Kal Ort Por

Caught this over at Slate, definitely worth reading through.

As you’d probably expect from the reputation of the series, Grand Theft Auto IV includes—let’s quickly consult the label—blood, intense violence, partial nudity, strong language, strong sexual content, and use of drugs and alcohol. Yes, concerned teenage boys of America, if your parents are irresponsible enough to let you get your hands on this, you can still kill and maim and plunder and screw until your heart is full. But there’s a difference this time: The violence is no longer cartoonish. Shoot an innocent bystander, and you see his face contort in agony. He’ll clutch at the wound and begin to stagger away, desperately seeking safety. After just scratching the surface of the game—I played for part of a day; it could take 60 hours to complete the whole thing—I felt unnerved. What makes Grand Theft Auto IV so compelling is that, unlike so many video games, it made me reflect on all of the disturbing things I had done.

Read more at Slate

From WWdN: In Exile:

With GTA IV coming out tomorrow, the usual gang of idiots are up in arms about how this game will lead to the end of civilization as we know it, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria, etc. As I said in my PAX keynote, this sort of moralistic chest-thumping makes me a little stabby:

Whenever I hear [Hillary Clinton, Jack Thompson, etc.] pontificate about how dangerous and antisocial and devoid of redeeming qualities video games are, I get a little stabby, because these games we love to play are much, much more than the simplistic bloodbaths Mass Media likes to portray them as during May sweeps.

Just as the multiplayer games are social activities, so are the single-player games narrative works of art, and they should be treated that way.

The hysteria surrounding the release of GTA IV has officially crossed into the realm of the absurd as moralizing groups of busybodies lead (shockingly) by Fox News successfully forced the transit authorities in Chicago to pull GTA IV ads from their buses. In Miami, professional attention whore Jack Thompson forced the Miami-Dade transit authority to yank GTA IV ads from bus shelters.
Can I just take a moment and point out how insane this is? This type of hysterical overreaction to a video game is completely out of proportion to any alleged harm it could inflict on anyone, but is accepted because it is done, as it always is, in the name of protecting The Children.

Head over to WWdN and check it out.

I stumbled across this first in-game screenshot the other day, posted on Perpetual’s STO Dev-Blog. Honestly I will admit to being a bit confused. I thought this was going to be more of an “in-ship” almost Bridge Commander view/gameplay. Y’know, playing one specific role on a starship rather then being an over the ship commander like in Starfleet Command, or Star Trek Legacy. I honestly am not sure how excited I am about this title, in its current state. The concept of STO has alot of potential, but only if pursued properly.

Star Trek Online – Devlog

So the guys over at IGN AU (those lucky bastards) spent some time with the devs responsible for the upcoming Ghostbusters game. Reading over the article and looking at the beautiful, beautiful screenshots I can’t help but long for the days spent in my bedroom playing with my Firehouse Headquarters and Ecto1.

 This could either be amazingly epic, or insanely awful.  Not only are the visuals great, but the entire main cast have been brought on board to do the voices. I can’t help but get hyped up after reading the article. Do us all a favor and skip past the horrible fanfic begining though. *gag*

IGN AU Sneak Peak at Ghostbusters

I read this old post from Arcadian over at his blog today, and I couldn’t help but be floored by the pure truth of it:

 So there I was looking at this question posed to me in an AIM chat window, and I gave it some real thought this time. It was a question I’d answered about eleventy hundred times over, but never really offered any kind of solution. My responses were a collective, “I dunno how to fix it. I just know it are busted.” This time around, I passed on the question – only to have the same topic resurrect its dusty bones in yet another AIM session later that day, this time with a super important big wig developer – which I iterate only to make me sound important and well connected. Thank you very much.

The question was, in raw reiteration: what’s wrong with online games?

Well, the question itself is almost a self-addressed, stamped envelope of answer – if the question is posed as a defensive “prove something is wrong!” interrogative, then merely asking the question validates the asking of that question. I have no idea what I just wrote. Lets try a new paragraph, and see if I can make some sense to at least one of us.

By and large, online games are built upon a single common event: violence against others. They are computer programmed, digitally simulated, theatrically animated, interactive Three Stooges shorts. We pay up to twenty dollars a month to poke our fingers in each other’s eyes and race to be the first to the dessert cart where an endless spawn of custard pies just begs to be tossed. Before I give EA its next big project, lets get more focused: almost every successful (and unsuccessful) online game has been built on the fantasy setting of swords and armor and knights and hobgoblins – with portions of Barbie Malibu Dream Home thrown in to attract the females. But essentially, all we’re doing is playing Three Stooges Meet King Arthur an average of two weekends a month. So as much fun as swords and dragons and custard cream pies can be, and believe me if you haven’t tried that, you should – the question echoes back; why isn’t this fun? Its like, we have this recipe for a rip roaring casserole of good times with every fun ingredient known to culinary science – yet no matter how many times we whip up a fresh batch, it tastes like a cow’s hoof. Its like Peanut Butter and pickles. They’re both great snacks. They both taste great in a sandwich. So what is it about peanut butter and pickles that doesn’t let them get along at all? It defies logic.

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