Violence in video games has become a hot media topic as gory, cinematic fight scenes and guns with chain-saws make more frequent appearances in today's most popular games. Historically, Nintendo has withstood toiling competition with other game corporations by not choosing the violent path, designing playful combat with butt bounces and spinning turtle shells as a refreshing alternative to bullets and hand grenades.
In a recently translated interview, from CNN's TV show Talk Asia this past December, Nintendo's president Shigeru Miyamoto reveals his personal philosophy on gaming violence and his particular concerns for children gamers:
"My personal thought is, and I think it is the same with Nintendo, that before thinking about how to handle violence in video games, I think it is important to think about pain people feel. For example, you would not laugh at people with disabilities. There are bullying problems in Japan. Looking at the overall picture, it is important to understand and feel the pain that people might have. We make our games based on that philosophy, using means other than violence. But we also have to take a careful approach, even in the circumstances when we are not portraying direct violence. I think it is always important to give children a product with a careful approach."
So sorry to dissapoint folks, but I think we can thus safely assume that Marcus Fenix will not make a cameo in the upcoming Super Smash Brothers Brawl (despite floating rumors of his on and off affair with Samus Aran). Seems for now Nintendo will keep its hands clean of the bloodlust.
For more on gaming and gaming culture, check out MTV's Gamedrop!I know Team Vox already covered the phenomenal publicity Saska's personal experience about Nintendo's customer service, but I was ecstatic to see the story show up on Destructoid, the gaming blog I tend to read the most these days. Vox is all over the interwebs!
Congratulations Saska and Vox! Voxers, lets keep up the good work!
I've been feeling a little more digital lately, probably more than ever. Thus, I've removed the second dot from .tiff to emulate the .tiff file name even closer. I'm not quite sure how I feel in these new shoes, but I'm sure they'll stretch out to fit just fine.
So for now, I'm .tiff!
Ah, St. Valentine's day. We may all be accustomed to the more
commercial tradition of chalky candy hearts and overpriced roses, but according to
the Legenda Aurea (circa ye olde days of
1260), before St. Valentine was beheaded after refusing to deny Christ, he
valiantly cured his jailer's daughter of her blindness. Sigh. How
romantic.
We may not all have the capability to restore sight to our loved ones, but fear not: there are many other ways to feel the love on this Valentine's Day, particularly for our beloved next-gen consoles. Luckily, the handful of muses over at poetwii have masterfully composed several heartfelt poetic tales of romance, hard love and gamers' lust for the Nintendo Wii. With plenty of haikus and limericks, poetwii evokes some of the most tender moments of gaming, guaranteed to make Wii lovers a little more twitterpated than before.
And now dear readers, a short excerpt from poetwii to set your hearts ablaze:
"Lovers' Quarrel"
Bemused the others all may be
Whenever I press A+B
And dangle you
precariously.
You kicked me out and took my key,
And think you got the best of
me.
But who will save your precious Mii?
For more on gaming and gaming culture, check out Gamedrop!
Well folks, it turns out that I'm getting a little more involved in the larger blog-o-sphere everyday. Following my internship with MTV, the lovely folks over at the MTV Games department have kindly asked me to help them write for Gamedrop, a gaming blog about gaming, culture, n3rds, and all that follows. Since I have a certain tendency to write about gaming on this blog anyway I'll be cross-posting my written work to share with teh Voxers I heart so dearly. Furthermore, if any of you Voxers have gaming tips or interesting gaming culture tid-bits you'd like to share, I'd love to write about it.
Goodies for the Crafty Gamer
To uncover a multitude of gaming treats simply type "video games" or other gaming-related words (Nintendo, Final Fantasy, etc.) in the search bar. My personal favorites include a set of Super Mario Boo coasters, a Bubble Bobble pin, and a heartwarming crocheted Katamari keychain, all of which are sure to receive respectful nods from any passing hardcore gamer. Now its up to you to do the rest of the treasure hunting! Arrrrgh!
I am totally ripping off Harold's post about I CAN HAVE CHEEZBURGER, but I CAN HAVE CHEEZBURGER is one of the true gems of the interwebs. Playfully flirting with another queen site, Cute Overload, Cheezburger masterfully collects glorious smaples of furry friends with hilariously interwebby commentary, amounting to some of the purest examples of internet humor.
Speaking of kitties with commentary, I originally discovered this phenomenon through Pants Party's post a few months ago. Cheers to Harold and Pants Party! Horray for teh Kittenz!
Gwoemul or The Host is an excitable yet quirky Korean horror film who's rights have already been purchased by Universal Studios for an American remake. Years after an assistant in a Korean morgue is forced to dispose hundreds of bottles of formaldehyde into the Han river, a gigantically slimy catfish-like monster appears causing havoc by the Korean riverside.
The movie focuses predominantly on the story of a family, an elderly father who runs a snack shop to serve river goers, his three children (an unemployed college graduate, a world renowned archer, and a useless fumbling son who helps him at the shop), and his grand daughter. When the grand-daughter is abducted by the monster, the four set out to rescue her while battling the Korean and American forces that are surveilling the monster.
The film takes a refreshing approach to the typical monster movie. The monster is not presented as the clear antagonist, as the characters are often found battling the political forces that prevent them from pursuing the grand daughter. Within the scope of the movie, the hype of an alleged virus that the monster 'hosts' creates viral frenzy within the city and interestingly enough the American representatives are the ones eliciting the fear. Thus, it is not directly clear whether the citizens are more afraid of the actual monster, or the viral monster that the government mediates.
Meanwhile, the tone of the movie jumps back and forth between Horror, Drama, and Comedy. While the scenes with the monster are action packed, the rescue adventure of the family is sometimes comedic and often strangely so. Dramatic and serious monologues and scenes are often paralleled by laughable acts. I thought that perhaps this unique narrative was built off of a manga or anime-style of story and presentation. Anyone have any insight into this?
Either way, the film was entertaining, refreshing, and a good step out of the typical horror genre movie. It will be interesting to see what the American studios will do with it.
