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Defamation of Character

Posted on October 17th, 2005 by Josh.
Categories: games.

Jack Thompson.

Two words, that when put together, should make most people shudder with disgust.

He is a greedy, childish lawyer. He has targeted the video game industry, and made himself the “holier than thou” savior of America’s youth.

He makes unsupported claims (unsupported by actual facts, at least) that video games directly help to turn children into killing machines. He then takes these lucicrous claims and uses them to speak out publicly against the video game industry, and against “gamers” in general.

He has put his crusade against the evil industry of electronic entertainment onto the interweb: http://www.stopkill.com. Recently, he put out an offer to donate $10,000 to charity if a game that he proposed would be developed.

This game involved an angry father on a killing spree, avenging the death of his son - who was killed by a gamer whose actions stemmed from the games he played. The father would kill those in the video game industry, retailers who sold the game, and anyone who stood in his way.

Well.. some modders did it. They went ahead and made a mod of the PC GTA game, and titled it Defamation of Character: A Jack Thompson Murder Simulator.

Of course, as a bit of a big “suck my back” to Mr. Thompson - the creators actually put Mr. Thompson in the role of the father. Fighting satire with satire.

That would be okay, if not for the aforementioned fact that Mr. Thompson offered to donate $10,000 to charity if his “satirical” request was filled. Well it was. And he didn’t.

He responded saying that it was purely satire. What kind of man makes satirical comments about donating money to charity? Clearly, a man with his own agenda. He doesn’t give a damn about making a positive change in the world. He’ll take his ignorant arguments as far as they’ll go - but I am pretty confident that it won’t be much further than it has already gone.

After doing some research online, I found numberous accounts of web-comics who have come into contact with Jack Thompson. He seems to like attention, and responds to emails and phone calls as though he is going to help to progress his cause.

Instead, when presented with intelligent arguments that he has no logical response to - he resorts to namecalling and eventually moves on to the next “idiot gamer”.

He has got a lot of work ahead of him if he thinks he can ever present an intelligent argument against violent video games.

Oh, and on a final note about this whole situation - Gabe and Tycho of Penny Arcade have donated $10,000 that he had no intention of donating.. in his name.

The gaming community: 1
Jack Thompson: 0

2 comments.

Up up down down left right left right…

Posted on September 21st, 2005 by Josh.
Categories: games, movies.

I just finished watching Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children.. and it was amazing. It was released last week in Japan, and nerds across the world now have access thanks to the internet.

The graphics are breathtaking. Being able to see all those old Playstation characters with modern computer graphics is awesome.

The story was kind of hard to follow at times, because the subtitles are not official, and certainly not a perfect translation. But really, that’s my only gripe.

A definite must buy when it comes out stateside in November. (suck on that, MPAA)

Watching it made me think back to how great a game Final Fantasy VII was. Then I got to thinking about other games that have had a big impact on me as a gamer. So I’m going to just give a quick rundown of my picks for “Best. Games. Ever.”

In no particular order (it’s hard to compare the greats):

Final Fantasy VII (PlayStation, 1998)
It single-handedly convinced me that I wanted a PlayStation. I was a junior high dork with loyalties to Nintendo spanning back to the original NES. But then I watched my friend Brian play it a few times at his house, and I was hooked. This game had it all: amazing graphics, great gameplay, addictive mini-games, and an intriguing storyline filled with drama and action.

The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time (Nintendo 64, 1998)
Link made the jump from 2-D sidescrolling and overhead maps to 3-D immersive gameplay in a big way. Who’d have thought solving all of those dungeon puzzles would be so fun? More like.. who didn’t?

Earthbound (Super Nintendo, 1995)
The adventures of Ness, Paula, et al. was my first real experience with a role playing game. Wandering through a world with strange creatures (enemies ranged from dogs to mole-men to aliens to the mayor, or even just the neighborhood bully) was one of the greatest things I could ever imagine at the time. I played through this game time after time, despite nothing different happening each time in the story. There was just so much to do, and so much to see, that I would forget about things every now and then, or even discover little random things I never noticed. Can you finish the name of this Beatles song? ___terday. -> Yes -> No

Star Tropics (NES, 1990)
Some kid named Mike ran around C-Island attacking giant octopi and making friends with the island people. That’s about all I remember about this game’s plot. I also remember having a primary weapon of a yo-yo. Genius! One time, I was playing this game, and I made it pretty far.. and then the power went out. I didn’t save for a couple hours. I learned an imporant lesson in gaming: save as often as you can (ranking in Metal Gear Solid’s online site be damned! ..which brings me to my next entry)

Metal Gear Solid 2 (PlayStation 2, 2001)
MGS had already redefined action gameplay, and I expected no different in its sequel. Above all else, I was amazed by this game’s graphics. As were the dozens of people who’d filter in and out of my dorm room to watch me play for hours on any given afternoon between classes. The only downside to the game was its ending, which dragged on and on and on, and starting going off about political subjects.. and it was just lame.

Halo (Xbox, 2001)
Maybe I’m an easy sale, but just as it took one game to convince me to get a PlayStation - it took just one to convince me to buy an Xbox complete with four controllers. Another game where the graphics amazed and the storyline kept you hooked. I played the campaign both by myself and with a friend numerous times. Not to mention the uber addictive multiplayer mode (which only got better in its second incarnation with online play). Hail to the Master Chief!

SimCity (NES, 1989)
I like building things. I like video games. As a creative child looking for a challenge, I found it in SimCity. I loved building a huge metropolis that would take up the entire square-shaped map.. to the point where my city would prosper for centuries, and I’d eventually get that coveted Mario statue monument. If only I could come up with a good solution to managing taxes and preventing brownouts… I never could stop those things from impeding my progress.

Tetris (Game Boy, 1989)
I don’t think I need any explanation. This is the most addictive puzzle game ever. Moreso than Snood (though Snood is a worthy contender).

Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES, 1990)
At the end of third grade, I broke my elbow jump-kicking one of my neighbors in the front yard of my house. No, really. We liked to play ninja, and I just landed on the wrong part of the lawn - a nice had piece of plastic called a sprinkler head. Broke my elbow good - to the point where I had surgery to put pins in it to hold the pieces together and it was in a plaster cast all summer. All was well, however - because my mom took me to the Navy Exchange and bought me one of the most coveted games of the time. It certainly wasn’t my first battle against Koopa and all those stinking Goombas.. but it was the best one ever. Recently, I found a link online to a guy who could beat the game in ten minutes. I can’t do that, but I could probably do it in an hour. Well, if I wasn’t so out of practice. Hey.. remember the infinite lives castle on World 7? Anybody? I figured that one out all by myself.

I think that concludes my list. So, what do you think? Any glaring omissions? What would you put on your list? This is a cue for you to leave comments.. so do it!

4 comments.

Must.. stop playing..

Posted on August 7th, 2005 by Josh.
Categories: games.

Remember Bejeweled? Well MLB.com has a game similar to it, called Playball. Check it out here:

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/fan_forum/arcade/playball2.html.

Be warned, though. If you have stuff you need to get done, you might want to avoid playing. I keep coming back to it. It’s like when I first played that mini-golf game a while back.

Okay, time for one more game, then it’s back to cleaning/packing..

Update: The game starts over if you play through the full nine innings. Nothing special happens. Which is disappointing. But what’s important is: can you beat my high score of 24296?

Update: Make that 25279. I rule!

1 comment.

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