A group of mischief makers recently presented a McDonald's interactive video game at the ironically named International Serious Games Event held in the United Kingdom in early June. The "game" appeared as a series of screen shots and the presenters (representing themselves as developers from McDonald's Interactive) told a chilling story of how the McDonald's employees who played the game invariably would make choices that lead to the destruction of the Earth's environment...
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"I could say that having 2,000 magazines on bookshelves in my spare room makes me look incredibly intelligent to the ladies," Kevin Gifford says. "But I'd be wrong."
Gifford, a former game journalist and now an editor for the anime magazine NewType, is the man behind Magweasel, a Web site devoted to chronicling the history of video game magazines. Magweasel delicately marries Gifford's two great loves -- game magazines and ferrets (which are not, technically, weasels) -- and his thoughtful histories of some of gaming's greatest magazines makes for some interesting reading.
I know what you’re thinking… (Why’d it have to be snakes?)
Posted 6/13/06 4:04 pm EST by Greg Orlando in Culture, PS2
The game world was abuzz with the news that Snakes on a Plane, the epic summer film involving Samuel "L." Jackson, snakes, and a plane was going to be made into a video game. (Read the stunning game announcement here!)
Except, well, it's not true. Two merry pranksters who shall remain anonymous made the whole story up, including the faux game's wonderful "snake engine." And maybe the game world was never really abuzz with the news that Snakes on a Plane was going to be made into a game. But it damn well should have been.
The Sex in Video Games Conference is being held in San Francisco right now. I'd have attended, but my trenchoat is being laundered.
Now the less said about this, the better. Any time anyone talks about sex in games, they always mention how they want to create titles with realistic emotional interactions and, when the game comes out, it's naked chicks bouncing on Hippety-Hops (see The Guy Game).
To the point: The game industry doesn't need sex games as much as it needs to grow up. When games can handle the portrayal of real human emotions and feelings, then we'll talk about showing a booby or two.
The kids, they like the videogames. And they like looking at the videogame-themed artwork.
I am 8-bit gives the kids what they want. Writer/editor Jon M. Gibson collects and packages a series of game-related paintings for a book that's oftentimes cute, sometimes clever, and mostly uneven. For every one brilliant piece -- say, Devin Crane?s ?An Old Reflection? featuring a forelorn Mario reaching out to touch a mirror reflecting his original and blocky 8-bit self -- there?s an image of the cute dragon Bub from Bubble Bobble -- ahem, excreting -- his compadre Bob, or the lame ?Duck Hunter S. Thompson.?
With all the talk about the technology behind our favorite games, sometimes we forget that great games need great artists, too. A few of those great artists are finalists in an exhibition/competition of game-related artwork called Into the Pixel.
Now in its third year, Into the Pixel has dozens of finalists' images on display in a gallery here at E3. To see many more entries, check out the official website.
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