video games

Hunting the homo – the game infuriating gay rights activists

Sophie Team Observers — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 10:40:31 +0200

A video game hosted by a Georgian website is causing outrage in the gay rights community. The idea of the online game - to shoot nudists, before they b**ger you, was created by a Frenchman. It's banned in France... but not in Georgia.

The game (available here), was initially picked up and slated by the Gay Caucasus blog, shortly followed by Gay Armenia. Global Voices quoted the latter as being "completely disgusted", finding it particularly shocking that the concept was adopted by "those religious-minded people in Tbilisi, Georgia, who swear in the name of Georgian patriarchy and constantly cite Bible to ‘justify' their homophobia and hatred. Is this their (un-)‘orthodox' way of bringing up children by creating an image of an enemy (= gays) and teaching how to deal with it (= kill them)?"

Playing video games – deadly dangerous?

Team Observers — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 17:57:15 +0100

A campaign that's caused outrage in the video game industry will be allowed to continue running after winning a battle against its critics. Its message is clear. If you let your children play computer games, they'll die early.

The alarming poster began appearing in women's magazines at the beginning of the year. It's part of a government and charity-funded campaign called Change4life, which was set up to fight the mounting obesity crisis in the UK. On March 6, the Market for Home Computer and Video Games (MCV magazine) filed an official complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), in which they called the printed ad "hugely unfair and unrepresentative of the positive effect video games have on the UK's youth", citing that hundreds of small businesses would suffer from the "grossly inaccurate" campaign. But on Wednesday, the ASA stated that it would not be taking any action against the campaign. In a separate development however, there are rumours that Japanese company Sony, which owns PlayStation, is considering legal action over the use of a controller which is similar to their own.

Good behaviour guide for U.S. soldiers

Ségolène Team Observers — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 11:12:44 +0100

American soldiers can now get closer to their Iraqi and Afghani neighbours before their feet hit the ground. With virtual teachers, soldiers learn the lingo and the local customs at the same time... in a virtual game..

When the US Army touched down in Afghanistan in 2002, they barely spoke anything but English. When villagers ran into the streets, the soldiers, unable to communicate, couldn't work out if they were friend or foe. It was as the situation unravelled that a Californian defence professor came up with the idea of launching a "tactical language" programme www.tacticallanguage.com. Now, soldiers are briefed by their virtual counterparts in Arabic, Pashto or Dari, and given a few hints on how to follow the local customs and avoid cultural boo-boos. Former soldiers in Iraq tell us why the training isn't to be laughed at.

Obama vs. McCain in video games

Ed Mazza — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 19:16:01 +0100

By now, most people following the US election know that Democratic candidate Barack Obama purchased ads inside video games last month. But what if the election itself was taking place inside the world of gamers?

Comic Rich Kuras went into the World of Warcraft for the website Machinima to find out how the campaign is playing out in the imaginary realm of Azeroth:

As Kuras points out, Warcraft's 11 million players would make Azeroth larger than 42 states, population-wise. But so far, no candidate has been accused of pandering to trolls, orcs or elves.

Similarly, digital versions of Obama and Sarah Palin are being worked into the rough and tough game world of "Mercenaries 2: World in Flames." Check out what happens when the candidates really "go rogue:"

Oddly enough, the one candidate with actual combat experience - John McCain - appears to have been left out of this battle.

Obama sneaks into video games

Sophie Team Observers — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 14:11:19 +0200

Photo taken by Dragunov 765 and posted on "Rooster Teeth".

Dragunov 765 loves playing Burnout Paradise, the Xbox racing game. However, he didn't expect to find himself staring at a Barack Obama campaign poster after he rammed his car into an electricity pylon.

Puzzled by the Vote For Change.com publicity appearing on a billboard in the middle of his game, Dragunov 765 decided to take a photo of the screen and posted it on the Rooster Teeth forum on 6 October, leading to a small polemic online.

It was confirmed by Electronic Arts (EA), the company behind the game, that the Obama campaign had indeed paid for in-game advertising. Holly Rockwood, a spokesperson for the company told the blog: "Like most television, radio and print outlets, we accept advertising from credible political candidates. Like political spots on the television networks, these ads do not reflect the political policies of EA or the opinions of its development teams."

