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July 28, 2005
Everything Bad is Good For You (and GTA is even better)
Steven Johnson, author of the recent book Everything Bad is Good For You (about how TV, video games and other stuff like that has a beneficial effect on society), has written a missive to Senator Hillary Clinton, delivered through the editorial pages of the Los Angeles Times. A brief excerpt:
I'm writing to commend you for calling for a $90-million study on the effects of video games on children… I'd like to draw your attention to another game whose nonstop violence and hostility … instills aggressive thoughts in the minds of its players, some of whom have gone on to commit real-world acts of violence and sexual assault after playing. I'm talking, of course, about high school football.
Link: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-johnson27jul27,0,1432940.story
Posted by gamegal at 04:59 PM | Comments (0)
Women in Tech Awards
The first Blackberry Women and Technology Awards are coming up. The deadline for entries in the UK-based event is July 29, and the whole thing is being sponsored by Research in Motion (the guys behind Blackberry) and a women's networking group called Aurora. From the official site:
The 2005 Women & Technology Awards (UK) provide a tremendous opportunity to identify the women who are forging new ground through technology by using technology in innovative ways for their own career advancement or own business growth through to recognizing the organizations and industry leaders most committed to advancing female talent with in the technology sector.
Posted by gamegal at 04:51 PM | Comments (0)
July 27, 2005
Oh Snap!
There's nothing scarier than a nerd-fight! With games journalism growing by leaps and bounds, especially in the game blog field (hey - this is a "newswire," thank you very much), egos are sure to get in the way at some point.
Someone at Computer Games magazine posted a news item blasting popular game blogs Kotaku and Joystiq for hinting that the Xbox 360 retail box might not include any A/V cables. This was based on a preliminary Japanese report of the box's contents and some sold-separately extras, like s-video and component cables.
Of course it's completely stupid to think the Xbox 360 wouldn't come with at least standard composite A/V cables (although HD ones would be nice), and we also read the same blog posts and thought they were jumping to conclusions, but hey – we'll just lets the boys fight this one out by themselves.
UPDATE: Oy...now 1UP.com is getting in on the action, too...
Posted by gamegal at 12:38 PM | Comments (0)
July 25, 2005
Programmers: Video Games Need Female Touch
Here's a pretty good AP story about women working in the game development world and the challenges they face. Case in point:
Tammy Yap, a game programmer for six years, once asked that of a colleague -- after all, the skimpy clothing and exaggerated body parts might offend some women, she told him. His response: "What difference does it make? Women don't play video games."
The article sidetracks into the current Grand Theft Auto controversy, but has some interesting stats, like how 10-percent of software engineers are women, but in the game programming field, the number falls to 4-percent.
Link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050723/ap_on_hi_te/game_girls
Posted by gamegal at 12:30 PM | Comments (0)
July 22, 2005
Indigo Prophecy Previewed
The Gal likes previewing cool games as much as the next electronic entertainment journalist, but it's pretty rare that we feel the need to go into too much detail about a game before it's release date.
We just finished playing all the way through Indigo Prophecy, an adventure game from Quantic Dream that's set to be released by Atari in September. It's the most inventive thing to happen to adventure gaming in a long time, and if supernatural urban murder mysteries float your boat, we bet it'll be worth your time to check it out.
You can check out our in-depth preview here.
Posted by gamegal at 01:19 PM | Comments (0)
July 21, 2005
San Andreas Rating Revoked!
We never would have guessed it would come to this. The ESRB - the ratings board that provides the voluntary ratings for video games, has decided to revoke the "M" rating of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and re-rate it as "AO" or Adults Only, at least until a new version is put on shelves, without the hidden but sexually provocative content revealed in the "hot coffee" mod.
If you have no idea what we're talking about, scroll down and read the previous post. But once you're caught up, it should seem obvious that this is a pretty bone-headed move.
