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.

Chicago's Resurgent Video Game Industry on Time Out

My report on the Chicago game industry is online at Time Out Chicago now. Read about the companies that were (Midway, EA Chicago, Bungie) and the ones that are going to be (Wideload, Robomodo).

Red Dead Gets its Own Small Controversies

Two quick bits of news on Red Dead Redemption:

In a BBC interview, a Rockstar Games writer and voice actor named Lazlow Jones was asked this question:

Question: How do you feel about accusations that games such as yours are responsible for more violence among young people?

His answer: Our games are not designed for young people. If you're a parent and buy one of our games for your child you're a terrible parent. We design games for adults because we're adults. There's a lot of kids games out there that we're not interested in playing. Just like you enjoy watching movies and TV shows with adult themes and language and violence that's the kind of thing we seek to produce.

It's a pretty reasonable answer, but most gamers would have a little bit of trouble with how strongly he put it, especially the "terrible parent" line. A commenter on a Kotaku post about the story said exactly my first thought: "There goes some kid's dream of getting Rockstar Table Tennis."

A few days earlier, Red Dead Redemption was also accused of some rather old-fashioned prejudice for including the character pictured above, a town drunk named "Irish." An Irish Herald article on Red Dead pointed the stereotype out.

The article has several funny moments: The headline is "Irish 'drunk' sours launch of hit game," yet the article has all of three sentences on the actual character. Clearly, there's not a lot to talk about actually on-topic. The rest of the article breathlessly gives us details of how awesome and popular the game is, and why we should all go buy it right now. The game is "groundbreaking," "expected to sell four million copies this summer," "retail[ing] from €49.99 with enthusiastic gamers pre-booking their copies weeks ahead of the Irish launch tomorrow," with the "appeal [lying] in the huge detail." Very excitable for a news article on a controversy surrounding the game.

Red Dead Redemption and Rockstar's Reception

Only a few years ago, Rockstar Games just could not get a break. The "Grand Theft Auto" and "Manhunt" developers were firmly within politicians' radars, and it took serious effort for them to release a game without controversy being found within it.

For instance, in 2006, Rockstar developed four games: "Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition Remix," an expansion to a mostly harmless racing game, even if it is about illegal street racing; "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories," which received little attention because it was developed solely for the Playstation Portable and didn't try anything new; "Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis," which confused everybody; and "Bully," which applied the basic story and gameplay structure of "Grand Theft Auto" to a theoretically less offensive private school setting.


Despite "Bully" being at its heart a toned-down "GTA," it still received as much if not more scrutiny from the press, politicians, and in particular Jack Thompson. Universally, ratings groups considered the game appropriate for 15 or 16 year-olds, but British politicians fought bitterly to label it for 18 year-olds, Jack Thompson sued to have the game's release blocked in Florida because it was a "public nuisance," and Brazil banned the game altogether.

The game was relentlessly taken out of context, and it just kept snowballing. In the end, a game about slingshot-and-cherry-bomb schoolyard hijinks was said to include sexual harassment, homosexual content, an implicit approval of bullying, implicit approval of violence, and it was even called "a Columbine simulator." It was as if politicians just knew something must be wrong with the game's content, because Rockstar made it, but they couldn't figure out what to object to.

Contrast that with what I found in The New York Times this morning. The Arts section is dominated above-the-fold by a huge screenshot of "Red Dead Redemption," which more or less applies that same "GTA" formula to a western setting. Seth Schiesel gives the game a glowing review, ending his review by saying "In the more than 1,100 articles I have written for this newspaper since 1996, I have never before called anything a tour de force. Yet there is no more succinct and appropriate way to describe Red Dead Redemption. Rockstar rides again."

Whereas "Bully," working from a similar concept in 2006, was intensely scrutinized for controversial scenes to pick apart before it was ever released, leading to endless courtroom battles and debates by people who had never touched a controller, here we are in 2010 with The New York Times praising a Rockstar game's writing and ability to immerse the player in a different world. It's always nice to look back and see how far we've come.

The Arcade in Kabul, Afghanistan

This past week, the Christian Science Monitor published a very short, 300-word story on a generator-powered arcade in Kabul, and it has to be the most wistful, sad gaming news story I've ever read.

Despite its short length, the article has plenty of almost implausibly sad quotes to choose from. The first quote is from a 14-year-old, who says "We come here to play games and relax from street-begging." A boy who claimed not to know his own name says the arcade is full of "beautiful machines." Another boy says "I don't want this game to finish, I want to keep on playing forever."

The article still sticks in one little dig at gaming for being violent, though... The only specific game named in the article is Mortal Kombat, and in the next paragraph we can find the line "For a generation that knew only violence growing up, these aggressive games offer a logical continuation to lives lived in hardscrabble conditions." That line goes against the grain of the rest of the article in an odd way. It's not exactly a condemnation of violent entertainment, but in the middle of a thousand optimistic quotes about how glad everyone is that these kids aren't stealing money and sniffing glue, we get this one line that the games' violence fits in well with their violent surroundings. Really? Mortal Kombat fatalities = Real life Afghanistan violence?