Obama has bought space in nine games, including skating and basketball games, where he appears on the ads around the court floor. Launched on 6 October, the campaign hopes to get the votes of young men in the key states by pushing them to register online for early voting.

The mercenary who’s after Hugo Chavez

Sophie Team Observers — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 18:15:03 +0200

Mattias Nilson is a mercenary who doesn't care how it gets it; he just wants an explosive reaction... And it seems that he's got a bone to pick with the new Venezuelan head of state. It's just a video game, but it hasn't gone down all too well in Caracas.

The hero of the game has helped to get new head of state, Ramon Solano, into the top spot. But betrayed by his former silent partner, he decides to take vengeance on the new dictator's army to get revenge. And to do it, he has to go to an American oil company.

"World in Flames" is the second part of the "Merceneries" game series (the first part was set in North Korea). Makers Pandemic Studios insist that the characters are entirely fictional and not based on real people. However, looking at the preamble, it's hard not to see a Venezuela specifically ruled by Hugo Chavez, who keeps the petrol rich state in permanent throws with the Unties States.

Target Ramon Solano is introduced as "a power-hungry tyrant [using] Venezual's oil supply to overthrow the government and [turn] the country into a war-zone". The dictator dreams of making the country into a superpower on the continent and nationalising foreign energy companies. In the opening scenes of the game, which depict Caracas as chaotic, webusers said they noticed PDVSA signs - the national Venezuelan petrol company - on buildings. The images have since been removed.

Ismael Garcia, a parliamentary close to Hugo Chavez, said the computer game was preparation work for a real invasion by Americans. After the attempted US-lead coup against the president in 2002, Chavez has become consumed by the idea.

"The world's largest self-made video game"

Julien — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 16:50:28 +0200

From the age of 10, Robert Pelloni dreamed of an “ideal” video game. Whilst having coffee with friends one day, he began scribbling ideas on napkins. Five years later he’d created what he suggests is possibly the world’s largest self-made video game. In those five years Bob hardly left home, working night and day on his project, with no internet connection and virtually no social life, his bedroom floor strewn with papers.

Bob is basically a self-taught game designer. In High School he took an introductory class on C++ programming, though he had no previous training of graphics or game design. He first got a dot to move on a screen, then designed a character and got it to move. Soon Bob had his basic story ready. His 65-song soundtrack was recorded using sound waves, while sound effects were produced with objects and recorded with a microphone. Hence, the sound of footsteps was created using a real shoe. He reckons the whole thing cost him less than $10,000, whereas the average game today costs about $500,000 to make.

Traumatised veterans sent back to Iraq

Sophie Team Observers — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 16:53:25 +0200

A virtual world resembling Iraq has been created for US army veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). But is revisiting the sights and sounds of the scenes that caused the trauma a good idea?

Virtual Iraq is one of three virtual-reality programmes that have been created to help ex-servicemen and women with mental traumas caused by terrifying events during war. Adapted from Full Spectrum Warrior, the Institute for Creative Technologies designed virtual-reality programme looks and feels like a "sandpit" video game - meaning that the user controls where the person goes and what they do. The only difference, is that the soldier cannot fire his weapon. Currently being tested by the US Department of Defense, the virtual therapy is hoped to help the estimated 20% of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who suffer from PTSD, by revisiting and therefore overcoming their terrifying experiences.

Grand Theft Auto: blood sex and drugs for the under-18s

Julien — Fri, 02 May 2008 14:17:37 +0200

A computer game that contains blood, violence, sex, drugs and alcohol has sold more copies in its first day than any other in history. But not everybody is a fan of Grand Theft Auto IV. Available for children of any age in the US, critics warn that the game could lead to youth violence.

Released at midnight on Tuesday, the fourth version of GTA is Rockstar Games' bestseller yet, shipping 9.5 million copies worldwide for the first week of sales. Despite a relaxed advertising campaign compared with other game launches, millions of people queued up all over the world to get a copy. Concern was heightened in the UK when in a "life-imitates-art" fluke, a man in a queue in South London stabbed a passer-by. But while the sale of the game is banned to under-18s in Europe, Americans are simply "advised" with a "mature" rating. The Parents Television Council says that is not enough, and is willing to go to court to stop the game being handed over to minors.