediately by a large "donate now" button, and an offer of "free" summer tips for media management that would come with your donation. A few things here: Number one, right at the top, is the claim that violent video games have been proven to make kids more aggressive. If you'll look at my earlier post here, you'll see that every result possible has come out of tests on kids' aggression with violent video games. There is absolutely no conclusion, so you can't claim anything.

Second, the claim that a donation to Common Sense Media could completely stop kids from buying violent video games, ever. Zero. Not even a flea market or an independent gaming store would ever sell an M-rated game to a minor, ever. Parental involvement couldn't possibly be the solution, but more money for Common Sense Media is. Also, I'm sure that adult gamers have had enough trouble buying games for themselves with Wal-Mart and Best Buy turning into complete Nazis over the age limit. Even when the buyer is old enough, just having a kid standing next to him can prevent the employee from selling the game.

Third, the awful fear-mongering the email uses for donations. Your children will be psychologically screwed up for life if you don't give us $25-$1000 today. That's the message coming across. Give us money or else kids can play Grand Theft Auto and they'll spend their entire lives having sex with prostitutes and then killing them afterwards. The email claims that "Grand Theft Auto promote[s] murder, sexual exploitation, and violence towards women." Anyone who has actually played the game will know that's not true. You don't "score points" for offing grandma and people of both genders in the game are equally repulsive, bad, and flawed people. The older generation is never going to understand video games if this crap is allowed to go on, so go ahead and take a little time to talk to Common Sense Media about this.

Because communication is the solution.

Museum of Virtual History: Las Meninas Play Wii Bowling

Item #2: Las Meninas Play Wii Bowling

As has been documented by the likes of Penny Arcade, the seventh generation console race has been characterized by a need to place one's console in the pole position as far as history is concerned. For this, Nintendo needed only to point out Diego Velazquez' Las Meninas Play Wii Bowling to immediately prove that the Wii had been enjoyed by people from a simpler time.

I Did It: GTA IV 100% Club

I successfully completed the Grand Theft Auto "Key to the City" challenge of getting the game 100% complete within the first three weeks of its release. Time remaining when I finished: around 55 minutes, so I shaved it pretty close. Anyway, I'm very excited and can't wait to see the key that Rockstar apparently will send you.

Museum of Virtual History: Starry Night After 4 Hours of GTA Pigeon-Hunting

This is a new series detailing recent gaming news through classic art. I'll try to keep the words to a minimum.

Item #1: Starry Night After 4 Hours of GTA Pigeon-Hunting

Police Brutality: the "Don't Taze Me, Bro" Game

Jason Rohrer recently wrote about his game project influenced by the famous "Don't Taze Me, Bro" YouTube video, and uh, event, at the Escapist. There you can download his simple game, which forces the player to take a stand against the police brutality rather than meekly sit around and watch it happen. Through shouting and blocking the police, the player can prevent the neutralized subjects from being carried out and win the game. This is a good example of a newsgame for you, though perhaps a bit late. Anyway, Jason tried to explore realms of possibility for standing up to such police brutality and actually making something happen.

I Have Now Beaten GTA IV

*Huge Spoiler Warning*


It was fun. Now I'm going to go get 100% done so I can get those keys to the city.

Grand Theft Auto IV Release Impressions

Yes, indeed this is a blog about controversial video games and none are more controversial than the Grand Theft Auto series. Obviously, you know that the fourth edition (that's not right, it's more like the sixth, seventh if you count London, disregarding the PSP games) was just released and that I have already played it through quite a bit. I'll get back to playing it shortly, but I needed to mention a passing few of the thousand political mentions the biggest video game release ever has gotten. (Just scroll down the main page at gamepolitics.com and you'll get far too many)

MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) has come out against the drunk driving in GTA IV. The producers had predicted that aspect of gameplay would come under fire, even though it really shouldn't. I've experienced the drunk driving once and it was so incredibly irritating (especially if cops chase you down for it) that every time since I just called a cab to get back home. Yep, I learned a lesson from Grand Theft Auto IV about drunk driving. Case closed, moving on.

Barack Obama casually mentioned GTA in a vaguely negative way that was pretty consistent with his past remarks that kids should study more and play less video games. Yawn, moving on.

Not too surprisingly, the mother of a slain NYPD policeman was fairly upset about Grand Theft Auto. The linked article there also mentions a man who says there are no consequences for a shootout in Grand Theft Auto, which is ludicrous, but at least not so bad as the dumb people who think you get points for stabbing old ladies.

Sorry, but that's quite enough of that right now. I've got to get back to playing this game and chances are that you do too. If you're curious, my PS3 ID is kingpenguin1029, in case you miraculously find me playing online multiplayer or want to friend me. Hasta luego.

Jack Thompson Letter to Take Two Chairman's Mom

Just read this letter Jack Thompson sent to Take Two chairman Strauss Zelnick's mom. Clearly, this is all in continued protest of Grand Theft Auto IV, but we'll all get tired of this sort of thing within the next week before it's finally released.

Afghanistan May Ban Video Games

In a rather long line of "via"s going through at least GamePolitics and Bloggey Kong, I've heard tell of a potential video game ban in Afghanistan through some new, very restrictive legislation. Among other things such as billiards, dancing women on the telly, and pigeon-flying, video games would be included among banned things in the new legislation. It's not... erm... good. But I'm no Islamic moralist, so that's just my opinion.

Completely unrelated: Richard Quest, that crazy preppy guy on CNN who always seems like he's got a natural high going? It wasn't natural!

Europa Universalis: Rome Released (For Real)

Despite my odd post-April Fool's Joke earlier, I have already downloaded and installed Europa Universalis: Rome to play later tonight. I plan to have a review here pretty quickly. I'm very excited to begin that tonight, as I've always been a fan of Paradox Interactive's grand strategy games. Not really a lot of news here, but be on the lookout for the first of a series of Legal Arcade reviews.

Paradox Announces New Project: Europa Universalis Mario

The players asked for it and Nintendo said yes, so Paradox Interactive has finally announced the next big project in their strategy wargaming series, Europa Universalis: Mario. Set in the Mushroom Kingdom, Mario and his various Yoshi and Toad-like troops will square off against the Koopa forces and a hidden locked Wario nation. Nintendo and Paradox together have announced that Mario is finally going to star in the absolute last genre of game he hasn't yet been in (talks with Microsoft over a Mario flight sim have recently broken down) and complete his conquest of the gaming culture. Clearly, that above won't be the real cover of the game but is just something I whipped together with the GIMP. Here, however, are some real screenshots of the game, which have apparently been kept secret all the way through its alpha stages, with a demo ready to come out in the early summer. You'll have to click them to get a really good look.


I'm personally very excited and I can't wait to get a better look at this. I don't typically divert my blog just to get worked up about a specific game, but this one looks terrific.