We got your princess right here.

Wednesday, November 24, 2004
 

News: Lieberman Gets Boobies Shown On C-SPAN. Good Job. Also, Top 10 Games "To Avoid"
Posted by Shocker :: 9:40 PM
Tits on C-SPAN. Primarily 90-year-old audience stunned.
No, you weren't hallucinating if you saw naked boobies on C-SPAN this evening while flipping channels (since it's unlikely you were actually sitting there watching it): uncensored, unpixelated clips from the M-rated "The Guy Game" and "Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude"were shown to a bored looking audience (including Senators Joe Lieberman and Herb Kohl) as part of a National Institure for Media and the Family briefing on its annual MediaWise Video Game Report Card.
(Full article with NSFW pics: Fleshbot.com)
Not really huge news, but a bit relevant considering the entire flap over titties that we've been going through this entire year. When 2004 goes into the books, it really will be "The year hooters destroyed society." There is a legitimate question of why this industry is so heavily regulated. I think it's because politicians, who are now pretty much the Vietnam era, see video gaming as primarily a children's hobby, something that people give up around age 18, and thus, concern and flap over violent video games like Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is justified. However, a casual google search reveals some startling facts that run contrary to that assessment. Firstly, the average age of gamer is nearly 30 years old ... Secondly, most games (85% of console games) are purchased by people over the age of 18 (Note that the ESRB's Mature rating only requires the purchaser to be over the age of 17, just as in movies). And perhaps most importantly, 92% of parents say that they monitor the content of the games their under-18-year-olds play. (source) This compares to 81% of movie-goers being over the age of 18 (actually, much much better) (source).


Are there bad games out there that kids shouldn't be playing? Absolutely. But there are bad movies, sitcoms, dramas, plays and events they probably shouldn't be watching either. That's the job of a parent. Parents don't complain when they take their child to a horrid movie, because they know if they do, the theater management will tell them they clearly knew what the rating was before they went into the movie. I haven't seen a single video game commercial that didn't give the rating of the game. The information is out there, people. Quit running to government to solve the problem of your own piss-poor parenting.

Now, if you are a parent who wants recommendations on which games his or her child should avoid, MediaFamily.org's report may be for you. I'm not arguing that there shouldn't be oversight. What I do object to is the belief that video games are somehow more insidious than movies or television.

I really do think that, in many cases, these sorts of lists are well-intentioned. Most of the games on that list (maybe not so much the Halo and Half-Life 2) are not age-appropriate for kids. Even though the games don't appear to be in any particular order (I think The Guy Game and the new Leisure Suit Larry game are games no one should play for a large variety of reasons...), they get the general idea right. There's just no way that a simple list of 10 can keep kids "safe". Is Psi-Ops any worse than, say, a Bloodrayne 2 or Chronicles of Riddick, or a Killzone? The only way to be safe is for parents to not rely on lists like this and be vigilant.

I will actually have a review of Rumble Roses up sometime later this week (That and MGS 3 and Capcom Fighting Evolution and other stuff). Stay tuned.


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Tuesday, November 23, 2004
 

News: Valve Suspends 20,000 Steam Accounts. Valve, Steam, Oh I see what they did there.
Posted by Chris :: 7:03 PM
(c/o Gamespot.com)

Developer stages mass bust of users attempting to 'illegally obtain' Half-Life 2, shoots down warez-trap rumors.

Last week, rumors circulated that Valve had released a fake key to Half-Life 2 to various "warez" sites in order to trap game pirates. Today on the forums of Steam, Valve's download service, the developer announced it had busted nearly 20,000 people who tried "to access Half-Life 2 without purchasing it."

As a result, the offenders have had their Steam accounts suspended indefinitely. Valve also warned that "Accounts also may be closed due to fraudulent activity in an attempt to obtain additional products for your Steam Account. This includes Credit Card fraud, theft of accounts you do not own and using cracked versions of Valve games."

Valve's statement was coy about how it caught the pirates. "The method used was extremely easy for Valve to trace and confirm," it read, "and so there is no question that the accounts disabled were used to try and illegally obtain Half-Life 2."