Unimportant side note: The above picture is reportedly from the arcade, and unless I'm hallucinating, it appears to be a Mario game. I'm pretty certain there were never any official Mario arcade games, so what is this? Not too important, but does anyone have an answer for this?

Cub Scout Video Games Belt Loop

The Boy Scouts of America recently introduced a "Video Games" Belt Loop and Academic Pin that can be earned by those at the Cub Scout level. The requirements to earn it are pasted below the main story.

I'm an Eagle Scout, so I have a little bit of perspective here. First of all, this isn't a merit badge. Merit badges are more rigorous awards for Boy Scouts (middle and high-school kids) whereas this is a belt loop/academic pin, a non-essential award for Cub Scouts (elementary school kids). All belt loops and academic pins are extra recognition for activities not actually necessary to advance to the next rank. Other new belt loops included this year are "Reading and Writing," "Skateboarding," "Photography," and "Good Manners."

The award requirements below have a real emphasis on edutainment, understanding the ratings system, and basically every form of moderation one can have in video game play. One funny part: The 7th academic pin requirement asks that you play a video game that helps with your math, spelling, or any other part of your homework. Well, math and spelling are specifically the educational skills I think video games are worst at getting across, because they involve a lot more pure memorization and less understanding of a general system. History and science can actually use the procedural rhetoric of video games to be better than textbooks at educating, but that's for another article.

Belt Loop

Complete these three requirements:

1. Explain why it is important to have a rating system for video games. Check your video games to be sure they are right for your age.
2. With an adult, create a schedule for you to do things that includes your chores, homework, and video gaming. Do your best to follow this schedule.
3. Learn to play a new video game that is approved by your parent, guardian, or teacher.

Academics Pin

Earn the Video Games belt loop and complete five of the following requirements:

1. With your parents, create a plan to buy a video game that is right for your age group.
2. Compare two game systems (for example, Microsoft Xbox, Sony PlayStation, Nintendo Wii, and so on). Explain some of the differences between the two. List good reasons to purchase or use a game system.
3. Play a video game with family members in a family tournament.
4. Teach an adult or a friend how to play a video game.
5. List at least five tips that would help someone who was learning how to play your favorite video game.
6. Play an appropriate video game with a friend for one hour.
7. Play a video game that will help you practice your math, spelling, or another skill that helps you in your schoolwork.
8. Choose a game you might like to purchase. Compare the price for this game at three different stores. Decide which store has the best deal. In your decision, be sure to consider things like the store return policy and manufacturer’s warranty.
9. With an adult’s supervision, install a gaming system.

The History of the Madden Curse

It was recently announced that Drew Brees will be on the cover of "Madden 11," the next installment of the Madden NFL video game franchise. He was awarded the cover by fan vote, winning out over Reggie Wayne and Jared Allen online. Even in mainstream coverage of Brees' cover announcement, every story seemed to include a quick bit about the Madden Curse, and whether or not Brees was "worried." Brees was clearly aware of the phenomenon, saying he "[looked] at it as a challenge."

John Madden himself was on the cover of every Madden title until 1999. From every year there on out, a star player was put on the cover. Apparently nothing notable happened for the first few years, but here's a list skimmed from Wikipedia:

• Daunte Culpepper appeared on the cover of "Madden 2002" after leading the Vikings to the playoffs the previous year. He then proceeded to throw 23 interceptions and set a single-season record for fumbles, dooming the Vikings to a 5-11 record.
• Marshall Faulk appeared on "Madden 2003." The next year, he needed knee surgery and failed to really perform at the same level ever again.
• Michael Vick was on the cover of "Madden 2004." That year, he broke his leg in the preseason and the Falcons bombed. Needless to say, Vick would only go on to worse things.
• Ray Lewis was on "Madden 2005." He got a wrist injury and didn't get a single interception all year.
• Donovan McNabb was on "Madden 2006." That year, he had a hernia and tore his ACL.
• Shaun Alexander appeared on "Madden 2007." A foot injury took him out of six games that next year.
• Vince Young was on the cover of "Madden 2008." He suffered a knee injury and was replaced for a large part of the season by Kerry Collins.
• Brett Favre was on the cover of "Madden 2009," in what was originally seen as an effort not to curse any player that year. Favre had retired, but ended up coming back to play for the Vikings that year. He generally played well, but struggled through a bicep injury and had a disastrous last few games.
• Troy Polamalu and Larry Fitzgerald shared the "Madden 10" cover, in another attempt to switch up the cover design and avoid a curse. Polamalu was injured for all but about three games the next year. Larry Fitzgerald had an amazing year, but did miss out on the playoffs due to a ribs injury.
  

Not that I think this really needs debunking, but it should be pointed out that Sports Illustrated covers are also considered to have a jinx. Given that a similar status symbol within sports should have the same effect gives you a clue there's something else at work here besides a curse. Both "Madden" and SI covers are awarded to a player at the peak in his career, so any other season of theirs will look disappointing by comparison. It takes really special players to have a season worthy of landing the cover of "Madden" and keep up that legendary play the next year. Regression toward the mean, and all that. Still pretty fun to look at, though.