Pretty much all games have some extra code that was removed from the game, but not entirely deleted. But even though this case seems to be a more complete game segment that might well have been left in as an easter egg for clever programmers to decompile and discover, that doesn't mean it's a case for changing the rating, which was already pegged at gamers 17 and over.
We're sure the ESRB will be roasted by the gaming press in the coming days for spinelessly caving in to political pressure, especially since we have yet to see a commentator or mainstream media account that accurately describes the situation.
Of course, the hidden content in GTA:SA is barely PG-13 level - fully clothed mannequins playing a little bedroom wrestling. But regardless of that, we're always shocked by how much violence is considered acceptable, but add the slightest touch of sex, and it's major freakout time.
Whew - we're done ranting for now...
Link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050721/ap_en_ot/video_game_sex
Posted by gamegal at 12:56 AM | Comments (0)
July 18, 2005
Hot Coffee Hits the Boiling Point
Who would have thought it would come to this? The controversy over Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas continues to heat up, from a few newspaper articles all the way to proposed congressional hearings.
While the original "Hot Coffee" mod purported to unlock a mini-game where mostly clothed characters do the bump-and-grind, Rockstar initially claimed it was a totally end-user created mod, but we all suspected, correctly it seems, that this was in the game code all the time, and just hidden from view.
But really – is this that big a deal? After all, it wasn't part of the released game, just some leftover code. And the "M" rating from the ESRB already included the "strong sexual content" qualifier.
Hillary Clinton is jumping into the non-controversy with both feet – perhaps to bolster her socially conservative credits with 2008 Presidential potential voters. "The disturbing material in Grand Theft Auto and other games like it is stealing the innocence of our children, and it's making the difficult job of being a parent even harder," Clinton said, missing the point that M-rated games are supposed to be sold only to people 17 or older.
If you take a look at the mod, or even screenshots, the min-game isn't really all that titillating even – especially compared to other M-rated fluff like The Guy Game or Playboy: The Mansion (or even the occasional Tomb Raider "nude mod").
Link: http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050715/od_nm/sex_dc_1
Posted by gamegal at 10:59 AM | Comments (0)
July 11, 2005
Libe Takes Over Blender Game Reviews
Exciting news here - GameGal's Libe Goad has taken over the video game review page of Blender magazine starting with the current issue. You can also find her and Dan's game reviews in Sync and PC Magazine.
This month's Blender (that's the August issue, with the animated Family Guy cast on the cover) features Libe's reviews of upcoming games like Jaws, 187: Ride or Die and Hulk: Ultimate Destruction.
Link: http://www.blender.com
Posted by gamegal at 09:27 AM | Comments (0)
GameGal's PSP Review Roundup
We've been getting in some good PSP time lately, with all the traveling we've been doing. While the concept of UMD movies hasn't quite solidified yet (if it's really must-see, we'd already have it on DVD), the lineup of PSP games is pretty solid, even if new releases are few and far between.
So we decided to combine several PSP reviews we've been meaning to get to in one roundup. Click on over to the reviews section of GameGal to check out the big-headed golfers in Hot Shots Golf; falling blocks of color in Lumines; and supped-up hovercars in Wipeout Pure.
Link: GameGal PSP Review Roundup
Posted by gamegal at 09:13 AM | Comments (0)
July 07, 2005
PSP Hacks Galore
Sony is steaming mad at ingenious PSP hackers who have managed to get UMD game copies to run off of a Sony memory stick. To catch up, Sony is requiring gamers who want to play newly released PSP games like Coded Arms to upgrade their firmware, closing some of the loopholes.
Also making waves are several emulation programs, letting you play classic NES and GBA games (among others) on your PSP. From what we hear, none of the emulators or UMD cracks are quite ready for prime time, but we're sure the ongoing battle between Sony and the hackers is just beginning.
Of course, there's no real reason to want to rip UMD discs, except to pirate them, so we can’t support that - but letting people run classic emulators and write homebrewed apps seems like something Sony should support - or at least not actively fight.
Link: http://ps2nfo.com/
Posted by gamegal at 01:00 PM | Comments (0)