However, Valve was extremely clear about one thing--it did not create a special version of Half-Life 2 to bust pirates. "Valve did not put out any kind of fake key or fake warez or hack instructions to trap people," read the statement. "The hack came from the 'community' as do they all."


Well, if they want to start putting a stop to pirating games and "warez" this is a really good way to do it. I'm not opposed to piracy, as everyone knows, but I really like this method. Sure, people will find away around this eventually, other warez sites and what not, but this puts a small dent in the 'Ole Internet Piracy Thing, and that's a nice start. For te record, though, I've never downloaded a video game off the internet. My 56k would explode if I tried. I suck.

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News: As far as the DS is concerned...
Posted by Shocker :: 7:30 AM
To my knowledge, no one here at AC went out and got a DS at launch. For that matter, I don't know if any of us are actively pursuing one. I can't speak for my colleagues, but I will give you my opinion on it:

Before I saw a video Matt showed me, I thought this was a disastrous idea. I personally don't really use handhelds that much, but even beyond that, it seemed like superfluous design that was incapable of having any real support from developers due to its limitations (Yes, two screens can be a limitation, it's a liability to have to have something on the second screen to begin with). Not that this would be a new thing for Nintendo. Does anyone remember the Virtual Boy? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

But the video I saw changed all that. What I saw was, heads and shoulders, above the level of design that I'd seen in many games. Nintendo's got some whacky minds in their R&D, and I have a feeling that as they were pitching the system, they were giving some hints on where to take the DS, because for the year or so between its announcement and its release, most gaming publications, sites and players couldn't figure out what the hell they were going to do with the thing. The video answered a lot of that. I saw games that used the touchscreen to draw independent paths for a character to speed through. I saw incredibly handheld graphical potential and a vast array of new design avenues to wander through.

Here is what I think of the DS now: I think that it will ultimately not succeed because most designers are incapable of designing for it. A review of Mario 64 DS I read stated that the second screen was used primarily for a map of the area. The reviewer correctly pointed out that he'd never needed a map in the N64 version of the game. And this is Nintendo's development. I have a sinking feeling that a lot of the crazily-designed games I saw in the video (This is an open call to Matt to please track the video down, by the way) won't make their way stateside for fear that they'll be rejected as being too weird (Sadly, American audiences have a pretty poor track record with supporting fringe titles). More likely, developers will take advantage of the power of the system and scrap use of the second screen, except in the most necessary of cases.

In leiu of being able to provide my our own coverage right now (unless you want to buy a DS for me, and a couple of games. If you do, hit the email link over at the side), I'll give you guys a link to an article with more hands-on info than I've got now.

I'm also wondering what you guys think of the DS? Destined for greatness, or destined for failure? Are you planning to get one as soon as possible, or are you waiting for Christmas? Inquiring Dans want to know.

Here's the link to a Gamespot article detailing a lot of the features and launch titles for the Nintendo DS.

- Dan


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Monday, November 22, 2004
 

News: NYTimes Article on EA Lawsuits Alleging Unfair Working Practices
Posted by Shocker :: 11:10 PM
(Link to full article. Requires Registration.) (Subvert the registration - Thanks Shad)

Very interesting article. Before I got into college, it was a dream of mine to design games. It sort of fell by the wayside a few years ago, but I'm considering picking it back up. I actually admire EA a great deal. They pump out very good and great games with startling regularity.

However, if this is true, and I don't have much reason to disbelieve it, they need to really evaluate what they're doing. It's not uncommon to push young people to work to extremes out of college... Talk to any young lawyer. It's entirely another thing to not compensate them fairly for it. Given the nature of the gaming business, rather than building a solid team of loyal workers, they're much more likely to spawn a hundred small competitors who learned the trade by toiling in their salt mines for a few years. If I were a stockholder in EA, I know I'd rather see some long-term viability to the company in the form of reduced turnover.

In any case, this will add some fuel to the stupid "EA is satan" fire.

- Dan


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